A/N: Thanks to those of you who have reviewed and/or added this as an alert...hope you enjopy this next chapter. Don't worry, things will become gradually clearer! Please leave me a review to let me know what you think. Love, Jude ;)

Second Chance

"Thanks for agreeing to come." Jen squeezed her friend's hand as they climbed out of Jen's car outside Hamish's house. Hannah and Candy had already dashed off to find their respective boyfriends who were arriving separately, so the two best friends were left alone. "I can't believe you're making me not drink tonight."

"You'll survive. And I mean that."

"But Hamish has got his brother driving a minivan back to campus, I could –"

"Jen, honey, you don't live on campus, remember? Your uber-rich parents bought you a house."

"I hate you sometimes. But I'm still glad you're here, parties are always so dull without you."

"I doubt you even notice if I'm there or not!" Becca laughed. If there was a slight nervous edge to the sound, neither commented on it.

"I do. I keep finding cute boys and thinking I have to point them out to you, but you're not there, so…" She made a face.

"What's this I hear about cute boys?" Dan folded his arms about Jen's waist from behind, swung her close to him as she squealed. "I see you survived all the shopping then, Becca. I take it Jen decided you are a girl after all."

"Of course she's a girl." Matt appeared next to Becca, visibly confused. "Why wouldn't she be a girl?"

"Says the boy who calls her 'Ryan'." Jen rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get down to the party."

"Remember what you promised!" Becca called after her. "You too, Matt."

"I won't drink." His eyes flicked up and down over her, perhaps lingered a little too long. "You look good."

"Thanks." Becca executed a neat spin to show off the new jean shorts that flaunted the long length of her legs, the top that left no doubt that she was the girl she claimed. "Come on. Let's go fishing." She didn't notice that Matt didn't reply, and even if she had wouldn't have read anything into it. Becca had long ago given up hoping that she would be the first girl Matt looked at, but it didn't matter. She was in love with him – she was certain now – but as long as he kept turning to her as friend, confidante, lover, she didn't mind if that relationship was exactly exclusive. Hell, there was nothing she could do about it if she did mind.

There were people already dancing, drinking in the house when they got inside, the bass turned high as the music blared and thumped throughout the rooms which were filled with students and friends from the university. Becca wove her way through to the kitchen, waving at people she knew as she passed and fending off a few boys who tried to get her to dance with them.

"Ryan, you came!" Jamie lifted his bottle in a toast to her, keeping his other arms firmly around the shoulder of some blonde girl Becca recognized from around campus. "You remember Lucie, Ryan? She's Hamish's cousin…"

"I do." The girls eyed each other up and down warily, Lucie clinging even closer to Jamie. Becca resisted the urge to roll her eyes; it was always the same first reaction from the girls any one of the boys in the band picked up. "And yes, I came. Remember what I said, Jamie." She looked at the bottle in his hand pointedly.

"Sure, sure." Regardless, Jamie took a chug of his drink. "Don't worry, Ryan, I'm not driving. I'll either get the bus back to campus, or…" His words died off and he glanced at Lucie.

"I'm staying here," Lucie shrugged with apparent carelessness, but there was a sharp gleam in her eyes. Yes, definitely staking her claim on him. Becca ignored the challenge in Lucie's face, ignored the fact that the girl was creeping a hand up beneath Jamie's shirt even as she spoke.

"Great. Well, I'll see you around." She continued into the kitchen where she found the table crammed with crates of alcohol, the small space around crowded with people. Chris and Candy were there – Becca's bandmate pressing his girlfriend up against the wall as he made out with her – and others talking, grabbing bottles of beer or smoking. Becca made her way through the haze the cigarettes spat out to where an almost untouched box of soda had been pushed into one corner, bent down to pull out a bottle.

"Could you pass me one too, please?" The boy's voice came from behind her, and without a thought she drew another bottle from the pack, turned to pass it to him.

She was caught completely off guard by his closeness and just how good he smelled.

Dark blonde hair, slightly too long, flopped into a face that had Becca's breath catching in her throat; perfect features, dark eyes of an unidentifiable colour in this light… "Hi," he greeted her. Talking only drew attention to his mouth – dammit, he was too close!

"Hi." She blinked, forced herself to look up again, handed him the bottle. "Here."

"Thanks." He took a step back, held out a hand to help her up. His skin was very cold as his long fingers closed lingeringly around her own, and the slight tug he gave to bring her to her feet had her stumbling too close again, close enough to smell the sweetness of his skin once more even through the cigarette smoke that hung in the air of the kitchen. "Not drinking either?"

Becca shook her head dumbly, took a step backward. Her head was spinning, as if she was intoxicated by his mere presence, and she took a calming sip of her soda. Viewing him again with less stunned eyes, she was sure she recognised him. He looked perhaps a year or two older than her; his face was so striking she knew she would have definitely remembered had he attended the University. So where had she seen him before? Was it –

"Hey, Becca, want a smoke?" She turned at the interruption to see Brad – a boy from her class – offering a packet with a dazed expression.

"No thanks. I need my lungs." Brad laughed wildly, muddled by the alcohol he'd drunk and whatever else he'd been inhaling, stumbled away. "Idiot," Becca murmured under her breath.

"So what do you need your lungs for?" She looked back at the soda boy, heart flying into her throat once more as she revelled in his perfection again. His tone was light, teasing, but there was an odd intensity in his eyes as he watched her. She realized then that he still hadn't let go of his grip on her hand, became aware of the sensation of something passing between their linked fingers.

"I sing," she shrugged with forced casualness. "In a band. And I breathe. What about you?"

"No, neither of those." Those lips twisted mockingly even as he laughed. "You're in a band?"

"Yeah, we do a lot of parties. You're new around here?" Then it struck her. The boy in the alcove – half hidden in shadows – the one who wasn't drinking. She didn't remember him being this gorgeous, though; caught herself as her eyes skimmed down his torso where the t-shirt clung ever so slightly, the small slit of flesh between shirt and jeans. "No – you were at Jen's party a few months ago."

Maybe it was her imagination, but the boy seemed to tense, a ripple running along his jaw, and he carefully let go of her hand. The sudden loss of that contact was strange; as if a power switch had been flicked to the off position and was longer sending a current through her. "Was I?" There was a sudden caution to his carelessness, even as he leant casually back against the table so that the muscles in his arms flexed.

Forcing her thoughts away from his body, Becca nodded. "I remember seeing you. You didn't drink then, either."

"Courtyard? You were with another girl who got picked up early."

"Right." Perhaps it was creepy that he remembered, but hey – only as creepy as her remembering him. "You've not been around?"

"No." She waited for him to elaborate, but the boy simply took another drink without taking his eyes off her. For some reason his study of her made Becca feel self-conscious, uncomfortable with herself, oddly anxious for his approval.

"So…are you getting the bus back to campus later?" She realized a little too late how that sounded, blushed, but he didn't seem to notice. The slightest frown creased his smooth brow.

"What bus?"

"Didn't you hear? Hamish's brother's organized a bus to take people back so there aren't any accidents. Not like last time," she added more quietly, felt her stomach twist again at the memory.

"I hadn't heard." His eyes abruptly darkened and he straightened.

"Almost everyone's getting it, but there'll probably be room for you if you want to drink," Becca suggested. "They're leaving their cars here."

"I might. Thank you." His gaze flickered over his shoulder and he inclined his head in a strangely polite, peculiarly old-fashioned gesture. "I won't keep you." The boy slipped past her and was gone.

Confused at his sudden departure, Becca turned to watch him go but he had already disappeared in the crowd; instead she saw Matt, obviously searching for somebody, and she felt a surge of disappointment. Her best friend, the boy she was pretty certain she was in love with, was looking for a girl; the boy she'd felt strongly attracted to had vanished somewhere, and she didn't even know his name.

With a sigh she slipped into the crowd before Matt could catch sight of her; before she would have to see his absent-minded smile as his gaze slide sideways past her, acknowledging her but not really seeing her. First and foremost the best friend; second, if at all, the girl.

The party had lost its sparkle for Becca. She danced some, chatted and flirted a bit with people she knew and people she didn't, but she kept catching herself in the act of scanning the room for either one of the two boys she wanted to see most.

But both Matt and the soda boy – for lack of any other name to call him – had disappeared. Becca wandered absent-mindedly from room to room, trying to convince herself that she wasn't really looking for them; she was simply circulating, seeing who was there. Even so, neither appeared to be anywhere she looked; perhaps, she reasoned with herself, Matt had found a girl and gone home early. And Soda Boy – dammit, she should have asked his name! – would have definitely been snapped up. He had been so gorgeous…

"Dance with me?" Somebody tumbled against her, slurred the words even as his hands sought out her hips, tried to drag her closer. From the size of his pupils, he was on something Becca didn't want to consider and she pushed him away.

"No thanks. Dance with her." He latched himself onto the girl she shoved him towards and Becca made good her escape, weaving her way through the writhing bodies to the open door for some fresh air. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, flipped it open and sighed; it was still only eleven, barely five minutes since she last checked. There wasn't really anybody else outside, because the air was cool and it was still early enough for people to be enjoying the music and atmosphere in the house.

Deciding not to sit down on the doorstep on the principle that only God knew whether anybody had already thrown up in the shadows, Becca leant back instead against the wall and took a drink from her bottle of soda. She felt her thoughts drift to the nameless boy once more; remembered the intensity of his dark eyes on hers, the queer thrill that had run through her from his touch on her fingers. Then she chided herself from being ridiculous.

The girl tilted her head back to glance up at the sky, orange-tinted from the road lamps, wondered whether to go back inside or not. Maybe she'd have a couple of drinks, catch the bus back to campus rather than driving; she was thinking too much tonight, and she just wanted to let go of her worries and have fun.

"Becca." Matt's voice ghosting over the music, very close to her ear, and she jumped, turning to face him in the dim yellow light that filtered through the doorway.

"Jesus, Matt, you scared me. What are you doing? Found anybody yet?" She forced her tone to remain light, startled herself in the effort. Since when had she been so territorial over him?

"Becca, baby, I've been looking for you." His voice was husky as he slid his arms about her waist, drew her body against his. She was surprised, but didn't resist, smiling up at him through the darkness. Her heart skipped seeing him.

"I thought you weren't going to drink tonight."

"I haven't drunk at all." She couldn't smell any alcohol on him as he bent his head to nibble along her throat. "I just want you tonight, Becca." The ministrations of his lips had her arching her neck back, even as his hands slipped into the back pockets of her shorts and pushed her hips up even further against him. "Becca, baby –" His mouth kissed its way up to hers, hovered a moment to let her choose.

She hesitated just a second, and that hesitation had her confused. She wasn't going to look for Soda Boy; she'd barely seen him, spoken to him for two minutes. And this was Matt. That decided her. Instant attraction for a boy she'd met over a box of soda wasn't going to have her bailing on her best friend, however much that single feeling nagged her that she had to get over Matt, move on.

Closing her eyes, she laid her palms flat against his chest, let them slide upwards to lace themselves behind his neck, tugging him closer. He needed no more encouragement, swooping down to plunder her mouth and steal her breath from her even as he backed her up against the wall, bracing himself with one hand beside her head. The other floated down to her thigh, hitched her leg up so that it wrapped around his hip as his fingers slid up to tease the hem of her shorts.

"Do you want to stay?" He broke the kiss, moving back bare millimeters so that they could still taste each other.

"Hell, no," she breathed against him, leaning forward again to press her body against his chest, tug at his lower lips with her teeth.

"Are you driving or am I, baby?"

"You haven't been drinking, have you?" She dipped her head down, lips caressing the side of his neck as his breath hitched sharply, hands tightening slightly.

"No."

"Let's go, then." He released her, took her hand and drew her along with him to his car. Becca didn't glance back; didn't see the silhouetted figure in the upstairs window of Hamish's house.

Didn't see the flicker of flame that reflected in his red eyes as he stared after them.

A/N: Please review! love, Jude ;)