Eventually we pulled away from the kiss, resting our foreheads together, neither of us able to stop our smiles.

"Effort." Leah smiled, referencing the word that had become so prominent in our relationship.
"Le, you aren't with someone, are you?" I questioned myself, now worried that I had just kissed someone's girlfriend.
"No, I'm not with anyone." She smiled.
"Can we get out of here?"
"Always, Soph. I always want to be wherever you are."

Leah and I parted to say goodbye to our groups, finding each other again at the double doors that led to the exit. With it being New Year's Eve, finding a taxi was difficult. Eventually, Leah managed to secure us an Uber, but it was almost 20 minutes away. Her narrow frame began to shake as we sat on the steps outside the building. I removed my blazer, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling her into me, letting her absorb any body heat that I had left.

"Who's house are we going to?" Leah asked.
"I hadn't thought about that. Probably easier to go to mine; I live closer to here than you."
"Sounds good to me, anywhere with heat right now. Type your address into Uber - here." She said, her teeth clattering together as she handed me her phone.

As if the driver had heard her, he suddenly appeared at the side of the road. I stood up, holding my hand out for Leah, and led her to the back of the taxi. I climbed in beside her, her hand immediately finding mine and locking our fingers together.

We entered my house 15 minutes later, Leah's teeth still making the main noise as they vibrated. Our hands were still intertwined as she followed me upstairs to my bedroom. Leah stood awkwardly beside the bed as I began lifting clothes out for her to wear. She looked at the clothes, back at my face, and then at the clothes again, making both of us laugh at her awkwardness.

"Bathrooms next door. Use whatever you need."

While Leah was away, I took the opportunity to change into my joggers and a T-shirt. On nights as cold as tonight, I was glad that I had installed the heating system, which meant my house always stayed at a set temperature. When Leah returned, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take off my make-up, placing my hair into a messy bun.

I gently opened the bedroom door, laughing slightly as Leah stood leaning against my bedroom window.

"You can get in, you know." I whispered.
"I didn't want to overstep the mark."

I climbed from the end of the bed to the pillows, pulling back the covers and slipping under the duvet at my side of the bed. The side of the bed I slept on when we were together. I pulled back the covers for Leah, who was now standing at the edge of my bed. She sat on the edge, making me question if I should offer her separate rooms.

"Le, I have a spare room if you'd be more comfortable." I said softly.
"I want to sleep beside you. I'm just scared." Leah sighed.

I shifted behind her, putting my arms around her waist and kissing her cheek. She placed her hands on top of mine, leaning her head towards my lips to feel them against her cheek once more.

"What're you scared of, Le?"
"Tomorrow."
"What about tomorrow?"
"I don't think I can lose you again, Soph."
"Then there is no need to be scared of tomorrow; I'll still be right here."

I felt Leah's body relax at the sound of my words as she began to move her head towards the pillow. I moved back to my own side to give her room to manoeuvre, smiling at her as her eyes found mine again.

My hand found her hair, gently stroking it from her forehead back, her eyes closing at the feeling.

"I should never have let you walk away that night, Soph."
"I should never have let you walk away that day."

Leah opened her arms up, letting out a gentle come here you as she smiled at me. I wasted no time before placing my head on her shoulder and wrapping my arms around her waist, feeling her fingers lightly stroke my back through my T-shirt. She placed two fingers under my chin, guiding it upwards until our lips met.

I rested my head back onto her shoulder, synchronising my breathing with hers as we both drifted off to sleep. Our bodies intertwined almost as if they had been glued together.

I awoke the next morning with a slight headache, but my memory of last night's events was clear. I lay silently for a while before I began to feel Leah's body move slightly. A deep inhale and a gentle groan told me she was now awake before I felt a kiss being placed on my forehead.

Just as I was about to speak, the sound of FaceTime coming through broke the silence for me. I felt about to find my phone under my pillow, seeing Olivia's name on the screen. I moved slightly away from Leah, still resting my free hand on her shoulder.

"Hi Liv!" I smiled into the phone.
"Auntie Sophie! Happy New Year!" She shouted back.
"Did you go over the bump last night?"

The bump was something Rhys and I loved about New Year's Eve as kids. Our parents would take us on a knee each during the countdown, and come 12 o'clock, they would lift their knees up and shout wow as we thought we'd just gone over the bump into the new year.

"I did; it's really high, isn't it?"
"Did you hold on tight?"
"Yeah, Auntie Sophie, I was so scared! Did you go over the bump?" Olivia asked, earning a slight giggle from Leah, who knew that I was too busy enjoying her lips at 12 a.m. to think about a bump.
"I did! Guess what?"
"What?"
"I have someone here that you might want to see." Leah's face gained a smile at the idea of seeing Olivia again.
"Who is it?"

I turned the camera towards Leah, taking the opportunity to move closer to her again as she propped herself up with one arm and placed the other around my stomach out of view of the camera.

"Leah!  It's Leah!" Olivia shouted.
"Hi Liv, Happy New Year!" Leah smiled at her.
"Happy New Year, Leah. I missed you." Olivia's innocent little voice made Leah's heart flip, I could tell by her eyes.
"I missed you too. Maybe me and Auntie Sophie will come visit soon?"
"Yes please." Olivia grinned.
"Okay, Liv, I've got to go, but I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" I smiled.
"Talk to you tomorrow. Bye, Leah" She said as she blew kisses into the phone while we both shouted bye.

I cuddled back into Leah, not wanting the moment to ever end. We talked about the previous night. I told Leah that I heard her talking in the toilets and had tried to rush to leave before she saw me, thinking she still had a girlfriend. Leah found the thought of me rushing and then pushing a pull door hilarious, letting out that hearty laugh that I had missed. We moved from the bed to the sofa, bringing the duvet with us as we cuddled up and scrolled through the food menus, ordering junk food to be delivered and finding something to watch on Netflix.

We reluctantly broke apart when the food arrived, sitting close to each other as we ate away our hangovers. Leah's body language told me that she was deep in thought, prompting me to ask what she was thinking about.

"I feel like I need to tell you about Harleigh if we're going to try again. I want you to know the truth about everything. I don't want you to have any doubts or find something out that hurts you." She spoke, taking my hand as she did so.
"Okay, shoot."

Leah told me about their time together: how they had met, her inability to progress to the next stage on that first night, and the drunken night they had slept together. She told me that it was the night before I had arrived at her apartment, and as much as I wished that I had gone the day before, I appreciated the truth from Leah.

"What happened with you two then?"
"After you left that night, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I knew it wasn't fair on her to carry it on when I was so blatantly still in love with you, so I told her that. She said she expected it; she's a really nice person. Just not the person for me."
"Thank you for telling me."
"Does it change things?" Leah sighed.
"Of course not." I said as I brought her hand to my lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of it.
"Can I ask you something?" Leah spoke quietly.
"Of course."
"Did you, you know, sleep with anyone else?"
"No. I went on a date, but she actually binned me off after it for still being hung up on my ex."

Leah smiled at my response; I think she was relieved. Despite her having been with someone during our time apart, I think she had hoped that I hadn't been.

"I can't believe you thought I was back with Hannah." I laughed.
"Me neither, I actually considered messaging her to tell her you threw her flowers in the bin." She laughed back.

We lay back on the sofa, spending the rest of our afternoon watching multiple episodes of a series, our lips drawn to each other like magnets. Later that day, we both showered and finally freshened up. Leah headed home to get her car and some clothes, returning shortly after as she had promised.

As we climbed into bed that night, we once again found ourselves wrapped up with each other as our eyes began to flutter shut.

"Soph." Leah whispered, unsure if I was still awake.
"Yeah, Le?" I whispered back.
"I love you. Still." Leah said affectionately.
"I love you. Always."