04 - Friends

Relief flushed through her system, her decision to leave work had not been a wrong one. And although Willa hadn’t actually told her bosses just how sick she was, or how bad her situation was, they had understood and terminated her contract.

She had sat down feeling nervous, unsure of herself, and conflicted. But she had gone through with what she had intended to do only moments before, and know she felt nothing but relief. Her bosses asked plenty of questions, but once she said the name of her disease, they backed right down. They stopped pounding questions her way, they stopped doubting her and they terminates her contract just like she asked of them.

“Dude, you good?” Willa snapped out of her recent memory to see a distant friend of hers standing a few metres away. Willa managed a small smile to cover her exhaustion and nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I’m good” It had been a long while since Willa had seen Cillian around, it had been a long time since they had even talk;ed. And even though Willa wouldn’t mind catching up with Cillian, she couldn’t help but wish he would just walk away and leave her too her thoughts.

Instead Cillian sat down on the next bench, and started talking. He started asking questions, and informing her of how his life had been since they had stopped talking.

“So my brother Paul is in town, and the other two are considering calling in so we can have a family reunion. It’s been a while, they all left Mount Gambier as soon as the opportunity arrived. I came to Gisborne with Paul, don’t mind this place too much, not as small as Mount Gambier was, is. Anyway, how has your family been?” Cillian looked at her, his light blue eyes dancing in the sunlight.

“The Danver family is running as smoothly as always, nothing much has changed in the past two years” Willa wrinkled her nose flicking quickly through her memories of the past two years thinking of how dramatically things had changed. How things were never going to be the same, but how things were still so calm compared to how they would be in only a few months.

“Theo and Jess still together?” Cillian narrowed his eyes at his fellow friend, getting information from her was like squeezing water from a stone.

The small chatter continued for a small while, Willa’s want for Cillian to leave growing by the minute. Her eyes drifted close, her answers changing to grunts and sighs for answers, and yet he still didn’t get the hint.

“Hey lovebirds” Jakob plopped down beside Willa causing her to bounce a little. His face was lit with a large smile noticing her annoyance with the guy on the other seat.

He wasn’t someone Jakob has seen around of late, and it didn’t look like Willa wanted to be seeing him at this point in time. That humoured him. It told him that she was like that with most people, not just him. And not just because she was sensitive to his joking insults.

“Go away Jakob”

“Have we met before?” Cillian smiled at Jakob, his mind trying to figure out this new presence.

“Nah probably not”

“This is Jakob A*****e. A*****e meet Cillian O’Leary” Willa mumbled with her eyes still closed, her hands going through the motions of introducing someone.

The boys smiled at each other, nodding politely before sitting in an awkward silence. Willa sighed in relief at the sound of silence, her ears rejoicing, her achy brain dancing at last. Cillian took her sigh as annoyance at the awkward silence, and turned to face the pair on the other seat.

“It was nice meeting you Jakob, Willa and I will catch up with you again soon. Have a nice day” Cillian smiled at Jakob and waited for him to get the hint and leave Cillian and Willa be. Jakob waved at the older boy and relaxed into the chair.

Willa chuckled quietly, making the chair shake ever so slightly, but Cillian was so intent on staring the other boy away that he didn’t notice. Willa slid her feet out allowing her body to sink into the old wooden seat. The sun peeked out from behind a grumpy sullen cloud and threw many rays of sunlight on the small town.

With raised arms and a small grin Willa stood up and walked a few metres away to twirl in the sun. Her hair swung out as she twirled, her dress flicking out in time with her hair. Willa slowly came to a halt her gaze centered on the dirty river water. The rain from the past few days had collected the muck from the hills, and was now taking it away to sea. The main route though, was through the river than ran through the town, separating the town centre from one part of the residential area.

“You shoulda shaved your armpits before twirling Willy” Jakob grinned the scowling Willa.

“You ruined my good mood a*****e” Willa sat on the grass crossing her arms facing away from the boys. Cillian watched the two feeling at odds, as if he was the one that had interrupted two old friends.

“So Willa, you and Jakob old friends also?” Cillian leant forward, his arms resting on his knees showing the muscles in his arms, as he had intended.

“Ew, I ain't friends with that a*****e” Willa wrinkled her nose. She raised her face to soak in the sun rays, it’s not like she had to face skin cancer, couldn’t make her sicker than she already was.

“Oh yes, we are the closest of closest - Ow. Don’t punch me, I’ll punch you” Jakob scowled at the girl towering over him. He wouldn’t actually punch her back, but girls often stopped at the threat of violence. Cillian stood up at that, his jaw clenched and he stared seriously at the ‘a*****e’ still sitting on the bench.

“You should never threaten to punch a girl. You should be a man and just take the punch” Cillian grabbed Willa’s shoulders softly and moved her out of the way.

Jakob stood up, his mood darkening a little when he realised Cillian was still taller than him. He cocked his head, puffed out his chest and curled his hands into fists. He tensed his arms as if he was going to pull back and release a punch on the taller boy, but instead side stepped and grabbed Willa by the waist. He started walking away, pulling Willa for the first few steps before she gained her own and fell into pace with him.

She cast a glance over her shoulder to see Cillian frowning at her, but didn’t stop walking. She didn’t really feel like making conversation, and talking, and Jakob was more likely to take a hint that Cillian was.

“Kay, see ya” Willa raised her hand, placed it on Jakob’s cheek and pushed his face in the direction she wasn’t headed. She heard Jakob muttering under his breath but he didn’t follow her over the solid train bridge. Not for the first bit anyway. He saw Cillian headed after Willa, seeing a chance to get her alone, and so Jakob followed her over the bridge at a decent pace behind her. Cillian soon stopped in his tracks and headed the other way.

Jakob, sensing Willa’s want for silence, walked beside her, hands in pockets, without saying a word. Side by side they walked, making headway towards the Danvers’ household.