The boarding house at the University of Melbourne was a massive old manor, renovated to house 48 full-time students who faced financial hardship securing their own living arrangements. In the basement was an old bar with a polished wooden counter and plush old leather couches. The residents used it to hold parties and unwind. 

John snorted and took a long drink from the bottle. His unshaven face wrinkled in a grimace and he hissed as he passed the bottle on to Lilly. "Jesus, that shit tastes like engine degreaser."

"Sack up, softie." Lilly laughed and took a drink. Her eyes watered a little and she coughed but didn't complain.

"Ha!" John pointed at her and laughed. "Told you! And I'm hard as fuck, babe." He sat up straighter on the bar and lifted his chin with a theatrically haughty expression.

From across the room, Cain threw one of his shoes which smacked John in the middle of the chest and sent him tumbling arse over end off the bar. Lilly was off the bar a moment later, and unsteady as she was she still made her way to John's side and put a hand on his forehead. "You okay?"

John blinked stupidly while Cain and Thomas laughed. Lilly ran her fingers over his head and watched as John's eyes focused on her face. "You right there? Crack your head on the floor?"

"Na," he shook his head and blinked some more while she checked the back of his head for blood. "Hey, mum, I'm okay." His hand shot up and clasped hers firmly. "No worries."

"Is he alive then?" Cain called mockingly.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Lilly rolled her eyes, "You're such a wanker."

"And you're a grandma at 19, he's fine." Cain laughed.

John pulled his feet under him and got back up. "I remain undefeated!" He roared.

Lilly could only plonk down on her butt and shake her head again as John stumbled over to Cain and they started playing Mario Kart. After a few minutes, Thomas came over to check on her. "You good there, mum?"

She snorted, "don't call me 'mum', it's weird."

"Come on," he held his hand out to help her up. "It's cute that you worry, really."

Lilly let him pull her up and grabbed his shoulder to hold herself steady, "whoa."

"Hey-up." Thomas laughed and put an arm around her waist. "Taxi?"

"I'm fine, just spun a little. Maybe water for my next one barkeep."

“Alright, sit down, kick Cain’s ass at Mario Kart.” He grinned as he settled her down on the couch next to his twin brother. “Not a bad way to celebrate a successful school year, eh?”

Lilly snorted. “Successful my ass, did you ever even go to class? I swear none of you ever went to class.”

“Hey!” John objected. 

“Okay okay sorry John, you went. But neither of these gits did.”

“She’s not wrong,” Cain smiled without taking his eyes off the screen. “How’d we not get kicked out?”

“Animal magnetism,” Tom said as he put a glass of water on the small table next to Lilly’s side of the couch.

“Oh, that must be it.” She leaned over hard to the left and ended up almost in Cain’s lap trying to take a sharp corner in the video game. “I swear, my first big story’s gonna be an in-depth investigation of whatever rort you guys have going on.”

John, Cain, and Thomas looked at each other seriously until Lilly squealed happily as her character crossed the finish line first. 

Eventually, it would be necessary to tell her...