Grace's Gap Year In Australia

Grace's Gap Year In Australia- Part Twenty Two

When I next woke, it was to the sound of distant voices that were travelling up the stairs. Looking at the bedside clock, I saw that it was almost twelve.

After stretching, I shook Summer awake and we went downstairs to join the many people that we could hear in the kitchen.

To my surprise, Beau was at the grill, bacon sizzling beneath the heat.

“My God, it cooks!” I said, astounded, making everyone turn and see Summer and I padding into the kitchen, still in our dresses from the party.

“And you have make-up smeared all over your face!” he retorted.

“Touché.”

“Bacon?” he asked, grinning and putting a plate down in front of me.

Nodding, I sat down on one of the barstools beside Ari.

“You still look frickin’ gorgeous, even with panda eyes!” Ari stated, exasperated.

“We all look amazing!” I said, quoting Ari from the previous night.

She giggled and nibbled at her toast, which Leon had just slid onto her plate.

“So hangovers mean that the boys cook?” I asked. “We should get hangovers more often.”

“No thank you,” Kai said from opposite me, rubbing his forehead.

“Lightweight?” I asked Leon. He nodded in response; making Kai shoot accusatory glares in his brother’s direction.

“What the fuck is this?” Beau asked, pulling a bloodied rag out of the sink.

Summer and I glanced sideways at each other and shared a knowing smile- the blood was our handiwork on Daniel.

“We don’t know!” we both said simultaneously, sounding innocent.

Suspicious glances came at us from all around the room, but we ignored it and grinned stupidly with pride at our doing.

Beau slipped three pieces of bacon on my plate, which I practically shovelled into my mouth. Turns out that having a slight hangover made me hungry.

The boys were looking at me amusedly.

“What? I’m hungry,” I said through my mouthful of bacon.

“Don’t judge her, guys; she grew up with brother’s,” Summer defended me.

They all rolled their eyes and shovelled down their own bacon that Beau had just served up. Their plates were licked clean within seconds- yes, I mean licked, these boys loved their bacon.

“Thanks for letting us crash here,” Leon said, starting to wash up. Ari slipped her plate into the sink and then wrapped her arms around him from behind. She was so small that the top of her head wasn’t even level with his shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks guys,” she chirped.

“No problem,” I replied. Then, a thought popped into my head. “Hey, girls, can I talk to you for a minute?”

They nodded and followed me into the lounge. It was only then that I realised the house was littered with empty, plastic cups. There were even a couple of t-shirts and odd shoes lying about.

“What’s up?” Ari asked, perching on the sofa arm.

“Rogue. I want us to help her out of the funk she’s in,” I told them.

Both girls looked confused for a moment, Summer especially.

“What funk?” Summer asked.

I let Ari explain Rogue’s background and then announced my idea. “I want to invite her to live with us.”