“I-I Is that what you think we are?” Alice inquired, keeping her gaze low. “A couple?”

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? I mean you’re both crazy for one another, you’ve gone on numerous dates, you haven’t been with anyone else and you’re sleeping with the girl. So yes, I’d call that a relationship.”

“We haven’t slept together,” Alice replied quickly in a whispered tone, causing Liam to almost choke on his drink.

“What??”

“We haven’t slept together,” Alice repeated casually. “We We, I dunno. We just haven’t got around to it.”

“Got around to it? Alice the number of people you have had ***** with puts everyone I know to shame but you haven’t ‘got around’ to sleeping with the one person I have ever seen you care about romantically?”

“I think that’s the thing Liam,” Alice began to say slowly. “I’m crazy about Dana and I’m scared that if we have ***** s-she’ll feel differently about me.”

“I’m not getting you,” Liam replied.

“I don’t want to have ***** with Dana only to have her realise that I’m not all I’ve cracked up to be. What happens when she wakes up the next morning to see me with bed hair or bad breath in crappy clothes? What if she suddenly realises that Alice Pieszecke isn’t all she is hyped up to be and leaves?”

“Alice I think you’re being a little paranoid.”

“I have a right to be,” Alice snapped  back. “This is possibly the most important relationship I’ve ever been in and I know I’m going to ***** it up.”

“Well then you are an idiot,” Liam retorted. “Look, take your time then but don’t avoid it Alice. It’s obvious to everyone how much Dana likes you, so just go with it. I promise you that when it finally does happen, you’ll kick yourself for being so paranoid in the first place.”

“I hope you’re right Liam,” Alice said with a sigh. “I really do.”

“Really do what?” Dana asked as she sat down on the seat next to Alice.

“Hope we don’t have to do three months of touring,” Alice lied before taking another sip of her drink. The lie seemed to have worked as Dana nodded and then proceeded to walk over to the bar and order the next round of drinks.