piece by piece~j.d

~16~

Bailey stood by the fence as he signed a few items and took a whole bunch of photos with some of the fans who had gathered to watch the team train before their last game before the bye. He found himself greeting people the same way as more and more people came to his area and asked for phots and signatures, not that he really minded. It was still a surreal feeling that people actually looked up to him, yet he loved it all the same and it quickly became one of his favourite parts of footy.

"Hey ugly." His sisters voice stopped him from saying his usual 'hey, how are you?'. "Can we please get a picture?"

"Do we have to?" Bailey questioned ignoring the sarcastic tone that she was using with him. "I thought you said you weren't going to get in the way."

"Josh is right next to you, I want a photo." Aubrey chuckled and Bailey rolled his eyes but nodded his head and moved away. "Hey Joshua."

"Aubrey?" Josh laughed as he hugged the girl over the fence. "You didn't tell me you were going to be here."

"I made plans with Bailey for later on, thought it might make your day just a little bit better if I surprised you while I was at it."

"Day equals made." Josh confirmed and placed a kiss to the girls forehead. "Thank you. I think that you should come to the game if you're up for it."

"Sounds good to me, I'll be the one cheering from the stands. I would wear your jersey but I think it's more acceptable if I wear a dress if I'm sitting where I think I am." Aubrey smiled, it had been a long time since she had actually dressed up the way that she used to when her family went to Hawthorn games when they were younger.

"I'll be the one wearing the number five and getting at least thirty disposals." Josh laughed before he waved his hand in goodbye and moved on.

"Well I didn't expect you to be here. Did you forget my number or something?" A voice interrupted Aubrey's thoughts, she looked over at Marcus and grimaced realising that she hadn't called him or even texted him in quite some time. "Mmm now you feel guilty."

"I was busy?" Aubrey said though she heard herself how unsure she sounded. "I'm sorry Bonti."

"I was just messing around, hey kind of like you're messing around with my best friend." Marcus said in feigned surprise.

"I'm not messing around with him, I actually really like him for your information and he's not your best friend I am."

"I think you'd have to fight over that, there are a lot of people begging to be best friends with the Marcus Bontempelli."

"Sure there is, can you just take me to where Baz might be so that we can get ready to go?" Aubrey questioned and Marcus hummed in agreement leading her to where a bunch of the players had converged post training and signing session.

~~~

Bailey and Aubrey found themselves sitting side by side at a park bench with a few snacks between them, both of them adorned matching Western Bulldogs hoodies though Baileys was his own and Aubrey's was the one that she had acquired whilst on her date with his team mate. They were sitting in a comfortable silence, no words needing to be exchanged between the pair as they just knew that sometimes words were left unsaid.

"If you start dating Josh do you think that we'll drift?" Bailey spoke up out of the blue, he had been eating a muesli bar and contemplating how to ask the question without Aubrey getting defensive.

"I don't see why we would, is something on your mind?"

"I guess, it's just that we're at that age where we should both move out soon enough and we won't be living together and before we know it everything will have all changed so much and you'll have a family and maybe soon enough I will to. I just don't want to lose what we have because yeah we'll always be siblings but I also want to just be your friend." Bailey found himself ranting before he could hold it all in. These worries had played on the boys mind even before his sister went to Ireland but he hadn't wanted to rain on her parade at the time, now he thought they could manage a civilised and calm conversation about it without her getting upset that he was being selfish and dramatic. They had both changed a lot in the last year, Bailey noted that Aubrey's selfishness had diminished quite rapidly.  

"I'm always going to be here Bailey, you're my baby brother whether you like it or not and at this point I don't have anything to prioritise over you. I don't want to either, when I do move out I will drive to visit you even if it's at three am. I promise." Aubrey stated and stuck out her pinky finger as an offering which the younger of the siblings gladly agreed to, locking his pinky gently with hers.  

"Good, I just don't want to lose you."

"And you never will, I love you Bailey."

"Love you too Aubs."

~~~

"All I'm saying is you'd feel a lot better if you wrote everything out." Aubrey shrugged her shoulder as she lay half off the bed, her head almost on the ground as her phone was on the ground with Josh's face on the facetime call.

"Isn't keeping a diary a bit childish?" Josh questioned scrunching up his nose in a way that Aubrey found both adorable and offensive.

"Actually it reduces anxiety, improves memory and all of that good stuff. I think it could help calm your nerves to write everything down. I've had like a proper one since year ten to keep my thought and worries in, the beauty is no one ever has to read it." Aubrey explained and Josh nodded his head.

"I spose I'll give it ago for like a week and see how it goes, do you think it'll work?"

"All I'm hearing is that you're overwhelmed with everything going on and I know that when I feel like that I let it all out, just a suggestion."

"I'll do it if you're still coming to the game."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

does anyone else kind of feel bad for adelaide but at the same time kind of...doesn't
that thing about drifting from a sibling is how i feel about my brothers so✌️