Romeo & Juliet

Monday 22nd November 2004

Lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made

God, I didn't know just walking out of the tube station into the parallel universe Albert Square worked out to be could make me so tense so soon. I bolted because the life I've worked up around myself started branching out to strangle me, because all my choices have been the wrong ones, made out of fear and panic. I've spent these last few weeks trying to work it all out, where I cocked up and went wrong. I've sat night after night, turning my phone over in my hands, just like I am at the moment, trying to work up the courage to make a call. But then comes the question I think I pretty much ran away to work out. 

Yeah see, at least I've managed to admit that much. I ran. But I was running to escape the madness in my own head. I could have gone to the other side of the world and it would still never have died down. Because... who would I call? I left my girlfriend here, our relationship. And yet, wherever I crashed, calling in favours from 10 years worth of old friends, whenever I closed my eyes, I saw Sharon. And then the guilt would keep me from sleeping and I'd be worrying about her for the rest of the night. Cos I could always imagine her, sat up in the kitchen in the dark all alone, worrying herself sick the way only Sharon can. And I'd feel worse because the image would be so real and I know I don't deserve her concern. But when I tried to push it away, I'd miss it. And I know how sick and twisted that is, but it's probably all that gave me the nerve to get the tube home today.

Yeah, I really did just call Albert Square home. Nowhere's screwed me up like this place, but it feels like it's somewhere I know. But I know it only feels like that because Sharon's here somewhere. Only now, I'm the one sat in the dark, on my own, still not brave enough to make a call.

You find a streetlight and he steps out of the shade
And says something like; "You & me babe, how about it?"

So instead I choose to sit here, in the dark of a miserable winter's night, on the bench in the Gardens, hidden by the overgrowth of all the foliage. I feel safer this way, freezing cold, maybe, but I'm close enough to see everything I need to. I can see Number 5, I can see through the blinds that the lights are on. I can imagine that Vicki's flopped down, bored out of her mind, not really focussing on the millionth repeat of some episode of Friends. And Sharon, she's getting restless. Cos it's just the two of them. Den making yet another apology to Chrissie tonight for something else he's done wrong since I took off, taken her out to a posh restaurant for dinner by way of apology. And without the effort of conversation to occupy her mind, she needs something to do. Just so she can stop it all going round.

But I don't mind admitting how high I jump when I look up and find the front door open, Sharon sliding out, calling through the gap as she draws the door shut behind her; "Red'll be alright for you won't it darlin'? Love you."

As she turns round, her hands stowed into the pockets of her heavy winter coat, the moonlight catching her face, oh... my heart just stops beating, like the effort's wasted. Even for the tiredness evident around her eyes, she looks more beautiful than I remember. I guess that's what happens when you chase lies hard enough to forget.

The tug at the base of my stomach won't let me forget how bloody much I've missed her though. And nerves start dancing inside as I watch her move closer, oblivious. She comes across the road, her gaze set ahead towards the Minute Mart. She cuts across the Gardens and I just know, the closer she comes, I can't just let her go by. I've made that mistake too many times before.

I bite nervously at my lip, at last finding the nerve to stand up.

"Sharon?"

She leaps a foot into the air it seems with the shock of hearing my voice. She presses her hand over her heart, which I guess is pounding about now, trying to catch her breath.

Juliet says "Hey, it's Romeo - you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
He's underneath the window, she's singing "Hey y'all - my boyfriend's back!

"God, you scared me!" she gasps breathily, offering a nervous smile.

"Sorry." I murmur awkwardly in reply.

You shouldn't come around here, singing up at people like that!
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?"

But her smile just softens further and she bows her head for a second, tucking loose strands of her hair behind her ear. Her lips move but no sound leaves them. And the next thing I'm aware of her is her, thrown against me, throwing her arms around my neck and drawing me as close as I might rest.

"Oh, where have you been? Dennis?"

"Around." I mumble against her shoulder, unnerved by how good it feels to hold her. I don't want to let her go.

But she drops back heavily, pulling away and frowning. "Tell me that's not all I get. I deserve more than that, Dennis - we all do."

"Yeah?"

"Yes! You could have called, you could have-"

"Didn't though did I?" I point out, bluntly cutting across her. Awkward silence falls between us and I stare down at the ground, nervously licking at my dried out lips. "Where were you going?" I question, bravely levelling my gaze again as the curiousity burns.

"Oh, I-" Sharon turns her head away for a moment, fighting the words. "I was gonna go over the shop, get a bottle of wine for Vicki and me..."

"D'you need it?"

She forces the toe of her shoe down, scuffing at the ground as she admits; "It's definitely felt that way recently. Helps me sleep."

"You can't sleep?"

Sharon bites into the cushion of her lip, shaking her head as if she is ashamed of the very need. "You've had me worried sick y'know. All I wanted was a phone call, just to know you were OK!"

"Well I am. I'm OK."

"Are ya? Really? So you've... you've phoned Zoe, you're-"

"No."

Sharon frowns again, so utterly bewildered. "What d'you mean, no?"

"I wanted to head home."

"So why haven't you? It's across the street Dennis-" She turns pointedly back in the direction of the house. "-it's right there, what are you doing out here?"

"I guess I just haven't psyched myself up to go that last little way yet, y'know?"

"No. No I don't know darlin', none of us do, because you haven't been here to tell us. What's going on in your head, Dennis?"

I fix my gaze down again, feeling all my nerve desert me under the pressure of that question. But Sharon seems to recognise that and has me leaping out of my skin as she reaches down for my freezing cold hand and clasps it in hers, covering it with the other trying to warm it.

"Please... talk to me."

I smile weakly and sink back down on the bench at the same pace that Sharon lowers herself down beside me.

"I... I don't know what you're expecting me to say."

"Well... why you took off would be a good start."

I wince, knowing that question was likely to come out as one of the first and still not knowing how to answer.

"There just... there wasn't enough room in my head for it all, y'know?"

"I know. But Dennis... running away from things, it'll be never any easier to come back."

"No?" I question softly, feeling a smile curve my lips. "So how come it's so good to see you? Cos I was so scared, so scared of coming back here, facing you, facing everything I said and now... here you are, and all I can think is how much I've missed you."

Her smile uneasy, Sharon pulls at her hands in her lap.

"I know that's probably the last thing you wanted to hear..."

"No." she argues quickly, her smile faltering. "No, it's not that. Guess it's nice knowing all them sleepless nights weren't for nothing, but... it's not me you walked out on, is it? Things aren't that way anymore." 

"Well, why aren't they? Why?"

And though she squeezes my hand, I can tell in the tension in her muscles that she's contemplating pulling back from me. So I hold defiantly on because I am not about to let her do that.

"Because they just aren't. Dennis c'mon, you were there too remember? The whole thing... it was a disaster."

"What's wrong with second chances?"

"Nothing... when they have a purpose. But you chose Zoe."

"Yeah, I did." I admit stiffly. "But d'you... even remember what I said before I left?"

"Of course I do."

"D'you really think I'd have said that, that I'd have found the nerve to say it if I didn't really, really want it, want us?"

Sharon sighs softly, turning in towards me as her hand becomes a little more lax around mine. "How am I supposed to know the answer to that Dennis? How am I supposed to believe you have any idea what you want when you took off like that?"

"Because.... you're all I've thought about since the second I left. And I know it shouldn't be like that, I know. But it is. It always has been, you know that."

"Yeah." she whispers tenderly, nodding. "Yeah I know. But darlin', I also know... we tried. We tried and it didn't work. What else can we do?"

"Try again."

"No." 

But Sharon says it too quickly as she bites into her lip and looks away.

"So you're just... never gonna trust me again, is that it?"

"I'll trust you. Just not with that."

I close my eyes, forcing in a deep breath as I consider her words, and even more carefully, my reply. "Sharon..." I begin slowly. "I don't know what I've gotta do to prove to you it was real. But it was, it really was, and it was the best..."

"What, so you had some sort of ephihany while you were away did ya? Cos that ain't what you thought at the time..."

"You don't know that." 

"Don't I?" she snaps, eyes flaring. "You gave up, Dennis. I never thought you would, but you did. And I'm scared that it only seems so rosy to you now because it's gone."

"But it isn't. I told you... I don't need anything you ain't got."

"Yeah well, I don't have the answer either, so maybe you just need to go on and make your apologies to Zoe huh?"

As she releases my hand, I lean back, throwing her a stern look as I poke my tongue thoughtfully in the side of my cheek, shaking my head. "That isn't what I came back here to do." But she won't meet my eye, shifted to the other end of the bench. I sigh gently, my breath smoky on the cold air as I lean forward, hands clasped together between my knees. "Sharon, I do know what I'm responsible for you know."

She shoots me an incredulous look. "On the contrary darlin', I don't think you have the first idea."

I bite at my lip. "I know how much I hurt you. I never meant to do that. Never."

Smiling softly, Sharon holds my gaze. "I know you didn't. That's the bit that hurts the most."

Guilt drives me on with my confessions. The words come surprisingly easy. I guess it's because I've had so long to figure out that this is what needs to be said if I have any hope of putting things right. "It was never because I didn't love you. God, the second I met you... I just didn't understand it then. And... I know I told you I was strong enough, but I said it because I wanted to be. I wanted to be enough for you, I wanted to believe it. But it wasn't true. Not then. And I'm sorry."

Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start and I bet that
You exploded in my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong... Juliet?

"You're sorry? What for?" Sharon holds her breath for a second, looking agonised, her eyes moist. "Dennis, please don't give me regrets, not after what you've put me through disappearing like that."

I smile anxiously. "I... don't have the right to regret anything."

"That doesn't answer the question. Do you?"

"No. I hate that I didn't hold it together. But what we had, I needed."

"So did you... uh... get it... me... out of your system? Is that it? You come home and just.... be normal?"

I bite back a lukewarm whisper of a laugh. "So it... it wasn't normal then?"

"Well it... wasn't I was ever expecting, no."

"I wish I could be sorry, Sharon."

"You just said you were." she points out gently. But I dismiss her.

"No. I'm sorry it didn't go the way we wanted. But I love you, you do know that, don't you?"

Sharon looks as though she hardly dares to breathe. Her bottom lip trembles as she nips at it. She half wants to smile and half doubts me so the expression falters. She scoots closer and grips my hand again, stroking shakily across my knuckles with the pad of her thumb. "Darlin'-" she begins carefully. "-how do you expect me to be sure of what you don't know yourself?"

"Oh I know it." I assure her gently, half a breath later. "I've just been scared of it."

She laughs softly, looking at me, utterly staggered. "But you... you did everything to convince me. Why do that if you were so scared?"

"Because I'm selfish like that. I knew I wanted you. And maybe I wanted to see if I could mean something. I'd wake up and I'd see you there beside me and I'd have to keep watching you, just to know it was real, that you weren't gonna disappear. And everytime I looked at you, I was trying to work out what the Hell you saw in me. I can look at you now and I still have no idea..."

"No? Can't even hazard a guess?"

I look back at her blankly and she giggles, hair tumbling around her face as she looks fleetingly down.

"I'm just like you."

I look up in interest, amused by the very notion.

"I know you probably don't think our lives could have been anymore different, but... I'm not proud of what got me here either. I love my mum and dad to death, but they knew how to make me miserable. I'd clung on to the Square, The Vic, just hoping I could make some of it right in the end. But it was all just so cruel. All I wanted was to feel like I belong somewhere, with someone. Can't say I ever thought that person was gonna be you but... we still lived it."

Grown up on different streets and both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes and the dream was just the same.

"And... I was happy y'know. It really meant something that I could do that for you too. And then Dad came home and every day I saw in your eyes that real wasn't real enough. There was nothing I could have done and I would have done anything. I had to watch you fall out of love with me-"

I feel an upsurge of indignance. "I never-"

"No?" Sharon presses shakily, betrayed by the emotion in her voice. "So how did it end up like this? I gave you what you wanted, I gave you everything I had. And then... you sent me home like a child, as if it never mattered, as if it was never anything. How could you do that when... every day you were telling me you loved me, making me believe it?"

Well, I'll dream your dream for you and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I were just another one of your deals?

Guilt beats. "I told you... I was scared."

"And you don't think I was? But I'd still have raised Hell to make it alright for you... for us. And instead, I had to watch you with her - I should have been the one running away! But I haven't. I've been here, consoling your bloody girlfriend, telling her you'll be home soon, that you can make it all well and good again."

"It's not good." I protest stiffly. "It's never been what I want, not really."

"I don't think you've ever really known, have ya?"

But I lean forward, still gripping her hand and defying her with my words. "I want you, Sharon."

She just looks back at me, her big eyes sparkling with the threat of tears. "And what if I'm not brave enough anymore hmmm?"

"You don't have to be." I whisper. "I'm here."

"Yeah? So what about when you're not? What about when you get scared again?"

"I won't."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do."

Tears start to pour from her eyes. "Don't... please... please don't."

But I smile gently and lean closer, reaching across to tilt her chin and carefully wiping away her tears with my fingertips. "Ask me how I know."

But she gasps, gulping back what looks and sounds like a sob as she shakes her head desperately, pleading; "No..."

I cup her face in my hands, determined to level her gaze and have her take in my words tenderly stroking strands of her hair out of her eyes when I am assured I have her attention. "Cos all I could think was, all the time I was away, if I came back and went grovelling to Zoe... what would you do? And I knew... I knew the answer was nothing. You'd do nothing, you'd get on with it. And someday soon, I'd be facing the whole James thing all over again. And however many times it happened, I was gonna feel the same. Sick... just wanting you... wanting you to trust me enough to let me be that guy again."

"You ever thought you're asking more than I've got?" Sharon questions weakly with a sniffle.

"Yes. And I haven't stopped thinking about the thousands of guys you could meet that'll deserve you more than I do from the off. But... it all comes back to the same thought."

You can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold

"What?"

"I need you to know I can do this right, that I ain't weak anymore. I need to prove to you that I could have... that I will make you happy. And you... you could go out and meet a thousand guys Sharon, you could; good guys who have got the guts to mean what they say the first time round, but... no-one, anywhere could mean anything more than me right now. And you can tell me fuck off-"

Sharon buds her lips, laughing gently that come still. "And would you... if I did?"

"Well... I'd have to think about it, wouldn't I? But no, probably not."

"Why not?"

"Maybe you mean too much, you ever thought of that?"

Pulling back and staring at the floor, hardly daring to allow even a half smile to grace her lips, she murmurs; "No..."

"I haven't forgotten you know."

"What?"

"Us." I remind her gently. "What it was like."

"So why'd you have to try so hard to make it seem that way?"

"Because... we've let each other down."

"We?" she echoes, stunned. "My God, you're something else, truly. I turned the bloody world upside down for you, remember that?"

"Yeah. And I remember all the promises an' all. What about you, did they just fall off your tongue or...?"

Her beautiful eyes flare with anger, filling with tears again. "How can you...? If you doubt it, any of it, what the Hell are you doing here, saying all this?"

"I'm scared." I reiterate desperately, suddenly finding how hard it is to hold her gaze. "I'm scared you don't believe I meant it, any of it. I'm scared you wanna forget." 

You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin.
Now you just say "Oh Romeo, yeah - y'know I used to have a scene with him!"

Sharon splutters out another weak, but gentle laugh. "I tried that, remember? And you wouldn't go away. Then you did and... all I wanted was for you to come home again. So maybe... maybe I'm the weak one huh?"

"No." I insist softly, shaking my head again. "You're not weak."

"Oh, I'm not? So how come all you've gotta do is be this close to me and I'm a wreck? Cos y'know what, I really don't appreciate it!"

"I don't need you to appreciate it. I need you to acknowledge it, that's all."

"That's all?"

I can't help but smile at this display of her indignance. "Yeah. Cos then I know we've got something. Like we used to."

"Used to are the words here Dennis, things have changed."

"And you're telling me you wouldn't change them back if you could? Cos y'know what, you can. You just have to want to."

"And that's what you're questioning is it? Whether or not I want to?"

I shift uncomfortably against the bench. "I knew. When we were together, I knew. And I know I was stupid to... but I used to be sure of how you felt Sharon. And I know it'd serve me right if... but I love you. And you loved me too once remember? You used to say it was forever. Am I stupid to... to want that, to hope that it's still there?"

"Yeah. You're stupid alright. But then so am I, because it's not gone either. I think, maybe... we tried for too much at the wrong time?"

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry, "I said I love you like the stars above
I love you til I die!" 
And there's a place for us, y'know the movie song.
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong... Juliet?

"Yeah. Yeah. And I..." But all possible words desert me and I'm left to stare into my lap, fixated still by her hand around mine as it rests idly against my knee.

Laughing softly, Sharon leans close and whispers; "And you don't have a clue what you're supposed to say next, right?"

"That obvious, hmmm?" I question, mortified inwardlly. "You know what?" I confess after a painful moment's deliberation. "I wish I knew how to say it... the way you need it said, but I've just... I've never had that talent."

I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be

"So just say it."

"What, so you're really gonna sit there and listen to me tell ya I know how worthless I am-?"

"No." she answers immediately, holding my hand a little more fiercely. "I'm not. Because I know it's not true. The state of your decisions though... I won't argue with that."

I can't help but smile. "OK, so I screw up. I say things I don't mean, I do things I shouldn't, I mean, look at us, right?"

"I'm looking." Sharon assures me softly.

"And yeah, OK, so I'm not as incredible as I need to be, and I'll make out to be what I'm not, but... y'know... that's your fault. If I didn't need you so much- you make me bloody helpless."

"Is that... why you need me?"

"No." I whisper, feeling the threat of emotion scratch at my throat. "I need ya because... we were right together. It made sense, it was good... mine. I just wanna make you happy, and I know I can. Tell me I'm no good if you want, it don't matter. Cos you... you're everything... and I need that back."

I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss ya and the way we used to be

"Right." Sharon says steadily, chest swelling as she exhales. But the breath born, she casts her gaze down again, nibbling at her lip. "Well I... I've missed a step somewhere obviously."

I frown, confused. "A step?"

"Pretty words darlin', that's all they are. There's no definition because... you could tempt anyone, y'know? So I need it spelling out. Are you just wanting... to have something and you're choosing me cos you know I'm here? Or do you want it because it's me here? Cos I'm not convinced."

I receive her words like a bash to the back of my head, woozy for a second with the frustration of not managing to get my sincerities across in words.

"You're not?" I question, knocked by how much it hurts to even say the words as I look across at her, a lump swelling in my throat I'm gonna have a job to ignore.

Closing her eyes, her thick eyelashes forcing her brimming tears to spill over, Sharon bites into the cushion on her lip, shaking her head. And she gets up, determined to move off without having to look back. But I prejudge the need and rise, lurching to jerk back her arm. She winces audibly with the pain but allows me to pull her round. And I know right now she's likely to allow me to do very little else, so I throw caution to the wind and give up fighting back the desire.

I pull her close, searching out the sweet taste I remember belonging upon her lips. And at that first taste, I remember, like I could ever have forgotten, just how well we fit together, what it is about her, about the sum of us I find so hopelessly addictive. I can't help but reach to touch her, perhaps a little more desperately than I might have meant to, but oh, feeling her response brings me back alive, it's never felt better. 

And as she eases slowly back, even though I hardly want to breathe, so scared the perfectness of that one moment is about to shatter all around me, I can almost taste her smile, hesitant, but there as she savours the half breath she has allowed herself.

For a second, there's nothing but silence, no movement, no nothing. But Sharon tilts her head up the tiniest fraction, my lips almost against mine again with the effect, her every breath existing just to tease me in yet another moment of wordlessness. But, her smile unfaltering, she raises both her hands, pressing them both lightly around my jaw, seemingly satisfied with herself as she wipes the residue of her lip gloss away from the corner of my lip with the pad of her thumb.

"Me then?" she whispers tenderly.

 And all I do is keep the beat, the band company
And all I do is kiss ya through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you anytime.

Unable to stop myself smiling broadly, I nod, whispering against her ear; "It always was."

She smiles softly, gaze cast down as she concentrates on gathering up my hands and winding hers in, absorbed in lacing our fingers together.

"You coming over to the shop with me? Maybe I should re-think the wine seeing as how me & Vicki need to celebrate the fact you haven't actually disappeared off the face of the earth..."

Gripping her hands, I bite guiltily into my lips. "Sharon..."

Without me having to say anything further, her smile slowly fades from her glossy lips, down into an suspicious frown. "What?"

I hunch my shoulders. "I've left all my stuff with Tony."

"Well, so what?" she pushes in confusion. "You have other stuff. Go collect it another time." But at my silence, she offers up her suspicion in the saddest voice. "You're not coming home are you?"

"I just wanted... to see you. To get it all out."

"Right. Great, and now you have? You're just gonna leave again? What am I supposed to do? Pretend to Vicki and... and Zoe that I haven't seen you, pretend to myself we haven't had this conversation, what?"

"Come with me."

"Leave?"

"Well... why not?"

"Because, because-" Sharon splutters on her frustration, demanding; "Why the Hell should I? You just reappear, tell me you love me and you, what, expect me to give up my whole world? Again?"

"Look, I know... I know it's a big ask but think about it. We could go anywhere and we won't have to be anyone but ourselves. There's a whole world out there and no-one in it can hurt us the way... the way..."

I hold the words back, almost regretting opening my mouth. But Sharon sighs, knowing well already what I meant to say.

"The way Dad did. I know."

"Do ya? Or d'you think I'm doing this just to be spoiled, test your loyalty?"

She scoffs, obviously finding the suggestion ludicrous. "No, of course I don't!"

"Good." I reply, reaching for her again and tilting her chin so her gaze locks on mine. "So you'll come with me? Cos I mean it Sharon... I need to be with you. I'm not letting Den, I'm not letting anyone touch us. I just want us to be together. If you don't, then-"

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry, "I said I love you like the stars above
I love you til I die!" 
And there's a place for us, y'know the movie song.
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong... Juliet?

Her gaze fixed and determined, Sharon lifts herself up onto the tips of her toes, catching my jaw with the fan of her fingertips and stealing my attention. "I said I wanted it forever, didn't I? Nothing's changed with me, you know it hasn't. I told you before you left I still love you. It hasn't been easy knowing how true that is since you've been gone, but it is. And if... if I can be enough this time darlin'-" 

"Sharon-" I wince, bowing my head as I feel the shame burn. "-it was never that you weren't-"

But she silences me with the softest, sweetest kiss, murmuring; "-tell me when."

"Now." I return immediately, dizzy with how intoxicating she is. "Oh God, now."

"Easy baby." Sharon soothes amidst a giggle. "Vicki will miss that bottle of wine too much to not notice I've gone."

Leaning in and resting my forehead against the warmth of hers, I groan quietly. "When then?"

The long breath she draws thoughtfully in is agonising. The tight knot in my chest only dares to lessen as she breathes it softly back out again. "Tomorrow..."

Lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made

"You promise?"

"Mmmm-hmmm. Dad & Chrissie are working and Vicki's going to Brighton with Sonia, catching an early train apparantly. So... I..." She tilts her chin, allowing her lips then to meet softly with mine, lingering for the sweetest time. "...promise."

My lip twitches and I cannot hold off a grin of disbelief, gratitude and for the first time in a long time, genuine happiness and excitement. I reach out for her again, pulling her up towards me to meet her lips hard. "Mmmm... I'm never gonna let you regret this, I swear."

But words pale next to the need to hold her close, to taste her, so I bow my head, the two of us soon lost to adventurous hands and even deeper kisses against the backdrop of the jewelled night.

But, just a few minutes later, however reluctantly, however gently, Sharon is the one that somehow finds the resolve to slowly push me back. "Go if you're going." she giggles, making my lips tingle against hers. "I have wine to buy..."

I nod, but wind my arms back around her anyway, kissing her still. "When will I see you?"

"I told you... tomorrow."

"But when?" I push eagerly.

She giggles again, despairing of me. "Eleven. At the tube."

I kiss along her jaw, down over the slope of her neck, adoring her whispery moans and giggles. "Dennis..." she muses. "...am I gonna have to walk you back?"

"No." I insist, not pausing for a moment. "I'll get there."

"Well, not like this you won't. C'mon..."

I sigh heavily as I straighten up. But Sharon just smiles, arching her eyebrow.

"OK, OK. You first."

Taking the lead, Sharon turns away and heads off alone in the direction of the Minute Mart. And I know I should be heading back off towards the Tube to crash at Tony's for one last night, but I move in an entirely different direction, simply propping myself up under the streetlight nearest the house, watching the stillness of the rest of the Square. So it's easy to pick out Sharon returning from the Minute Mart. I can see her almost as soon as she's off the kerb from the shop door, her hair shimmering.

I straighten up eagerly, my smile become wider the closer she gets. Her gaze is fixed away from me pretty much until she comes out the other side of the Gardens, a shiny Minute Mart carrier bag swinging from one hand, the red glint of the wine visible through that, her house keys weighing down her other hand. She does not see me until she looks up in the direction of the house, her smile slight but definite. Slowly sliding her keys back into her coat pocket, she holds herself perfectly.

"And what are you doing there?" she questions, her amusement obvious.

"I'm seeing you home."

"Oooh." she beams teasingly, stepping up the kerb and sliding her arms around my waist. "Cos I just wouldn't make the last twenty steps right, Dennis?"

"Hey... they're the hardest!"

Though she looks up at me with a broad smile, she whispers; "Go. I'll see you tomorrow."

She lets her arms drop, stepping back with the bag still swinging but I can't help but grab her, pulling her up hard against me to steal the last kiss of this one last night apart. Tense with surprise for the first few moments, Sharon's free hand fles up, determined to force the depth of my kiss, rushing her tongue for a few teasing seconds into my mouth. But then she relaxes, and her kiss is softer. I stroke down the back of her hand with mine and slowly, reluctantly move back, leaving her there on the kerb.

You find a convenient streetlight and he steps out of the shade
And says something like; "You & me babe, how about it?"

"Tomorrow..."