"See you tomorrow," Thomas shouted, and I turned and waved goodbye to him.

"Bye," I shouted back, more as an afterthought than anything else. He half turned and threw me a smile.

I shouldered my heavy bag and made my way wearily through the throngs of parked cars and crowds of students.

Thomas and I had parted ways outside the huge education building at the same time as, apparently, everyone else in the whole place.

I was tired enough as it is, my whole body slumping forwards and my feet aching terribly, without having to force my way through these people. I wanted nothing more than to go home and take a long, hot bath and fall fast asleep.

The day had been long and I'd written more in the last seven hours than I'd managed in the rest of my life. Not only did I have to take notes from the days lectures but I had to catch up on what I'd missed the day before.

Thomas had let me copy his notes and every spare second I'd had had been spent frantically scribbling.

Despite my bone deep exhaustion I was happy.

There was nothing more satisfying than finishing everything you had to do. And, if that weren't enough, I was heading to my beautiful girlfriends house where we would watch some movie whilst eating dinner.

I just hoped she wouldn't put on a horror film like the night before.

I am the biggest wimp you will ever meet and spent the entirety of the movie hidden in Laura's shoulder. I couldn't say I minded too much; it was warm there, and smelled of Laura's faint perfume and I could kiss it whenever I chose.

The few tentative glances I'd dared throw at the screen had caused me to lie awake for hours that night. Even when I did, eventually, drift off my dreams were polluted by crazy old ladies and men wielding axes and hacksaws.

I really had to get her back for that.

I pulled into the space Laura's car used to occupy and turned off the engine. As I climbed out I wondered when her new vehicle was arriving.

It was hard to get about without the use of a car and I didn't know how Laura had managed for these past few weeks. Well, she had been with me for most of it so I'd driven her about, and when it wasn't me her sister would, so she wasn't totally stranded.

It was still annoying though, for her I mean, not me. She'd contacted the insurance agency several times and they promised a new one was on it's way.

It wouldn't arrive soon enough for her, she'd wanted it yesterday, but when it did she would be happy.

I felt the light breeze on my exposed skin as I waited for Laura to answer the door, and smiled. It was a beautiful evening, even though summer was almost at its end and I relished it while it was still here.

All thoughts of the sun and summer were blown from my mind when she opened the door. The instant I looked at her I knew something was wrong.

Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red. There were dried tear tracks on her face and her clothes were rumpled. Her hair looked as though she hadn't bothered to brush it at all but her right fist was the worst of all.

It was scraped and bloodied, the red liquid oozing from her knuckles.

"Are you okay?" I asked, then wanted to hit myself for asking such a stupid question. Of course she wasn't. "I mean, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," she told me, moving out of the doorway to let me inside.

"You clearly aren't," I argued, "tell me what happened."

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, barely hiding her annoyance.

"This routine is getting a bit old, Laura. We both know you aren't, so just tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened!" She yelled and I flinched.

"Please," I pleaded and she whirled round to face me.

"I said nothing's wrong!"

I swallowed back my retort, suddenly wishing I hadn't come.

I should leave. I could leave, just walk out the door and not turn back. Leave her alone with her anger and annoyance. But I wouldn't. Even the thought of doing that made me feel sick.

I had to put myself in her shoes.

She wasn't allowed out in case something happened to her and there was no one there. Add to that the pain she must be in and I could understand her temper being a bit short.

"Do you want a hug?" I asked and she stared at me, a sneer on her face.

"No, I think I'll manage," she ran her still bleeding left hand through her tangled hair.

"Here, let me clean that," I said. I reached for her hand but she snatched it from my grip and moved away from me.

"I don't need you to babysit me!" She shouted and I fought the tears that were building.

"How did you do that?" I asked and she looked uneasy.

"I punched a wall."

"Punched a wall?"

"I tripped and my hand was in a fist."

"In a fist?"

"This is going to be a really shitty evening if you keep repeating everything I say!" She snapped and I flinched again.

"Sorry," I mumbled, trying to think of something else to say. "Do you want to go for a walk with me? To get some fresh air?"

"Why the fuck would I want to go for a walk?"

"It'll do you good to get out the house."

"Oh, that's a great idea! Out the house where I could die on the bloody street! Are you having a fucking laugh?"

There was a long pause.

"Sorry," I said when it was obvious she was not going to apologise. It was taking everything I had in me not to run out the door and lock myself in my car to cry.

I was really hurt by her harsh words but she didn't seem to notice, or care. My Laura was gone, replaced by this angry, never pleased woman who appeared to hold a grudge against everything.

"You should go," she said, sounding as though she were trying to rid herself of an annoying stranger not her girlfriend.

"I think I should," I said but didn't turn away.

"Yes, that's right!" She snarled, "run away home to mummy and daddy and-" she broke off. All the venom had gone from her words as she collapsed on the couch, sobbing her eyes out.

If I hadn't already noticed that was when I would have realised something was very wrong here.

I moved up beside her without a seconds thought and wrapped and my arms around her violently shaking body. She buried herself into me as she wailed and I stroked her back comfortingly.

"Shhh," I whispered, "it's alright, it's going to be okay." I used the same tone and words as I would if Tara had a nightmare. Calming, reassuring and comforting it never failed to lull her back to sleep. The same couldn't be said for Laura.

"Why... How... He... Only a.... Didn't... A child..." Laura was crying so heavily I couldn't make out what she was saying, only the occasional word reaching my ears. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there, stroking her back and hoping she would stop sobbing.

Eventually I do but I think it was more to do with the fact she ran out of tears than anything else.

She pulled away from me, wiping her eyes. She saw me watching with concern and her face twisted.

"Go!" She screamed, "leave! Get out!" She pointed towards the door, "go!"

I stood up, then stopped, uncertain for a moment.

"Are you sure you want me to go?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't!" She yelled and I studied her a moment longer. "Please..." She begged and I felt my heart break at the sorrow and despair in those words.

I turned and, feeling like my soul was being ripped into a million pieces, left the house, hearing her sobbing resume and feeling like a traitor.

***

"I just left her, Sophie, and I feel terrible!"

"Yes, but what you feel doesn't matter," she noticed my expression, "no offence. It's Laura we need to think about here."

I'd phoned Sophie as soon as I got home, needing to talk to someone. I could have easily phoned Tanya or Sheridan but neither of them were studying psychology and I needed to know why Laura had done what she had.

"You said she'd already been crying when you arrived?"

"Yes."

"Something happened during the day," she said firmly, "while you were out something happened and it affected her strongly. You said that's the worst you've ever seen her?"

"Yeah, it was. She looked absolutely terrible and, in all honesty, it scared the shit out of me."

"Right," she took a sip of wine, looking deep and thought. "Does she have people to talk to? To tell her troubles to?"

"Um, there's her sister, and her best friend... And she could talk to me, if she wanted."

"What about her parents?"

"Her relationship with her mother is frosty at best and the father has yet to put in an appearance."

"Hmm..." Sophie sat, slowly sipping her wine and digesting the information.

I sat and waited, slightly impatient but not wanting to interrupt her in case I jeopardised her analysis.

I didn't have wine to sooth my nerves because I wasn't a big drinker. The one time I'd been drunk had ended badly and involved being abandoned when a friend forgot about me and having to be taken home by none other than my own girlfriend.

She'd told me about it a while ago and I was surprised to realise that I couldn't remember much of it... It was a haze of lights and grinding bodies and of feeling sick. Not exactly pleasant. I'd tried not to drink since.

"Okay," Sophie placed her wineglass on the table, "here's what I got, and you have to promise not to interrupt me."

"I swear," I said solemnly and she nodded in approval.

"Right, so... Where to start... Right, she has only two people to confide in, if that, and she's known both of them for years. You, however, she's only known properly for a couple of months. Now we know something happened today, and she will need to tell you what that is, and it made her very upset."

"You said she was angry when you first arrived but I don't think that was genuine. It was most likely to make you leave, a defence mechanism if you will. You refused to go though and that proved that you cared enough not to be scared off. Earning you trust point number one."

"Now honey, I'm not saying she won't trust you, because I think she's starting to, but, before today, she didn't. She thought she did but, as you said, she didn't confide in you, not about her mother or anything else, so somewhere she didn't. Something happened in her past I think, to make her so cautious and what it is she must tell you herself."

"Today I think she felt vulnerable, thus the anger, and too exposed. She didn't trust you enough to be comfortable with all that hurt showing; the crying episode I mean; and that's what caused her to demand you leave. But before that, the fact that you didn't go when you saw her break down, gained you trust. You see, honey, with this girl it's all about the trust. Once you got that, you got her."

"Oh right, thanks Sophie," I said and Sophie glared at me.

"I told you not to interrupt."

"I'm sorry, I thought you-"

"Interrupting again," she sang and this time I said nothing. "Good girl. Now, where was I? After she cried, she asked you to leave. You didn't want to, making sure she absolutely wanted you to go before you did. The fact you left, when you wanted to stay so badly, was the best thing you could have done. You showed her that what she wants comes first and that you put her before yourself and what you think you should do."

"All of these things show that you care a lot for her and that all you want is her happiness. She has no other option but to fall for you now," she finished with a wink.

I sat in silence for a second, making sure her speech was actually over before speaking.

"You make it all sound so obvious... I didn't think any of that at the time."

"I know," Sophie said, "if you had it would be rather odd."

"Yeah," I laughed, relieved to finally see some sense in this jumble of words and feelings. "Well she'd better fall for me, or we're both screwed."

"She will. Trust me."

A strange choice of words, I thought, after what she'd just told me.

'Trust me, Laura. Please trust me.'

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