Young Blood.

You think it’s going to last forever. That sweet sour cusp of adulthood, freewheeling on your brother’s bike in the AM, keeping your voices hushed because the old folks on the end always leave their windows open and – shut up, no, I’m not going to tell you about that time again, leave it – whispers.

The nights are long, delicious, and uncertain. A great big stretch in the bed of the first person you slept with. There’s a salt-sheen on their lips. It’s on the mouths of your friends too, the ones you hate and covet in equal measure, wet from taking bites out of the still-dark morning.

There is one place still open at this hour and you pour in on shaky legs, still buzzing from cider and the second-hand smoke from the group huddled in the car park. Someone vomits and it comes out alcopop blue, then purple, then red. Chunks of burger and meat spittle misses the bin.

Schlock.

Everyone watches each other over the menu, expressions fixed somewhere between mild appraisal and annoyance. A laugh skitters across the table and is volleyed with a slow eye-roll. The veins shine Powerade blue under the light.

Someone orders coffee and the waitress makes it, dutifully trudging from the table to the machine then back again, her wrist quivering a little when she puts the heavy pot down. She’s tired but pretty, all box blonde hair and foundation that is creasing into a deep line tracking across her forehead.

Aging is rough, no matter how much Olay you put on at night.

The pot gets shared and everyone takes a turn sipping out of the mug. It’s a game. There’s a powdery tang under all the bitterness, all fake sugar and a dab of creamer. It’s the drink mothers make at the beginning of their limp mornings, after the husband and kids have gone to work or school and the house is empty.

Watery sunlight and instant coffee.

But it must work for them: some things can make your semi-detached feel like Kensington Palace, anything to feel like a Queen until the wash cycle ends.

Time to go. Out into the wilderness again, gulping in petrol and fag ends and takeout wrappers. It’s heady as hell. The coffee was an unexpected idea but in small doses the caffeine gets stiff fingers moving – that’s fairly universal.

It’s getting close to curfew and there’s still so much to do, but everyone works better after a break. Someone loops their arm around a lone clubber, all sweat-soaked and wobbly in his Adidas. The pupils are blown wide. He’s probably just called it a night. Tasty.

It’s darker down here babe, no one will see. Zipper down, neck flushed. Bile is rising from the coffee, burger and its flipper but it’s too late now. Got to follow through.

The lad isn’t sure what to do with himself. He’s imagined having this many people – boys, girls, more – before, all open-mouthed and gagging, but he was always the one in charge. Like in the movies.

There’s a gargled gasp, crested by the muffled clack of teeth meeting bone.

Now that’s sexy.

The best bit is the thickness of it. Imagine the best sundae your childhood can offer, deep red veins of strawberry sauce pickled in the cream. You can salivate over it for decades afterwards, dig your spoon in and come out with a slab of melt-in-the-mouth kidney. A gummy-worm intestine. An eye.

We sate ourselves on others, just like humans do.

Someone holds his arm out as an offering and it shines dandelion-yellow when the flesh catches the street-lamp.

I think vaguely of butter when my teeth sink down.