Sixth Street ✓

Saturday 21st December

Becca eventually roped some poor guy into helping her carry James to A&E. In the early hours of Saturday morning, instead of sleeping off the hangover that was about to hit her at any given moment she waited, still half-drunk, until James emerged from the hospital room with a thick bandage wrapped around his nose.

She bounced to her feet immediately. "I'm so sorry," she blurted out as they walked out onto the street. "I did not mean to hit you that hard. I definitely didn't want to break your nose."

James shrugged. "To be honest, I'm more impressed than angry. Who knew such a spoilt princess could pack a punch?"

Becca grinned sheepishly. "It did feel kind of good." She laughed, encouraging him to do the same, lifting the tension that had been placed on them since the moment they sat beside each other.

"Look, James," Becca broached tentatively, "Are we good? Because I know you've literally hated me since we met and after the kiss and the punch... Can we just be good with each other?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "Honestly, can the princess not handle having even one person dislike her... Fine, we're good." He grumbled, stretching Becca's smile wider.

"Good. See you later." Becca parted ways with him in order to head back to her apartment. Her mother's text message in mind, she wanted to send a message to the cleaners about getting the place ship-shape. She'd already decorated it with Carmen and Sally somewhat and had a feeling her mother would disagree with whatever she did, so didn't see the point in beautifying it further.

But she was intercepted on her way in, by means of an ex-boyfriend lingering in the doorway of her apartment despite the time. "Justin?" She said in disbelief, wondering if the drink had led to hallucinations. She figured after everything that happened last night he wouldn't want to ever see her again, and truth be told she didn't exactly relish the thought of rehashing his kiss with Hayley.

"Becca, just hear me out." Her attention captured, she raised her eyebrows at him as a sign to continue. "I wasn't kissing Hayley the way you think I was. It was completely misleading. Hayley's been one of my closest friends for years, and unlike most cheesy novels, I haven't been secretly in love with her the whole time. I love Hayley in the way Harry loved Hermione. Our relationship is completely platonic, and it's important you understand that."

Justin's tone was so urgent, so desperate to prove himself, that Becca couldn't find the strength to hold a grudge. "I believe you." She relented. "And in turn, I think it's important you hear me out. My kiss with James meant nothing. We were at a stupid masquerade thing where you have to kiss someone at midnight, and that's what happened. I know it was completely and utterly wrong, and the second after it happened all I could think about was you, and how much I didn't want to hurt you. And I'm really sorry that I did."

She wasn't completely sure whether she was slurring her 's's or not, but hoped he realised her apology was genuine. He nodded slowly. "I get that you're sorry. I honestly do. But you cheated on me, Becca. I can't just ignore that."

Becca knew it was a long shot, but it didn't make the pain of officially losing him any worse. She could see that Justin's decision on their relationship status was not one to be reversed, and it was all entirely her fault. If she was acting rationally, that would be the stage for her to say goodbye and leave him to go pursue Bobbie like Andrea wanted. But there was still some alcohol left in her system, which was what she blamed her following actions on.

She walked up close to Justin until their mouths were centimetres away. "What are you doing?" He whispered, but she could already feel him melting. He had never been able to resist her, after all. Even after so much time spent dating, the chemistry between them was still sizzling. And Carmen might be right on one thing - Becca was a teenage girl. One that hadn't kissed her boyfriend in a very long time.