Ada walked into the garden with Jaxson in tow. She took a seat on the decking. He tentatively sat down next to her.
"What did Brax say to you?" She asked, avoiding eye contact.
Jaxson shook his head. "Nothing."
"Did he threaten you?"
"No."
Ada took a breath. "I shouldn't have accused you. We said we were mates and I should've trusted that."
Jaxson looked at the floor. "Do you still not trust me?"
Ada didn't answer.
Jaxson shook his head in annoyance.
Ada snapped her head towards him. "Jaxson, you're still the jerk that picked a fight with Casey on our first day here and called us trash!"
Jaxson scoffed. "And what, Ada?! Are you still the same person you were back then?"
She frowned at him and he watched as her mind raced.
"No." He grumbled. "I didn't think so."
Her gaze flicked up at him.
His eyes locked on to hers. "You make no sense, you know that?!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped.
"Your brothers are criminals. Drug dealers. Kidnappers. Murderers-"
"-Careful, Jaxson." She warned.
"-But you forgive them so easily." He gulped and lowered his voice. "Why is it that I'm the only one you don't believe has a good side... as well as a bad one?"
Ada stared at him, dumbfounded. She caught her breath and looked away.
Jaxson stood to his feet and turned to leave.
Ada whipped around. "Jaxson, wait."
He stopped.
She stood up and fiddled with her fingers. "I don't know. I don't know why. I'm trying to figure a lot out at the moment. It's not easy, okay?"
He looked at her plainly. "That's what mates are for. That is, if you don't push them away." He said, then turned and left.
Ada watched him leave, longing after him. She sunk back onto the decking.
Ada sat at a table in Angelo's staring furiously at an open textbook. She scribbled violently onto a pad of paper. She let out a grunt before launching her pen across the room.
Kyle and Heath looked up from the behind the bar as the pen pinged off a chair and rolled along the floor. They shared a concerned glance.
Ada folded her arms on the table and laid her head down with a huff.
Heath moved around the bar and retrieved the pen from the floor. He waded over to Ada.
Kyle smiled apologetically at a nearby table.
"Oi." Heath called. "Generally, when people eat they like to do it without objects flying at their head."
Heath slapped the pen onto Ada's table.
She glanced up. "Sorry." She said pathetically.
Heath tapped the book. "Aren't you meant to be the smart one? What's wrong with you?"
She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. "I'm behind on the work I was set for my suspension and I go back tomorrow."
Heath pulled up a chair and sat down. "Did you fix things with that Jaxson bloke?"
