At the top of the stairs, Steph looked at a bunch of photos blu-tacced to the wall. The three lads were popular; no doubt about it. Every photo showed at least one of them with a gorgeous girl or four.

She started to walk down the stairs, looking at all the photos as she did. As she reached the bottom, she noticed a small silver frame next to the phone; Inside of which was a photo of Charlie, Matt, James and a girl she'd seen in a few other photos. She looked familiar from somewhere else, although she couldn't place it. She was tall, stunning, with long brown hair and a belly button piercing. Charlie had his arm around her. Obviously a girlfriend-once upon a time, anyway. A close one, if he'd bothered to keep the picture in a frame, and not just stuck to the walls.

She put it down on the table, and headed for the living room. She heard them speaking.

"You are joking me mate?!" She could hear Matt talking. "You kissed her?!" She frowned. They were talking about her. "You kissed her? But what about-"Charlie interrupted him.

"Its over. Dead. I don't want her back�"

"Alright mate� your decision." James carried on strumming the guitar softly. "Gotta say, mate� Great choice!" He chuckled. Steph smiled. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass. She ran the tap, and filled the glass. She walked into the living room. The conversation stopped.

"O�K� quietness. Should I be paranoid?" She walked over to her seat next to Charlie, and sat down. She smiled at him. He turned to her and smiled back. He cleared his throat, and as though on cue, James stood up.

"Matt? Come give us a hand turning the washing machine on, will you, mateage?" He walked towards the kitchen door, and stared at the bleached guitarist.

"What?!" He looked puzzled, but Charlie's glare put him back in the picture. "Oh, erm, right mate. Coming�" He followed James through the door, and closed it firmly behind him.

"OK� now I am feeling paranoid" Steph sat up straight in her chair, and looked at Charlie. "What's going on?"

"Erm, well�" He blushed, and cleared his throat again. "Well. I�I" He sighed.

"C'mon� spit it out! You're making me nervous, Charlie�"

"I like you." He blurted out. "What happened upstairs, I wanted it to go further� but then you told me all about your scumbag of an ex- and then I was worried that you'd want to get back together with him and that I'd end up being some big mistake that you'd regret as soon as-" She cut him off. She pulled him towards her and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I'd never regret anything to do with you." She whispered. "I can't believe I'm saying this to someone I've just met�but, I've never met anyone like you before." She kissed him gently again. "I've never met anyone so perfect before�"

With that, he kissed her again. More passionately than before. He put his arms around her and pulled her close. He ran his fingers through her hair. She stood up, and pulled her up with him. She walked towards the door, and opened it, leading him by the hand.

"Oh Shit!! Matt!!" She screamed, as she was greeted by two falling bodies. "James?! What's going on!?" She stared at the two guys who lay on the floor.

"You nosey little shits�." Charlie threw a pillow at James' head, as he started laughing on the floor. Matt stood up, and laughed.

"Sorry, mateage� but c'mon, you can't expect us to ignore something like that" He pulled James up on the floor. "And anyway. We're gonna give you two some space to make up for it. We're off down the pub."

* * * * * * * * *

"Oh, J� do we have to go in? You know I hate bloody karaoke night... It's full of muppets who think they're great�" Matt stared at the chalk board sign outside the pub.

"Well have you got any better ideas? I don't fancy being at home while those two are there�" James pushed the door open, and walked into the bar. It was half empty- as usual on the karaoke night- and they easily found a table.

"I'll get the drinks in.. What you want, mateage?" James put his phone on the table, and took his wallet out of his pocket.

"Anything mate�" Matt sat down. "Not bothered�" James headed towards the bar, and started talking to the barman. Matt sighed and stared at the ceiling.

"Looks like you want to be here as much as me" He jumped up in his seat, startled by the voice. He stared at the girl who had spoken.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt�" She started to walk away.

"No, no, I didn't mean that." He called after her. She turned back around. "I just wasn't expecting anyone to talk to me�" She smiled at him.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked, softly. "It's just, I'm here with my mate and her boyfriend... I'm feeling like a bit of a third wheel, if you know what I mean�" She pointed to a couple on the other side of the room, who were holding hands and whispering to each other. Matt grinned.

"Sure. I'm Matt, by the way." He pulled a chair out for her to sit down on. She sat down, and smiled at him.

"Casey." She placed her bag on the floor, and looked up at him again.

"So what are you doing here? You already said you were bored outta your brains�" She smiled at him. Matt sighed again.

"Oh, one of my roommates got his girlfriend at home, so me and Jb have escaped for a bit�" As though on cue, James placed two glasses on the table, and placed his change alongside. He looked at Casey.

"Hi," He smiled. "I'm J-"She finished his sentence for him.

B?"

James laughed.

"Yeah. Jb, James, Jim... I go by anything, really."

She smiled at him again, and then turned to Matt.

"So, your other mate has a girlfriend� what about you two? I can't imagine either of you being single�" She looked at James, then back at Matt.

"Erm� well, we've been busy working at the minute." James looked away shyly.

"Oh, yeah?" Casey smiled again. "What do you do?"

"We're in a band" Matt grinned.

"Oh... that explains your hate for karaoke then�" She giggled. She brushed her long brown hair from her face, revealing her deep brown eyes again. Matt and James laughed.

"Yeah," James chuckled. "Something like that� Although Matt doesn't mind a bit of karaoke�He just doesn't like people knowing it"

Matt punched him on the arm.

"Shut up�" He laughed. "You know its you who has the karaoke love affair�Honestly, you haven't lived till you've seen James do "I Will Survive" or "Mrs Robinson" down at the Finchley arms�" He laughed. This time it was James who threw the punch, directed at Mattie's arm.

"Really?!" Casey grinned. "I'd like to see that�"