It wasn’t difficult to hide in the shadows of your bubbly, sunshiny sister and your popular, rugby lad of a brother. It was like second nature to fade into the background and go unnoticed by those around you. But you liked it that way, a life of peace, no drama. People knew nothing about you, and that was just how you liked it.

Well, mostly everyone. But maybe not him. Being raised so closely with the Biggs family, Gibsie had no difficulty finding out who exactly you were. All he had to do was cross the road into your house and he was in your bubble. And, as much as you hated to admit it, you liked him being in your bubble.

Gerard knew almost everything about you; how you took your tea, how you were left handed and how you were a secret hopeless romantic. Everyone believed Claire was the one he was after, the cheeky boy and the cheery girl, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. He wanted you, the quiet, reserved one.

It was your sisters birthday, and naturally, she threw a massive party in celebration. You took the opportunity to tuck yourself into your room, catch up on some reading, and hide away from all the noise and commotion. You thought you were safe for a lovely night of aloneness, but that aloneness was interrupted by the one and only Gerard ‘Gibsie’ Gibson.

He calls out in a singsong voice, poking his head around the door, momentarily exposing your room to the loudness and drunkenness of the rest of the house.