-Almost Unreal, Roxette -

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Eg4qP0GJUirsZtP1pTV6R

- October 24th -

Sunday morning after the first gig I woke to find Simon sat at the counter in our kitchen eating breakfast. My mum was out of sight.
I had folded out the sofa into a sleeping futon for him before taking myself upstairs for a shower and some sleep.
Oddball and Ethan were gone, presumably having left at some point after my retreat.
Simon smiled as I sat down and stole a piece of bacon from his plate.

"Oy... my food!" He said with minimum amount of annoyance.

"Oy... my house!" I replied and took a slice of his toast.

This had been our thing since childhood. Whenever we stayed over at each others house, the first one to wake made breakfast for both while trying to make it look like it was for just one. Sarah used to say that there was no use setting out two plates. We'd only use the one.

Simon reached to the counter next to him and handed me a mug of coffee.
I took it gratefully and held it in the air. He lifted his own mug and we clinked before drinking.

"You make the best coffee!" I exclaimed after taking a big gulp.

He nodded with his mouth full of bacon. I reached over and took another piece.
He looked at me with a happy smile until I felt the need to frown. His smile was a little bit too wide, and there was a secretive look in his eyes.

"I'm so happy that you joined the band, Izzy!" He said eventually.

"Me too!" I said nodding along and chomping on a piece of toast.

"You have no idea! We have been a year without Billy... A whole year without vocals... I mean... We have Ethan, but you saw him. He can't sing when he's like that," Simon said sincerely

"I know," I replied.

"We haven't had as many gigs as we should and Oddball was hinting about quitting the whole thing," he told me.

I frowned slightly.

"Really?" I asked.

"Ethan has just done a year at the music conservatory. He was considering going back to his classical stuff before you came along," Simon said with a smile.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah... apparently he abandoned a promising violin career to study economics. Go figure!" Simon chuckled.

"It sounds sensible to me," I shrugged.

"I suppose... I mean... He's a sensible dude," Simon replied.

"You know. I haven't heard him sing... at all," I said.

Simon scratched his stubbly face making a sandpapper noise with his nails.

"You've been doing all the backing vocals," I pointed out to him.

"Yeah..." Simon said thoughtfully.

Not that it mattered.

"You should hear him tho... Sings like an angel and blushes like a virgin bride!" Simon chuckled while shaking his head.

"That boy is so strange," I laughed back and took another piece of food.

"Strange?" Simon frowned.

"As if he doesn't want anyone to really know him. Like he holds back," I said.

"But you like him?" Simon asked.

I wondered for a second what kind of like he meant.

"Yeah. Him and Oddball, both," I replied pushing the mental image of a crooked smile to the back of my mind.

"You've got Odd wrapped around your finger," Simon grinned.

I smiled and nodded.

"What's Oddball's story?" I asked.

"Not much to tell. Big drumming puppy... You met Elsie, his one big weakness. He'd do anything for her. He was going to spend last year backpacking. He came back after a month cos he missed his baby sister," Simon explained with a warm smile.

I smiled at his affection for his friends. Simon was loyal to those he cared for.

I looked at the last bit of bacon and reached for it only to have Simon grip my hand. I gripped the bacon tight in my fist and gave Simon a fierce look. He grinned and forced my hand up to his face before biting the bacon out from between my fingers.
I sqealed in disgust as he almost bit my finger.

"Never the last one!" He grinned with his mouth full of food.

I stared at my greasy, licked hand, disappointed with the lack of bacon. Turning my eyes back on the satisfied look on his face I rolled my eyes at his childishness.

"Sorry. I'm still a growing boy!" He laughed.

"Yeah... sooo much a boy... a long way from being a man," I sighed pointedly.

"Oh, trust me, Izzy... I'm more man than you can handle," he said with a raised eyebrow, hooking a thumb in the waistband of his jeans.

"With an ego to match!" I chuckled.

I stood up to wash my hands free from bacongrease and Simon-slobber at the kitchen sink.

"You are disgusting!" I muttered.

"Got to give my bad-boy side some air every so often," he said.

I stared at him with a look of exasperation.
He looked back at me with a silly smile.
I sat back down to my coffee and suddenly he looked all serious.

"Errm... Izzy?" He asked.

"Yes, Simon," I replied.

"If I ask Ellen out... Would that bother you?" He asked.

I felt the happy little feeling inside my chest lift.

"Of course it wouldn't, Simon!" I almost cheered.

He was looking so serious that I held myself back. There was something troubling him.

"You sure?" He asked.

"It might be a bit weird with you two being my besties. But I seriously don't mind," I said trying to work out what he was trying to get to.

He looked strangely vulnerable.
I very rarely saw him like this.
Carefully I laid my hand on his, waiting untill he lifted his eyes to mine before speaking. There was a searching, pleading look in there.

"Do what makes you happy, Simon!" I said

He nodded, as if making a decision. I smiled at the change.
Suddenly he gave me a bright smile before reaching across to give me a hug.

"You're the best!" He said.

"That's because I have you," I replied in another of our little rituals.

He stood and rinsed the plate off before placing it in the dishwasher.

"I tidied the futon away. I might use it again next weekend if we stay here," he said.

"Okay," I said.

He came over and gave me another hug while suppressing a yawn.

"I'll head home now. See you tomorrow," he said into the top of my head.

I nodded.

"You'll always be my favourite girl!" He smiled as he let go of me and headed out.

I stared after him.
Wondering if he was hesitant about Ellen because of our friendship.
Worrying if I was holding him back from being happy.
From falling in love.
Because he was afraid of hurting me.

I rinsed out my cup and went down to my lounge.
It was a comfortable space, set up when I hit my teens so I could have my own space with my friends, my music, my arts.
I had photos in frames of childhood memories.
Of Simon's face all scrunched up next to my smile, from when Mark took us fishing and the fish wiggled - to Simon's great disgust.
Of my face next to Ellen's as we hurtled down the incline of a roller coaster.
I picked up a photo album, wondering what they would look like together.
I experimented, placing a photo of him and one of her next to eachother.
Her warm, brown eyes and dark curls looked astonishing next to his happy blue eyes and golden blond hair.
I smiled at myself and my silly fantasies.
They would have to sort things out for themselves.
I considered phoning Ellen for a moment before looking at the time and deciding to wait. Waking her before noon on a weekend was equivalent to suicide. Ellen liked her sleep too much.
I dumped down on my sofa, all done up like Simon said, and noticed my ukulele on the wall. It had a piece of paper stuck under the strings on the fretboard. I got up and picked the note out.
It was just a page from my little sketchbook, that I had in the bookshelf next to my pens.
I unfolded it to see a crude sketch of my own face.
Recogniseable, but done without skill.
Underneath was scribbled.

"Worth a try.
I'm not doing you any justice.
E."

I chuckled and wondered when he'd drawn it.
I found my thoughts wandering to the mysterious grey eyed boy.
I really couldn't put my finger on why, but something about him always made me want to smile.
Oddball always had me laughing at something or the other, but with Ethan it was more a comfortable smile. Calm, like a summer breeze in contrast to Oddball's hurricane.
I shook the thought out of my mind and sat down again with a book. I couldn't quite get my focus in order, though. My eyes were drawn to the little sketch.
Giving up on the book, I spent the rest of the day on my coursework, finishing an essay on dadaism before my mum came home from wherever she had been with a secretive smile on her face.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Out for coffee," she said innocently.

She buttoned her mouth before breaking into a smile.
I recognised the expression on her face as one I would wear.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
She giggled.
I mean... my mum. Giggled!
I raised my eyebrows.

"You've been on a date?" I asked.

"Not a date, Izzy. Just coffee," she tried to brush me off.

I gave her my best suspicious look.

"Who is he?" I asked.

She blushed before hiding a smile in her hand.

"Mum. I wanna know!" I nagged.

"Okay... his name is Josh. He's an instructor at the gym.... but we have just had coffee!" My mum said looking somewhere between defensive and sheepish.

I smirked. That definitely explained her sudden increased interest in going to the gym lately.

"So...?" I asked.

"We'll see," she dismissed.

I chuckled.
My mum.
Simon.
Ellen.
There must be something in the air.

The next day I was coming off the bus and walking through the Academy gates when I saw Ellen waving at me.

"You'll never guess who knocked on my door last night," she said.

I saw the smile on her face and didn't even have to guess. I felt my face split into a happy smile to match hers.

"And?" I asked.

"We just talked... for hours..." she said with a slightly dimmer smile.

"That's good, right?" I asked.

"I don't know. He seemed kinda hesitant... and he didn't even try to kiss me," she said quietly.

"He's probably just overthinking as usual," I said with a shrug.

"Yeah...," Ellen said looking unusually insecure.

From my perspective, just the fact that he had gone to her house to talk.
To explain.
Told me what I needed to know. I was about to say something encouraging when Ellen's face froze up.

I turned to see Simon walking purposefully towards us with a determined look on his face. He stopped right in front of Ellen. Wihout a word, he placed a hand either side of her face and brought his face in towards hers. I could hear him draw a ragged breath just before he landed his lips on hers and kissed her as if his life depended on it. It took Ellen about two seconds to respond. I watched how her hands reached up and ran through his hair and suddenly I realised I was stod uncomfortably close. I pulled my surprised jaw back up and decided to get out of my third wheel-position.

I took a few steps backwards, crashing into a body behind me.
I turned and saw Ethan's smile at me before he nodded towards the kissing couple in front of us.

"Where did that come from?" He asked.

"I have absolutely no idea..." I replied feeling slightly dumbstruck.

This was Simon, being impulsive.
And kissing in public.
With a passion he normally reserved for music.
He was smiling into the kiss unapologetically giving Ellen what she had been wanting for over a week.

I shook myself away from my open-eyed staring at them and realised I had been holding my breath. My heart was thundering in my chest.
Ethan chuckled and lay a hand on my shoulder, giving my neck goosebumps.

"I think we should leave," he muttered.
I nodded, throwing a last look at the scene in front of me.
Before I could move, Simon released Ellen and drew away from her.

"I'm done thinking," he said.

Ellen looked at him questioningly, still somewhat dazed and with her fingers still wound into his hair.

He let go of Ellen's face with a soft look in his eyes before straightening up and taking in his surroundings.
As if he was waking up.

His eyes landed on me with a smile.

"Oh... Hi, Izzy. Didn't see you there," he smiled before walking up towards the arts building, leaving Ellen with a shellshocked look on her face.

Ethan laughed softly.

"I wouldn't dare doing anything like that. I'd be too afraid of getting a slap," he chuckled.

I turned to look at him.

"Aww... surely no one would want to slap that pretty face," I grinned.

"Pretty?" He frowned.

I shrugged, giving him a teasing smile before turning back to Ellen who was still staring after Simon, looking in shock.

"Congratulations. You have earned yourself a Simon. As far as I know he's housetrained and of a good breed. Keep him fed and make sure his socks are changed regularly and you should in theory have a pet for life," I said, patting her shoulder.

She shifted her face to look at me.

"He kissed me!" She muttered, still looking dazed.

I looked over at Ethan.

"I think we're in the same lecture," he grinned and started guiding Ellen towards the economics building.