piece by piece~j.d

~75~

Walking on the driveway of Pat and Chlo's house was a very stressful time for Aubrey who still had no idea what was going on and had only just hung up with her friend when she got to just outside of their house. As she hesitatingly knocked, Pat pulled the door open and motioned for her to come in, hugging her as soon as she did. Straight away she hoped that no one had died, it was a dark thought to have but she had turned up at the house of people that had lost love ones and she felt just as nervous. She was too distracted to remind herself that it was probably because she was just clueless to what was going on.

"We didn't know." Pat said when he let her go from the tight hug that she both enjoyed because he was surprisingly good at hugging, but hated because it made her even more uneasy.

"Huh?" Aubrey asked. "Is everyone okay?"

"No one's dead or injured, so in that sense everyone is doing relatively okay." Pat confirmed and they both turned to look down into the lounge when they heard Chloe's footsteps making their way to the pair that were still right in the entrance. "I'm sure she'll explain it all better then me."

"Hey Aubs." Chloe said as she too hugged her friend tight, this was a bit less out of the ordinary compared to Lippa's hug just because the two girls always hugged in greeting, not like Aubrey and Pat who's hugs never lasted as long. "Come on, I have my laptop set up."

"Okay," Aubrey followed the couples lead as they all sat down on the couch, Aubrey in between them as Chloe rested her macbook on her lap and pulled up an article. "There's going to be a lot to process in here so just...take as much time as you need."

"Thanks?" Aubrey began reading, starting with the headline that already worried her, she knew the media could be cruel and so she took a deep breath to compose herself for what was to come.

~~~

Dunkley's Downfall From Top Dog

It's no secret that the star Western Bulldogs midfielder has been going through what many would describe as a dip in his usual performance, finally being able to string together some consistency on the injury front, not missing a game in the 2021 season, he should have returned to being the 'Josh Dunkley' that the entire football community has grown to admire. Bulldogs supporters and AFL fans alike.

His on field form however, has dropped tremendously and whilst many thought he would come back to the front during the dogs premiership push having been present in their most previous success. The fairytale win of 2016,, this was something that never occurred, nor did the premiership. The loss being something that many people had attributed to Dunkley and his lack of effort on the field. Recently, we have found the core reason for this lack of form.

Aubrey Smith, the older sister of Dunkley's gun midfielder counterpart, Bailey Smith. According to some of our inside sources who wish to remain anonymous, Smith and Dunkley met through her brother almost two years ago and since the beginning had shown signs of a possible romance. One that, not to the surprise of any people close to them, eventuated and lasted throughout the majority of 2020.

A halt to the relationship came on Brownlow night of 2020, where fellow footballer, Wil Powell of the Gold Coast Suns and Smith, were caught by Dunkley himself, rendezvousing at the event where they both knew her boyfriend would be attending. The pair had supposedly also met up a few rounds before when all of the Western Bulldogs partners flew to Queensland to watch a game at Metricon Stadium.

The pair spent months apart from one another, though they reconnected throughout this football season and seemed to jump back into an even stronger relationship. The details of the Aubrey/Wil drama seemingly completely forgotten in the meantime by Dunkley who we can all agree was probably too forgiving.