The school day had been taken up by homecoming preparations. The game was going to take place over the weekend, and a pep rally was being held in the afternoon that day.

Again, some of her classes had been cancelled but she didn't seem to mind as much as before. There was something infectious in the air and Natalia couldn't help but get excited, the kids were rubbing off on her.

The only thing that was ruining the vibe was the weather. It had been raining something awful the last couple of days. Now, Natalia was a Londoner and she was no stranger to a little rain but she missed the sun.

Whilst the rest of the teachers had huddled into the gym again, for the rally. Porsha and Natalia snuck off into town to get their hair done.

Natalia couldn't believe she had already been in Texas more than a month, and she hadn't been to a hairdresser.

Back when she lived in the Middle East, having a wash and blow dry, facial and mani-pedi was a Friday ritual. When she had moved back to London, that had all ended, for one on her London paycheck she couldn't rationalise the expense and the time, but she still made sure she did at least one of those things fortnightly.

Porsha got a new frontal installed, and Natalia got her curly hair, washed, conditioned and straightened. She always felt like a different person when her hair was straight, she didn't do it often - having gone natural a few years back after years of abuse at the hands of her GHDs.

Now she avoided heat as much as possible and would rather die than apply any chemicals to her hair. It took time but she grew to love her curls and learnt how to take care of them and she was rewarded with a big mane of healthy and buoyant curls.

"This is the best idea you've ever had." Natalia sighed happily.

"Bitch, I only ever have good ideas," Porsha snarked back.

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm being forced to go to a high school dance!" Natalia complained remembering why she was getting her hair done in the first place.

"What about me? I volunteered to keep your ass out of jail, you owe me."

"That Agnes, I swear if she's in my face the whole night again, I will send her back to Scotland with a Glasgow kiss."

"You into some queer shit, I didn't know about?" Porsha raised an eyebrow from where she was sitting, careful not to move her head. The hairdresser had already told them both off numerous times for moving and ruining their work.

"No, you'd be the first person I'd tell..." Natalia batted her eyelashes.

She knew Porsha wasn't into her type at all. They had already discussed that. "A Glasgow kiss is a headbutt."

Both the girl styling Porsha's hair and Porsha paused to take a look at her with barely concealed surprise.

"Damn bitch, I didn't know y'all 'excuse me guvna' people got down like that," Porsha said. "You think you know someone..." she joked, making all of them plus the ladies working on their hair laugh.

"What are we gonna do about this rain?" Natalia asked and before she could finish her sentence, the hairdresser was fixing a bag over her head. Natalia laughed in glee. She loved this place.

Dressing up to a go to a Homecoming dance had Natalia feeling like a 30 year old in a high school romantic-comedy, as she smoothed down her dress in the full length mirror in her hallway. She felt a little silly and she felt like she was making too much of an effort, but she'd rather dress up than be underdressed. Plus Porsha had reassured her that they were 'extra' in the South, so she wouldn't be out of place.

Earlier that week, Natalia had been asked to chaperone the Homecoming dance. Gabe volunteered too and then had asked her to go with him. It was incredibly sweet and she didn't deny that a big part of her wanted to impress him. While he had seen her on many different occasions, he'd never seen her fully dressed up.

She was a little nervous but excited, he had explained that their duties would be to supervise the hormone-ridden little adults through the night, sneak in some dancing of their own and, and get buzzed on the secret teacher's supply of alcohol. It sounded more interesting than any other high school event she had been to, including her own end of year-11 formal many moons ago.

Her formerly curly hair, hung down in smooth waves down her back with a side parting. She had done her makeup, after watching a dozen YouTube tutorials and settling on a soft glam look. Smoky eyes, subtle false lashes and her pouty lips outlined in a nude taupe coloured lipstick and liner; finished with a clear lip gloss.

She dressed in a midi length bodycon dress with long sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. Lima has designed it when she had wanted to practice on fuller figures and it had become a staple in her collections, in many different colours and fabrics. The cut and construction of the dress skimmed Natalia's insecurities and highlighted her favourite parts of her body.

The neckline showed off her long neck, the subtle ruching on the sides emphasised her rounded hips and capacious behind. Satisfied, Natalia put on gold hoops for earrings. You could take the girl out of North London but you couldn't take North London out of a girl.

She texted Gabe to let him know she was done getting dressed and waited for him by her porch swing. He came out of his front door moments later.

She hadn't seen him in a couple of days, they'd been in touch via text but it wasn't the same. Nothing beat seeing him in the flesh and her heart somersaulted in her chest several times, at the sight of him.

He was dressed in a crisp white shirt, with no tie, the collar undone, black slim cut trousers and shiny shoes. He looked devilishly handsome, his hair had been coerced into a style that made her weak at the knees with some gel and the scruff on his face had been reduced to a designer stubble.

He took her in slowly, taking his time, his green eyes full of appreciation. "I think you should give me a twirl," he said finally, a smile in his voice.

"Yeah?" Natalia said slowly twisting on the spot so he could see her entire body, somewhere in their interactions she had forgotten to feel self-conscious. He simultaneously made her feel like the only and the most beautiful woman in the world. It was kind of scary how much of an effect he had on her.

"Mmm, I don't want to share you with those horn-dogs. Should we blow this altogether?"

"No, Gabe!" Natalia hit him on the arm but laughed in amusement despite herself.

"What? You look beautiful and I have no trouble admitting that I'm a selfish bastard."

"Keep talking and you might persuade me." Natalia smiled coyly at him through thick lashes.

"And if I do this..." He pulled her close, until not even a subatomic particle could pass between them and pressed his lips to hers.

If Natalia closed her eyes, she could maybe hear a chorus of angels, sing in relief, that's what waiting days for him to kiss her had felt like.

Her eyes fluttered open, "I - Umm...what was the question?" She asked, entirely flustered.

"Shoot, I can't remember either," Gabe told her, pulling her back in for another, deeper kiss that told her he'd missed her as much as she had missed him. Maybe it was true what they said about absences and fondness but she wasn't that keen on proving it true.

"We better go," he sighed regretfully, taking her hand as she descended down the porch steps towards his truck.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look?" Gabe said as they pulled into the school parking lot.

Natalia's face was in flames again, but that perma-grin she always wore around him made its way to her face.

"You may have mentioned it once or twice..."

"Well it bears repeating. You look beautiful tonight."

"Thank you." Was the only response she could manage. The intensity of his gaze made her mouth dry.

Gabe cleared his throat. "Natalia, I — "

" — There you are! I've been the only one here for ages."

That voice.

Never had she hated someone's accent, and cadence of speech so much before. It was the aural equivalent of being doused with a bucket of cold water. Natalia was seething.

"Hey, Agnes," Gabe said politely, which only served to stoke Natalia's anger. His hand was on the small of her back, radiating heat, it was kind of grounding and electrifying at the same time. He was right, they should have skipped this event all together.

As usual, Agnes ignored Natalia completely, focusing all her attention on Gabe, chattering mindlessly, she walked on Gabe's other side as they made their way towards the converted auditorium for the dance.

Porsha walked in minutes after them. It was kind of empty except for the usual early bird students, with the supervising teachers dotted around.

"Yes! You ate this look," Porsha exclaimed when she got a closer look at her.

Natalia shimmied in place, pulling off a subtle twerk as she moved in a circle, to Porsha's excited hollering. From across the hall, she could make out Gabe's watchful stare, a little heated and a little amused. This could be a fun evening, maybe, Natalia decided.

"Can you believe I caught these idiots spiking the punch?" Porsha said interrupting, Natalia showing a group of senior girls a dance move from her youth.

"Oh really, I thought that only happened in films?"

"Oh, it happens," Porsha grabbed her by the elbow steering her away from the crowd. "And I confiscated it." She wiggled a bottle of vodka back and forth with an evil grin.

"You're so bad." Natalia admonished with no conviction whatsoever.

"And you love me for it."

"Let me grab Gabe and we can get this party started."

Natalia walked over to the corner she had last seen Gabe, deep in conversation with Ella who had arrived to crown the Homecoming King and Queen. He was nowhere to be seen, Natalia looked around the hall quickly before deciding to visit the ladies' room.

She quickly took care of relieving herself and touched up her lip gloss, making sure that her makeup was still intact and left.

She heard some voices in the hallway. Her curiosity got the best of her and she went to investigate.

What she saw made her stomach turn. She dropped the lip gloss and her phone in shock.

Both solid items landed with a loud noise that reverberated off the linoleum flooring and echoed off the empty walls.

It got the attention of the duo standing in the middle. One was shocked and the other stood still, her face impassive.

"Natalia!"

Natalia grabbed her dropped items and as quickly as her heels would allow her, left.

Swift footsteps were following her, rounding on her heels. Why was she running? She wasn't the guilty party. She stopped and walked slower. She was sure it was him - Gabe, following her.

"What's going on between you and Agnes?" Natalia asked as soon as she had rounded the corner, and no else was within earshot.

"Natalia — "

"Don't!" She took in a shuddered breath, walking unsteadily in her high heels into the cold, night air. She fiddled with her earrings and ran her hands through her hair frustration painted on her face.

"Natalia, where is this coming from?"

Natalia laughed shrilly. "No, you don't get to do that." She pointed her black clutch at him. "You don't get to gaslight me and make me look like the fool."

"Natalia, just stop and listen to me, for a second," Gabe said exasperated.

"You have one minute."

"Okay, okay." He drew in a deep breath. "She kissed me. I had nothing to do with it. I have no interest in her - hell, I can barely understand her."

Natalia stared at him, her face unreadable. So he continued. "I guess she has a little crush on me, she's been emailing me, finding excuses to talk to me. But nothing physical. Today, was the only time it got physical," he swallowed nervously, willing her to believe him.

"And you couldn't tell her, you're not interested, is that not a thing?"

"I just didn't want things to get awkward. We work together," Gabe said and the excuse sounded thin even to him.

"Well congratulations, it just got awkward."

Natalia went inside the building, back to the dance where she knew Gabe couldn't speak to again without making it obvious that there was a problem and making a scene in front of the kids.

The fun evening that they had planned, became an exercise in self-control and anger management. Natalia wanted nothing more than to have a few choice words with Agnes maybe throw some hands if the spirit moved her but she knew she couldn't play into the Angry Black Woman trope.

She let it go and when the evening was over, she got an Uber home, avoiding looking over across the road to Gabe's house, where his truck was already parked.