Woken by a loud knock on the door, Tania sat up at a speed that made her head throb.

It was the early hours of a summer morning and daybreak was seeping through the blinds. She let out a groan and lay back in the sofa.

Still wearing yesterday’s top and pencil skirt, she felt a wave of self-disgust wash over her; the sort that’s the culmination of too much wine, too much weed and waking up in yesterday’s clothes.

The letterbox opened.

‘Tania! Let me in.’

It was a man’s voice that she didn’t recognise.

She sat up again, somehow more sober.

Above the TV in the corner of the room were shelves crammed with hardback books arranged in colour order; in front of the sofa was a coffee table on which there were three tall towers of records, two empty bottles of wine (one red, one white) and an overspilling ashtray.

Tania’s heart began to race. None of this was familiar. None of this was hers.

‘Tania, come on.’ The voice came again. ‘We’ve got work in a couple of hours. You’re in my flat.’

The floor seemed to wobble as Tania stood and picked up an empty wine bottle.

The hallway was as unfamiliar as the living room and she lifted the bottle over her head as she opened the door.

Standing in front of her was Gavin, the new guy from work. His eyes were bloodshot behind his glasses and his beard was speckled with rolling tobacco.

He looked at the wine bottle and raised an eyebrow.

‘You’re going to hot me on my own doorstep?’ He walked past her. ‘What is this? A Take A Break story in action?’

She lowered the bottle and followed him into the kitchen.

‘You don’t remember anything, do you?’ he said.

Tania shook her head.

‘We went for drinks with Yasmin and Ben after work. You got wasted and started crying about your ex. Everyone left and I didn’t want you getting home on your own. I brought you back here and you passed out on the sofa.’

Tania nodded as if remembering. ‘But why were you locked out?’

Gavin shrugged. ‘I went to get some paracetamol for you, came back and you’d locked the door.’

He handed her a glass of water. She drank it quickly.

‘Sorry,’ Tania said.

‘No offence, but you look awful. You should go back to sleep.’

‘Would you mind?’

Gavin shook his head. He smiled. ‘But I’m hiding the keys this time.’

Back on the sofa, Tania rested her arm over her closed eyes.

Tomorrow she’d start making changes: start looking for jobs related to her degree, exercise more, delete Dan’s number, drink two litres of water a day, call her mum more often, cook proper meals, watch less TV.

Tomorrow she’d do all of that and more.

But right now it was enough to get just a couple of hours more of sleep. Just a couple more.

Tomorrow things would be different.