Jinxx POV
Well today’s sure been fun, aside from when I literally fell out of bed this morning... I thought we were gonna be bored as hell while we were here in Australia, but it turns out that Gabby’s a pretty cool girl, who has some awesome talent with guitar and vocals.

I think she’d probably be pretty good friends with Sammi, Juliet & Ella if we introduced her to them, maybe we could see if they can come out for Christmas or something like that.

Anyway Ashley’s been in a great mood all day, must be the fact that the girl he met at Soundwave was in actual fact Gabby Metcalfe, the girl who was stuck with us while we were here.

They first met at Soundwave (Brisbane specifically) when we all signed her copies of We Stitch These Wounds and Set The World On Fire.

She and Ashley had really hit it off and had hung out with each-other until we had to go to the next capital which they were both bummed about but they exchanged their numbers and email addresses so they could keep in contact, they even skyped every chance they could.

Then at Download in the UK in June, while we were signing stuff at a meet & greet we hear a female voice say “Hey there cowboy”.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ashley smile that brightly since Soundwave as soon as he laid eyes on her leaning against the wall, her arms crossed, blowing bubblemint bubbles – although she called it chewing gum, dressed in cowboy boots, skinny jeans, leather jacket, bandana’s, cowboy hat and sunglasses, her iPod we’d all signed in hand and a pack on her back.

They ended up hanging out again but not for as long seeing as she had to get a flight back to Australia soon, but they made the most of the time they had.

Anyway from what Ashley told us all after we dragged him out of the airport (he was in tears and refusing to move, poor guy) and back to the hotel we were staying at (which ironically enough was the same one she was in before she left), he told us what happened when he had finished crying, he really wanted her to stay even though they both knew she had to go home.

They had gone out to see a movie together which I think was nice, they ended up seeing Rock Of Ages which I’ve heard is pretty good and is packed with 80’s music, but I didn’t get to see it which was a bummer, maybe I’ll see if I can get it on iTunes.

Anyway then they went bowling with her winning, then they had dinner together which was also nice, then they hung out at a pub for a bit, playing pool and drinking Jack Daniels.

After that they went back to Ashley’s room and he didn’t tell us any more than that, partially cos we didn’t want all the dirty details (except perhaps CC and maybe Andy) and partially cos Ashley was really miserable the next morning – he’d been nursing a crush on her since Soundwave and after that night he was sure he was in love with her, and I could see where he was coming from with that.

Then he said that the next morning he’d woken up alone, which wasn’t unusual for him except that no-one he’d ever slept with had stayed with him other than her.

He also said that to him, that was the first time he’d ever made love cos it meant way more than personal satisfaction to both of them; they both felt there was more to them than that.

He told us about the letter she’d left that had tear stains on them and a CD she’d forgotten to pack. Ashley was almost always listening to it whenever we weren’t onstage, in interviews, sleeping or starting work on our new album.

Speaking of which I'm not sure what we’re going to do with our new album, probably branch out into a different style of music, go outside our comfort zones so to speak.

Pulling myself out of my train of thought as CC, Jake and I followed Gabby, Ashley & Andy as we went to what she called ‘Grand Central’ for one of her appointments, I heard Jake and CC chatter about Gabby and Ashley, and whether or not they’d get together.

“So do either of you think they’ll get together?” asked Jake. “I hope they do, they seem to be good for each other, and they’re nuts about each other too. Did you guys see the looks Gabby kept giving Ashley?” said CC. I thought about that as we turned a corner, CC did have a point – Gabby did look at Ashley a lot, he did too.

“Yeah I noticed that, both of them had that ‘I’m in love’ look whenever they look at each other, which was a lot” I said as we stopped behind Gabby at a set of traffic lights.

“Andy thinks they’ll be together soon” said Jake, holding up his phone, he must have texted Andy so the two lovebirds didn’t find out what we were talking about and accidentally anger them. Apparently Gabby was ‘the daughter of the devil’ when she got pissed off, but only when someone goes too far according to Ash, and with some people in her classes it was highly likely to happen while we're there.

“I think they’d be a great couple” I said, “It’d be awful to see Ashley heartbroken again if they don’t, or if we leave before they get it on” said CC, remembering how miserable he was, listening to the sound of her voice on the CD she’d forgotten.

One time I listened to it with him and Andy while Jake and CC were playing COD on the Xbox we always took on tours with us, realising they were some vocal covers she’d done in her spare time, her voice was pretty awesome, especially on ‘The Mortician’s Daughter’, ‘More Than Words’, ‘Every Rose Has It’s Thorn’, ‘I Remember You’, ‘Magic Works’ and ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’.

Though I had to admit, she was pretty good at our songs that were on there (The Mortician’s Daughter, Coffin, Fallen Angels, Rebel Love Song, Youth & Whisky And Perfect Weapon), with Andy agreeing, he and Ashley then proceeded to check out her other covers on her YouTube channel which just so happened to be LadyOutlaw92, that made Ashley smile.

“Somehow we have to get them together” said Jake, breaking the comfortable silence as we turned onto ‘Russell Street’. “We so do, I'm pretty sure she’d say yes if he asked her to be his girl” said CC, grinning insanely (as usual). “How d’you know that C?” said Jake turning to look at him.

“When Andy & I went over to get her other guitar & headset mics with her, I asked her if there was any reason she was looking at Ashley aside from the fact that she’s totally in love with him and that we saw the way she looked at him, and that he talks about her the way you two talk about Ella and Sammi. She blushed, not even denying it as a lot of girls do so I'm thinking that she knows that she loves him. Anyway she said that he was an amazing guy in both ways, and that he’s one of the best men she’d ever met aside from the rest of us and a few other people. Then she said if he ever asked her to be his she would say yes in a heartbeat, then she mentioned the headsets which Andy had to get down for her then we came back to the hall” CC explained.

“We definitely have to get them together” said Jake, texting Andy and asking for his opinion. Jake read out Andy’s reply when it came through. “'I agree with what CC said about when we got the headsets and her awesome Warlock guitar, she had the second-brightest smile on her face and I say second brightest cos it was only brighter when she was around Ashley, same with him. I don’t want to see either of them heartbroken even though we’ve only just met her'” Jake read off his phone.

“Tell him we’ll have to talk about it later, we’re pulling up now and we don’t have time to mess about” I said, pulling into a empty spot next to Gabby who was getting out and grabbing her schoolbag, not bothering with her jacket so her tattooed/painted arms were completely visible even though she ditched the gloves and bandana’s on her wrist and added her sunglasses and cowboy hat, a bandana tied around her neck.

“Come on guys, we don’t have much time” she said, leading us through a store and up a level then out the store and around the corner into a cosmetic shop.

“Can we have a look around in here while you get your piercings done?” Andy asked her. She nodded and told the staff person behind the counter what she was here for then she was lead to the piercing room.

“I wonder if this is where she gets her makeup stuff from” said CC, inspecting the eyeliners, Ashley was looking at the nail polishes, Andy at the foundations and Jake and I were casually standing there, looking around at everything.

“Mm-hm, she told me one time when we were chatting on Skype, she was getting ready to go out to dinner with her cousins in Townsville I think it was called. She said they were some of her family that approved of how she looked and encouraged her to go for it. She even said one of her cousins was into music and had a few covers of his own and that he plays guitar but gets shy about it” said Ashley, frowning slightly when he couldn’t find chrome nail polish which is what I think he was looking for, he tends to do that at every cosmetic store and Wal-Mart we go to.

“Way cool, maybe we should say hi to her relatives that accept her for who she is” Andy suggested, still looking through the foundations.

“They’d like that actually, they’re also part of the BVB army, they just hide it around my dad” said Gabby coming out of the piercing room, the other side of her lip pierced along with her ears in the spots she’d mentioned.

“They look cool, did they hurt?” I said, grinning at her, she just gave me thumbs up then shook her head. “Thumbs up for ‘thanks’ and head shake for ‘nah didn’t really hurt but talking does make it a bit sore for a little while’?” Ashley translated, Gabby nodded, grinning.

Then she sent us a group message, “Let’s get out of here, there’s another Cosmetics Plus (where we are now) you guys can snoop further in where I'm going to get the groceries later, but we gotta get going, traffic is fucking annoying this time of day, we’ll have to park behind Super Amart and go through there, most direct route unless you fancy walking around the entire block to the damn agency”

“What’s Super Amart?” CC messaged, we had to use the group message to talk, we were in a hurry and Gabby can walk pretty damn quickly when she wants to, even in boots that have a bit of a heel. “Furniture store” she replied going down to the ground floor, us guys hot on her heels as we all got back into the cars, same arrangement as earlier.

I noticed on our way down that Gabby’s mood was souring; she mustn’t like dealing with the employment agency much. Then we parked behind the furniture store and quickly made our way through there and crossed the road and went into what I noticed was called the Heritage arcade, Gabby stopped us before we went into the agency.

“Ok guys, when we go in, just sit down and keep your phones on silent, use earphones if you feel like listening to stuff, I shouldn’t be too long in here, though I doubt it’s going to go well, I’ve been getting lousy hours lately and the ones they want me to do I can't, so I’ve had to get a second job, J5 has too so we can make ends meet and still have moolah left over, which is a pain in the ass. Anyway you lot sit down, hopefully I won’t be long” she said, before leading us in and indicating where to sit.

Then after talking to the receptionist she sat with us, her foot impatiently tapping, and a small frown on her face.

Then a consultant came out and called out her name, she let out an irritated sigh before standing and swinging her backpack onto her back.

“Good luck in there” Ashley whispered, kissing her hand and smiling at her. I could have sworn she blushed walking away, a small smile on her face. A little while later she came back out, scowling, some papers in her hand, and then she walked out the door, cursing under her breath.

We all looked at each other alarmed then we followed her, “Wait up Gab” Ashley called out to her, thankfully she had the sense to slow down. When we caught up with her Ashley immediately enveloped her in a hug as she gave the papers she was holding to CC. “What happened in there?” Jake asked worriedly.

CC POV
“Bloody ignorant assholes, they never think to ask if there was anything else I'm interested in, sure I may have been into hospitality years ago when I first started going there but I made it clear to them years ago that it’s not what I want to do. They never think to ask if I'm interested in anything else and I’ve told them time and time again that I'm interested in music, photography and graphic designing but they insist on putting me into hospitality, they made me do a chef apprenticeship trial which I didn’t want to do cos I can't handle the pressure and stress that put me under, it was horrible enough years ago when I worked in a restaurant doing work experience there. They just don't understand, thankfully the restaurant did when I said I couldn’t do it about halfway through, they gave me lunch & a drink for free and said they would explain to those jerks which they did, and I was damn grateful for that. It doesn’t help my case worker is a total bitch either” she explained, breaking down in Ashley’s arms, he held her, rubbing her back and kissing her forehead every now and then which calmed her down pretty quickly and effectively.

I looked at the papers in my hands to see they were for hospitality jobs that she knew she couldn’t handle, including several apprenticeships and jobs that looked pretty stressful and required experience that she didn’t have. “Damn that sucks” said Andy, giving her a hug, as did we all.

“What do you actually do for a job?” I asked as Jake went to get her a drink. “I’m a bartender at Club Glenvale during the week on Tuesdays to Thursdays, and I also work at a hair salon on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays” she replied, sniffling and accepting the drink from Jake with a teary smile.

“Bartender huh? That’s pretty cool” said Andy. “Yeah it is, I can watch the footy while there as well, and I drop in on weekends to catch the games I can't get at home, seeing as we don’t have foxtel and couldn’t be bothered getting it” she smiled, taking a large sip of her drink.

“Hey Gab, if you don't mind me asking, have you had more tattoos done since Download?” asked Andy, he was looking at her arms. “Yeah I have; my hairs also longer since then. I got this Bon Jovi one on my arm and the two on my outer arms dedicated to Poseidon and Apollo since download and the outline between my shoulders on my back” she explained, showing us the Bon Jovi logo and the two Greek god ones. “I designed them as well, but not the Bon Jovi one or the BVB winged logo” she stated.

“They look awesome, wait, the guitar in the Apollo one looks familiar” said Ashley, taking her arm and inspecting it closely.

“That’s because it’s your Spire bass, I just made the white emerald green, the black into chrome or as close as I could get it, then I added your facial warpaint in black, with ‘The Deviant’ along the edge also in chrome, I left the fret board black obviously, but yeah that’s another Harry Potter/BVB crossover I thought up which I called 'Devious Slytherin' as well as Destroying Gryffindor and the other three Mourning Ravenclaw for Jake, Mystic Ravenbich for Jinxx and Hufflepuff’s Prophecy for Andy” she explained, looking at her Apollo design on her left arm and Poseidon design on her right arm, and they looked awesome.

Andy groaned, “You’re a Harry bloody Potter fan aren’t you? God dammit” he said, which turned out to be a very bad idea because next second her face was almost demonic and she got right up in his face and growled (almost identically to Andy).

“No-one asked you for your opinion, filthy little Mudblood.... who insulted Hufflepuff’s everywhere. And should you EVER say anything like that or take something too far... you'll regret it and find out just how violent I can get and why I'm sometimes known as 'Outlaw'. And for future reference, I have a black belt in karate, so a fight with me is usually a bad idea for whoever is dumb enough to instigate it and I'm not afraid to stand up for myself even if it's a band member I have a problem with” she snarled before she sneered at him before stalking back over to Ashley and sitting on his lap, where he automatically enclosed her in his arms, she automatically leaned into him.

“You want some Aloe Vera for that burn Andy?” I said, catching onto the fact that the series meant a lot to her. Andy stood there shocked with his mouth open and eyes wide.

“Look Andy, I get that you’re not a Potterhead or a fan of Harry Potter, you said that in a Bryan Stars interview you did with Matt Good, but for god’s sake, don’t insult Harry Potter around me or preferably at all, I grew up with that series, along with Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings etc.. I got the first book when I was a little girl and I’ve been a fan of it since, now including a deathly hallows sign on my ankle that I got with a friend of mine, and the dark mark on my left wrist” she explained, holding it out to show us.

“That actually looks pretty cool” Andy said, the rest of us nodding in agreement. “Why not give it a chance? I converted some of my friends who hated it, now they absolutely love it and have HP tattoos themselves” she suggested, suddenly burping, sending us all into a fit of laughter, including her.

“Well I was definitely not expecting that to happen! Come on guys lets go, I have parcels to pick up, makeup to get, groceries to get, last-minute costume stuff to get” said Gabby, tossing out her empty bottle and the papers from the employment agency.

We all got back into the cars; this time with Andy joining us so Gabby & Ashley could have time to themselves. We pulled out of the amart carpark, only to pull up again at Gardentown which was pretty close by.

Jake POV
“Why are we stopping here?” I asked, a little confused. “Visiting my favourite shop where I got Purdinxx from and where I get supplies from now and again, like strings whenever I'm not using D’Addario, picks and drumsticks. Anyway a few months back I put in an order for a Mockingbird which I'm to pick up today, getting Destroying Gryffindor was very unexpected, though it did explain why my design went missing and why my ICT teacher photocopied my designs along with the list of specs I had in mind” Gabby explained, taking Ashley’s hand, leading us to the escalator-thing where she jumped the last few stairs when we were nearly at the bottom, causing Ashley to curse, he didn’t expect her to do that.

“Come on Deviant, it wasn’t that bad!” she teased, almost running to a shop called ‘Royce Music House’ where she waited for us to catch up. When we did she grinned and walked in, immediately going to look around at the guitars, the rest of us splitting.

CC immediately went over to the drumkits around the corner after Gabby pointed out where they were, Ashley to the basses, Andy to wherever, so Jinxx and I followed her to the guitars which were on the other side of the wall that separated the guitars and basses.

“Hey Gab, what brings you here today?” asked one of the staff members, fist-bumping her. “Hey Matt, just showing my friends around and picking up the Mockingbird I ordered”

“Ah yes I’ll just bring that out for you” said Matt, going somewhere. “Find anything you like Ash?” she called out to him; “Yeah they have some cool stuff here” he called back, joining us at the guitars which I was inspecting closely.

“You know Jake you can ask to hold them, they’ll even plug them into an amp for you if you want” “True story, she comes in and plays every now and then, she's got some damn good talent on a guitar” said Matt, returning with a box which he set down carefully, Gabby’s face brightening.

“Uh Gab; we’re not going to get our Mockingbirds mixed up are we?” I asked, seeing as I use BC Rich Mockingbirds onstage.

“Not unless you have one that’s black, teal & chrome with ‘REBEL’ across the front, crossed teal Lightsabers on the back, teal force lightning also on the front and chrome/teal drumstick & rebel logo inlays on the fret board with the BVB logo on the 12th fret” she said, showing us the original design she’d drawn up which was pretty damn epic and very vibrantly colored.

“Holy hell that looks cool” Jinxx said while I tested out a few guitars, which they did indeed plug into an amp. “Guys, they have some pretty cool drums here” CC said, bounding up to us. Gabby laughed and went to have a look, grabbing a few sets of drumsticks as she went.

“What does she have drumsticks for?” Ashley asked, a little confused. “She told us while you were having fun with ‘Lil Outlaw’ that she started learning how to play drums last year” Andy explained, using air quotes for 'Lil Outlaw'. “Ah” said Ashley, looking at the guitar straps while we waited for Gabby & CC to return and for me to finish with the guitars.

“Ok let’s get a move on” said Gabby as she walked up to the counter and paid for her new drumsticks, CC following with his own. Ashley and I carried her new guitar out to her ute.

She opened the lid thing and the tailgate so Ash & I could get it in then we shut it. “Clifford Gardens now guys. All the other stops I need to make are there” she said, all of us hopping back in and driving off.

We got out at the shopping centre and we went to the post office where we decided to wait outside, shortly after Gabby came out with a few packages, grinning widely. “What’s in here?” I asked, curious.

“Let’s see, the puffy envelope thing has the cloak for my costume I mentioned earlier, the box on the bottom has the collar thing, the other box has the makeup I need for it. I’ve done the dress, headdress and gloves already, I just have to practise the makeup which I’m modifying a bit and get shoes for it” she told us, putting the packages down. “Who are you cosplaying as?” I asked.

“Queen Amidala from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, I’m doing her parade gown at the end of the movie. And before you ask, I'm not saying who I'm going as for the other party” she said, opening the puffy envelope to reveal a pretty cloak before she put it away.

Then she opened the other packages before humming in satisfaction and passing them to us to carry, seeing as she had her backpack on her back which looked kind of heavy.

Then we went in, heading into another cosmetics plus. “Told ya’s there was another of these stores” she said, laughing before picking up a basket and grabbing the cosmetics she needed, I noticed aside from black & chrome she grabbed a fair few things that were also teal.

Soon after we walked out and she sat at a bench before grabbing a notepad and pen from her backpack and reading what was on there. She mumbled about having to get more of this and that then she pulled some of her hair in front of her face, then she frowned slightly.

“I’ll have to re-dye my hair later.... any of you guys want your hair dyed?” she asked us.

We nodded, all of us needed our hair re-dyed, she grinned, “Cool, mine needs re-doing anyway and J5 wants his done again anyway, so I need to get bright colours cos he used the last of them and I used the last of the black” “What colour is his hair?” Andy asked as we walked to a grocery store called Coles, Gabby ensured she had her list ready and a silvery blue card of some sort.

“He’s actually a walking rainbow, seeing as he loves rainbow dash so much he asked me to dye his hair rainbow colours and it’s in need of re-dying and he can't dye his hair too well, sometimes I dye my hair to match my fave pony from MLP” she explained.

We laughed and went in, grabbing a trolley as we went, following Gabby around as she got the things we needed from here.

As we walked through the aisles the trolley got fuller and fuller, Gabby started grumbling about how there was no way she’d be able to afford this, plus she still had to go to Woolworths for some stuff and her tattoo appointment tomorrow. “We’ll help you out, it’s the least we could do for you letting us crash at your place” I said, smiling at her.

She smiled back “Thanks Jake... that’s all we need from down here” she said, walking into the next aisle heading for the hair dyes.

She grabbed a few bright colours for J5 and put them in the trolley before going back for the black dye for the 6 of us, and a LOT of it, especially for her, CC & Ashley, cos their hair is longer than Andy's, Jinxx's and mine.

Then we went into the aisle that made us guys relatively uncomfortable, what with all the girl products around.

Gabby spotted our expressions and almost pissed herself laughing, walking off to grab what she needed texting Ashley to get his opinion on something. He walked over and they chatted for a few minutes, comparing several boxes before Gabby pointed out one or two in particular that Ashley seemed to be keen on so she grabbed them and a few other things before putting them in the trolley, Ashley wearing that smug grin of his.

“Let me guess, we don’t want to know?” said Andy, “Cherry Pie” Ashley & Gabby said in unison making us all cringe, Andy shuddered – yep we definitely didn’t want to know...

Then we grabbed a few more things we needed and went to the checkout, getting through surprisingly quickly despite how much stuff we had.

Then Gabby led us out of Coles and around to the other side of the centre to where Woolworths was. “At least one of you needs to babysit the stuff from Coles while I go and get the rest of the things we need, any of you care to accompany me?” “Sure” Jinxx and I said at the same time.

“We’ll wait out here” said Andy, gesturing to CC and Ashley. Gabby nodded and walked off with me and Jinxx, grabbing another trolley and flipping to her list for Woolworths.

She started walking off, indicating us to follow her so we did. “Motherfuckers!” she complained quietly when she saw the product we needed was out of her reach.

“Jake can you reach that?” she asked, indicating to what we needed. I nodded and grabbed it, putting it in the trolley.

A little while later she’d gotten the last of the stuff we needed, including cream to put on her back when she gets her tattoo filled in tomorrow. “What now?” Jinxx asked, “Let’s go find a checkout that’s open and preferably without a line-up. Then we’ll stop into a shoe shop briefly so I can get the shoes I’ll need for my costume then we’ll head home for a bit then head out later for dinner” she said, putting up the things we were getting.

“Hey Gab; what are these for?” I asked, holding a small box that said ‘heat patches’.

She looked up from what she was doing and said “I put them on my lower back when I get nasty cramps from the time of the month stuff, they’re pretty handy and stay warm for hours” she explained while we all put the things we were getting onto the conveyor belt thing.

Then we paid for the food and headed back to Andy, Ashley & CC who were chatting about something. “Almost done guys, one stop left before heading back to my place” said Gabby. “What's left?” asked Andy. “Just a pair of shoes for my costume, I know where to go for them”

We went back around to where the cosmetic shop was to a shoe shop next to it and she quickly found a pair of silver shoes that she said went well with the costume and were in her size, so she bought them and we made our way out to the cars, CC & Andy carrying the packages from the post office, Jinxx and I pushing the trolleys, Gabby & Ashley carrying the cosmetics plus bag and the one with her costume shoes while holding hands.

I seriously think that they would make a great couple; I hope Ashley asks her out soon...

Then we got back to the cars, loaded them up and headed home, this time with me joining Gabby & Ashley in her Ute which was pretty cool and had comfy seats. Then she plugged her iPhone onto the hands-free whatever it was and pressed play and the sound of Metallica filled the car.

“Yahoo! Metallica!” I cheered, Metallica is an awesome band. Gabby laughed and Ashley rolled his eyes as we pulled out of Clifford gardens and we drove to where she and J5 lived.

Soon after we pulled up in the driveway, Jinxx pulling in beside us.

“Here we are, mine and J5’s house” as we got out I heard a dog barking, “That’ll be Zeba, J5’s dog. My cat will probably be sleeping somewhere” said Gabby as she got out with her things.

Then she locked the Ute and went to open the front door of her house while ash and I started unloading everything, Andy, CC & Jinxx doing the same with the rental car.

We all started bringing stuff in and she shut the door and put on the air-con when we had it all inside, her parcels, makeup & costume stuff in the lounge room.

“Welcome to ‘Nintendo Land’ as J5 calls it, don't ask me why” said Gabby as we all put the grocery stuff away, leaving the bathroom stuff and hair-dyes on the table as we put everything away.

“Neato” said CC, looking around, immediately spotting a few piles of video games that were stacked by console, I noticed there wasn't any room left on the shelves in the room so they had to be stacked on the floor. “I see he found the video games” Gabby laughed as she started trying to get something out of her eye. “Contact lenses?” I asked as she got the first one out.

“Yep, can't see too well without them, I use these at school and I wear glasses the rest of the time” she explained, moving to sit in the lounge area but running into a wall with a fairly audible 'thud'. “Fuck! Who put that there?!” she shouted as everyone came running to see her holding her head while I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer.

“What happened?” asked Jinxx as Andy held the pack to her head after I handed it to him. “Walked into what I think was a wall” “You think?” CC repeated, a little confused.

“I can't see very well, so I wear contact lenses at school and glasses at home, and me being me, forgot I didn’t have my contacts in as I went to sit in the lounge room” she explained.

“Want me to get your glasses for you?” Ashley asked. “Yes please, last I saw they were on my bedside table and if Jemima’s upstairs can you bring her down with you please?” “Sure” Ashley smiled before sprinting upstairs.

“Who’s Jemima?” asked Jinxx as Andy lead Gabby to the lounge and we all sat down. “She’s my cat” Gabby explained as Ashley came back down with a pair of black glasses that he handed to Gabby and a brown cat who meowed every few seconds before jumping from Ashley to Andy and settling on his lap.

Gabby put her glasses on, “Ah that’s better” she sighed in relief. “Can't see too well without them?” asked Andy, who was now holding Jemima as she purred in his lap. “Nah, I’m like half-blind without them or contacts” she said before looking around.

“Zeba!” she called out and a small dog came running in. “Hey buddy, where’s your master?” she said, Zeba barked before leading her off. She came back a few minutes later with who I'm guessing was J5 from the faded rainbow hair colour.

“Everyone, this is J5, thanks Zeba for helping me find him” “Hi guys, I’m Jeremy Whitnall, but everyone calls me J5” he introduced himself.

Then we introduced ourselves then got ourselves drinks. Gabby got herself a XXXX gold beer that she said was one of her favourite drinks on the alcohol side. She got me and CC one too; Jinxx & Ashley a Jack Daniels and Andy a monster, J5 got himself a vanilla coke.

“Oh wow this stuff’s good” I said, after taking a sip of it, CC agreeing. “Told ya it’s good stuff” she said laughing. “Can we try it too?” Andy asked. “Sure” she said before grabbing another can and a few cups, pouring it out before handing it to them, with them agreeing it was awesome.

Then with our drinks in hand, we all reconvened into the lounge room, Gabby & Ash sharing a recliner, the rest of us sitting somewhere. “So what’ll we do now?” asked Andy.

Notes