Diana opened the door and exited the room alongside Wren, who was adjusting his shorts. The doorbell kept ringing downstairs.

’I-I can’t believe we did that...’ Diana thought with her face burning hot.

She gulped, wiping her lips with the back of her hand and scurrying ahead down the hallway.

It was much better when they were both in the mood and caught up in the heat of the moment but now with the awkwardness settling in... Diana didn’t know how to face him. How was she going to act around Wren after saying all of those embarrassing things and thinking about keeping him to herself?

RING RING RING RING!

The doorbell kept pinging... whoever was out there clearly determined to wake up the entire neighborhood.

Diana slowly descended the staircase with one hand trailing along the bannister. As she was about to reach the front door, Wren reached the bottom of the stairs behind her.

"What if it’s like an armed robber?" Wren asked with genuine concern in his voice and Diana flinched at the suggestion.

"There are no robbers in Harlow..." Diana replied though her voice wavered slightly.

"There’s a first time for everything..." Wren pointed out logically.

He saw a mop leaning against the wall and reached out to grab it, testing its weight in his hands.

"You should open the door," Wren said, positioning himself to the side. "And if the person does anything suspicious, I’ll slam their head with the mop."

After all, who the hell rang someone’s doorbell like this after one in the morning? Nobody with good intentions.

Diana nodded and reached for the deadbolt, twisting it with trembling fingers. She also removed the chain lock before opening the door, making sure she covered herself with it and peeking around the edge to see who was there.

Wren looked at the person standing on the doorstep and his eyebrows rose.

It was a familiar woman wearing a green dress... Dani’s Mother, Rita. Rita swayed on her feet looking very drunk.

The woman staggered inside, mumbling Diana’s name in a slurred voice.

"Diana..."

She took two steps inside and almost fell over as her balance was completely gone but Diana caught her just in time.

"Got you..." Diana said with her arms wrapping around the woman to keep her upright then she turned to Wren with an apologetic expression.

"You don’t need to worry..." Diana said quickly. "This is someone I know. Could Wren help me lock the door?"

Wren let go of the mop, standing it against the wall. He moved to lock the door as Diana placed the drunk woman on the couch.

Diana crouched in front of her with concern written across her face.

"Rita, what the hell are you doing out here at this time?" Diana asked.

Rita hiccupped loudly.

"Hic... I’ve been drinking it out in the club," Rita said, her words slurring together. "And I saw Wren there too."

She started going on about how hot Wren had been in those clothes at the club with her words getting more enthusiastic and less filtered as the alcohol removing any sense of restraint.

Diana blushed deeply, very aware that Wren was standing right there listening to all of this.

"Be quiet..." Diana hissed, trying to cut Rita off before she embarrassed them both further. Wren leaned over the chair looking down at the drunk woman.

"Will she be alright?" Wren asked.

Rita looked up at him, her eyes taking a moment to focus properly.

"How did you enjoy the club?" Rita asked, pointing at him with an unsteady finger. "You left early and you didn’t even dance."

"One AM is early?" Wren replied, genuinely surprised by that assessment and Rita hiccupped again, nodding emphatically.

"One AM is pretty early..." Rita insisted. "I left because my head hurt. Next time you come, maybe we could go to the club together?"

Wren thought about it for a moment, there was nothing wrong with that after all since he had enjoyed his time there.

"Okay..." Wren agreed.

Diana looked between the two of them and something twisted in her chest. Her teeth gritted together involuntarily.

"I-I want to go too." Diana stuttered out and Rita let out a sigh, looking at Diana with a knowing expression.

"You’re cute, Diana... Hic..." Rita said. "but don’t you remember what happens when you drink alcohol?"

Diana’s face turned bright red.

"What happens when she drinks alcohol?" Wren asked as his curiosity was clearly piqued and Rita grinned mischievously.

"She gets very... very different from her shy self... Hic..." Rita said while drawing out the words. "If you want to see how it is, you should buy her a bottle of alcohol to drink."

She flashed him a thumbs-up.

"You won’t regret it!" Rita promised.

"Be quiet!" Diana said quickly with a mortified look on her face then she turned to Rita while desperately trying to change the subject.

"Will Dani be okay without you at home?" Diana asked.

Rita waved a dismissive hand.

"My daughter is over at her friend, Priya’s place..." Rita said. "She’ll be okay."

"That’s alright then," Diana said. "Since you’re here, would you like to sleep on the couch here or upstairs?"

Rita’s eyes lit up despite her drunken state.

"I want to sleep in your room... Hic..." Rita said. "But I don’t want to get up."

Diana tried to lift Rita from the couch, but the woman was dead weight and Diana wasn’t strong enough then Diana turned to Wren with a pleading look.

"Wren, please help me carry her upstairs..." Diana said then her expression became more stern. "But carry her like a sack of potatoes since it isn’t nice to barge into someone’s house at a time like this."

Wren obliged without complaint.

He went over and lifted the woman around his shoulder like a sack of potatoes with his arm around her waist to keep her secure. She smelled heavily of alcohol making his nose twitch.

"Let me goo~ Hold me properly in your arms~ Not like potatoes~"

Rita immediately started kicking her legs against his back while whining in protest and Diana laughed before turning off the TV then all three of them went upstairs.

...

"Thanks, Aunt Patricia." Dani said.

The woman who looked like an older version of Priya waved at her before Dani entered Priya’s room and closed the door behind her.

Dani turned her attention to the room itself.

It was a normal room with a bunch of posters of a blonde-haired woman that Priya was obsessed with. Isabella "The Lightning" Leeves... the famous Formula One racer who’d won the Dronao Grand Prix and was also dating Marcus Chen who was one of the most attractive upcoming actors in movie history.

Priya was seated on the bed with the cover drawn over her face while hiding. Dani immediately drew the covers down, revealing Priya’s face that was still covered by her hoodie.

"Stop all this moping, Priya..." Dani said. "I came all the way over here so we should play some games."

Priya didn’t say anything and Dani sat on the bed with a sigh.

"Alright, girl, tell me what happened..." Dani said and Priya swallowed hard.

"I’m a bad person, a very bad person too." Priya said quietly.

Dani shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, everyone is a bad person..." Dani said dismissively. "Nobody is a saint after all."

"You don’t understand." Priya said while clutching her hoodie.

"Well then make me understand..." Dani challenged and Priya sighed deeply.

"I cheated on Derek," Priya said.

Dani’s eyes flew open, she didn’t think the girl had it in her.

"Cheated on Derek?" Dani repeated, making sure she heard correctly and Priya hid her face deeper in the hoodie.

"I took Wren to the top of Langford Lodge..." Priya said. "And then it just happened, we started kissing, he even gave me an option to walk away, but I hadn’t so Wren kissed me with tongue too."

A lewd look appeared on Dani’s face.

’Why does it have to be her?’ Dani thought with jealousy burning through her.

She squeezed her legs together, trying to suppress the heat building there.

She wanted to be the one kissed by Wren... She had even eaten his cum from those panties and trousers however this was a serious matter and that meant Priya was her love rival.

’I never really liked Derek in the first place.’ She thought with a sigh.

Dani cleared her throat, forcing her expression back to neutral.

"How did you react?" Dani asked and Priya’s hands clenched into fists.

"I shouted at him..." Priya admitted. "I said I didn’t want to see him again but I do want to see him again... I’m just so confused..."

Dani scooted closer and placed her hand on Priya’s shoulder. It took every ounce of self-control not to let her true feelings show.

"Though I don’t understand how you feel..." Dani said carefully, "you should talk it out with Wren. A simple kiss wouldn’t ruin your relationship with Derek and Wren would surely understand your point of view."

Priya looked up with hope flickering in her eyes.

"Really?" Priya asked.

Dani nodded.

"Really... you know how Wren is after all." Dani confirmed.

Priya slowly clenched her fist with determination replacing the despair she was feeling.

"I’ll just tell Wren off..." Priya said. "And say that we can still be friends, but no more of that again. It was a mistake."

"You go, girl! I’ll be behind you every step of the way... you just have to believe in yourself." Dani said with forced enthusiasm.

...

The next morning came quickly.

Priya had spent the entire night tossing and turning in Dani’s guest bed, rehearsing what she’d say to Wren... How she’d explain that the kiss was a mistake, that they could still be friends and that it couldn’t happen again.

She’d practiced the words over and over until they felt natural and convincing too.

She’d finally worked up the courage to go see him early in the morning, before Derek woke up and before they went for classes but now, standing outside Derek’s house with Wren somehow there too... she still wasn’t entirely sure how they’d ended up in this position as all her carefully rehearsed words vanished from her mind like smoke in wind.

"Wren~ I don’t think we should be doing... mmph."

Priya had been pushed against the wall of the tall fence outside Derek’s house.

The rough wood pressed into her back as her legs wrapped around Wren’s waist instinctively and he took her lips right there... out in the open where anyone could see, where Derek could walk out his front door and catch them at any moment.

The danger of it made her head hot and every bit of rational thought vanished from her head.

Wren’s hands gripped her thighs firmly, holding her up effortlessly against the fence with his fingers pressed into the soft flesh there and she could feel the heat of his palms even through her jeans.

His tongue pushed past her lips without hesitation, claiming her mouth with an intensity that made her gasp into the kiss.

She could feel every hard line of his body pressed against hers... his chest against her breasts, his hips between her thighs and the unmistakable evidence of his arousal pressing against her making her even hotter.

The cool morning air did nothing to counteract the fire building between them.

’This is wrong,’ some distant part of Priya’s mind screamed desperately. ’Derek is right inside the house, your boyfriend is twenty feet away... anyone walking by could see. Mrs. Henderson from next door could look out her window. This is exactly what you came here to stop. This is the opposite of telling him off and staying friends.’

But her body wasn’t listening to logic anymore. It hadn’t been listening since the moment his lips touched hers.

Her arms wrapped around Wren’s neck with her fingers threading through his hair and pulling him closer instead of pushing him away like she’d planned.

Her lips moved against his with equal fervor kissing him back with a hunger she didn’t know she possessed and her legs tightened around his waist, pressing their bodies even closer together until there was no space left between them.

All her resolve, all her determination to "just be friends"... all the promises she’d made to herself during the sleepless night, crumbled like paper thrown into fire.

"Wren..."