Everybody had a good time now that Paul and Stephanie were back talking to each other and could tolerate being in the same room so they spent the night out drinking and partying finally arriving home just before five in the morning. As it was so late and most of them were pretty drunk despite the fact that the boys lived just across the street once they had escorted the girls to the front door they stumbled through the door themselves and collapsed in the lounge.

Leaning against the wall Stephanie watched as her friends made their way unsteadily towards their bedrooms and shut the doors behind them. Turning to say goodnight to her boyfriend she noticed how his eyes were trained on the lounge and she turned to look at what he was looking at and shook her head, "Looks like everyone is crashing here tonight, care to join them?"

Raising his eyebrow with a small smirk playing on his lips he turned to look at her, "Crashing on the floor in the lounge or crashing in your bed?"

Walking past him she shut the front door firmly and made sure it was locked before she slipped her fingers through his, "Where do you think?" Tugging on his arm gently she began to walk towards her bedroom.

Following his girlfriend as she led him to her bedroom he stifled a yawn, crawling into bed and holding her close was the perfect end to the evening so he was glad that he had an excuse to stay over because he hadn't really been able to touch her much after they returned to the club and were around everybody else.

Shutting the bedroom door Paul kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt tossing it somewhere in the direction of the corner of the room before he undid his pants and kicked them off in the same general direction and went and crawled into bed to wait for Stephanie to join him so he could fall asleep with her in his arms.

Stepping out of her shoes Stephanie's hand went to the zip of her skirt to remove it as she looked at Paul out of the corner of her eye, she didn't want him to take this the wrong way so looked around for something to wear, upon spotting his shirt on the floor she walked over to where it was laying on the floor and picked it up tossing it on the end of the bed. Deliberately keeping he eyes off of his face despite feeling his gaze on her she quickly undid her skirt and let it drop to the floor letting it stay pooled around her feet as she removed her top quickly replacing it with his shirt. Only when she was somewhat dressed again did she bend down to pick up her skirt and dropped that and her top in the laundry basket in the corner of the room before she crawled into bed next to him, "Goodnight Paul."

Wrapping his arm around his girlfriend he kissed the top of her head, "Goodnight baby."

Five hours later and Stephanie woke up to an empty bed, she knew he couldn't have left unless it was half naked and that wasn't Paul's style so she rolled out of bed and tugged gently on the bottom of the shirt that she was wearing to go and find him.

Walking through the house she smiled seeing the girls doors shut still and then when she walked through the lounge seeing the boys sprawled out across the couch and the chair she laughed softly, she was so glad she hadn't drunk a whole lot after the first half hour last night. Entering the kitchen she smiled seeing her boyfriend at the stove wearing just his pants and cooking . . . something. Walking closer she slipped her arms around his waist and kissed his bare shoulder, "Morning baby, I missed you."

Flipping the pancake he rubbed her arm gently with his free hand, "Good morning. I was going to bring this to you in bed but you just had to wake up didn't you? Are we going to tell the guys what's going on between us?"

Moving away from him slightly so he could focus on cooking she shrugged, "I don't know, I kind of don't want to just yet but I think they'll guess."

"Maybe we don't outright tell them but if they ask we confirm it?"

Getting herself a glass from the cupboard she walked to the fridge to pour some orange juice, "I guess that works. What are your plans for today?"

Taking the pancake out of the pan he dropped it on the plate before he added more batter to the pan, "I've got some sketching to do, you?"

Gulping down half of her glass she placed it on the table, "Who knows, probably more reading for class. Do you think we could go somewhere and just be together whilst we do our own work?"

Looking over his shoulder at her he took in her appearance properly for the first time and found it hard to say no when she was looking so sexy, "We could go to the park? I could find something to sketch there and you could bring your book to read and we can be spending time together so we're killing two birds with one stone."

Blushing at the way his eyes were darting up and down her body she was grateful when she heard movement from the lounge, "Sounds good to me, make the most of the time before classes all kick off and we are too busy."

Sean staggered into the kitchen, "I need food and drink. Nice outfit Steph."

Feeling slightly self conscious about the way she was dressed with the boys being around she awkwardly motioned to the doorway, "I'm going to jump in the shower, leave some breakfast for me please Paul."

"Don't worry, I won't let the boys eat them all as it is your place and your food so their portions will be strictly rationed."

Laughing softly she walked over to him and kissed his cheek, "Thanks." Turning to walk out of the door she stopped briefly, "Good morning Sean." Walking out of the room she was hungry so wanted to shower and dress quickly.

As soon as Stephanie had left Sean moved over to the fridge and pulled out the milk carton, "So why exactly is she wearing your shirt?"

Pulling a glass out of the cupboard he had seen Stephanie take one from earlier he placed it in front of Sean, "Why exactly did you crash on the couch of somebody else's house? We were all drunk Sean, I don't think anybody can analyse anything another person did as when you're drunk you do strange things."

Pouring the milk into the glass he put the carton back into the fridge, "Sensitive much?"

Scott had barely been awake when his headache kicked in and hearing noise coming from the kitchen he headed in that direction but when he heard the conversation he frowned, "For fucks sake I have a hangover and cannot be dealing with you two arguing so shut up Sean and stop being a pain in his ass."

"Hey! I have a hangover too but I was only asking him why Steph was wearing his shirt."

"And soon I'll be asking where you are when he kills you and dumps your body somewhere. Just shut up and somebody please point me to the painkillers."

Emily squeaked as she blindly entered the kitchen to find it full of men, "How did you get here?"

Being the one with the least restrictive hangover Paul decided to take the lead, "We all stayed over, they stayed on the couch in the lounge and I stayed with Steph and now I'm making pancakes. You don't mind do you?"

Pushing her way past Scott and Sean she didn't care, "Right now no, I just want a glass of water so I can take some painkillers."

"Do you have any spare please?"

Tossing the strip onto the table she was going to allow them to fight amongst themselves for them as she had hers in her hand, "Be my guest."

Relieved that the argument had been interrupted Paul focussed his attention on finishing cooking the pancakes before he dished up a couple on two plates for Sean and Scott and handed them to them, "These are yours right now and if there are leftovers you can ask the girls if they mind you having them." Turning his attention to Stephanie who had just re-entered the room he tried not to smile at how cute she looked all fresh out of the shower with wet hair and a pair of jeans and a vest top, "I don't know if you want to tell Emily that breakfast is done and see if Sasha is awake or what but this is all yours now."

Waiting for the other two to leave the room with their pancakes she walked over to her boyfriend and kissed him softly, "Thank you baby."

Resisting the urge to pull her into his arms he picked up some cutlery from the table and headed into the lounge with the boys.

After breakfast the boys went back across the road to their own place but not before Sasha made a snarky comment about them being too lazy to walk the short distance across the road to their own place the night before.

The second the door shut Stephanie could feel the atmosphere change and it made her nervous, "I am going to finish setting my room up and maybe read some stuff for some of my classes."

As fast as lightning Sasha's arm shot out stopping her passing, "Oh no you don't. What's going on between you and Paul? One minute you can't bear to be in the same building as him and the next he is sharing your bed."

She tried to think of a good lie that sounded believable, "I was pissed at him, he was always telling me no when I asked him to dance with me but he was willing to dance with other women so I was offended and really really mad at him but we talked and smoothed things over and we're friends again, I mean he is my best friend so there is no chance of me being mad at him forever."

The two girls exchanged looks not entirely believing her but they couldn't disprove it, "Okay fine you can pass but I like your friendship with him if I get pancakes out of it."

Rolling her eyes she playfully swatted her hand at Sasha as she made her way to the bedroom.

A couple of hours later and Stephanie and Paul were at the park laying on the grass each with their head in a book, she was laying on her back with her head resting on his legs reading and he was leaning against a tree sketching, "You know I never imagined that I would be so comfortable and happy sat silently working with my girlfriend, I always imagined that I would feel like something was missing."

Laying the book across her chest she turned her head to look at him, "I know what you mean. I never knew that I could get so much work done studying with my boyfriend."

Smiling softly he wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, "That's . . . good?"

"It is good, it's a compliment. Can I see what you're working on please?" Pushing herself to a seated position before she placed her book on the grass her attention was briefly drawn to the guys across the way playing football before she turned her attention to her boyfriend.

A couple more strokes of the pencil and Paul felt satisfied that she could see it, "It is a work in progress obviously but hopefully you will get the general idea of what I am going for."

Taking the sketch book from his hands she admired the way he had drawn the boys playing football, "I love what you are doing with this. I know I'm your best friend and girlfriend but of all of the sketches you have shown me, and admittedly that isn't a great number, I have to say that this is by far my favourite, if only it was for an assignment and you would get the highest marks in the history of high marks."

Laughing at her comment he took the book back from her, "You have to say that but thanks. I haven't done a great deal of sketching over the summer, just little bits here and there, so I am trying to get back into the groove of sketching and I am oddly motivated with you laying here with me."

Leaning up closer to him she kissed him softly, "I'm glad I can motivate you without even trying."

Feeling her phone vibrating against her leg she pulled it out to see a text from Sasha:

Where are you? I want to go shopping and I was hoping you'd come too because Em won't.

Rolling her eyes she contemplated ignoring the text but figured that she would just start ringing her if she did:

I'm out working, you'll have to find somebody else or not go at all.

Sliding her phone back into her pocket she shuffled down on the grass to lay back down, "Let's just enjoy some more quiet time whilst we can."

It worked for Paul as he was feeling extremely motivated and wanted to get this sketch finished as he was proud of what he had done so far and if it turned out as well as he hoped then he could slip it into his portfolio to show the diversity in his sketching.