Who We Were

Three

Cinnamon. Sweet Cinnamon. The entire house smelled like the inside of a bakery. I climbed out slowly, anticipating the pain I was normally left with, groaning as I stretched, deep breathing as I grabbed my water bottle and phone from the table and tried to make it down stairs before anyone else smelt it. I wanted first picks on Dana's treats. Especially before Kai.

There was always going to be huge pros and cons to living in such a packed out house. It had taken some getting used to, I'll be honest. Me and Blake were put together in halls when we first started uni. From there, we made friends with the girls across the hall; Dana, Drew and Lennox and the 5 of us spent all of freshers bouncing between each other's rooms. Joel was out of place, forming his own little friendship group with his new football friends. Until we started hanging around with the 3 boys. Then, all of a sudden, Joel didn't feel so outnumbered. We moved in together, all 9 of us, in second year. My parents and Joel's putting money together to buy a house that would fit us all in, redoing the basement to add 3 extra rooms down there. Us girls pretty much had the top floor to ourselves. Joel had the converted dining room and the other boys had the basement.

It worked perfectly when I was recovering from the accident. Always having people around. We were almost all taking the same courses too so when we restarted our second year in September, we tried to grab all the same class times. It didn't quite work. Administration clocked on and split us up a little but that meant it was very rare I was ever alone. Great for having company, bad for my dating life. Very bad.

I rubbed my eyes in the kitchen doorway, Joel quietly watching Dana cover the pastries in icing as he sipped on his morning coffee. He had been crushing hard on Dana for months but she was still recovering from a rough break up. He was biding his time though. I'd seen him be patient for a girl he really liked before. This was Joel all over.

"Morning." They both looked at me quickly, Joel's hand pointing to my pill box on the island. Not even a hello.

"Take em."

"Can I eat first? I feel sick if I don't." He rolled his eyes, still not looking at me, just watching Dana.

"Here." Delicately placing one on a little plate, she used the palm of her hands to slide it across the unit. "Might be hot. Be careful."

"I thought you had a class this morning with the others?"

"Cancelled. Jonathan had an appointment this morning. Got an email Friday."

"Eat. Take your tablets." Joel took my water bottle, walking past Dana, his hand brushing along the small of her back as he did and I'm going to pretend I didn't notice how her lips tugged ever so slightly. I'm not saying they'd be great together. I don't know what either of them are like in terms of dating. Joel was an amazing best friend. No one could deny that. Ever. We were like brother and sister at this point, closer than close. I'd spent more than 80% of my life with him. But not for even a second had I seen him as anything more than a friend. A lot of people said we were cute and I could honestly throw up every time someone says that. It's disgusting. Not a chance in hell.

I bite into the food, staring at him as I chewed slowly, just to piss him off. I had places to be, papers to write, boys to gawk at. Busy schedule. But I was not going to give him the benefit of watching me take my pills immediately after being instructed to do so.

"Aria."

"I'm eating."

"You're taking the piss." Dana chuckled, sitting down in his spot before he could.

"She's eat Joel. Let the girl eat."

"I've got shit to do. I can't stand here and wait Ari."

"Then go."

"No."

"I'll watch her take her tablets Joe. Don't worry about it."

"I'm a big girl guys. I can take my tablets. I'm in enough pain to know I need them." He crossed his arms. "No more than normal, no I'm not going to the doctors, they said it's just one of those things now." Blue eyes continued to stare into mine. I pulled off some food, putting it in my mouth without breaking it, just raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'll call your mother."

"Oh, pulling that card out are we? I'll call yours."

"And tell her what exactly? I was making you take your meds?"

"Hm. How about I tell her about your little secret stash in your room at home." White as a ghost. "Or who was actually in your room when you were saying it was me and I'd argued with my dad?"

"Oh, I could pull the same shit Aria."

"Mhm. What about the dent in your dad's car?" He's cocky smile finally dropped, Dana's giggle causing him to break his stare for just a second. "Oh D. Did he tell you how he did that?"

"No."

"Aria."

"So, picture this."

"ARIA."

"It's 1am right? He'd snook out his bedroom because he got grounded for failing a mock."

"ARIA CLARKE I SWEAR TO GOD."

"When he's coming back on his skateboard, it hits the curb wrong and he face plants- AHHH!" I jumped out of my chair, ducking away from him as he tried to shut me up. "He face planted his dad's bumper. He had a bruise on his face for days." I was not in the right health to be playing this game but he was too fucking easy to piss off and I'd cope with the pain to know I'd succeeded. "Told everyone at school he got in a fight and knocked the guy out, told his dad someone threatened me, blamed the bumper on the milkman."

Dana was cackling at me by the time I grabbed my pill box as a defence, panting heavily as I struggled to catch my breath.

"I'm gonna take my meds now because that really fucking hurt." His jaw clenched, looking at Dana and immediately calming down, blush covering his cheeks. "Thought as much." I nudged him, whispering quietly so only he'd hear me. "You're welcome."

"Shut up Cow bag. Pills."