remember when I knew

CHEN AZALEA

CHEN AZALEA was sat on her bed, some random show still on –she honestly didn't know what it was, but she appreciated the sound of people talking.

She was busy braiding Chloe's hair, which would probably take a few hours, she realised now, seeing how thick and curly it was, barely listening to the girl in question as she went on about who knew.

"We should do this more often," Lucas declared, leaning back from his pillow on the floor.

"You're just saying that because I had to cancel a date for tonight," John pointed out, glaring at his brother.

"You don't need to date, you're still young, and there are plenty of fish in the sea. I'm giving you more time and more options!"

"You're such an overprotective caveman," was the only reply.

"Hold on, I thought that chick was the mom, but now they're making out- Who the fuck is she?" Jai let out a confused whine, focused on the screen.

"Wasn't the blonde one the mom?" Aiden wondered. "And then, the-"

"The blonde one's the aunt," Azalea corrected. "The mum was a redhead."

"A redhead? The fuck- Wasn't any redhead!"

"White people all look the same," John complained.

"Agreed," Azalea nodded. "So darn confusing."

"We should go make the pizzas," Lucas suddenly jumped on his feet, already about to head to the kitchen in no time. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Chloe immediately gasped at him, crossing her arms over her Little Pony pyjamas. "You what now?"

Reece elbowed Lucas with a glare, and the boy shook his head quickly. "I wouldn't, of course. I wouldn't eat a horse. Because you like horses, I like horses, but like, alive. Not alive, I want to eat them alive, but alive- Whatevs. I'm not eating a horse, I'm eating a pig, and for some reason that's more OK."

"Well I'm really excited to try the vegan cheese Reece found when we were shopping!" Chloe ranted. "I've only tried one once, but I don't remember very well. And oh, we've also got-"

"You did by the courgette, right?" Azalea worried. It was the one thing she'd asked for her pizza. It could be real or fake cheese, horse or pig, for all she cared, she just needed the courgette.

"The- Or right, we got zucchini," she nodded back. "Don't you worry. And then, we found those small round dough pieces –they're so cute– and we thought we could all make our own tiny pizzas, and-"

She was interrupted when they got to the kitchen, because in the second that followed, all five boys seemed to become monsters that hadn't eaten for days, all jumping at the fridge at the same time, before throwing stuff all over the place, flour already raining over them.

"What the hell-" Azalea started, blinking at the human tornado.

"They did go swimming earlier," Chloe shrugged. "All I did was eat skittles in my bed watching the Dragon Prince..."

"Hey!" Someone yelped from the island, "You got tomato sauce in my pants, you-"

Chloe tried to walk to the fridge and get her own dough, but she was soon enough frozen in the middle of the war-zone. "Uh... Could I- Please?"

"HEY!"  Azalea yelled for her, and everyone stopped in their tracks, turning their heads to her as she narrowed her eyes. "You, put your pants back on, you bloody bell-end, and both of you, the cheese goes on the pizzas, not the floor. No! Don't try to eat it, it was on the floor! And make some space for us to breathe, jeez. The pizzas are not disappearing just because you've stopped acting like clowns on steroids."

Silence followed, and slowly, they all started to move again, in a calmer way. Azalea caught the twins nervously glancing sideways at her, and she sighed in a roll of her eyes. "I'm not gonna eat you if you leave me some pizza, don't fret it."

"You really have to teach me how to do that," Chloe grinned. "You're my hero, like slay queen!"

"Yeah, sure." Azalea nodded. "It was just the hunger talking."

"Hey! Az, look at my pizza!" Jai tapped her shoulder excitingly, showing her his plate.

"Uh... What is that? A face?" She wondered, staring at the mozzarella and tomatoes drawing in confusion.

"It's you!" He explained. "Look, that's your eyes, and those are your scowl, and the zucchini your brows frowning– you're always frowning, except when we watch people getting beaten up."

"Right," she nodded slowly. "It's... a masterpiece. Truly brilliant. But you do realise the cheese's gonna melt, right?"

Twenty minutes later, Jai was pouting at his decomposed pizza-face, his fork playing with the top of it. "This isn't fair."

"It'll stay in our memories," Azalea promised. "And I took a picture."

Jai turned his head to look at her, his scowl fading as he remained serious and thoughtful a few seconds. Feeling self-conscious, Azalea tilted her head. "What?"

He shook his, pursing his lips together. "Nothing," he shrugged dismissively. "Just thinking."

"Ah. What were you thinking about?"

"You know." His cheeks turned the faintest pink. "Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well..." He hesitated a little. "Just how grateful I am to have you," he whispered. "You've helped me a lot, and yeah- You're cool."

"Cool," Azalea repeated, observing him closely as he played with the hem of his shirt.

"Well, you're nice, smart, funny, pretty- A bit violent, now that I think of it, and very stubborn. Kind of a punch-first-ask-later person, but... You're cool."

"Jai-"

"Hey you two coming?" Lucas asked from the living room, making both of them jump. She'd forgotten that they were standing in the kitchen alone, and that the others had been waiting for them for at least a quarter now.

"Yeah, yeah!"

She was not done with this conversation. Definitely not.

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