Laura

"What the hell do you mean you won't?"

"She doesn't need to know. Not yet."

"Or until you can find some way to chicken out, right?" Courtney narrowed her eyes at me.

"I just need some time to come to terms with it," I said, excusing myself. Courtney's suspicious and oddly angry expression didn't fade.

"You're going to regret it." She told me sternly. "I waited. And Thomas waited. We nearly lost each other because both of us were too cowardly to admit how much we needed the other. Surely you remember the weeks after he broke up with me?" I did. She had been a complete mess. She'd refused to go to work and had lived off ice cream, pop tarts and copious amounts of coffee. "You want to end up like that?" She snapped, her hands on her hips. I shook my head meekly. "Then tell her!"

I sat silently on the sofa and realised I'd just been put in my place by a five foot nothing petite woman with less strength than my one year old nephew. Needless to say I felt tiny.

"Are you gonna order pizza?" My best friend asked, sticking her head out from the kitchen she'd retreated to post lecture.

"When Lilly arrives."

"That better be soon, I'm starved." Courtney complained, flopping down on the couch beside me.

"You ate half the contents of my fridge, how can you still be hungry?"

"Hollow legs," she grinned.

"That doesn't even make sense," I shook my head at her weirdness.

"Hiding how you feel doesn't either." I wished she hadn't brought that back up but, in the first spot of good luck I've had in a while, someone was at the door. I went to answer it with Courtney's words of advice floating after me. "Don't leave it too long. She won't wait forever."

The familiar blonde hair and bright blue eyes of the woman standing on my front step comes as a relief. What can Courtney say in front of her? She may be a pain but I knew my best friend would never reveal anything unless I was comfortable with it. She kept my lesbianism a secret for years while I tried to face telling my parents.

"Can I come in?" Lilly asked, shivering slightly in the cold.

I pulled her in by her arm and hugged her tightly; to warm her up again.

""Laura's girl!" Courtney screeched, tugging her out of my arms and hugging her tightly. "Hey, sweetie. How are you? Let's go in here. You look freezing, are you cold? Do you want some food? I think we're getting pizza...." She led Lilly away and I rolled my eyes as I closed the door. When I went through to where they were sitting, Courtney had Lilly pretty much in her lap and was talking her ear off about how she once got a cold so bad she convinced herself she had pneumonia. She still, to this day, believes it.

I slumped onto the sofa beside the two of them, listening as Courtney babbled on with occasional input from Lilly. Before long it got to conversation about our relationship, as it was always bound to with Courtney around, and I quickly decided it was time to order some food.

"Is ham and pineapple okay with you guys?" I asked, dialing the number of my favourite pizza place. Their dough tasted amazing, it was super fluffy but still crunchy too. I had no idea how they did it but it kept me coming back. With assent all round I ordered the food.

When it was done there were no more ways to hide from my best friends assault and Lilly and I were given the third degree. We were only saved when the pizza guy arrived and Courtney launched herself off the couch to answer the door.

"Sorry about that," I whispered, nudging my girlfriend gently. "She gets over-excited easily."

Lilly chuckled, "it was nothing. At least she didn't get too personal."

"Yet," I added and she laughed then gently kissed my cheek.

"Then we'll tell her something to remember." She winked, then kissed me properly.

"Woah, sorry!" Courtney yelled, "keep your clothes on, for Heaven's sake!" She shielded her face behind the pizza box. Lilly laughed beside me, her cheeks only slightly red. I was glad to see she was fairly comfortable with my best friend already.

"We were just kissing." I said, laughing slightly.

"Didn't look like that to me!" Courtney argued.

"Well, we're decent anyway. Don't let the pizza get cold." At the mention of the food Courtney dropped her act and bounced onto the seat between us, shoving us apart. I tutted slightly and the dark haired woman sent an innocent smile my way. Then she tore apart the box to get to the pizza. Her love of food was unreal. She handed each of us a slice before launching into a story about how some guy broke into her house to steal her pizza. I was certain it was completely made up but Lilly was wrapped up in it, watching Courtney with wide eyes, forgetting to even eat her food.

"Courtney," I pushed her when she started telling us he had held her at gun point until she picked all the peppers off. "Shut up."

"What?" She whined. "It really happened!"

"What happened next? Bruce Lee burst into the house and saved you but, oh my god, he just wanted some pizza too."

"No," Courtney sulked. "That's just stupid." I couldn't help laughing then and quickly both of us were in stitches. That was until Lilly started to scream.

"Babe," I was by her side in a split second and peered into her face. "What's wrong? What happened?" Her entire body shook and her breath came in raspy gasps. Her face was as white as a sheet, her eyes were huge from fear and shining with tears. She raised a shaking hand slowly and pointed to the window.

"There was someone there," she said in a whisper that was barely audible. "Looking in."

"Sweetie, maybe my story just made you imagine it? It was made up anyway and I'm s-"

"No." Lilly cut Courtney off. My best friend and I were both so tuned to my girlfriend that we heard her quiet whisper with no effort.

"Who was there?" I asked. "Was it Caitlin?" A slight shake of the head. "Did it look like a woman?" Another shake. "Do you know the person?" There was a tiny nod now. "Who was it, Lilly? Who did you see?"

"It's impossible." My girlfriend drew her knees up to her chest and huddled into me. "I'm imagining things."

"What are you imagining, babe?" She didn't reply. Her breathing slowly became less like pants and her body stopped trembling like a leaf. "Baby?" I prompted.

"It was ... nothing. I must have imagined it." She pulled away from me, sitting properly and grabbing herself another slice of pizza. "Sorry for ruining the mood." Courtney and I exchanged a look of complete confusion, then she shrugged subtly at me before turning her attention to my girlfriend and talking to her.

Later, as Courtney and Lilly were leaving - Lilly had offered Courtney a ride home - I stopped Lilly in the doorway.

"Are you alright about the whole ... you know?" I gestured with my hands wildly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," my girlfriend replied, not directly meeting my eyes.

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure I could get someone over to check it out; given recent events."

"Just, leave it, okay?" Lilly turned away from me. "It was nothing."

I grabbed her arm before she could leave, "at least tell me who you thought you saw." She twisted her head round to meet my eyes and raised her eyebrows.

"I thought I saw Harry." There was a beat of silence. "See? Impossible." I watched as she walked over to the car, climbed in and met my eyes before backing out. I followed the vehicle down the road with my eyes, until it was out of sight.

Then I rushed inside and grabbed a flashlight. It seemed far flung and I knew I'd probably find nothing but I had to know. I couldn't risk ignoring this and it ending up being an early warning sign for something being wrong with my girlfriend.

I carefully walked around to the back of my house, where the living room window was. The area just before the window was sheltered by some trees and they loomed overhead in the dark, drowning any stars in their shadow. Their branches seemed to reach out for me and clung to my sweatshirt as I skirted around them. An owl hooted loudly and I shivered, suddenly wishing I'd thought to put on coat. I wasn't afraid of the dark but something about this whole thing felt off.

I shone the beam of the flashlight around the edge of the last tree, directly onto the ground in front of the window. My eyes widened and I gasped loudly. There, right in front of my eyes,was a pattern of crushed grass that could only be described as shoe prints.

I moved closer and crouched down, examining them. The prints were big, larger than mine. They were almost certainly a man's.

I stared at them disbelievingly then stood up quickly and scanned the surrounding area with my torch. Not far from the original prints I found another, of only one shoe this time. It was deeper than the two before. This must have been after Lilly saw the Peeping Tom and he decided to scarper. Running would have certainly left a deeper imprint.

Another print followed, and another after that, then three more before the grass ended and became sidewalk. There had either been a car waiting or our mysterious visitor had legged it down the street.

I followed the prints back slowly, retracing them a couple of times until I was certain I hadn't missed anything.

Then I went inside and wondered what on Earth I was supposed to do.

There had been someone there, just like Lilly said. Only the person she thought she saw was dead. What was going on? And who the hell was peering inside my window?

A/n: Ooh, some mystery. Sorry this chapter has taken so long, my excuse is homework. I've had a lot of assignments to do recently and Wattpad had to take the backseat for a while. It killed me, I swear. Anyway, I have noticed that I really need to edit this book (as well as get a better memory). I have two options for you all. I can either edit the book over the next few months and make sure everything is as good as it can be before I try to finish it, or I can attempt to complete it as it currently is. It's up to you guys. Also, thank you all for getting me so close to a million reads. It really means the world to me and I can't believe anyone could sit through my babbling and pretense at knowing anything about ... anything really. I value every one of you who have put up with me for however long. It makes me really happy to know that people enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. You're all amazing. Have a great day.