Saving Lotte Sullivan | Collingwood/Carlton

40 - What the Words Meant

The girl woke up with a fright as she heard a loud smashing and crashing noise, followed by a bang that made the apartment shake.

Lotte rolled onto her back as she sighed. She'd really hoped to catch up with her missing two days of sleep. Apparently Jack Ginnivan was not going to let that happen.

Wait...Jack Ginnivan?

Lotte groaned as she stood up and lazily stepped into her boots. She was beyond exhausted, and had enough of it.

'Callum? Tyler? Are you the ones causing all this noise?' She asked, as no reply came. She sighed as she returned to her apartment to get the spare key. She'd promised Jack she'd keep an eye out if anything happened.

Unlocking the door, she stepped in to find half of Jack's belongings strewn across the floor. Okay, that was definitely normal. He was unable to keep anything clean, and if asked to, he'd break down and cry about it like a 5 year old. Lotte shuttered at the thought.

'Maybe something just fell on its own' she decided, looking around to see a framed photo of Jack and Trent smashed on the floor. That had been in his bedroom, she was so sure of it.

'Ashlyn?' Lotte quietly asked, as she found the girl on her knees, rummaging through Jack's wardrobe for something. 'Ashlyn, what are you-'

Evident the girl's selective hearing had come into play, Lotte ran up and tapped her best friend on the shoulder as Ashlyn screamed and turned around, with pepper spray in her hand. Lotte quickly ducked and covered her eyes.

'Oh, it's just you' Ashlyn said flatly, as she put the canister away.

'What the - what the hell are you doing? And since when do you carry weapons?' Lotte exclaimed, as she snatched the pepper spray out of Ashlyn's pocket. 'And this is mine!' She added.

'Jack wrote something down for me, for the money for my surgery. I need it. Urgently' she said, looking past Lotte with a faraway glance.

'But you can't have surgery right now?' Lotte asked, as Ashlyn shrugged. 'Yes I can' she said, very quickly.

'On your face?' Lotte asked disbelievingly, as Ashlyn sighed. 'Just let it go' she begged.

'How can I let this go? You're ransacking my next door neighbour's apartment for insurance papers, for a surgery you technically can't have' Lotte said, folding her arms.

'Have you heard from Josh? Have they landed yet? I have to call Ginnivan since he's incapable of making anything easy' Ashlyn said angrily, as she stormed out of the room. Lotte shook her head. She knew exactly where the papers were. Anything important or of value that Jack didn't want to misplace, Lotte was asked to hold on to.

'Don't annoy Jack, please. He's been through absolute hell this week' Lotte said, sounding kind of guilty as Ashlyn stepped over Jack's discarded clothes and sat on the couch. The picked up a dark pair of sunglasses as she glared at them.

'Aren't you going to clean up the mess you've made? Or is Cinderella expected to do it for you?' Lotte asked, already knowing the answer as she stepped around the couch and looked down at the girl.

'I'm just - I'm more interested in why Jack thinks these servo sunnies are a look. They're awful, really. Nick brought a pair once and I threw them out straight away' Ashlyn said, trying to distract Lotte as she put the glasses on. Lotte shook her head. 'This isn't our apartment, we should go. But after you clean that mess up' She said firmly.

'You're right, we should go' Ashlyn said, as she stood up and left the apartment anyway. Lotte sighed. 'And I guess it's up to Cinderella again' she said, rolling her eyes as she returned to the wardrobe.