Living With Boys

sixteen // do him yourself

When we rounded the oval, the group we found was a strange mish-mash of different worlds. Half of my roommates were nowhere to be seen, and Jameson was leaning against the fence with Lena Montez and a blonde girl with a little button nose and a friendly smile.

The game hadn't started yet–the two teams were on the field, warming up with a few practice drills before the siren announced the beginning of play–but Lena and the blonde were truly being treated to their own show; Jameson's one-man flirt-fest. Based solely on the predatory smirk on his face, I could tell he was hitting on both of them incorrigibly. And based on their shared glances, I could tell that they found his efforts adorable, amusing and completely ineffective.

"Hi!" I called out when I was closer. The three of them looked up, identical smiles of greeting on their faces. Except for Jameson's, which held its standard edge of flirtatiousness.

"Hey, gorgeous," Jameson said, momentarily taking his attention off Lena and her friend to greet Zar and me with a hug.

"Oh, hi, Isabelle!" said Lena from behind him. She waved. "So lovely to see you."

"Hey, soon-to-be boss," I said. "This is my friend Zara, she's down from Sydney."

"And this is my friend Daria," she said, gesturing to the short, pretty girl at her side. "She went to high school with me and Jonah."

"He's mentioned you," I told her, exchanging perfunctory greeting hugs with both of them, and noting the faint flush of pleased colour that rose on Daria's cheeks when she realised she had been spoken about. She was adorable.

"How come you guys are here?" I asked, scanning the field for the rest of my roommates. "Is Jonah around?"

"He's gone with Seb to buy us some food and coffee," said Daria.

"And Jameson offered to stay back to entertain us." Lena patted the aforementioned on the shoulder. "How kind of him, right?"

Jameson placed a hand over his chest. "It was no hardship, believe me."

"Oh, I do," Zara said.

Daria looked at my empty hands with a frown. "Are you hungry, by the way? I can call Jonah and ask him to pick up something extra? What would you like?"

"I'm fine, Zar and I just ate."

She offered a thumbs up. "If you get hungry, please let me know. I'm getting chips, but there should be plenty to share."

Of course she was the girl of the thoughtful duck-themed gifts. It was nice to finally put a face to the name of Jonah's friend, especially since I was on my mission to become tight with him.

"Daria is Jace's best friend," Lena explained. "We've come out to support."

I spotted Jace on the field then—he could also rock a pair of footy shorts, fucking hell—sneaking quick glances in our direction between each drill. He smirked then, when he caught Lena's gaze, and she just rolled her eyes before offering him an encouraging thumbs up.

What an odd exchange. I looked between them, Lena's exasperated fondness and Jace's pleased expression when her eyes were on him. "It's great you guys have managed to stay friends after the break up."

Lena looked away from Jace and frowned. "What break up?"

"The... when I came in for the interview? And you said you guys broke up?"

Lena's face cleared. "Oh. Right. Yes, well, when I woke up that morning, I realised he took the last night's leftover Pad Thai with him to work. And I was still considering whether I wanted to eat it for my lunch."