‘Woah, what happened to you?’ Justin asked as Kevin came through the door of the apartment.

Kevin closed the door, moving over to the sofa and sitting down heavily on it.

‘I fell down the stairs’ he replied sarcastically.

Justin closed the magazine he had been reading, putting it down on the low coffee table between them. He leant forward on his knees, staring at Kevin closely.

‘God that looks painful…’

‘That’s because it is.’

‘Want some ice? You’ve still got blood on you by the way.’

‘Um…yeah thanks…’

Justin rose, moving over to the kitchen, getting a bag of ice and wrapping it in a clean dishcloth.

Kevin leant on the arm of the sofa, touching his face tenderly as he heard running water from the kitchen sink.

‘Here’ Justin said coming to his side. He offered Kevin the bag of ice, and a damp cloth soaked in warm water.

Kevin took both.

‘Thank you.’

Justin moved away, resuming his place on the sofa and picking up the magazine, but he did not continue to read it.

‘There’s food ready if you're hungry’ he said.

Kevin glanced around, seeing the table laid out beautifully, the food covered with cling film.

‘There’s always so much food in this place’ Kevin noted, but Justin was not listening, he had continued to read his magazine, and was completely ignoring Kevin now.

‘So uh…. when do you go to the shops to buy all this stuff?’ Kevin asked him.

‘Are you kidding? I don’t go out and get this stuff myself, it gets delivered to the door. Do you really see me buying bread and milk in a supermarket?’

Kevin thought then. He had a sudden image in his mind of Justin waiting in line with a shopping trolley, wearing his sunglasses to help hide his face, his hood raised and collar up to avoid attention.

Kevin frowned at the thought.

Yeah…no…

‘Must be tough being famous’ Kevin remarked.

‘So you got in a fight then’ Justin said. It wasn’t phrased like a question. ‘Did you win?’

‘I made my point’ Kevin replied flatly, using one hand to hold the bag of ice to his face, and the other to wipe away the dried blood.

‘He really did a number on you.’

‘I really did a number on him.’

Justin smiled, amused by his answer.

‘I uh…got suspended.’

‘Oh.’

‘I won’t be in school for a while.’

‘Oh.’ Justin looked down at his magazine again. ‘In that case you might get to meet Alicia at last, the housekeeper?’

‘Oh’ Kevin mumbled. ‘Right…’

‘You’ll have more free time on your hands I’m sure’ Justin mumbled. ‘Just don’t cause any problems for me.’

‘Sure…’ Kevin frowned.

*

He went to his room shortly after and stayed there for the rest of the night.

He got a text on his mobile from Anastasia.

*

I heard what happened…are you ok???

Kevin text back,

I’m fine : ) I look a mess though

The reply came quickly.

Can we meet up tomorrow since your not in school?

*

Aren’t you still in school? And anyway I look hideous! Like a beast.

*

I dont care I want to see u

Kevin smiled to himself warmly.

That’s nice but I'm not looking for anything right now, you know that

*

I don’t care, I just love being with you. Even if you only thnk of me as a friend xxx maybe you will change your mind.

Kevin messaged back.

Ok, meet you at 10 in the park?

She agreed with much enthusiasm, and Kevin said goodbye to her, lying back on his bed.

It was still early, so he spent the rest of that day lazing about the apartment. He played some games on his phone, before going to the living room to watch some TV, sometime later Justin joined him for dinner. They ate together and he went away again, to attend to whatever business he had. Kevin had a long and relaxing bath after that, before watching more TV for several hours as it grew late, then going to bed.

Justin was still out and would not return until much later.

Kevin however, slept heavily, and nothing woke him. His dreams were peaceful.