The warmth of the house was welcome as we stepped in through the patio doors. Lifting his coat off from around my shoulders, Noah slowly cast his eyes up and down the length of my body.

"That dress though. Seriously." he murmured.

"Do you like it?" I replied, smiling as I wiggled my hips.

"Do you even need to ask?" he smirked, taking my wine glass from my hand to refill it before we both took a seat at the kitchen table.

Almost to my relief, James was sat at the head of the table leading everyone in a drinking game. At least he hadn't been dragged off by that bitch, Karen, to keep her guests 'entertained'. Smiling as he pushed one hand back through his shoulder-length brown hair, he called over the table in my direction. "Abi, your turn."

"I don't even know what we're playing?" I laughed over the noise.

"Never have I ever," he called. "If you've done it before, you take a drink. Simple. Unfortunately, though, you've just sat in the seat to go next."

"I've played before, don't worry," I smiled, glancing at Noah from the corner of my eye.

"She's not playing any drinking games," Noah ordered, as he moved the shot that had been placed in front of me.

James rolled his eyes as he laughed. "Lighten up, Nomeo, it's just a bit of fun."

Within about two seconds, Noah had swallowed the dark brown liquid in one go and slammed the glass back on the table.

"Fine. But she doesn't have anymore shots, okay?" he said, raising his eyebrows at James.

James held his hands up in submission. "Okay, fine. Just chill."

Turning in my chair, I leant one elbow across the back of it as I narrowed my eyes at Noah. "It's a party Noah," I sighed. "We're supposed to be celebrating. Normal people our age get drunk when they celebrate."

"I don't want you paralytic when it's time for bed, that's all" he whispered close to my ear. "Not tonight."

"Okay lovebirds," James shouted. "Enough of that. It's Abi's turn to go next, remember?"

Placing my hand around my glass of wine, I fiddled with the long stem while I paused to think.

"Never have I ever," I began. Pausing for dramatic effect, I continued, "Signed a record deal."

A cheer erupted from around the table as Noah and James both held their drinks high in the air before taking a swig.

Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, Noah pulled me in close and placed a kiss on my hair as people reached across to clink their glasses against his.

The pride written on his face caused my heart to swell. This was a glint of the Noah I wanted to see more of. The young, fun, happy side of him. Not the side fraught with years of family disagreements, difficult circumstances, and trying to find comfort in any way he could.

"Your turn, Hartnett," James called, sliding a shot across the table to him.

Taking a long look at me from the side of his eye, Noah chewed his bottom lip as he thought about what to say.

"Never have I ever... found a connection with a complete stranger."

I couldn't help smiling to myself as I saw him lift the shot glass to his lips, while I did the same with my wine.

As the game went on, the questions naturally became more provocative. I could deal with the more superficial ones. Watching Noah raise his glass and drink to almost every single question wasn't pleasant, but I already knew he'd been doing that stuff for years. The onslaught of questions about blow jobs, sexual positions, having sex outdoors and so on, all seemed to result in Noah taking a drink.

"Okay, my go," James laughed from his seat at the end of the table. "Never have I ever had a threesome."

I almost choked as Noah became the only person to raise his glass and drink, scowling at James who sat silently with a smirk plastered on his face.

After screeching in delight at Noah's revelation, the girl sat next to James continued the game. "Never have I ever faked an orgasm."

I saw Noah's arm twitch as though he was about to raise his drink. Just as quickly as I noticed the fleeting movement, however, he pushed his glass back and stood up.

"That's enough. Let's go find Alex and Charlotte," he said, looking down at me with a blank expression.

"No, I'm having fun here," I protested.

"Abi, please. They're only going to start asking worse things and we'll end up fighting. Please can we just move?"

Giving in to his request I stood up from the table, topping up my wine before we headed into the living room.

"Stupid fucking game," Noah muttered as we squeezed through the hallway. "How old are they all, anyway? Twelve?"

The alcohol was starting to trickle through my veins and his comment caused me to let out a snort of laughter.

"What's so funny?" He scowled, as we flopped down in an empty spot on the sofa.

"You!" I teased through my wonky grin. "Why so serious, Batman?"

His face softened. "I'm sorry. It's just stupid. A bunch of people sat around bragging about their sex lives, what's the point?"

"It's just fun, Noah," I laughed as I poked a finger against his chest. "I found out a lot about you just then."

"Stuff you don't need to know, though. It's all in the past, so why bring it up for entertainment?"

"Lighten up, Nomeo," Alex's Irish lilt suddenly cut in from behind the sofa. I looked back just in time to see him wrap his arms tightly around Noah's neck, Charlotte stood grinning next to him.

"We saw your little strop back there in the kitchen, always been a drama queen haven't you?" he teased.

"Fuck off!" Noah laughed, pulling his friend's arms firmly so that Alex came tumbling over the back of the sofa, landing awkwardly across both our laps.

Without making any attempt to get up, only stretching his body out further across the people next to us, Alex reached up and began to stroke Noah's face.

"Such a handsome lad," he cooed softly, a crooked smile across his face. "I love you Noah, man. I can't wait to have you there on my wedding day, you know that?"

"I know, feeling's mutual," Noah hiccupped.

I couldn't help but laugh at the two of them, curled up together like a couple of drunken idiots.

"Come on, it's time to dance!" Alex suddenly yelled. Jumping up from the sofa, he grabbed Charlotte's hand and pulled her into the middle of the living room to join the other partygoers.

"Not one for dancing?" I smiled at Noah, sat perfectly still next to me with his shoulders slumped back against the sofa.

"Not really," he smiled lazily. "My moves are for the bedroom, not the dance floor."

With a slow motion wink, he added, "Baby," before snorting with laughter.

"I've never seen drunk Noah before," I laughed, swatting a hand against his arm. "He's bloody ridiculous!"

"You love him, admit it." Noah said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I suppose I do," I giggled back.

As he wrapped his arms tightly around me and pulled me in close, Noah's chuckle vibrated through his chest.

"He loves you too," he murmured, as his chin rested lightly on the top of my head.

I don't think he meant it to come out that way. But, as we sat cuddled up together - chatting, drinking, and laughing at people's dance moves - it felt more like love than anything I'd ever felt before.

By the time everyone started to drift out of the party it must have been past two o'clock in the morning, but I didn't know and I didn't care.

Charlotte's laugh was audible before she and Alex made their way back over towards us. As they came into view, he was leaning heavily across her shoulder and singing loudly.

"I'm going to get this one to bed now," she laughed.

"Night night," I called, before turning my attention back to Noah. "We should probably-"

I hadn't even finished my sentence before he scooped me up off the sofa, wobbling slightly as he held my weight in his strong arms.

"I thought you'd never ask," he grinned.

Bending his neck to place a gentle kiss on my lips, the heady taste of wine and whisky was still radiating from his own as he carried me out towards the stairs. As we reached the bottom step, he dropped my legs to the floor.

"You're going to need to do these on your own though," he smiled, "I'm far too pissed."

As we stumbled upstairs, my own legs seemed to have stopped working quite so well thanks to the alcohol I'd been slowly drip-feeding into my blood. Leaning forward to use my palms to grip the stairs in front of me, a swift, sharp slap across my behind caused a loud yelp to fly from my mouth.

"Hurry up, Wilson," Noah's voice growled from behind me. "It's been killing me all night thinking about getting you out of that dress and into bed."

"So impatient," I smirked back at him over my shoulder. "I'm tired anyway, think I might just go to sleep."

I couldn't help cracking up at the look on his face, like a puppy that had been left out in the cold.

"I'm joking, Noah," I laughed, as he quickened his pace to chase me up the last few stairs.

As we burst into his room, thankfully with no crazy women already sat in there this time, Noah kicked off his boots and pulled off his T-shirt. Flopping straight down onto the bed, he lay looking at me with a drunken smile on his face.

"I'm just going to... umm... freshen up," I slurred, as I headed towards his en-suite.

By the time I returned to the bedroom, Noah was gently snoring, still laying on top of the bed in only his black jeans and socks. As I crawled in next to him, still wearing my dress, I pulled the covers up over my body and tried to shake off the niggling disappointment.

Shuffling his heavy body next to me, Noah rolled over and let out a big, sleepy sigh into the back of my hair. His arm draped heavily over my waist as I reached out to switch off the lamp.

"You didn't think I was going to fall asleep on you tonight, did you Abigail?" His whisper tickled my ear, his sudden alertness shocking me slightly.

Pulling the duvet off my body and rolling me over to face him, I could see his green eyes glinting in the darkness. His dimpled, one-sided smile crept slowly across his features as my eyes adjusted to the outlines of his face.

"That was just a power nap..." he whispered.