Stepping into Oscar’s home, I caught a scent of incense and essential oils. It was a faint reminder of my childhood growing up with Oscar, spending majority of our days running in and out of this house.

As to not piss off Oscar’s house proud parents, we left our shoes at the entrance. We then headed down the hallway and into the living room, where there were several photographs of Oscar and his family hanging about. There were even a few stray photos of Oscar and me together from Primary school.

I spotted my favourite photo of us, back from our Primary school camping trip. We were sitting together with the best grins we could muster while our faces were glowing red from a sunburn.

“Leftover pizza sound good?” Oscar said, drawing my attention towards him in the kitchen.

“Sounds good,” Jules assured, sitting at the kitchen counter as Oscar pulled the box of pizza out from the fridge.

“I’m not going to say no to free pizza,” I replied, joining them as I took my own seat beside Jules.

“Buon appetito!” Oscar said in a really bad Italian accent.

He lifted the lid of the box, revealing cold leftover pizza in all its glory.

“Yeahhh, work on your accent, buddy,” I said, taking a cold slice. “Nice try though.”

“Like you could do any better,” he retorted.

“Buon appetito,” I replied, acing it.

“That’s exactly how I sounded,” Oscar stated.

“No no,” I dusted my fingers off from the pizza. “You overdramatize it.”

“Italians are dramatic!” he said, defensively. “Jules, tell him.”

“You both kinda sucked,” Jules said, munching on his pizza.

“Wow,” Oscar said, clearly offended.

“Well, like you could do any better,” I pouted, propping my chin up as I rested my elbow on the counter.

“Probably not, but at least I knew that,” Jules said with a slight smile.

I stared at Jules, watching him as he ate his pizza, realising he wasn’t that bad looking. Tousled hair, olive skin and one heck of a killer jawline.

“Still,” Oscar frowned. “You could’ve back me up.”

It should be illegal to have a jawline like that. Following his jawline to his ear, I felt a little surprise, only now realising he had his ears pierced. Double helix rings at the top with a plain black stud in his lobe.

“You’re asking me to lie?” Jules questioned.

Noticing how I was staring at him, he looked back at me, clearly confused. That’s when it dawned on me.

I was staring at him.

“Well,” I said, remaining as cool and collective as I could, while internally panicking on what to say next. “Moving on from whatever it is you guys are talking about,”

Quick, Oliver, quick!

“Where are you from, Juli?” I asked the first thing that came to mind, hoping my awkwardness wasn’t as obvious as it felt.

He stared back at me, raising his eyebrow at the ‘Juli’ part while he finished chewing his pizza.

“Uh,” Jules replied, looking unsure for a moment. “Well, originally, New Zealand.”

“You’re from New Zealand?” Oscar wondered. "What part?"

“Well yeah, I was born in Whangārei, but moved here when I was a kid,” Jules explained.

“A kiwi, huh? You got a thing for sheep?” I asked with a grin.

“Well, do you ride to school on the back of a Kangaroo?” Jules shot back with a smirk.

“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous,” I replied. “I ride in its pouch.”

He let out a chuckle. “Funny."

Oscar rolled his eyes with a small smile, always ashamed to find me hilarious. 

"How long have you been in Australia for?” he asked.

“Ever since I was 6, I think?” Jules answered. “What about you? Have you always lived in Australia?”

“Yeah, my sister and I were born here,” Oscar replied. “My mum's from Malaysia."

"Yeah, and she's Malay-zing," I grinned between the two. They ignored me. "Get it? Amazing, Malay-zing?"

“God, it's an honest mystery as to where you get your dimwitted sense of humour from,” Oscar sighed with a hand over his face, before he dropped it with a sudden realisation. “Oh wait, didn’t you get dropped on your head?”

“Excuse me, you were the one that got dropped on the head!” I shot back.

“You were the idiot that dropped me on my head!” Oscar rebutted.

“Yeah, but you’re the idiot that let this idiot drop you on your head,” I crossed my arms over my chest, staring him down.

“Ah-ha! So you admit to being an idiot!” Oscar stated with pride.

“Honestly, you both seem like idiots,” Jules laughed. “But how did you guys even end up in that situation?”

“We were doing the two-person cartwheel trick and it failed miserably,” Oscar frowned. “Oliver just dropped me and then fell on top of me.”

“I got dizzy!” I said defensively.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Oscar muttered. “Who’s up for a game?”

“Shotgun on first player!” I stated, jumping out from the chair and running towards the staircase in the hallway.

“It’s my game!” Oscar chased me, but he wasn’t fast enough as I leapt up the stairs and ran to his room.

I swung the door open, jumping straight onto Oscar’s desk chair, claiming the controllers along with my victory. Oscar showed up right afterwards, expressing defeat.

“Beat you!” I announced, spinning around on the chair.

“I let you win,” Oscar said, taking his spot on his bed.

Jules walked into the room, surprise written all over his face.

“I don’t even know what happened,” he commented, taking a seat in the beanbag.

“Me winning just happened,” I smiled with a sense of pride.

I scooted the chair closer to the console, turning it on and getting ready to set up a game.

“So where exactly were you living before you moved here?” Oscar asked while we waited.

“Oh, um…” he hesitated. “Uh, up north. Crescent Springs.”

I noticed his hesitation, part of me wondering if he meant anything by it or if he just had a mind blank.

“Never heard of it,” I said, watching him closely.

“It’s about a three-hour drive from here, depending on traffic and whatnot,” Jules replied, seeming unfazed.

Hmm.

“When did you move here?” Oscar asked, paying no mind to Jules’s hesitation.

“Uh, sometime right after Halloween last year,” he said.

November?! He has been here for three months without any of us knowing? In this kind of town where everyone knows everybody’s secrets?!

“Sorry, what?” Oscar was probably just as shook as I was. “How haven’t we at least heard of you?”

“What do you mean?” Jules questioned, furrowing his brows together.

“This town talks,” I stated.

“Yeah, it’s nearly impossible to keep things hidden,” Oscar added.

“S-Seriously?” Jules tensed up. “How does everyone find out?”

“Gossip, rumours, ‘don’t tell anyone I told you’ talks,” I listed. “My dad works at a cafe so he picks up a lotttt of gos, which he usually tells us about.”

Jules suddenly looked anxious, biting his bottom lip while looking down at his hands. I exchanged a look with Oscar, seeing he was concerned but unsure of what to make of this.

“Listen... I appreciate you guys for reaching out and trying to make friends with me,” Jules refused to look at either of us. “But I can’t do this. I-I don’t want any of this.”

“Youuu don’t want to play games?” I questioned.

“No, I don’t want… friends,” Jules said. “I thought I did, that it’d be better.”

“Pretty sure that’s a lie,” I replied. “That you don’t want friends.”

“It’s not,” he argued. “I don’t want to be here.”

“Oh, I believe that, but not wanting friends?” I stared down at him. “I’m calling bullshit.”

“Stop it,” he finally looked up, his blue eyes burning through me. “I just want to go home.”

“Did something happened?” I pressed. “Something that you’re afraid of people knowing?”

He didn’t reply.

“Enough, Oliver,” Oscar cut in, keeping his voice soft. “Jules, you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.”

He looked at Oscar, clenching his jaw as he listened.

“But if you do, we won’t go running our mouths to anyone,” he continued. “We got your back.”

He glanced between the both of us.

“I don’t know what to do,” Jules admitted. “Everything is crazy. Coming to this town was completely unexpected and I just…”

He let out a heavy sigh.

“You need to chill,” I said. “Don’t stress over that. Life is a hectic nightmare but, believe it or not, it’s easier to deal with when you aren’t on your own.”

“I suppose…” he replied, softening his posture. “I guess I seem like an idiot now.”

“Pssh, hardly,” I replied. “Weird, yes. We’re all pretty weird though.”

“For you at least,” Oscar scoffed. “Don’t include me in the weird shit you and Max do.”

Jules chuckled at that but it was clear he was still anxious. He needed to loosen up.

“Righto then, let’s play Mortal Kombat,” I spun back around, loading the game as I held the controllers. “You know how to play, Jules?”

“Y-yeah, I played it a few times before,” He replied, leaning closer as I passed him the second controller.

“Well, you’re playing against me,” I said with a grin. “So good luck.”

“Heh, you should be saying that to yourself,” Jules retorted with an awkward smile. “Because you’re the one that’s gonna need it.”