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We went through the motions a few times and, more often than not, my stone skipped at least twice.
“Oh, watch out. I’ll get better than you soon,” I teased.
“You what?” he laughed.
“Yep, the student becomes the master.” I brushed off my shoulders mock-arrogantly and he laughed out loud; a pure, happy sound I don’t think I’d heard from him ever. It was more than just sincere, it was beautiful.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” he said as he tickled me.
I giggled helplessly while I tried to pant, “Uncle”.
“I think you’ll find it’s pronounced ‘uncie’,” he said deadpan.
That set me off further. I took a deep breath and finally got out “okay, okay, Uncie Roman!” through laughing.
He let go of me, but I was so busy laughing that my legs almost gave out. He just got his arms around me as we collapsed onto the ground, setting us off again. Once we’d finally calmed down, we just lay there, perfectly content where we’d fallen – arms and legs everywhere.
“No music tonight?” I asked.
“Didn’t want to interrupt your pity party.”
I smiled and picked up his hand. “I kind of like your music.”
“Really?” His thumb ran over the back of my hand.
I nodded. “Yeah, seems…suitable.”
“Huh,” he chuckled and pulled his phone out of his pocket with the hand I wasn’t holding.
Music washed over us and we lay in silence for a bit.
“Barlow?”
“Hm?”
“What are your plans for next year?”
I was completely taken back by that question. “What?”
“I mean, you don’t have to tell me or anything. I just wondered.”
I shifted my head slightly where it lay on his arm. “No. I… Um, well uni in Adelaide I guess.”
I hated thinking about it because moving out of home, and leaving my friends and family, and everything else involved seemed hugely scary, and I couldn’t really deal with it. Mum had already started the excited planning, but all it served to do was give me anxiety and a headache.
I felt him nod. “Fair enough.”
I didn’t say anything, just did my usual staring up at the sky. Not that I could see the stars that night because it was cloudy. There was a blotch of white where the moon was trying to peek through, but the rest was grey.
Finally, I heard him ask, “You okay?”
I nodded. “Uh, yeah. I just… Sorry,” I sighed.
“What for?”
I shrugged and sat up, my legs still over one of his. “You don’t want to hear all my unnecessary, inexplicable shit, Lombardi.”
“How about a new rule?”
