‘Come on, let’s go sit in the garden,’ he says, nodding his head. ‘Got to have as much time as I can with you.’
It turns out there’s no preventing heartbreak in this situation, as I can feel mine start to fracture at his words.
***
I stand on the curb, rocking backwards and forwards on my feet, feeling like I might fall over at any point. It’s the day the Pointer family moves out.
Ollie walks over to me, dressed in tracksuits and one of his dad’s freebie work T-shirts. It’s a long drive up. He places his hands on my shoulders.
‘So this is it,’ he says.
I swallow, nodding.
‘Come here!’ says Mum, pulling us into a hug. ‘I remember when you two were small babies. You would throw your food at each other and then hug, making the mess worse.’
What a weird thing to get sentimental about.
‘Mum,’ I say, pushing her off.
‘It’s the end of an era,’ says Meredith, walking over. ‘Idon’t know how I could have survived the last seventeen years without Kajal.’
I look at Mum, who is clasping her hands together, looking tearful. She might have said she was fine with the move, but looking at her now, I think she was saying that for me. Classic Mum, always trying to make me feel better.
Ollie grabs my hand, pulls me aside. He looks at me tenderly. A small part of me shrieks,This is it! Confess your love. But it is overruled by the more rational side of my brain which is shouting,You can’t confess your love in front of your mum!
He touches the side of my face. ‘I guess this is goodbye, Selena Pia,’ he says.
‘But not forever,’ I say.
‘No, not forever,’ he says, kissing the top of my head. ‘Just for now.’
He squeezes my hand, lets go, and heads back to his family.
For my whole life our two families have been intertwined by friendship and shared history, and now we’re about to be ripped apart.
The Pointers get into the moving van.
I take a deep breath and say goodbye, and watch the van take them away. And a little piece of my heart with it.
Five
Carry me home
Like you did at the start
Carry me home
The first woman I loved
‘Mama’ fromRoses
It’s the first weekend since Ollie left, and it’s nearly a week until school starts. Faye and Kira are over, trying to cheer me up. I’ve not told them about my crush on Ollie, but I’m starting to feel it might not be as much of a secret as I’d thought.
‘Come on, Selena,’ says Faye.
I am lying horizontally on my bedroom floor while they flick through YouTube videos on my laptop.
‘Look there is a newDate in the Atticwith Anu Kapoor. You love him.’
