I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and into my Uggs; these tiles are pretty but they get so cold. The balcony is empty and all the pillows and blankets have been brought inside. How long have I been asleep for? I close the double doors and check under my pillow and the bedside table for my phone. It’s nowhere to be seen, neither is Sophie. With a final scan of the room, I notice all evidence of last night is gone. Even the pillow on my reading chair has been straightened.

Making my way down stairs I hear whispering voices in the kitchen. “Sophie, are you in here? I’ll need coffee before you jump out and scare me or anything like that.”

“In the kitchen,” she sings happily. “Get your cute little ass down here.”

As I step into the kitchen I see her stacking the dishwasher, gently arranging all the glassware we used last night. She turns, smiling brightly. Her smile is infectious and it instantly fills a little bit of the emptiness. One day at a time, Kinsley. You survived yesterday, let’s do it again. At least the voices are on my side today, that’s a positive.

Movement to my right catches my eye. Jesse is sitting at the dining table, fiddling with an empty coffee cup.

“You brought coffee?”

“Well, kind of … I did bring coffee, but Miss ‘Kinsley needs her rest, don’t you dare wake her’ wouldn’t let me bring it to you, so I drank it.” He shrugs, with that big cheesy grin spreading across his face. “Sorry, Meadow.”

“He’s not really sorry. If he was, he would take us out for breakfast,” Sophie speaks up, propping her hands on her hips.

“You guys do realise I’m doing my grad year … Teaching. This coffee wasn’t even in my budget!”

I throw my hands in the air. “My shout then, let me throw some clothes on.”

“Psst!” Jesse whisper-shouts to Sophie. “She’s willingly leaving the house!”

“I heard that!” I say, without even turning back to look at them.

These two might drive me a little bonkers, but when it comes to times like this … Times where I count on them to show up for me, they do so without fail.

Jesse

Kinsley is only gone momentarily before appearing again, her hair is up on the top of her head in a messy bun and she switched her pyjamas for leggings and a hoodie. Wait, that’s my freaking jumper!

“Hey!” Walking right up into her space I tug on the drawstrings around the hood. “This is mine!”

The smile on her face tells me she knows. “Mine now,” she says with an evil grin, stepping around me. I’ll have to steal it back off of her later on; it’s my favourite.

“Come on, kids,” Soph hollas from the front door. “I’m starving!”

* * *