Australia

Sam’s POV

I inhaled deeply and opened my eyes slowly; yawning. I immediately came face to face with Joe; his beautiful face smiling at me. His eyes were warm and still half asleep and the smile on his face soft and sweet. He was awake and he was watching me. I smiled at him and snuggled into him; my face buried in the soft cotton of his tee shirt. I inhaled the scent of warmth that sleep had produced, the faint traces of Joe’s body wash and the soft apple fragrance of the washing powder. I felt him slowly move his arms around me and held me close to him.

“Good morning,” he whispered.

“Good morning,” I replied with a yawn; muffled against Joe’s shirt. I moved and rested my head on his bicep. “What time is it?”

“Around 10ish,” he responded with a smile.

“Really? And your mum hasn’t come to wake us up or anything?” I moved again; shifting my weight to my elbow.

“Nope,” he smiled. “it’s Saturday. I guess she wanted to let us sleep in or something.”

“Or she heard us come in at three in the morning and wants us to rest up before she yells at us,” I added.

“That’s more likely,” he frowned. “Anyway, Garbo texted me. He asked if I wanted to hang with him and Jack today.”

“Cool,” I sat up completely; stretching my arms above my head.

I stifled a yawn with the back of my arm. I caught I whiff of what I smelled like and remembered I hadn’t showered. Why did Joe still smell so good?

“You can come with if you want,” Joe offered sitting up as well; leaning against the wall behind him. “I know Jack and Garbo wouldn’t mind.”

“No, it’s okay,” I smiled warmly. “You go have your guy time. I need to shower and do some tidying up anyway. My room’s a bomb site.”

“I can see that,” Joe agreed, laughing lightly. “You’re sure?”

“Positive,” I nodded. “I’ll hang with Nick or something. He’s good company.”

“Alright,” Joe smiled and pushed back the covers. “I better go shower. I smell like sweat and I’m not sure if its all mine.”

“I think you smell good,” I told him. I leaned into him and kissed him on the lips.

“I don’t,” he grinned as he pulled away. “But, I could really get used to waking up next to you.”

“I could too,” I agreed.

“Okay,” Joe slid out of the bed; leaning down and kissing me again. “Off I go to take a shower. I love you Sam.”

“I love you too Joe,” I smiled.

I watched him pad his way to my door and peer out it. I heard him make a dash for the bathroom. I shook my head and laughed at him.

I made my way down the stairs an hour later; showered and dressed in a long sleeve shirt, tee shirt and jeans. I had slipped into my slippers on the way out my door. I walked quickly; determined to find something hot for breakfast, like porridge or tea. I pushed the door open gently and found Nick sitting in one of the dining chairs. He was staring at the screen of his open laptop; elbows resting on the table, hands clasped together and his chin resting on his knuckles. His expression read frustrated. I found it adorable.

“Don’t think so hard, Nicky,” I laughed. “You’ll burst a blood vessel.”

Nick didn’t say anything. I walked to the cabinet and pulled out the coffee mug I used. I dropped a tea bag into the mug along with two sugars and waited for the kettle to boil. I tilted my head and watched Nick; he looked almost statuesque. I frowned and sat in the chair across from him; mimicking his position perfectly. But instead of the laptop, his face was my focus. I stared at him for a moment before starting to pull faces at him. I stuck my tongue out, crossed my eyes and squished my nose up like a pig. I continued to watch his eyes as I did so. His eye brow cocked and he broke his focus; looking up at me.

“You know, if the wind changes, your face will stay that way,” he smirked at me.

I let go of my nose and frowned at him. The kettle started whistling behind me and I stood up to tend to it.

“What were you so focused on anyway?” I asked him; pouring the boiling water into my mug. “Oh! Do you want one?”

“Please,” he responded with a smile. He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his eyes; pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and fore finger.

I pulled out another mug; one with a picture of Nick when he was really little on it, and fixed him a cup of tea.

“Just one sugar?” I asked; not sure.

“Yes please,” he replied; stretching his arms above his head. “Oh, and I was just doing some of the algebra work my mum laid out for me.”

“Oh,” I nodded, knowingly.

I sometimes forgot Nick was only 16 and still doing school work. I always loved algebra in school. It was one thing I was better at than Tash. I walked over and placed the mug on the table beside his laptop before taking a seat beside him instead of across this time.

“Yeah, thank you” he yawned before picking up the mug and taking a small sip. “It’s boring.”
I sipped my tea silently; surveying his work.

“You’re good at it though,” I told him. He picked up his tea and slurped a little down. “From where I’m sitting, you’ve got those five right.”

Nick looked from the computer, to me and back to the computer. He scrolled up to show me about 6 more pages of algebraic equations on the page.

“What about those ones?” he asked.

He pushed the laptop gently; slanting it so I could look at it. I set my tea mug down and scrolled down; surveying each of the questions silently. I nodded as each answer I came across was correct. I pushed the laptop back to him.

“They’re all right,” I smiled at him; picking my tea mug back up and taking a gulp; the warmth welcomed in my cold body. I was not accustomed to the snow outside.

“You like algebra?” Nick looked at me incredulously.

“Yep,” I smiled proudly before sipping the tea again. “I was top of my class.”

“Impressive,” Nick smiled and drank his own tea. “So, is algebra the only subject you’re amazing at?”

“Well, it was the easiest for me,” I shrugged. “I was pretty good in English, particularly poetry. Um, I wasn’t too flash in history but science was a strong subject. I was pretty good in music”
Nick looked up at me; his eyes bright and excited.

“You took music in school? Cool.” He said, smiling.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I took it for all 6 years. I don’t know if I’ve told you before but I actually sold my guitar to go to your Sydney show.”

“You what?” Nick stared at me; setting his mug down again. He saved the document and closed his laptop.

“I couldn’t afford to go otherwise,” I shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I’ve gotten used to not having it.”

“But still, a persons first guitar is something special,” he told me. “I’ve still got mine.”

“Yeah,” I smiled in return. “But its alright. I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.

“True,” he shrugged and sat back in he chair again. He picked up the mug and drank down the rest.

We sat in silence for a moment. I counted the pale blue spots on the curtain above the sink.

“Hey Sam,” Nick broke the silence and turned his body to face me.

“Yes Nick?” I asked in the same tone.

“Would you like to go ice skating?” he asked. “The lake we swam in ages ago has just about completely frozen over.”

“Are you kidding?” I gaped at him. “It’s freezing.”

“That’s sort of the point,” he smiled,

“But, I, I can’t ice skate,” I shook my head. “I can barely walk without falling over on the snow.”

“I’ll teach you,” he assured me. “It’s not hard. It’s all about balance.”

I chewed my lip; thinking. I sighed.

“Fine!” I drained my tea mug and stood up. I grabbed Nicks as well and rinsed both under the tap, leaving both to drain on the sink. “But, I swear, if I get hurt you’ll have hell to pay.”

“I don’t think Joe would do anything,” he answered standing up himself. He slid his laptop into its case which was sitting on the chair on the other side of him.

“I wasn’t talking about Joe,” I put my hands on my hips and frowned at him.

He smiled his cheeky smile and walked towards me.

“Come on,” he smirked holding out both his hands. “You can’t ice skate in bunny slippers.”

I looked down at my slipper clad feet and smacked him on the arm. I slipped both of my hands into Nicks and stepped up to him.

“Let’s go then.”