times...

After another drink, Jess, between chuckles and more reminiscing checked her phone and her eyes widened followed by a grin.

"Ooo fuck, Steve. The time! You're going to miss the last bus!" I avoided a spit take, barely, and suddenly realised that there was a strong likelihood that I'd be sleeping on the street tonight unless we quickly got to the station. Either that, or shelling out a small fortune in getting a taxi over to the next town to stay with a friend.

As I took Jess' hand, she laughed and necked her drink as we set off unevenly jogging for the bus station. A more sober me would have realised that no matter how enthusiastic you are, running a ten minute distance with only five minutes to go before your transportation leaves is a fool's errand. Still, we tried. I half carried the giggling Jess to the station to see not a bus in sight. To top it off, flash in the night sky accompanied a few seconds later by a roll of thunder told me that the weather forecast for once had been on the money.

"Fuck" I cursed rubbing my hand through my hair. This was going to be an expensive evening. Jess had out paced me slightly with her drinks and I still subscribed to the outdated notion that a guy should pay for a girl on a night out. Now, the nightly bill was going to skyrocket. "Fuck" I repeated, taking in a deep annoyed breath. "So then miss Jess, ...taxi rank?" I asked. "Or a good hotel?"

"Shit. I'm so sorry, Steve" Jess said. "I had no idea of the time and you're stuck now. I am really sorry." I gave her a look that was half 'shut up' and half 'its obviously not your fault'. "You can't go paying out that much for a taxi though. That's silly. It'd be like over two hundred quid." Jess continued. She was right of course. I pulled out my phone to start searching for a nearby, cheap place to stay and saw that I had a message waiting from Laura. I opened it and focussed my eyes through the ****.

"Hope you're not off having too much fun. It's bin night and you didn't put them out before I left. I've got to take them down now - thanks."

Looking skyward and wondering why I'd expected anything different from Laura, I failed to notice that Jess had appeared next to my shoulder and was reading the message too.

"Jeez, what a bitch" she said and then clapped a hand over her mouth. Having suppressed a high pitched yell of suprise at Jess' seemingly magical appearance next to me I turned to look at her frowning. "Sorry. Shit. Sorry Steve."

"Bit fast and loose with your tongue there hey drunkey" I said. Jess put a hand on my arm and looked earnest.

"I am sorry, it's not my place Steve" she said. A long moment passed where we looked at each other before I broke the tension with a long over the top sigh.

"I hate how you're always right you know." Jess looked confused. "She is a bitch" I laughed. "My girlfriend is a bitch!" I shouted, surrendering slightly to the **** coursing through my body. Jess grabbed my arm, giggling and shushing me. Another peel of lighting and roll of thunder, closer now, drew the immediate merriment out of the situation. There was still the matter of where I was going to sleep tonight.

With Jess' arm still looped through my own, we looked together at hotels and B&Bs where I may be able to crash for the night. Jess had a counter argument for every option I showed interest in and said it was a waste of money.

She put her other hand on my arm and began walking me away back towards main streets, where people were hurrying to get home before the looming downpour emptied over the city. "A hotel is a silly idea too. All of those ones were crap or too expensive. There's no guarantee they won't all be full with people in town for the game anyway I think. You're staying at mine." I stopped in my tracks and frowned at Jess.

"Whoa, I can't as-"

"Really?" Jess cut me off, casting her arms out to her sides as the rain began to fall more heavily. "You're going to make me wander aimlessly around with you looking for a bed when there's a perfectly good one back at my flat?" I couldn't argue with that. She knew it and grinned in triumph. Jess was right. Again. Man I hated that.