piece by piece~j.d

~76~

"Josh?" Aubrey said both relieved that he picked up but worried about the conversation that they would now be sharing, she was still sitting in the living room and both Chloe and Pat were there just in case anything happened. Moral support. "Are you okay?"

"I'm so confused. How did any of this get out and why the fuck do the media think that they have the right to write about anything going on in my life." Josh was livid though he was doing his best to not make it seem as if he was angry at Aubrey, because if there was anyone that he was most worried for it was her over himself or anyone else that could be affected, she was as she often was, his top priority.

"I don't know, someone must have said something. I can only narrow it down to like three people through," Aubrey said with her head resting in her hands. "Where are you at the moment?"

"Sitting in my car in the car park of the shopping centre. What about you?" He asked.

"I'm at Chloe and Pat's house, they told me about all of it. Would you be able to stop by and we can talk it all over. I'm not sure I can drive at the moment because I'm a bit mentally unstable." Aubrey half joked.

"I'm on my way, just keep yourself busy while you wait. And Aubrey, I love you and nothing they said is true. Other people might be blinded by what they read but we know the truth." Josh spoke and Aubrey smiled, hearing him say that just made her feel so much better knowing that even after everything that they had gone through the love that had been prevalent at the start was still there just as strong.

"What's got you smiling like that?" Chloe asked shaking Aubrey's shoulder. "Did Joshy say something cuteeee."

"I hate you so much." Aubrey rolled her eyes but fell back into Chloe's arms and let her hug her. "I know it wasn't you that said anything but do you know if any of the girls did?"

"I wish I did so I could beat their ass..." Pat and I both shared a look knowing that Chloe wouldn't hurt anyone, not physically at least. "Okay fine, I'd get Pat to do it for the both of us."

"We're going to help you figure it out." Pat promised. "Is Josh on his way?"

"Sure is." Aubrey smiled. Pat nodded and went to make some things to eat whilst Chloe stayed with Aubrey distracting her from thinking too much.

~~~

"Hey," Josh spoke softly as he practically picked Aubrey up from the couch and hugged her close, revelling in the feeling of having her in his arms, he had placed a bouquet of flowers that he had bought for her on the table in front of the couch that they were now on. "Promise me you're okay."

"I am, I just don't know who I'm meant to not be trusting. Who would be angry at me and for what reason?" Aubrey admitted. "The media will be absolutely shitting on you and your name, are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Josh chuckled a little bit. "Thanks." He turned to Pat when he placed some cut up fruit on a platter on the coffee table beside the flowers.

"Can we have a moment?" Aubrey asked, laughing at how quick Pat was to pull Chloe away, they all knew she would eavesdrop at any given opportunity. "We'll call you back down soon, love you."

"Love you too!" Chloe called back and a few doors were shut before Aubrey turned back to Josh and grabbed his hands. He looked at her and by the seriousness on her face, he knew what they were about to talk about.

"We don't have to do this right now. We can talk about you first." Josh muttered as he looked away, he wasn't often shy around Aubrey, hadn't been for a long time at least.

"Josh." Aubrey paused for a second to find the right words, though she believed that words would never be right only fitting for the emotion of the moment. This would be a rant that she'd probably be rescripting for years to come and rethinking constantly on how she could have made it better. "I know it's not fair to say that you have to stop for me because I want you to stop for you, but I need you here and if you don't have anything that makes you want to stop. Please keep fighting for me and then one day it'll all be for you. I can't lose you." She was trying her best to not cry but thinking of the mere thought of losing probably the most important person in her life was painful.

"It happened once, I swear, I don't want to do this. Everything was really hard at the time and I was feeling really overwhelmed, I had heard that it felt good for someone people." Josh admitted, he wiped away some of her tears. "Footy was stressful and I didn't want to annoy you when I was seeing how upset you were when none of the tests were going the way you wanted them to go."

"Maybe we're just not ready," Aubrey said. "We can just wait a little longer and whenever it happens it'll happen but I don't think either of us can sustain this amount of stress. We're not losing a family or the idea of family when we have each other."

"For now I think we can just focus on us." Josh agreed, moving to kiss Aubrey's forehead, she reached down to his arms and took a deep breath when she saw the lines. "It's not your fault, I didn't talk to you when I know I could have."

"Promise me you'll talk to me next time."

"I promise."

"What are you going to do about the whole rumours about your form and being traded?" Aubrey swiftly changed the subject when things were becoming to much on the old topic.

"Maybe I'll have an interview or I'll just post something to Instagram. I'm sure enough people will see it." Josh shrugged. "I just care more about being with you."

"Have you by any chance spoken to Bailey?" Aubrey asked, knowing that he was mentioned and she had turned her phone off when she reached Chloe and Pat's house as well as just after she rang Josh.

"Yeah, he was worried about you but not about himself and once I assured him that I'm okay he says that it'll be fine. Don't worry about his image or even mine, whoever leaked some of this stuff is ruining your reputation and you can't afford it." Josh said, rubbing comforting circles on the hand of Aubrey that he was holding.

"Regardless, we have to find who the fuck would put everything about us like that. Things could have been so much worse, but I don't want to feel like I can't talk to any of my friends because I don't trust them." Aubrey groaned.

"How about we go and get Pat and Chloe so that we can all talk about who we think it could be. We can call the one that we think is the most likely to have done it first and somehow work it all back from there." Josh suggested.

"It's the best idea we have at the moment so count me in."

how good was that saints v lions game😍