piece by piece~j.d

~49~

With the boys going to Adelaide to play against the crows, any plans that Aubrey had of reconnecting with Josh had to be placed momentarily on hold, allowing her extra thinking time on what she wanted to do about the situation.

Aubrey found herself on a planning day with her co worker Ebony who taught the other year 5 class that they had at the school, finding themselves working a lot together to collaborate and stay on the same page. Though Ebony and Aubrey weren't necessarily close they had a certain bond much like many people had with their colleagues, you wouldn't be friends with them outside of the job but as you are forced to work together you get close and they tend to find out large amounts of information about your life because, easier to tell people who don't know everyone else then telling someone who will run their mouths.

"How's your brother doing?" Ebony asked when they both placed their papers down to take a break from the intense planning they had been doing. "Is he all good, no injuries?"

"He's okay, his achilleas are always bad but it's not annoying him at the moment. He had to change his shoe brand from Nike to Asics because of his issues." Aubrey said. "They're going interstate this week, should hopefully get a win."

"Hope so, although as far as I'm concerned as long as the demons are winning then I'm happy." Ebony chuckled. "This whole planning thing is exhausting, I'm ready to have a sleep."

"Amen to that, I still have to have dinner with my parents tonight. Finally since Baz isn't home I can actually enjoy it." Aubrey joked and they both laughed. "Should we go for coffee before we have to get back into this planning thing."

"I think we should." With that the two girls got up and decided on a cafe that they had both visited before, only a five minute walk from the school so it would be easy enough to get to.

Maria's cafe was a cute store on the corner of two streets, it was relatively busy for a weekday but there were three tables outside and seeing as both of the young teachers were wrapped up warm, they decided to take the seat outside.

"What do you think you're going to get?" Ebony asked as she looked at the menu unsurely.

"Probably a brekky burrito, they're always good from here. You?"

"I'll get the same then, not too sure what I really want and I'll be here deciding forever if I don't just pick that now." Ebony laughed and Aubrey nodded in understanding.

After the pair had ordered they sat back down in their seats and once again started up the conversation of their year 5's when someone interrupted.

"Aubrey Smith?" Aubrey turned around slightly confused and grimaced when she saw who it was. "I thought it looked like you from behind, why're you looking at me like you hate me?"

"I don't hate you Lara, I'm just confused. You're meant to hate me right?" Aubrey said, once again she found herself in a position where she was unsure where she stood with someone. The last time that they had spoken was the morning after the brownlow when Aubrey was trying to figure out what had happened and that wasn't necessarily a positive interaction.

"What happened between you two stays between you two, I was pissed off for a while but what's the point in me living in the past when really it doesn't have much to do with me." Lara shrugged and pointed at a spare seat. "Mind if I sit?"

"Please do," Aubrey replied after sharing a look with Ebony to see if she was okay with the new addition. "Lara this is the girl that I work with Ebony, Eb this is my ex boyfriends sister, Lara."

"That's all I am to you?" Lara acted offended. "We're friends as well, don't let her fool you into thinking that's all we had going for us."

"Of course not." Ebony laughed. "Is this Josh that we're talking about when we say ex?"