I had hardly slept the night before. I didn't think going back to university after a whole month off would make me so nervous, but it did.

Taking my time to get ready, I sat in front of the mirror in my towel, running my fingers lightly along the scar on my collarbone. The fact that Noah hadn't mentioned it - it hadn't seemed to bother him at all as he had gently kissed it just a couple of nights before - made me feel better about the disfigurement I had been dreading.

Even so, I decided to cover it up with a retro band T-shirt, tucked into a pair of blue skinny jeans and finished with a black belt and heeled boots. As I walked into the living room, Charlotte was already dressed and ready to go. Her new, more minimal style was apparent in her choice of black jeans and a loose sweatshirt, her blonde hair up in a bun.

"Ready?" she asked with a smile.

"Ready," I replied, taking a deep breath before grabbing my coat and bag and following her out of the flat. We hadn't travelled into university together much before, we only had three classes at the same time after all, but as we chatted I was grateful for her company to distract me from my underlying anxiety.

Turns out, I shouldn't have been nervous at all. A few people asked how I was, and the tutors were full of sympathetic smiles as they welcomed me back, but my first day back only proved that life moves on pretty fast for other people. In fact, Dan being his usual sassy self in performance studies had made me feel almost normal again, like the car crash had never happened.

It was only when he called me out to perform that my stomach dropped with a sudden sense of dread. I had nothing. I hadn't prepared a song, and I hadn't even played piano for over four weeks.

Shit.

Feebly starting to protest from my chair, Dan walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Abi, just see what comes out," he smiled. "You've been through a lot recently, I know, but how about you try one of your old pieces or a well-known song? See if you can feel it in a different way. You never know what it might sound like, until you try."

Nodding silently, I slowly walked up to the stage and sat at the piano. My hands were shaking as they hovered over the black and white keys. They had always looked so familiar and comfortable, but now they were like stark reminders of life before the accident. Before Ben died. Before Noah.

With Noah's face flashing into the front of my mind, my fingers began to drift, almost subconsciously, across the keys. The chords were fumbled as my hands figured out the harmony, but after a few times round the haunting pattern rang out gently from the piano. Without thinking, the words began to fall softly from my lips into the microphone.

Didn't know what time it was, the lights were low

I leaned back on my radio

Some cat was layin' down some get it on rock 'n' roll, he said

With each line, the song began to sit more comfortably in my fingers and throat. When I reached the chorus, I didn't care that I was being marked on this performance, or that Dan would be rolling his eyes at the sight of me closing mine tightly shut. I simply sang as though there was nobody else in the room.

There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me,
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie

As the final chord rang out then gently faded away, I opened my eyes to see confused faces staring back. As my classmates started to applaud, I realised most of them were actually smiling. Glancing at Kris and Charlotte in the second row, Charlotte's eyes appeared to glimmer. It could have been the stage lights reflecting from her bright blue irises, but if I didn't know better I could have sworn she was holding back tears.

"Wow," Dan began, as he stepped up onto the stage. "I don't think we've ever had a Bowie number in this class. It's not something I'd have expected, but you made it work, Abi. That was beautiful."

Smiling as he clapped his palms together, he continued. "Okay everyone, so you can see how it's not always about the words of a song or the genre, it's how you interpret it. How you can portray the emotion in a way that nobody has before."

As Dan continued his appraisal, his voice began to drift away in my mind. All I could focus on was a familiar tall, dirty blonde figure stood at the back of the room, his beaming smile cutting through the darkened room.

Great, I'm hallucinating about him now. I thought to myself, before noticing Alex also lurking in the shadows next to Noah.

Following my line of vision to the back of the room, Charlotte gave them both a small wave, before signaling 'five minutes' with her fingers and turning back to face the stage.

When his feedback was over, Dan dismissed me from the stage then brought the class to a close with a final instruction. The next week, he wanted us all to rework a classic rock song, like I had done, and deliver it in our own style. Trying to ignore the handful of tutting noises this caused, I was thankful for the darkened room as an uncomfortable heat rose in my cheeks.

After swinging my satchel onto my shoulder, I followed Charlotte towards the back of the room, where Noah still stood leaning against the exposed brick wall. Stepping forward, he wrapped me up in his arms and placed a soft kiss on my hair.

"You really are something else, Abigail Wilson," he whispered.

Craning my neck up to look at his smiling face, I furrowed my brow and pouted. "Why are you here?"

"Alex had to meet Charlotte," he said. "They're skipping theory to go and buy wedding outfits, so I thought I'd join them and get myself a smart new suit for the big day. Want to come?"

"Noah, it's my first day back," I laughed. "I've already missed four weeks, I can't afford to skip more classes."

Slinging his arm around my shoulders, we began to walk out into the corridor.

"Understandable." Noah said. "Well, do you mind if I go?"

Entwining my fingers through his as his hand draped around my shoulder, I turned to smile at him. "Of course not, you go ahead."

"Or... we could both just bunk off and to go back to yours?" he said, a knowing smile playing across the corner of his mouth.

"Noah Hartnett!" I scolded, pushing his arm off my body. "Be gone, I've got learning to do."

"You certainly have," he replied, grabbing my hand and pulling me back towards him. "But I'm the teacher, remember?"

His words alone made a familiar warmth spread from my abdomen. Lowering my head to hide my blushes, I peered up at him through my eyelashes.

"Tonight?" I whispered.

"Right here and now if you look at me like that again," he smirked, pulling my body into his and placing a kiss on my lips.

"I've got a meeting tonight, with the label. But if it goes well, come round after to celebrate?"

"Okay, sounds good," I smiled.

Giving him one more lingering kiss, I walked backwards until our fingers broke apart. I could have stayed wrapped up in him all day, but I'd learnt my lesson about getting to theory class early enough to get a seat with Charlotte and Kris.

"Abi," Noah called down the corridor behind me.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking back over my shoulder.

"You blow my mind," he grinned, referencing the lyrics I ad sung just minutes before.

"See you tonight, Starman!" I laughed.

Throwing one more glance over my shoulder as I headed up the stairs, Noah had already disappeared from the crowd. This time, though, I knew for sure that he wasn't running away.