Feeling wiped out from the few glasses of wine, Karen felt herself drift in and out of consciousness all through the drive back; Chris gazed over at her a few times, realising she might not have felt up to talking when they got back to his.
When he got back, he wrapped an arm around her, helping her to sit down on the bed.
Once he'd done that, he got her some water to clear her head a little bit and ease the slight nausea she had. "Drink this. It's good for you."
Karen did as she was told, and Chris took the glass from her.
"All better now?"
She nodded faintly. "I didn't think I could be such a lightweight with drinks like that."
He smiled softly. "I'll get your bedding for you, ok? Just stay there."
"But you wanted to talk some more…" She protested faintly.
He reappeared with the bedding she'd used the time before, and then knelt down to get a better look at her. "I don't think you're in the right state of mind for any of that."
"But…"
"Come on, young lady." He teased. "Get yourself into bed and get some sleep."

Karen lay awake in amongst the thick blankets, as the room was flooded in darkness and silence.
She gazed up at the ceiling, wishing she could slip into bed next to Chris, press herself up against him and take in his warmth. But she guessed he wouldn't be happy about that – for one thing, she would be waking him up, and secondly, he might not like her sleeping right next to him and tell her to get out.
She couldn't hear any movement from him, so he must've gone straight to sleep.
Karen drew in a deep breath and swept her fingers through her bangs, moving them away from her forehead. She didn't realise having to tell someone how she felt about them was so hard. But Chris wasn't just anyone – he was someone who meant a lot to her, as well as himself having such a high regard for her.

The next morning.
Karen crashed into consciousness, feeling the sun's warm rays shine onto her through the window.
"Guess you needed that." A chipper voice came out from above her.
She rolled onto her side, seeing Chris stand in the bedroom's doorway. She couldn't get over how bright eyed he looked. "How long have you been up?"
"For around 3 hours." He smirked playfully.
"God…I should get up." Karen shakily sat up, prompting him to come over to her and kneel down beside her. "I'm so sorry about this."
"No, don't be." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's Saturday, you don't have to get up for anything."
She smiled at him softly. "You want me to be lazy?"
"No, but you're a guest, aren't you?" Chris's gaze became more thoughtful, pensive. He couldn't help but notice she seemed bothered by something. "What you wanted to talk about last night…you wanna talk about it now?"
"I guess…I should." Karen admitted numbly.
"You don't have to. But from what I can see, something's wearing you down and I don't like it." He told her.
She swallowed hard, casting her gaze to the blankets she was lying in amongst.
"Karen…I'm not trying to make you say anything you don't want to. But because you originally wanted to talk to me about whatever it is that's on your mind, I feel it's only fair that you tell me now rather than bottling it up any longer."
She drew in a deep breath, gazing into his worried eyes, before flitting her gaze away again.
"I know you're scared about telling me but once you do so, you'll feel better and I might be able to help you. But if you don't tell me, then I can't do anything."
"You won't like what I'm going to say, Chris."
"Doesn't matter." Chris rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "We're friends. We tell each other everything."
Karen peered into his bright blue eyes, wishing she could touch him, kiss him…do something to reassure him that she never meant to hurt him.
"Please tell me." He pressed her.
"Chris, the reason Charlie and I aren't fully together is because I'm in love with someone else. The stupidest thing about it is that the person I'm in love with is someone I hold very close to me and to tell them would be…I-I don't know…wrong. Well, not so much wrong, but immoral."
Chris said nothing for some time, but felt good enough just to hold her and absorb her words ever so slowly that he made sure he understood them. "You wanna tell me who that person is?" He asked eventually.
She shook her head. "I can't tell you. I just can't. If I did, it'd mean the end of Charlie and me, and he would end up hurting me because of it. Maybe even them." She closed her eyes. "The worst thing is, the person who I've fallen for might not even like me back…and I know the way they feel about me, yet I feel like it's so hard to do anything about it."

He jolted a little from how upset she sounded.
"Just leave me alone about it…You wouldn't understand." Karen threw the blankets back over herself and rolled onto her side, with her back facing Chris.
The young male was in stunned silence for a few minutes, trying to work out what to say. He wasn't offended, but he was certainly shocked at what she'd said. Eventually, he managed to come up with something. "Yes, I do understand. There's someone I like at the moment, but I can't ever seem to want to tell them how I feel because they're with someone else. So I'm going through exactly the same as you. Don't say I don't understand, because I can."
She sharply got up, turned to face him and crashed her lips against his.
Chris felt an electric shock pass through his spine, as Karen slid her tongue along his lower lip, demanding access to his mouth. He shuddered a little from the contact, and hastily broke the kiss. "What…?"
She savoured the slightly sweet taste from him, crestfallen that he didn't seem to want to play along.
"K-Karen…how could you?"
She suddenly felt awful. Chris never felt the same way for her? Then who did he have feelings for? "Chris, I'm so…"
The young male skitted backward towards the door, shaking slightly. "We're just friends…and yet you did…that to me?"
"I'm sorry." She admitted. "I just thought you felt the same about me."
"How could you do something like that?" He sounded incredulous with shock. "What were you going to plan next – getting me into bed?"
Karen took in his posture; his expression was one of disbelief, and his bright blue eyes had dimmed over in confusion.

"I-I think m-maybe you should go." He decided dimly.