p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"A large, ugly water stain was strewn across the crimson paint of Gemma's bedroom walls. She found herself gazing at it as she tried to work out what had made it. emDid I spill a drink? Oh no it was probably the girls and those wretched water guns I bought them – such a bad idea./em The muffled sound of Joe Jonas booming to life on Poppy's stereo next door jogged Gemma out of her day dream. She started, dazed for a moment, before she remembered she was halfway through waxing her legs. "Oh blast!" She gasped, realising that the pot of warm wax was sideways on her bed and thick, gooey liquid was dribbling onto her mattress. She jumped off the bed and began to try and cup the overly hot liquid back into its container before frantically dashing around to find something disposable to mop it up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"Swearing, she dashed out into the hallway, fingers dripping with wax. She was just trying to open the bathroom door with the palms of her hands rather than the wax-coated fingers, when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Called Alfie and his heavy feet spray over to the front door downstairs. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"She had nearly opened the bathroom door handle when she heard the door downstairs open and a familiar voice met her ears. Her heart skipped a beat to hear his soft Irish voice again. She lost control of the door handle, her hands apparently now quite sweating. emHe was here. And she was going to have to speak to him again, oh god. /emShe peered out of the landing down the stairs and glimpsed the same curly black hair she'd once run her hands through longingly. "Shit." She hissed to herself. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"Alfie and Billy were chatting, gleefully and Alfie said something about getting a drink and raced off to the kitchen, his feet bounding loudly away. Gemma sighed and walked back to her bedroom, forgetting about the waxy fingers. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Hello." She froze. Billy was still standing at the foot of the stairs and surveying her with the same bemused smile she remembered. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Oh." She laughed nervously. "Hello." She stepped down a few stairs and saw his face had changed since the last time she had seen him. His jawline was more defined, his eye sockets more hollow and he had dark stubble over his lower face. He carried himself a little different now too, seeming altogether, more mature. "Wow, you look- well very erm, very grown up." She laughed again, hating herself for being so uncool. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""You don't look too bad yourself." He laughed back at her. His brow furrowed. "Have I interrupted some kind of ritual?" He asked, gesturing up at her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""What? Oh!" She looked down to see her fingers were covered in the golden, sticky goo which was dripping onto the stairs below her. "Oh god – Um I was just waxing my legs, you know." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Well that makes a whole lot of sense." He mused, smiling. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Yes well, I haven't finished. I only got halfway through." She told him. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Wait." His smile broadened. "You mean to tell me, you have one waxed and one hairy leg?" She cringed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Yes." She admitted. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""That's a common occurrence with you, you know?" She smiled at him. Then came the thudding plods of Alfie. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Come on mate, let's get on the lash then!" He told Billy in what Gemma had learned to view as his 'lad voice'. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Let's celebrate your last single night in style, young man." Grinned Billy, slapping him on the shoulder. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;""Oh be careful, you too. And don't get too drunk Alfie or your bride will never forgive you, I promise." She told him sternly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"They both said their goodbyes and before she knew it, Gemma had raced back to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She took a deep breath, her heart still racing to have seen him once again. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p