The previous chapter was updated with corrections. I would suggest a re-read but the whole idea is still the same. You may have noticed from it and the one before the writing style had changed somewhat, I was trying something new deliberately but it didn't seem to work as well. There were also some remnants of some text I rewrote which had snuck back in. I am a turning out to be a lousy editor.

The need to fix all this and make sure the previous chapter read properly constituted for this chapter's delay.

Waking up wasn't so much of an issue that morning; it just took until Paulo simply became sick of dealing with the light shining in through the living room curtains. Getting up, however, was proving to be a strenuous a task than ever a time before.

He just hurt all over.

It seemed sleeping on the floor even with the blankets did not quite provide as comfortable a cushion as he expected. It wasn't the greatest idea between them but with what options they had to them it was all he could do. He sat up and bought his arms above himself and stretched, feeling parts of his spine click back into place all at once as he did so.

No, he decided. It really was a terrible idea to sleep on the floor, he told himself.

'Good morning.' He yawned aloud. He expected a response; a murmur or muttering about not wanting to get up that morning from a certain person. He didn't get one. He sluggishly looked to his side, noticing the sheets they both shared on Susan's side of the bed; although no Susan. There was a feeling of panic, it shot through him causing his eyes to shoot wide too. He quickly scanned the room, once his eyes found the bag that Sue had arrived with the day before in the corner of the room he felt his heart calm down along with a sigh of relief. It appeared Sue had chosen not to quietly duck out and leave that morning without telling him.

If that was the case, where was she?

No longer needing himself to work up the strength to wake up completely (the mere heart attack from fearing the worst had done that), he thought to go looking for her, but instead stopped when he noticed the sounds of birds outside. The snow storm was still in his mind. Forget about Sue for the moment, she wasn't too far, he became curious what outside. He stood up from the bed and moved towards the closest window and peered through it. His eyes opened as wide as they'd go. He couldn't believe how white it all was; everything! Snow! White for miles! He'd never seen it as bad like this! He quickly ran towards the front of the door for a better view, his hand extended to open it. . .

But he backed off once a thought entered his mind. He went back to the window, this time looking down and noticing the snow hanging off the bottom of the window frame. Another sigh of relief; there had to be at least several feet of snow waiting behind that door. Then an idea; he could open the door, let some of the snow roll in, then strip off and fill his clothes with some of the snow and make it look like he was buried under it. Could you imagine Sue's face when she walks down the door and notices it?

Oh my god; he was onto something brilliant.

He started to remove his jacket, only to stop a short few seconds later. He realised this wouldn't be funny; Sue would come down the stairs, she'd expect him to still be sleeping, she'd not see him in the bed but what appeared to be his body under the snow over by the door. She'd be mortified. She'd cry out and try to dig him out. He'd come out from behind the couch. . .

. . .And she'd probably never talk to him again. Or she'd try to kill him, he wasn't sure which.

He sighed, and the jacket came back on again while the younger Paulo inside of him screamed out in agony. One day it would thank him. Regardless, there wasn't any chance in hell they were leaving the house at this hour.

The only other thing he could think about that morning was Sue's whereabouts. Not smelling any resemblance of food in the air (or food burning, which was a plus) indicating Sue was attempting to make up for the previous day trying to cook him a breakfast. He could only guess she might have gone to take a shower. So, he went there; up the stairs and made his way over towards where the bathroom was. His hand came up against the door. 'Sue, you in there?' He asked.

'I am! I'm just about to take a shower.' The voice came back.

Some relief flowed into him, though he really wondered how it was she left the bed without him even realising that morning. 'Okay. Do you have a towel? There were a few in the linen cupboard.' He said back through the door.

'I found them! Thank you!'

He looked to his right. The cupboard was only just ajar. He scratched his cheek with a finger. 'How about your arm? Any better?'

'Don't worry about it!'

'I'm just—'

'It's fine!'

'A—Alright!' He stammered, not particularly noticing he was simply lingering about the door at this point, until there was a sudden feeling of something he was forgetting — something important. 'Um. . . is there anything else you need?' He asked, hoping to buy him some time to remember.

'Privacy?' The voice came back.

He blushed, 'O—Oh, right! Sorry! I'll make breakfast downstairs then!' he said, he hastily turned and aimed for the stairs again. It was when he descended them completely he finally remembered. A hand came to his head. He turned around as fast as he could and bolted up the stairs again, he ran to the door and yelled out; 'Sue! Let the water run before you—'

He was drowned out immediately by a high-pitched scream from the bathroom. After it finished. He didn't say anything. He silently turned and walked down the stairs, went into the kitchen, and retrieved the fry pan and the pancake mix from the cupboard. He turned on the gas stove and got to work on the pancakes. He didn't think about anything else.

He wondered if staying downstairs and doing the joke he thought of earlier would've been better. Either way he started to fear for his life. Hopefully, if breakfast was just good enough, Sue wouldn't kill him.

'Good morning!' Paulo said cheerfully with the largest smile he could muster glued on his face, as a dressed Sue in much the same way as yesterday made her appearance a short while later, joining him in the kitchen.

'Good morning' Sue grumbled in return.

Paulo couldn't help but feel that; just somehow, Sue was maybe a little pissed at him; her arms were folded, her ears were down, and she was glaring at him with, what Paulo almost felt convinced of that, was comparable to almost the greater scorn of the universe. But his smile did not waver, even with the sweat forming across him.

He pointed towards the pan, 'I've made pancakes,' he said, hoping to defuse the situation the best he could. In the time it took for Sue to dress herself and leave the bathroom, the table had been set along with the appropriate cutlery for two. There were enough pancakes. Hell, he even found the maple syrup hiding in the cupboards; he thought that had been lost forever. It may have helped that he had the time thanks to what he assumed was the time it took for Sue to redress. She lied again, but of course, she just didn't want him to worry. That was her nature but god it didn't help him one bit inside.

Sue's eyes darted towards the pancakes on the plate, 'Great,' she said with the same flatness as before. Her eyes she returned to Paulo and in the calmest voice she could muster; 'I thought you said your boiler was working the other night.'

'It does. But there's something wrong with the pipes to the bathroom. I was going to warn you, but the thought came too late.' He said, ears falling flat.

'Old house with old pipes.' Sue thought aloud to herself. 'Should've known better.'

'Sorry.' Paulo said, remorsefully.

'Thin walls too.' Sue said.

'Well, I was right outside the door, but the pipes do carry the vibrations around to parts of the house.' Paulo pointed out.

'Huh.' Sue said.

There was a peace for the moment, he'd won, he thought to himself. The situation had been defused.

It wasn't.

Sue turned to him and frowned with a glare. She walked closer, stamping her feat as she approached. Jesus Christ, the pancakes didn't even tempt her. Good lord, he knew fear quite well; Barking phobia was one thing, the wrath of a girl was the next. He was going to die. Right here; in his own kitchen. Along with a complete breakfast. There was nothing he could do to stop it.

'Sue. . . Sue, I said sorry. S—Stop! You can't seriously—' He tried to plead.

'You heard.' She muttered as she got closer. She pulled up her fists causing Paulo to flinch. He closed his eyes and waited for impending death—.

'Two for flinching.'

'What?!'

*Whack* *Whack*

He eyes were as wide as they'd go as Sue landed both punches against the side of his shoulder. It didn't hurt, much. He was far distracted with the amount of gall Sue had to do that. His jaw dropped as Sue brushed past him and took her seat. He was aghast to say the least. 'Oh my god! That was mean!'

'Consider that even.' Sue said, her eyes closed as she worked the knife and fork into the pancake.

'For what?!' Paulo whined back. He found his own seat opposite her.

'My arm.'

Figures, he'd known she'd blame him at some stage, he leant his head against his hand. 'I suppose it was just going to be a matter of time before you would blame me for it.'

'I'm talking about my other one.' Sue pointed out as she moved it in circles. 'It's just as sore from sleeping on the floor.'

'Well, I'm sorry that wasn't the best idea I could come up with; I had offered my bed, remember? Besides, you slept on most of the good cushions.' He pointed out.

'Oh, I did?' Sue said, she looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully while she munched down on the pancake. 'Suppose you're right, that one against my back was very soft, one of a kind.' She said looking at him.

'I'm not—'. He was going to react poorly to it. Shit, how couldn't've he? He wasn't soft. But then there was bewilderment when he realised, his frown disappeared and was replaced with something of astonishment, he froze along with it like he stumbled upon some amazing discovery.

Good god, maybe he did!

'W—Was that a flirt? Are you trying to flirt?' He asked. His frown turned into a grin, something of pure joy. 'Oh my GOD!' He bellowed into laughter.

'Alright. You can stop now.' Sue said, sinking into the table with embarrassment.

'After that?! Are you kidding?' He continued to laugh. 'That was, oh my god!'

Sue let her head fall into a hand, she didn't want to show it, but she was on the verge of crying. What was a last minute save from an eventual fight was something she'd thought for a second would never come from her. There was no saying where that came from, she just said it. For a brief moment she thought it was like some kind of holy shining light to bring them away from disaster, but oh my god; that was not it! A pickup line, from her?! Unthinkable! And even then, to Paulo; a boy she couldn't tell until just a few hours ago if she hated or deeply loved inside.

Where on earth did it come from? She pensively asked herself.

Never-mind the fact they made up last night, she couldn't get past the feeling she had said something so stupid and unlike her. She was going to die from embarrassment. And she would've too, hadn't Paulo's arms wrapped around her, having noticed her dilemma somewhere between the breaths in his laughter.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You caught me off guard! I wasn't expecting it! It was. . .just cute!' He laughed as he hugged into her.

'Cute?!' Sue yelled back somewhere between anger and embarrassment.

'I had no idea you had it in you!' Paulo continued to laugh.

She had enough, the embarrassment was gone, she was furious again. 'Let go, I'm going to hit you so much.'

'Well, if it makes you feel any better from earlier.' Paulo said beneath a snicker.

Sue was going to comply, she rose both her fists and was going to lay into him, all before a noise resembling a snort snuck out between her lips before it turned into a laugh on its own. 'It was a pretty good scream earlier, wasn't it?' She asked, 'I've never made a sound like that before! And it's all your fault!' She said as she started jabbing him lightly in the stomach when he started laughing again.

'That was still the best thing I've ever heard. . .Oh my god!' He held onto her tightly, there was no chance in hell he was letting go. There were multiple reasons why. She'd realise in any time now. And she did a second later:

'You planned this! You've had to! You knew I'd get in the shower at some point! You fed me a lie!'

'Guilty! But you lied first!' He continued to laugh, 'This was revenge for all the kicking you did during our study yesterday!'

'You shit!' Sue screamed loudly amongst her laughter. 'You mischievous shit!' She pushed him off. 'Where's the frying pan. You better start running.' She said pointing to Paulo as he stood up from the floor.

Paulo held his hands up to her and begged his life for a draw.

Remarkably, that appeared to have worked.

They talked together that breakfast in good spirits. Continuing the discussion from the previous night, talking more about friends who had since left their company, and then to Sue's upcoming play as she then had to put some real thought into what she wanted to do for it. Breakfast was done once the pancakes were all gone. They didn't bother cleaning up from the kitchen; Paulo would do that once he'd gotten back after taking Sue back home, but they at least cleaned up the living room back to its prior state before her intrusion (though, upsetting Paulo when she would refer to it as that). Sue squeezed her beanie back over her head while Paulo helped her with her jacket and her bag as they stood near the front door in the living room. Paulo had thought it was just a girly thing to take so much time in the bathroom, but it had been obvious she was still struggling with her arm.

'Really, how bad is it?' Paulo asked, hoping she'd come around this time with the truth. He thought he was bad with it; the truth. Sue was clearly worse, probably out of a belief she needed to since it wasn't his fault. Naturally, he'd gotten the same answer he'd gotten for the past day and some.

'Same as every time I've said it before; it's fine.' Sue said, the story ever unchanging.

He rolled his eyes, 'Come on, Sue, I'm not buying that. You hardly use it, even at the table this morning; tell me the truth.'

Sue wavered, she bit her lip. 'It's a little painful to move at times.' She said rubbing it a little with her other hand. 'I don't know if it's just muscle that's sore, or bone. Once I get home I'll probably try getting it looked at. It can probably wait until early Monday. I mean, nothing bad happened last night, so it can wait until then.' She looked up at him. 'Are you satisfied?'

Paulo nodded, 'Thank you.' He still felt a bit sad inside, a bit guilty.

'And don't feel that it was your fault. It was just the luck of the draw that it happened.' Sue said. 'Come on, we better get going.'

Paulo nodded and turned to open the front door, and both stared in some astonishment at the amount of snow that had piled against it. It had still seemed to be over a meter high, though Paulo suspected some might have melted during Breakfast that morning. He kicked at it to try and clear the doorway, before then trying to scoop it up in his hands and shovel it further in front of them. He jumped through the door frame and extended a hand back to Sue as she climbed up herself. The process then was Paulo trying to clear a way to the path at the front of the house, there was less snow there. He held Sue's hand as he slowly guided her to the foot path. Once there, standing in only a mere inch of snow, they would have said their goodbyes, had a car not pulled up out the front of the house at the same exact second.

Paulo recognised the car immediately, 'Oh hell. . .' he whispered.

'What's wrong?' Sue said turning to him.

'I forgot you're not supposed to be here; nobody is supposed to be here other than me. I'm grounded, remember?' He said turning to her.

Sue gulped, if they'd only been a couple of minutes sooner.

The driver's side of the car's door opened as soon as the car came to a stop, Paulo's father stormed out just as fast. He'd seen them both emerge from the house as he made his way through the street. To the two of them, he didn't look at too well impressed. Paulo felt all he could do now was face the music.

'Hi. . .dad' Paulo said worriedly as his father walked up to them.

'Don't "Hi" me. We agreed, you were grounded until your grades improved. Who is this, and why was she in the house?' He asked him with a stern voice.

'Um. . . This is—.' He stammered, before Sue cut in.

'I'm your son's tutor.' Sue said plainly, but in her best manners. If there was going to be any chance of Paulo surviving his father's wrath, it would be up to her. 'I'm Susan, nice to meet you.'

Surprise washed over his father's face, he rose a little at the revelation. 'Tutor? We couldn't afford a tutor from the school.' He said.

'I'm volunteering on behalf of the school. I happen to be in the same classes. I've been helping Paulo with his studies at school and every weekend at the Library since the term started.' Sue continued to explain.

'Are you now?' His father said. His gaze went from Sue to his son, and back again, 'What were you doing in my home this early of the day?'

'Ah. . . about that; we had met up at the library yesterday, but we were kicked up about the time the storm was picking up. I live further away, so Paulo suggested we come here to continue studing, we just didn't expect the storm to go for as long as it did.' Sue said, continuing as best she good to sound convincing.

Another glance towards Paulo, this one prolonged as if expecting a response. Paulo reciprocated, swallowing, and nodding. It was the most he found himself being able to do, despite it only being half of the truth. He supposed his father didn't need to know about how she was almost killed by the force of the front door.

'I see.' His dad frowned, he turned towards his son, 'Paulo, take the bag from the back of the van up into the house and up to the attic. I need a word.'

Paulo turned towards Sue. She smiled back and nodded. Paulo turned back to his father, 'Alright.' Paulo muttered, he moved between them and into the back of the van, and dragged the bag through the snow into the house.

Once Paulo had disappeared out of sight, his father turned to Sue. 'He didn't try to do anything funny did he?'

'I'm sorry?' Sue apologised, sounding puzzled and did her best to appear a bit shocked at the question as quick as it came. 'No, of course he hasn't. Why would you ask me that?'

He appeared slightly embarrassed, 'N—No reason. I'm just. . .' He sighed. 'I suppose I'm really just worried about him. How is he doing with school?'

Sue looked from Paulo's dad to the front of the house. She smiled. 'He's doing well, actually. He's already shown rapid improvement. He could well graduate the year.' Sue said supportively.

A sigh again, but one of relief 'That's good.' He said elated, and after a moment, 'And. . . outside of study?' he asked.

'Sorry?' Sue asked again.

'Is he coping well, does he have many friends at school?' He clarified, his voice carrying some worry. 'Paulo's never spoken much about his personal life around me. I only learned from the staff some of his close friends had moved away and I thought that might have been affecting him. More-so than usual, but. . . he never tells me anything. I never made an' effort keeping up with him. I figured it'd be best to let 'im live his life the way he wanted to.' Sighing again, 'Starting to think I might have failed him as a parent.'

Sue looked down towards the snow-covered footpath where Paulo once stood beside her, she swayed left to right while she felt a little sorry for the two of them. She didn't know how to address any of that at such short notice.

Paulo's father shook his head, seeing mistake, 'Ah. . . Look I didn't mean to put all of that on you, I just thought—'

'That's not it at all!' Sue said back aloud. 'He looks up to you! It's true that things have been a bit hard on him lately, but the rest of us are doing our best to help him! You should talk with him, let him know you're there.' She suggested.

Paulo's father looked back in a sad state, but it lied as best as it could, he felt something as close to being awestruck.

Paulo emerged from the front door at that very same moment. 'Okay, that's the first bag.' He said, only to be stopped by his father's arm cutting in front of him from moving past them to get to the next.

'Before I pulled up what were you just about to do?' His father asked.

'S—Sue was getting ready to walk home.'

'Dangerous given the amount of snow that's fallen.' He said, he turned to Sue, 'You can't stay for a couple more hours until the snow melts?'

'I'd love to, but my parents are probably worried about me.' Sue said.

He nodded, then turned to Paulo, 'Change of plans.' He started; 'Walk your friend home.'

Paulo blinked, 'Huh?'

'It's okay, you don't—' Sue tried to say, but stopped when Paulo's father shook his head.

''Wouldn't sit with me if you ran into a problem on the way home, the snow might be melting but it's still not as safe to be out by yourself. I'd offer to drive, but only the main roads are cleared up and it was a slippery journey here as it was.' He turned to Paulo. 'Don't worry about the bag, I'll take it. Make sure she gets home safely; that's your job. Then run home, we've got some things we need to talk about.' His father walked past him, but not before resting his hand on his son's shoulder as he entered the house.

Paulo blinked from the side-path, 'O—Okay, dad.' He called back to him, he turned to Sue, 'C'mon, I'll walk you home, let's go!' He said, walking ahead without a second thought.

'A—Ah! Wait up!' Sue said, closely following behind.

They didn't say anything for the first couple of minutes during the walk. It was only once the house was no longer in sight Paulo was the first to breathe a sigh of relief, 'I really thought I was going to get it just then.' He said, amazed. 'You have no idea what my dad can be like.'

Sue didn't see much of anything to worry about, 'I have a feeling you don't either.' She smiled. 'You're not afraid of him, are you?' She asked curiously.

'N. . .No.' Paulo said, standing still and thinking about it deeper. 'No, I suppose not. I just never meant for him to be so upset at all of this.' He scratched the side of his face. 'What do you mean just before?'

'He seemed really nice. I can see why you look up to him.' Sue said with a smile while they sloshed through the snow. Then she elbowed him, gently, but enough to cause him to recoil from the blow. 'But you should really let him know how you're going! He was only worried about you!'

'R—really?' Paulo said, holding his side.

'Yes, really! Do you mean you never noticed?!'

'I—I. . . come on, I was in a bad place! Besides, we're gonna have a talk when I get back anyway. I have that much to look forward to.' He said in a half sarcastic tone to go along with it. His shoulders fell when he caught Sue staring back depressed at his attempt at cheek, he almost felt offended. 'You know I'm kidding, Sue; it's fine. I should've probably let him know when everything went to shit.' He stared down towards the pavement. Really, if there was anything that he could've done back then to avoid all of this, it would've been at least talking with his dad.

He looked over towards Sue as she leant into him, her head rest against his shoulder and her arm wrapped around his to his hand. They kept like that until they reached Sue's neighbourhood.

'Here's far enough.' Sue said, stopping them no more than a few hundred meters from her house. 'I really don't want you to meet my parents at their worst. You met mom years ago that one time, she can be a bit of a worry wart when things like this happen.' Her hand went to her face as she flushed when she only just remembered, '. . .Not to mention I didn't quite let her know I was over at a boy's place.'

Paulo laughed and shook his head, 'Aren't parents great like that?'

'Yeah, they are.' Sue laughed once the embarrassment had washed away.

They didn't say anything after that, they simply found themselves watching one another.

Paulo finally 'ummed', breaking the ice, 'So. . .' Paulo said.

'So.' Sue returned.

'Um. . . What should we say tomorrow?'

'Good morning.' Sue said, as if the answer was obvious.

'Not to each other. I mean to everyone else.'

'Good morning to them as well!'

He shook his head. She wasn't getting it! 'That's not what I mean! Do we tell them we're. . .you know, a couple now?'

Sue sighed, 'I suppose they don't need to know, do they? Besides, with what's been spread around at school already I wouldn't really think they'd have thought otherwise!'

Maybe Sue did understand him, Paulo conceded. There had been a point in what she said too; the rumours that had been circulating had made people expect it was all something as much. He frowned, 'Not sure if I'd like them making such a big deal out of it.'

Sue crossed her arms, 'So only now that we're a couple you want to keep it private?' She asked.

'What?!' Paulo jerked up straight, his eyes were as wide as his frown. 'Isn't that what you wanted?!'

She leant forward towards him, in her best curious voice; 'You're not embarrassed about dating me, are you?'

'What? No! I'm not! It's just—'

'Just, what?' Sue parroted. It didn't show, but she was sure she was quite eager to know more about what he thought about them together. Paulo had realised she was messing with him.

'Cut it out! It's not like I had much in a say in how people learned about those other times.' He said flatly.

'I know, just teasing you.'

'You could do it without being so mean!'

Sue grinned, taking it like a compliment before coughing into her fist and bringing her hands to her hips, and resumed. . .well, being her normal self; 'Ignoring all of that, this will work in our favour anyway; it won't be too much of a distraction at school. Things won't be any different.'

His heart felt a little sore. They'd already spoken about this over breakfast. He thought he'd better ask her again just to make sure; 'Are you sure you want it like this yourself? Feels kind of anticlimactic after all the effort you put in earlier.'

She was quiet for a moment, eventually her hands went back to her sides, 'No, suppose in any other circumstance I wouldn't, but the situation calls for it. We can't afford too many compromises, and it does appear to be working; You are doing better. Anything that puts this at risk is something we need to avoid, like. . .' A hand came to her chin as she thought. 'Like, um. . .'

'Me being me?' Paulo queried, the conversation appeared to be heading in that direction.

Sue folded her arms and sighed. 'I wasn't going to say that. . . but since you bought it up —Yes; doing what you were known best for by most of the girls; going around sweet talking, acting too homely. You're not doing any of that with me until we graduate.'

Paulo scratched his chin, 'Well, I can't make any promises the next time we're studying I won't just throw down the book and I won't try to k—' He watched Sue roll her eyes as he flashed his trademark grin mid-sentence and was about to make her exit. Paulo chuckled as he caught up to her and grabbed her hand. 'I'm kidding! Stop!'

Sue turned around. There was some resemblance of sadness in her voice as her head hung to the side; 'You know what I meant. You can't kid around about this stuff, we just talked about this just before; you can't at school or anywhere in public. We can talk about things that aren't school or study at lunch. We can talk over the phone about the day. We can trade books. We can go out on weekends to functions on the odd occasion. But absolutely no DPA.'

Paulo was confused. 'What the hell is DPA?!'

She blinked at him. 'Displays ofPublic Affection. It's what I was just talking about!'

Good lord, he couldn't believe that had a particular word associated to it! 'I get it, I get it already. No affection, I can do that.' It was shaping up to be a whole different relationship he had ever been in already. 'How do I tell you I love you every time I meet you then?' He asked, at the same time wondering if such a relationship could even be possible.

'You can do it by getting good grades.' Sue said as if that were so simple.

He rolled his eyes, 'That sounds boring.'

'I suppose you could also beg. You're good for that.' Sue shot, winking.

'Yeah look what it's gotten me into!' Paulo shot back. 'But really, thank you. . . for turning around back then.'

Sue smiled as she shrugged, 'Suppose I'm just a sucker for trying to make a difference where I can.' She said.

'You were good for that.'

'Not really.'

'Hey, don't be like that. That's more than enough to be happy for.' He coughed into a fist, 'You know, if I could, back—.' He said, thinking of that one time in sophomore.

'Don't.' Sue interrupted. 'That was then, this is now; you had your reasons.'

'Still, I feel like I should've—' He tried saying again before Sue cut in yet again.

'Paulo, seriously. Stop. You can't keep apologising for everything that happened in the past. I know I can't.'

'Yeah, I know. I didn't mean. . .' He sighed. 'I gotta admit, I feel like us being together is worth announcing to the world, but it's like you said, it's not very fun if everyone already thinks as much.' He said chuckling, 'Makes you almost sad? Huh?'

It was Sue's turn to sigh, she'd gotten to a point in her life she was happy for, and nobody was going to be surprised in the end. 'I guess I'd have liked to let someone know. Maybe we could closer towards the end of the year. If we're still. . . you know.'

He shook his head. 'Hey, look! I—I'm really going to try, okay? I'm just. . .you know, be a bit patient with me. I know I can be a bit of a handful at times especially when I don't mean to. But, I want to make this last.'

Sue blushed, 'I—I'm going to as well!' Sue said, she shook her head. 'Just be a little patient with me also.'

'No regrets though, right?' Paulo thought for one final time. 'As I said before; I am a lot of work. You can always back out!'

She was going to hit him. She balled her fists up, but they instead went to her hips. 'That's enough! I'm already committed to this! Don't try to make me change my mind! Not to mention, I made a promise to your dad that you'd graduate.' She said blushing.

He was elated inside, 'Well then!' Paulo said smiling. 'Looks like we're in it for the long-run, I look forward to whatever more plans you make in the future!' He said, extending a hand to seal the deal.

Sue rolled her eyes at it, 'Clearly, letting things go with the flow seems to suit us better.' She remarked. She extended her hand as well.

With one solid hand shake, The Plan was solid once again.

Paulo didn't let go of her hand. 'If I wasn't clear back at home, I really do appreciate you coming around to find me before the snowstorm hit. I'm just feel sad about everything bad that happened.'

'I'm not.' Sue said.

'Huh?'

Sue looked down to her arm and gave it a rub with her other hand, 'It's a small price to pay for. . .well everything that happened last night. I know none of it was ideal; the fighting, being behind your back or even on your case. I just want to see you graduate, with all of us.'

'Why's there an emphasis on me graduating? What's with the with all of us?'

Sue was silent before looking sad, 'Because it sucks we already have two people who aren't going to be around when we graduate. It would suck if there was a third of us, not to mention you'd be the one left behind. I—I'm not going to let that happen!'

Paulo smiled, 'Apparently, I've got the best girlfriend in the world. I'll graduate. I won't let you down either.'

Sue leant in and gave Paulo a small peck against the cheek. 'Thank you for walking me home and, well. . .helping me with, well, things.'

'O—Of course. I'm always happy to help.' Paulo blushed. He rose his hand to say goodbye as Sue walked backwards doing the same in return, before finally turning and continuing the rest of the leg home. Paulo did the same.

Sue stopped after a few meters once she noticed. Something was missing from this scene. Then she realised. She turned back and called out towards Paulo and ran towards him. As soon as she caught up, she took his hands in hers and the rubbed the top them with her thumbs, looking past them to the snow below. Paulo thought to try and ask if something was wrong, before Sue's head came back up and leant in to him. Their lips meet again, much like the night before.

She withdrew after a moment. Paulo felt the need to ask. 'Any better?' he asked.

'A little different.' Sue said, her hand went to her lips and touched them softly.

'Damn, I'll try harder next time.'

'Ha! Me too I suppose!' Sue smiled.

'But I thought we weren't doing any PDA.' Paulo thought to point out.

Sue looked past his shoulder. 'I don't see anyone around. I guess it isn't public!' She smiled.

'You only just looked around now?! What would you do if someone from school was here?'

'Well, nobody saw!'

'That's besides the point! Why is it okay if only you can choose?'

'Well, I never said I wasn't open to some compromises. Goodbye kisses are allowed, in moderation, of course!' Sue said. 'So long as it's not in public and we're not in school.'

Paulo rolled his eyes, smiled and shook his head. 'Fine, I'll keep that all in mind.'

'I'll see you tomorrow!' She said, smiling as she walked backwards towards her house.

Paulo sighed with a smile on his face as well, he waved back before turning around to home himself.

He returned home half an hour later. He opened the door to find his father in the kitchen, helping himself to some of the remaining pancake mix in the frypan on the stove.

'I'm home, dad.' Paulo announced.

'Welcome home.' His father replied. ''Ready to talk?'

'Yeah.' Paulo said. He felt confident that whatever his father wanted to talk about, he was going to be okay. He'd be honest with his father and take whatever came back. If it demanded the truth, Paulo would do his best, even if it hurt him so inside.

The fewest of heroes in his life, despite everything, his father was one of them.

Sue turned around, once she saw Paulo take the corner street; no longer in her sight, she skipped the remaining distance to her home, or tried to at least, the snow was proving to be too deep. Instead it looked awkward. She gave it up. She'd been suppressing the urge for as long as she could regardless though. She couldn't describe her feelings into words, but she was so unbelievably happy.

She had to admit she was scared for a minute when it was just her and Paulo's father. She didn't know what to expect, she didn't know anything about him. At worst she had feared that he wouldn't be as kind about her being around Paulo, but he was nice. Father like son. Everything seemed to work out in the end. She handled it well, and all it seemed to require was her being true to her feelings. That's all that was ever needed from the start.

Sue reached the front door, but her hand didn't stop at the door handle, it rose up again and softly touched her lips again. Her thoughts went to that moment again. She felt her cheeks start to redden along with a feeling that felt wonderous inside her.

Shit, she thought aloud to herself. She'd realised Paulo was right; she could get addicted to this.

The hand reached to the door handle this time. She didn't manage more than a few steps through the front part of the house before she was immediately beset upon by her parents who had been waiting nervously for her return. Her phone was dead of course, so nothing had been going through. Everything around her seemed to feel like it had been happening in slow motion at that point. She wondered if that was the effect of her feelings as she watched her mother and father's arms wrapped themselves around her.

She quickly thought about Paulo. They didn't fight that morning. Was it the first time? Was all that it ever required was for them to talk it out and have some patience with one another?

She smiled to herself, today was gonna be a long day.