"OH. EM. GEE. I need to buy this!" Candi-Rose squealed in declaration, turning to Bird and Jody, both of whom were unimpressed. She was after yet another lip pencil. Why were lip pencils necessary anyway? Didn't lipstick pretty much cover a girl's lips in their entirety?

I am bored 2 death, Jody wrote, hitting send almost straight away.

The response was speedy. I'm having the time of my life.

She scowled. Why was she stuck here when he got to have fun elsewhere? W/out me?

Never w/out u ;) W8ing 4 u. :heart:

She bit her lip as her face heated up. The cheek! This was the most flirtatious thing he'd written to her yet. But... why was he giving her mixed signals? The last time they'd done something remotely resembling a date, he'd behaved as though he would've rather been doing quadruple chores for Mike. She paused, blinking rapidly. Why did it matter so much to her? She'd told herself and told herself that she could never act upon her feelings even if they were mutual—which often appeared to be the case—in order to save their friendship. After all, she didn't want them to be the next Thomas and Ella (even though she knew that neither of them were as selfish and greedy as those two).

"Babes, stop texting him for like one second and tell me if this goes with my eyes," Candi-Rose ordered, wearing a ridiculously blue shade of eyeliner.

"You've already bought that one," she sneered, perhaps sounding nastier than intended but too distracted by Tyler to care. She tried to think of a witty reply to his text, totally ignoring the stares from both of her companions.

"Well sorry for getting in between you two!" the younger girl exclaimed with an attitude. "Come on, Bird, let's go!"

Jody momentarily looked up from her phone to see Bird silently pleading her not to leave him alone with Candi-Rose. Apparently, even he, the one who was probably more fond of Candi-Rose than anyone else was, couldn't bear to accompany her on a shopping spree on his lonesome. He received no sympathy from Jody, though, who dismissively waved him off. He'd be fine; he could put his trademark headphones on to block Candi-Rose out and then tell her exactly what she wanted to hear but Jody couldn't do that. She simply wasn't capable of keeping her honest opinion to herself.

Walking away from the make-up section at Olympian speed, she settled for an utterly rubbish reply. Where r u ;) She sighed. She sucked at flirting.

the arcade

Typical. Where else would he have been, really? He loved messing around in the arcade. He'd probably gone there first thing after they'd all dispersed following their scheduled bowling session. Who was there with him, though? He was hardly having the 'time of his life' by himself. Her eyes widened in shock horror. What if one of the others was reading the messages over his shoulder? Whoever it was would never let her (and Tyler) live it down.

I'll be there xxx

On her way out of the store, she saw a few of the others wandering through the centre of the shopping mall, notably Chloe and Joseph who appeared to be deep in conversation. It was good to see the latter spending more time with the others after his best friend had recently been fostered. She began her short walk to the arcade, thinking about how good the day had been so far (barring Candi-Rose's shopping spree).

For the first time in a long time, she felt truly relaxed and happy with no Ella, Luke, Kingsley or anyone/anything else to stress her out. Did she really want to jeopardise her relative state of peace by continuing down the dangerous path her friendship with Tyler was going? Was the drama worth it, especially when a relationship was likely not to work out?

.:. QK .:.

Punch. Punch. Punch.

Jody pulled back, struggling to find the motivation to punch harder. She sighed. She was at her best when she was angry; she'd never actually been stress-free from the time she'd taken boxing up (or rather, taken it up again following a short-lived stint back when she was about ten) until now. How did people like Brandon, who had nothing to be angry about, manage to get on with it with vigour every single time?

"Hey." She smiled, recognising his voice. Speak of the devil...

"Hey," she repeated, turning to the boy standing next to her. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," he answered, digging his ungloved hands in his pockets. "You?"

"I'm alright," she responded, noticing that he wasn't dressed in his gym clothes. "You not boxing today?" He smiled shyly, shrugging. She regarded him in bewilderment. "Why are you here then?"

"I... came to see my mates," he replied, sounding somewhat uncertain. She couldn't help but briefly scan the gym to find that his friends weren't present. She looked back at him, wondering what was up. Perhaps he'd been stood up and felt embarrassed by it. Yep, that had to be it. Why else would he be awkwardly standing here and talking to her in an almost desperate manner?

"Right, and I guess I'm one of them?" she teased lightly, motioning him over to a nearby bench.

"Yeah," he said quietly as they sat down together. She wasn't sure if it was just the light but she could've sworn that his skin looked flushed like it usually did after one of his workouts. "How's school?"

She blinked, a little taken aback by his question. They didn't usually talk about things that didn't have anything to do with boxing; there'd been no reason to after they'd initially got to know each other. "Good, I suppose. Did alright in my mocks—we did them a few weeks back."

"Cool," he commented, nodding his head. "How are things at the children's home?"

She raised an eyebrow. He was definitely not himself today. "Err, alright. We've had two people leave within the last two weeks so we're 'regrouping'." She made air quotations with her fingers for that last word. Having only thirteen residents was taking some getting used to. It was hard to imagine that at one time, they'd had only ten residents (Lily not included) at Elm Tree House in between Gus' departure and Floss' arrival.

"Were you close to either of them?"

The only times she'd been 'close' to Archie was when she'd whacked him in the face with a bag, caused his nose to bleed after shutting her door on him and very recently knocked him into the bannister. Sasha had been fond of him, though, no matter how much she'd denied caring about anyone, especially the younger boys. "No, not really... What's with the twenty-one questions?"

He blushed, clearly caught off-guard. "Just getting to know you."

He'd already done that. Why did he want to know more? She supposed she did refrain from talking about the deep stuff with him but that was because she didn't feel comfortable doing that; he was a nice, normal guy with a mum and a dad whereas she was a (usually) raging and orphaned care kid. He didn't judge her, she knew that, but it was difficult explaining her messed up life to people who just wouldn't get it.

"Got any brothers, Brandon?" she questioned, involuntarily thinking of Luke. Simon had mentioned the persistent calls again in their quadrennial meeting a couple of days ago. Apparently, her good old brother wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"I'm the only boy; I've got a little sister."

"Lucky you," she muttered, pressing her lips together. "I've got two brothers. Total deadbeats."

Liam O'Donovan's older brother had done the responsible thing by taking him in. That one time, stood in her gran's old flat, she'd thought that her Kingsley was going to do the same. She'd been a total idiot for falling for his lies. What if she let Luke in and he took after their brother, dangling a dream in front of her face and then callously crushing it?

"Did they let you down?" he implored softly.

"Something like that," she stated dryly, clenching her fists as her blood boiled like it usually did when she boxed at her best. She just had to talk about her crappy family to get into the fighting spirit. Who knew? She stood up, looking down at Brandon. "I've been sitting out long enough. I'd best get back to it."

He nodded. She turned away from him, returning to her punching bag—surprisingly, no one had snapped it up while she'd been sitting out—but not before surreptitiously sneaking another glance at him. He was aimlessly looking around, reminding her of Floss whenever she was nearly caught staring at her and Tyler. If Jody didn't know any better, she would've thought that Brandon had come to the gym just to see her.

.:. QK .:.

By the time May-Li dropped Jody off at Ashdene Ridge, it was already dark. On the way up, she spotted a yawning Shona sitting in the office and smiled to herself; she knew where the night care worker would end up in a couple of minutes. When she reached the landing, she was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no queue outside the bathroom. She wondered if some of the others were lining up for the spare instead, in direct violation of the house rules—they were only allowed to use the spare in the staff bedroom if they were desperate for the toilet. Dashing into her bedroom, she hastily put her gym bag away, donned her bathrobe and grabbed a hair-wrap before claiming the bathroom for herself.

Following a quick shower, she was busy brushing her teeth when there was a knock on the door.

"Jody!" hissed a voice she knew all too well. "Open up!"

Her eyes widened. He sounded desperate and after one of the boys (she forgot which) had recently relieved himself in one of the garden bushes (she definitely hadn't forgotten which), it probably wasn't a good idea to keep him waiting. She spat her mouthful of frothy toothpaste out before rushing over to the door and yanking it open, her toothbrush still in one hand and the door handle in the other.

"What?" she asked amusedly, taking in Tyler's appearance. He was standing right outside in obscenely orange nightclothes with a towel slung lazily around his shoulders. "Do you need to go?"

"Nah, I just want to run myself a bath," he answered, "before the others get here."

Considering the household gossip regarding them, she very reluctantly let him in before locking the door behind them just in case someone walked in and got the wrong idea. Walking back to the basin, she continued to brush her teeth as he turned the bathtub tap on.

Listening to the tap run, she wondered if she'd ever be able to bring herself to actually get into a bathtub full of water. Even now, after all these years, the memories of her mother and sometimes Kingsley holding her head underwater were still fresh in her mind. Early on, her independent reviewing officer had suggested that she was possibly scared of large bodies of water rather than baths themselves but she knew that couldn't be true; she was fine in swimming pools and although she wasn't as fond of swimming as Finn was, she enjoyed a good swim every other week.

"Err, where is everyone?" she questioned, putting her toothbrush away. "It's dead quiet up here."

"They're watching TV," he replied, nearly falling into the bathtub from his perch on the edge.

She raised an eyebrow. Only the older kids tended to hang around downstairs at this time, even if Shona was the one on night duty. "What, all of them?"

He nodded, dipping his hand in the rising water. "They're watching Look North. They think there's going to be news about Ella or her family."

She scoffed. "When she was actually living here, they couldn't wait to be rid of her, and now they're all sitting in front of the telly like they're her fans or something!"

"I know," he agreed, sounding as disgusted as she felt. "Some of them reckon she's invited to Prince Harry's wedding."

"Yeah, as if," she muttered under her breath. "Even if her family is, she definitely isn't..."

"Too right; that article she exposed them in was brutal," he commented, turning the tap off. She tightened the wrap on her hair, watching as he rose to his feet. "Do you think you could watch the bath for a second? I just need to get something from my room."

"Yeah, sure," she responded, carefully sitting down on the edge of the bathtub as he left the room.

Swallowing deeply, she turned her head towards the tub ever so slightly and eyed the still surface of the water. It was unlike any other body of water she'd ever seen—stagnant, unmoving. It didn't appear to be dangerous but, then again, neither did Ryan.

Nevertheless, she tentatively dipped a finger in the water, trying to remember a good time—a time she wasn't punished in the bathtub. Tragically, she realised there either wasn't such a time or she simply couldn't recall it. Either way, it seemed she was going to be stuck with the bad memories forever.

The door clicked just then and she jumped, her head snapping towards it so fast that she was sure she was going to get whiplash. She released a shaky breath when she saw that it was only Tyler. For a second there, she'd thought that it was... well, someone who had zero chance of being there.

"You alright?" he implored, sitting down next to her. She nodded, pulling her hand out of the water and realising what a weird place the bathroom was to be having a conversation. "Wait..." She looked at him to see that he was regarding her in a speculative manner. "Are you still scared?" She looked away, folding her arms around herself as if she was cold. She didn't want to admit to it. It was totally pathetic for someone her age. "They'll never be able to get you. He's in prison and she's—"

"Dead, I know," she quietly cut him off, a shiver running up her spine. "I know they're not just going to walk in and push me under... but it's not easy to forget, even after all this time."

"Well, it really is just water," he said, and before she knew it, he'd splashed her with water from the bathtub. Her mouth dropped open and she glared at him. Oh, it was so on.

.:. QK .:.

The following morning, Mike stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed, silently scrutinising all of the residents sitting around the dining table. Jody exchanged a guilty glance with Tyler, envying Joseph who was sitting at the breakfast bar, facing away from Mike and thus escaping his piercing gaze.

"Who was it then?" he asked sternly, his eyes darting around the table. "Which one of you jokers made a mess of the bathroom last night?!"

"It wasn't me," Floss firmly announced. "I found it like that when I went in to brush my teeth last night."

The table broke out into murmurs of agreement but the two culprits remained silent. Jody avoided looking at Tyler again, biting back a smile as she remembered how their splash match had ended with the two of them falling backwards into the bathtub, causing some of the water to spill over the edge and onto the floor. She blushed, trying really hard not to meet his gaze.

From the way he'd suddenly averted his gaze when she'd stood up afterwards, he'd either seen something he shouldn't have—she had been wearing nothing but a bathrobe and it wasn't a particularly long one at that—or her bathrobe had been clinging to her body a little too snugly for him to be comfortable looking at it. Either way, far from being embarrassed, she'd been pleased; his reaction had confirmed that he didn't think of her as just one of the guys.

"You know, I nearly slipped when I went to the loo," Alex spoke up, sounding so insincere that Jody turned to look at him in disbelief. Unfortunately, Charlie, who was sitting in between her and Alex, was staring right at her. She immediately looked away but the damage had already been done; Charlie knew that something was up.

"Wait," Jay interjected, smirking as he raised a suggestive eyebrow at Tyler. As he did so, Jody braced herself for her and Tyler's imminent exposure. "Jody and Tyler were the only ones who weren't downstairs."

The responses were immediate.

"I was in my room."

"I was at the gym all evening."

Jay laughed. "I meant afterwards, Jody."

"I was in my room, sleeping," she lied, narrowing her eyes at the younger boy. "What were all of you doing still up?"

A few groans went around the table as they all realised they'd been rumbled.

"Well done, mate," Ryan mumbled sarcastically.

"Guys?" Mike prompted, appearing to be disappointed. "What have I told you told you about late-night TV?"

As the head care worker launched into a lecture about the house rules regarding late-night escapades, Jody shared a discreet smile with Tyler, secure in the knowledge that their secret was safe. Maybe it had been a long time coming but something had changed between the two of them; they'd crossed some sort of line in the bathroom and things were never quite going to be the same again. She didn't know how to feel about that. Happy that their friendship was evolving into something new? Or sad that they'd never be the innocent, biscuit obsessed Jody and Tyler ever again?

A/N: I didn't want Brandon's crush on Jody to feel so out of the blue like it did in the show (as did his existence). Hopefully, it'll make the RyanMan thing run a lot smoother. The same with Tyler and Jody. When I watched the episode, I got the feeling that they both knew how the other felt about them but just when she found the courage to acknowledge it, he was still too afraid to admit he felt the same. I felt really bad for Jody but it all turned out alright in the end, didn't it? I wonder how Brandon took the break up and what, if any, reason Jody gave him for not wanting to date him anymore.

Thanks again to CharlieSMarts12 for the review.