I got up, following Tommy once it sunk in just what he’d said. I heard his door slam and Dominic poked his head out of his doorway when he heard it.

"Summit up?" he asked.

"Piss off" I snapped, knocking on Tommy’s door.

"Go away" I heard him say, but I barged on in anyway, since he’d forgotten to lock his door like usual, seeing him cocooned in his duvet.

"What d'you mean you know about Alex?" I asked, knowing exactly what he meant.

"You !^&*ed my friend’s boyfriend" he snapped.

"So what if I did?"

"@@&^ing hell, Ashley" he said, emerging from his cocoon. "Do I mean that little to you?"

"No"

"Then why the #*%!ing hell?!" he yelled.

"It didn't mean anything"

"You $^%ed him twice!"

"And like I said, it didn't mean anything"

"You @&#&ing cheated! We're over! Get it! Over! Get out of my room!"

"I didn't cheat on you"

"*^%^ing someone doesn’t count as cheating?" he asked, gritting his teeth. "It does to me"

"It only counts if it means something"

"Get out" Tommy ordered, looking disgusted. "Get out and stay away from me"

I sighed, getting out. Tommy slammed the door behind me and I heard the lock click into place. I turned around, seeing Dominic, Tracy and Alex all peeking out of their rooms.

"Bummer" I heard Dominic say, and glared at him.

"How did he find out?" Tracy whispered as Dominic held his hands up defensively.

"How the ^#*% should I know?" I said, frowning and turning to look at Alex when he fell deathly silent. “You didn’t”

"He asked me the other day" Alex muttered and Tracy hit him.

"You idiot"

I glared at Dominic again as he bit back a laugh, resisting the urge to punch him.

"Look he already knew" Alex said, taking his turn to hold his hands up.

"What?"

"He said a guy told him at the party. Then he heard you talking to Tracy in the kitchen and he knew it had happened again. He's known for a while"

"Then he shouldn't be so bothered"

Alex bit his lip. "He was hoping that it was a mistake but.... I think you saying it wasn’t cheating hit a nerve"

"I told you, Ashley. Tommy is really picky about sharing" Tracy frowned.

"It wasn't cheating. And it wasn't exactly sharing"

Tracy bit her lip. "I consider it cheating"

"Me too" Alex muttered.

“If he was expecting exclusivity... sure" Dominic said and I looked at him. “I never expected it” he shrugged.

"Hooray for you" I said sarcastically.

Dominic winked at me, disappearing back into his room, as had Tracy and Alex. I headed back into my own room, grabbing my sketchpad and trying to draw something to distract me, but ultimately I ended up sort of sulking on my bed. So naturally Dominic decided to make an appearance.

"What you gonna do then?" he asked and I shrugged.

I looked up at him as he walked over to me, flopping down on the bed next to me. “Can I help you?”

“Nope” he said, handing me a vial of poppers.

“I’m not in the mood”

"Well" he put it next to me. "It’s there when you want it"

I went back to sulking and Dominic sat up, ready to leave.

"D'you think he'll forgive me?" I asked.

"Huh? Maybe. Depends if he's willing to compromise to love you. Or can you make compromises?"

"Not as many as it'd take to make him happy"

Dominic shrugged. "I don’t know, then" he said, getting up and leaving.

I didn’t leave my room til I had class the next day, and spent the rest of the day holed up in the art room. I got a fair bit of work done, but I’d spent most of the day getting annoyed at everyone and everything.

I got home kind of late, and judging by how quiet the place was, it didn’t take a genius to guess that everyone was asleep. Well, everyone except Dominic, who was busy smoking. I glanced at him as I made myself something to eat and he waved at me.

“How you feeling?” he asked as I waved back.

I shrugged. Dominic shrugged for some reason, wandering off. I finished my makeshift dinner, going and waking Emma up so I wasn’t on my own. She’d complained at first, but I’d promised her popcorn and unlimited snuggles on the sofa and she gave in soon enough. We’d filled a huge bowl with popcorn, grabbing some nachos as well and snuggled up to each other on the sofa, watching some cheesy horror movie from the eighties. And it didn’t take us long to fall asleep, my head on her shoulder.

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