"Oh, my head," whined Charlotte, as she stumbled into the kitchen the next morning. Her normally styled blonde waves stuck up from the back of her head like straw, and her make-up was smeared around her eyes.

"The coffee's on. Looks like you need one," I chuckled, moving slowly across the room to pour her a cup and to refill my mug. One wasn't going to be enough to dilute the mixture of drinks we had thrown back the previous night.

"Did you have fun last night?" she asked, her voice broken and hoarse.

"Yeah, it was good. Glad I left when I did, though, you look like shit."

"I feel like shit," she confirmed, hanging her head in her hands as she rested her elbows on the kitchen table. "Anyway, what's up with you and the new guy? The moody guitarist you tried to soak? I vaguely remember him coming over to our table to find out where you'd gone."

Did he? Why on earth would Noah have been looking for me? Anyway, he found me in the end, didn't he? Although, I kind of wished he hadn't bothered.

"Nothing's up with me and the moody guitarist," I said with a shrug. "He was being rude to me at the bar so I tried to flip his drink, and we all saw how that worked out."

Laughing as the memory became clearer – and funnier – to us both, I placed Charlotte's mug in front of her before carrying my own to the bathroom with me. My mum had always told me off for taking drinks into the bathroom, but a soak and a second cup of coffee was what I needed right now.

As the hot water wrapped around my skin and washed away the remaining evidence of my drunkenness, my chest burned with the memory of Noah's face hovering just centimetres from mine.

I'd barely spoken more than a few words to him, so why was he stuck to my conscience like a song you can't stop humming? As the memories of what a clumsy fuck I'd been in front of him slowly crept back into my mind, I shuddered, even under the heat of the bathwater.

I must have been in there longer than I realised, lost in thoughts of Noah. As it dawned on me that the water had almost turned cold, I snapped back to reality. It was only the second day of term; I needed to be focused this year. Why was I even letting a boy get under my skin? Looking the way he did, Noah would probably be the centre of attention within a week, and then I could just blend straight back into the background and concentrate on my studies.

Opening my wardrobe, I picked out a long, loose purple shirt and my favourite pair of black skinny jeans. Then, remembering how good I'd felt in Charlotte's dress, quickly shoved the shirt back in and pulled out a tight cream sweater. My usual dab of make-up and a loose side plait later, I looked relatively fresh for the amount of alcohol we had sunk, even if I didn't quite feel it.

Yanking the front door open and stepping out, I nearly flew straight over the concrete steps thanks to a large box blocking my path, my name scrawled on the lid with black marker pen.

Bending down to open it, I couldn't help but smile as I pulled out the pink plastic hardhat and neon yellow jacket contained within.

The simple note read, 'Thought you could use these, health and safety. N.'

There was still almost half an hour to kill by the time my bus pulled up at the stop nearest to university.

My feeling of post-bath freshness had since subsided, leaving nothing but the hangover from hell. Fortunately for my dry mouth and my throbbing head, one of my favourite coffee shops was only around the corner, calling me to grab a latte before facing my two-hour lecture.

As I ducked in from the cold, the smell of roast coffee beans and the cosy warmth of the café had an instant soothing effect on my addled brain. Joining the queue behind other caffeine-seekers, however, the sensation didn't last long. One-by-one, the muscles surrounding my spine instantly tensed as I spotted the figure turning from the front of the line, his coffee already in hand.

As he moved closer, Noah's lips curled into a smile at one corner. I hadn't noticed the single dimple in his cheek before, but now I couldn't take my eyes off it. By the time he stood right in front of me, I was holding my breath, my skin burning up just at the sight of him.

"Don't worry, this one's got a lid on," he smirked, raising his cup towards me and looking pleased with his own thinly veiled dig at my previous clumsiness.

"Did you get my gift this morning?" he continued, slowly lifting the white cardboard cup to blow through the small hole in the lid. His piercing eyes locked on mine, a wave of nausea gripped my stomach. It could have been the hangover, but it could just as likely have been the shape that his full lips made as they softly blew, making me suddenly unsteady on my feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, reaching out a hand to gently touch my elbow.

"Uh huh, just feeling a bit queasy," I murmured, the sickness rolling like a storm-battered sea inside me.

"Come on, let's sit down and I'll get you some water," Noah instructed, leading me over to one of the soft leather couches and guiding me down onto it.

A couple of minutes later he returned, a bottle of water in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

"I wasn't sure how you take it, so it's just black for now," he said, flopping down next to me on the sofa.

"Thank you," I whispered, my dry mouth desperate to feel the rush of cold water.

As I gulped down half the bottle in one go, I ignored Noah's stares from the corner of my eye.

"I'm not surprised you're hungover," he smiled gently, "You were pretty smashed last night. Do you remember much?"

Without saying anything, I simply nodded.

"Not talking today or something, Abigail?" he continued.

"Sorry, I'm just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know. Embarrassed, I guess."

Noah's wide smile crept across his face as he shifted slightly closer to me.

"What are you embarrassed about?" he asked, his head tilting slightly. "Was it the gift? Did I misjudge that one completely?"

"No, not at all," I replied, smiling back at his infectious grin, "The gift was great, it made me laugh."

"Then what is there to be embarrassed about?"

In reality, I wasn't sure why I felt embarrassed about the previous night. But I was pretty certain it had something to do with the brief couple of seconds when Noah had held me in his arms, his mouth just inches from mine. If I'd been more confident, like most other girls, I would have kissed him there and then. Noah and I could have had our very own romantic movie moment, our lips locking passionately as – somewhere in the background – fireworks would have inexplicably erupted over London.

Instead, I had just stared at him like the idiot I was. It wouldn't surprise me if I never had an opportunity like that with him again.

"Are you still with me?" His voice cut through my thoughts, causing me to shake my head as I blinked widely at him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I was just... thinking," I replied, reaching over to add milk and sugar to my coffee.

"About anything in particular?" Noah smiled, leaning back into the sofa and loosely crossing one leg over the other.

I inhaled a deep breath then let it out in one almighty sigh. "I feel like I need to apologise for making a bad first impression," I whispered, unable to look at him.

The laughter that broke from his mouth was warm and thick. "A bad first impression?" he repeated, as his eyes crinkled and his wide grin lit up his face.

"Well, let's see," he teased, rubbing his chin. "You stacked it down the stairs, spilt coffee all over my boots, tried to throw yet another drink over me, then flipped out when I was just trying to be a gent and walk you home."

Hearing him list it all off so matter-of-factly, I couldn't help but start to laugh, mortified as I held my head in my hands.

Looking up through my fingers to see his smiling face, I winced. "Yep. Pretty shit first impression, right?"

"Ten out of ten," he laughed.

As we sat back and began to quietly sip our drinks, I was acutely aware of the feeling of comfortable silence Noah seemed to provide. Just like when he had walked me home the previous night, his presence radiated safety and security. Even amid the hustle and bustle of the coffee shop, he just seemed to give out an air of calm that surrounded me like a vacuum.

He also seemed to like to stare. A lot.

"What?" I smiled, realising he hadn't taken his eyes off me for at least a whole minute.

"Nothing!" he laughed back, "You just move really gently. Really... carefully. It's relaxing to watch."

"Well you've seen the evidence of what happens when I don't," I laughed back. "Anyway, you're making me feel awkward now, stop it!"

His smirk only grew bigger at my protests, causing my cheeks to flush bright pink.

"I'm sorry, Abigail," he laughed gently, "I want to know more about you, that's all. There's something kind of... mysterious about you."

"Me? Mysterious?" I spluttered against the rim of my cup, "You're the one who ran out of a class yesterday with absolutely no explanation."

"Sorry about that," he said, taking another sip of his coffee, "Something just came up and I had to go and see to it. I'd have lost quite a bit of money if I hadn't."

"What are you, a drug dealer on the side?" I said, rolling my eyes.

Noah edged even closer along the sofa until his leg was pressed lightly against mine.

Furrowing his brow, he scratched the tip of his nose as his eyes darted furiously around the room. "Look. I've got the cartel knocking my door down on the daily. Shit's about to get serious. You gotta help me out here, kid."

His attempt at a gangster accent was terrible, and I couldn't help laughing as he bumped his shoulder against mine then sat back against the soft leather.

"What have you got on today, anyway?" he chuckled, raising his coffee to his mouth once again. "Busy one?"

"Yeah, pretty intense timetable for the second day back," I shrugged, fiddling with the lid of my cup as I leaned back beside him.

"I've only got one lecture today," he continued. "Shame really, we could have hung out together."

As he sat close, his face turned towards me, I could almost feel the warmth of his aura on my cheek. Turning to look at him, the soft light coming in from the window made his eyes glitter with specks of winter sun.

I could have sworn he was getting closer by the second. Or maybe I had watched one too many Netflix original rom-coms. The ones which made socially-awkward girls like me hope that one day, we too might just get the guy.

"I'd like to get to know you a bit better sometime if that's okay?" he continued. "I just, I don't know. I feel like we might have a lot in common."

Closer! Again! I definitely wasn't imaging it this time. 

Unfortunately, my life didn't come with a team of cool, slightly-hipster screenwriters. My brain simply turned to mush as I sat there mesmerised by his hypnotic green eyes, allowing them to draw me under their spell.

Come on Abi, he's right there! My subconscious wailed.

As much as I willed my body to move towards him, or even just remember how to speak, I was frozen. I was just being stupid, after all. There was no way Noah was thinking about kissing me right then. We hardly knew each other. And, anyway, there was nothing romantic about the situation, really. Just two relative strangers, innocently having coffee together.

It was just something about the way he was looking at me at that moment. The way his full lips had slightly parted as his eyes gleamed, holding me perfectly still in their invisible traction beam. Something about him was calling out to me, without any words.

"I should probably go anyway, or I'll be late to class," I snapped, jumping up and grabbing my bag and coat.

"Okay. Maybe I'll see you around again," Noah said, a bemused expression creeping across his face as he leaned back into the sofa and loosely crossed his legs again.

"Yeah, maybe," I smiled, my cheeks burning and my voice trembling.

As I burst out onto the street, the cold air slapped me hard across my hot face, giving me the scolding I deserved. Bad first impressions or not, for some reason Noah had wanted to get to know me. Why was I, yet again, unable to let go and just be myself? If he didn't think I was cold and uninterested before, then he definitely would now.

The voice in my head was wracked with bitter disgust as I walked quickly away from the café towards uni.

Idiot! You, Abigail Wilson, are an absolute idiot.