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“Just be ourselves?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yep.”
“No apologies?” she asked.
“Yep.”
She sighed as she lay back down, and I made sure my arm went back under head.
“Okay, Roman,” she said slowly. “No judgements. No apologies. I won’t expect you to be anything but you, and you likewise. We are who we are in the moment and that just is.”
A tiny bubble of something warmed in me. “Exactly.”
“Huh… Okay,” she said, sounding happy about it.
I felt myself laugh and felt emboldened by our new deal. “If I ask you what you want to do at uni, is that going to bring on some more funk?”
“I think I want to do teaching,” she said and I heard the smile in her voice.
Everything in me wanted to dip my nose back to her neck, but I resisted. “What years?”
“Primary.”
I couldn’t tell if that surprised me or not. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve always liked kids.”
“Even after yesterday with Maddy?” I teased.
She huffed a laugh. “Okay, I may be rethinking it,” she joked. “Why? What are you doing next year?”
Surely she hadn’t forgotten who she was talking to? “Haven’t you heard the teachers at school?”
“I’ve heard Mr Dunbridge tell everyone you’re going nowhere fast.”
“Well, he’s not wrong.” It felt like I was reminding me as much as her.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said.
We both needed more than one reminder. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who I am, Barlow.”
“No. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just not quite as convinced as I once was that you’re a total write off.”
My heart did something weird in my chest. Here was this girl who looked at me like she was actually happy to see me, and she hadn’t written me off. I knew it was only a matter of time before I disappointed her but, so long as it was just her and me and this lake, I could pretend it wouldn’t happen.
“You’re the only one, then,” I said. “Trust me, Dunbridge isn’t wrong.”
“Well, you must still have an idea what you’ll be busy doing on the road to nowhere?”
What did you say to someone you wanted to spend more time with? I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t have to be honest with Rio to keep him around. Piper wasn’t Rio. I knew I couldn’t – wouldn’t – lie to her, but dodging the truth might not go down well.
I sighed. “Well, Dad wants me to move to the city with him and his new wife. Mum simultaneously wants me to go to uni and stay with her forever. So, you know…” I shrugged to stave off the urge to stand up and shake off all these feelings. “I expect I’ll get a terrible ATAR and bludge until Mum makes me get a job or gets sick of me.”
“Where does your dad live?” was all she said.
“Sydney.”
“Do you see him much?”
