~ ~ Chapter Fifteen ~ ~

Groaning loudly I laid my head down in my arms on the table, trying to block out the noise from the few other customers in the small diner right now. I had a headache and felt like crap and to top it off, my stomach was eating itself with hunger for greasy food.

"You're the one who insisted on doing rows of shots." Dougy smugly lectured me from across the table. Instead of answering, I kicked him in the shin, he winced and shouted a little. Looking up at him I smiled.

Amberly laughed then stopped as she groaned and grabbed her head, both of us had dark sunnies on but the difference between us, she done herself up nice before we walked out of Baden and Jeff's house. Her hair was brushed and she had make up on. My hair was up in a messy bun and I couldn't give two rats about make up. I was hungover.

"Shut up Dougy." I grunted after a delayed moment.

He laughed, "Catch phrase of the year."

I groaned again, I was drilled last night because I was more drunk than all of them, so my genius comeback all night long was 'shut up', so I've been getting picked on today about it and the fact I keep using it doesn't help.

"Jump off a cliff and never return darling brother." I groaned again as I lifted my head to see if our food was coming yet, "Bloody hell, how long does it take to make?"

Amberly shook her head at me, "No patience at all." she laughed.

I contemplated on whether I should kick her under the table too or not and went with not, it would hurt her a lot more than it did Dougy. So I went for a more tactful approach - not.

"So.....," she looked over at me and waited for me to continue, I grinned, my hangover suddenly feeling better, "I saw you come out of Jeff's room this morning."

Her cheeks blushed bright red immediately, Dougy laughed and high fived me - that was our game we came up with last night, to see who could make Amberly blush the brightest, I won, naturally. And for some reason everyone kept high fiving each other all night long. I would have loved to be a sober fly on the wall last night, just to see how stupid we all looked.

"Shut up."

Dougy laughed again, "Wow, very original Ambo." he teased, she shot him daggers. It is safe to say that the guys have welcomed her with more friendliness now, since they got to know her pretty well last night, Jeff in particular which he was happy about.

"Shut -." she started saying, until both Dougy and I chorused, "Up!" with laughter.

Once I had calmed down I turned to look at her again, "So? Anything happened? What's the go now, friends or more than friends, bed buddies, what? Come on girl, spill." I asked excitedly and determined to find out.

She groaned and slumped her head to the table, "I liked you better when you were dying a minute ago."

Smiling I patted her shoulder, "Now, now Ambo, we shouldn't say things we don't mean.....now spill." I added quickly. She gave a dry laugh.

"Am I this annoying when I question you?"

I pretended to think about it for a minute, even though I already knew the answer, "Yes." she groaned again.

"Fine. Nothing happened, we just slept......but Lee-lee, he is so funny and kind and sweet and hot and boy does he have a great body! He was such a gentleman last night......." she gushed as she lifted her head from her hands and stared out the window with a small sigh.

I pretended to gag when she wasn't looking but Dougy was and he joined in but added a noose around his neck, Amberly caught sight of us, "Stop it." she snapped playfully.

We laughed, "Sorry......so, you think something will happen between you two?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, he is a criminal after all.....I don't know if I want to go there." she mumbled softly.

We all fell quiet then, after a minute I wrapped my arm around her, "It will be all alright." I smiled gently, she nodded.

"Yeah, if it happens it happens, if it doesn't, then well.....it doesn't."

I nodded. I can understand her worry about getting involved with Jeff because of his life because I have the same worry with Baden but I figure I'm going to be involved and caught up in their mess whether I'm with him or not, so I might as well be with the one man for me and just take whatever comes.

"Finally!" I cried as the waitress headed towards us with a tray of food, she gave me a disapproving look as she put all our plates down and asked if we wanted anything else, which we didn't.

"It smells so good." Amberly smiled as she dug into her eggs and bacon.

"I could just inhale it." I added as I picked up a strip of delicious looking bacon and wolfed it down.

Dougy pulled a face, "You would think neither of you have ever eaten before." he muttered, I opened my mouth and said 'ahhh' showing him my chewed up bacon and trying to not spit it out with laughter, "Gross Lee! What the hell is wrong with you? You're meant to be a lady." he complained loudly.

I shrugged and gave him a pointed look, which he soon understood, "Right, my bad, I forgot you're part man." he teased, so I kicked him under the table in the shins - again.

He gave me daggers but said nothing as we ate in silence. Not even a few minutes later a loud voice came walking our way, both Amberly and I cringed as Phil pulled up a seat, scraping the legs across the floor, "What's for brekky?" he asked as he attempted to steal some of my chips, I slapped his hand away then held my fork up threateningly.

"Fine, I'll steal some from.....Dougy." and he snatched a chip and put it in his mouth quickly so Dougy couldn't snatch it back.

"Get your own food freeloader." Dougy snapped.

Phil pulled a face then slowly stood up and headed over to the counter. I watched him as he talked to the waitress, he pointed to our table and she glanced over, said something, he replied with a laugh and they both looked and laughed.

"I think Philly is paying us out to the girl." I muttered.

Dougy turned and looked, "Phil! I know you bat for the other team, so stop trying to cover it up!"

I ducked my head immediately to cover my laughter while Amberly sat there with a shocked face and dropped mouth, she didn't know Dougy was joking. I did peek and see Phil giving Dougy the dirtiest daggers as Dougy shrugged innocently, "Just thought you'd like to know you can stop the act in front of me man, I'm cool with it."

"Philly! Can you bring the pepper back with you?" I called out after he had turned his back to me, he stuck his finger up at me over his shoulder, "How rude." I mumbled in fake hurt.

Amberly leaned in closely, "Is he really gay?" she frowned.

I smiled and shook my head, "No, he's a man whore but a man whore who was paying us out to the girl he was trying to pick up, so Dougy thought he would set him back a bit."

She nodded as Dougy leaned back in his chair and looked at me thoughtfully, "Did Graham ever come out of the closet to his old man?"

Graham is our cousin, though I haven't seen him since we were younger, probably roughly two years before I ran away, I shrugged, "I'm not sure, Pete is an asshole though and wouldn't have liked it."

I felt sorry for Graham, his mum knew and we all did but we had to keep it a secret from his dad, who was completely anti gay, we all hated him for it. Graham has the right to be who he is without fear of what his dad would say. If I ever have kids, I'll let them be who they are and not what I want them to be.

Phil walked back over five minutes later as we were all finishing our food up and sat down, glaring at Dougy.

"Hey, where's my pepper?" I asked, he smirked at me but just shook his head slowly, I frowned, "Not cool Philly."

"Neither was trying to wreck my pick up." he gave Dougy a pointed look, the rest of us just laughed.

"What's the time?" Amberly asked, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked down, gah, why the hell am I up so early? We didn't even go to bed until six am.

"Eleven." I muttered.

"I better get going soon, I've got work this arvo." I nodded, then thought about it.

"Crap! So do I!" I shouted as I remembered I was working tonight, since Baden made me take last night off.

Dougy frowned, "I really don't like you working there Lee, how about you quit already and I'll provide for you, I am your big bro after all, it's my job."

I scoffed at that, "Please, I'm not a little girl, I don't need looking after...." I trailed off as a girl my age walked in, she looked familiar. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to remember where I would know her from.

Dougy turned around and looked, then faced me again, he didn't look happy, then I figured it out at the same time she saw me, her face shocked but then she grinned, "Leila!" she shouted out, walking this way.

"Jenny." I muttered dryly as she stood beside Phil and looked around at us all, her eyes lingering on Amberly a bit longer then the rest of us.

"Wow, I haven't seen you in years.....since the night at the park - sorry I didn't come visit you after that, I was, um, busy." she muttered, looking away.

"Whoring around." Dougy offered.

Phil laughed and they high fived, losers. I rolled my eyes at them and looked back up at Jenny who was frowning at them, "Is there anything you want or what?" I asked. I was not going to act like long lost best friends with this girl, she proved I meant nothing to her already and now I'm going to do it back.

"Um, no, I just saw you and wanted to say hi....."

"Well. Hi." I muttered staring at her with a blank face.

She looked away from me then to Amberly, "Hi, I'm Jenny, Leila's old best friend and you are?"

Amberly glanced at me as I rolled my eyes, "Jenny, don't even try and pull that jealous crap right now because I will seriously kick your skanky ass.....don't you have like a ton of kids to be looking after or something?"

She pulled a stuck up face, "Well, nice to see you too." she grunted.

"What's going on here?"

We all turned to see Jeff and Baden standing behind Jenny, both recognising her immediately and not impressed but Jenny was with Jeff, "Hey Jeff." she purred, "Long time and you're as hot as ever." she winked at him.

Jeff looked disgusted with her, "Fuck off. I'm taken." I felt Amberly sink with disappointment alongside me and quickly grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently as I shot Jeff daggers, he noticed, "My girl is sitting right there." then he nodded at Amberly who looked up in shock.

"Really?" she asked.

I laughed with Phil, as Jeff nodded and walked around, pulling me out of my seat so he could slide in next to her, "Wow, pushy much." I grunted but left it alone since he was trying to not show how much pain he was still in as he slung an arm around Amberly's shoulder.

"Well, are you going to introduce me to her then?" Jenny asked, a little tiffed.

Jeff shook his head, "Nope, you're not anyone worth introducing."

"Leila." Baden spoke my name softly, I looked over at him to see he had slid in alongside Dougy, pushing him into the corner and making room for me on the edge.

"Way to make me feel left out guys." Phil joked.

I stole a chip as I sat down, all of us ignoring Jenny until she made a move to squeeze in next to Jeff but Phil bet her there and sat down, bumping Jeff and making him wince with pain, "Sorry dude." Phil whispered. Jeff gave a short nod.

Jenny huffed and sat down on Phil's old seat, looking around at all of us, "Isn't this sweet, the whole gang is together and nobody told me."

I pulled a 'what the!' face with Phil, then we started laughing,"I think I'm still a bit drunk." I admitted; I seem to find too many things funny and amusing.

"Yeah, you should have heard yourself when we were in bed last night." Baden smirked.

My mouth dropped, I know we didn't have sex but damn, I don't think I want to know what I was saying to him,"Shut-."

"Up." everyone chorused, I shot them all dirty daggers as they laughed, Amberly grinned, and pointed from me to Dougy then mouthed 'pay back' I flipped her the bird.

"So...what has everyone been up to and are you going to introduce me to your new friend Leila?" Jenny spoke over top of us.

We all turned to look at her, she shrugged, "What? Oh and when did you and Baden get together, since you ran away from town?"

I glared at her, "Fuck off Jenny."

"I'm Amberly, Lee-lee's flat mate and best friend." Amberly smiled politely at her.

I shot Amberly daggers and shook my head, she is too nice and polite for her own good.

"Well, nice to meet you. So where do you work?" Jenny asked.

"Nowhere. We are bums." I interjected, not liking how Jenny has such an interest in Amberly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jeff whispering something in Amberly's ear and she nodded then looked down at her plate, hopefully he told her to not speak to Jenny anymore.

"Really? That's disgusting and lazy." Jenny muttered, pulling a face.

I tried not to laugh, "So, what have you been up to - besides sleeping around?" I just had to add that in there.

Her body stiffened then she plastered a fake smile on her face, "Not much. So...you live close by?"

"Yep." No! I live over an hour away from here but she doesn't need to know that.

"Where did you go after you left?"

I shrugged, "Travelled." or something like that, if you call bus hopping state to state travelling, then I didn't lie.

"Um.....okay." she mumbled, clearly taking the hint but she didn't give up, "So are you two like, together now or something?" she pointed from Baden to me.

"Or something." I smirked, Phil burst into laughter and high fived me, I reluctantly did it with him after he held his hand up for like a full minute and kept looking at it.

"Time to go. We have important things to do.....like drink." Dougy smiled.

"I have to go home and get ready for work." Amberly piped up, standing to her feet and waiting for Jeff and Phil to move out.

"No you don't, my woman is not working there." Jeff growled defensively, Amberly looked shocked.

I started laughing, "Caveman Jeff 'my woman is not working there'." I growled, mimicking him, Phil and Dougy both made me high five them.

"Why are you laughing? I told your boss last night you quit for good." Baden stood up and looked down at me with a serious face.

My jaw dropped, "Hell no you did! You can't boss me around!" I snapped as I jumped to my feet, glaring at him.

"I thought you said you were a bum?" Jenny asked loudly, gaining my attention as she looked confused.

I smirked at her, "I lied obviously."

"Can and did." Baden muttered in my ear, then slapped my ass gently, making me jump and yelp.

Dougy was quick to punch Baden in the back of his shoulder since he was behind him in the booth still, Baden spun around to face him but Dougy spoke up first, "Don't touch my sister like that - at least wait until I'm not around."

I elbowed Baden in the stomach and pushed past Jenny to catch up with Phil who was trailing behind Jeff and Amberly who were quietly 'discussing' her job, Dougy and Baden caught up quickly behind me, arguing about what is and is not allowed in Dougy's presence while I groaned and shot them both daggers, pointing at Dougy first, "You're my brother and have no say." then I pointed at Baden, "You're just a boy and have no say."

"Hey!" We all turned to look at Jenny, who was walking towards us, "What about me?"

"What about you?" I asked coldly.

She frowned, "Um, can't I come and catch up, for old times sake?" she asked quietly.

I laughed a short harsh laugh, hell no, "Oh, you mean the like the time I was beaten into a coma and you never bothered to visit because getting with random boys was more important than my life?" I paused to let it sink in, "Yeah, there will never be catching up for us Jenny and if you ever come near any of us again, I will make you regret it severely" then I turned on my heels and walked out, leaving bad rubbish behind and moving forward with my friends that now have taken over my life.

For good or for worst, I'm stuck with them all now.