New Years Eve:

The last place Leah expected to be was in a taxi in Boston and on her way to Tom's birthday party.

December had been a busy month at work, exactly what she had needed to keep her mind occupied, until Steven messaged her with an invitation to a party and a strict insistence that he would pay for her flight there and back if she accepted it.

That was sent on the eighth, a Friday, and whilst she had been with clients. She saw it on her lunch break, and then spent her afternoon imagining the man she could never stop thinking about for very long.

Her eventual reply was nothing more extravagant than 'she'd think about it', despite knowing she didn't have any plans, and that she really wanted to see him.

As if the world could hear her, her drive home that same evening was accompanied by Aerosmith's new single Dream On that had been released on her birthday.

Apart from laughing at the audacity Steven Tyler had to do such a thing, Leah couldn't listen to more than thirty seconds of the song, because hearing his singing voice was too much for her to handle.

The days up to Christmas involved a lot of thinking about that offer, and in the end, Leah let being in love decide her fate, and accepted the invitation.

It was strange messaging Steven so formally, and she couldn't deny the butterflies she got when she saw his name in her notifications. She told herself this was probably just a surprise for Tom and not an excuse to see her, but there was always a what if to another chance when feelings were still on the table.

As for Christmas, when that infamous day showed up, Leah spent the day with her parents. It lacked the usual complete family as Jake's space remained empty at the dinner table, but efforts were made, a celebration in memory, and Leah announced she was returning to Boston for New Years, using her work experience as the invitation and that it was a beautiful place to be, rather than coming clean about the guys her father still held grudges over.

"We're here, miss."

Leah blinked away from the blurred sight of snowflakes falling through a fogged up window.

"Oh, sorry-" She scrambled into the front pocket of her backpack, almost dropping her phone clutched tightly in her hand in the process, and fished out fifty dollars in notes. "-here, keep the change."

The driver beamed at the generous tip.

"Thank you, miss. Happy new year."

Pausing as the notes were taken from her fingers, Leah broke into a smile too.

"Happy new year," she returned politely, and she really meant it.

She didn't need help getting her luggage out the taxi, though the kind driver did offer, and she was soon stepping onto the icy pavement.

Her feet were already like blocks of ice in her white, converse boots, she had a full backpack on her right shoulder, a small suitcase handle in her left hand, and she was struggling to scroll with her thumb to Steven's message for the exact address again.

Leah couldn't really see the area she had been dropped off clearly because it was dark and lightly snowing. But, another glance up with a squint against the cold, the destination revealed itself to her as two huge banners read: 'HAPPY NEW YEAR!' and 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' at the front of a building further up the road.

It looked like they had hired out some local school, and it was only when Leah shivered her way over towards it that she realised didn't even have a gift.

She felt awful. Tired from being on a plane, too cold in her coat and high-waisted jeans, but it was far too late to buy something in a town she didn't know.

Steven had said to go straight in and it would all be signposted, and that was exactly what she did because she was not going to stand outside in the snow any longer.

Maybe it was a convenient arrival time after all because Tom was in the reception area swaying and giggling to himself because he was stuffing a carrot in a very childish position in his trousers.

He might have had too much to drink.

"Hiya birthday boy," Leah said, her voice loud enough over the music and party-goers that pounded further down the corridor.

Tom spun around off balance, eyes blown wide, hand...around his carrot, and once the shock had passed, he broke into a huge, cheesy grin.

"LEAH!" he yelled, stumbling over. "What're you doing here!?"

Wrapped up in a drunk bear hug that was free from a poking carrot, Leah relaxed, just a little. She smiled when Tom let go, and she could admire how handsome he looked in a well tailored, shiny silver suit over a black shirt with white stars, and rocking his naturally blonde hair, straight and centrally parted.

"Thisss'is the best surprise evahhh!"

As happy as she was, Leah found herself scrunching up her face apologetically and readjusting the backpack strap that dug into her coat.

"It would be, but I forgot to get you a present, and I'm so so sorry."

"Aww, s'ooook." Tom slid an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. "You're here and that's...thas what matters..."

Leah almost laughed at how he was using her to balance, and wondered if he was genuinely falling asleep on her shoulder with how his head was drooping down.

"Tom?"

Their attention was dragged to the left to a pair of clipping heels.

"TERRY!" Tom yelled back, waving and jumping up as if he couldn't be seen. His energy had instantly been refuelled. "Leah, this is my beautiful wife, Terry. Aren't I so lucky?"

Very lucky indeed. Terry was a stunning brunette, dressed in a flattering white jumpsuit with a matching jacket that clung to her slim figure perfectly. She was a fair bit shorter in height than her husband, but together they made an extremely attractive couple.

"Has he gone to the bathroom?" Terry asked, around the drunk weight that was now hugging her and muttering incoherent words into her hair.

"I don't think so?" Leah replied, unsure. "He was stuffing a carrot down his trousers when I walked in."

Terry sighed.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Need 'nother drink," Tom slurred, lazily lifting his head. He snapped his fingers to the invisible waiters, then froze with a bit of panic on his face. "Oh shit. Where'za barfroom?"

Motionless, Leah watched the caring wife, perhaps with an underlying hint of frustration at the incompetence, tug Tom by his sleeve in the direction she had first appeared.

"The guys are down the hall. You'll be able to spot them, don't worry!" Terry shouted, guiding her hammered husband away. She looked over her shoulder a final time with a gleaming white smile. "Nice to meet you!"

It seemed the birthday boy would be severely hung over in the morning.

Leah left her luggage and coat in what she deemed a safe place by the reception desk, and followed the direction of the music and homemade party signs.

She wasn't the biggest fan of parties, especially ones where she had to travel to a different country, and walking down a huge corridor packed with blue lockers on either side was not helping with nerves.

She had one of her favourite thick, navy sweatshirts which her hands had disappeared underneath the cuffed sleeves, and with stylish grey jeans and clean white converse, she was typically casual.

She hadn't had time to change into her outfit due to her delayed flight, and she couldn't be bothered to change now because her effort had been spent getting here.

A few laughing couples burst out of the gym hall, barely noticing Leah's presence, which was a good thing in her opinion, and stumbled all the way down the corridor with very out of tune singing.

Opportunity presenting itself, she slipped into the party before the doors closed.

Heart beating faster to adjust to the loud atmosphere, Leah, as if the stars had aligned, spotted Steven straight away.

It was a perfect diagonal through a crowd of dancing people, where a patch of blue light bounced off the side of his face. His right hand was high up on the gym-hall wall, and he was talking to a couple of girls who stood flirtatiously close in front of his casually leaning posture.

The spark of jealousy wouldn't have been so bad if Steven didn't turn his head, instantly see her, and by his slightly hung mouth, abruptly stop talking.

The women didn't seem to notice the electricity of a locked gaze from one end of the hall to the other, because they were swooning all over him, but a suggestive rub of his arm by the leggy blonde stole his attention.

Suddenly, Leah was too hot and craved to be outside in the snow, because when Steven was still turning his head in her direction every other second, keeping up his distracted, easy conversation, it was flushing her body with a lot of heat. But, she didn't have time to check out the extent of his suit or fully appreciate the style of his hair, because Joey was tipping his face into view with a huge smile.

The next time Leah glanced across the diagonal, the gap in the crowd had closed, and the blue light danced off unfamiliar faces instead.

"No way!" Joey exclaimed, with a happy little laugh. "Leah! What are you doing here!?"

"I-uh...surprise?"

With her innocently raised eyebrows and hands retreating into the back pockets of her jeans, Joey did the best possible outcome and hugged her.

It was a really great hug when she reciprocated it properly, surprising, since they had barely uttered a few words last time they saw each other, and he didn't seem too influenced by alcohol to guide his actions.

It was genuine and calming, and something she had missed.

"You look really beautiful, by the way," Joey complimented, just shy of her ear.

It was quite a statement. To put the adjective into context, Leah had a bit of makeup on, and for an occasion like this, she had prepared with eyeliner underneath her lower lashes, despite an adequately smart outfit, but it was more the confidence Joey had in his delivery that stunned her.

She looked down at herself, naturally disagreeing, and turned the attention on him instead.

"I feel severely underdressed, but thank you, handsome."

With an appreciative tug of her mouth, Leah referenced the classic black tux, permed curly hair, and the clean shave which pronounced Joey's cute smile lines.

He took the complement to heart, judging by the humble dip of his chin and pretending to fiddle with his bow tie. It made her smile too, until her eyes went wide and she grabbed Joey's wrist to pull him out of the way before he was clattered into by someone losing their balance.

Drinks spilled, a balloon burst, and empty cups got crushed under feet, but whoever the poor guy was that fell, just burst out laughing and was helped up by surrounding people.

The music switched up, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Thank you," Joey muttered, into her ear.

Leah just led him along the perimeter until they found a less rowdy area where they didn't have to be in each other's faces to hear properly.

"Have you heard we're going on tour?"

"No? Really?"

"Yeah, yeah, so the single was released, and then we recorded a tonne of songs in the last two, three weeks and our official album gets released January fifth. And we've booked a tour across a couple of states and tickets are already selling out!"

Seeing Joey's eyes light up talking about the band and their big break was so refreshing, because they were all such a talented group of musicians that deserved the world.

"That's great, Joey!" Leah reciprocated his enthusiasm, and she could tell he was bursting to share more.

"Did you listen to Dream On?"

The mention of the song made her smile taper inwards, hopefully not too obviously, and she was already bringing a fidgety hand to scratch the bridge of her nose

"Well, it kept being played on the radio. They won't stop talking about Aerosmith being the next big thing."

It was the best avoidance to the question she could muster whilst being honest, but it turned out she was in a stroke of luck and her lack of details weren't pressed.

"We'll certainly try, that's for sure." Steven appeared out of the crowd, throwing an arm over Joey's shoulders, and wearing the sexiest outfit Leah had ever seen. "Ain't that right, Kramedog?"

"Yeah, man." Joey patted Steven's chest, and backed out of his grip slowly. "I'm gonna get a drink, but uh, it was so good to see you! Enjoy the party!"

Leah wasn't a certified genius, but there was clearly some unresolved tension between them, and it was definitely about her. In addition, she accepted that, because the remaining man was now leaning his shoulder against the wall, crossing his feet at the ankles and folding arms, she wasn't going to get the opportunity to see the two unseen guitarists, and she had to try desperately hard to not to look down at the exposed triangle of Steven's tanned chest that was littered with necklaces right in front of her.

She forced her wandering eyes up to his face that was almost, but not quite smiling back at her.

"Hey," he said, with an extremely casual aura about him.

"Hey," she returned, noticing that extra second he took checking her out. It meant she had to look down before she started blushing. "Nice...suit?"

Steven was amused, pushing his tongue against his front teeth which did wonders for the lines around his mouth, and his hand appeared with the lightest of touches to her side.

"Can we talk somewhere quiet?" he asked at the perfect, audible volume, lingering intimately near her ear.

When he pulled back a fraction, Leah turned naturally towards his face, caught her breath at just how close his nose and lips were, and then noted the three golden hoops in his left ear, and for once the shape to his left eyebrow, from the side parting of his hair.

He looked very good, nothing had changed there, but tonight there was just something else about him. An irresistible factor multiplied by a thousand and more.

"Yeah," Leah agreed, or maybe she just nodded.

Thankfully, Steven stood up normally to give her the space back, and he shunted his hands to get her to move through the edge of the crowd.

Holding in her stomach, Leah started the walk towards the double doors, but knowing Steven was hot on her tails meant picturing his outfit was living rent-free in her mind.

The trousers were black, perfect in length to reveal his polished shoes, and the jacket was also black but the shirt...well, there wasn't one. It was this white zip up thing, with a snake's tongue cut to mark the end of the zip and stylishly, or attention heavy, undone halfway down his chest. That shirt also had an attached hood fitted over his jacket shoulders to give it a tone of casual essence.

What kept the two upper pieces together with a snug all-in-one effect, was the two white tassels fed through black loops on the jacket, creating a stunning contrast of black to white.

It was a huge turn-on and Leah wasn't going to deny how it made her feel, and how much she'd love to be the one to take it off him.

"Who were the girls?" she asked, both curiously and tapping into some of that jealousy, once he joined her side.

It was so much quieter in the corridors, and with a vital increase of fresh air to breathe.

"They wanted a threesome," Steven responded, with a shrug. "I politely declined."

Leah felt the flush of heat in her face, and broke away from the steady brown eyes that continued to take in every aspect of her blush.

She might have seen him smile out of the corner of her eye too, because the things this man did to her were indescribable.

The rest of the walk was silent between them, and Leah was led to a classroom on the next crossroads, as it were. She stopped to give Steven some space as he peered through the frosted glass, but could not get behind his left and right glances down the empty corridors.

She was humoured, scratching the side of her hair.

"Why're you being so conscious?"

Steven pushed the door, and kept it open with his fingertips.

"In case someone got the wrong idea? Beautiful girl and a hot guy go into an empty classroom together? That's some kinky sex right there."

Leah had the urge to shove him as she walked under his arched arm, throw back a comment about how highly he regarded his attractiveness, but she could never beat his no-filter, witty remarks.

Sex didn't embarrass him in the slightest, and at some point, he had made her feel that way too.

Leah chose to sit down on a desk free from upturned chairs and started gently swinging her legs. She had expected Steven to join her, but he was lingering by the closed door and because he had turned the front desk light on, it gave her another insight into his outfit.

A double white stripe started underneath the arm of the jacket and was picked up in the trouser leg all the way down to the hem. She hadn't even seen that detail before, but that was probably because she had been extremely drawn to his upper body.

"So...what do you want to talk about?" Leah asked, in an unexpected silence. She was already aware of the dumb question.

Alone in a classroom. Just the two of them. A variety of complicated feelings. But Steven had completely lost his strong, confident shell, and it was like he was anxious.

He turned to her slowly, but even with the dark shadow from the wintery outside obscuring his face, his eyes never lifted.

"There's uh...there's this one thing I would like to do, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me."

Leah frowned.

"What is it?"

When Steven remained silent, it did not help the flurry of nerves that surged into her stomach. Or maybe, it was butterflies.

Because when she was looking at the fine figure of a man finally making his way over to her, dubbed speechless how his chest that she had once been pushed against, naked, and ran her hands over was twinkling in the moonlight, she knew for a fact she was still in love with him.

There was no way she could move on. Ever.

"Can you stand up?" he asked quietly, leaving a small gap where his pointed shoes stopped. "Please?"

Leah didn't question him. She thought about it, could have easily delayed his request for pesky details, but she simply slid her feet to the floor.

He was that generous bit taller than her, and that was absolutely perfect. Perfect, like how she would love him for his flaws, and if that main one was drug addiction, then maybe she needed to find a way to help him.

Steven went low with his arms and wrapped them tightly around her middle. He pulled her close, chin dipping down over her right shoulder, face turning into her hair, and then he breathed there.

"That," he said, muffling his voice to a deeper drone. "I wanted to hug you."

It shouldn't have been possible to feel so warm, or like every tear in her heart had been sewn shut just hearing him speak. The hug was too beautiful, and they hadn't shared many of them, and Leah was looping her arms around him in an instant.

She kept one hand on the back of his neck to push his hair that had a subtle crunch of hairspray, and then rubbed the other down his upper back where the soft material of the hood was, before that one also retreated to rest at his neck.

She wanted to cry because of every innocent readjustment and squeeze Steven was giving her, but she refused her eyes to fill with tears, and slowly leaned back.

Steven caught on and gently bumped her forehead to keep her close, and he was ghosting a frown over his eyelids to hide the view into his precious soul.

Maybe it was just what he did to her, but Leah's mind was completely fogged with him, and her elated heart was instructing her to breathe faster because of the intimately silent situation she was in. She waited for his eyes to blink open, but they never did, so without a word or another shadowy image of his face, she kissed him.

It was the faintest of latches onto the corner of his mouth, and he chased the contact when she pulled away.

Now Leah felt the repercussions. A sense of clarity of what she had done. Her hands faltered in strength, slipping down the front of his shoulders, and she was blinking back at a pair of dark eyes because of the lack of light.

There were no words, just Steven's gentle nudge to her lips to get her to lift her chin a tad, and the firm kiss he pressed there as his response.

For some reason, the desperate inhale from his nose on her skin acted as the invitation for her to copy, and once the breath was deflating their lungs, Leah was screwed.

She had been reminded of the taste and feeling of his soft mouth, and when he chose the moment to pull away, she just wanted him back.

"Do you-"

"Yes."

Simultaneous to Leah feeding her hands up through the back of his hair with her interrupting approval, Steven was kissing her, urgently and open mouthed, and it merged into heavy heat very quickly.

She ended up sitting on the teacher's desk, barely detaching from the needy mouth that forced her to slide her touch down his face to keep up with him. She was letting him lift up behind her knees so he could stand between her legs, and she took it upon herself to hook them around his to bring them closer together.

Steven didn't smell or taste of alcohol; Leah even assumed he hadn't touched a drink, but his scent was unforgettable to her and drew her more into the kiss.

The only real difference was that there was no longer a trace of smoke on his clothes, and that wasn't helping her find the regrets for making out heavily with her ex-boyfriend.

Maybe, he really had changed this time.

Steven shunted closer to get rid of every single gap, and he was definitely getting hard. Leah almost moaned into the slowing kiss thinking about his cock straining through layers and what he could do with it.

"I meant what I said." His voice was low, breathless, and heavily directed towards her neck. "Every word."

Leah was flexing her hold on his open jacket, relishing in the feeling of the persistent fingers pulling down the collar of her jumper so a wet mouth could glide along her collarbone.

Her head told her she knew. Her head told her she wanted the kinky sex he had insinuated from the moment the classroom had been revealed. Her head told her she wanted him in every way possible, and had never, ever stopped.

"You're here," Steven whispered, fingers delving into her hair to pull her head back to his level. "You're h-"

Leah shut him up kissing him again, her tongue heavily involved in making him moan. He responded with a thumb rubbing the fly on her jeans, before his palm was secured to her hip again.

When Steven went off down her neck for the second time, Leah kept her eyes closed until she felt his soft panting fan over the drying saliva on her throat. Keeping a hold onto his jacket was the only way she dealt with not gifting herself a touch from how turned on she was getting, and her hooked legs around the back of his, made them just one movement away from grinding.

They had lost their rhythm, but that didn't mean they couldn't start something new.

"Can you..." Steven paused, his head remaining down. "Can you forgive me?"

That painful delivery, that lack of confidence referring to their final parting in late October, reminded Leah of why she had left. It didn't matter if she loved him and he didn't know. It didn't matter that he loved her and she knew. Getting back together could end the same way, and if it didn't, the logistics of a long distant relationship when they both had careers was too complicated, and too much to ask of the other.

She really had made a huge, leading mistake, and it hurt like hell to admit it.

"I didn't come here to get back together," Leah said, letting go of his jacket.

When Steven stood up straight, nothing poking into her to keep her turned on, she felt her breathing hitch deciphering his expression.

"Why did you come then?"

She almost laughed, gesturing her hand out before it landed on the desk beside her.

"What do you mean? You invited me to Tom's birthday party!"

"Yeah! Because it was an excuse to see you! I wanted to- I miss you! I-I really miss you, and I thought you might feel the same!"

Leah used the soft light from the desk lamp to work out if he was genuinely upset. With a control to his breathing, tugging at his lip with his teeth, she concluded he definitely was, and the harsh jolt of his head to look out of the windows mirrored her initial thought when she was messaging him.

He really did want to see her after all.

"You didn't...say that," she said quietly, scoping out the bridge of his nose down to his chin.

Steven hung his shaking head.

"Yeah well, I didn't think you'd actually come. I wasn't expecting a reply." Turning away, he placed his hands behind his neck and pushed his elbows out. "Arghh, I shouldn't- I shouldn't have kissed you. Shit! What am I doing!?"

"I kissed you first." Leah was gripping the edge of the desk, knuckles colouring white. "That wasn't your fault."

"But I kissed you back and then got-" Steven faced her, hands curling into fists to fight against frustration. "-I got hard!"

The downward glance couldn't really be helped on her behalf, but his dick wasn't visible like it had been when he was standing in between her legs. It was difficult to tell because his trousers were black and the light in the room wasn't great, but Leah took a confident guess that he had joined her in the loss of wanting sex.

She also couldn't work out if he was embarrassed for getting turned on, or because he was in so much guilt from before, that he thought he had forced the kiss upon her, and touched her without her verbal permission.

"Steven?"

Leah's concern over his name was met by nothing.

He was staring at her blankly, chest barely moving, and just as she was about to get worried, he bit down on his lip, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and retreated to the window side of the classroom.

Steven was crying.

"Hey. Hey, don't cry," Leah pleaded, hopping off the desk. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He stuck up his fist just as she got near.

"I'm not crying. I'm fi-ine."

Judging by the shake of his shoulders, and the wobble in his voice, Steven was not fine. She gently touched the back of his fisted hand to lower it down, but couldn't get the words out.

"Stop it, Leah!" he cried, shaking her off. He backed away, constantly drying his eyes with his sleeve. "I don't want to hurt you."

Leah was having none of it. She followed him to the third row of desks he had stumbled back into, and peeled both of his wrists to expose his bloodshot, watery eyes.

"I said yes. I gave you my consent to keep going."

"But you didn't then," Steven countered quickly. His face hardened with a mountain of regret despite the tear streaks down his cheeks. "I didn't listen to you."

With his shakily strong voice, her grip of his wrists loosened, and he was able to push his hair back and pinch his fingers to his eyes that had glazed with more tears.

Leah looked over at the iced up corner of the window. It was easier than being constantly hurt by Steven's distraught face.

"That's in the past."

After a sniff, he challenged her.

"Is it?"

"Look, I don't want to argue with you, Steven," Leah said, forcing herself to look at him. "But there's a difference between almost doing something, and actually doing something. Not a lot...but it's something."

Apart from the occasional sniff, Steven remained positively quiet. He was punishing himself for caring, and Leah didn't really know if her hypothetical forgiveness would even help, when he desperately needed his own.

So, with the faint music in the background, she reached up and placed her palm on his cheek. His head lifted instantly, and he seemed surprised by the gesture.

"I think you should have some space," she advised softly, brushing an escaping tear away but just moving her thumb over his cheekbone, made her want to stay. "Please, don't cry anymore. I don't like it when you cry."

"I'm not," he mumbled, blinking downwards. He cleared his throat to get rid of the scratch. "See? No more."

Leah gave him a smile, saw how he shyly reciprocated it, and her fingertips slowly lost the touch of his skin.

"Um, shit. Wait!" Steven called her back. "Where are-" He cleared his throat again, "-where are you staying?"

Leah was thrown by the question as she swivelled on her feet. As was the sight of him kneading his knuckles into a desk, and swaying his weight back and forth.

"Oh." She frowned, realising she would have to be spontaneous. "Yeah, nowhere currently."

"You can stay with me?" Steven offered, moving out from the desks. He fiddled his hands together. "If you want, that is. I-I should have said that when I was messaging you, but I do have my own place now."

"How many rooms?"

"You can have mine. I'll sleep on the couch."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be an inconvenience."

Steven stopped in front of her.

"You could never be an inconvenience to me."

Honestly, Leah was relieved she could save herself the time wandering around a town she didn't know and not have to worry about money. That, and how serious he sounded about continuing to share his generosity towards her.

She softened with a smile.

"Then I'd really appreciate that, thank you."

Steven was scratching at his hair, looking like he was apologetically about to add something else.

"I uh, actually have to get back for Liv now. I said I'd be back by half eleven, and it's almost eleven now." He lazily pointed to the clock that he must've checked in the meantime. "But you can stay here for the countdown if you want, I can just order you a taxi back."

Leah didn't need persuading to leave a party where she'd have to chug alcohol to be on par with everyone else, when her heart was already talking for her, against what logistics of a relationship had warned her.

It was a free invitation back to Steven's place. She was never going to say no.

"If I don't want to be severely hungover on the plane, I should probably go with you."

But her reasoning was just so she wouldn't sound so eager, give the wrong impression that was actually the right, or that she was flat out falling for how sweet and considerate he was for offering her a place to stay at his home, when he'd already bought her plane tickets.

Being in love with him hadn't changed. Seeing him cry hadn't changed how it made her want to comfort him. And there was a lot of unresolved sexual tension between them, that was probably going to end in something before it was time for her to leave for home.

"Yeah, sure." Steven nodded in understanding. "You wanna get your stuff?"

"It's on the way out," Leah said. "I hope."

Still raspy, Steven chuckled as he reached for his car keys in his jacket pocket. It must have been why he had avoided alcohol, or maybe he really was quitting everything.

"Shall we?" He swivelled the key chain on his finger, catching it effortlessly in his palm.

Leah pulled open the door with a stretch, music and party noise not so muffled, and curiously looked him over as he walked past.

"What about saying goodbye and...your coat?"

"That would take too long, plus they're all drunk, and..." He faced her in the corridor sending her a wink. "Don't need one."

The classroom door closed.

"What?" Leah snorted, not believing him. "You're a crazy man."

"Livin' on the edge, baby!" Steven spun around the empty space with his arms out, puffing out his chest. "WHOOAH!"

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