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before giggling at his complete and utter openness about what he was thinking. It was cute and set me at ease.
    ‘Seriously, Jess. You look … beautiful.’
    ‘Aw thanks, Riley. You look fantastic too. Do you want to come in?’
    He nodded his head, his blond curls tumbling down hisface. I moved out of the way to let him in then shut the door behind him. He went into the living room and stood leaning on his right foot, putting his hands in his pockets. If I didn’t already know what a confident charmer he was, I would have said he looked a little nervous.
    ‘Tegan should be down in a minute. Do you want a drink?’
    ‘Yeah, that would be great. Just water, thanks.’
    I smiled, pleased to have something to do other than blush under Riley’s gaze. I walked into the kitchen grabbing a glass and filling it up with water.
    ‘So where are we going tonight?’ I shouted through the doorway.
    When he didn’t reply, I turned round to check everything was OK, but as I did I spun straight into Riley, nearly spilling water all over myself and my beautiful new dress.
    ‘Whoa, careful there, Jess!’ Riley laughed.
    ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to give you a fright.’ He looked down at me, absent-mindedly brushing away a strand of my messy blonde hair from my face. I flushed at the intensity of Riley’s expression and the feeling of where his fingers had touched my skin.
    ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’ I jumped and Riley swiftly stepped away from me as Tegan came into the room.
    ‘No, no!’ I sang a little too gaily. ‘Of course not. Riley was just about to tell me where we’re all going this evening.’
    Tegan raised her eyebrows questioningly, but didn’t say anything.
    Riley chuckled. ‘We’re going to a lovely Italian place – it’s been in the same family for years. I think you’ll love it and it’s not that far.’
    ‘That sounds expensive,’ I said. I didn’t want the boys to think we were taking advantage of them being famous.
    ‘Don’t worry about that, you two. It’s on us. And, besides, you deserve it for putting up with us!’
    Tegan grinned. ‘Ah well, in that case …’
    Riley and I both laughed out loud. ‘Come on, then, let’s go,’ Riley said. Tegan walked ahead of us and Riley put his hand on the small of my back to guide me through the door.
    ‘Jess,’ Riley suddenly murmured.
    I turned round. ‘What is it, Riley?’
    ‘Erm … n-nothing … I …’ he stammered.
    ‘Are you sure? We can talk in the car, if you like. It’s getting pretty late and Shaq and the boys will be wondering where we are.’
    ‘Ah … Shaq, yeah.’ I couldn’t read the expression in his face, but before I could ask him what he meant he had already brushed past me and headed towards the car. All I could do was follow.

9
Dinner with The Only Truth
    The car journey to the restaurant only took about twenty minutes, but that was long enough. Tegan and Riley chatted the whole way there, talking about everything from football to the band’s next tour. Riley never spoke to me even though I was in the front seat next to him. I got a stiff smile at one point, but that was it. I wracked my brain to think what I could have said in the house to cause his mood change. He certainly wasn’t being his cheeky charming self.
    We pulled up into the car park and approached the fancy-looking restaurant. There was a big queue outside; it must have been incredibly popular. Tegan and I went to go and stand in the queue, but Riley had other ideas and, taking us both by the hand, led us right to the very front. The doorman stepped aside with no hesitation.
    The restaurant was stunning inside – a beautiful crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, its glittering light cascading across the entire room. The restaurant was low-lit and had candles placed on the table, giving it a romantic vibe. It felt like a bit of a strange place to take a big group of seven people.
    Riley spoke to the front-of-house manager and she