Down Under

Zoe walked up the grey and dull concrete steps to the house, which she shared with her mother, father, brother and older sister, in Bolton, she shook her head as she heard ‘The Who’ blaring out of Danny’s window. She heard a crash, and shook her head, before there was silence, never a good thing where her brother was involved, it meant he had broken something, was up to something sinister, or doing something that he generally shouldn’t be doing, which, incidentally, was quite regularly. She groaned, and pushed open the door.

“Alright bro?” Zoe called from the bottom of the stairs, hanging up her coat on the hook on the back of the door, and heard Danny run along the landing
“Zobo!” he called, and slid down the banister, landing in a heap at the foot of the stairs.
“You know this adventure holiday that Abbie, Maria, Natalie and I were planning to go on to Australia, and do week adventure, week beach bum on?” Zoe smiled, throwing her hand down to where Danny was still sat on the collection of shoes. He was half on the bottom of the wooden staircase, wincing with pain, whilst covering up the mess that she was evidently going to have to tidy up before someone did some real damage to his or herself. “Great sloth” she muttered, as he reached for her hand, and she pulled him up “Anyway… this holiday…” she smiled, picking up the trainers and throwing them hap-hazardly into the cupboard under the stairs.
“Yesss?” he muttered as he brushed the dust off of his jeans “What about it? Where exactly do I come into it? How much do I have to pay? How many people do I need to bring with me?” Danny asked, looking down at his sisters stunned face. “I read you SO well” he smiled, giving her a tight hug.
“Need… to… breathe…” she gasped, trying her best to push away from him, only to fail, and groaned as she gave it another go, succeeding this time. “Well… they only had a place left for a group of eight, and it’s Abbie, Maria, Natalie and I, thus leaving another four places, which is where you come into it” she trailed off, looking up at her brothers face, which had soft tears of laughter rolling down it.
“Danny Jones, what on this earth are you laughing at?” she questioned him, frustrated, and annoyed as Danny never seemed to take things seriously.
“Sis, you can kinda see your underwear… nice choice in the Little Miss Grouchy ones though,” he laughed, and dodged the converse that was flying at his head. Before smacking his thigh, and whimpering pathetically as Zoe laughed at him, pulling up her skirt, which, in all honesty did hang too low around her hips. “I’ll ask the guys later on; they’re coming around later to do some song-writing,”
“Oh great, even ‘Mr I want to be Tom Delonge’?”
“Yes Zoe, Dougie is in the band too,” Danny smiled sarcastically
“He is such a wannabe,” she explained, pulling her hair up into a bun, from its ex state of soft waves which had been falling over her shoulders, and onto her bare back “So, Danny boy, I guess you want me on food and drink duties? Two ham and pineapple, two pepperoni? Three Stella’s, and some coke for Mr I’m also too young to drink?” She asked with a smile
“He’ll kill you if you give him coke and us Stella,” Danny protested, “Plus, he’s only a couple of months younger than you, you’ll be around. Most probably with Abbie, Maria and Nat, and you four will be drinking, two of you underage, I’m hasten to add, by the way” he said, looking smug. “So go raid the garage, Mum and Dad will be out, and it’ll be a rarity if our sister finds her way home, if it does, it’ll be with a guy in tow, so no need to worry about it telling mum and dad”
“Danny, unless you’ve forgotten, you’re twenty, and I’m eighteen, its not like they can tell us off, is it?” Zoe smiled, running her fingers through her hair.
“I suppose so sis, love ya.” Danny smiled,
“Yeah, yeah,” she groaned, and happily recalled the first time that the other three guy’s in his band had called around…

[Enter dodgy lines and music signifying memory]

Danny sat nervously in the living room; well, if you could call dragging his feet across the carpet infront of him, so hard, that he was near to rubbing through to the underlay, then yes. He was sat, nervously in the living room, waiting for his fellow band mates to arrive, it was to be the first time that they had met his sister. After five minutes had gone which, to Danny had felt like five hours, the doorbell rang, and Danny sprang up, like a box of jumping frogs, and walked/sprang over to the door.
“Yo… guys!” He smiled, as they high fived each other, he heard his precious guitar have the opening lines of ‘Bartender and the Thief’ by the Stereophonic’s being played on it. “ZOE!” he shouted, before Zoe placed Danny’s guitar back on the stand, and walked into the hallway, only to fly into Danny’s chest.
“Ow” she mumbled, rubbing her forehead, she looked up to see three concerned male faces ‘great, I’ve made a twat out of myself, and they’re all fit’ she thought to herself ‘except Danny, cause, just, cause eww…’ she corrected herself
“Zoe, this is Harry,” he gestured to the tallest of the three stood beside him, ‘hmmm, fit.’ She thought to herself, “he plays the drums” Danny commented, trying to change her confused face. “This is Dougie,” Danny said proudly, “he’s a couple of months younger than you, and plays bass, like you,” Danny explained. ‘What are you trying to do bro, match-make?’ she asked herself, ‘because if you are, you’re shit at it’ she smiled, and let out a silent laugh. “Finally, this is Tom, he’s the other lead guitarist, like me” Danny smiled, as Tom held out his hand to Zoe as she gladly took it, and shook it. ‘WOAH Danny, you are getting THE biggest Christmas present, ooh, visions of him gently laying me across a rock after a hard days surfing…’ she thought to herself, a wide smile spread across her face. “Guys, this is my sister, Zoe” he smiled proudly, emphasising on her name to pull her out of her daydream.
“Hi,” she said shyly “do you want a drink?” she asked, trying to cover her sudden shyness around all things male.
“Fancy a pizza guys?” Danny asked, as they all nodded
“Ok, I’ll ring up, Dan, is it ok if I invite Abbie, and that lot around?” Zoe asked,
“Yeah, sure, do you wanna find out what they want, and it should be here around the time that they get here?”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll just go do it now” she smiled, ‘woah, what the hell has happened? Is this Tom guy like some god or something?’ I asked myself, picking up the phone, and pressing the ‘conference call’ button, and quickly dialling Abbie, Maria, and Natalie’s numbers, “Hey guy’s!” I smiled as I heard the sound of all three pick up the phone at once “Do you wanna come around for pizza and writing sesh?” she asked, pricking her ears up at the sound of her name being mentioned in the living room. “Ok, so come around now, what pizza shall we have?… Ok, so, half ham, pineapple and mushroom, half cheese and Tomato, right, come round as soon as… the word is an understatement… haha, I’ll see you later” I smiled, hanging up the phone, and quietly walking into the hallway
“Danny boy, your sister is SO hot!” Harry said overly loud
“Guys, she’s my sister…” Danny groaned
“Who care’s; I’d do her any day!” Mr-I-want-to-be-Tom-Delonge said
“Guys, come on, I’m sure that Danny doesn’t want to hear what you’d like to do to his sister!” Tom stressed,
“Tommy has a crush on Zoe, Tommy has a crush on Zoe” Dougie taunted ‘Oh my God, how juvenile can you get?!’ she thought to herself, shaking her head
“Shut up Dougie, she can probably hear you,” Tom moaned, “you’re loud enough”

[/End of dodgy lines and music signifying memory]

“Right here’s your Stella’s guys. Oh and Dougie, don’t worry, I know your underage but I thought I’d be nice.” Zoe laughed as he gave her evils.
“Thanks.” Echoed throughout the room.
“Get that Zo!” Danny said hearing the doorbell ring.
“Yes master!” She replied sarcastically before leaving the room.
“Oh hey I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” Zoe said answering the door and seeing Abbie stood there.
“Yeah sorry, I had to get out of the house.” Abbie said coming through the door.
“Right I mentioned the trip to Danny and he thought it was a good idea and the guys agreed so yay we can go.” Zoe said excitedly as they sat down on the sofa.
“Aw that’s great! So the guys are here are they?” Abbie said with a smile on her face.
“Yes Danny is home, he’s in his room.” Zoe said rolling her eyes before being dragged upstairs by Abbie.
“And I thought you were here to see me!” Zoe joked.
“Hey guys!” Abbie said giving them a cheeky smile as she pushed open Danny’s bedroom door.
“Hey Gorgeous.” Danny winked as he looked up from his guitar with a smile on his face.
“Is Nat here?” Dougie asked excitedly before being replied with a shake of the head by Abbie and looking back down at his bass disappointedly.
“You writing a song about me?” Abbie said flirting with her boyfriend as she placed her arms over his shoulders.
“Maybe!” He said flirting back before turning round and giving her a kiss.
“Eurgh you 2 are sickening.” Tom and Zoe said at the same time before turning to each other and blushing slightly.
“Ah its my room.” Danny said pulling out of the kiss before continuing to kiss Abbie again.
“Yeah so are Maria and Nat coming round later yeah?” Harry asked while taping a beat with a pen.
“Yeah well we need to sort some stuff out about Australia don’t we?” Zoe replied leaning against the wall.
Dougie looked up with a face like a child at Christmas but soon realised everyone was looking at him and got embarrassed and looked away.
“When are they coming then?” Dougie asked not looking up in case they saw his extreme excitement again about the prospect of his girlfriend coming around.
“They should be here in about 20 minutes.” Zoe said sitting down on Danny’s bed in between Tom and Harry.
The guys carried on jamming while Zoe and Abbie sat in the room and listened. They were really going for it and were obviously trying to impress them.
45 minutes later the doorbell rang and Zoe got up to answer it.
“Hey ya!” She said as she opened the door and saw Nat and Maria stood at the door, Nat looking frustrated.
“Hey. Sorry we’re late.” Maria said as they walked through the door,
“Yeah we would have been on time if it wasn’t for that twat!” She said angrily while Maria tried to stop herself from laughing at her angriness. Zoe just looked at them confused.
“We we’re on our way when this stupid guy came out of no where and cut me up, chipping the front of my car. Well I got annoyed and started honking…” Nat said
“And swearing!” Maria quickly interrupted.
“Ok and swearing, then finally he pulled over.” Nat carried on.
“Yeah and they were having a slanging match for about 20 minutes before they finally exchanged details so we could carry on.” Maria continued.
“Is that the guys I hear?” Nat said as a smile started to appear on her face.
“She quickly got over that!” Zoe said causing Maria to laugh while Nat paid no attention.
“Yeah they’re practising. Abbie’s up there at the moment.” Zoe said heading towards the stairs while the other 2 followed.
“Look who’s here Dougie!” Zoe laughed taking the mick. He looked up and a smile soon grew on his face as Nat came through the door.
“Hey babe.” He said trying to play it cool.
“You sounded good.” Maria said smiling before walking over and sitting on Harry’s lap.
“Yay we’re all finally here.” Zoe said getting a little too excited. “So we need to sort out details about Australia…” She started; staying stood up.

“Well, it sounds good to me!” Tom smiled, as the others nodded convincingly, Zoe looked relieved
“So, how much is it then sis?” Danny asked
“Because the travel agents had said that they’d keep a place for us, just incase when I went in last week, and they didn’t, they’ve given me 25% off of the proper price. So it works out as £840 each, which is pretty damn good, seeing as it’s supposed to total up to like, over a grand each,” she explained,
“When do we go?” Natalie asked, excited, as Dougie looked up
“Err, hang on, let me go get the details,” Zoe smiled, standing up as Abbie followed, giggling as they looked at each other
“Tom is so totally into you…” Abbie laughed
“He’s not, I wish he was though,” she sighed,
“He so totally is, obviously,”
“Shut it Abz!” Zoe laughed, as she picked up the brochure that the travel agent had given her, they quickly returned into Danny’s room, Tom looked up, red faced, and quickly drank some of his Stella.
“Sooo,” Maria sighed, feeling the tension “what are the available dates?”
“Right, well, we have;” Zoe smiled, flicking to the page “17th December – 7th January, or 30th June – 7th July, which only really gives us the first choice, seeing as I’m sodding off to Kenya the day we’d get back from the latter choice”
“Looks like we’re over there for Chrimbo then, whoop saves me money!” Natalie exclaimed “ohhh, we can have a Bar-be-que for Christmas dinner, I’ve always wanted to do that!” She said, getting excited, and kissing Dougie, heavily on the lips
“Guy’s! No PDoA’s!” Tom groaned, adverting his eyes, until they fell on Zoe, she looked up
“Err, anyone want another drink?” Zoe asked quickly,
“Beer please” All of the guys sighed
“Can I have a WKD?” Nat and Maria asked together
“Reef?” Abbie asked quietly, Zoe nodded, and slowly walked out of the room, Dougie jabbed Tom in the stomach with his elbow, and nodded his head after Zoe
“Dude, go talk to her!” he said frustratedly, shaking his head at Tom
“Hey Zoe,” Tom smiled “want a hand with those?” he asked,
“Uh, please,” she sighed, resting the four Stella’s down onto the worktop, as Tom pressed his lips against her’s, gently pushing her lips apart with his tongue, which she gladly accepted softly biting on his lower lip, his arms wrapping around her neck. “That was, good, but, shouldn’t have happened” Zoe whispered as they pulled apart
“No, it shouldn’t have,” Tom sighed, before they looked at each other briefly, Zoe tried to pull at his shirt as they kissed quickly,
“Err…” they heard from the doorframe as they pulled apart to see Danny stood there
“Fuck” Zoe muttered, looking down at the floor
“Never. Again.” Danny spitefully said to Tom,
“But, you said” he retorted
“Saying, and meaning are another.” Danny said sharply, walking away
“Tom, I’m so sorry,” Zoe whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist, he nodded, picking up the Stella’s, and pulled away from her embrace,
“It’s not your fault,” he sighed, walking away, and up the stairs
“It’s Danny’s” Zoe said softly, wiping a tear away from her eye, as she followed with her, and the girls drinks.

“Where you going?” Abbie asked as Danny came into his bedroom, grabbed his zip up jacket and stormed out of the room again, pushing past Tom and Zoe coming up the stairs.
“Out!” He replied bitterly as he slammed the door behind him.
“What happened?” Abbie asked as she followed him out of the room and met Tom and Zoe in the hallway. She ran down the stairs and out of the door before she heard their answer.
“DANNY!” She yelled as she saw him storming down the street. She knew he had heard her but he didn’t stop.
“Hey Danny wait up!” She shouted, running up to him. “What the hell happened Danny?” She asked.
“Them!” He said not even stopping.
“Who?” She asked placing her hand on his arm, trying to stop him from walking. “STOP FREAKIN WALKING!” She shouted, not getting annoyed herself. He stopped, slightly scared at his girlfriend’s outburst.
“Tom and Zoe!” He said as he tried tom control his anger.
“What about them?” Abbie asked,
“I walked in on them kissing.” Danny said clenching his fists.
“Calm down damn it!” Abbie shouted, placing her hands on his, loosening his fists. “They finally got together then!” she said laughing slightly.
“Finally?” He said scrunching up his face.
“Yeah well we all knew it was going to happen.” She said weaving her fingers in his.
“It shouldn’t of though. She’s my little sister and he’s my friend.” He said, now slightly calmer.
“Come on Danny.” Abbie said signalling to herself and Danny and then back to herself again.
“But that’s different.” He said looking away.
“No Danny it’s not. For Zoe it was her friend and her older brother, it’s practically the same.” Abbie said touching his face to regain their eye contact.
“I’m such an idiot!” He said shaking his head.
“But you’re my idiot.” Abbie said smiling before leaning in to kiss him. “Come on, I think you need to talk to them.”
“Ok but I’m still not happy with this! I guess I will just have to get used to it.” Danny said taking her hand and walking back down the street towards his house.

“Hey we’re back.” Abbie said smiling as she walked into the living room where everyone was now sitting.
“Hey.” Everyone said slightly awkwardly.
“Um…Zoe…can I speak to you please?” Danny asked as Zoe looked up at him nervously.
“Ok.” She said glancing over at Tom before following Danny to the kitchen.

As Zoe walked into the kitchen, she realised just how bare the white walls where, now clinically clean everything seemed, her heart was beating faster than an express train as Danny's mouth opened
"Look, if it is what you want, I am happy to let you go out with him" Danny said harshly, but with a depth of warmth.
"I want Tom, and I know that he wants me, but, you're my brother Danny, I love you more than anyone, and it'll always be that way, I don't want to let Tom get between that, we've been through so much shit together that I don't want to let Tom get between us" Zoe explained
"Zoe, I've said that it's ok, honestly, it is" Danny smiled, wrapping his arms around his sister
"Maybe we'll wait a while, I mean, see how things go, properly, as friends, all we've ever done is stare at each other before," she said into Danny's chest, looking up as he nodded
"As long as you're happy, but, you're gonna be sharing a room with Abbie in Australia, it's not what you want, I know, nor is it what any of us want, but, I want you to be safe sis!" Danny smiled
"Bro! Come on!" Zoe moaned, knowing that something would've happened between her and Tom if she were only allowed to be alone with him. Bloody Danny.
"No."
"Please?" she begged, he shook his head "fine, I'll go play your guitar"
"Maybe" he jumped after his prize possession, after Abbie, naturally, was mentioned "no one plays princess" he muttered "Go talk to Tom"

Tom, and the others quickly ran back into the living room, trying to look innocent, Zoe clocked the looks on Natalie and Abbie's faces, and laughed, she knew that they'd been listening, and looked over to Tom, mouthing 'sorry' as they sat opposite each other, their toes slowly feeling their ways up each others legs, as Natalie and Dougie happily flicked through the travel brochure, Maria sat behind Harry on the sofa, plating the rear of Harry's hair, and Abbie sat watching Danny play 'Princess', safe in the knowledge, that he had a pet name for both her, and then the other woman in his life, his guitar, sad, but true.

Two and a half months later.

"Right, I'll see you all tomorrow, you need to all be here at, what time do you need to be here Dougie?" Zoe asked, as Dougie was beginning to look bored, Zoe had already packed, and repacked for him, written a list of everything that he could take onto the plane, and everything he couldn't, and made sure that he had his money changed over.
"13:00 hours miss," he said raising his hand to his forehead like he was saluting her, as she rolled her eyes, and huffed.
"Dougie, don't be like that," Natalie moaned,
"I just like to be organised," Zoe announced
"Don't I know it," Danny nodded his head over to the suitcases that were already at the front door, bearing in mind that the taxi wasn't arriving for a further 14 hours
"Now, all of you go straight to bed, if you're not here by one thirty, then, I'm gonna be pissed off"
"Zoe, we'll be here, now will you go to bed before you have a coronary" Tom smiled, slyly winking at her as Danny stared at him
"Ok, Ok, I'll go, for christs sake don't forget your passport Dougie"
"I wont!" he groaned, and opened the door, "Bloody hell, it's cold" he moaned, shivering "Nattybaby, give me a lift home?"
"Uh huh" she smiled, and hugged each of the girls in turn as they walked away, "see you later Zozo" she whispered as she hugged Zoe, slipping Dougie's passport into her jeans
"Thanks" she smiled, resting her hand on her hip as Harry, Abbie, and Maria left also, leaving herself, her brother, and Tom. "Right, now I've got Dougie's passport, I'm off to bed, see you tomorrow guys" she sighed, running up the stairs with Dougie's passport firmly into her hand.

"Tom, can I talk to you?" Danny asked just before Tom was about to walkout of the door,
"Yeah, sure" Tom said wearily, closing the door,
"Outside"
"Okkk," Tom sighed, holding the door open for Danny, leaving it slightly a-jar
"Look, I know I might not have dealt with you and Zozo very well, but, she means the fucking world to me, we might argue a lot, but, she does, she's my sister, and I guess, she must've felt the same about Abbie and me, and, I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that you've got my approval, just be careful, and I swear, that if you hurt her, your life will not be worth living" Danny said the final part of his speech with a harsh tone to his voice,
"I understand, thank you Danny" Tom said with sincerity in his voice, "I'll see you tomorrow!" he said with cheer in his voice for the first time in the two months since he had kissed Zoe. Danny nodded as he closed the door behind him; Zoe flung open her curtains, and opened the window
"Tom!" she whispered, smiling as he turned around "see you tomorrow!" she smiled, blowing him a kiss.

They all slept peacefully, Zoe woke at ten am, and walked downstairs, cooking a full English breakfast for Danny, and placing it onto a tray with some orange juice, toast, and coffee, quickly taking it up to him, before she ran back downstairs, and texting Abbie, Natalie and Maria: 'Danny has said it's ok for Tom and me to go out!' before ringing Dougie to make sure that he was up.

"Right, the taxi will be here in twenty minutes, can we do a hand luggage check?" Zoe asked as they all nodded lifelessly "Change of clothes?" she looked around as everyone nodded, "sun glasses?" nods all around again, "your passports?" she smirked as all of the others nodded, except from Dougie, who began to frantically search his pockets, then bag,
"Er. No" he said, half shitting his pants, half about to run home to his mum to cry
"Good job I gave it to Zoe last night, eh then?" Natalie smiled, before laughing
"Evil" Dougie cried, tickling Natalie. They all looked towards the door as the taxi driver rang the door bell.
"Ready for the time of our lives?" Tom asked as Zoe locked the door behind her
"It's already begun," Zoe smiled, gently kissing Tom on his lips, and walking down the pathway to where the taxi was waiting to take them to the airport.
“Ah finally we’re landing.” Abbie said squeezing Danny’s hand in excitement.
“Yeah about time.” Maria moaned from the seat behind her.
“I thought the journey was quite fun.” Zoe said cheekily from the seat next to Maria.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” Danny said pretty seriously before Abbie squeezed his hand and he laughed, realising he had to stop playing the protective older brother so much.
“This is going to be so good guys.” Nat said looking around and then back at Dougie before kissing him.
“I’ve never spent Christmas without my family, it’s going to be enough weird.” Abbie said to Danny as the others were busy with each other.
“Aw but I’m here.” He said smiling at her. “You’ll see them soon don’t worry.”
“Yeah…sorry to kinda kill the atmosphere there.” She giggled.
“Shhh.” He said before kissing her.

“Wow this room is so nice!” Zoe squealed as she jumped on the bed.
“Yeah…even better now though.” Tom winked cheekily at Zoe.
“I can’t believe Danny actually let us share a room. It took enough persuading though. Thank god Abbie helped out. Ok fair enough she was also doing it for herself but hey, we don’t want to think about that.” She said cringing while Tom laughed at her.
“Hey how’s the room?” Abbie said pushing the door open.
“Niceeeeeee!” Zoe squealed as she finally stopped jumping on the bed.
“Oohh…you have 2 single beds.” Abbie said looking around. Zoe looked, suddenly realising after the excitement.
“Danny!” Abbie rolled her eyes.
“Dannnnnny!” Zoe shouted angrily, barging past Abbie and into the next room.
“What?” Danny said turning away from the mirror and towards where Zoe stormed in, closely followed by Abbie.
“Why do you have to be damn bloody annoying?!” Zoe yelled.
“What’s going on?” Nat and Dougie came in hand in hand.
“I’d quite like to know that too.” Danny said confused.
“When will you stop being so bloody protective?” Zoe shouted.
“You’re my little sister, it’s my right.” He said.
“But you always have to interfere! Why can’t you just let me live my own life?” She ranted before storming out of the room, down the corridor and into the lift.
“Where the hell did that come from?” Dougie said as he and Nat looked at each other, totally dazzled by the whole argument.
“Danny made sure Zoe’s room had 2 single beds instead of a double one.” Abbie said quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Oh.” Dougie and Nat said at the same time. “Come on, let’s leave them to it.” Nat whispered as they exited the room.
“Danny why did you do it?” Abbie asked as Danny stood looking out of the window.
“I’m sorry for caring about my sister. I’m the same age as Tom and I know how guys’ minds work.” He said, still not moving his gaze.
“Danny, I’m the same age as Zoe if you’ve forgotten. That didn’t stop you.” Abbie said, sticking up for her best friend.
“It’s different.” He said turning to face her.
“How is it? Danny you’ve done it again. You said you’d let them be, but you haven’t. I think you have some serious grovelling to do.” She said giving him a serious look before turning and walking out of the room and into where Nat, Dougie, Maria and Harry were, leaving Danny stood on his own. He took a deep breath before going to find Zoe.

“Zoe,” Danny said as she stirred the stirrer in her cocktail slowly
“What?” she snapped
“Please understand my thinking”
“Why should I?!” Zoe sulked, and turned around
“Because I care for you, and I don’t want you to get hurt by Tom”
“I don’t want you to hurt Abbie” Zoe said calmly, “There is no difference in age between Tom and I, and you and Abbie, so I can not see where your problem lies”
“I know what goes through a nineteen year old guy’s head” Danny said quietly
“Yeah, and I’m a responsible eighteen year old, who always gets told to look after you when our parents go away, and managed to organise all of this on my own” Zoe said, getting annoyed with Danny, before she picked up her drink, and sauntered off in the direction of the lifts. Danny quickly followed,
“Look Zoe” he said before she stopped
“What?!” she stressed
“I know you and Tom don’t agree with my thinking, but, I care about you”
“Look Danny – see this, it’s a key to a different room, and whether you like it or not, Tom and I are going to be in it, together”
“Zoe, will you listen to me!”
“What now Danny?”
“Oh, I give up, go and shag Tom for all I care”
“Why am I automatically going to shag him Danny?! We’ve only been going out for little more than a day, I want to get to know the guy first, properly, you know”
“As long is that is all you are doing, then, fine, but I don’t see why you can’t do that with single beds” Danny smiled sweetly
“Go away dungface,” Zoe laughed, as Danny wrapped his arms around his sister.

“Tom…” Zoe smiled, waving the key at Tom, who was sat on the end of one of the beds,
“You got it?” he asked as Zoe nodded, “where abouts?”
“Three floors higher…”
“Mmm, good,” he said softly whilst kissing Zoe’s soft lips, and pulled away as their was a knock at the door
“Hey Zo” Abz smiled, “everything sorted?” she asked
“Yeah,” Zoe smiled, wrapping her fingers in with Tom’s
“Awww, you two are sooo cute together” Abbie gushed, “well, me and Danny are gonna go grab something to eat, so come down if you want once you’ve sorted out the rooms” she smiled, as Tom shrugged, and wrapped his arms around Zoe’s waist “ok, well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds be” she laughed, and went back in the direction of her and Danny’s room
“Now, where were we?” she smiled, and gently pressed her lips against his, pulling at the back of his shirt, pulling away from his lips to pull the piece of material over his head, and tossed it to the floor. Zoe carefully pushed Tom down onto the bed, and straddled his waist, kissing down his torso, and looked up with a scowl on her face as the door knocked
“Zo?” she looked up, and walked over to the door, with a forced smile, and opened it to her brother, who walked in “Zoe, you said that you and Tom weren’t going to do anything!” he said with frustration in his voice
“Danny mate, I took my shirt off because it’s so bloody hot, and laid down because I got a head rush” Tom explained
“Oh, sorry, do you want a hand up to your new room?”
“Nah, I think we’re ok” Tom smiled, and looked over to Zoe
“Yeah, we’ll be fine, our bags have wheels, we’ll come down and meet you for dinner”
“Oh, Dougie and Nat want to go out after dinner, you up for it?”
“Nah, I’m pretty tired to be honest, and Tom’s still not feeling too good” Zoe explained with a smile
“Ok, well, we’ll see you in a bit”

“Nice of you to join us.” Abbie laughed.
“Sorry, it took a while moving.” Zoe said turning and smiling cheekily at Tom as he laughed.
“Aw aren’t they so cute?” Abbie smiled turning to Danny.
“Hmm if you say so.” He laughed. “Can we finally order now?”
“You only ever think about food Danny.” Nat laughed as he gave her evils before laughing.
“Ok ok let’s order.” She laughed feeling slightly scared, even though she knew he was joking.

“Who’s up for coming out then?” Dougie asked.
“Yeah we will won’t we Abz?” Danny asked as Abbie nodded.
“Yeah us too.” Maria added.
“You wanna go?” Zoe asked Tom, flaring her eyes telling him to say no.
“Uh…I’m not feeling too great. We could maybe come a bit later?” He said, trying to read Zoe’s mind.
“Yeah ok we might see you later. You’ve brought your phone though haven’t you Abz?” She asked.
“Yeah give me a bell when you come.” Abbie smiled as Tom and Zoe stood up.
“Thanks then guys.” Zoe smiled, taking Tom’s hand.
“See you later.” Tom added.
“Hope you feel better soon.” Abbie called after them as they headed to the lift.
“You ready to go?” Nat asked everyone as they nodded and stood up.
“He didn’t look too ill.” Danny said standing up.
“Oh just leave it Danny, let’s have a good night without you worrying about Zoe the whole night.” Abbie sighed as she walked away leaving him stood there.
“Hey wait up…I’m sorry.” He said as she stood still, smiling to herself.
“Come on.” She said putting his arm around her shoulder and following the other 4 out of the hotel.

“This look good.” Maria said pointing to a bar.
“Yeah lets go in there.” Nat said following her in.
“Aaahhh Chesney Hawkes!” Abbie yelled happily over ‘I am the one and only’
“You and your bloody obsession with that song.” Danny laughed rolling his eyes.
“What?” Abbie mock gasped. “It’s pure genius!”
“Yer wateva.” He laughed. “What dya want to drink?”
“Um…archers and lemonade pleeeeeease.” She smiled.
“Sometimes you’d think she was drunk when she was completely sober.” Harry laughed at Abbie.
“Come on…let’s dance.” Maria said pulling Harry to the dance floor.
“We’ll go and get a table.” Abbie said as she and Nat left Danny and Dougie at the bar.
The guys stood there for a few minutes before finally getting served.
“I haven’t seen you here before…you come here often?” A guy next said to Danny as he stood there waiting for his drink.
“No we’re on holiday so it’s the first time.” He replied friendly.
“Oh. You here for a while tonight?” The guy asked.
“Shit man Doug.” Danny yelled as Dougie burst out laughing, spraying his drink as he did.
“Sorry. I’m gonna be over here.” Dougie said trying to keep a straight face before rushing over to the table where the girls sat.
“See you later mate.” Danny said picking up the drinks and following in the direction Dougie went.
“Here.” Danny said placing Abbie’s drink down and sitting next to her as she laughed.
“Pulled have we?” Abbie laughed as Danny looked at her confused.
“I hear you just got chat up?” Nat added almost wetting herself.
“Uh…no he was just chatting.” Danny replied innocently.
“Uh…guys…” Dougie said after looking around.
“What?”
“Don’t you notice something strange about in here?” He said with a worried look on his face.
“Oh…my…gah!” Abbie said slamming her hand against her face, shocked.
“We’re in a gaaaay bar!” Nat yelled as her chin fell before bursting into laughter.
“Lets get out of here man.” Danny said trying to be manly.
“hahaha I’ll get those two!” Nat said between laughed as she got up from the table as the other 3 quickly headed for the exit.

"Right, Ms Jones, we seem to have made another cock up with your booking, very sorry, but your adventure weeks have been booked seperatly..."
"Oh, well, can I choose the groups then?" Zoe smiled
"Of course madam.."
"Well, the first group is Ms N Barnes, Mr D Poynter, Mr T Fletcher and myself, then the latter group is everyone else"
"Ok, that's fine, Ms Jones, could you identify who will be carrying the tents, and equipment?"
"Urm, Tom and Dougie..." Zoe said with a smile as Tom began to kiss her neck gently
"Ok, well thank you Ms Jones, your tour guide will be at the hotel to pick you up at 10.00 on Monday morning before you go into the bush."
"Ok, well thank you very much, I must be off now, I have a phone call to make.." I giggled, before Tom took my hand, and dragged me towards the lifts.

"Danny..." Zoe smiled as the doors opened as we were about to go up to our room...
"How're you sis?" he asked
"Still a bit jet lagged, you know... never did travel well..." she lied; as Tom sensed the antagonism between the siblings.
“Come on.” Tom called to Zoe through the hotel door where she was chatting to Danny and Abbie.
“I’m coming.” She called back.
“See you later guys. Be good.” Zoe said hugging Abbie then turning to Danny.
“I think I should be saying that to you.” He laughed before giving her a brotherly hug.
“Bye.” Zoe said pulling away and heading towards the door.
“It’s gonna be weird without them.” Abbie said wrapping her arms around Danny’s waist as she put her head on his chest, taking in his scent.
“I know. I hope they’re going to be ok.” He said as they stood facing the closed door.
“Stop stressing Dan, they’re gonna be fine.” Abbie said pulling back and picking up her beach bag.
“Come on, let’s go to the beach.” She said taking his hand and exiting the room.
“Hey.” Maria smiled as she opened the door after Abbie knocked on it.
“You ready?” Danny asked.
“Yeah just coming. Harry get a move on.” Maria said banging the bathroom door.
“Alright, alright I’m ready.” He moaned, coming out.
“Come on then, let’s go.” Maria smiled as she picked up her bag and follow Abbie and Danny down the corridor.

"I can't believe its Christmas day tomorrow!" Natalie smiled, as the 4 x 4 which Tom was driving headed back towards the hotel, gently stroking Dougie's hand,
"I can't wait, Danny is going to love his present" Zoe said cheerfully, looking as Tom broke suddenly
"Sorry, Kangaroo crossing the road, didn't want to hurt it" he explained
"Aww, you're so cute!" Dougie mocked what he [i]knew[/i] Zoe and Natalie were about to say, before bursting into fits of laughter, as did the other three in the car.
"This trip has been excellent" Tom smiled "Thanks for making it happen, Zoe" Tom said, before gently squeezing Zoe's thigh
"Hey, you guys think we should stop for some munch? Tom, you probably need a rest, too…" Natalie suggested as she saw the sign for a service station in the distance
"Yeah, I guess, we need more petrol too"
"How far out of Sydney are we?" Zoe asked "I told Danny we'd be back at the hotel before dark…" she muttered
"Only about an hour, we'll be back no problem" Tom gave a re-assuring smile as he turned into the McDonalds car park "actually, we'll go refill with petrol, then come back here, and get a drive-thru, I think we should just get back, then we can crash, and be ok for tomorrow…" Tom said confidently, stroking Zoe's thigh, with a smile on his face
"Do you want me to drive?" Natalie asked with a smile
"No!" Dougie and Zoe said together abruptly
"Ok, only a suggestion," she muttered, looking worriedly from her boyfriend, to her best friend, and then back again, as they exchanged nervous glances
"It's just that, you're not th-" Dougie started, before Zoe gave him a death stare
"Dougie means to say that you're not insured to drive this thing…" Zoe said whilst continuing to stare blankly at Dougie
"Yeah, and I don't want anything to happen to you…" Dougie quickly added, before Natalie's frown softened into a smile, as she flung her arms around Dougie's neck
"Guy's!" Tom groaned
"Hey, and you two can shut right the hell up! We could hear you last night! You don't want me to tell Danny, do you Zoe?" Natalie teased
"You wouldn't dare" Zoe huffed, looking across at Tom.

The rest of the journey continued in silence, with the odd look of disgruntlement between Natalie and Zoe, before they saw someone storm out of their hotel
"Hey! Is that Maria?!" Zoe said loudly, looking into the window of the taxi as they passed
"looked like it…" Tom said shallowly
"Wonder what happened?" Dougie asked
"Guess we'll find out," Natalie said quietly, as she saw Harry also storm out of the hotel, and down towards the local holiday makers area, which housed all of downtown Sydney's best clubs and bars.

"Hey, Abz, what happened with Maria and Harry?" Zoe asked as soon as they were met by Danny and Abbie in the lobby of the hotel.
“Abbie what happened?” Zoe asked again as Abbie didn’t say anything but gaze out the way Harry and Maria had gone with a frown on her face.
“She had the fucking cheek to accuse me of cheating on Danny with Harry. She even got personal. Good fucking riddance to her.” Abbie spat before storming towards the lift.
“Wait Abbie.” Nat called after her as her and Zoe went running after her.
“Come on, let’s talk about this.” Zoe said as they all got into the lift, them backing one of Abbie’s hand each and comforting her.
Opening the door, Abbie wiped the tears from her face before crashing out on her bed.
“So hunni, tell us everything that happened.” Nat said as they sat down next to her.

“Hey ya. Alright babes?” Abbie said as Maria pushed the door open to Abbie and Danny’s room and walked in.
“Don’t babes me.” Maria spat, causing Abbie to turn, shocked.
“What?” She asked confused.
“Don’t play the innocent game with me.” Maria replied with a fierce tone.
“I don’t know what your on about.” Abbie said putting down her straighteners.
“You and Harry. That’s what I’m on about.” She spat.
“What about us?” Abbie scrunched her forehead with confusion.
“You want Harry for yourself don’t you? You can’t be content with Danny, you have to go for my man too, you conniving bitch!” Maria shouted.
“There’s nothing going on with me and Harry. Where the hell is this all coming from?”
“I saw you with him. I’m not stupid. You’re cheating on Danny with Harry. Keep your paws off my man, you slag!” Maria yelled again.
“What the fuck is going on?” Harry asked as him and Danny rushed into the room, hearing the commotion.
“I could ask you the same thing you know.” Maria said angrily, turning on her heel instantly and facing Harry.
“What?” He asked confused.
“You and Abbie. Am I not fucking good enough? You have to go for this tart?” She gestured behind her.
“Oi don’t talk about her like that.” Danny spoke up.
“What? It’s true though isn’t it? We know how she likes to weave her way in with all the guys. Just for a quick shag and to get all they can out of people.” Maria said edging closer to Abbie. “You’re nothing more than a selfish bitch. No wonder your Dad left home.”
Feeling the anger boiling up inside her Abbie raised her hand, slapping Maria firmly across her face, hitting her with such force that she jolted back slightly.
Straightening herself up, Maria stood facing Abbie, staring at her weaker than the harsh glare she was receiving back from Abbie.
“I’m leaving. You fuckers can all have an orgy together and rot in hell. Some friend you were.” Maria said before storming out of the room.

“She then went and grabbed her bags and within 5 minutes she was leaving. That’s when you came back.” Abbie finished, looking up from where she had previously had her eyes fixed on her hands.
“Oh my god.” Nat said, wiping the tears from Abbie’s cheeks with her thumbs.
“That was out of order. How could she be like that?” Zoe said gob smacked.
“Hmm…” Abbie sighed.

"Hey, Harry!" Zoe called over the loud music in the club which they'd managed to track him to "you want a drink?" she asked, as he nodded, out of breath, and sweat making his tanned face shine.
"Beer please, Zo, want me to come with you?" he asked, whilst wiping his brow with the back of his hand "where's everyone else?" he asked, carefully passing through the crowd, his hand held on the base of Zoe's back
"Uh, Tom was feeling sick, Abbie and Danny are, understandably spending time together, Nat is pissed off, and Dougie is trying to calm her down"
"So, they sent you?" Harry smiled, taking a sip from his pint glass
"Harry, it was my choice to come down, you're a mate, and so was Maria, but, I know that you wouldn't cheat on her, she's just stupid"
"You said it" he sighed "stupid cow" he muttered under his breath,
"You wanna go after this?" Zoe asked carefully, gesturing to their drinks, trying to get him back to the hotel so she knew that he was safe, and could rest herself
"Nah, there's this girl over there who's number I want to get first"
"Want me to work my magic?" Zoe smiled, looking as he rolled his eyes and nodded, before she began dancing her way over to the long dark brown haired beauty, and speaking to her

"Hey," she smiled "I'm Zoe, you see that guy over there, he's called Harry, he's 19, he fancies you like hell, and he's being a nonce, and not coming over to ask you, because I'm his mate, and I want to go, so, I was wondering if I could have your number, for him, and your name would be nice, too…" Zoe smiled, handing her eyeliner to the girl who was stood in front of him. Zoe watched what the girl wrote on her arm
'Lois, 07………Call me xx' she gave a friendly wink to Zoe
"Thanks, I've had my eye on him since we got here"
"Aww, cute! Well, why don't you come share our beach BBQ tomorrow… as a surprise for Harry?" Zoe asked, whilst looking over her shoulder at Harry, who was stood at the bar frowning at the two girls, who he knew were up to something, he just couldn't place what. "We're gonna be on Manly beach, we're a group of like, 7, so you wont miss us!"
"That sounds cool, what time?" Lois asked, Zoe's eyeliner still held in her hand
"Well, we're gonna head down to the beach at around 11am… so come down from then" Zoe smiled, taking her eyeliner back from Lois, and skipping off in the direction of Harry. "Get in there!" Zoe smiled "she's lovely, names Lois, and there's her number…" Zoe smiled, throwing her arm into Harry's face
"Thanks Zo…" Harry laughed, as they walked out of the club together