I had already guessed he was Brandon, when he opened the door, but just hearing the name pissed me off. I couldn't understand why he was here. He told Larissa he wasn't coming until next Tuesday.

"She's in the kitchen," he said, and led me into the room, as if I wouldn't have known where it was. "Babe, your friend's here."

She was standing at the sink, washing a load of plates and glasses from the party, and she looked annoyed. She was wearing fluffy pink pyjamas and she looked adorable.

"Hey, you really didn't need to come," she said.

"How you feeling now?" I asked.

"Not great," she laughed.

"That's probably because you decided to throw a party with a bunch of college kids, and now you've gotta clean all their shit up," Brandon said, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I've gotta take this."

He walked out of the kitchen, and I heard the front door shut, signalling that he had gone outside.

"What's he doing here? I thought he was coming next week?"

"So did I. Just after you called me, he appeared. I wish he'd go back," she moaned. "I just wanted to stay in bed."

"So go and get in bed," I said. "I'll finish up here."

"No, that's okay. I haven't seen him in two weeks. Maybe once I've cleaned up, we can actually spend some time together without him moaning."

I frowned at her. Brandon seemed like a dick before I met him, but now he seemed so much worse. I couldn't understand why he would be angry about her having a party.

"Okay, what can I do?"

"Nothing, Ivy. Really, you can go home," she replied.

I shook my head, then started to dry the dishes she had washed. She rolled her eyes jokingly at me, then thanked me.

"So how drunk was I?" She asked.

"I'm not even sure you wanna know the answer to that question," I laughed. "What do you remember?"

"The last thing I remember is sitting in the bathroom telling you I wanted to go to bed," she laughed.

I was disappointed that she didn't remember asking me to kiss her, but also a little relieved. I decided not to mention it to her.

"Well, after that, I helped you get upstairs, and you crashed. Then I kicked everyone out, and cleaned up a bit."

"I thought it was too tidy this morning!" She laughed. "Thank you for that. Did you leave the water and pills on my bedside table?"

I nodded, and she smiled at me gratefully.

"Babe, I gotta go back," Brandon shouted from the hallway.

"Are you joking?" Larissa said, wiping her hands on a towel, then walking out of the kitchen.

I continued to dry the dishes, and listened in on what they were saying. I'm glad he was leaving, but I knew Larissa was going to be upset again.

"You literally got here an hour ago," she said, raising her voice slightly.

"They need me back at the office," he said calmly.

"So you drove for two hours to get here, so that you could yell at me for having a party, and now you're leaving?"

"I didn't yell at you for having a party, I'm just pissed off that I come to see you, and your hungover and the house is a fucking state," he shouted.

"No, Brandon. You're just pissed because you thought my life started and ended with you," she argued. "I am allowed to have friends, I am allowed to have a party and be hungover, and leave the house a fucking state until I can be bothered to clean up."

"Whatever, babe. I'll be back next week."

I raised my eyebrows at his reaction. I heard the front door slam, and wondered whether I would find Larissa crying again. However, a few seconds later she walked back into the kitchen. She didn't look upset, she looked angry. I watched as she walked to the fridge, and took out two bottles of beer. She opened them both and took a sip of one, before passing the other to me.

"Really?" I laughed.

"Hair of the dog," she smiled, and took my hand.

She pulled me into the living room, and sat on the sofa, then grabbed the TV remote. I sat next to her, and she put her legs over mine, so she was lying down. I awkwardly put my hands on her legs, and avoided eye contact.

I wanted to run my fingers up her thigh, and I needed to hold tightly to my beer, to stop myself.

"What do you wanna watch?" She asked.

I quickly shook my thoughts, and turned to look at her.

"Anything, I don't mind."

"How do you feel about Harry Potter?"

"Only if you're willing to watch all of them in order," I laughed. She grinned and searched for the first movie.

We sat on the sofa for hours watching Harry Potter, and drinking beer. I spent more time sneaking glances at Larissa, than actually watching the movies. I had already seen them hundreds of times so it wasn't too important to me.

Larissa's phone buzzed, and she read a text message, then rolled her eyes.

"I'll be back on Tuesday, maybe you could actually try to talk to me this time, instead of yelling at me. I drove two hours to see you, and that was a really shitty thing to do," she read out loud.

"No offence, but your boyfriend is a dick," I said honestly.

"I'm starting to agree with you," she laughed. "I don't know what happened with him, he used to be so different. It just seems like he doesn't care any more. Honestly, I'm kind of glad he's taking his time moving here."

I frowned, and wondered why she would even stay with him, if she felt that way. I thought it was best not to ask her though.

"Do you want another beer?" I asked, and she nodded. I went to the kitchen, took out two more beers from the fridge, and opened them.

"Thanks," Larissa said as I handed her the beer. "Ivy, when was your last relationship?"

"I've never really been in one," I laughed.

"You're joking?"

"No, I've never had an actual girlfriend. It was difficult for me when I was living with my parents, cause they were really controlling. I could never take a girl home, and I couldn't go out, unless I was going to school or work. So after I moved out, I was already so used to one night stands, and not making any emotional connection, that I kept going that way."

She looked sympathetically at me, and I tried to avoid her eyes. I never really talked about my family with anyone before, other than Rob.

"Why couldn't you go out?" She asked.

"They didn't care whether I was at home or not, but my little brother had to take it all if I wasn't home, so I stayed for him," I answered, staring into space.

"You mean they..."

"They beat us, yeah," I said. "When my brother got taken into care, I ran away, and Tom took me in, and set me up at the coffee shop."

"What happened to your parents?" She asked.

"My dad went to prison, but came out last year. He took the blame for everything so my mum wasn't charged with anything," I told her.

"And your brother... have you seen him?"

"No, I wasn't allowed to. He turns sixteen in a couple of months, so he'll be able to contact me if he wants to."

Tears threatened my eyes, as I spoke about my brother. I didn't want to cry in front of Larissa. She saw me, and took my hand in hers. Our eyes met, and the butterflies returned.

"Of course he'll contact you, Ivy," she said, and I smiled. "I'm sorry that your parents are such horrible people. You deserve better than that."

I smiled at her, and turned back to the TV, not wanting to make her feel awkward. We were still holding hands, and I was confused as to why she hadn't taken her hand away. I couldn't pay any attention to the movie, I was concentrating too hard on not passing out. I wondered if she noticed that our fingers were still intertwined.

I decided to test it by moving my fingers slightly on the hand she was holding. She tightened her grasp slightly in reaction, and I could hear my heart pounding in my head. My eyes shifted slightly and I saw her looking at me from the corner of my eye. My head turned to face her immediately, and we were once again, looking into each others eyes.

She was looking at me like she wanted to kiss me. I was familiar with the look, I had seen it hundreds of times from hundreds of girls, but this time was different. This time, my heart felt like it could pop out of my chest, my head was ready to explode, and I was more nervous than I had been before. And this time, I couldn't make the first move. I tried that once before with Larissa, and it almost cost me our friendship.

My eyes lingered on Larissa's lips for a few seconds, daring her to kiss me. I could see her trying to figure out what was happening. Trying to work out whether she wanted to kiss me or not.

Finally, she decided. She slowly moved towards me, her lips parted slightly. I closed my eyes, after she closed hers, and I waited. I could feel her breath, her lips must have been only an inch away. When her nose touched mine, I got impatient, and closed the gap between us.