I grinned with pleasure. 'Yes, I do,' I said instantly. It didn't even seem to be a decision.

'You're not going to think about it?' she said, smiling her own satisfaction back at me, but the traces of concern still in her eyes.

'No, I don't need to,' I said, covering her hand with my own. I'd just agreed to move in with a woman I'd only known for a couple of weeks and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. This time last month I'd never have suspected it was possible. But the woman in question was Aly, who had captivated and freed me all at once, who I knew I had fallen in love with. Fuck, did I say love? Even as I thought it, I knew it was true.

'It's all been very quick to be moving in together,' she said, and I understood her caution. Just because I'd thrown mine to the wind, it didn't mean it would be so simple for her.

'Does that worry you?' I enquired, hoping that if it did, there would be something I could say to alleviate those concerns. She looked contemplative for a moment.

'No, actually,' she said, and I was pleased she sounded certain. T wouldn't have suggested it unless I was sure, but you know, I don't want you to rush into anything that you'll regret. You've had a lot to cope with lately' A ghost of a memory flickered across her face. I knew without asking that she'd been hurt before, had been in a situation that she was now reminded of. She didn't want to risk pushing me too hard, and I was grateful, but my overwhelming urge was to reassure her. Whatever had happened to her before, I was convinced it had no bearing on what we shared between us. I hoped she felt the same.

'I don't feel like I'm rushing into anything,' I assured her. 'It seems right,' I added, squeezing her hand. She smiled. I was about to say something to express my excitement at the prospect of living with her, when I realized there was still a hesitancy in her expression, as she drew a deep breath.

'And I thought,' she said, her tone still suggesting I might hate whatever idea it was that she'd had, 'well I'm going to need some help with admin and everything, if the studio takes off. And an assistant, when it comes to that. I was going to ask anyway, but now you haven't got a job to go to...'

'You want to be my boss?' I asked, laughing. I already knew I loved the idea of working with her, helping her reach her goals, artistic as well as commercial. I was instantaneously excited at the prospect.

'Yeah, though there'll obviously have to be a tough application and interview process,' she retorted, amusement in her tone, before her expression became serious once more. 'But for real, what do you say?'

'I say yes. You didn't think I'd say no, did you? Yes, absolutely. It's fucking fantastic!' I wasn't usually quite so enthusiastic about anything and blushed as I concluded. It was the thought of living with Aly, working with her, but it was also the thrill of knowing I had found what was right for me, at this moment. So it was hardly putting my history degree to good use. I didn't care. I needed a break from history anyway. I couldn't believe how well the pieces of my life were falling into place. That had never happened to me before, I'd just stumbled from one thing to another, feeling lost in the dark. Now things just seemed to come together. It should have been too good to be true. For just a moment I wondered if it was. Then I looked at her again, as we sat on our bench in the sunshine, and cast away the last of my doubts.

'We'll run it as a joint business,' she said, quite seriously, as if she had noticed my moment of concern, 'legally and everything, if you want.' I just grinned back at her stupidly, entirely incapable of words that would convey everything I wanted to. Who'd have thought I'd ever be so happy I was lost for words? Certainly not me. 'But we can talk about that later,' she said, discerning from my smile that I really didn't need to talk business. I trusted her and I just wanted to revel in the excitement for a while. She laughed and then looked at me as though she was making a decision about something. 'Right now, come with me,' she said. 'There's something I want us to do.'

'What?' I demanded.

'Just come with me,' she said with an inscrutable smile, pulling my hand as we rose together from the bench.

♦

'You can say no if you want to,' she said, as we sat on stools next to each other in a small ethnic jewelry shop, where I could see she'd bought her customary bangles and pendants from.

'A bit late now,' I smiled at her. T said yes didn't I?'

The man who prepared something at a small table to the side of us was tall and dark skinned. He had a bar through his nose and his ears were more metal than flesh, weighed down and misshapen by the weight. I looked at Aly and giggled, partly with nerves, slightly with the joy of the rebellion. For fuck's sake, it was hardly rebellion. But I felt like a born-again teenager and it seemed that way. Clearly it was infectious, for a moment later she was giggling with me.

'Right, who's first?' he said, coming to stand between us and smiling, with lips pierced in three places, at our laughter.

'Her,' Aly volunteered me. 'Then she can't back out.'

'Oh thanks for that,' I retorted. 'I'm not that scared!'

'I know you too well, babe, you're terrified,' she replied with eyes full of mirth. I grinned, but her words resonated with me. She did know me that well, already. I'd never had that level of understanding and interest in me before.

'You'll just have to hold my hand then,' I told her. The man laughed. Aly took my hand, as he swabbed my ear with cold alcohol, just above the single piercing I'd had for years. I clutched at her as he brought the gun up and squeezed it with a snap to push the stud through my skin.

'Ow!' I said, grinning all the same.

'Don't be a baby,' Aly joked, as the man reloaded his gun, and went to swab her ear. She already had two holes in each ear, so hers would be a little higher than mine. She didn't even flinch as he shot the stud, which made a pair with my own, through her ear.

'Don't forget to bathe them,' he told us, giving us each a leaflet on aftercare of piercings. Aly paid him and we left the shop.

'Does this mean we're committed then?' I asked her outside, putting my hand to my hot, vaguely throbbing ear. I suppose mutual piercings were hardly the most usual sign of commitment between lovers, but I recognized how much I wanted to attach that significance to what we had just done.

'Well, kind of,' she said, and I sensed again that her caution came only from not wanting to risk too much too soon, rather than from any reluctance to be faithful to me. Her eyes gave me a more reassuring answer than her non-committal words. Then she smiled a wicked smile, 'Plus I thought it'd be fun.'

'Fun?' I returned, with mock incredulity.

'Have you never heard how close pleasure and pain are?' She grinned.

'Hmmm.' I raised my eyebrows. She knew she'd left me with very little to say, and now she looked mischievous. Fuck, she was sexy with that look in her eye. I wanted to grab her hand and run to somewhere we could be alone.

'I'll teach you, babe,' she assured me.

'I'm sure you will, honey.' We giggled together. It was so easy to laugh with her. We started to stroll down the street, hands still linked.

'But, if you ask me, it does mean we're joined,' she said more seriously. 'I'm not saying it's going to last forever. It might not. You know I believe in living for now, not the past and not the future.'

‘I know. I'm just learning how to do that,' I said, 'but with you I can do it like I never did before.'

'Whatever happens, we'll always have a connection now,' she added. I knew she was referring to our pierced ears, but between us there was a deeper understanding that I had to voice.

'We have a connection anyway,' I said, looking into those deep, dark eyes and feeling how strongly I was drawn to her all over again. 'You're my truth.'

She stopped and kissed me in the middle of the street.