AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How old?”
“Five.”
She nodded. “Well, have fun.” I knew how much fun she thought I’d be having.
I smiled. “I’m sure I will.”
So, I’d successfully lied to Hadley again and she’d bought it again. My stomach twinged uncomfortably and a part of me wished I felt like I could tell her everything. But she’d either think there was more to Roman and I than there was or she’d be on my case about how there wasn’t more to us. So lying seemed like the only choice at the time.
And, I guess it wasn’t quite a lie; I’d sort of signed up for babysitting Roman. He wasn’t five, but Maddy was. So, not too bad, really. As lies went…. Maybe…
I had a quick look for Roman’s ute in the carpark after school and was almost surprised when I saw it. I wandered over and opened the passenger door.
“You know we should probably…” I stopped as I saw him put his finger to his lips and kick his head into the back seat.
I peered around the seat and saw Maddy asleep in her car seat.
“You didn’t have to come back for me,” I hissed.
He shrugged. “She’s asleep anyway,” he said quietly.
I rolled my eyes and clambered awkwardly into the car.
“You’re not getting any better at that you know.”
“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed,” I muttered as I went to pull the door closed and saw Hadley, Tucker and Mason waving at me.
My stomach did a weird sort of half flip-half shrivel, jump-plummet thing as I waved back and pulled the door closed.
“What were you shouting before?” he asked as he pulled out of the carpark.
“I don’t know.” I pulled my eyes from Mason, wondering at that weird feeling in my stomach.
“You okay, Barlow?”
I rested my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. “No.”
I heard him chuckle, then felt him reach over to take my hand. I was surprised by the action, but I tried not to let it show.
“What’s up?”
“At Lunch, Mason may or may not have asked me out.”
I felt Roman’s hand twitch like he was about to pull it back, but he didn’t. “And what does that mean?” he asked slowly, almost as if he didn’t want to know the answer.
I shrugged and turned a bit to face him. “I don’t know. He asked me to go out tonight, but then clarified that everyone was going and it would be fun to hang out with the group.”
“Right…” Roman’s hand twitched again. He looked down for a second, squeezed my hand and pulled his away to change gears. “So?”
“Well, does that mean he’s shy or he’s not interested?”
Roman shrugged, turned the corner, changed gears again and took my hand back. “I don’t know, Barlow.”
“Well if you were going to ask me out, how would you do it?”
He slid me a humoured glance. “Barlow, if this is a sorry attempt to get me to ask you out–”
“If I wanted to date you, I’m woman enough to just ask you and risk being shut down, Lombardi. But, thanks,” I huffed.
