Jess walked nonchalantly down the sidewalk with her drunken friend. Jules had just a tad too much alcohol so they had left the bar earlier than they intended and Jess was almost carrying her friend back the two blocks to their apartment.

"Did you see the look on that guy's face when you said you were taken?" Jules said through chortled laughs.

"Yes Jules it was very funny", Jess said as she nearly tripped over herself, the street lights didn't do much justice on the pathway and Jess was losing her balance in these heels.

"it was hilarious!" Jules said as she leant on her smaller friend.

Jess brightened up when she saw their apartment block just ahead of them, she saw some of the girls from their opponent team walking away from the building and was curious to know what they were doing here. That's when she heard it, the continuous beeping of a fire alarm. She looked up to her apartment window and saw bright orange flames engulf the inside of the apartment, she stopped dead in her tracks. Had those girls set her apartment on fire? How had they even known where she lived? Maybe it wasn't them, she put the thought aside when she heard a fire engine blaring it's siren and speeding past them.

She dragged Jules across the street and went to go talk to the firemen. Jules hadn't realised what was going on yet, she was too drunk to see the reality of the situation. For all Jess cared or knew Jules just saw bright orange lights coming from the building.

It didn't take long for the fire crew to put out the fire and for the police to arrive to start investigating the arson. Jess told them not to bother asking Jules until tomorrow afternoon as she had no idea what was going on.

"So, tell me what you saw before you realised your apartment was on fire", the officer asked Jess.

"Well, we were walking back from a club and we saw some girls that we are supposed to be playing against in a footba- I mean soccer match in a few days were walking away from the building", Jess explained.

"Do you think they may be the ones who set your apartment on fire?"

"Possibly I mean, we met their coach in the club and we found out that the people in their team aren't necessarily what you would label as generally nice people."

"Okay, thank you."

Jess nodded in response and walked off before sitting down on the curb. She took her phone out of her purse and called Joe, considering it to be the wisest thing to do, he was probably coaching the girls team right now. It rang twice before he answered and Jess was relieved to talk to him.

"Hey Jess, what's up? It must be like past midnight where you are?" Joe asked, Jess only just realised how late it was, they left the club at about eleven but Joe was right it was past midnight, they had spent over two hours putting out the fire and asking questions, Jules had fallen asleep on the grass.

"Well, um, our apartment kind of burnt to a crisp", Jess explained hoping not to worry him too much.

"Are you alright?" He asked concernedly.

"Yeah I'm fine, Jules and I weren't inside when it happened, we were out clubbing", Jess explained, "Thank goodness for insurance hey?"

"Yeah", Joe agreed, "Have you got a place to stay?"

"I think we could figure something out, if I can wake up Jules", She said with a smile, "She passed out in the yard about half an hour ago."

"Do you want me to tell your family?"

"No Joe, if they find out they'll drag me back to England no questions asked and you know what happens if they do that, my wedding gets sped up, I'd be married within the next two months, we're trying to delay it remember to find a way around it."

"Good point, I have to go now, the girls are starting to wonder why I'm taking so long, I'll call you back later okay?"

"Yeah sure, by, Love you," and with that Jess ended the call and sighed, she didn't want to wake Jules because she would probably already be developing a hangover but they had to find somewhere to stay.

She decided to grab her friends' phone and go through her contacts, calling the ones that she thought might let them stay a few nights. She had called maybe twenty people but each one of them grilled her for waking them up at this time of morning and hung up before Jess had time to explain what was going on. She looked over at her sleeping friend and sighed.

"I need to teach you how to make real friends, the kind that would let you stay at their place if yours burnt down."

She realised that there was one contact she hadn't called yet, it was their mutual friend James. She tapped on his name and the phone started ringing, she hoped that he would answer and let them stay. It rang once, twice, three, three times before he finally answered.

"Hello?" He asked with a groggy voice.

"Um, James it's Jess", She said, biting her lip.

"What's wrong?" He asked when he picked up her worried tone, Jess was tired now and just wanted to rest in her own bed, that's when she realised that it no longer existed, she wanted to cry but she wouldn't let herself.

"Um, Jules and I, our apartment kind of got set on fire by somebody while we were out and we really need a place to stay for a while", Jess told him, holding her breath for his answer.

"Well, it's fine if you come and stay at my place, I can come and pick you up if you want", He offered, sounding more awake now.

"That'd be great, thank you so much James", Jess said with a smile.

"No worries, I'll be there in twenty minutes", He said and they simultaneously hung up.

Jess went over and woke up Jules. She seemed startled at first to realise that she had fallen asleep on the grass but Jess quickly explained the situation and Jules started crying, that's when James finally arrived to pick them up.