The storm had completely abated by the time we left the pub. The night sky was clear and the streets all shiny and new, still shimmering from their violent wash down. It was only a short walk to the flat, so Adam didn't hesitate in taking my hand in his as we strolled along the cobbles.

"This feels weird, don't ya think?" I asked him, glancing at his profile and wondering exactly who it was that I was walking with. Was Adam Barlow my boyfriend?

"We're just walking, Carla. Nothing weird about it."

"I know, but it feels different. Almost like we're…"

"Like we're… what?"

"Like we're on a date or summat."

"I'm just walking you home from the pub."

"You know what I mean."

He paused for a moment and turned to look at me, searching my eyes. "Yeah, I do." I grinned back at him, relieved that we were on the same page. He kissed me softly on the forehead and kept walking, adding, "this feels like one of those milestone kind of nights."

"Yeah, it does."

We walked along in silence, each left to our own interpretation of what milestone we'd reached. It was only when we arrived at my front door that I had the courage to ask the burning question.

"So, given that this is a milestone night, like you said," I began my query in a very roundabout way, "how would you adjust our designation to, you know, suit the occasion?"

"What?"

I didn't blame him for his confusion, I had phrased my question stupidly.

"How would you," I continued fumbling the question, "you know, categorise us? I mean, what am I to you? And you to me?"

"Oh, I get it, you want to know how to update your Facebook status. Well," he said, slipping his arms around my waist and pulling me close to him, his eyes glinting in the dark night, "I would say that you," he kissed me for emphasis, "are my… girlfriend?"

"Which would make you," I kissed him this time, "my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend."

It was settled. We kissed again, our first proper kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Thank you," I said, beaming up at him, "for walking me home."

"Am I not allowed upstairs?"

"Umm… no."

"Gone off me already?"

"No, it's just, I think, maybe," I struggled to put into words the thoughts that had been swirling around inside my head ever since Sarah had walked in on me and Adam earlier that evening, "maybe we take it slow, you know, with the whole sex thing."

"You do know we've had sex before, quite a few times actually."

"I know, but…"

"You're not happy with my… performance?"

"No! You are great, you are amazing, I mean, wow, no complaints on that score at all."

"Thank god for that, I don't think my fragile ego could cope. Then what's the problem?"

"I just feel like, I'm speaking historically you understand, that we both tend to jump into sex way too quickly and for the wrong reasons."

"We?"

"Sorry, me. I jump into sex too quickly. And it tends to complicate things right from the off. I mean look at how me and Peter first started, he was married to Leanne, the amount of damage our affair caused, to everyone, not just me and Peter. And the first time you and me slept together, that was for all the wrong reasons, I was reacting to things Peter had said, I wasn't doing it because I wanted to. And tonight in the office, it was so easy to just let old habits take over. Adam, did you see the look on Sarah's face when she saw us? And, don't get me wrong, I believe you when you say that you and Sarah are over, but that doesn't mean it's okay to do whatever we want, act however we want, without thought to anyone else. I just want to do things right this time. I don't wanna mess things up. I'm good at messing things up. And jumping into bed with someone usually messes things up."

"That's what I don't get, Carla, we've already jumped into bed."

"We've still got your family to deal with," I continued, ignoring Adam's point entirely. "And then there's Sarah."

"You keep talking about Sarah, what about Sarah?"

"I still need to work with her every day. I don't want to be fighting Sarah at work, and fighting your family at home. And now look what I've done, I'm fighting you. I told you I mess things up, even when I'm trying to do the right thing."

"Hey, you're not messing things up. And we're not fighting, not over this." He sighed deeply before a wry grin broke across his face and he shook his head as if in disbelief at what he was hearing, at what he was saying. "Look, I'm not going to pretend to like this sudden no sex clause because all I wanna do right now is go upstairs with you and…" he took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, "you know what I wanna do."

"I want it too. Believe me."

"But I respect your decision. And I get it, I think I get it, I'm trying to get it. There's gonna be a lot of people against us, I can't actually think of one single person who'll be cheering us on. So I get it, we need to tread carefully. And not rub everyone's faces in it, so to speak."

"Are you sure?"

"The one thing I'm sure about is you."

"Thank you."

I pulled him into an embrace, my arms wrapped around him and my cheek resting on his shoulder.

"You know," I whispered into his ear, "there's no rule against kissing."

"Is there not?"

"Nuh uh."

And so, like two teenagers stood on her family's front doorstep after a chaste trip to the cinema, we had a good old-fashioned snog until finally it was time to say good night.

"I'm gonna talk to Sarah tomorrow," I informed him of my intention.

"You really think she's going to give us her blessing?"

"I don't know, all I know is that I need to talk to her, to smooth things over."

"Okay," Adam said, surely realising by now that all argument was futile.

"And you're going to talk to Ken."

"Grandad?" Adam was aghast at the suggestion.

"Yes. Make him understand that what's happening between us, it isn't a cheap fling, that we're serious about… about us. I'm sorry, is that too much?"

"Is what too much?"

"Using the word 'serious'? I'm talking about intention, you know, so don't think I'm after a marriage proposal or owt."

"That's good because I'm still married. So are you."

"So we're agreed then, any talk of… anything like that, that's way way waaaaayyyyy down the track."

"Agreed."

"But we're on that track, right? We're not just messing about?"

"We are definitely on that track. So yes, I will talk to grandad. I will make him understand."

"Thank you. And after that…"

"Yes?" he asked hopefully.

"After that, you're gonna take me on a date."

"A date?"

"Yes. Dinner. At the bistro. If you're up for it, being seen in public, with me."

"Oh, I'm up for it."

After convincing me how up for it he was with a kiss, I finally managed to tear myself away from him, as difficult as that was, and enter through the front door into my flat. I closed the door behind me and stood there for a moment, frozen, as I gathered all my resolve and steeled myself against the almost overwhelming desire to open the door again and call Adam back to me, to drag him upstairs and take him to my bed.

But no, I wanted to do things right this time. For the first time in my life, I would do things right.