Three days had gone by since Ara and Jack's meeting in the cottage. For those three days Ara kept revisiting the moments she and Jack had after the kiss. Thinking about the way he sat on the sofa with her cuddled up against him, telling stories to each other. Every now and again they kissed each other on lips, on foreheads, on cheeks. Years they missed gaining back, catching up with interests.
Over the years he had taken a liking to guitar, especially Spanish Ballads. He had described to her what it felt to play them, how it automatically lifts up his spirits. He explained that the interest popped up after a  friend of his had left him his guitar in his will (he died in battle he had said).
Ara had watched him with admiring eyes, listened to him with a hunger to know more. She had listened to every word he said.
She smiled to herself, living in the memory, trying to drown the empty feeling in her stomach. The door leading to the hallway opened and Emma was standing in the open space. Her mascara was smudged under her eyes, black trails on her cheeks. Blood was trickling from her nose and cuts on her cheek. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess. She was a right state, at least for Emma.
"Emma, what's wrong? What happened?" she asked standing up from the chair. She walked over to her and wrapped her arms around the crying girl. She felt Emma's arm curl up around her, up to her shoulders where she placed her hands on her back. Ara rubbed Emma's back soothingly, patting it once in a while. She listened to Emma's sobs, until after a long time they finally subsided. Pulling back from her she looked at her saddened face and asked her what was wrong.
She replied with a shocking answer;
"Some of the girls were being despicable, they were talking shit about you and I couldn't let them get away with it. So I hit one of them." She took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"They all turned on me and hit me back! I'm sorry Ara, i'm sorry! I messed everything up for you!" She burst into another flood of tears, more mascara running down her cheeks. Ara pulled her in into another tight hug.
"Shhhhhh, everything is going to be okay.." But she knew it wasn't going to be okay. Emma had ruined everything, for herself.

"Jack! Jack, over here!" Oliver, one of Jack's teammates, was calling him to the table where him and the rest of the team were sitting. He gave a half hearted wave and went to join them. He sat on the empty chair next to Jamie, Oliver's brother, and David, Jamie's boyfriend. He wondered what was going on.. Jamie and David were normally inseparable, and now he was sat between the two of them.
Awkwardly, he sat his bag on the floor by his feet and shrugged off his coat. He had to sit through another talk of tactics and plans.
Jack had been busy the past three days and so he couldn't see Ara at night. Plus, people knew who he was now, he couldn't risk getting caught by the men. Or so he says to himself everyday.
He sighed and turned his attention back to the conversation his team were having.
Such a boring topic..