Meanwhile back in Australia
As I said goodbye to Shane and hung up the phone the tears that had been threatening ever since I got the letter began to fall. Shane hadn't changed one bit and it was breaking my heart. All through high school he'd my hero, my obsession and it had become a reality. But all I had was letters and phone calls full of lies and broken promises. My mum had been right; never expect to change a man unless he's in diapers. It was a fairytale where the wicked witch was victorious, but I was the moron who thought just maybe it would work. What was I thinking? Shane was 12 years my senior and apart from that everything a girl dreams of, athletic with lots of money.
"Jai are you finished… Jai what's wrong?" Mercedes asked poking her head in. Unable to speak I held up the article that I had received in the mail,
"Who sent it to you?" She asked quietly, knowing that it couldn't have been Shane,
"I'm not fully sure but I think it may be someone blonde about 6 ft just screwed over Shane's best friend"
"Adam"
"Well that's what I think" I sighed, as I looked across at my TV that still had the paused news report on screen,
"Are you ok?" She asked which caused me to look up and give her the, 'I just found out my boyfriend was arrested for indecent exposure and the like with another female, while dating me, of course I'm not ok', look.
"Sorry, stupid question. I'll call the others, this sounds like a Cold Rock affair" Cold Rock was my favourite ice cream place in Australia, first you pick the Ice Cream then the mix-ins (lollies and chocolate etc.) then the sauces and they get all mixed together to produce heaven. I smiled at Mercedes slightly; she always knew how to make me feel better.
An hour later the five of us were curled up in our pyjamas in the lounge watching sappy romantic feel good movies that we all hated but watched whenever we were feeling low. Just after 7pm we were watching the end of Titanic, where Rose chucks Jack off the door, and mocking them when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in if your cute" Becca called out,
"And if you've got food" I added, we heard the front door open and footsteps heading into the lounge,
"Good thing I bought Pizza then" A deep voice said causing us to turn around,
"WILL!" Will was my best male friend. We'd been buddies since we started our degree and he would occasionally turn up bringing me and the others free pizza. We loved having someone who worked at Dominos. He smiled and handed out four pizzas each containing our favourite toppings.
"Becca gave me a brief idea of what happened and I knew you'd be indulging in Cold Rock so I bought you some pizza to give you some nutrition" He said with a bit of a laugh, it was a joke that pizza gave us our daily dietary requirements, after all it had everything from the food pyramid we all learnt about in high school.
"You want to stay and watch some movies with us?" I asked from my place on the couch,
"I would love to but I'm technically working" He replied with his brilliant smile before he came over and gave me a hug whispering,
"You look beautiful"
"I look like hell"
"No you look gorgeous like always. Shane was fool and he didn't deserve you," Will had a crush on me, he'd had one since we'd met. However I was happy just being friends and he was willing to settle for the position of my best guy bud. I watched as he turned and headed back for the door, his brown hair still contained patches of black from a botched up dye job, and his slim yet somewhat short frame looked gorgeous in his Dominos uniform.
I was somewhat lucky that I had received the parcel from Adam, once I had gotten home from uni and on a day that I didn't have to work. I was extremely lucky that my 5 best friends in the whole world were there for me. I found myself smiling as the house filled with the smell of pizza and the sound of really bad romance movies. Once Titanic was over we put on Runaway Bride and spent the time screaming at Julia Roberts to runaway. I looked over at my friends, the four of us all in our winter pyjamas, fluffy slippers, covered in our favourite 'blankies' and now stuffing our faces full of pizza. Will knew us so well that he would come a good half an hour (when there was a dominos a couple of minutes away) from where he worked and bring us pizza on any given night at 7pm knowing we hadn't eaten and be able to give us the toppings we loved the most. I had a Bacon Double Cheeseburger with half the mayonnaise, while Becca had vegetarian, Mercedes had the Aussie Bob, Ava had Hawaiian hold the ham and Hayley had the meat lovers.
At 9:30 the movie finished and I forced myself to head up to my room,
"Jai, where are you going we've got a stack more movies to watch" Ava looked up,
"I know but I've got to get up at 5:30, Zeus expects me at the gym at 6." Zeus was my trainer, his name wasn't really Zeus but he looked and acted like the Greek God. Besides he was the owner of Zeus' Gym, a name he had chosen to keep when he'd bought the place,
"We're going jogging, and then training. After that I've got uni then I'm working then I've got a match, then Jase wants me to help with some stocktaking" I explained my reasons for heading to bed early. Hayley followed me to my bedroom knowing that I needed a friend. After going through my usual bedtime ritual and silently praying I picked up my book with the intention of reading for a brief time.
"You ok hun?" Hayley asked sitting at my desk,
"Fine, I think I'll try and get some sleep" I replied putting my unopened book back on the ground,
"I'll stay with you" I gave my best friend a look of complete gratitude and soon fell into a restless sleep determined not to allow the tape to affect me any further.
SHANE'S POV
The second 2am call shouldn't have surprised me but alas it did. At first I struggled to work out who was calling but when my brain finally comprehended the thick Australian accent I realised just who I was talking to. Will, I'd only met him once but his feelings for Jaimie were more than clear. For some reason I listened to him as he droned on and on about Jaimie, how she deserved to be loved and treated with respect. How she was another human being and I treated her like dirt. Then he said something that really caught my attention,
"And one day you'll probably act like you've gotten your act together. You'll rock up on her door step and spout your lines and she'll take you back. She'll drop everything and fall into your arms. Because when her world fell apart you gave her a reason to stay alive, you made her smile again, and she believes in second chances, in third and forth chances. She'll never stop giving you a chance till it kills her. So I suggest you take my advice and don't ever come back. Turn around and walk away, because she deserves better than you, she deserves the sun, the moon and the stars. And all you're giving her is heartache"
"What and you can give her so much better?"
"At least I love her. To you she's just another floozy"
"Listen up kid, don't you dare try and tell me what I feel about someone. You have no idea, so why don't you go running back to your mummy for some milk and cookies" I replied slamming the phone down on the receiver, before rolling over and trying to get to sleep.
For once I was in my own bed, how Will knew that he'd get me here I don't know but I was far from being impressed. When you're on the road, sleeping in hotel after hotel, you have some sort of expectation that fans will hunt you down and heckle you. But when you're at home, you generally expect to get a full night sleep.
After about half an hour of tossing and turning I gave up and decided to go for a ride on my precious Hurri-cycle. I'm somewhat smitten with that bike, sometimes I want to go out and trash it others I don't want to ride it at risk of getting it dirty.
A/N: Ahh, yes my darlings you are seeing correctly, it is I, the mysterious and ever so wonderful Kaz… I haft returnth but alas my faithful and loyal subjects this is only one story. I fear that your hopes may rise and that other frightfully discontinued stories may be filled with my wonderous skill. However dear pheasants thus is the only one that shall cometh out of retirement and be continuthed (ok well I might also work on Love Always). I find it somewhat humorous how when one is so desperately busy, the solitude of a fiction always will distracth them.