A/N: I'm back! Hooray!

Thank you for all then reviews I received in my absence, I really enjoyed reading them. Please, keep them coming in! 200 isn't all that far away, and it would make me the happiest writer to get there!

This one's been lurking on my desktop for a while, so I just had to post it instead of putting off like I have been for the past few weeks (you may call me Lady Hamlet, or Mrs Prufrock, whichever takes your fancy). Again, I love the idea of Neil and Theresa's friendship - it just works, doesn't it?


Closer

Something that Neil would never admit (especially to a certain descendant of Jason); he was closer to her than he let on.

Verbal confirmation aside, Neil enjoyed Theresa's company. She was possibly the best shopping companion he'd had, with her bottomless card – and patience. Often he'd be the one dragging half a department store into the change rooms, while Theresa would wait outside and comment with appropriate oohs and ahs and maybe not that shirt with those denims.

Theresa didn't judge his more abstract choices (unless it was an awful burgundy that didn't match any of his scarves). She didn't make him feel childish or lesser than her. He didn't have to be a psychic to guess that she liked his company as equally as he liked hers.

He'd often wondered if it would develop into something more – he once pictured her modelling with him in some exotic location, happy together in a way that no girl had made him feel quite so content. He should really say something to her – oh, Theresa, maybe we should be more than shopping partners? – but he won't. She won't. Her heart was captivated from the very first moment she met Jay, and Neil wasn't masochistic enough to ask her to settle for less.

Still, friendship was enough. Surrounded by the world of fashion, they could put aside their fates and pretend to be as ordinary as any other teenager.

Well, apart from his ridiculously good looks and her affluence.