When Dad dropped her at home Alice waved bye and rushed into the house. After an unseasonably warm Autumn, the weather was just beginning to cool down and the first signs of frost were appearing, glittering the tips of lawns and the edges of car windows. A blanket of warm air enveloped Alice as she entered her home. She searched the house for Jamie and found him in his room. “That was a real dick move,” she scolded him, bursting into his bedroom without walking. “Learn to knock,” Jamie tutted. 

Alice hadn’t stopped thinking about Adam all day. Part of her felt stupid—for being so rubbish in bed and failing at the most basic of sexual positions. Yet, there was a part of her that was excited to try again. That initial feeling of him entering her was something she craved. Every time she thought about it, the craving deepened, leaving her sitting in class while uncomfortably wet. If she got any hornier, she ran the risk of ending up like the creepy kid who’d been caught masturbating in the toilets. After lunch, Alice met Ed and Joseph in Art class. Ed was giving details about his date, who was apparently the only woman in existence who lived for Warhammer and LARPing. She was hot, too, Ed explained, which was always a plus. 

‘Another Friday night alone,’ Alice sighed to herself. It wasn’t unusual. Ed was always dating, and Joseph had to work. Ed had invited Alice along on his night out with Carla—now his official girlfriend—but Alice didn’t want to feel like a third wheel. It was pointless to go in and pester Joseph at work on a Friday too, he was always run off his feet. She would be left sitting at the bar like a sad, lonely singleton, waiting for some man to come and sweep her away. The only men that ever approached her were too old, too drunk or just too gross. ‘I have to have some standards,’ Alice thought. ‘Veeery basic standards.’

Alice woke up from a nightmare in the early hours of the morning. For a brief moment, she had zero recollection of her whereabouts and panicked as she looked about the strange, dimly lit room. Hearing a soft snore, she reached down to feel Adam, who mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over. Alice immediately felt better. The monster from her dream-world suddenly seemed a lot less scary with Adam by her side. It was always weird waking up to a foreign room, especially one so dark. The only light came from the streetlamp outside, filtering through a tiny gap beneath the blackout blind. Though she wouldn&rsqu

Alice stared out of the window, mesmerised by the raindrops that made their way down the glass. Two drops would veer into each other, become one giant blob before splashing to the floor. ‘Sort of like people,’ Alice thought. Adam had been on her mind since the incident in his front yard. Seeing him fight—or rather—beat someone up had been eye-opening to say the least. She could tell herself it didn’t matter how he treated other people over and over, but somewhere deep inside herself, Alice knew it mattered. “Wake up,” Joseph said, poking her in the rips. “You need to get that beauty finished today, remember?”