The first thing that Lee noticed about the place was that it was absolutely freezing.

"Jesus Christ, is your heating busted?" He asked, shivering.

"No, it just sucks. It heats up after a while though" Carly replied, dumping her handbag on the floor at the front door and heading in to get the heating on as quick as possible.

Lee took this time to have a mini tour. It wasn't that big, and nowhere near as fancy as his own place. From where he stood at the front door, he could tell that it was a perfect square apartment. Straight in front of him was the bathroom and on the right was a kitchen that had an adjoined living room at the far side of it. He assumed that the remaining door, on his left, led to the bedroom. Carly had told him one morning on the drive to work that she only rented this apartment because there was no guarantee that she'd still be working here at the end of her six months trial. Her idea was to find out her long term future before going through the hassle of getting a mortgage.

He stepped into the kitchen and wandered through to the living room area, taking a seat on the blue cotton sofa. He looked around to see that despite it only being a temporary home, Carly had taken a lot of time to decorate it. The walls were painted a turquoise colour and there was a cream carpet on the floor. With the blue furniture around the room, it reminded him of a beach. Carly then came over and sat next to him, handing him a bottle of Bud. He thanked her and took a sip.

"What do you think?" She asked, gesturing to her home.

"It's nice" Was all that he could think to say. He was now beginning to wonder why he had come up here.

"Thanks. Do you want to put on some music?" She asked.

"With your taste, hell no. You'll have us listening to Taylor Swift or something. Then you'll attract all those kids from the bar!" Lee joked.

"Taylor Swift is amazing! But I get your point. What about the TV?" She pointed to the screen that sat directly opposite them. She was running out of ideas to fill the void of conversation. Thankfully Lee agreed to this and so they began flicking through the channels, eventually deciding to watch some sports highlights show. It wasn't really that interesting to Carly but it kept her guest happy which she figured was the most important thing.

However content Lee was to sit in silence and watch the television, Carly was not; so she decided to ask Lee how his mother was feeling now. It had been over a month since she'd left the hospital. Lee filled her in that she was doing much better and had even asked how Carly was doing.

"She asked about me?" She asked, feigning surprise. She knew that Lee's mom had taken a liking to her.

"Yeah. Apparently you're good for me" Lee laughed at the strangeness of the conversation. He was questioning himself again. Why was he here in Carly's apartment? Why was he telling her this?

"Do you think she's right? Carly asked. Lee didn't answer. He stared at Carly, his expression showing that he was deep in thought. He couldn't work out what to say. He knew that the answer was obviously yes, Carly was good for him. He hadn't smiled at anyone in months until she arrived. But he hated to admit it.

"Yeah" He finally acknowledged. "I think she is right".

Carly knew right then that she was going to kiss him. They were facing each other anyway but somehow their faces were now just inches apart. Her eyes darted back and forth between Lee's eyes and his lips. He seemed to be doing the same, his eyes piercing hers.

Carly figured that it was too late to do anything other than go for it. Things were already going to be awkward no matter what the outcome so she had nothing to lose. She nudged her head forward till it was leaning on his. He didn't pull away. She closed her eyes and touched her lips to his, first softly before growing more confidence that Lee wanted this just as much as she did.

And he did. He kissed her back, letting himself relax for the first time that evening. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. This was something that he didn't really know that he wanted until he had it now. He started to push his body against Carly's as she leaned back to lie down on the sofa. He was almost completely on top of her when she suddenly wrangled free from him and stood up straight, looking incredibly flustered.

She loved what was happening until she had a sudden thought.

"Is something wrong?" Lee asked, unable to mask his disappointment.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" Carly sighed. "I just need to ask you something first. Lee opened his palms out, signalling for her to continue. "I hate to ask this but Lou told me something, a long time ago. He said that you were a bit of a ladies' man. Like, you were one of those guys who were with a different girl every night".

"And?" Lee asked, actually angry that Lou had told her that. Why would he do that?

"Well, I think I really like you. But I don't want to be just some girl to you. I don't want to get used"

"Carly I'm not going to use you".

"But you did it to all those other girls!"

"I was a mess back then! My whole world came crashing down, all at the same time! All I wanted was to find someone who actually cared. Someone to replace Trish but none of those girls . . . they weren't her" Lee lowered his head.

"Neither am I"

"That's just it though! You don't have to be! I don't need you to be! You know what, I should go" He sighed. Carly tried to hold him back but he pushed past her. "This was a bad idea. Just let me go".

"I don't think that! If you say that you aren't going to treat me bad then I believe you! You won't hurt me if you don't want to, I shouldn't have said anything" Carly couldn't believe she had ruined what had been a perfect moment.

"I'm glad you did!" Lee was yelling now, having lost all his composure, he was now seething. "It's just reminded me why I don't talk to people, why I don't get close to anyone. There's no point! Either I'll let you down or you'll let me down"

"No, I won't!"

"Yes you will! Because that's what people do! Everyone does! Trish let me down, my dad let me down, all my friends let me down, even the god damn UN let me down! I'm better off alone anyway! Goodnight Carly".

"You're not the only one, you know" She blurted out, no longer in control of her emotions either.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He snarled viciously.

"My last boyfriend cheated on me too!" As soon as the words left, Carly felt the tears roll into her mouth after coming down her cheeks. "His name was Nick and he was a total asshole; but I loved him and kept giving him chance after chance but he just kept doing it!" She was heaving now as she sobbed.

"I'm sorry" Whispered Lee. "I didn't know"

"That's because you never asked! Not once! You never ask anyone how they are or how their day's going. All you care about is yourself. You blame everyone for the things that went wrong in your life when there's nothing that anyone can do about it!"

Lee stormed out before he could say anything else. He didn't know what else to say. This was probably the most that he'd ever openly admitted about how he really felt. And he hated it. He also hated that he hadn't even thought to ask Carly about the things that she had revealed. He hadn't even considered that someone else could possibly feel the same. He slammed her door shut and headed out to the street. He didn't bother calling another taxi, choosing instead to walk all the way home.

Carly stood alone in her apartment with her hands on her head in despair. How had things gone so wrong so quickly? She was locked in a trance, trying to think of everything she could have done differently. The only thing which eventually brought her back to reality was the sound of three large thumps, coming from the apartment above.

"Will you keep it down!? I'm trying to sleep!" Yelled her upstairs neighbour. Carly didn't even have the energy to respond.

*

By the time Lee made it home, he immediately went to bed but he couldn't sleep. He was never going to admit this to anyone, but all he could do was break down and cry; because now he had to admit it to himself. He didn't actually hate everyone. The only person that he hated was himself.