*Josh POV*

It lasted for barely a second before she pulled away giggling. I raised an eyebrow at the girl who was staring at me with a wide smile.

"What.. Why did you do that, Brook?" I practically demanded to know. It wasn't every day my best mate's girl made a move on me. Especially a girl as drunk as she was.

"I had to know what it would feel like!" She replied. "I had to know what kissing Jo-Jo would be like!"

"And why would you want to know what that would be like?" I stuttered out nervously. Tonight was totally not going the way I expected.

"Because.. Because I'll never get to, uh, do it again!" She declared as she user her pointer finger and pushed it against my chest. She raised her eyebrows at me.

"Care to explain further?" I pushed.

"I.. I.. I'm tired." She sighed falling back onto her bed while giggling.

"Brook, you got to talk to me. You have a boyfriend. You can't kiss me like that." 

"But.. It's night-night time! G'night, Jo-Jo." Brook's eyes slid shut as she cuddled into her comforter.

"You better explain tomorrow, crazy girl." I sighed before double-checking she was comfortable. I walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind me.

~'~'~

"Hey, Josh! How you doin'? Enjoying the party?" Louis asked the second my feet landed in the living room.

"Yeah, yeah." I said distractedly, looking around the party-goers for Niall.

"What's up? You seem out of it." Louis tapped my shoulder, insisting I look at him. I turned to see his brown hair and bright blue eyes. He had one eyebrow raised. Louis had the exact same familiar facial structure that Brook did, something I hadn't really noticed before.

"Your sister.. She's in her room. She drank way too much. Uh, have you seen Niall?" I glanced around the room again, trying to avoid looking at the brother of the girl I just kissed.

"I should go check up on her, aye? And I think he may be out back, but I'm not sure. I'm gonna go make sure Brook isn't puking up her guts." Louis' hand clamped on my shoulder before he waltzed off.

I eyed the crowd once more before heading towards the patio. A few people stopped to talk to me but eventually I slid the glass door open and saw a flash of blonde hair sitting on a lawn chair and gazing out towards the backyard. I walked over and plopped down next to him.

"Hey mate." He nodded in acknowledgement of my presence.

"Hey. You okay?" I asked as I took in his appearance. He looked like he had been in the middle of some serious pondering. 

"Yeh, I'm fine. Just thinking, yenno." Niall shrugged, refusing to meet my eyes.

"About Brook?" I took a guess.

"Who else?" He chuckled, although there was no humor behind it. "I just feel like we're on a see-saw. We'll be getting along great, like everything's fine and it's the way it was before the accident. But then suddenly, she's stand offish and she stares at me like it's the first time she's ever seen me."

"I'm sorry." 

"It's not your fault. I just don't think anything is going to be the way it was."

Yeah, me neither.

~'~'~Brook POV~'~'~

My eyes peeled open, a headache pounding away inside my skull. I groaned as the sunlight hit my face. To make it worse, a knock sounded on my door. Within a few seconds the door swung open and a familiar drummer appeared.

"Good morning. I brought you coffee." He announced, handing over the cup of steaming hot liquid. 

"Uh, thanks." I gratefully wrapped my fingers around it and sipped.

"I'm really hoping you remember so you can explain. Do you remember what happened last night?" Josh inquired as he perched himself on the edge.

"Oh no, what did I do?" I asked, the hang-over worsening.

His face fell just a bit. "So.. You don't remember?"

"Well.." I strained to think of what happened the previous night. Memories of talking to Niall, having a drink, then another.. Niall saying he was going to get me some water, running into Josh.. "Oh God, I kissed you."

"You said you had a reason.." He trailed off.

"I did." I responded almost immediately, everything from the night before suddenly completely clear in my mind.

"Care you explain?"

"Josh.. Listen. In the last few days, I've been.. I don't know how to describe it. I think I liked you. You were there for me when I was having trouble, you listened to my problems.. I knew I could always count on you and I still can. I.. I know we can't.. I can't just leave Niall. Not after all we've been through. It would be way too hard on him and I really think I'm starting to fall for him.."

"But you wanted to know what it'd be like to be with me?" He guessed.

"Exactly. That's why I kissed you. I shouldn't have, but I was under the influence.." I joked lightly. "I'm really sorry. I didn't ruin anything between us, did I?"

"Of course not." He sighed, what seemed like relief washing over his features. "I was worried that this could all ruin what you and Niall have. What you two have is amazing. I really didn't want to be the one to ruin that."

"You're a really amazing guy, you know that? Any girl would be lucky to have you." I smiled at him.

"You're just as amazing as I am. Niall is a lucky lad. You two are incredible together. He really loves you." Josh reached over to give me a hug. I laid my head against his shoulder, thankful to have him there. Someone I could rant to, someone I could talk to about anything.

A true friend.