TWO

"Dude, I can't even sleep with headphones on! Are you taking the piss!"

Jared Abbott groaned loudly as his tall and muscled body shot up from the sofa within the apartment of his best friends sister, dark circles evident underneath his eyes, the purple hue making him look as if he had been punched.

He hadn't, he was just lucky if he could get four hours of sleep a night, though some times he would only get one or two.

It could be worse, of course, he knew that.

If Nanda had not taken him in, then he would've ended up on the streets, sleeping rough, but all he wanted was to reach six hours of sleep.

Just once.

"Jared, mate, it's the FA Cup final!"

Angada Mohan responded to his best friend as he and his friends were watching the football match, screaming and cheering whenever the players were getting near to the goal.

He knew that he could've watched it with the boys at his apartment, but Nanda's place was bigger... and it meant that he could steal her food instead of using his own.

He saved himself a lot of money by doing so.

"Fuck you guys!" Jared argued back, his pillow moving to cover his face, hoping to suffocate himself in order to end his suffering.

"Love you too, dude!"

Curtis Shaw cheered as he watched the football game, because whilst he was not a football fan, he always joined them whenever they would watch the matches together.

He didn't know the rules, any of the teams or the players so he just tended the scream the letters of the alphabet.

He just wanted to be with his friends, he liked it when they included him with things, like this.

Jared Abbott slowly removed the pillow from his face as he felt a small tapping on his foot, causing him to sit his body upright, seeing the only woman in the room staring at him.

She motioned her head to follow him, with the Australian not hesitating even for a second, following her all the way until they were standing in her bedroom.

"There's an eye mask on the bedside table. You won't hear them as much in here."

Nanda Mohan smiled at the man that she had as her housemate because whilst she had never done this before and let a man sleep in her bed, she knew that he needed it.

"Are you sure, Nands? I'm sure that I can just murder them to keep them quiet." Jared responded with a small smile upon his face, a warm fuzzy feeling within his heart at her offer.

"Nah, leave that to me. I've got a migraine already from them." Nanda laughed lightly. "Sleep for as long as you need. You'll know when they're gone, because I'll set some fireworks off to celebrate."

"I like the sound of that."

The duo fistbumped lightly before Nanda left the Abbott man to sleep, knowing that he needed it.

She struggled in a one bedroom apartment and she did feel bad that Jared only had the sofa to sleep on, half tempted to see if she could find a similar apartment though with an extra bedroom so that he could have his own place to sleep.

It would just mean that she would have to work slightly harder with more hours in order for that happen, but for Jared, she would do it.

"OW!"

Angada released a shout of pain as his head was yanked backwards, his sister having a tight grip on the curls on his head, slapping desperately at her arms to force her to release him.

"Next time, you can watch the football at your own place." The Mohan woman stared down at her older brother, her eyes narrowing in to a glare of sorts. "Curtis can stay, though. I actually like him."

"Rude."

Timothy and Ricky Parrish spoke simultaneously, their eyes rolling in to the back of their heads, small smirks on their lips.

Curtis' face lit up in to a bright smile, fistbumping the air, making sure that his other friends did not notice.

"His place is cramped, though! I don't like Sardines, I don't want to become one!"

Lachlan Gaines responded in a small whine, his face filling with what Nanda easily described as disgust, his eyes seeming desperate to be allowed to come to her home.

"Tough shit. Should've thought about that before you started screaming like a Fox on a Ferris Wheel." Nanda rolled her eyes, flipping the group of men off before stepping backwards in order to walk to the kitchen, since her stomach had begun to rumble.

"She's just jealous that she isn't like us." Timothy chuckled lightly, a bright grin on his face.

"Oh yeah, because there's nothing better than being divorced, heavily in debt, and that lonely that you would associate with my brother." The Indian woman responded with ease, the words flying off her tongue naturally, amusement yet annoyance being held within her eyes.

"She loves me, really." Timothy laughed, patting the shoulder of the young man beside him before ruffling his hair.

"Just as much as your ex-wife loves you right now." The Mohan girl flipped the Australian man off, knowing exactly how to get underneath his skin.

Timothy was easy to annoy. He was short tempered and easily offended.

His son, Ricky, was by far the quietest of the group, since he had only become with friends with the group through his father, but enjoyed the jokes that were always thrown around within the group of close friends.

Both Ricky and Timothy knew that Nanda didn't hate them, any of them, in fact. It was like they were just a big group of siblings, where the sister would hate them to their faces but then worship them behind their backs.

"Curtis, bro! You want food?" Nanda changed the conversation over to her second favorite guy in the house, seeing him immediately jump up to his feet, running to join her heading to the kitchen.

"You know me so well." Curtis giggled lightly, wrinkles forming around his light blue eyes, his brown hair wild from having been jumping up and down in support of a bunch of people on a field.

The Shaw man watched as the dark haired girl effortlessly moved around her kitchen to make herself some food, grabbing an extra bowl so that he could share it.

He watched as she cut up her vegetables within a flash, intrigue and fascination flooding on to his face.

"Uh, no tom-"

"No tomato, yeah I know. I added more chilli, instead." Nanda explained as she finished making the salad dressing, spreading it over the mix and stirring it, quickly throwing half in to the bowl for Curtis, whilst she took the other half.

The duo stood in silence as they ate the salad, finding that it perfectly was able to ease their hunger.

"Am I really the only one beside Jared that you want here?" Curtis grinned as he asked the question, hearing a small scoff like laugh leave her lips.

"You're the loveable idiot. They're just idiots."

A/N

I am back, I am motivated and I am determined

What do you think?

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩🇸🇸🇺🇦🇾🇪