Vacancy

6. Arielle.

"What the fuck happened?!" Was the first thing Arielle said when I opened the door to her. She stood in a pair of cut off jeans, a purple singlet and white Taylor's. Her long dark hair tucked behind her ears and she had a worried look on her face.

I ushered her in quickly and up the stairs so Jordan, Ainsley and Aliyah wouldn't see my crying. "Jessy? Is that you?" Ainsley called from the living room.

"Yeah, Arielle and I have some stuff to do." I called back, my voice breaking slightly. Arianna hugged me on the stairs, making me cry even more. I sobbed into her shoulder and froze on the spot, my legs felt like jelly and I just wanted to collapse into a ball.

"Your father won't be home until late so I was thinking we should order food tonight, is Ari staying?" Ainsley called again. I nodded, realising suddenly that Ainsley couldn't see me. "Yes please." I called back, staying strong.

"Okay love, I'll call you down to look at the menus in a little while girls!" She called once more as the two of us got to the top of the stairs.

"Jess?" Arielle snapped me out of my daze and I stopped staring blankly at the wall. The two of us sat in the middle of my bed. "What happened?" She asked again.

I told her about lunch with Gina, which Arielle couldn't come to, I told her about the missed calls and the Skype call. "He broke up with you just like that?!" She gasped.

"He didn't even shed a tear Ari." I choked up and began crying again.

"Do you want me to speak to Luke, get him to make Jai see sense?"

"No!" I yelled, "I mean, I don't want any fuss, Jai's made up his mind. I'll get over it, however much I want him." I felt like giving up.

"You have to fight for him Jess! I know he loves you!" She begged, "call him? Please?" She finished.

I searched around for my phone, finally finding it wedged between my pillows. I had 8 missed calls, all from Jai.

Just seeing his name made me cry again.

"I can't do it Ari. I need time to cool off." I cried. She hugged me tightly and began tapping say on her own phone.

"GIRLS, WE'RE ORDERING!" Ainsley called from downstairs, just as Arielle's phone began ringing.

"You know what I like, I'll be down in a second." She smiled and answered her phone. From the way she answered, I was certain it was Luke.

"Where's Ari?" Smiled Jordan. They had dated briefly before her and Luke and he always thought she still wanted him, and as she was my best friend, it was pretty awkward for me.

"She's on the phone, she'll have a cheese burger and fries though, but no onions or cucumber in the salad." I responded, I knew her better than I knew myself.

In the end I ordered the same, but with hot chilli sauce and some onion rings for the two of us to share. I loved spicy food, but thinking about it made me think of Jai again.

We always picked the spiciest foods to try whenever we went out. It usually resulted in Beau or Daniel getting it as well to try and show us that they could handle it, and them crying at the end because their lips felt blistered.

I missed those boys more than anything right now.

I needed James to tell me everything would be okay.

I needed Daniel to say something stupid and make me laugh.

I needed Luke to give me some wise quote from an old guy I've never heard of.

I needed Beau to pretend to flirt with me to make Jai jealous.

But most of all, I needed Jai. To hug me, to kiss me and to make me feel like I was the only person in the world that mattered.