This time Abby nods along as she's talking, hooking a hand around her neck, holding it. She feels weirdly ashamed, the realisation cold and sinking. Yeah. Yeah, actually — that makes a lot of sense. Of course it was about Ellie, why wouldn't it be? She can't believe she thought that Clarisse might have been talking about...

Well. Never mind.

That's why everything was so weird with us.

She watches as Clarisse slowly pulls her hands apart and manages to find some words. "That's good." Genuinely. It really does sound like it helped her. "I'm glad you talked to her. I — Benedict gave me advice too, he told me to talk to you. He said 'the worse that can happen is she hates you forever'."

Relaying it makes her snort.