The tea was exactly what he needed to keep him awake. Not only was it good and hot, but it was strong and sweet, a heady cocktail of caffeine and sugar to stave off heavy eyelids and the inability to concentrate.
All around him people were laughing, smoking and drinking, and even though he felt slightly left out he also felt incredibly proud to be a part of the people who made it all possible. Even with the fact that he was not really able to party there had been some dancing, some chatting with the people that he only saw once a month but still called his friends, and then there was the time he spent watching her.
Across the garden she was chatting to some people he did not recognise, and there was a good chance one of those men might be thinking the same things about her as he was, but then they were actually talking to her. This was not an unusal moment for him, realising that he was failing to confront things with a woman and assuming that there was no point in trying. He took a breath and finished his tea.
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