"I live in the flat upstairs. I'm just here to show my face, really," John said apologetically. Sarah had decided to strike up a conversation to ease the awkwardness she'd felt since arriving at her colleague's party, and John's confession instantly lifted her mood. "I work with Leanne. She's really nice, and I'm sure she invited me along to help me build my confidence. As you may have noticed, I often stumble over my wor...

"I don't think I'll bother buying a lottery ticket this week. A month with no more than a cupful of rain, then it buckets down on my first proper day off," Josie said as she left the private gardens and spotted Tom, whom she knew lived directly opposite the entrance. Tom had been returning home from a trip to the post box when the heavens opened, though he saw that the unexpected downpour had caused Josie more problems th...

Walking along the canal towpath was Richard's way of reconnecting with his past. He'd lived on the opposite side of the city for over a decade, yet the row of houseboats looked exactly as he remembered them. He'd chosen to wander after visiting his old landlord, and his head was full of the stories they'd swapped. Though Richard was deep in thought, the sound of a scream from one of the boats immediately caught his attent...

"I prefer something to have a soul rather than just be a means of demonstrating how clever technology is," Fran told Jamie. Fran owned the convenience store that Jamie visited regularly, and whenever Jamie dropped by, they chatted easily. She knew Jamie enjoyed writing as a hobby and hoped he would appreciate her support for traditional forms of creativity. "I'm happy for technology to help me with proofreading and to avo...

Mike wasn't prone to panic, but his evening wasn't exactly going to plan. Karen's invitation to visit her had come as a surprise to him when they had spoken over the phone an hour earlier, but her offer to have some fun beyond the cheeky banter they usually shared had raised an unforeseen issue. Karen didn't usually leave her door unlocked and open to the outside world, but as Mike only lived a few minutes' walk away, it...

"I've never followed the crowd," Jenny joked as she and Matt stood on the otherwise empty platform, while the masses headed into town for a night out from the opposite platform. Matt laughed at Jenny's comment, realising her words were almost certainly true. He had intended to travel home after visiting a bookshop, but he ended up chatting with Jenny, the owner, until closing time. "Look at what I'm saving you from," Jenn...

The sound of Emily and John's laughter turned the heads of many within earshot, but they didn't mind. Three years had passed since they had last spoken regularly whenever their paths crossed, although their lives had taken very different directions since then. As they wallowed in nostalgia, Emily and John remembered the afternoon they had spent together and how they had enjoyed it for what it was, a fun-filled opportunity...

Lucy smiled at Ian's message. They had met a few hours earlier after Ian had lost his phone, and she had offered to help him look for it. She had also exchanged numbers with him so he could let her know if the matter had been resolved. When Ian told Lucy he had no idea which of the many benches in the square he had been sitting on because of his memory issues, it struck a chord with Lucy, whose own poor memory had caused...

"Are you OK?" Sarah asked. John had been sent crashing to the concrete floor by an impatient commuter, and hearing those words brought his momentarily confused thoughts back to reality. Sarah had decided to check on the stricken victim rather than chase after the selfish perpetrator, though she did so hoping someone else had apprehended them. John's palms stung a little after he had broken his fall, though he was relieved...

"So, there I was, locked in a dungeon. When they pushed me inside, they closed the cell door and secured it with a huge slide bolt that was pink and shaped like a three-foot-long cock. I was surprised to find I had company, but even more so when the man I was locked away with explained everything. He told me we could only escape if we generated enough erotic energy to slide the bolt open from the other side of the door. M...

"I let my imagination run free quite often. Night shifts can be hours of nothing, with short bursts of controlled chaos in between," Naomi said as she and Henry chatted while waiting for the bakery to open. Henry's early-morning walks meant he had seen Naomi on her way home from her night shifts before, and his question about her downtime reminded Naomi exactly how her imagination had filled the quiet hours the previous n...

"It's my 'sauce-on-your-dinner' theory," Greg said to Liz with a smile. Liz laughed at Greg's comment, even though the conversation had already provided plenty of humour. "You might enjoy only a few dishes, but as long as you can add something to make them appetising, you can still look forward to a little of what you fancy without getting bored," Greg explained. "Is your cupboard full of magical flavours to add to your l...

"You're a bit overdressed, aren't you?" When Alan turned around to find the owner of the voice he'd heard, he was glad he had. Maria had helped him resolve an issue with his phone the previous day at the shop opposite his home. She had explained everything patiently and in a helpful, friendly manner, leaving Alan feeling less embarrassed about his shortcomings than he sometimes did. "Along with my ability to break technol...

"Miss Walters of 21 Park Road?" Brian asked as the door opened. Sharon was indeed Miss Walters, although it took Brian's explanation that he'd come to drop off some misdirected mail before she decided to confirm it. "If I were a betting woman, I'd stake my flat on you living at 21 Park Road South, and on you being called Brian. I always pop your letters back into the post box after writing 'South' in red when I get them,"...

As introductions went, it was unusual, to say the least, though a week after Tessa had moved into the upper flat, her and Keith's paths finally crossed. "We meet at last," Tessa said with a smile, though she noticed that Keith seemed distracted as he introduced himself. Keith did his best to appear casual as Tessa smiled at him, though the very tight T-shirt she wore, bearing the message 'Very Naughty Tessa- Horny When Ho...