WHEN JAMIE AND I get back home from a food shop a couple of weeks later, Millie is back.

We were supposed to go and get her, but Dad had helpfully blocked us in with his car and gone for a school reunion weekend away... but she didn't mind.

She comes in rolling her huge duffle bag, looking awesome as always, but as soon Jamie goes to open his mouth, no doubt wanting to ask about WEH, she shoots him down immediately.

"Jamie... as much as I wanted to tell everyone what the hell just happened, that requires actually understanding myself." I laugh as she looks at me. "So maybe save those questions for another week..."

It comes out as a joke, but I can hear the warning behind it. I take it she may not be as okay with the decision as she thought, or at least she would be, just isn't yet. I know this because I know her, and I know to leave her be until she's processed it.

"But what I do know is that drinks are on me tonight..." she annouces. "If anyone fancies it?"

I smile, same as Jamie. "Hell yeah, I'm up for a drink." I hadn't been out for a drink since before we left Edinburgh.

"Yes!" Millie pumps her fist. "Oooh, and let's get Chloe and Char in on this. Oh my god, let's make it a girl's night!" She suggests excitedly.

"Aw what!" Jamie groans.

"Hey, call Danny and Greg. They'd be up for guys night too. Maybe we can all meet up at the end?"

He smiles and kisses my cheek, placated by my suggestion before he heads into the kitchen to start unpacking the shopping as Millie pulls me downstairs to the TV room, out of earshot of Jamie.

"Are you okay?" I ask, whispering quietly as I pull her down onto the sofa with me. Now that we were just the two of us for a few minutes, I could ask the genuine question.

"Honest answer?" She says, half joking but clearly not joking. "No."

I laugh as she does but she continues.

"But I will be. Same with Archie... It's a lot to get our heads around." She shakes her head with a smile. "But I will tell you one thing."

"What's that?"

"Did you hear about the Foundation we're setting up?"

I nod.

"It's still really early days yet, but we want to name it after Matt," she smiles. "It was Archie's idea."

My heart swells at the thought and sings with a new sense of immense pride.

"After Matt?" I beam wider, holding my chest. "Really?"

She nods. "Absolutely, no doubt about it. We want to help kids people, kids like he was, so no one has to go through all that pain and suffering... so they can escape and get out."

"Millie, I think that's incredible. So incredible." I lean forward and hug her tightly. "Have you told Dad yet?" I ask, wiping a tear away as I pull away, hearing Jamie's footsteps on the stairs.

"Not yet, but I will," she tells me, winking as Jamie appears with a tray laden with cups and our biggest teapot. "I figured you'd want to be a part of that conversation."

I hug her as Jamie puts the tea down on the ottoman in front of us and sits on my other side. I lean into him as he opens up his arm and sigh happily as he kisses my forehead.

"So are you going to tell me about these mountains then?"

***

Drinks tonight? Millie is buying... we've booked a table at Christopher's! xx

I text Charlotte now that the booking has been confirmed and I smile and show Millie my reply, both of us laughing.

Yes!!! Count me in! Girls only? xx

"Told you she'd be a yes."

Duh! Jamie's got drinks planned here if Danny wants to join? xxx

:)) he says yes please! Lemme know a time! Cannot WAIT! xxxx

"Okay Charlotte is in, what did Chloe say?" I ask, taking a large gulp of my third cup of tea. This is why Jamie got the large teapot out.

"Yeah she's in too."

"It'll be good to see her. Is Harry coming here to hang out with the boys?" I ask.

Same as me, Chloe had taken a while to get back out into the world. She's been missing Matt, which was understandable given how close they were. Like me, she never got the chance to say goodbye, and I think it hit her harder than she thought it did.

I thought she would shut herself away like I did forever, until Millie told me she'd met a new guy. It made me smile to hear she had been able to move on. I knew how she felt, because I never thought I'd be able to move on either after Archie left, but when the right one comes along, you can't really say no.

"I think so. Have you met him yet?" Millie asks and I shake my head. "Well, he's lovely. He's on Char's course, or maybe a year above actually but living in the same halls. Chlo went to see her in Oxford in February and the rest is history," she beams.

"Well, I can't wait to meet him."

A pair of lips touch my cheek as Jamie returns from upstairs. He smells amazing, and when I turn, I see his hair is damp and he's clearly had a shower.

"Shit, what time is it?" I check my watch and suddenly jump up from the sofa. "Oh fuck, I should start getting ready!" I hadn't realised it was nearly six, with everyone arriving around six-thirty.

After the quickest shower in existence, I put on a light jump suit given how humid it was, pairing it with my gladiator sandals, leaving my hair down after drying and straightening it. It's the first time I've dressed up in ages, because the dressing up in Edinburgh doesn't really happen quite so much. We always just go to Black Flag, because Jamie and I get the staff discount, so we're always in jeans.

"You... look amazing, baby," Jamie purrs from behind me as his hands slip around me, his fingers stroking over the soft fabric.

I smile, turning around and looping my arms around his shoulders before standing on my toes to kiss him.

"Are you boys going to be okay without us for one evening?" I ask.

He pretends to think about it before he kisses me again, not answering, or rather answering by deepening his kiss, gripping my hips tighter just as the bell goes downstairs.

I stop and pull back slightly, grinning. "Hold that thought." I kiss him lightly once more before flying down the stairs to the front door, opening it to find Chloe and who must be Harry outside on the doorstep.

Chloe looks amazing. She's wearing a jumpsuit like mine, except hers is shorts where mine is trousers, and she's wearing the highest heels I've ever seen. Her blonde hair is down in waves, and she's got dark eyeliner on, making her eyes look almost supernatural. Harry, similar to Jamie, is dressed in chinos, a shirt and boat shoes, also wearing a huge, kind smile on his face.

"Hey!" I squeal in delight, not hesitating to give Chloe a hug before offering an awkward handshake to Harry. He laughs at it before pulling my outstretched hand towards him, forcing me into a hug anyway.

"Tess, you look amazing!" Chloe says after Harry lets me go, transferring his arm across her shoulder. "I love those!" She points to my sandals and I look down at my feet, my cheeks reddening under the compliments I've always hated.

I swat my hand in the air and gesture them both inside, where Jamie is standing patiently, leaning on the bannister at the bottom of the stairs.

"Harry, this is my boyfriend Jamie," I say with pride, touching Jamie's bum surreptitiously. "Jamie, Harry."

"Good to meet you, pal," Jamie responds.

"Aw man, you're from Scotland!" Harry answers, and Chloe rolls her eyes as the two boys walk a couple of steps towards the kitchen.

I'm about to ask what the excitement about Scotland is when I hear them discussing Scottish football teams, realising why Chloe was rolling her eyes. She never did get why Matt played so much football, so I'm sure she isn't keen on it with Harry, but I can't judge. Instead, I change the subject. Kind of.

"He is cute!" I whisper, although Harry turns to wink at Chloe just as I say it so he definitely heard me.

"He is, huh."

We giggle as we leave the boys to it, heading towards the living room where Millie is waiting for us with glasses of champagne. She hands us each a glass and we clink and take a sip, all of us sighing contentedly at how nice it tasted.

"So, not that I don't love a girls night out, what's the occassion?" Chloe asks.

Millie and I look at each other and laugh. "We just figured it was about time for a proper girls night. I haven't had one for ages...!"

She smiles and nods. "Jeez, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I've been on one since school. How bad is that?" She laughs at herself. "I'm always working, or studying, and then since Harry came into the picture, I feel like it's just me and him."

"That'll be the honeymoon period for you, Chlo," Millie jokes.

Jamie and I were mostly still enjoying ours too, and after our three days apart, spending one night with the girls might be more than enough time without him for now.

"Speaking of, where's Greg?" Chloe asks.

"Oh, he had plans with surfing friends tonight. I did tell him, but apparently I'm special enough to cancel plans for." She rolls her eyes and pretends to be bothered. "He said he might be along later, but I doubt it. His friends can drink, so I expect he's passed out already."

"I've spent two weeks hiking with Jamie, and almost nine months living on top of each other... you'd think I'd be sick of him, but I'm really not." My cheeks heat. "I expect he's relieved to have the night awat though."

"When did we get so dependent on our guys?" Chloe asks laughing, shaking her head as she takes a long swig of her drink before glancing briefly at me.

I knew exactly what she meant.

Before all this mess happened, before Archie and I had even got together I had been fine on my own. I used to hang out with the girls like this all the time, or hung out on my own, and yet now I can't seem to be alone at all anymore.

I used to spend days by myself, because I had nothing to worry about, nothing I thought would go wrong, no one's voice I would start hearing in my head if I let my thoughts wander, even for a second. I also didn't have to worry that was my brother was no longer around, and how every new memory I made was one that he was missing out on.

Jamie was the reason I could now put one step in front of the other, and I had trouble believing I could it by myself these days.

"Well, there's a first time for everying, am I right?"

"Hear, hear!" Millie agrees, clinking my glass with mine just as the doorbell goes. "Finally!"

I get up to open the door but my mood drops when I see Charlotte in tears on the doorstep.

I cup my mouth and close the door as I join her on the porch. "Char, oh my god, what's happened? Where's Danny?"

When she looks up at me I see that they're not sad tears, they're happy ones.

"Char?"

She wipes her eyes and puts up her hands, and that's when I see the ring on her fourth finger.

"He proposed?!" I squeal, bouncing towards her.

She nods as she pulls away. "We weren't supposed to say anything yet... but I just had to."

I see Danny coming up the steps in the corner of my eye and throw my arms around neck, laughing.

"You told her then?" he smirks, not mad at all.

"I had to tell Tess," she laughs. "I tell her everything."

Danny shakes his head at his fiance - FIANCE! - and smiles at me.

"Guys, you have no idea how happy this makes me!"

I'd known Danny was going to do it, but I hadn't realised he was going to do it this soon, but I'd always known Danny and Charlotte were in it forever when they got together on that ski trip. The fact he's proposed makes absolutely no difference. They'll be old and wrinkled together and still be as cute and adorable as they are now.

Danny had taken her to the same place we'd been to all those years ago, although it would probably be more of a summer chalet rather than being able to do any skiing. And it seems Danny thought it was the perfect opportunity to ask Charlotte if she wanted to put up with him for a little while longer.

"The guys inside?" Danny asks me as Charlotte pulls me onto the swing on our porch.

"Yup. With Harry." He nods and disappears inside before his head reappears a moment later.

"We're not telling other people yet, right?" Danny checks and Charlotte nods, her cheeks reddening.

Danny nods again and closes the door again.

"Why not?" I ask. "Why just me?"

"Tonight is Millie's night," she shrugs. "I don't want to take away from that, and this will. Plus," she adds, beaming, "I'd quite like to bask in this glow a little while longer. I've forgotten what this bubble feels like," she jokes, looking at her ring before she gently slides it off her finger and into a small pocket in her bag.

"Were you expecting it?" I ask, smiling.

"NO!" she squeals. "Not at all."

I smile, leaning back on the bench, knowing she's about to tell me how it happened.

"He found that spot where he first kissed me, in the cabin where we stayed."

"Oh my God, are they still there?"

"Yeah! Although they're really nice hotel rooms now. I have no idea how he managed to get the same one. But anyway," she gets back to the story. "He started getting all nervous, fussing with his pockets." She laughs. "He actually dropped the box as he got down on his knee, and he didn't even have time to ask the question before I said yes."

"Never let him get a word in edgeways, even in his proposal," I joke and she swats me, despite knowing full well it was true.

"Yup!" she giggles. "He said 'will you' and then I basically pounced on him," she laughs. "But it was so romantic. And I can't wait to be a Fitzpatrick."

"Mrs Fitzpatrick," I correct her and she practically glows.

"It's got a good ring to it, hasn't it?"

"Definitely!" I lean forward to hug her just as the door opens behind us.

"I get you guys are best friends and all, but are you coming in or what?" Chloe jokes.

"Yep!" Charlotte beams. "Sorry, got chatting." We both stand and inside after Chloe. "To be fair, don't we need to leave for the station?"

Millie checks her watch. "Shit, yes we do."

Charlotte immediately turns to Danny. "Babe, can we get a lift?"

He was the best option, and seeing as they'd just arrived, had drunk the least.

"Sure can." He gets up from the table and we all follow him out the door after waving goodbye to each of our other halves.

And before we know it, we're four drinks deep at Christopher's and remembering just how much fun girls nights truly are.