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“Dude! Come on!” someone else said.
“Fucking wait!” Roman snapped. The sounds of the party faded and I heard a door close. “What’s up?”
“I don’t know. Mum was just… And, then I…” I took a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay.
“Where are you?”
“It’s fine. I’ll talk to you later. I didn’t mean to get in the way.”
“Piper, you could never get in the way. Where are you? I’m coming to you.”
“You’re busy.”
“I’m never busy for you, you know that.”
“Roman, I don’t want you driving if you’ve been drinking.”
“Fuck that. I’m fine. You need me? I’ll be there.”
“You’re not driving now. Your safety is priority, Roman.” My voice was becoming more forceful with the concern he was going to crash or get picked up and it would be all my fault.
“No. You are my priority, Piper.” His voice was hard and I recognised the beeping sound of his ute unlocking. “Now, you tell me where you are or you’re going to regret it.”
“How will I regret it if you can’t find me?” I asked, a little playfully.
“Piper…” His voice was a warning, but he sounded humorously exasperated with me.
“I’m at the lake.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
I was going to argue, but he’d hung up.
The time passed with me worrying more that he was never going to make it than worrying about the next year. So, there was one slight plus about the whole situation at least. I was pacing when lights flashed over me, were suddenly cut and he slammed the door shut.
“Piper!” he yelled, moving towards me purposefully.
I turned to face him and could do nothing more than shake my head. He wrapped me in his arms and held me tightly. Nothing had ever been more comforting than his arms felt at that moment. I knew he shouldn’t have driven after drinking – and I planned to berate him fully later – but, just then, I was so grateful he was there.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt your party,” I mumbled into his jacket.
“You didn’t interrupt anything. I was out, but something more important came up.”
I pulled away from him quickly. “Crap! Is Maddy okay?” I asked. A thousand things tore through my head, but all too fast for me to catch.
He chuckled and kissed my hair. “You, you idiot. You’re the something more important.”
I let out a huge breath and shook my head. “No. Not if Maddy needed you.”
Roman let out a tremendously exasperated sigh and held me at arm’s length. “Honestly, Barlow – if you’ll allow me to indulge in some nancy wank for a moment – you are the most important thing in my world, all right? You need me, I’m here. It’s just not a fucking negotiation, love.”
I felt like a complete tool for putting him out and for putting him in a position where he felt like he had to get all sincere on me. “I’ll concede only so you don’t have to be all wanky and emotional anymore, okay?”
He grinned. “Okay. Thank you. Now, did you want to talk about what’s up, or are we going to sit here and say nothing for a while?”
I shrugged. “I just… Can we sit?”
Without hesitation, he dropped to the ground and held out his arms. “Come on, then.”
