Oh man between work and the beginnings of research for 'The Big D' (my dissertation) today has been LONG! Anyway we're nearing the end of this story now so here is the fallout from the last chapter, hope you enjoy :D

After the screaming match had ended I went to find the store manager and asked if I could take my week's paid holiday. Cowards way out, yes I know, but after everything that had happened I just couldn't face the thought of having to see Tai again. I mean it's not as if it explicitly came out that I like him but with Michael and Jun and everything it was just easier to run away to Matt's for a week.

It wasn't all bad though. I managed to talk to Matt's manager about the photography job and we even did a couple of trial shoots so he could see what I did and how I worked. I also got to have a play around with his equipment, which was a lot more advanced than the stuff that I could afford. He also told me that if I took the job then I would have access to specialist equipment like this.

Considering everything that had happened I had decided that I was going to take the job. As soon as I got back from my week at Matt's I was going to go to my manager the next morning and hand in my notice. There was no point in me staying; for one thing I absolutely fucking hated that job and here I had a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card. Also it was probably going to be really awkward working with Tai now so it was probably best to just avoid the issue completely and slip away quietly. I'd tell Mimi but that would be it.

By the time I got home that night I had completely made up my mind that that was the plan for the following morning. The plan for that night would be to sleep. I might even continue to avoid Davis. I'd had a few messages from him while I was away but I'd really only send him a quick message back to let him know that I was still alive but I tried to avoid anyone from back home as much as possible. In this instance though I should probably let him know that I was home.

"Davis," I called out as I closed the flat door behind me. "I'm home." There was no reply and at first I figured that he must be out but then I noticed his trainers by the front door. I also noticed that there was another pair of shoes there too: a pair of pink lady's shoes. No prises for guessing who they probably belonged to. Half a minute later Davis emerged from his room looking a little dishevelled and, if I wasn't mistaken, with his t-shirt on back to front.

"Hey man!" he exclaimed in surprise. "You're alive."

"Yeah," I said. I grinned a little sheepishly at him. I should have called him more. I shouldn't have disappeared off the face of the earth entirely. Then again I'm not very good with this dealing with stuff and I panic easily. "Sorry about not calling you I just…"

"No it's totally fine." he said, raising his hands. "I understand. I'd want to get away after something like that happening."

"How did you…" I began.

"I got a phone call from Jun that night, ranting and raving about the whole thing." he explained. "Like I had any idea who any of the people were apart from you."

"I'm sorry dude," I said. "it's bad enough that Tai got dragged into all of this and Michael showing up but…"

"Hey you don't have to apologise." he said. "You know how my sister is a crazy bitch on a good day? Well that was not a good day so the crazy was dialled up by like fifty percent. I just put her on speaker phone and let her rant while I did other things." I couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'm glad you're back though." he added after a pause.

"Me too." I replied.

"Promise not to go disappearing on me again?" he asked.

"Promise." I agreed. He grinned at me.

"Cool." he said. There was a pause and he looked as if he wanted to tell me something. He opened his mouth to speak. "So listen…" He was cut off by his bedroom door opening.

"Hey Davis are you coming back to…" Kari began, emerging in one of Davis' t-shirts and a pair of his boxers. She stopped short when she saw me. "Hey TK."

"Hey." I replied. Both of them looked incredibly embarrassed (as if I hadn't been able to work it out for myself before). "So are you guys…?" I began. I thought I'd throw it out there and just get it over with. Davis grinned.

"Yeah." Kari said. "Sorry this probably wasn't the best way for you to find out about it." I just shrugged and waved her off.

"I figured something like this was going to happen." I said. I gave Davis a look what I hoped said that I was happy for him but it was a bit difficult as I was pretty sure that I had kind of fucked things up with Tai. For once in his unobservant life Davis picked up on it.

"You ok man?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Yeah I'm fine." I lied. "Just tired and just feel like I've ballsed things up on that whole side of things."

"I wouldn't give up so easily." he said conspiratorially. I raised an eyebrow at him. I knew he knew about the whole sorry saga but I had no idea how much Kari knew about it. Probably everything – Davis is rubbish when it comes to keeping things from people.

"I'm not giving up. I got a better job." I told him. "I'm going to go back tomorrow to hand in my notice and that's it."

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" Kari asked. I shrugged.

"There's nothing keeping me there." I stated. "It's not like I liked the job that much anyway."

"Yeah but what about Tai?" she asked. I just raised an eyebrow at Davis. He just shrugged at me.

"Don't look at me, dude, I haven't said anything to her."

"He didn't have to say anything," Kari said. "it was kind of obvious."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I thought I had been pretty good at keeping the whole thing a secret (apart from the slip up with Mimi and Jun coming in to shout the odds at me). Kari sighed and shook her head.

"Oh my god you're so dense!" she said. "Tai is crazy about you and I know you're crazy about him too." That was new information.

"What?"

"For the last week Tai hasn't been able to stop talking about you." she said. "He's been berating himself because he thinks he's the reason that you disappeared of the face of the planet for a week."

"What?" I asked again. I was so confused, trying to process what she was telling me. Tai liked me. In the same way that I liked him? No that couldn't be true, could it?

"You and Tai kissed when you were at my party, right?" Kari said. Davis looked shocked.

"You never told me!" he said. I just shrugged at him. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "Dude, nice." he said quietly.

"Yeah we kissed but it was a drunken accident." I told Kari, half ignoring Davis. "Both of us agreed that that was all it was going to be."

"Yeah well Tai's an idiot and he only said that because he didn't know how you felt about him." Kari told me. "He hasn't been able to stop talking about you since you got the job there."

"This is insane!" It seemed almost too good to be true. The guy that I really liked was apparently crazy about me too and all I had to do was work up the balls to tell him and then I might actually have the chance to be happy for a change.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kari asked. "You can't just quit without saying anything to him."

"That I'm quitting?" I asked stupidly.

"No that you're into him!" Kari said. The 'you idiot' was implied in her tone. "You have to tell him before you quit and he thinks it's because of what happened with Jun and everything."

"Ok," I said realising that she was right. "I need to do this."

"Good." she replied.

"I need to do this now before I lose my nerve completely." I said.

"Good." she said again. "His flat is only a ten minute walk from here, five minutes if you run. Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah we walked back this way together when we finished at the same time." I said.

"Then get going!" she told me. This was such a bad idea and it could all go horribly wrong but at this point I really did have nothing to lose. I could go over to his, tell him how I feel and if he rejected me it didn't matter because I'd be quitting my job in the morning and wouldn't have to be around him and things be awkward if he did turn me down.

"Right," I nodded, my mind made up. "Wish me luck." I left my bags where they were and left the flat with a chorus of 'good luck' behind me from both Kari and Davis.

As soon as I stepped outside I instantly regretted not bringing anything heavier than the jacket I was wearing, as what had been a light drizzle when I got home was now pouring rain. I very quickly toyed with the notion of running back upstairs and getting a coat or umbrella but decided against it. If I went back upstairs now then I would lose my nerve completely. I took a deep breath and stepped out into the rain, breaking into a run.

The original plan had been to walk over to Tai's thinking about what I was going to say so that I didn't make a complete arse out of myself and trip over my words when I got there. Thanks to the rain that plan went out the window as it took less time for me to get there and the only things I could think about where not getting a stitch and how freakishly cold it was.

Finally I got to Tai's door. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath. (I need to do more exercise – that was not fun). Even though there was a bit of cover from the balcony of the flat above the rain was still hitting me, although I was already drenched so it really didn't matter. Once I had caught my breath again I rang the doorbell and waited. I really hope he's in, if I've just run all this way in the rain and he's not here I'm going to be so pissed.

I saw the light click on in the hallway and I knew I was in luck. I knew Tai lived by himself so at least I could take comfort in the fact that it was definitely him. He opened the door and stared in surprise as he saw me, dripping wet and still panting a little on his doorstep.

"Hi." I said. Smooth. Anything more eloquent would have been better but apparently words were against me at that moment in time. It didn't matter in the end as Tai didn't say anything. He stepped out into the rain, grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me into a searing kiss, one of his hands plunging into my hair while the other still clutched the front of my shirt.

I kissed him back with equal force, wrapping my arms around his neck and running my fingers through his hair. It was just like when we kissed at Kari's party but this time we were both stone cold sober. The feel of his lips against mine, being pressed up right against his chest and when he took my bottom lip in his teeth and gently bit down told me that this was a real. I could have stayed like that for hours but finally Tai pulled away.

"God I missed you." he whispered, pressing his forehead against mine.

"Missed you too." I replied before he kissed me again.

"You disappeared." he said.

"I'm sorry." I replied. It was a bit of a lame response but my reason for leaving was pretty lame so I was sticking to the theme. "I thought I'd fucked things up too much and it would be better if I just left for a while."

"I'm sorry." he said before kissing me again.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" I asked between kisses.

"I don't know," he shook his head. "it was just a weird situation."

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry about." he said grinning at me. We seemed to be in an apologising loop. He kissed me again and the loop was broken. The hand that was in my hair gripped it tighter, prompting me to gently tug his ever so slightly. He groaned, the sound vibrating through his chest into mine. God I wanted to stay like this forever but the rain had completely soaked through my clothes, it was freezing cold and I could feel myself beginning to shiver. Tai seemed to notice this too. It was hard not to notice as I had soaked the front of his shirt too.

"Want to come inside?" he asked.

"Wait!" I said. I did. I really did but there was an implication behind his words and I needed to say what I had come here to say before I lost the chance. He looked quizzically at me. "I came over here because I wanted to tell you that I have feelings for you. I have for a while now and after everything that happened with Jun and Michael and Kari's party I thought it was time that I told you."

I waited. Waited for him to make some kind of comment. I figured that he wasn't going to kick me out considering that the first thing he had done was to kiss me. A grin spread over his face and he pulled me into another kiss. I was a bit too shocked to respond – I had been waiting for him to say something or give me some kind of answer. He pulled back.

"God I was hoping you'd say that!" he said. "I know I said that kiss at Kari's was a drunken accident but I thought that it would be easier if I pretended that it was nothing. I wanted to tell you that I'm crazy about you for so long now."

"Really?"

"Since I first started properly talking to you." he said. "When you first started working I just thought of you as Matt's little brother but then I got to know you and I just fell for you. I didn't mean for it to happen and I thought I should just ignore it because of work but I couldn't help it and then Kari's party happened. I just sort of took a chance."

"Good chance." I grinned. "When you kissed me that night it was like everything I had been thinking and dreaming about was coming true."

The two of us stood there, out in the rain, confessions hanging in the air just looking at each other. I was too nervous to do anything so I waited for him to make a move. He pushed a wet strand of my fringe out of my eyes.

"So," he said softly. "want to go inside now?"