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“Hi,” I laughed.
“Hi.”
Why were his eyes always so open? So light? So clear? So…free? Untroubled?
“I’m thinking you should probably come and throw the footy around with us.”
I scoffed. “I’m thinking not.”
Mason gave me that smile. “I think, yes. Hadley, too.”
“Oh, no,” Hadley grimaced. “Nope. I do not do dirt.”
Mason pouted. “Tucker will be devastated.”
Hadley pulled herself up straight. “No, no. I mean… I can make an exception. Surely?” She looked around. “Craig!” she yelled, waving at him as she walked over. “Show me how this football thing is done!”
Once again, Hadley’s flirting technique confused me.
“You coming?” Mason asked.
I nodded. “Sure.”
He pressed a quick kiss to my lips, grabbed my hand and tugged me to the others where the boys tried to teach us how to kick a decent football. There was more falling over, laughing and flirting than actual kicking going around. But, we were all in stitches by the time the bell for the end of Lunch went and we had to traipse back to class.
Roman and I spared a smile for each other and he picked a piece of grass out of my hair as he passed.
“Nature agrees with you, Barlow.”
“Shame it doesn’t look so good on you, Lombardi.”
He gave me a quizzical look and I pointed to the patch of dried mud on his leg.
“Huh,” he mused. “You’d think I’d be better by now.”
“You do fall off your board a lot these days.”
“You smile a lot these days.”
I bit my lip against said smile, batted him gently and followed Hadley to class.
And, things seemed only to be getting better from there.
Well, two steps forward, one step back.
On Saturday we had a relatively warm day and Roman and I decided to take Maddy to the lake. With her, he was amazing as always. With me, he was hot and cold. It was like there was something going on in his mind that would suddenly rain down on his parade. But, if he didn’t want to share it, I knew better than to push.
He was like a bloody emotional yo-yo. But, I accepted him as he was in the moment; happy, crazy, funky, surly, broody. And, he did the same for me.
Saturday night, I was studying. I have no idea what he was getting up to until I got a call a little before eleven.
“A happy number nineteen, Barlow,” he said jovially and I could tell he was putting on the act.
I also knew exactly to what he was referring. “Happy nineteen, Roman. What can I do for you?”
“Well in good news, no charges. But, they won’t let me go home by myself and they just can’t find anyone to take me.”
I nodded to myself and dropped my pen. “So, you need me to pick you up?”
