T H R E E

It was only after we had made our agreement and Theo mentioned he was tired that I realised just how awkward the whole set-up was going to be.

He followed me up the stairs, and we padded to my bedroom. I immediately went over to the curtains and yanked them shut, blocking out the twinkling stars in the night sky, then turned to the fairy lights that hung around my room. I flicked them all on so that they illuminated the room with their glow.

"I can sleep on the floor," Theo said. His voice was soft, but it still made me jump.

I suddenly noticed how little space there was in the room. My double bed took up most of it, and the wardrobe and desk took up what was left, meaning the only area left big enough for Theo to squeeze into was right beside my bed.

There was no other room in the house he could have slept in. My brother Brent's room had been turned into an office by my parents when he left, and we had no guest rooms.

When my parents had both started making more money they had considered moving to a bigger house, but at the time I'd rejected their offer, liking the cosiness of our little house and the comfort it provided when I was home alone. Right now I regretted that decision.

"All right," I replied, turning around to face him. He lin- gered in the doorway, seeming unwilling to enter without my permission. "You can come in and make yourself comfortable. I'll just go to Brent's old room and see if I can get you a sleeping bag and some pyjamas."

Theo had now entered the room and was scanning my extremely full bookshelf with curiosity. As I spoke, he turned to me and said, "Just the pyjamas please. I've still got my sleeping bag from the allotments." And, as if to prove his point, he reached into his giant duffel bag and pulled it out proudly.

"Right." I forced a smile at him, and then moved towards the door. "Be back in a sec."

My brother had taken most of his clothes with him to university, so there wasn't much to choose from as I riffled through the only remaining chest left in the room after the refurbishment, but I did manage to grab a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a shirt that would fit Theo. I grabbed myself another shirt to wear (I'd decided I didn't want Theo to see me in my normal pyjamas, which were a bit on the skimpy side), and then headed straight back to my own room.

Theo was making himself comfortable when I got back, his sleeping bag already out and unrolled, ready for him to climb into. He looked up as I entered, a smile forming on his face.

I tossed him the clothes and, after muttering his thanks, he examined them with a frown. "Oh, I don't need these." He handed me the tracksuit bottoms. "I only wear boxers to bed."

I shook my head at him, and shoved the tracksuit bottoms back into his open arms. "Not in my house, you don't."

For a moment he just stared at me, as if he was trying to work out whether I was joking or not. But then he just shrugged and stripped down to his boxers, changing his shirt and shoving on the bottoms a second later. I tore my eyes away from his bare chest a second too late, glimpsing his lean muscles ripple when he reached up to pull the shirt over his head. He changed so quickly that I didn't even have the chance to blush at the fact he'd literally just stripped in front of me.

I blinked in surprise. "Right. Well, I'm just going to go and change myself." I motioned to the bathroom. "I'll be one minute. Don't mess anything up while I'm gone."

He smirked and muttered something back but I didn't listen to him as I strolled into my bathroom, shutting the door behind me and locking it for good measure. I changed quicker than I ever had before, cringing when I caught sight of myself in the mirror and saw my bushy hair and flushed face. I attempted to brush the messy knots out, regretting not drying my hair straight like I normally did, and then threw it up into a loose bun. I felt a strange rush of adrenaline coursing through me as I stared back at myself. What was I doing?

Theo was clearly waiting for me as I walked back into my room. He looked up at me, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Do you always wear clothes that are too big for you?"

I looked down at the giant T-shirt that I had picked earlier. "It's more comfortable." I shrugged. "And they're not mine – most of what I wear at home used to be my brother's."

"Do you miss him?" Theo asked.

I felt my eyes shift over to the corkboard hanging by my wall. A photo of Brent and me that was taken last year rested in the middle. We were both laughing in it. His arms were wrapped around me in a hug and our faces were carefree and happy. "The house is a lot emptier," I admitted, before adding, "But I'm used to it now. He comes home as often as he can anyway."

He nodded in understanding, although as an only child I'm sure he probably didn't get it so much.

When my brother left for Durham University a year ago, I have to admit, it was a lonely experience. My parents' jobs had become increasingly demanding since they had been made partners at the firm, and Brent and I had learned to take care of ourselves. It had been just the two of us for as long as I could remember, and he always took care of me, no matter how much of a pain I may have been. So when he was gone I spent many months lonely in an empty house, wishing he would come back. But it was a natural part of growing up, and we had both known the day would come when I'd have to fend for myself. And fend for myself I did.

But with Theo in my house, I would no longer be taking care of just myself – I would be taking care of him too. We might be the same age, but he wasn't going to be able to do anything for himself; he was going to be confined to my room for a few days, and I was the only one who was going to know about it.

"Right." I cleared my throat, heading over to the duffel bag he had tossed onto my bed and shoving it underneath instead. "I think a few ground rules need to be set. Number one" – I gestured towards my bed – "you aren't allowed on my bed at all."

Theo grumbled something under his breath, but I chose to ignore it and continued on. "Number two" – I lifted up the covers at the corner of the bed to show him the space underneath it, where his duffel bag was currently placed – "if anyone tries to come in here, you need to get under there immediately."

"And number three" – I had saved the most important for last, and I hoped Theo would realise it too – "in the time that you are here, you can never leave my bedroom. There's too high a risk of you getting caught."

"All right." Theo shrugged like my conditions weren't a big deal. "But what if I do break any of these rules?"

I knew he was baiting me – I obviously wasn't doing a good job at being the slightest bit intimidating. But I found myself playing along, and I stepped closer to him with what I hoped was a dark expression.

"You don't want to know the answer to that, Theodore."

A smirk started to spread across Theo's lips but, being as practised at hiding his feelings as he was, he managed to fight it off his face. I saw amusement dancing in his eyes and wondered if my own looked the same.

And then, for a split second, I could have sworn that his eyes dropped lower, resting on my lips. But then, in the next blink, they were back on my eyes, leaving me to conclude that I must have imagined it. It must never have happened.

Theo opened his mouth to speak, but the noise of a door opening cut him off. Or, more specifically, the noise of my front door opening.

Because my parents were finally home.

It was like all the panic I had pent up inside of me was suddenly released as I stared into Theo's equally bewildered expression. Both of us remained frozen, listening intently to the noises downstairs. I could hear the faint murmur of my parents chatting, and the sounds of footsteps as they walked around.

Theo suddenly grabbed my arm. I jumped on the spot and snapped my head towards him.

"Does your room have a lock?" he asked quietly.

I nodded, unable to make a sound, and he padded over to the door and turned the key in the lock, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"There," he said softly. "As long as we can keep them out of this room, they'll never need to know I'm in here."

I found myself nodding, but my feet still didn't move. I was trapped on the spot. The sudden realisation of what I was doing – of what we were doing – had hit me, and I wondered if I'd be able to hide a secret this big.

Theo picked up on my emotions right away and stepped closer to me, before deciding against his actions and awkwardly shuffling backwards again. "Hey, it's all right," he said, his voice hushed and soothing. "It's going to be fine, Rose. They're not going to find out about me being in here. You're not going to be involved in this."

"But I can't lie, Theo. I can't lie to save my life," I admitted, finally finding my voice. "What am I going to do?"

Theo's expression told me everything: it showed me the clear, cold truth. "Then you'll just have to practise, Rose. Or else we'll be in a lot more trouble than we ever anticipated."

I had always been, by nature, a very controlling person. Rules and planning were what grounded me, what made me feel like I had some kind of control of my life when everything else felt unstable. I was the type of person who overanalysed everything too – the type who left post-it notes all over the pages of every book I read, jotting down hints at a character's personality and trying to figure them out. And that's what I was trying to do that first night; I was trying to analyse Theo in excruciating detail, because I needed to figure him out – I needed to have more information – to feel like I had some control over the situation after all.

But, in reality, it was more likely because I'd never been able to understand the enigma that is Theo Lockhart, and it really frustrated me. He was like an intricate puzzle – one of those jigsaws that had hundreds of thousands of pieces and could make your head spin when trying to fit them all together.

Rolling over in bed later that night, I snuck a look at him. His brown hair was sprawled out across the pillow on which he rested his head, his eyes were closed and a murmur of light snores escaped his mouth. He looked snug wrapped up in his sleeping bag on the floor of my bedroom, and it hadn't taken him long at all to fall into a deep slumber.

I, unfortunately, wasn't finding sleep as easily. This was a common occurrence for me – sleep and I were never on the best of terms. It would take me hours of tossing and turning in my sheets every night before I could finally fall into oblivion, and I would often find myself tired the next day because of it.

But that night was a whole new experience, a whole new chapter of insomnia. And, as I watched the time on my alarm clock flicker as it changed every minute, I couldn't help but let my eyes drift over to Theo's sleeping form every now and again.

So maybe the feeling of my eyes burning a hole into the side of his head was why he suddenly turned over, his head lifting up from his pillow and his green eyes shining as he whispered softly, "Stop overthinking it, Rose."

My entire body stiffened, although my head was still able to linger on the pillow as I looked back down at him. "How did you know I was still awake?"

"Because I can literally hear the cogs in your brain working overtime." There was a pause, and I wondered if he had perhaps fallen back to sleep. But then I heard a loud exhale, and glanced over to see him drop his head back down onto his pillow. "You don't need to worry about everything right now. It's all going to be fine."

It was like he was able to read my mind. I was taken aback for a moment, unsure of what to say, but I quickly blurted, "Do you not realise how many things could go wrong with this? For starters, you seem to forget that there are two other people living in this house who don't know about you being here."

"And I told you before – you don't have to worry about being involved," Theo whispered back, his voice sleepy but intense. "I already told you that I won't let you get involved."

I rolled on to my back and stared up at the blank ceiling. There was some shifting and shuffling from the room next to mine, and I felt my breathing hitch as I worried that we had made too much noise. Nothing seemed to follow after that, though, and I felt myself relax again.

"But how will you make sure I'm not involved?" I asked Theo.

"Go to sleep, Rose."

And I thought that would have been the end of the conver- sation for the night. But then Theo raised his head to look at me once again, mischief lacing his features. "Unless you want me to join you up there?"

I was grateful for the darkness – as Theo couldn't see how red my cheeks flared. "Of course I don't!" I snapped, but I felt a flutter in my stomach.

"Are you sure?" His grin widened, and he sat up further. "Because I've heard that a lot of people who have insomnia often only need a snuggle buddy –"

"A snuggle buddy?" I felt myself laugh. "What are we, five years old?"

Theo snorted. His messy bedhead curls fell on to his face as he moved around in the sleeping bag to find a new comfortable spot, but I could still see his eyes, and the wicked glint he held in them.

"Well, I'm just saying. The floor isn't exactly comfortable."

"Doesn't seem to me like you've got any other options," I cut him off flatly. "Goodnight, Theo."

Theo was still grinning when his head hit the pillow and his eyes closed automatically. "Goodnight, Rose," he mumbled back, before I watched him fall straight back to sleep once more, leaving me to stare into the darkness on my own, even more wide awake than before.

The next day was filled with lies.

The first lie occurred literally just after I woke up. My parents were still home when I got up, both of them dressed for work as they struggled together to make breakfast for us all. I had to make up a lie about being starving when I was too nervous to even eat a single bite myself, just so I could get some food into the napkin that was grasped in my hands under the table and bring it up to Theo afterwards.

After that, it was just more and more lies – so many that my brain was already starting to ache from the worry about all the ways this could go wrong. And none of it was for my benefit either.

It was all for Theo.

"If you want to call it quits, Rose," he had said softly earlier that morning, "if helping me gets too much for you, just say the word and I'll be out of here in five minutes."

But I knew I couldn't do that. I knew that whatever had made me open the door to Theo, whatever had made me agree to let him stay, hadn't disappeared overnight. He was desperate, I could see that. But part of me wanted him to stay so that I could help him, so that I could find out what he'd done. I wanted to understand him. And so the lying continued on throughout the day.

I'm sure I looked exhausted as I entered my house after a long day of school and helping with the search for the missing boy who was currently sitting in my bedroom. I'm sure I looked as awful as I felt, but Theo didn't comment as I opened the bedroom door.

"You all right?" he asked instead, his features laced with concern.

He was sitting on his sleeping bag and had clearly just show- ered, as his wet hair was dripping. My television, which was attached to the wall, was turned on, and he held a book, which he must have plucked off my bookshelf earlier.

"Fine," I replied curtly, not bothering to look at him as I headed over to my wardrobe and pulled out a towel.

He dropped the book onto my bedside table, stood up and lingered on the spot for a second, looking sheepish. "You know, you don't have to keep searching for me –"

"I do," I cut him off. "If I stopped helping the others search for you, they'd know something was up."

"I know," Theo replied, his voice quiet. "I just ... never mind."

I didn't bother trying to pick up on where he had left off, instead going over to one of my drawers and pulling out a new bottle of shampoo. I slung my towel over my shoulder and finally turned around to look at him properly. "I'm going to have a shower. Do you need anything before I go in there?"

He shook his head, and with that, I walked briskly out of my bedroom and into the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it for a moment, letting my eyes close as I took a chance to catch my breath. The fatigue was slowly settling in, and already one day of carrying around this secret had ruined my mood.

I could barely stand up in the shower, my feet constantly slipping on the wet tiles. I blindly stumbled back out again and wrapped a towel around me before heading back out to Theo in my room.

His eyes widened when he noticed I hadn't yet got changed, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'll just go in there to give you some space," he barely managed to say before he sprinted to the bathroom.

My cheeks reddened as I snapped back to my senses, and I quickly grabbed the first appropriate clothes that I found in my wardrobe and shoved them on, calling out to Theo when I was decent. He slipped back into the room, his cheeks a cute shade of pink.

"What do you want for dinner? I can cook for the both of us," I said, stifling a yawn as I headed over to my door to go back downstairs.

Theo stepped in front of me, placing a hand on each of my shoulders and walking me backwards towards the bed. "You need to sleep, Rose," he said.

I tried to move sideways but he grasped tighter.

"I'm fine. Seriously, Theo."

"No, you're not," he mumbled, holding my gaze.

I protested half-heartedly under my breath as he led me over to my bed and sat me down on it. Calm and firm, he lifted my legs up onto the mattress so that I was lying down.

Theo was a boy I felt like I barely knew and yet there he was, gently putting my pillow under my head and covering me up with one of my blankets. "What are you doing?" I asked sleepily, already feeling myself start to drift off.

"Helping you out," Theo said gruffly, as he reached over to cover my shoulders with the top of the blanket. "It's the least I can do considering all that you've done, and are doing for me right now."

I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a struggle to keep a grip on everything that was going on around me, but I managed a dozy smile as I looked up at him. "Thank you."

And, as I started to fall further and further, I could still sense that Theo hadn't moved from where he was standing. He was there next to me, and I drowsily wondered whether he was watching over me, making sure I was actually going to go to sleep. It made me smile because, even though it was a small gesture, it showed to me that Theo actually cared, and that mattered to me more than I thought it ever would.

END OF SAMPLE

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