Flawless

The timing of Jesse's new job was painful yet it was timely at the same time; since I had pretty much nearly finished off all the school work back home, all I had to do was sit my exams at my 'new school' and then I'd be finished.

Jesse and I settled into our stylish new 2 bedroom apartment quite well. The removalists had put all of our furniture down where we wanted it and so all we had to do was unpack our bags and boom! We were pretty much finished the move in.

I should be happy about this. New town, new home, more independence... but all I could think about was my boyfriend Brendan. The warm comfort of his arms, the way he'd watch me and smile to himself, the comforting feeling of him lying behind me, his arms lazily wrapped around my body cuddling me to him. He was evidently heartbroken when I broke the news to him that I had to move and was even more so broken when I said my goodbyes to him.

Brendan Thatcher was the love of my life, pretty much.

I was too lovesick already so I pulled out my phone and punched in my speed dial 8 (his favourite number). A few rings later and he picked up.

'Rayne! How was your flight?'

'Brendan, I miss you so much! I want to come home right now and cuddle you and kiss you and then watch pointless romantic movies with you and eat junk food with you and all of the above,' I spat out hysterically.

Brendan chuckled, the familiar sounding sending me into a feeling of nostalgia. 'Baby, calm down, it's okay, we've only been apart for about 8 hours now. We'll be together soon; as for now, tell me how your flight went.'

Typical Brendan, always wanting to know how my day went and never expecting the same from me. I went on a long spiel about how uncomfortable I felt on my flight, which then led to another conversation of how much I missed him when then turned into a 2 hour conversation of how much we missed each other.

'It's late over there so I should let you go,' I offered.

'I could stay up all night talking to you,' he replied.

'We can do that later. Now go to sleep. I love you, Brendan Thatcher.'

'Until the moon stops shining.'

I forced myself to hang up on him and sighed when I realised I was by myself once again. I left the safety of my bedroom and jumped on Jesse's bed next to him as he was in the midst of reading a thick novel.

'How's Brendan?' he asked me without looking up from his book.

'Good. I miss him.'

Jesse paused, folded the corner of the page and placed his book on his bedside table. He reached over and hugged me, patting me lightly on the shoulders.

'I'm sorry to be such a burden on you,' he apologised.

'Don't you say that,' I snapped, 'I chose to be here so I will live with the consequences.'

I knew this would probably never end. Jesse would never stop blaming himself for my apparent unhappiness but I honestly chose to be here; if there was anyone I loved more than Brendan in the world, it would be Jesse. The things he's done for me in the past... all the relationship separation moves would never repay.

I never thought of Jesse as an adopted brother or a foster brother - he was always just my brother.

'What do you want for late dinner?'

'Surprise me.'

I baked a pretty basic casserole as I was in no mood to actually whip up something of taste and had no time so Jesse and I silently enjoyed our meal while I continued to think about Brendan. I loved making dinner for the both of us. It was like we were a married couple.

We both went to bed and I stayed up thinking about Brendan again. If this continued, Perth was going to be a disaster.

The next day, Jesse was off to his first day at his new job while I had to go check-in at my new school even though I would only be at the place for 6 exams and that was it. I sat in the waiting area at the administration office by myself, aimlessly running my hand through my hair as I stared at the artworks by art students at the school.

'Hi! Are you new here?'

I snapped out of my apparent daydream and saw a tall figure looming over me; he was very handsome, lean yet muscular build with dark hair and dark eyes which was very different as I was used to Brendan's dyed blonde hair and green eyes.

'I guess you could say that,' I replied quickly.

'What's that supposed to mean?' he said with a chuckle.

I couldn't really be bothered to explain to him my situation so I just shook my head and said "never mind". I was expecting him to take a hint and leave but he decided to take a seat next to me and offered his hand out for me to shake.

'My name's Theodore but you can call me Theo for short,' he introduced himself.

'Rayne Marshall, pleasure to meet you Theo,' I said, shaking his hand.

'Rayne? That's an incredible name!'

'You think? Thanks buddy.'

Theo continued to make small talk with me and I was surprisingly accepting of the gesture; I wasn't the one to make small talk with strangers in foreign areas but I was actually enjoying this conversation so I finally ended up telling him about my current situation - minus the part about leaving my boyfriend at home.

'You transferred schools at this time of the year? Unlucky.'

'I know, but I had to,' I said with a sigh.

'Do you mind if I ask why?'

I usually didn't delve into my personal life - let alone Jesse's - but I felt very comfortable with Theo so I ended up telling him of Jesse's health situation and why I had to move over here with him. Theo was surprisingly very sympathetic with the situation and offered any help if I felt I needed it.

Theo was a very warm and friendly person; I bet strangers felt very comfortable with him as soon as they met him. He was also quite noticeably handsome but not in a typical muscles-and-pretty-face kind of way. I couldn't quite explain it but I did find him quite attractive.

Finally, the school principal called me into his office so I bid farewell to my new friend and went into my interview finally.

After the interview, I walked out and sped-walked to Jesse's car. I clicked the button and unlocked it and nearly made it to the driver's side but I heard Theo's voice call out to me from behind.

'You dropped this,' he called out.

He was waving around a string bracelet that Brendan and I made together that must've snapped off my wrist and I hadn't noticed it. I gratefully took it off him and thanked him for his kindness.

'So I'll see you around?' he asked me.

'Looks like it,' I said quite flirtatiously.

I disappeared into Jesse's car and my eyes widened - I didn't just flirt with this new guy, did I?