AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shrugged. “You seemed kinda…funky.”
“I wasn’t the only one.”
He nodded as he kept his eyes over the lake. “No, you weren’t.”
“You seem less…funky now.”
“I am less funky now.”
Ignoring the confusion at a seemingly new side to him that still hung around the edges of my mind, I cleared my throat. “Um… Anything you want to talk about? Maddy’s…okay?”
He shrugged again. “I’m not going to do you the disservice of telling you your life seems easy, Barlow. All I’ll say is that you probably know life isn’t always as simple as it can be made to look.”
I nodded. “Fair enough.”
It was a completely true statement. I knew for a fact that people thought my life was easy and I tried to keep it that way. I would never try to imply that my life was hard, but it never felt as simple as I tried to make people think it was.
The idea that Roman’s life wasn’t a simple as he seemed to make it look was still a revelation to me.
“If there’s anything I’ve learnt, it’s that no one’s life is ever as simple as you think.”
“Are you implying I have depths, Barlow?” he scoffed.
I pulled my knees to my chest and smiled into them, not sure if I believed it myself. “I wouldn’t dare tarnish your reputation.”
I felt him shrug. “In my experience, reputations are overrated.”
“Shall I go back to school and tell everyone you like unicorns and keep fuzzy pink dice in your truck?”
He barked a laugh like it was totally unbidden. “Okay, you’ve made your point. You have the power, my queen. Please, for the love of all things I hold dear–”
“Your dick for one?” popped out before I could stop myself; something about Roman seemed to switch off my filter.
He turned to stare at me in complete shock, his cigarette hanging comically from his mouth. He blinked, grabbed his smoke and snuffed it out on the sand on his other side, all while keeping his eyes on me.
“Who the hell are you?” he huffed in surprise.
I felt my cheeks flame as I shoved my forehead into my knees. But, it wasn’t shame. I was just a little embarrassed I’d so brazenly said what was on my mind. And a little embarrassed that Roman brought it out in me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled into my legs.
Roman laughed. “Oh no. None of that bullshit, Barlow. That was nothing to apologise for.”
“I shouldn’t have said it,” I breathed, still surprised I had.
“Try saying something else uncomplimentary about me,” he said.
I snuck a look at him. “What?”
He nodded once. “Go on. What would you say to me if you were going to be completely honest with me?”
I looked over the lake and thought about it. “I don’t… Nothing. I wouldn’t say anything.”
He laughed. “True. You and your lack of spine would probably not say anything. If we – for one second – pretend that you do have a spine, what would you say?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it and breathed heavily out of my nose. “You’re not very complimentary, yourself,” I pointed out, thinking I wasn’t going to be the only one to break habits.
“You don’t seem to like my compliments,” he countered.
