I've always loved you.

Chapter 2

There was nothing like a winter morning in Melbourne. The smell of sweet pancakes drifted through the air. All I wanted to do was stay in this warm bed and do nothing else. I noticed Jai wasn’t next to me nor was Luke on the top bunk. The only way to find out where they were was to follow the trace of the smell.

“Morning everyone!” “Finally you’re up so we can eat!” Beau dived for the pancakes and began eating before I even entered the kitchen properly. The four seated table had strawberries, blueberries, honey, maple syrup and warm milk covering it. Everything seemed so irresistible. Mum never had time to cook like this while we were living up in the U.K. “It looks great Gina!” “Thanks sweet. Sit down already!”

All the seats on the table were filled by Luke, Beau, Gina and I. “Where’s Jai at?” “Out for a run. He’ll be back soon though.” Luke finished the sentence with a cheeky giggle. Something told me he heard some of last night’s discussion. He left me no choice. I just had to do what I had to do. “HEY! THAT HURT! When did you learn to kick like that? Fucking hell.” “Luke! Manners at the table.” Gina helped me fix him up.

The screen door screeched open and in came a sweaty Jai. The way he looked in that plain dark grey top attracted me to him even more. “Hey guys, I’ll just take a shower.” “Bet you’d like to go join him hey Ree?” Luke mumbled chuckling again. I gave him another kick. “What was that Luke?” “Oh nothing just have your shower. You stink like horse fart.”

I was on my way to grab my load so Luke could walk me home but I bumped into Jai on the way. His hair was wet and all over the place just like Harry Styles’. It was so adorable. “Can I talk to you Rina?” He led me to Beau’s room which still had Essendon posters hanging up on the door. I could tell he was nervous again like he was last night. I still don’t understand why he would be over me.

“You know what we spoke about last night? Well I was thinking maybe you’d…” His eyes were looking down so he held one of my hands in his and looked at it to stay calm. Still staring at our hands, “Maybe you’d like to tag along with me to the movies? I mean you don’t have to. I just thought it would be nice. It’s all good if you don’t want to though. Or we could do something else. Only if you want to. Yeh.” I felt the need to laugh a little which had Jai worried. “I don’t know why you act so nervous around me. But I maybe I’d like to, I don’t know, go to the movies with you. I don’t know, it would be fun. Only if you want me to?” I giggled at myself for mocking Jai who seemed so relieved at the expression of these words. “I’ll pick you up at 6pm tomorrow night, ok?” “Yep! See you tomorrow then?” “See you.” Jai leant in for a warm hug which I didn’t want to separate from.

“You and my twinsy, ay!” I playfully punched Luke in the arm. The poor kid has been my punching bag all day. “Don’t forget you’re also my best friend so you need to help me prepare for tomorrow night.” We spent the rest of the day shopping and remade my room to how it was. I loved Luke for this. He wasn’t bothered by my choices, he just enjoyed my company and having a laugh. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jai all day.