piece by piece~j.d

~73~

As the boys were getting together, the girls had decided to do the same. A way to be there for each other after in a sense they lost as well, and to offer one another advice in case any of them were struggling, something that Aubrey and Josh already were.

"Josh is staying at our place tonight or so I hear." Kim said as soon as she saw Aubrey, she wasn't angry or anything but her words were stern as if she wanted a very true and honest answer. Ebony was standing by her side, very interested in the conversation, seeming as if she just wanted to be able to help her friend by knowing what was going on so that she could give some advice.

"Yeah, we had a small disagreement, you can just look after him for a night and I'm sure we'll have it figured out by tomorrow morning." Aubrey smiled at them both, trying to assure them that everything was okay.

"Okay." Kim gave up on the topic quickly and instead moved to talk to Chloe who was quickly necking her wine in the corner, clearly feeling the stress and emotions. They were all pretty emotionally charged still.

"What happened girl, I want to make sure you're okay." Ebony said, wrapping her arms around Aubrey and dragging her to a seat so that they could talk. "Tell me everything."

"He's just so angry and I get it, trust me I do but I hate getting yelled at when I feel like I haven't done anything wrong." Aubrey said. "He just isn't understanding that I want to help and I feel like I'm not doing anything right when he treats me like that."

"Just give him a minute, its okay. You guys will both figure it out." Ebony reassured the girl, squeezing her super tight in a hug trying to calm her down a little bit.

"I just don't understand why this is all happening, this is hard enough. There's just so much going on and now we can't even talk about anything," Aubrey groaned. "I don't know how to do this Eb."

"Just keep doing what you're doing, you are doing okay and you guys are strong. It's okay to feel like this from time to time and it's also okay to have a little bit of space when you need it as well." Eb said.

"Hold on, my phones ringing. Thank you though, I'll come back in a minute." Aubrey said as Bailey's name popped up on her screen and she walked outside of the restaurant that they had met up at. "Hey Baz."

"Hey Aubs, are you okay?" Baz asked, he sounded worried, when usually he would be casually throwing the question around or asking after just pissing her off.

"Yeah, I feel like I should be asking you that question not the other way around."

"Josh was talking about you guys having a fight and what it was about so I thought I better check how you're feeling because I know you'll already be upset about what happened."

"I'm okay, thanks for calling me though. We'll just have a night apart and just figure everything out tomorrow." Aubrey said, hoping that he wouldn't be too worried. "Josh is having lunch with his family tomorrow, maybe after I'm done at school we can have late lunch or even dinner together."

"Sounds like a plan, we can have that lunch with mum and dad and then go on a walk or something." Bailey suggested. "Also if you want me to beat the fuck out of Dunks, you know I won't take any chances if he hurt you."

"I don't want you to beat him up but thank you." Aubrey said. "You go and try enjoy yourself with the boys, see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

"Sorry about that." Aubrey said as she got back in side and sat back beside Ebony who was scrolling through Instagram, it was odd for her seeing as she wasn't a partner of any of the boys but was a very good friend, she did sometimes feel as if she was out of the loop at times. "Who're you stalking?"

"No one." Ebony hid her phone quickly, her cheeks a bright red though she knew that she had been caught and that Aubrey wouldn't give up on her. "You better not tell anyone at all."

"I won't, you can trust me I promise." Aubrey and Ebony locked fingers as Ebony turned her phone around and showed the photos of Caleb that lit up her screen. "This is so embarrassing."

"Not embarrassing, but you know that he is currently almost official with Indy." Aubrey said, she didn't want to set her friend up for any failures or heart break because it just isn't worth it.

"I know, but you could put in a good word for me." Ebony smiled, Aubrey furrowed her eyebrows, looking as confused as she really felt.

"No thanks, if they weren't starting anything I might but probably not." Aubrey tried to chuckle her confusion away and it worked pretty well, they drifted into conversations with other people that were there, for the first time in a few days being without constant murmuring about the games that had occurred, were about to occur or anything of the like.

"How good is this, with all of my favourites." Mila said as she dramatically fell on top of Aubrey and got comfortable sitting there. "Especially you of course."

"Love you too Mils, how's Marra?" Aubrey asked and Mila shrugged, he was the kind of person who lived and breathed footy so it was hard for him to process, he hadn't yet found the balance of life and footy which was vital for the mental wellbeing.

"We barely slept last night because he was still so high on adrenaline, I need a really decent nap." Mila said, her eyes drooping though she was forcing herself to steadily keep them open.

"Is it bad that I didn't stay up?" Aubrey asked, immediately thinking that she was doing a lot wrong, her mind filling with thoughts that she didn't need there.

"Of course not, stop stressing yourself out girl. I'm not like you, you have work tomorrow and you have to be well rested to deal with kids. I don't really have that much of a hands on job and every relationship is different, you can't judge yours on mine," Mila advised.

"You are the constant voice of reason that is able to keep me absolutely sane. Without you I'd be a mess Mils, I owe you one."

"You owe me multiple, but I owe you just as much. So don't worry about any of that." Mila replied. "Speaking of school, should I take you home now seeing as Dunks is an ass and won't be picking you up?"

"If you wouldn't mind, that would be great." Aubrey agreed and they both began the rounds of the room to say goodbye to everyone, which of course ended up taking at least half an hour as everyone seemed to have something to say to both girls.

~~~

"Hey." Baz greeted Aubrey as soon as she walked in the door, he had seemed to be waiting for her by the door. "How was your day?"

"Good, school was interesting. Some of those kids are mental I tell you, I love them regardless of course." Aubrey pointed out as they both sat down on the couch. "You?"

"Good, Lippa, laith and I all went out to get some breakfast and started planning some sort of getaway, or continued planning of course." He said, "have you spoken to Dunks yet?"

"No, I think we might need some space or whatever. It's okay though, I know that he must be going through a whole range of emotions." Aubrey shrugged.

"Don't you dare let yourself get walked all over, make him pay for leaving the way he did if it makes you upset. Aubrey Smith will not be a doormat."

"Very kind words, thank you." Aubrey laughed. "I promise I won't though, what he did wasn't great but I get it and if he does stay away for too long I won't be as nice to him as I want to be now."

"I'm holding you to that and I will remind you of that everyday if I need to." Bailey promised not only her but himself. "Dad would be disappointed if I didn't."

"I've no idea what you are talking about but I agree." Aubrey and Baz laughed at their dad who carried a cheese platter into the room. "Mum said to eat this as an entrée of sorts."

"Good idea." Bailey laughed and quickly cut some cheese to add to his cracker. "Thanks dad."

"Of course, it's just good to see both of my kids here spending some good time with us. I love to see it." Aubrey and Bailey both laughed as they spent the afternoon talking shit and forgetting all other worries.

saints v pies...can we do it?