"It's okay."

More silence.

Then I felt his hand grab mine. He twisted my arm and, within a second, I was pulled up against his body. I blinked, wondering how he'd managed it so quickly.

"Anyway," he said, his eyes staring into mine, "if I have to share you all evening, I want to make the most of the time I do have alone with you."

And then he kissed me like I'd never been kissed before. He held my face as his mouth explored mine. I closed my eyes and focused on the sensation, as his other hand entwined with my hair. I heard myself gasp but it seemed from far away. My involuntary exclamation seemed to make Noah even more determined. He nibbled my lip gently, then breathed out heavily, and finally his tongue strayed into my mouth. I let out another moan and kissed him back, my fingernails digging into his back. Still kissing me, Noah picked me up and pushed my full weight against the door. If anyone walked past we would probably be arrested, but I didn't care. My brain had gone someplace else. Somewhere where there was only pleasure, only Noah. My hands were now greedily clutching at the back of his neck, pulling his mouth as close to mine as I could. His taste was intoxicating.

And then we were interrupted by a huge rumble of thunder that shook the glass in the door.

I pulled my face away and looked up at the sky. "What the hell was that?"

Noah looked up as well. "Looks like a storm."

The summery sky had all but disappeared in the time that Noah and I had been kissing. Only the smallest patch of blue remained. The rest of the sky was dominated by grey, ominous-looking clouds. The air fizzled with electricity and it had that weird iron-y smell you get just before a really huge downpour. Despite the sun being almost completely blocked, it still felt humid and sticky.

"That's weird," I said, extracting myself from Noah's grasp reluctantly. "I didn't hear there would be a storm today."

"It's probably been caused by all this hot weather."

"I suppose."

"As long as the rain holds off long enough for us to get to the pub." He took my hand, casually, like nothing had just happened.

"So you don't mind?" I asked. "You know, going?"

He shook his head and his dark hair flopped into his eyes. "Nah. It's fine. But promise we don't have to stay the whole night?"

I squeezed his hand. "I promise."

When we arrived we found everyone already there.

They were stubbornly sitting in the beer garden even though it was obviously going to piss it down. Ruth and her fiery hairstyle were squished next to Will. He was pawing at her eagerly, trying to pull her into him, but she seemed disinterested. She was facing the pub door, her eyes thin, as if she'd been waiting for our arrival. Amanda and Johnno were nestled comfortably together, talking quietly. This left all Johnno's mates with the task of impressing Lizzie, who didn't look particularly impressed. Johnno's friends were what we called Football Lads. Big on sport, not so big on anything, erm, academically challenging. Not her type at all.

The garden was relatively empty. Most people had probably clocked the sky and moved indoors. We walked outside, each holding a beer.

"Do you remember when we were both here last?" Noah asked, a smile playing on his face.

I thought of that hot sunny day, not so long ago, and shuddered at the memory.

"I was such a bitch." I shook my head.

"You weren't. Well, you were. But I kind of deserved it." Noah swept some hair away from my face. "I'm still embarrassed, you know? When I run through that speech I made about how there was obviously 'something happening between us'. You don't know how much I've tortured myself. I thought, at the time, it sounded really dramatic and cool. But looking back..." It was his turn to shudder. "...Well, it was just dead embarrassing."

I laughed. "We were both stupid. Let's just forget about it and condemn the memories to the cringe cupboards of our brains." I caught Ruth's eye and waved. She gave me a half smile. "Come on then. Let's get this over with."

We said hi to everyone and they chorused it back. Lizzie and Amanda got up to say hello to Noah properly.

"He's so FIT," Amanda whispered in my ear as she gave me a hug.

I waved to Johnno's mates, who I knew vaguely from college, and nodded to Will.

"Alright, mate?" Noah said to him. "You still on for rehearsal tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure, of course," Will replied, not paying much attention. He was squeezing some body-part of Ruth's under the table, but I couldn't make out which one. Her face didn't give anything away.

"Hi, Noah," she said, ignoring me. "Come sit by me. I've not seen you in ages."

So it was going to be like that then, was it?

"Alright, trouble?" Noah took the seat she'd saved. "Your hair is different."

"I got it done yesterday." She actually batted her lashes. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah sure, s'alright."

I slid in next to Noah, seething. I didn't feel I had the mental strength needed to get through the next hour or so, especially if Ruth was switched onto I-have-to-prove-he-fancies-me mode. I sipped my beer.

"Only alright?" Her voice was all high-pitched, and she playfully slapped Noah on the arm. "Come on. You can do better than that."

I stared into the depths of my bottle and pretended I wasn't there.

"Okay," Noah said. "It's lovely. Very good haircut. Well done."

"That's better."

"I love it. I told you that, didn't I, Ruth?" Will was eager to get involved. "Told you it made you look even more gorgeous, didn't I?"

Ruth ignored him and leaned in further towards Noah. "So you're a one-woman man now, are you?" She looked up at him from beneath her false eyelashes.

Noah took my hand and held it tight. I was so grateful for the reassurance that I could've licked him.

"I am indeed."

"That's a shame."

I gave Lizzie a look over the table. She, like everyone else, was witnessing this bizarre and entirely inappropriate flirtation. Lizzie raised her eyebrows in an I don't understand either way.

I mouthed the word "Help" across to her and she nodded.

"It really is such a shame," Ruth continued. "I heard you had quite the reputation..."

"RIGHT," Lizzie interrupted, in a scarily loud voice. "I'm bored. Let's play a game."

The attention shifted to her.

I mouthed to her again: "Thank you."

She winked.

"What kind of game?" one of Johnno's friends asked.

"Yeah, what kind of game?"

"Umm...er..." Lizzie stumbled. She'd obviously only got as far as "game" in her distraction-planning.

"I know," said Ruth, never missing a beat. "Let's play Never Ever Have I."

A groan escaped my mouth and I tried to turn it into a cough. Never Ever Have I was basically a drinking game where sexually experienced girls could further promote themselves while downing shots and coyly admitting to having al-fresco sex. While people like me, who'd only seen one penis and that was in a Year Nine sex education video, stayed utterly sober and felt awful about themselves.

"Eww, no," Noah said, thankfully. "Anyone have a pack of cards on them? We could play Ring of Fire?"

Amanda, being Amanda, produced a pack of cards from her bag.

"You're so organized," Johnno told her, his eyes full of adoration.

"I...I...I just keep them on me." She handed the cards over to Noah, who shuffled the pack. He put an empty beer glass in the middle of the table and arranged the cards in a circle, face down, around it.

"How do you play?" I asked.

"Be patient. I'll explain everything."

Ring of Fire was apparently a game you played to get righteously drunk. Noah assigned a "rule" to every card. If you broke a rule, you had to drink. And you kept picking up cards until the pack ran out. It was the perfect distraction from Ruth's psychotic behaviour. The rain clouds were still suspended above us, but didn't let loose. We remained outside in the clammy air, having a brilliant time.

I wasn't usually a binge drinker but I was so wound up I found myself on my fourth bottle of beer pretty quickly. In fact, most of us were getting through them fast. Amanda was very pink in the face and kept dropping her head to Johnno's shoulder before shooting upright in shock. Will was getting even letchier with Ruth, which wasn't being appreciated. She was drinking white wine and wasn't as tipsy as everyone else. She sat scowling, watching all of us having fun, and sneering a little. Lizzie had made a rule where everyone had to make an animal noise after they said anything. If you forgot, you had to drink. Crazy but hilarious. Everyone was mooing and baaing and our table was getting many disapproving looks from the few other customers in the garden who just wanted a nice quiet drink.

Noah seemed to be feeling the alcohol as well. He was getting progressively more affectionate. This normally would've bothered me, as we were very much in public. But four beers, it appeared, was enough to make me an exhibitionist. We weren't being disgusting. He just had his hand on my leg. Okay, it might've been moving higher up said leg, but was never allowed above mid-thigh. I wasn't Ruth, after all. My whole body tingled at his touch and the clouds got darker and more foreboding above us.

Another round later and I was undeniably drunk. I could feel my head swimming and was yelling "INK INK, THAT'S THE NOISE A SQUID MAKES", while laughing hysterically at myself. I would be embarrassed later, no doubt, but at that moment, I didn't care. Life was brilliant, perfect, and very, very funny although maybe only I understood the joke. I'd just plonked my beer bottle onto thin air and it had smashed on the floor, when Noah decided it was time to take me home.

He stood up. "Come on, clumsy," he said, taking my hand. "I think it's best you come with me."

"It's fiiiiiiine," I slurred. "I'll pick it up."

I swung down from the table towards the mass of broken green glass and tried to pick some up. Just as I was about to collect a particularly jagged piece, I found myself being hoisted upwards by Noah.

"I don't think that's the best idea, Poppy."

"It's fiiiiiiiine. I'm a very careful person."

"Leave it to the barman."

He stood me up carefully and I swayed and smiled at everyone a huge beaming smile. One of Johnno's mates looked a little frightened.

"Right, I'm off," I declared to my drunken friends.

"Reallysh?" Amanda asked, her head on Johnno's shoulder. "So schoon?"

I nodded and it took a moment for my head to recover from the movement. "See you at college tomorrow."

College. With a hangover. The thought pinged into my fuzzy brain but pinged right back out again.

Lizzie struggled to her feet to say goodbye. "Make sure she gets home safely," she told Noah. "Hang on, I'm supposed to make an animal noise. Hee-haw hee-haw! I'm a donkey!"

"Your friends are crazy," Noah whispered.

"I love them very much," I said, still swaying. I tried to say goodbye to Ruth. I was dimly aware that I was likely to say something I regretted, so I blearily picked non-offensive words as best I could.

"Bye, Will, bye, Ruth. Well, we gave your hair a good debut, didn't we?"

She smiled and replied to Noah instead. "Your girlfriend seems a little bit worse for wear. She never could handle her drink."

"HELLLLLLOOOOOOOO?" I yelled. "I am here. I can hear you, Ruth. With my ears. I have ears on my head. And they can hear you."

She ignored me like I was Will. "Well, I only hope she isn't sick on your shoes."

Noah took me by the shoulders and steered me away. I think he could sense my anger.

"She's fine. Come on, Poppy."

He walked me out of the beer garden as I waved backwards at everyone. Just as we left, I heard Amanda let out an almighty "NEIGH", followed by a startled hiccup.

It was still incredibly balmy as Noah and I made our way home. Being alone with him sobered me up a little. Only a little. I was trying very hard to walk in a straight line but it was somewhat of a struggle.

"You know what?" I asked, stumbling over my own feet and being corrected by Noah's strong arms.

"What?"

"I like you."

"Hmm. Well that's sort of how these things work, Poppy."

"You don't understand!" I was nestled under his arm, which didn't help the walking-straight process. "It's bad. I'm not supposed to like you. BAD things will happen. I don't let myself like people. Especially not boys like you. You're going to take my stupid little heart and do a poo on it."

Noah laughed. A lot.

"Well, that's a lovely image you've painted for me."

"Oh God. I just said the word poo, didn't I?"

"I'm afraid you did."

I hid further in him. "Well, that's done it now. You're definitely going to poo on my heart now that I've said the word poo. And now I keep saying it. Can I go home now please and DIE?"

Noah dug me out from his armpit and straightened me up.

"I can't take you home just yet. It's only 8 p.m. and I don't think your parents will approve if I bring you home wasted."