‘What are you doing?’ he said, giggling.

‘Get in that shower. You stink of turps. You can’t sleep like that. The fumes will probably kill you.’

‘Nonsense,’ he barked before putting his own finger to his lips. ‘Shhh.’

Imogen shook her head and smiled. She stared at his jeans. He could take those off himself.

‘Take your trousers off and get in the bloody shower.’

‘Fine.’ Adrian fumbled at his flies and pulled his jeans down to reveal a pair of Spiderman underpants. He stepped into the shower and leaned against the wall.

Imogen watched for a few moments before she realised he may have actually fallen asleep in there.

‘For fuck’s sake.’ She kicked her shoes off and pulled her own jeans down. Yanking her jumper over her head, she decided she didn’t care if she got her tank top wet. She stepped inside the shower cubicle and turned the showerhead towards Adrian before turning the hot water off.

Adrian jolted awake with the feeling of the cold water against his back. He became breathless instantly.

‘What are you doing? Turn it off!’ He shrunk into the corner of the shower.

Imogen put the warm water back on and he relaxed again. She grabbed the shampoo and poured some onto Adrian’s head, then reached up and started to work the soap into a lather, trying to get rid of the smell of turps. The water was cascading between them, drenching her, and she leaned away to stop it from going in her mouth. It occurred to her that she was half naked in the shower with him. It hadn’t even registered before, but here they were. Noticing this development made her instantly self-conscious. She looked at Adrian; he had obviously noticed it too, the drunken look replaced with another look altogether. Oh shit.

Imogen was confused. She had been thinking about Adrian a lot lately, not in the same way that she normally did. The accusation against him made her feel defensive of him, his loss made her feel protective of him. Concern for him had pushed most other things out of her mind; even her mother’s death had taken a second seat to Adrian recently. Not to mention the kiss, the kiss she had tried to push out of her mind a hundred times. Standing here, wet and half naked, his head in her hands, she realised that maybe she had feelings beyond anything she had admitted to herself before. He wanted to kiss her, she could see it, he couldn’t take his gaze away from her lips. She looked down at his hands to see that his fists were clenched. She pulled him forward, so the water washed the shampoo out of his hair, and he gasped for breath under the showerhead that beat down on his face. Imogen grabbed the shower gel and handed it to him.

‘You can do this bit yourself.’

She got out of the shower and grabbed a towel; they had already gone too far. She had slept with someone from work before and it hadn’t worked, not in the long term. She couldn’t risk losing her best friend over what could just be a desperate need for companionship. Losing a person you love made you feel your own mortality and the need not to be alone. She had lost her mother; he had lost Lucy. They had been through so much together already, and she couldn’t take a chance on something that may be fleeting.