[[[all of your flaws]]] [[[part i]]]

25.

Dans friends were really nice. They had all been to university together, studying English literature, which explained all the books he had in the apartment. To begin with I felt awkward and like I couldn't join in with the conversation. They were all so much smarter than I and were clearly a close group. But after a little while I realised they were actually easy to talk to. And then they were asking how we met and I had taken Dans lead by not divulging much information.

'We know each other through, erm, work. I'm waiting for a house to come up and he's letting me stay on the sofa.' He'd said earlier that I was on the sofa. So we weren't mentioning the bed sharing thing.

'You're a brave girl, I've lived with this guy, he's not the best housemate. He's messy and lazy.' Sarah said loud enough for Dan to hear her across the room. He flipped her his middle finger.

'He's not too bad.' I defended him.

I helped Dan in the kitchen, taking out some pizzas and chips from the freezer and pouring glasses of wine.

'You ok?' He whispered as our backs were to the group. I nodded and smiled. 'Sorry about all this, I just forgot.'

'Its ok. I like your friends.'

'Good.' He beamed.

We had a really nice night. I mostly watched the conversations, the group reminiscing about past times and what they were up to now. They'd all gone on to do journalism and working for television company's. Ralph had done the same as Dan, going down the singing route.

'Why aren't you in a band together then?' I asked. I knew Dan needed bandmates.

'We had a difference of opinion.' Ralph laughed at some memory.

The drinks continued to flow and I watched as the group become merrier and louder. I'd stopped after the first glass of wine. I'd never actually been drunk before. I'd never been out for a night with friends. I'd never woken up with a hangover. I'd always been the one watching over Steven as he drank, getting more and more violent with each sip he took. I'd always needed to keep my guard up. I felt a little worried at first, what if everyone became rowdy after a few too many? But it was fun to see Dan enjoying himself. I liked how he laughed and smiled with his friends.

I started to yawn, not because I was bored, but because we'd had a pretty busy day of shopping.

'If you wanna go to bed, that's fine.' He told me. I could see Phil out the corner of my eye, watching us talk. 'I'll stay on the sofa.' Dan added. We had to keep up the facade that I was meant to be sleeping on the sofa. And not that we'd shared a bed for the last two nights. I felt a pang in my chest when he said he'd sleep on the downstairs.

'Night everyone.' I waved and they all said bye. I put on my new pyjamas, loving the fresh feeling and climbed into bed with a book.

Because of the mezzanine level, I could hear them all talking still, not that I was listening in on purpose.

'Shes really nice, Dan.' I heard Tom say.

'Yeah, she's sweet.' He agreed. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I made a point of covering my ears with the pillow. I didn't want to accidentally hear something I shouldn't hear. Annoyingly I no longer felt tired enough to sleep. But maybe that was because I didn't have Dan as my comfort blanket.

I don't know what time it was when I heard the front door shut and the voices stop. I was oddly nervous. I hoped Dan came upstairs. But then, we hadn't spoken about this. He shouldn't feel obliged to. I didn't want to force him into sharing a bed with me. One day I would have to sleep on my own.

I heard his steps on the stairs and my heart sped up a little. But then I had to remember that the one bathroom was up here too. He went in and shut the door. A minute later he came out and I heard his footsteps pause. It was the longest few seconds in the world before his steps came further into the room. I felt my body relax.

Wordlessly he got in beside me and I automatically cuddled into his side. His arm snaked around my shoulders and his hand rested on my hip.