BM
"This is so stupid, why do we have to do this?" Jae whined.
"Technically, this is your fault," Sam stated.
"To be fair this stuff has been sitting here for over six months and some of it hasn't been used for years. We might find stuff we didn't know we missed," I said as I hauled another boxed out and sat it on the grass.
"Maybe we should just throw it all out," Sam stated.
"Come on guys, this could be fun,"
"Or it could be a complete waste of time," Jae raised an eyebrow at me.
"It's just Thea making sure we don't get into trouble," Sam pointed out.
"Which is funny because out of all of us, she is the most trouble," Jae added.
"You guys have to remember she has a mother complex," I defended.
"Then she should have a child instead of treating us like one," Jae shrugged.
"Maybe if you didn't act like one she wouldn't," I pointed out.
"How many boxes do we even have in here?"
"More than we need," I shrugged.
We actually had a lot of boxes in the girls shed, I'm pretty sure over half of the boxes in there were ours. They hadn't had an issue with us keeping it here though when the three is us moved out we got a little apartment in a run-down complex because that's all we could afford at the time. The place was tiny and there wasn't room for all of our boxes so the girls said we could keep them in their shed.
We had eventually moved in with them for a brief period after I bought the bar and we were a little tight on cash, even when we were living in a run-down apartment building. Thea had gone all mother mode and insisted we move in with them so we could eat. Charlie hadn't really wanted either Sam or Jae, who both eat more than they breathe, starving because we didn't have any money. So when we had moved into the apartment conversion 7 months ago, and honestly I had forgotten about the boxes until Thea mentioned them yesterday.
Thea wasn't exactly wrong, they had been sitting here for a while and we should go through them and see what was worth keeping.
CHARLIE
"Oh thank god," Whitney stated as she walked in the door and seen me.
"I missed you too," I laughed.
"My boss just about had an aneurysm when you weren't here yesterday," she shook her head.
"As flattered as I am, you should probably tell him it's just coffee. Do you just want one?"
"No, can I have four? He had a meeting with a potential client yesterday, he could really open up a whole new market, and apparently, he needs your coffee to function. You should have heard him on Wednesday,"
"He sounds really high strung,"
"He's a CEO of a pretty successful company and he's in his early 20's, I think anyone in his situation would be a little high strung,"
"Is he attractive?" I joked.
"He's not really my type but I suppose if you're into guys like him he would be considered attractive," she shrugged.
"So no,"
"He's okay," she laughed.
"Right," I nodded.
"So why weren't you here yesterday?"
"I accidentally pulled an all-nighter,"
"Accidentally?"
"My housemate and I started watching Lord of the Rings, I didn't really notice the time until it was 6 in the morning,"
THEA
"Hey," Junior met me at reception.
"Hey," I smiled following him through to the studio.
"The models are all ready so you just need to do your thing," he gestured to my camera bag.
"You make my job so easy," I smiled.
"How so?"
"Normally I have to wait around for half an hour or so for my client to get ready for the shoot,"
"That's so unprofessional," he shook his head as we walked into his studio.
I recognized a few faces, and I more than recognized a few others. He smirked at me with a wink, I couldn't even hold back the eye roll. I hadn't seen him since the morning after we went to Drew's club opening.
"Hey Thea," he smirked at me.
"Yuri," I sighed.
"Min Sung," I smiled at another model, who happens to be good friends with Yuri and has been really good friends with Charlie since high school.
"Why is she always nicer to you?" Yuri frowned.
"Probably because I haven't slept with her," Min Sung shrugged.
"You two have slept together?" Junior raised an eyebrow.
"It was a while ago," I waved him off.
"Yeah seems like it," Junior gave me a sceptical look.
"We've been working together without any issue since it happened," Yuri shrugged.
"So what's different today?" Junior looked between the two of us.
"It's a long story," I shook my head.
"Is this going to be a problem?" he raised an eyebrow waving a finger between us.
"Absolutely not," I assured him.
"Good because I don't want a new photographer and he's kind of my best model,"
"Rude," Min Sung pouted.
"Let's get to work," Junior stated loudly, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention.
SAM
"Dude, check it out," BM stated holding up our old jerseys.
"I haven't seen those in years," I laughed as he handed me mine.
"We should frame them and put them on our wall," he suggested.
"Why? It was only high school football, it's not like we were stars,"
"Well, you kind of were. You two and Drew were really the only ones on that team that had any talent. There is no way they would have won a single game without you," Jae shrugged sitting on top of an old dryer the girls hadn't gotten around to disposing of yet.
"He has a point," BM nodded.
"So we put them in the take box then?" I threw the jerseys toward the large tub Thea had set up for us before she left this morning.
There was a box, a tub, and the wheelie bins, all labelled because she's a bit of organisational freak, the brown cardboard box had 'DONATE' written in big block letters across some masking tape, the plastic tub had 'TAKE' written across the front with 'you can keep the tub' written in smaller letters underneath the block ones. And the bins weren't labelled but it was pretty self-explanatory; one for rubbish, one for recyclables.
"Oh my god, is this what I think it is?" BM spoke to himself but both Jae and I looked up to see what he had found.
He pulled out a small black box with faded stickers all over it, they were so faded you couldn't tell what they were off.
"Is that the Polaroid box?" Jae's face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"I believe so," BM nodded.
"Oh we are so taking that, do you know how many photos of Thea that she will hate are in that box?"
I'm not really sure who's idea it was, probably Thea's, but back when they started high school, not long before I joined their group they had started this box, they each had a Polaroid camera and the rules were that every photo taken with the camera had to be put in the box with the date the photo was taken and who took it written on the white strip. We also weren't allowed to remove any or throw any away. Sort of like a memory box. The box was full of mostly Polaroids but there were also photos from disposable cameras in there from trips we went on. It pretty much documents our entire high school life.
"Don't open it!" Jae yelled at BM who was lifting the lid.
"Why not?"
"Because we have to wait until we are all together," Jae stated, it was another one of the box rules.
"Like the girls will know,". BM shrugged.
"Yeah, but they'll know when we don't react with the same surprise," I pointed out.
"Fine," he sighed putting the box in the tub.
"How did we even end up with the box?" Jae frowned.
"No idea," I shrugged.
"Thea probably put it in here because she didn't think we would look in here," BM stated.
"I don't know who has more embarrassing photos in that box, Jae or Thea," I shook my head.
"Probably me," Jae shrugged.
"Thea is skilled with her sneak attacks," BM nodded.
"You wouldn't think so with her being so big back then," Jae commented.
"She wasn't that big, and she had lost all the weight not long after we started this box," BM frowned
"She definitely was that big, and there are the photos in there to prove it," Jae shrugged.
I had never actually seen Thea as a big girl, she has been skinny for as long as I've known her but Jae was always going on about her being big. Apparently, she had lost a lot of weight not long before I had joined the group. But I couldn't actually imagine her as fat, and she hid all of the photos of her from when she was, somehow she had even gotten her hands on the ones anyone else had taken of her, except the ones in this box.
"Are those swords?" Jae pointed at the box to BM's left.
MARK
"Coffee," Whitney smiled placing the paper cup down on my desk in front of me.
"Finally," I sighed picking the cup up and taking a sip.
I hadn't realised how much I missed this coffee. I don't understand how someone I have never met and who doesn't even know me can make a cup of coffee so perfect to my taste.
"Ready for today's schedule?" Whitney asked opening her folder.
"Not yet," I shook my head taking another sip of coffee.
"Okay, go," I nodded after a third sip.
"You have two group meetings this morning, one at 10 with the marketing team and the other straight after with HR to go over the new policies. There are a list of potential new clients to go through and one of the girls from the board for the charity gala are coming by to hash out a few details with you,"
"I'm going to need more coffee,"
"There are four more in the fridge,"
"Was the barista apologetic?" I joked.
"No, your assistant knows your schedule," she stated.
"I'll go and make sure the conference room is ready for your meeting," she smiled leaving the room.
BM
"Dude put the swords down and help us sort through boxes," I sighed a Jae who had been sitting on top of the old dryer swinging the sword around for the last twenty minutes.
"What's the point? You have like four boxes left," he shrugged.
"We'd have three if you'd help us," Sam mumbled.
"But that would require me to actually help and then who would supervise?"
"You're hopeless," I sighed.
"Could you at least put those boxes in the back of my car?" I pointed to the boxes of stuff to donate that we had already filled.
"And stick those ones in the van," Sam pointed at those ones full of stuff for us to take home.
"We're not done yet, what's the point?"
"To get them out of the way?"
"But it would be so much quicker if the three of us move them, also you two are stronger than I am," Jae shrugged.
"You know you're not at all helpful," I frowned.
"I never claimed to be,"
"I think we need a snack break," Sam stated.
"There are leftovers in the fridge, I'll get them," Jae jumped down off the dryers.
"Of course you will," I smiled shaking my head.
THEA
I sighed getting out of the car, I let out another sigh before walking through the cafe doors. Charlie frowned at me, I wasn't looking forward to this conversation, of course, I wasn't going to tell her exactly what was going on until she was in the car otherwise I would take too much effort to actually get her in the car.
"What are you doing here?" she raised an eyebrow.
"We've got a little bit of an emergency, how long until the end of your shift?" I asked, even though I already knew she had just under an hour left. I also knew her boss was pretty lenient.
"Like 40 minutes. What's going on?" she frowned.
"I'll tell you in the car,"
"Why can't you tell me now?"
"Because we've got to go. Can you get off early? It's important," I was bouncing on my heels at this point.
She looked over at her manager who just nodded. Charlie reached under the counter to grab her bag then followed me out to my car.
"I can follow you in my car," she paused realising that her car was here.
"I'll bring you back to it, just get in,"
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
"When you get in the car," I nodded.
"I don't get why I can't just follow you in my car," she sighed getting in the passengers' seat.
"Because you won't be able to drive when I tell you," I mumbled to myself as I walked around to the drivers' side.
I started the car and pulled out of the parking space. I hit redial on the hands-free and waited for BM to answer.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked.
"The boys found swords in the boxes and decided to sword fight, and one of them got stabbed,"
"What? Who?"
"Either Sam or Jae, I couldn't quite understand what BM was saying, they were getting in the car when he rang me," the colour drained from her face.
"How bad?"
"I don't know,"
"Hey you've reached Matthew, leave your name and number and I'll call you back as soon as I can,"
"Hey it's me, I need to know what hospital I'm going to. Call me back as soon as you get this," I left a voice mail and hung up.
I glanced over at Charlie who had shut down. There was no point talking to her until we knew what was going on because she wasn't likely to talk to me anyway. I knew she wouldn't be okay until we knew exactly what was going on and that everyone was okay.
My phone started ringing, BM flashed across the hands-free screen, I looked over at Charlie who didn't seem to even notice my phone ringing. I sighed and clicked answer.
"Hey" he sighed into the phone.
"What's going on? I could barely understand you when you called earlier, all I got was one of you was stabbed with a sword,"
"I'll explain it all when you get here, we're in Murdoch; St John of God. Just ring me when you get here and I'll come and get you, it's a little confusing,"
"Wouldn't I just go to the emergency department?"
"No, we've been transferred through to the orthopedic department,"
"Why?"
"If I explain it to you over the phone you'll go or mother mode and freak out, I'll explain everything when you get here,"
"Fine, I'll be there in 20," I sighed.
"See you soon,"
BM
I waited by the entrance doors for Thea and Charlie, they were pretty much in the exact state I thought they'd be. Charlie was shut off, an empty shell, more than likely going through all of the worst possible scenarios in her head. Thea was in mother mode, she looked like she was on a mission, she was actually kind of scary when she was like this.
"Come on," I gestured for them to follow me.
"Explain," Thea retorted stopping in her tracks.
"I'll explain on the way," I kept walking, she reluctantly followed, guiding Charlie with her.
"So we were sorting through the boxes as you asked, and we found the swords we had bought at the comic-con convention a few years ago. We took a break to eat something and Sam and I ended up sword fighting. Everything was perfectly fine, we were having fun, then something distracted Sam as I lunged forward, neither of us had enough time to move and the blade, which was surprisingly sharp by the way, went right into his shoulder. There is blood all over your backyard just a heads up. So we got him in the car and drove him to the nearest hospital,"
"How bad is it?"
"He's gone into surgery so they can fix the damage, the doctor said that it had torn through his deltoid, they're going to repair it and he will have to do some rehab for it but after that, he should be perfectly able,"
"So he's going to be okay?"
"If the surgery goes well, we won't know for sure until he comes out but the doctor says there is an almost 100% success rate,"
"Almost?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Thea," I frowned at her.
"Why did you think it would be a good idea to sword fight?" Thea scolded.
"We didn't really think it through," I shrugged.
"Obviously," she sighed.
We reached the waiting room, Sam had already been taken in for surgery. Jae was sitting in one of the chairs, quietly. Charlie sat down next to him but didn't say anything, they both just sat there quietly, Charlie staring forward at operating room doors.
I sat on the other side of Charlie, Thea started to pace, which was weird. I'd expected her to sit down next to me or start mother-henning, but she just paced frowning, mumbling to herself. She was starting to unravel, the strong front she had put up was starting to fall down. It was a little early for that though, she wasn't normally so quick to crack.
"Thea?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Mm?"
"What's wrong?"
"Our friend is in surgery," she frowned at me like I was stupid. There was a flash across her eyes and then it clicked in my brain.
"This isn't your fault," I spoke out loud, I hadn't meant to.
"I made you guys go through those boxes, it's kind of my fault," she bit her bottom lip.
"It was my idea to sword fight," Jae stated looking a little guilty.
"You two didn't force us to pick up the swords, besides I'm the one who stabbed him," I sighed.
"Are you three serious?" Charlie snapped.
"This isn't about you, Sam is in there getting surgery, stop throwing yourselves a pity party," she continued.
The three of us fell silent, it was out of the ordinary for Charlie to snap at people in general. But the fact that she had snapped out of her shut down mode and was speaking to us was what was the most shocking. Thea bit her lip and sat down next to me without a word. She started fiddling with the rings on her fingers, she does that when she is nervous.
JACKSON
I pulled my phone out to check my messages as I waited for the elevator. I hadn't heard from Thea all day. She did say that she was working for a few hours this morning but it was almost 6 and she hadn't even replied to my text. I sighed sliding my phone into my pocket as the elevator doors opened. I could see Junior making his way over, I knew he wouldn't run for an elevator but I held the doors open for him anyway. He would likely kill me if he knew that I had seen him and let the doors close.
"Hey, thanks," he smiled as he walked in.
"Long day?" I asked just to make casual conversation.
"Yeah I had a photo shoot this morning for my new line, but we had to stop halfway through and reschedule," he sighed.
"That sounds inconvenient,"
"It was a lot of staff to re-book," he nodded.
"Why did you have to reschedule?"
"My photographer had an emergency so she had to leave, speaking of which you should probably give her a call,"
"Why would I call your photographer?" I frowned.
"Because she was Thea," he looked at me like I was an idiot.
"How was I supposed to know that,"
"Because you know that's how I know her,"
"Why do I have to call her?"
"Shouldn't you want to call her anyway?"
"We just text," I shrugged. The thought of calling her made me nervous.
"Have you text her at all today?" he raised an eyebrow like I was supposed to know something I didn't.
"Yeah, but she hasn't replied,"
"She was working this morning and then had to leave because her friend was stabbed and taken to the hospital,"
"That explains why she isn't replying," I mumbled to myself.
"Is her friend all right?"
"No idea," he shrugged as we got off the elevator.
"Thanks," I waved as we walked into our own doors.
Mark was sitting on the lounge with Jooheon eating pizza when I walked in. They didn't notice me at first, not until they heard the door close behind me. Mark looked up nodding a gesture for me to come and join them.
"There is a box here untouched with your name on it," Jooheon called over his shoulder.
"Yeah I'll be there in a minute, I just have to make a phone call," I nodded.
"Work problems?" Mark raised an eyebrow.
"Nope,"
"Girl problems?" Jooheon smirked sarcastically.
"Something like that," I sighed.
"You're not even dating her, how can you possibly have drama already?"
"We don't have drama, I'll explain later," I waved him off.
I lent against the kitchen counter, dialled her number and waited for her to answer. My heart thumped in my chest, it kept ringing and I almost hung up thinking it was just going to go to message bank when someone answered.
"Thea's phone," a males voice filled the speaker.
"Hello?" I frowned.
"Hello Wild and Sexy," he responded. I mentally face-palmed.
"Uh, who is this?"
"Not Thea," he answered.
"I realise that,"
"How? She has a manly voice, speaks a little like a truck driver,"
"She's going to kill you," I hear someone in the background.
"It'll be fine," the person on the other end of the phone stated.
"Is Thea there?"
"She just went out to get food to satisfy her binge eating habits, seriously, the girl eats like a fat person,"
"Seriously, who are you?"
"I'm Jae,"
"Why do you have my phone?" there was a girls voice in the background.
"It rang,"
"So? Like I need people thinking we're close enough for you to answer my phone,"
"Ew, what's disgusting," Jae responded.
"Who is it?"
"No idea,"
"What did the caller ID say?"
"I don't remember,"
"You're useless, give me my phone," she sighed.
"Reach for it," there were rustling and insults thrown back and forth.
THEA
Charlie and I made our way back up the hallway towards Sam's room, he'd been out of surgery for about an hour and a half and was hungry. We were all kind of hungry so Charlie and I had gone down to get McDonald's.
Sam had to stay overnight because the specialist he needed to see wasn't here until the morning. BM felt so guilty about stabbing Sam, Sam didn't seem at all phased by it, he didn't blame him, they were both playing with the swords and it could have easily have been BM that was stabbed. But that didn't stop Charlie from being mad at BM, she was mad at Sam too but not to the extent she was with BM.
"Who's the dike?" I frowned as we rounded the doorway into Sam's room.
"That's BM," Charlie answered in a monotone voice.
"Oh," I laughed as we walked further into the room.
"I'm Jae," Jae stated holding my phone to his ear.
"Why do you have my phone?" I frowned.
"It rang," he shrugged.
"So? Like I need people thinking we're close enough for you to answer my phone," I pulled a face.
"Ew, that's disgusting," he shivered.
"Who is it?"
"No idea," he shrugged again.
"What did the caller ID say?" I rolled my eyes.
"I don't remember,"
"You're useless, give me my phone," she sighed.
"Reach for it," he held the phone above his head.
"Are you serious?" he just nodded.
"Give me my phone forever virgin,"
"Reach for it midget,"
"I will kick you in the shin," I warned.
"With your Shrek feet?" he raised an eyebrow.
BM reached up and took my phone from Jae's hand before he could react and handed it to me.
"You're in a hospital room, behave," he frowned at the both of us. I rolled my eyes pulling a face at Jae and lifting the phone to my eye without checking caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Uh, hi," a voice that was familiar but I didn't quite recognize filled the receiver. I pulled the phone away from my ear and froze.
Why was he calling me? He has never called me before. Oh my gosh, did he hear everything I just said to Jae? What did Jae say to him? I've been silent too long, what if he thinks I'm rude? Talk!
"Oh, Hey. Sorry, I was a little thrown, I wasn't quite sure who I was talking to. I'm sorry I haven't replied all day it's been a little hectic with work and my friend had to get surgery because my other friend stabbed him not on purpose though, it was an accident they were sword fighting it's not like he seen the sword and decided 'hey I'm going to stab you' that would be weird," I rambled, I knew I was doing it but the more I tried to stop myself the fast my mouth moved until BM cupped his hand over my mouth to shut me up.
"And I didn't really have time to reply to your messages," I sighed once BM had removed his hand.
"You're cute when you ramble, oh my gosh I did I just say that out loud?"
"Yeah," I could feel my cheeks turning red.
"H-how is your friend?" he changed the subject.
"He'll be okay with a little help," I shrugged leaving the room so I wasn't disturbing anyone but mainly so they didn't eavesdrop.
"That's good to hear,"
"So why did you call?"