Love Thy Neighbour *editing*

"Nah, he puts too much sugar in it."

"Evie's home!" Tommy shrieked through the house. He had been waiting behind the door so when I had opened it, I had inadvertently squished him. Served him right for standing there.

"Thanks, Tom," I grumbled. I made a beeline to my room, eager to get out of last night's clothes but my mum stood in my way, her arms folded across her chest.

"Where were you last night?" she asked. Oh for the love of God; spare me the worried mother routine. I had done without it for years. She sure knew how to pick her moments.

"At Sian's," I replied in a heartbeat. I knew that she would believe that; I blamed Sian for everything in this house.

"Try again, Evie," she said, taking a step towards me. "But Sian phoned at three in the morning asking if you were here."

I could have throttled her. I wasn't in the mood for being interrogated. If she even knew about the night I had had...If she knew about the night I had had, she would have grounded my sorry, and slightly self pitying, ass. Instead, I just stood staring at her. Things were so much easier when she was drunk; getting out of trouble, getting money, permission...why the hell did she have to be sober now?

"So, I'll ask again," she said, right in my face. "Where were you last night?" Excuses chased each other around my head. Slept on a bench? Bus stop?

"Kai's," I said, wrinkling my eyebrows. "I stayed on Kai's couch." Kai's? What sort of a lie was that? She was never going to buy it.

"Really?" mum asked. I nodded earnestly.

"Oh."

What was this? She was believing me? I could have danced. Well, we all knew that Kai was going to come out of the closet any time soon, so she couldn't think that I had spent the night having raging, rough sex with him.

The truth was much worse and much closer to home.

"So can I go and clean up?" I asked. "Only I really need a shower." Mum nodded and went back into the kitchen. That was it? That was my monumentous victory? Yes! I was about to go up the stairs when Tommy made a small nose behind me.

"I saw you coming out of Niall's house," he said in a quiet voice.

Ah, shit.

"Did you?" I groaned.

"What were you doing?"

Lies, lies, lies.

"I just popped in for a coffee," I said. I was surprising with this sudden ease at lying. Normally when I told a whopper like this, I went bright red and started laughing. Now, they seemed to just spin off of the tip of my tongue.

"Does he make good coffee?" Tommy asked, picking at the wallpaper.

"Nah, he puts too much sugar in it." At least that part was the truth. Tommy seemed to accept this and he walked back towards his bedroom. I sighed with relief and went up the stairs. That had been too much thinking for such an early morning and such a bad hangover. I really needed painkillers.

I changed out of my dress and threw it into the washing basket. In jeans and a jumper, I flopped down on my bed and reached for my phone, which I had forgotten to take the night before.

15 missed calls and 34 new text messages. Some of them were from mum but most of them were from Sian. The text messages were all along the lines of, "Where the fuck are you? You'd better call me NOW!!"

I rubbed my eyes. Not only was my love life appalling, I doubted that I would have any friends by Monday. Sian sure knew how to hold a grudge. At least with Jen and Veronica, they just let it slide. I was officially the worst best friend in the world.