Martin and Zoe split up their kiss, their cheeks red and their lips moist as they gazed into each other's tearful eyes.
"Let's find a cafe I'm bloody freezing." Said Martin, his hands still on her cheeks.
"Roger that." Zoë replied, finding comfort between Martin's arm and his chest as they began to run towards the nearest cafe.
When they entered, they took to the courtesy of removing their drenched coats and placing them on a hanger in the atrium before queuing up for two large coffees.
As they walked up to the seating area upstairs Martin noticed the band sitting at a large table, and he greeted them,
"Hey guys- look what I found!" He said, pointing at Zoe who walked behind him.
"Heya." She greeted, smiling at them.
Everyone stood up to greet them.
"Hey- how are you?" Asked Cloda, "I'd give you a hug if you weren't soaked to the skin! There's a radiator at my side, have my seat."
Martin allowed Zoe to sit down first, and took a seat beside her placing both of his hands on hers to try and warm them up.
"It's literally only been a day without you but it feels like years." Said Martin, pulling her in close to him and wrapping one arm around her shoulders.
Zoe leant her head against his neck, still feeling incredibly emotional and shocked with Martin's passion.
"You'd never guess what happened, sir." Ryan began, knowing rightly that Martin wasn't concentrating.
Martin raised an eyebrow, "huh?" He asked, still looking carefully down at the love of his life.
"Ollie and Jemma are back together- oh and Cloda's got an admirer." Said Ryan.
Martin started laughing, "I literally left you for two hours and you're all drop-dead in love."
Martin took a sip of coffee while his arms wrapped around Zoë,
"You okay, Zoe?" He asked her, wiping away the raindrops that still streamed down her face.
"Yeah- I'm alright." She replied, "how are you guys?"
Everyone nodded in response, "Y'know- we're good." Ollie replied, Martin noticed his hand under the table was resting on Jemma's thigh, gently stroking it as he spoke.
"Are we in the van tonight?" Asked Zoë, looking up at Martin her nose brushing against his cheek.
"We were gonna be; but I think that you and I need a shower... so.. it's about a three hour drive to the hotel in Venice, we could easily just go there." Martin replied, looking earnestly down at her, almost wanting to be alone, just with her, for the rest of his life.
"I could last another three hours." She replied, smiling at him as she took another sip of coffee.
"It's a pity it's so wet. It's such a nice city." Said Martin looking out the window at the empty streets.
"Hasn't degraded it for me." Said Lucy, "I'm still moving here."
Martin smiled, "glad I've done some good."
"Sir.." Ollie began, "we were just talking about this- about you."
"I don't wanna hear it." Martin replied, putting his hand up.
"Can we at least say thanks? Thanks for everything. Honestly." Said Jemma,
"Guys.. you're sounding as if this is the end." Laughed Martin, "we've still got another couple days left, or even a week."
Martin gave a confused laugh and hesitated for a couple seconds before Zoë decided to speak.
"Do you guys wanna go out for dinner? There's a really nice restaurant across the street, I think the rain's clearing."
The five students looked at each other, nodding in agreement.
"Right then, dinner's on me." Zoë concluded, standing up and mustering an encouraging smile, she was still altered and upset by her dad dying, and she knew that the band had a gloomy mood too, she didn't want to assume anything, but she had ideas about Ryan and his illness.

As they walked out, Zoe swung on her large black tailored coat and wrapped the belt around her abnormally small waist.
"This one here?" Asked Martin, raising his hand to a restaurant in front of them with ambient golden lighting inside.
"Think so." Said Zoe, taking another glance up at Martin's faithful eyes. He couldn't stop looking at her, he almost felt that if he looked away for one second she'd be gone again, and he couldn't face the pain of that happening.

They spent a long time talking while having their dinner, never going more than ten seconds without eye contact. Their feet often rubbing subtly against each other while their hands slowly etched forewords on the table.
The band sat at the other end of the table, their topics tossing and turning before Cloda asked the teachers,
"Did you two always want to be music teachers?"
Martin and Zoe cut off their conversations almost immediately pondering about the question.
"Not really." Admitted Martin,
Zoe shook her head, "Nah, wasn't really fond of kids."
"Bit ironic, eh?" Chuckled Ollie, taking a sip of his coke.
"I despised school with a passion. And vowed I'd never go to one ever again.. and here I am." Sighed Martin.
"-In a restaurant in Florence eating salad on a school trip." Added Zoe.
Martin laughed, taking a forkful of lettuce, "I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would."
"I always thought of music more of a hobby than a job." Said Zoe.
"Yeah." Martin Agreed, "I had the ambitions of doing English literature at uni."
"English literature? Really?!" Questioned Zoe.
"Yeah, Lord Byron and all that Shakespeare jazz. Adored it." Admitted Martin,
"So why didn't you do it?" Asked Zoë, leaning her head on her hands.
"Wrecked my hand," he told them, "can't write anymore. I was left handed, you see, and I've had to try and train myself to become right handed so I can actually write my name or mark stuff."
"What- How'd you manage that?" Was Lucy's inquisition.
Martin's mind immediately diverted to Lucy's bruises that used to go the whole way up her arm. He didn't want to remind her of the abuse that he had suffered. He could keep that to himself.
"Don't remember, but I can still just about manage the guitar. I can't do the piano anymore, which sucks, and I just play the harp weirdly. Can't do any wind instruments. Excluding the flute, I can manage that."
"You can't remember how you did it- but it ruined your life?" Questioned Zoe, raising an eyebrow at Martin, knowing he was lying.
"Didn't ruin my life; made it better in the long term." Martin replied, his eyes focusing on hers, "what were you gonna do?"
Zoe looked down and blushed slightly, "I did all my work experience for aeronautical engineering; then I had to go and fail my physics exam!"
Martin's eyes widened in surprise, "aeronautical engineering? Clever girl." He reacted, raising an eyebrow in an impressed and flirtatious manner as he continued to rest his head on one hand while staring at Zoe who sipped her drink, smiling at him, not realising how much of an impact that smile was having on him.
"I'm glad I did music, though." She said, catching his eye, "it's been.. interesting."