Thanks to all my amazing reviewers! Again, the chapter is a little slow, but Matt comes in the next one, so I'm trying to build up to that. Thanks for the comments! I swear, I'm not gonna get an y studying done b/c I want to update this for all of you! xx

The week following the sofa incident, Jules and Pete made a conscious effort to stay far, far away from each other. Pete needed to get his feelings sorted out while Jules realized that have a crush on the head of the GSE wasn't really the best idea she had ever had. Not only would any relationship she and Pete may have (not that they ever would, she told herself) be extremely dangerous for her, but it could cause rifts in the GSE. The last thing she wanted was Bov to find his sister and best mate together...she blushed at the image that flashed across her mind.

Taking another deep swig of beer, Jules shook her head at how naïve she was. Pete like girls who were confident in themselves...sexually...and that definitely was not her. Jules didn't have ton of experience when it came to romance, and the last crush she recollected having was on Billy Moore in grade 8. Needless to say, that ended disastrously, with Bov and Pete beating him to a pulp. Since then, dating had been strictly prohibited. Jules knew that if she found someone that the boys would be happy for her, but what soul in their right mind would want to date Bubbles of the GSE?

"You alright, Bubbles?" Bov asked, looking over at her. She had gone up to play pool with him, finding it too hard to sit at her booth and avoid eye contact with Pete when he was sitting directly across from her.

"Hm? What?"

"I asked if you were alright. You seem kinda distracted."

"Piss off Bov," she said in her most convincing voice. "I'm fine. You're shot."

Pete watched his best mate take a shot at the pool table, letting his eyes drift up to Jules. He hadn't really talked to her since that night, only a few words here and there when necessary. He couldn't have feelings for her, he knew that. Not only would Bov go ballistic, but there was no way Jules would ever look upon him as anything more than a brother, a friend. That thought made his heart tighten. What he would give to stroke that hair, feel her breathing against him, just one more time.

"Oi! Pete! What's wrong with you today, mate?" Dave asked, taking a shot and smacking Pete on the shoulder.

"Nothing, man. I just...I don't know. Feeling a bit peeky I guess."

Dave rolled his eyes and went back to the loud and rowdy conversation happening at the table. He wasn't and idiot. He saw the looks his mate had been giving Bubbles. And he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it.

"I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm West Ham till I die!" they sang as the hopped up the steps and into the tube station. Jules followed slightly in the back, not quite feeling like joining in on the fun. Pete kicked a paper cup along the ground before blasting it into a pillar. The boys cheered and sang a few more lines in their drunken fun.

One of the few clear minded left, Jules was the first to notice Mitch Ville and the Tottenham firm standing on the opposite side of the track. "Pete," she called. "The Yids."

Pete thought he imagined it, her calling his name. It would have been the most personal thing she said to him all week, he though sardonically. But he heard "Yids" come out of her mouth, he immediately pushed all thoughts of pulling Jules to the back of his mind. This was what he lived for.

"Fuck me. If I knew we was going to a bar mitzvah, I'd have brought me fucking skullcap," Pete sneered as he looked across the track. The boys spread around him and Jules took her normal spot towards the back behind Ike. While she was looking forward to the scrap that was inevitably going to happen, she really just wanted to go home, anything to be away from Pete and awkwardness. "Mate, Tottenham's due north. Are you lost? Or just fucking stupid?"

"Still a stand-up comedian there, eh Dunham? I see you still muss around with that slag," Mitch snapped, jerking his head toward Jules. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Pete tense. "When the Major was doing you job he wasn't nearly so chatty. Probably cause he wasn't quite so nervous. Tell me, sweet cheeks," he called, addressing Jules. "Between the Major and this cunt, which makes you scream louder when pounding your pink, eh?"

While comments like this rolled off Jules instantly, having dealt with them so often, she hated being used as a way to get to her boys. And looking over at Pete, she knew that if the tracks hadn't separated them, he would have been tearing at Mitch's throat.

"Mate, I think you should get on the next train and fuck off on out of here," Pete replied, trying to keep his voice steady despite the fury raging through him. "Before something bad happens..."

Next thing he knew he was smashing Mitch's head through the class of the telephone booth. Hurling the man back against the entrance gate to the tube, he punched him hard across the face. Before he lost consciousness though, Pete brought his head up to his own. "You ever speak to her again," he hissed, "and I'll fucking tear your balls off."

Once the Tottenham firm was taken care of, Pete assessed the damage done. Grinning in satisfaction that Keith was the only one with blood, just a lip, he looked over at Jules. She sat off to the side on the steps of a building, flipping her cell open and closed. Usually she was right there congratulating them on a job well done, but now, she seemed wholly disinterested. Pete felt guilt settle into his stomach as they moved away and she stood up to walk with Dave and Swill instead of him. It was partly his fault. He had been doing his best to ignore her the past week, trying to get all the inappropriate thoughts out of his head. It wasn't working, and the longer he went without talking to her, the more he needed her.

Fuck me, he muttered to himself as he jogged to catch up with her.

"Whatcha think, Bubbles?" he asked, lazily draping his arms around her shoulder. She looked up at him in surprise and tried to register what he was playing at. "Where does Tottenham rank now in your Firm Standings?"

One boring night at the Abbey, Jules had spent nearly an hour making a Firm Standings List, weighing the strengths and weaknesses of each group. Naturally, the GSE came in at number one, and was likely to stay there, but the others were always moving around. Jules felt a smile break out on her face. "I'll think about it and get back to you."

"Looking forward to it, Jules," he said quietly. Pete gave her a smile that said he wanted things back to normal.

She replied with a nod, silently understanding.

Then, she and the boys broke out into another rendition of "West Ham til I Die" and strolled off ahead. Falling back in step with Bover, Pete gave his best mate a playful punch. "I'm not sure why you would know this, Bov, but does Bubbles have a pull?"

Bov looked up in confusion. "What are you saying?"

Pete shrugged and did his best to look casual. "I mean, she can't only hang around with us all the time, and I've just been wondering if she had met somebody."

Bov eyes widened. "Has she said anything to you?" he asked urgently. "I'll beat his ass I will."

"Bovver, my dear, relax. She hasn't said anything or given me any indication that there was a bloke. I was merely wondering. She's bound to have one eventually, yeah"

Bov looked down at the ground as the walked and clenched his jaw. "I'd rather sent her to a nunnery."

Pete let out a laugh and ruffled Bov's hair. "Come on, you wouldn't do that. We need her here too much. So you wouldn't let her date an outsider, that's understandable. But what about a GSE?"

This time Bover stopped walking and turned to Pete. "It's Dave isn't it? I've seen the way he looks at her and," he was cut off by Pete.

"Mate, I'm not saying nothing, forget I ever mentioned it."

Pete continued walking and was relieved when Bov fell in step behind him. He had heard what he needed and it only convinced him further that he needed to not feel anything for Jules. But watching her walk ahead with the boys, laughing and tossing her hair in the wind, he knew that would be easier said than done.

Waking up the next morning, or afternoon rather, Jules felt extremely stiff. Part of that was probably because she was sleeping on the hard wood floor in Dave's flat, or the fact that she was laying on top of one of Bov's shoes he had kicked off the previous night. Pete, the brilliant guy he was, had lost his wallet and his keys in the scrap, meaning the three of them for forced to crash at Dave's.

"Morning sunshine," Pete said with a smile as he walked in from the kitchen, carrying three glasses of orange juice. Jules smiled and took the extended glass, sipping it gently. "Can I talk to you, outside?"

"I guess I owe you some sort of apology," he started, when they were sat on the front steps. She was having none of it.

"Pete, I think we've both been acting like fucking gits the past week. No need for apologies, I know that they are hard for you.

"Don't be cheeky," he grinned. "I am sorry though, you have no idea how hard it was not talking to you."

"Eh, I think I do," she replied smiling. "Come on," she said standing up. "It's match day. We need to get to the Abbey, yeah?"

"First, I got to head to be bruv's. Get some money, you know," he grinned sheepishly.

"I'll come," Jules offered. "I haven't seen Steve in a while." Before he could reply, she was already back in the house, yelling to Bov and Dave that she and Pete would meet up with them at the Abbey. Pete wondered silently just how he would keep his little secret under wraps and prayed to God that Shannon wouldn't say anything.

"You ready?" Jules asked, tossing him his coat and hopping down the stairs.

Pete smiled before letting out a loud whistle.

"Taxi!"