Matt sat behind Rona on her bed and rubbed her shoulders while Rona opened up the laptop to see what it had. "So, are you happy with your laptop?" Matt asked ingratiatingly.

"Yeah" Rona said. "Hey cool, wireless. I wonder if there are any networks around here?"

Matt rested his chin on Rona's left shoulder and took her earlobe gently, briefly between his lips.

In the kitchen, Will and Miranda were sharing a cup of late-night tea. "Things seem better between those two" Miranda said, nodding towards the corridor to indicate the direction of Rona's room. "I really hope so, Rona deserves it."

"You worry about other people too much" Will said. "You should worry about yourself more."

Down the corridor, in Rona's room, Matt kissed Rona's neck and reached forward with his hand to shut the laptop. "Ow!" Rona exclaimed in alarm rather than pain as she snatched her hands away just in time.

"Sorry" Matt whispered, and he kissed his way down to her shoulder, rolling her t-shirt and her bra-strap down her arm to reveal the skin underneath.

"Maybe I want someone else to look after me" Miranda said to Will in the kitchen. "Why should I have to do it myself? All the time, anyway. Doesn't everyone deserve someone else to take care of them? Even only for one night?"

Rona shrugged her other shoulder so that her t-shirt fell off it, and with Matt's help the t-shirt slipped down her body until it was around her waist. "Well, this is a tangle" Rona said.

"I daresay you deserve it" Will said to Miranda, sipping his tea. "And you're a beautiful girl. You could have any boy you wanted, just snap your fingers and I bet they'd come running."

"Don't rip it," Rona urged Matt, "I like this t-shirt."

"Stand up" Matt said. "You can step out of it."

"No, here, lift it up off me" Rona said, raising her arms and turning her head to try to look Matt in the eye commandingly.

"It's not as easy as that" Miranda told Will earnestly.

"Miranda," Will said, fixing her with a level gaze which he held for two, three, four, five heartbeats. "It's as easy as you want it to be. Just say the word."

Six heartbeats; seven; eight; nine.