Author's note: Hello! Here's the next chapter. Thanks to Mayumi-H for her wonderful review! And to everyone else reading this, please, if you can, take some time to tell me what you think of the story, as it really does help. Constructive criticism is always welcome! Thank you,

Emma :)

Sally pushed open the door to the bookshop with one hand, while holding the groceries in the other, which unsurprisingly required some effort. Lawrence got up from behind the desk to help her but by the time he got to the door she had managed to get it open and step indoors. She mumbled a 'thank you' anyway and carried the bag into the kitchen they shared.

She took out the milk, butter, and yoghurt and put them into the already overstocked and likely-to-fall-apart-any-day-now refrigerator. Lawrence followed her into the kitchen and put the tins and packets in the pantry. "So, um, sandwiches for lunch?" he asked, picking up the bread.

"Yep," Sally said, "Don't wait for me though, I've got to write up that ad for the paper." Lawrence nodded and began stockpiling all sorts of sandwich ingredients on the bench. Sally walked up the annoyingly creaky stairs to the top half of the house and her bedroom. She sat down on the bed, and closed the door with the tip of her toes from where she was sitting. She pulled out her teensy laptop from underneath the bed and opened it up.

While it started up, Sally found herself thinking about Lawrence; What if she had said yes this morning? Would it really be so bad? No, she shook her head, trying to clear her mind, Why am I even considering this? And for that matter, why did I decide it was a good idea to hold his hand? Ugh. It was too much to think about now, but deep down inside her (Yes, she really does go that deep. She's a deep person, remember?), she knew that these unwanted thoughts would come back. Anyway, she had an ad to write, and the crummy laptop had finally decided to wake up.

She opened up the form for a newspaper ad and began to fill it in. She enjoyed filling in forms and surveys; they were fun, in a way. She didn't know why, but they were. Perhaps it's because she just likes telling people things they don't know. She reached the bottom of the page and saw the prices for ad sizes. Jesus, she thought to herself, ₤100 for a tiny little ad? She wondered if they'd even get enough customers from it to make it worth anything. Nevertheless, she sent it to the local paper to be published.

She checked the colourful clock on her wall: 3.26p.m., it said. Well, a late lunch is better than no lunch. She stepped down the stairs again and back into the kitchen, where Lawrence was nowhere be seen. Funnily, she felt almost disappointed. She made herself some spaghetti on toast. She wasn't in the mood for sandwiches. And even if she was, it looked as if Lawrence had eaten all the tomato anyway. She laughed quietly; There were about three left, and he had eaten them all! Her toast popped up and she buttered it while she waited for the spaghetti to cook.

After she had finished lunch, Lawrence was still not in. Wasn't he supposed to be minding the shop? Feeling a bit annoyed, she took a seat behind the counter. She lifted her head up when she heard someone enter the shop. "Larry, you're back!" she said, getting up when she saw him, "But where were you? You were supposed to be on shift!"

He winced, "Sorry, I thought you had it under control since you were home."

"Home, but upstairs! Someone could have come in without me noticing and stripped the shop bare!" she argued.

"Well, they didn't, so that's good, right?" he said.

She sighed, exasperated, but said in a lighter tone, "But they could have!" She waited for some kind of excuse, which didn't come, "Never mind then. But you have to do an extra hour at the start of my shift since I had to watch the shop in yours."

He sat down in the chair Sally was in before and put his feet up on the counter. Sally hit him lightly on the leg.

"I've told you to stop doing that!" she said, and he took them down. She walked a few metres back into the kitchen before realising that she actually had nothing to do. She backtracked and sat back down next to Lawrence.

"Hey, I thought you didn't want to watch the shop." he said jokingly. She frowned, but couldn't hold it and laughed softly.

"Nothing better to do, so why not?" she said, spinning back and forth on the chair.

"So does that mean I don't have to?" Lawrence asked, a cheeky grin on his face as he stood up and attempted to get away.

"No!" Sally said, and yanked him back down into his seat. She knew it was irrational, but she also knew she was stubborn; she couldn't help it. It was his turn, so he had to stay. Lawrence laughed at her and, contagiously, she started to laugh too. They stopped chatting after a little while, until Sally broke the silence.

"You, sir, are in my chair." she said.

Lawrence shrugged, smirking. "It's my chair now." he said.

"It is not!" she said determinedly, standing up and childishly trying to rock him off the chair. He held on tight enough not to fall out. It was evident how bored they both were, but now they were starting to have fun. Sally spun the chair around, until Lawrence almost died of laughter. "No, stop!" he protested, and she let go. "Fine," she said, "If you're not going to get out of my chair, I don't care." and she sat on his lap, trying her hardest to be as heavy and uncomfortable as possible.

As it turns out, Lawrence was just as stubborn as she, and they ended up staying in that position until six o'clock, when the bookshop closed, watching funny animal videos on the store PC.

Sally got up and skipped over to the door to flip over to 'open' sign to 'closed'. "Your turn to cook tea." Lawrence reminded her from the seat. "Ugh." Sally groaned, "Can we just get take aways tonight? I honestly would rather sleep on a bed of nails than prepare a meal right now." Lawrence shrugged, and she took that as a yes. She dialed up the number of the chinese place down the road, and placed her order. It would be ready in fifteen minutes, but she thought she might as well walk down now. The air was chilly when she got outside, so she hugged herself and rubbed her arms to keep her teeth from chattering too much as she walked.

She felt great when she got inside the take away place; it was as if she had just stepped into a cozy blanket in front of a fireplace. She had no trouble waiting the extra ten minutes it took until their food was ready. In fact, she almost didn't want to go back outside at all.

Author's note: Okay, that's it for now. I'll update the day after tomorrow at the very latest. Please, please, please review! I really want to know how I'm doing so far. Goodbye! :3