"Oh." Craig said softly. He cleared his throat and nodded his head. "I thought you were. I, er, I saw you…" he trailed off, staring ahead of him, unwillingly to finish the rest of his sentence.

John Paul's face creased in puzzlement and his brow furrowed. "You saw me?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah. At the loft." Craig mumbled.

John Paul's face flushed guiltily. "Oh, right," he said, averting his eyes away from Craig's face. He could feel his face on fire and had no idea how to stop it burning. He tried to breathe slowly but his breath came out in hurried gulps. He wasn't sure why he felt so embarrassed, all he knew was that he suddenly felt incredibly self conscious.

"Spike seems like a cool guy," Craig carried on loudly, seemingly oblivious to John Paul's discomfort with the subject.

He smiled. "Yeah. He is."

"He's a DJ isn't he?"

"Yeah. He played at Jacqui's reception." John Paul said earnestly, frowning slightly at the horrible memory of his sister marrying the man that had been forced upon her.

"Yeah? Was he any good?" Craig asked.

John Paul nodded. "Better than I expected." And he had been. He'd been friendly too. After even more abuse from Sonny and his cronies at school it had been a relief to chat to someone who didn't judge him or actively seek to humiliate him at every possible chance. It had been nice to talk to someone who didn't want him to change to suit their own narrow perspectives of how life should be lived. Of course, John Paul mused, at the time he hadn't actually told Spike he was gay but he had had a feeling that this person was different. He wouldn't care that he would never settle down with a wife and have children scurrying around his feet. Spike wouldn't judge him for not even wanting those things. And he had been right. Spike had not only not cared he was gay but was actually gay himself. What more could John Paul want?

The moment this thought entered his brain he couldn't help but sneak a glance at his dark haired friend beside him. He knew he shouldn't still have feelings for Craig. After all, it was those feelings that had driven Craig to act with such malice towards him. It was those feelings that had ripped their friendship wide open. He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking of Craig. He had Spike now, someone who he honestly really liked. Spike was his gateway to a whole new world of emotion and freedom like he had never experienced before. He was sure that with time it would be Spike that would help him to forget the feelings he had for Craig.