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Loulou had announced on the phone when Mak told her. Perhaps she was right, but Mak had winced at her friend’s comment regardless, wondering if it had been so obvious that her relationship with Andy had run its course before she had even made the move. Before her arrival, Mak had not spent time in Canberra—an ordered and visually stunning city filled with sensibly dressed public servants, overwhelmed by the presence of Parliament. All people and things had seemed unnaturally tidy to Mak, as if it were a Utopian catalogue.
    Mak looked around her. There was nothing Utopian about this.
    She loaded herself up with her backpack and overflowing panniers and walked towards the concrete steps of the industrial-looking apartment block, fishing the keys out of Loulou’s mailbox and letting herself in. The interior hallways of the building were all polished white concrete and tall ceilings. It was stylishly lit, and struck Mak as slightly eerie in its minimalism. Mak made her way down the echoing concrete corridor on the ground floor, in search of Apartment 101. The scent of curry permeated the hallway. Someone was cooking Indian. She found the door of Loulou’s apartment towards the back of the building, and let herself in. There were more polished concrete floors inside, covered with shaggy pink throw rugs. Exactly Loulou’s kind of décor. There were movie posters adorning the walls: Moulin Rouge, La Femme Nikita.
    Mak carefully put down her stuff on the floor with a strained groan, then dialled her friend to let her know she had arrived safely.
    ‘You made it!’ were Loulou’s first words.
    ‘Hi, Loulou. Thanks for letting me stay.’ Her words echoed strangely through the apartment.
    ‘Sorry I’m not there, darling. I can’t wait to see you in a couple of weeks!’
    But if you were here, I wouldn’t have a bed.
    ‘That’s okay. I’m glad I can stay. Have fun in Byron. I’m happy things are going well for you two,’ she said of Loulou’s romance with Drayson.
    Drayson had been the latest of Loulou’s greasy-haired musician boyfriends when Mak had moved to Canberra. A week after meeting him, Loulou had packed up for Melbourne to cohabit with him, but her relocation had lasted just one tumultuous month, even worse than Mak’s failure in Canberra. Loulou had lost her previous apartment thanks to that impulsive move, but had found this one after a short stint on a friend’s floor. The break-up had been followed by on-and-off interstate couplings since, and things looked to have well and truly picked up again.
    ‘I always kinda liked Drayson. He doesn’t say much, but he seems sweet,’ Mak admitted, although she always felt he was a bit more stoned than was helpful. ‘I like the way he looks at you.’
    ‘Oh, Mak. He is soooooo good in bed,’ Loulou confessed. ‘He does this amazing thing with his tongue—’
    ‘Hello!’ Mak jumped in. ‘I don’t think I need this information, but thank you. Especially as I am newly single, unless you have forgotten already.’
    ‘Here he is…Oh, I’m being dragged away…’ There were muffled sounds, and something that sounded like sucking. ‘Darling…make yourself at home. Love you!’
    The call ended.
    Mak shook her head and smiled.
    She set about taking in her temporary surroundings.
    The apartment was tight, but with the tall ceiling it was more than liveable. Through large windows she could see an unkempt communal garden out the back, overwhelmed by low-lying branches, overgrown weeds and dry grass. The kitchen-cum-living room was an open space with a TV, coffee table, furry couch and a couple of stools pushed against the kitchen counter. There was more than the recommended amount of pink.
    Mak moved down the short hallway that led to two doors, and pushed the right one open to find a small bedroom with a double bed, and a window looking out to the garden. A closet was bursting with Loulou’s colourful outfits. She was a woman for whom neon, fishnets and