The silence that settled between them in the next few weeks was choking. Claudine found she could no longer meet Lauren's eyes anymore.

And then Danny dumped Lauren – for her. Just let her go, all because she fluttered her eyelashes and spilled her desperate little tale of loneliness.

…He kissed her. By the time she realised it was a horrible mistake, her hands were woven into his hair and she was mewling.

Because she was pathetic and lost; because the look on Lauren's face that night scared the shit out of her.

But that was almost fine, she could deal.

What she couldn't deal with was Jez cornering her outside her room, pinning her with such a look of heartfelt concern, tears threatens to split down her cheeks. How easy it would be to spill her dirty little secret to him and bury her face in the wool of one of his close fitting jumpers.

"Claudine. Can I have a word?"

"Sure."
"It's about you and Danny." Claudine began to nod; after all it was familiar ground, only… "And Lauren."

She froze. "Lauren?"

"Yes." He caught Claudine's look of mocking innocence and shook his head. "Don't. She needs to know."

"About what?"

"The fact you can't keep your eyes off her."

Claudine laughed but it sounded unnaturally high and forced. "Don't be stupid, Jez. I'm dating Danny."

He cocked his head. "Which of course means you can't keep giving Lauren those appreciative little glances. And has nothing to do the fact you can't meet her eyes, or the reason you serve everything you say to her with an extra helping of bitchiness."

Was she really that easy to read?

Claudine tried for outright denial, but 'no' got stuck in her throat.

"Got it all worked out haven't you, Jez. Had a nice time chatting it over with BB and Lola – deciding what was best?" She snorted. "One gay to another? Well sorry – I don't feel like a heart to heart."

She tired to push past him, but his large hands stopped her, falling heavily on her shoulders.

"I just thought I should-"

"Oh, I'm sure you did. But I don't need your thoughts or your concern. So keep your nose out."

She pushed away from him, pressing her back against the door and falling through. It closed with a resounding crack behind her.