At school the next day, Ellie wasted no time in getting me alone during our lunch-break to interrogate me. We'd eaten lunch with our other friends, including Zoe, and then Ellie had dragged me away from everybody to one of our study rooms.

"Right." Ellie shut the door behind her, scanning the room to make sure no one was in it. "Sit."

I laughed but perched on the edge of one of the tables, Ellie taking a seat on the table opposite. "I knew this was coming."

"Well, of course you did." She gestured with her hands. "Go."

I knew what she meant. "I don't even know where to begin."

"Just... from whenever you realised you liked Joseph," she told me, folding her arms and waiting.

I gave her a faint smile but began to talk. I explained the late nights we had together, the way Joseph helped me, the jealousy, the almost kisses... but I left out parts, too. Like Joseph's art. That was his and his alone, and I would never share it with anybody unless he wanted me to. I told Ellie about my breakdown that now seemed so long ago, and how Joseph had comforted me. I told her about how hurt I was when I discovered Millie in his shirt at the Moore's house. I told her about the argument Joseph and I had had following that, how we made up, how we'd been so close to kissing that night but I couldn't – because of Harry. I told her about the first time Joseph slept in my bed, and how he told me he was jealous of Harry, and how Harry guessed there was something between Joseph and me when I ended things with him. I told her how I danced around Joseph in my underwear on that drunken night, and she burst out laughing at that. I told her what I said to Joseph at the wedding, when I asked him why he hadn't kissed me yet, and I told her how I marched to his room at the end of the night. Our story was a long one, and it had only just begun.

"Wow," Ellie said with a long exhale after I'd finished. "I mean, wow. Bloody hell." She ran a hand through her hair. "So much has happened. And Alice has no idea?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." I paused. "Ellie, I feel really bad for asking you to keep this from her. It's not fair on you."

She frowned slightly. "Honestly... I don't mind. Friends keep secrets from friends. I mean, she's kept secrets from us. We can't always know everything about each other."

That was true. I was aware of secrets I was keeping from them. Things I hadn't even told Joseph. "Did Sam say anything about it?"

She shook her head. "Boys are oblivious. I think he has an inkling, but he's keeping it to himself. Smarter than he looks."

I chuckled.

"Ana..." She reached forward and touched my hand. "I know it's not fun keeping secrets from our closest friends. But... Joseph makes you happy, right?"

I nodded once.

"And you, more than anybody I know, deserve to be happy." Ellie was not one to often talk about feelings, so when she did, it was... deep. Sincere. "And I don't want that ruined by Alice knowing. I don't know how she'd react, but for now... it's between us."

I smiled gratefully, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ellie." I bit at my bottom lip. "He really does make me happy."

Ellie grinned. "Well, good. I mean, the way you talk about him... you're practically glowing, Ana."

"I've never felt like this before," I admitted. "Never."

She paused, furrowing her eyebrows at me. "Ana..." Her face was scrutinising. "Ana, do you love him?"

Was it that obvious? I looked at her for a moment, pressing my lips together. Finally, I said, "Yeah. I do."

Ellie's eyes widened slightly, but then she smiled. "Wow."

"I don't know if it's too soon, but..." I shrugged. "I do. I am... I'm in love with him. I know it for sure."

Ellie thought for a moment. "I don't think it's too soon. I mean, there's not exactly a time constraint on when you fall in love. You can't help it. Plus, you guys have been living together for, what... three months?"

"Yeah."

She raised an eyebrow suggestively at me. "Anything happen last night?"

I let out a dramatic sigh. "No. I mean, I slept in his room, but we were too worried about someone hearing. Plus, it just felt a little weird, having sex in the same house as his parents."

Ellie wrinkled her nose. "That does sound a little weird." She gave a casual shrug. "Oh well. You'll just have to wait for an empty house."

I groaned. "That's going to be difficult. It was hard enough last night."

She snorted. "Ana the horndog. Who would've thought?"

My mouth dropped open. "I am not a horndog."

"Yes you are. At least when it comes to Joseph." She pointed at my face. "You've got this lusty look on you."

"I do not." My voice was full of indignation, but I was holding back a laugh. "Okay, maybe I do. It turns out I have very little self-control."

Ellie was snickering. "You have no idea how happy this makes me. Let me know when you and Joseph start getting kinky."

I hit her arm and blushed. "What, wanna offer me tips?"

"Well, sure. I won't lie and say that Sam and I don't get kinky."

"I'm so glad you told me that."

"You are so very welcome."

Later on in the day, I was sitting through a particularly boring English class, practically falling asleep. Sam was sat next to me, his head resting on the desk as he doodled on some paper. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I glanced cautiously up at my teacher, Mrs Evans, to make sure she wasn't paying attention to me. I held my phone under the desk, reading the message I'd just received from Joseph. I'd taken the initiative a couple of weeks ago to put my number in his phone, but we'd never texted each other until now. I held back a smile when I read the text.

Empty house. Fancy skipping school for a bit? Xx

I rolled my eyes and my stupid heart fluttered at the kisses. I carefully typed back:

Sounds v appealing. But showing up to my lessons = getting into uni, so I'm gonna have to say no xox

It took about two seconds for him to respond.

We'll make it quick, I swear xx

The audacity.

I'm sure – but it's still no xox

Not that I didn't want to immediately rush home to see Joseph. Because I did. And his next text made me want to even more.

But I'm shirtless and I know how fond you are of my abs :) xx

Imagining Joseph sitting in his room shirtless was not helping my self-restraint. I took time to craft my response.

Just picture me in my red underwear until I get back xox

I smiled at the teasing message I'd sent. This flirting over text felt so fun and normal. It was also making me feel a little bit flushed and hot.

You're killing me, lily xxxx

I almost laughed out loud.

"Liliana?" A stern voice came from the front of the classroom and I snapped my head up to see Mrs Evans glaring at me from beneath her glasses. "I hope you are not on your phone."

The people in my class – including Sam – turned to look at me, and I felt myself go red. But I said calmly and confidently, "No, I'm not." I casually slid my phone back into my pocket without her noticing. Then I gave her a winning smile.

Mrs Evans' frown didn't relent but she let it go – or maybe she didn't, as she put me in the spot later in class, making me analyse a piece of literature in front of the class. Luckily, I was pretty good at English, so I had no problem doing that.

As we left the class, Sam walked next to me and nudged me with his elbow. "Who were you texting, hmm?" He raised a suggestive eyebrow at me.

"Nobody," I said breezily.

He poked my cheek. "So you were smiling at your phone for no reason at all?"

I shrugged. "I was just... scrolling through Instagram. Saw some funny posts."

Sam shook his head at me. "Well of course you did. Except I also saw you typing."

I just shrugged again. "I don't know what to tell you, Sammy boy."

He grinned at me. "Okay, okay. But also, I'm sure whoever you're texting will appreciate a nude."

I hit him on the shoulder, and not lightly.
"Ow! Fine, I'll stop. For now." And he all but ran away to his next class before I could hit him again.

I was far too excited to get home at the end of the day, and Alice looked at me in confusion as I jumped into the car enthusiastically.

"What? It's been a boring day. I'm ready to get out of here," I said innocently as I put on my seatbelt.
"Tell me about it. I got shouted at by Mr Robinson because I left my homework at home." Alice pouted as she drove out of the school car park.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "And did you?"

"Well, not exactly. I may have not done it. It's been a busy weekend," she protested, which, to be fair, it had been.

When we got home, Mark was still at work, Catherine was talking to someone on the phone and Joseph was nowhere to be seen. A quick trip upstairs told me that he wasn't in his room, either. I shook off my disappointment – he would be back later. Meanwhile, Alice and I worked on our homework together in the living room, Alice complaining about how much maths sucked.

Come dinner time, Joseph still wasn't back. Alice asked Catherine where he was, but she just replied with, "He said something about going to see friends. But you know Joseph."

I tried not to let it irritate me how little Joseph's parents seemed to care about his whereabouts.

When everybody headed up to bed, I said I had a bit more homework to do. Catherine said to me gently, "Don't stay up too late, Ana."

I smiled and nodded.

An hour passed. An hour and a half. I became more and more worried about Joseph when he still didn't come back at eleven-thirty. I'd texted him a couple times, but there'd been no reply.

When it reached midnight, the door finally opened, and Joseph appeared. My heart sank with relief. He was okay.

I stood and Joseph noticed me, and his shoulders seemed to almost sag a little. What I noticed, however, was a purplish bruise beginning to form on Joseph's cheekbone.

I quickly went over to him, my heart beating faster. "Joseph... what the hell happened?"

He shook his head and said, "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're clearly not fine," I said, lifting a hand and brushing a light finger over the bruise. He winced and I snatched my hand away. "Did someone hit you?"

Joseph shrugged. "Only after I hit them first."

My mouth dropped open. "What? You hit somebody? Who?"

He averted his eyes. "It doesn't matter."

"Joseph." I rested my palm against the good side of his face, making him look at me, seeing the hardness in his face, in his eyes. "Who did this to you?"

Joseph just stepped closer to me and dipped his head down, resting his forehead against mine. "It doesn't matter. I'm fine now."

I put both hands on the side of his head and forcibly lifted his head up so I could look at him. "Joseph. Please tell me." My voice cracked slightly. I was so worried, but I also felt angry. I wanted to hurt whoever had hurt Joseph.

He sighed and pulled away from me, walking to the island and holding on to the edge of it. "You're going to be mad."

My heart dropped. Who could he have hit that would make me mad? Unless... "Joseph, did you punch Harry?"

I saw his shoulders tense up. "Possibly."

I sucked in a breath. "Why would you do that?"

"Because he's a dick," he said flatly, leaning against the counter as he turned to face me. "And he deserved to be punched."

"Why?" I urged. "Did he... say something?" When Joseph didn't answer, I carried on. "You could have been really hurt, I mean... what if he'd been with other people? What if you'd got beaten up? What if–"

"Lily." He pushed off the island and took my face in his hands. "He wasn't with anyone else. I'm fine."

I stared up at him, my eyes still wide with worry. "What did he say?"

Joseph frowned and grazed my cheek with his thumb. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," I insisted. "Was it..." I winced slightly. "Did he say something... about me?" God, that made me sound so self-centred. But Joseph's lack of reply was answer enough. "Joseph, if he said something about me, I want to know."

He shook his head and exhaled slowly. "Lily, I don't want to talk about it. You don't need to know."

There was pain in his eyes. Whatever Harry had said... it had really rattled him. So rather than nagging him anymore, I merely slid my arms around his waist and leant my forehead against his chest, hugging him tightly to me. After a moment he put his arms around me, resting his chin atop my head. I turned my face slightly, so my cheek pressed into his shoulder, and gradually, I felt Joseph's tensed muscles soften, and his arms tightened around me. We stayed like that for a while, until Joseph's ragged breathing had slowed slightly. I pulled back and, lifting a hand, gently, so gently, ran a finger over Joseph's bruise. He closed his eyes.

"Your family are going to notice," I murmured.

Joseph nodded. "It's fine. They won't care if I say I got into a fight."

I frowned and dropped my hand. "Joseph..."

"Trust me. They won't," he said curtly.

And the mystery continued. "Well, I care. And you should know that I would very much like to go and hit Harry right now."

Joseph's mouth twitched. "Is that so?"

"Yes," I said with a scowl. But then my face softened. "He – he hurt you. I hate seeing you hurt."

He didn't say anything but brushed a strand of hair back from my face and lowered his head, kissing me gently, softly. I leaned into him, being careful of his bruise.

"Come on." Joseph took my hand. "We should get some sleep."

I was tired. And so we headed upstairs to Joseph's room to sleep in each other's arms once more.