Queue the music. Someone get me some doves!

I stormed down the hallway and shoved open Heather’s bedroom door.

Both of them looked up.

Heather was sitting cross-legged on her bed, while Trish was beside her, a mug resting in her hands. They’d clearly been having a perfectly pleasant evening.

I was not having a perfectly pleasant evening.

“What the hell?” Heather said.

“Can I talk to you?”

She glanced at Trish, then back at me. A slow, wicked smile spread across her face.

“Oh, no. What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” She sat up straighter. “I heard shouting from your room.”

I clenched my jaw.

Heather’s smile widened.

“Was that a lovers’ quarrel? Have you two finally had your first fight as a couple?”

“Shut the fuck up, Heather.”

Her mouth fell open.

Trish’s eyebrows shot up.

“Excuse me?”

“I said shut the fuck up.”

Heather stared at me for a moment, then looked at Trish.

“Well, someone’s in a mood.”

I took a breath, trying to get myself under control. It didn’t work particularly well.

“I’m in love with Trish.”

The room went silent.

Heather’s smile disappeared.

Trish stopped with her mug halfway to her mouth.

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.

Then Heather burst out laughing.

“Oh, my God.”

I glared at her.

“I’m serious.”

“Yeah. In your dreams.”

“Heather.”

“No, seriously.” She shook her head, still laughing. “You’re in love with Trish? My Trish? You’ve spent your entire life chasing Rebecca, and now you’ve suddenly decided you’re in love with my best friend?”

“I haven’t suddenly decided anything.”

“Trish had a crush on you once,” Heather continued, waving a hand dismissively. “I know that. She told me. But that was ages ago. She’d never go for you.”

I stared at her.

“Is that right?”

“Yes!”

“Then why did we have sex in her car after the concert?”

Heather stopped laughing.

Her mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

Trish made a strange choking noise beside her.

I folded my arms.

“Go on. Explain that one.”

Heather slowly turned her head towards Trish.

Trish had put her mug down. She was staring at the bedspread, her shoulders beginning to shake.

“Heather,” she said, in a remarkably unsteady voice.

Heather looked back at me.

“You—what?”

“You heard me.”

“In her car?”

“Yes.”

“After the concert?”

“Yes, Heather. After the concert.”

Heather’s face had gone bright red.

“You had sex with my best friend in her car?”

“Technically, it was her car.”

“That is not the point!”

“I’m aware.”

She looked as though she might actually combust.

“When? How? Why didn't either of you tell me?”

“Because we didn’t think you needed to know every detail of our lives?”

“Every detail? You had sex with my best friend!”

“And yet, somehow, the world kept turning.”

Heather slapped a hand over her mouth.

Then she turned on Trish.

“You told me you were taking him home!”

“I did take him home.”

“You know what I mean!”

Trish had completely lost the battle to keep a straight face. She was bent forward, laughing into her hands.

Heather stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you laughing?”

Trish tried to answer, but another burst of laughter escaped her.

“Oh, my God. I’m sorry.”

“You are absolutely not sorry!”

“I am a little sorry.”

“A little?”

Trish wiped at her eyes.

“I’m sorry you found out like this.”

Heather threw a pillow at her.

Trish caught it, still laughing.

I stood there, watching the two of them, my anger beginning to drain away. It had been building all evening, and I’d come in here ready to tell Heather exactly what I thought of her assumptions.

I hadn’t expected this.

Heather pointed at me.

“And you! You’ve been in love with Rebecca since you were five!”

“I know.”

“You’ve spent years telling me how beautiful she is!”

“I know.”

“You once spent forty minutes helping her choose a dress for a party you weren’t even going to!”

“I remember!”

“And now you’re telling me you’re in love with Trish, after apparently having sex with her in a car, and you expect me to just accept that?”

“Yes!”

She stared at me.

I stared back.

Then Trish started laughing again.

Heather turned towards her.

“Would you stop?”

“I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s right!”

That silenced both of us.

Trish took a breath, trying to compose herself. She looked at Heather, then at me.

“He’s right,” she repeated, more quietly.

Heather frowned.

“About what?”

Trish’s expression softened.

“About us.”

I felt my stomach tighten.

“Trish?”

She looked at me.

“I feel the same way.”

For a moment, I couldn't quite process the words.

I’d imagined hearing them. Of course I had. In the days when she’d first started spending time with me, when she’d laughed at my jokes and leaned against me in the car, I’d wondered whether there might be something between us.

Then she’d stopped replying to my messages.

She’d walked away from me at the mall.

She’d spent days avoiding me.

I’d convinced myself I’d imagined everything.

Now she was sitting on Heather’s bed, looking directly at me, telling me she felt the same way.

“You do?” I asked.

Trish smiled.

“Yes.”

Heather made a strangled noise.

“Hang on. Hang on. I need everyone to stop for a second.”

Neither of us looked at her.

“No,” she insisted. “I need to understand this. You two have been secretly sleeping together, and now you’re in love with each other?”

“We weren’t secretly sleeping together,” Trish said.

Heather gave her a look.

“Apparently, you were.”

“Fair point.”

“And you knew about his feelings?”

Trish shook her head.

“Not until tonight.”

I frowned.

“But you said—”

“I said I feel the same way. I didn’t say I knew you felt that way.”

She looked down at her hands.

“I thought you were just having fun with me. After the concert, I thought maybe it was a one-off. Then, when I saw you with Rebecca at the shopping centre…”

She stopped.

I felt my chest tighten.

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?”

Trish nodded, looking miserable.

“I saw the two of you coming out of the changing rooms together. Then I saw her fussing over you at the food court. And later, when Heather told me Rebecca had been in your room, I just assumed…”

“That we were together?”

“She was sitting on your lap, apparently.”

I glanced at Heather.

She shrugged, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

“I might have mentioned it.”

Trish gave a small, embarrassed laugh.

“I thought you’d finally got the girl you’d wanted your whole life. I didn’t want to get in the way.”

I stared at her.

“You thought I was with Rebecca?”

“I thought you were going to be.”

“And rather than ask me, you just stopped talking to me?”

Trish winced.

“When you put it like that…”

“How else am I supposed to put it?”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I let out a breath and rubbed a hand over my face.

For days, I’d been trying to work out what I’d done wrong. I’d replayed every conversation, every message, every moment at the mall. I’d wondered whether I’d been too forward, whether she regretted the concert, whether she’d decided she didn’t want anything to do with me.

And all along, she’d thought I was falling back into my old obsession with Rebecca.

“I’m not with Rebecca,” I said.

“I know that now.”

“And I’m not trying to be with Rebecca.”

Trish nodded.

“I know.”

I hesitated.

“Good.”

Heather made another noise.

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

I turned towards her.

“What now?”

She was sitting with her arms folded, looking between us as though we’d just announced plans to elope.

“I have spent years listening to you complain about Rebecca. Years. And now you’re telling me you’re in love with Trish, who has apparently been in love with you too, and the two of you have been carrying on behind my back.”

“We weren’t carrying on,” Trish said.

Heather pointed at her.

“You had sex in your car!”

“Okay, we were carrying on a little.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

The sound seemed to break something in the room. Trish started laughing again, and even Heather’s expression began to crack.

Then Heather looked at me, her face softening.

“You really love her?”

I glanced at Trish.

She was watching me, waiting.

“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”

Heather was quiet for a moment.

Then she sighed.

“Well, this is going to be a complete disaster.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“I’m being realistic. You’re my brother. She’s my best friend. If you two break up, I’m going to have to deal with both of you.”

“We’re not even together yet.”

“Exactly! And already I’m dealing with it!”

Trish reached over and squeezed Heather’s arm.

“We’ll be careful.”

Heather looked at her.

“You’d better be.”

Then she turned back to me.

“And you. No more shouting at me.”

“Then stop being an arsehole.”

“Michael!”

“What? You told me she’d never go for me!”

“Because I didn’t know you’d already slept with her!”

Trish dissolved into laughter again.

I shook my head, finally feeling some of the tension leave my shoulders.

For the first time in days, I wasn’t wondering what Trish was thinking. I wasn’t staring at my phone, waiting for a message that never came. I wasn’t trying to interpret Rebecca’s latest attempt to turn our friendship into something else.

Trish was sitting right there.

And she felt the same way.

I looked at her.

“Can we talk? Just us?”

Her smile turned a little shy.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Heather immediately pointed towards the door.

“Not in my room.”

“Relax,” I said.

“No, I’m serious. I’ve heard enough about what happens in cars. I don’t need to hear what happens in bedrooms.”

“Heather!”

“What? I’m setting boundaries!”

Trish was laughing so hard she had to put her face in the pillow.

I held out a hand to her.

“Come on.”

She took it.

As we left the room, Heather called after us.

“And Michael?”

I turned.

“What?”

She gave me a pointed look.

“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

I nodded solemnly.

“Understood.”

“And Trish?”

Trish looked back.

“Yeah?”

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him twice.”

Trish grinned.

“Good to know.”

Then she followed me down the hallway, her hand still in mine.