RANDOM QUESTION:

Full Circle (Singing Our Emotions Out).

I slumped down on the couch in the living room, disappointed in the way my conversation with Xavier had just gone.
"Hey," said Leo as he sat down beside me too and put an arm around my shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"Nope," I said as I heaved a sigh.

The rest of the group soon came down and sat with us on the adjoining sofas too.

"Okay, you have had her to yourself for five years now Leo," said Jerko as he came and sat on my other side and pulled me towards his chest. "Her time is ours now," he said with a smirk.

Leo chuckled at that and raised his hands in a placating gesture. "She's all yours. Ver has annoyed me enough these past five years to last me a life time."

My mouth hung open in shock at that as I hit him on the chest. "RUDE!"

"What have you been up to all this time, V?" Jamie asked.

"I work as an accountant in one of these leading firms in London," I told him proudly.

"So how did you give your final exams from there?" Sky asked me.

"I had a little help," I told her vaguely, not wanting to disclose that as yet.

"That's really specific," Kells said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

I frowned at that. I definitely needed to talk to her in private soon and apologise.

"You must've been really surprised after you found out that Jen and Austin have a kid, right?" Roy asked.

"No, not really," I said as I shook my head.

"She has seen every video that Jen has sent to her at least thrice. That's exactly why she finally relented into coming here after she saw Jen get all emotional about her not attending the wedding," answered Leo for me. "We're all caught up on all your lives."

"So those videos actually reached you?!" Austin asked, shocked.

"Of course they did," I replied. "Why wouldn't they?"

"You never replied, SpongeBob. Not once. It was a safe assumption on our part."

"Uh, excuse me," said Jen sassily as she put an arm on her waist. "Your part. I knew my best friend enough to know that she would somehow find a way to stay connected."

"Then why didn't you ever reply?" Jerko asked me with a pout.

"Replying meant giving Roy an easy access to help you guys track down where I was, Jerko."

"Were we such crappy friends that you didn't feel like getting in touch with us at all?" Kelsi asked me dejectedly.

"You know its more complicated than that, Kells," I told her softly.

"It always is, isn't it?" she said as she shook her head.

Conversation continued amongst everyone else as Leo suddenly got a phone call.
"I'll be right be right back," he said to me as he got up to receive his call. Within no time, Simon had taken the seat next to me.

"Finally I get to speak to you," he huffed.

I let out a small laugh at that and said, "You've been travelling too, haven't you?"

"Yup! Italy, Brazil, Australia, Africa.....I've been travelling all over the world."

"Why did you leave, Si?" I asked him straight up. "They needed you here."

"After you left, V, things changed around here," he started off with a sigh. "Sky and Jamie got totally detached for a while there, Jen was solely focussed on getting Austin to be okay and Roy and Kells devoted all their time in fixing Xav. You broke him, Ver. You really did."