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I looked back at him and found him watching me, his hands behind his head. “New rule?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We don’t apologise.”
“We don’t…?”
He nodded again. “Yeah. You justbe, Barlow, and I’ll accept you as is. You never have to apologise to me for anything. You want to be in a shit? Be in a shit and I’ll take you as you are. You want to be ridiculously, annoyingly happy? I’ll take that, too – although I reserve the right to tease you a little. You can’t or don’t want to talk? No judgements. No apologies, Piper. We just be ourselves.”
I was in danger of forgetting everything I thought I knew about Roman Lombardi before the holidays. I didn’t let it show.
“Just be ourselves?”
“Yep.”
“No apologies?”
“Yep.”
I sighed, thinking it over. I lay back down next to him and he put his arm back under my head. “Okay, Roman. 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,” I said, testing out how it sounded.
I felt him nod again. “Exactly.”
“Huh… Okay.”
He chuckled. “If I ask you what you want to do at uni, is that going to bring on some more funk?”
I smiled. “I think I want to do teaching.”
“What years?”
“Primary.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve always liked kids.”
“Even after yesterday with Maddy?”
I snorted. “Okay, I may be rethinking it,” I teased. “Why? What are you doing next year?”
“Haven’t you heard the teachers at school?”
That shouldn’t have brought a smile to my face. “I’ve heard Mr Dunbridge tell everyone you’re going nowhere fast.”
“Well, he’s not wrong.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who I am, Barlow.”
My smile fell. “No. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just not quite as convinced as I once was that you’re a total write off.”
“You’re the only one, then. Trust me, Dunbridge isn’t wrong.”
I had no evidence to mount an argument, so I said, “Well, you must still have an idea what you’ll be busy doing on the road to nowhere?”
He 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…” He shrugged. “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?”
