I was relieved and disappointed as we scrabbled up from his living-room carpet, rearranging our clothes. I wanted him to want me to stay. I would’ve stayed all night, happily, if only he’d asked me one question about myself and listened to the answer. I put my coat on and hobbled into my shoes, and he laughed and provided his shoulder to lean on, while I hopped into them, our faces close. “You’re funny,” he said, briefly kissing me again, making me luminous with simper. “Come on, let’s go.”

The cold air calmed everything down, and Liam became Liam again. The boy I’d sat next to for a month in English. I asked him how he felt about Mike wanting him to join the band, and he spoke at length, with his arm around me, guiding me through the dark, about how he wasn’t sure he could do that to his existing band, but also how great Mike’s “work” was. I listened intensely, making encouraging noises.

We reached the end of my road, the houses still and sleeping in the cold night. I slowed my pace. “This is me.” I looked at my feet. “Hey, have you done the reading for English on Monday?”

He tilted his head, smiling. “Not yet. No.”

“Me neither.” We had so much in common, it was insane. “I should probably go in.” I waited for him to say, “No, stay, wait, I want to know everything about you,” but he didn’t.

“Yeah, man I’m tired.” He stretched up, revealing a bare line of skin under his T-shirt and my body throbbed with desire at the sight of it. He was so much sexier when I couldn’t touch him, couldn’t be touched in return. “Thanks for coming to the gig.” He moved his face toward me and I stared into his eyes. He looked at my lips, before bringing his head down to kiss me, and I kissed him back feverishly, our hands all over each other’s backs, bodies pushed together. Then he pulled away and winked one beautiful green orb. “See you at college on Monday.”

I watched him walk through the smudges of orange streetlight, his figure turning dark navy, to orange, and back to navy again. I touched my lips, which still fizzed with desire. I waited until he’d turned the corner before I squealed and hugged myself, jumping with joy on the pavement. I pulled my mobile phone out from my jeans pocket and sent a message to Liam right away.

Fern: Thanks for walking me. Great gig! Great night! C u on Mon x

Liam didn’t reply until the next morning, when I was about to ring Jessica to give her a giant debrief:

Liam: Hey. Just worried i gave u wrong idea. Im not looking 4 a relationship right now. We can still b mates tho, yeah?