Climbing back in Ellie’s bedroom window was a lot harder than it seemed. Ellie had forgotten how high a window actually was, as she climbed out. She’d just jumped, not especially paying attention. Now, standing beside her bedroom window, looking back at it, the sill was almost at the level of her chest.

She had to get back up there somehow, and she wasn’t sure how.

Worse, her keys were still inside.

Her keys were inside, and all the house’s doors were locked, and Ellie knew all the doors were locked because she insisted on that, even when her and Mark were both home. She’d seen too many horror films not to insist. And the back door, the one that would be especially useful now, was definitely locked, because had Ellie checked it before she left for work that morning, and she clearly remembered doing so. And they never used it anyway, so there was no chance it was open now, and she was so sure of that she wasn’t even going to bother checking.

Right now, she was certain, there was no way back into the house except climbing through the window. Or going around to knock on the front door so Mark could let her back in. She really didn’t want to do because it might need some kind of explanation of why she was outside, so she had to get in the window.

This had all gone fairly badly wrong. It was hardly the sexy romantic gesture Ellie had imagined in her head.

She stood there for a moment, thinking, and then she decided to try.

She pulled the window open, and put her hands on the sill, and jumped, and tried to pull herself up. She couldn’t quite manage. It was a little too high. She probably could have, she decided, if she yanked and gasped and slid and looked completely awkward, but she didn’t want to in front of Mia.

She tried with her foot on the foundations, and tried to scrabble her toes on the wall, but it didn’t help that much, and she didn’t want to be kicking around in the darkness too much because she was worried about spiders.

She gave up. She looked at Mia.

Mia was grinning. Mia seemed to think this was quite funny, that Ellie had jumped out without thinking.

“Stop it,” Ellie whispered.

She closed the window again, and looked around for something to climb on.

There wasn’t much. The rubbish bins, the cars, which would mean starting and moving one of them, or maybe something from the garage like Mark’s mountain bike, which didn’t actually help because the garage would be locked anyway.

The wheelie bins, Ellie decided.

They were probably empty still since rubbish day had been yesterday.

She went and got the recycling bin, because it was probably cleaner, and started to pull it back towards her window. As soon as it rolled, it rumbled noisily. She stopped, suddenly realizing that of course it would. The bins always made a lot of noise when they were moved.

“Help me?” she whispered to Mia, and Mia came over and picked up the bottom end of the bin and helped Ellie carry it.

They put it underneath Ellie window, and, after a moment, Ellie tipped it carefully onto it’s side. She remembered to hold the lid so it didn’t fall open and bang.

On it’s side, because then the bin was high enough to step up onto, and then hop up into onto the window-sill. Upright, it would be too much of a scramble to get on top, and it would probably be unsteady too, and might topple over sideways as they did.

Ellie climbed up onto the bin. The plastic was slippery under her bare feet, but she could balance easily enough holding onto the window sill.

“Okay,” she said quietly to Mia. “Come on.”

Mia took off her shoes and threw them into Ellie’s room. They landed on the floor with a clatter.

Mia and Ellie both looked at each other. Ellie stopped breathing, and listened.

She couldn’t hear anything from inside. No worried calling out, as Mark heard strange noises. He must not have heard over his game.

“Um…” Ellie said.

Mia grinned. “Sorry.”

Mia climbed up onto the bin, carefully. She put her bag inside quietly. Reaching through the window, and then dropping it as gently as she could.

“Go on,” Mia whispered.

Ellie hesitated, then climbed through the window. It wasn’t that tricky, starting from up on the bin. She held onto either side of the frame, and lifted her foot onto the sill, and pulled and just went, mostly like taking a big step.

She climbed down from the sill, glad to be inside, and turned around to help Mia.

Mia was having trouble. She couldn’t get her foot high enough, Ellie realized. Her skirt was too tight. Mia stopped, and tugged at the skirt, sliding it up a little. She tried again, and still couldn’t. She pulled her skirt up further. Her legs were almost bare.

Ellie looked at her legs. Mia started trying to pull the waist of her skirt up, under her shirt.

“Come on,” Ellie said, watching Mia fiddled with her clothes. “I don’t want moths inside.”

Mia stopped and looked at her. “You’re joking, right? Like being awful on purpose?”

Ellie grinned. “Yep,” she said. She held out her hand. “I’ll pull you in.”

“I don’t know you can,” Mia said, but she let Ellie grab one of her hands.

Mia lifted her leg, and got the toes of one foot onto the edge of the sill, and then, between Ellie tugging and Mia pulling herself with her other arm, she got herself up onto the sill.

“Get out the way,” Mia said, and Ellie moved.

Mia swung her feet down, quite elegantly, her knees together. Like some kind of clever move for kneeing and then standing back up in a party dress. Ellie was quite impressed. Mia slid, and jumped, and landed on both feet.

Ellie reached past her, and closed the window, and pulled the curtains. She listened for Mark’s feet while she did. She couldn’t hear anything.

She turned around, to Mia, and was about to start kissing her again, but Mia was looking down at her hands. They looked a bit dusty in the inside lights. There would have been dirt on the outside walls, Ellie supposed.

She hadn’t thought of that.

“I’m a bit grubby,” Mia said. “I wouldn’t mind washing them. If we want to…”

Ellie thought about bins, and what went in bins, and suddenly agreed. “Yep,” she said. “Of course.” Then, wondering how, “Shit.”

She thought.

“Okay,” she said. “You go to the bathroom and wash your hands. I’ll go and be obviously up and in the kitchen.”

“He won’t hear the water or whatever?”

Ellie shook her head. She was fairly sure. It was an older house, with fairly thick walls. “Not over the TV.”

“Okay,” Mia said, and grinned some more. “You don’t think my place would’ve been easier?”

Ellie smiled. “Yep. But not nearly as much fun. Wait here a sec.”

She went down the hall, and said, “Hey,” to Mark, and made sure he looked settled in his game. He did, so she waved Mia out of her bedroom.

Mia went. Ellie waited long enough to make sure Mia did, and went into the kitchen and ran water. She filled a glass. She turned off the light and went back to the lounge door. She watched Mark’s game, standing there, until Mia came out the bathroom and slipped back into Ellie’s room.

“Night,” Ellie said to Mark, and went back down the hall.

She went into the bathroom too. She washed her hands, and then rinsed her feet in the shower because she didn’t want bin-feet in her bed. She wondered if Mia had, and decided she didn’t really care.

She went back into her room, and closed the door.

Mia was still grinning at her.

“So,” Ellie said.

“Yeah.”

“So we’re both weird, you know that right? I mean, this is way too much.”

Mia grinned. “Good though, isn’t it?”

Ellie actually wasn’t sure. “I guess.”

“Nice shampoo, by the way. It smells nice.”

Ellie took a moment to work that out. “You sniffed it?”

Mia shrugged. “I was curious.”

“You were meant to be hurrying.”

“I know.”

Mia was still grinning. Feeling smug this had worked, Ellie assumed, like Ellie was too. Feeling sexy, because they’d got back inside, and snuck around, and made this happen.

And because they were about to have weird furtive secret sex too. Which probably was something else to be smug about.

They were still both just standing there, though. Ellie wasn’t sure why.

“So are we?” Ellie said.

Mia grinned some more. “Yep.”