Alex had seen the place before but never been inside. Many a time she'd heard Eyeball talk about his kid brothers treehouse and sometimes she'd pass and hear the faint laughter of Chris and his friends playing cards and telling dirty jokes. She couldn't say she was jealous but there was something she missed from her childhood. From a young age she hadn't fit in with the girls in her class, she didn't share their interest leaving her left out from their games. The boys in her class either recoiled at her tomboy ways or believed the rumours spread around school about her and the Cobras. She didn't blame them some of them were true. By always hanging round with and older crowd she'd lost a lot of her innocence the reality setting in that she could never get those formative years back.

Chris walked over to a storage box with a mix match of old blankets, he pulled them out creating an ugly patchwork across the floor. "I have these but these boards ain't comfy you're better off using half to sleep on, but you'll be cold" he laughed slightly.

Alex grimaced trying to ignore the stinging cold covering her skin. They lay out their blankets and Chris only rolled his eyes when she dragged hers to the other side of room. After about 10 minutes or so of not talking the sound of Alex's teeth chattering was echoing off the walls. The floorboards creaked as she tried to ignore her incessant shivering.

Chris groaned and turned to face her, "look I'm not trying to mess with you right now but you'd be a lot warmer if we shared a blanket."

"Shut up Chris" she snapped back.

He leaned up bit using his elbow to keep him steady "You're gonna freeze to death, I'm not a dirtbag we dont even have to touch." After a couple seconds of silence he grumbled something along the lines of 'do what you want' and lay back down.

Alex considered her options and decided her pride wasn't worth the cold night. She dragged her blankets over quickly without a word and lay down. Chris smirked in the darkness throwing his blanket over her as well, she instantly felt better. She wrapped her fingers round the thin material thankful for Chris' kindness.

"Thank you" she grumbled "for the blanket and letting me stay here"

"Don't worry about it I told you I'm not a dirtbag, don't wanna think what could've happened if you were left walking out there all night."

Alex scoffed "I can handle myself."

Chris sighed "you don't realise what guys can be like, beautiful girl out at night you'd be an obvious target-" he stopped aware of what he'd just said. Neither of the spoke and the dead air hung round them like nooses.

"You think I'm beautiful?" Alex breathed her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah" his voice croaked and his throat dried up like it was stuffed with newspaper "but you're beautiful but you're Ace's girl, and I'm saying I'm not like those creeps I'd never touch you." The words fell out of his mouth as he tried to defend his slip up but Alex stayed silent for a few more moments.

"I've never been called beautiful before"

Chris looked at her skeptically unsure if this was some sort of joke or game. When he saw no hint of a lie in her eyes he finally loosened up. "You should. Ace is lucky to have you he'd be stupid if he didn't tell you"

Silence consumed the room again. The two pretended to sleep for twenty minutes or so, until someone spoke again.

"Chris?" Alex asked apprehensively.

"What?" He mumbled.

"I know you're not a dirtbag" she saw him smile slightly through the dark "I think you're probably the least dirtbag guy I've ever met" this time Chris only shook his head. "What?" She asked defensively.

"Hope you didn't include your boyfriend in that" Alex's mouth fell open unable to think of a response, as much as she wanted to defend him with the way they left things she wasn't sure what he was so she only breathed a laugh.

They didn't speak again and somewhere between the chilly night and early dawn the found sleep.