piece by piece~j.d

~59~

"I'm so excited for food." Aubrey groaned dramatically as she sat down in the Busy Bean Cafe, with Chloe, Mila, Logan, Lola, Kim, Georgie and Ebony all sat down at the same table, a waitress with brunette curly hair bringing them a menu and then walking off after ensuring she would be back soon to take their order.

"Me too, I'm starving as hell. The food was good last time as well." Chloe agreed, already caught up in the menu trying to decide what she would get. "What are we all thinking?"

"Haven't even picked mine up yet." Ebony said laughing at how eager both of her friends were. "I'm thinking a salad or something, don't want to get bloated."

"I say go for it, eat a whole parma and embrace it, who gives a fuck what our body looks like. We're all fucking gorgeous anyway." Logan said, she used to care what she looked like but began to feel more confident after having Lola and saw how beautiful her body could be after doing such a beautiful thing.

"I'm thinking a coffee." Mila said. "Marra and I had a big breakfast this morning and I don't think I could stomach anymore food at the moment."

"Ice cream!" Lola exclaimed happily, she clapped her hands and looked up at Logan. "Please."

"Fine, but you can't go and ask daddy tonight just so you can have more. You'll have had enough today." Logan bent down to place a kiss to her head. "Georgie, you want some too?" The little girl nodded her head as well and her and Lola turned to interact with one another in their broken speech and babble sort of way.

"Can I start you all off with some drinks?" The waitress returned, a smile on her face as she served her customers trying to do well. All of the girls ordered for themselves. "I'll be right back with those."

"I've never been here before, its cosy." Kim commented as she took in the surroundings of the building. "Better then the cafe I went to last time where I didn't even get my meal in the end."

"We came here last time," Chloe said and smiled. "That was like last year and it feels like it was five years ago, and we're still all here together."

"Well we lost one and gained a couple," Logan corrected but laughed anyway. "I'm glad we're all still here as well, you guys better not be planning on any time soon."

"Everything feels a bit too happy at the moment." Aubrey joked at the calm that had been set for a while. "Fingers crossed it stays that way huh?"

"I just hope that my life doesn't go into chaos, I'll bet on it being one of you." Chloe said.

"Gee thanks Chlo, much love." Ebony said and they all broke into other conversations as they waited for both their drinks and then food to arrive. Spending the afternoon together before they would head back to the hotel to get ready.

~~~

The girls this game were all sat together, sometimes they were spread out in their little groups but they had organised early on to all sit together, there was always a lot of conversation when they reunited and it wasn't possible for anyone to be left out with all of the pockets of conversation.

"Top four finish coming up." Lou said cheering as she. shook her scarf around in her excitement. "Love it."

"They deserve it honestly." Aubrey nodded feeling just as excited as she accepted a drink from Chloe who was sat on the other side of her. "We do love to see it."

"That we do." Chloe took a sip of her drink. "I so hope we beat their asses, although it won't be good for Pat's ego which is massive."

"You're so mean to him." Lou laughed, knowing very well that Pat took great joy in scaring Chloe at every opportunity he got. "To be fair though, it'd help them all in that regard."

"Enough talk of the boys, actually do we know who copped an invite to the brownlow this year?" Chloe asked figuring someone must know something as they would need the rest of the time before the event to prepare.

"Dunks, Baz, Bonti, Macca and AdsI think." Lou responded, she had been given the warning to start dress shopping and the likes so that she wasn't unprepared. "That mean you got the invite Aubs?"

"Yeah I believe so, Josh has mentioned it a bit. Don't know what I want to do with my dress this year."

"You'll look great either way, I wonder which boys Bont and Baz will take this time." Chloe spoke. "Maybe if I begged enough I'd get to go."

"I'm sure Pat would love it if you showed up on someone else's arm and have everyone think that you guys are dating." Logan laughed as she turned around from her seat that was in front of the other three previously part of the conversation.

"He could suck it up, I want to look like a princess in a dress." Chloe frowned. "Mind you I do love looking at all of the dresses and not having the pressure of possibly being voted the worst dress."

"2018 I got a lot of mixed reviews, mind you I loved my dress so I didn't really care." Logan said as she thought back to just how long that train was.

"I always fly under the radar, if you don't do anything crazy then you can't really be voted best or worse." Lou added her two cents in. "Just some advice for when you do get to go."

"Noted." Chloe said right before they all turned their attention onto the boys as they ran out onto the ground, all singing along as the bulldogs song came through the speakers and a large number of other spectators also joined in. "Go boys!"

The game was as predicted for the boys, though it wasn't necessarily an easy win it was one that eventuated in the end and would be sure to raise some confidence and hopefully calm some nerves on the way into the finals.

"I'm so proud of you." Aubrey smiled as she finally found Josh at the entrance of the hotel as all of the girls agreed to go back and wait for all of the boys to finish up with their meetings and little bit of recovery, and hugged him as tight as ever. "You played awesome as usual." She added, kissing his cheek as he grinned.

"Thanks for coming up, I know it's not always the best time when you're in the middle of a school year." Josh said, they were standing off to one side, immersed only in their own conversation.

"You know I'd drop it all just to watch you tear it up on the footy field." Aubrey said as she moved a strand of Josh's hair away from his forehead as it stuck their from the sweat that had mostly dried.

"Well my thanks still stand, it means a lot to me."

"Stop being gross and come inside before one of you gets sick." Bailey spoke as he pulled Aubrey away from Josh and he led her to the inside, Josh trailing behind them. "Are you proud of me as well?"

"Of course I am Baz, I watched you since you were a kid running around having no idea what the hell he was meant to be doing and now you're playing like you just did. It's insane." Aubrey pulled her brother in for a hug this time. "I feel like we're being too nice to each other lately."

"You could always throw a playstation at my face like you did when we were younger if you really want." Bailey suggested making Aubrey laugh and pretend to consider it.

"Clearly no one thinks it effected your looks at all, but if you're offering I might take you up on it."

"I better take you to bed before someone gets killed." Josh smiled, this time pulling Aubrey away from Bailey.

"Wrap it before you tap it!" Bailey called as they walked away.

yes, i did once throw a playstation at my brother when i was like 5 and his mouth started bleeding

also watching max king play hurts me for two reasons, one because like there's so many shits that he should be getting but also because he looks so disappointed when he missed and i feel so bad for how sad he looks