AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Which one?” I asked.
“The one to help Carter find his sack.”
“I swear that had nothing to do with me,” I answered as I pulled my door open. “I think you broke Hadley’s heart, though.”
He grinned as we closed our doors in unison. “Tell her I’ll drive you both on Saturday if it makes her happy.”
“You? Go to a party and not drink?” I gasped as I plugged my iPod in.
He glared at the radio like it had betrayed him as he turned the car on and my music started, then glared at me.
“The things I fucking do for you,” he sighed as he started the car properly, completely disgusted by my music tastes.
“Eh, you love me,” I replied flippantly, looking out the side window.
“I certainly don’t hate you.”
“What a glowing review,” I scoffed.
“Well, I’m hardly going to agree. What sort of message would that give you?”
I snorted. “Okay. I will give you this one chance to sayanythingto me. A totally off the cuff remark which I will take purely at face value.” I slid him a look, interested to see what his response would be.
“Okay. One thing. Each. Anything. Total face value. And, we never speak of it again?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it?”
He grinned. “Shut up, I’m thinking.”
“All right, take your time. You don’t want to break anything.”
He huffed a laugh. “Face value? Then, I do kind of love you.”
I kept my gaze fixated out the window to hide the force of my smile at the knowledge our friendship really wasn’t one-sided. Because I knew Roman Lombardi, and I knew that there was nothing romantic involved in that – it was like when I said it to Hadley or Celeste – so, I felt completely comfortable in my answer.
“I kind of love you, too.”
“Oh, now that’s just copying. Boo! Get your own material, Barlow,” he teased, taking my hand. His tone was sarcastic, but his smile was sincere.
I laughed. “Fine. That not good enough for you? How’s this; I love that… ‘You say it best, when you say nothing at all’!” I sang along with the song. And, my voice was nowhere near as good as his – read; awful. But, my statement was no less true for the humour-value.
Roman laughed one of those pure laughs. “You’re a total loon.” He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
The song changed and I sang along in my head; I loved Tony Lee Scott’s ‘Take Me Away’.
Roman surprised me yet a-freaking-gain when he started singing along. And as far as I could tell, he got all the lyrics right. Even that line about the carrots…
“How the hell do you know that song?” I asked when it was finished, mouth agape.
He threw me a look and shrugged. “Dunno. What is it?”
“Um, a song so obscure I can’t find it on YouTube, Soundcloud, iTunes, anywhere…”
“Spotify?”
