Balloons, every colour of the rainbow, covered the ceiling of the Fletcher's living room, hallway and kitchen, as well as many multi-coloured banners reading 'Happy birthday Carrie'.

She danced around the house, despite the fact that all her friends, but Rosie, had left long ago. The only people remaining were her parents, Rosie, Tom and Giovanna, all of which were nibbling on the left over food.

Rosie watched her best friend finger her new books and lift them to her face, it was both of their favourite smell, they would spend hours in bookshops every weekend just because they loved the scent, then come back to the Fletcher's... where Rosie hoped for at least a glimpse of Tom...

Her eyes flickered upwards as Tom came back in the room. Their eyes met for a second, Rosie felt her cheeks burn, as he gave her a tiny smile, he was surprised to feel his cheeks burn slightly too, it had only started recently, he rarely noticed, but sometimes he couldn't help it, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

He sat back down between Giovanna, his girlfriend of four years, and Rosie, he felt a little awkward, sat between the two. He knew that Rosie had a crush on him, it was obvious from their texts that she sent, cyber flirting all day long, but he couldn't deny the fact that he flirted back, there was something about his sister's best friend that made him smile, and possibly a feeling that he shouldn't have for a girl six years his junior, he especially shouldn't feel that way about her when his girlfriend was sat beside him also.

But his smile was playing on her mind, it was the same one he always gave her, their shy secret smile that was only theirs, no one could take it away, as he had been giving her the same smile since day one.

Their first memory of each other was the same, it dwelled on Rosie's mind more than Tom's as it made him feel more uncomfortable about possibly liking her, considering when they first met they had only been five and eleven years old. Four year old Carrie had raced inside after her mother, begging for some kind of food, leaving five year old Rosie outside, alone. She gripped the bars of the climbing frame and tried to climb to the top to impress her friend, but her small foot misjudged the next step and slipped, she held on to the bar, screaming and shouting in fear, her arm was throbbing, little hot hands losing grip, her knee scraped against a bolt, causing it to bleed, she screamed louder as she started to fall…right in to Tom's arms. She was only small; light for a five year old, so eleven year old Tom's slightly chubby arms could hold her with ease.

"Are you alright?" His high voice asked

She shook her head so her plaits swung from side to side, he wasn't a stranger to her, he was Carrie's older brother, who she had seen many times before, but this was the first time he had spoken to her properly, it had always been quiet hellos before this.

"Are you hurt?" He asked

This time she nodded, feeling him set her down on the grass, it had been slightly moist from the rain a couple of days ago "My knee" She wept

He lifted the sky blue skirt of her dress slightly, to see a cut, oozing out red blood, he winced "Ok" He lifted her by the waist "Let's get you a plaster"

He waddled towards the house, trying to hold her carefully without hurting her any more; he sat her on the kitchen side and climbed up to get the first aid box as Rosie watched him going through the cupboard, her blue eyes looking up at him in wonder, his eyes caught hers and smiled "I'll be down in a second"

Her eyes followed him as he tried to climb down from the kitchen side, he glanced around the kitchen, slid down on to his rear and jumped off. She watched his fingers peal the white papery plastic off the plaster and gently placed it on her knee, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in concentration, then he smiled at her "Better?"

Her plaits bounced up and down "Thank you Tom"

"You're welcome" He lifted her down, as they both heard Carrie yelling and crying at Debbie, Tom sighed "Maybe I should play with you for awhile"

The two of them had headed out in to the garden again, in to a small wooden house, Tom crouched in a corner, picking up a tea cup "Can I have a cup of tea please?"

She giggled as he slurped fake tea from his cup... they played together like this once a week, while Carrie was at her dance class, sometimes they would play house, sometimes they played football, so that Tom didn't feel like such a girl, as he always said. As they get older, he taught her guitar and piano... that was until he met Giovanna, then any time together was minimal... Rosie only got to feel like his special girl for four years.

Tom had never quite understood why he liked to spend time with Rosie, she should be just some kid to him, or another sister perhaps, but not feel such a... was connection the right word? It was weird for him to feel this way about her but he just couldn't help it, sometimes he thought of Giovanna when he needed cheering up, but other times, he just thought of the rainy days up in his room, where he and Rosie had played music together, though they hadn't done that for a long time now, if he missed it, he knew she certainly would. He looked at her now, she had quite a serious look on her face, he wondered what she was thinking about...

"Are you alright?" He asked her

She jumped slightly, not expecting anyone to speak to her, especially Tom "Oh, I'm fine" She paused "Just thinking about stuff, that's all"

"You don't look fine"

"I am, honestly, I'm just thinking about something..." She sighed "...something that I miss"

Tom blinked at her, was she thinking about the same things as him? She couldn't be, but then again, was it more weird that he was thinking the same as her?

"Come and talk to me?"

"Alright"

She followed him up the stairs to his old bedroom, it had been a long time since either of them had been up here.

Posters were slowly peeling off the dark blue walls, they hadn't been touched in years, that was obvious. The curtains blew slightly from the tiny crack in the window, it made goosebumps raise on both their arms, Rosie tried to warm herself up as she perched on the edge of Tom's old bed, he remained stood, hands in his pockets

"What's the matter?"

Rosie's mouth went dry, she couldn't look at him "It's nothing Tom"

His right eyebrow rose up "We may not have spoken properly in a long time Rose, but I know you, I know when something's wrong"

Her heart lept, he was the only one who ever called her Rose, and she loved that, her mother called her Rosanna as she was named after her grandmother and everyone else called her Rosie but him. She suddenly felt tears threatening to run down her face, she couldn't let him see her cry, especially as the tears were about him "It doesn't matter" Her voice wobbled

"You said you missed something..." He paused "...or is it someone?"

She looked up at him, just like she had the day she fell off the climbing frame, how did he know what she was thinking? Or was she being a typical girl and reading in to this too much?

She wiped her eyes but more tears flooded through, desperate to escape "Someone"

"Care to tell me who?"

She cleared her throat, whispering "You"

"Me?"

She nodded "You"

He sank on to the bed beside her, pulling her in to an embrace, he hadn't realised how much he missed this "Why do you miss me?"

She shrugged "I just do..."

"What do you miss?"

"Playing instruments, messing around..."

"Well..." He sighed "...I can't hang out with you as often as I used to, for obvious reasons, but I can do it about once a month?"

Rosie's heart skipped a beat, he was offering to hang out with her? What would Giovanna say? Nothing of course, she was just a child to the both of them, she had no reason to get her hopes up... or so she thought