Friendship on Fire (26 page)

‘Sounds good. I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow to confirm. Thanks for coming over tonight,' I said, watching him walk out the front door.

My heart broke into a quickened thudding rhythm and I told it to behave. I couldn't deal with two men right now.

‘We've got
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Babylon A.D.,
Transformers, Bride Wars
or
Defiance.
Take your pick. Or all of them, if you're up for it,' Roman said, grinning as he threw the DVDs on my lap.

It turned out Nate was caring for his dad again. Was it wrong that I was relieved? I'd missed hanging with Roman at his place. We used to do it so often the last few years. Last summer we were living in each other's pockets, so it was good to regain some normalcy. However, I didn't tell Nate I was visiting Roman.

‘What do I get if I manage to watch them all without falling asleep?' I asked, feeling hyper.

He cocked his head to one side.

‘What do you want?'

I tapped my chin with my index finger. ‘I need some energy first.'

‘Like what? I have a stash. Name your poison.'

He rummaged behind the couch.

Straight away, I said, ‘Redskins. Always first choice. You should know that.'

‘That I do. But, maybe these will sway your decision.'

He threw a bag on to the beanbag in front of me and out fell Maltesers, salt and vinegar chips, jelly beans, starbursts, mint slice biscuits … the pile went on and on.

I acted disgusted, but I was amazed. ‘How are you not a fat, fat person Roman?'

‘Oh but I am. I'm a fat person inside a skinny man's body.'

I pulled a face. ‘You make me sick. I'd be the size of a house if I ate junk at the rate you do.'

Roman spread out his hands in helplessness. ‘Hey, don't blame me. Take it up with God. He created this masterpiece.'

Smirking back, I said, ‘You are so up yourself. It's hilarious.'

‘Yeah, the girls love it,' he teased.

‘I bet they do. Speaking of, has anything happened between you and Tiffany since the party? Like, anything?' I asked, suddenly remembering my conversations with Skye and Nate.

‘Um. No. Why the question? I told you I wasn't interested. We didn't exchange numbers or anything,' he said, bewildered.

‘Nate seems to think she's still keen on you and maybe watching you from a distance through the Blonde Brigade. I know it sounds freaky, but I thought you had to know.'

Roman opened his eyes wide. ‘Like a stalker? That's weird. I made myself pretty clear I didn't want anything to do with her. My one good deed ended that night when they were all dropped home safely.'

‘So do you think it's possible she might be getting involved with Skye and the other girls? I mean, they are spreading rumours at the moment about Nate and me sleeping together and Skye seems to think I'm two-timing you both,' I said, lowering my eyes to my hands.

He mulled it over for a moment and then said, ‘When did she say this?'

‘On Tuesday. She was waiting for me at the locker bay. I haven't had a proper chance to talk to you about it. Nate reckons his friends have spread similar rumours about him at his school and it's just a guy thing. Is it really?' I asked, hoping against hope it wasn't.

‘Um. I don't know what sorts of friends he has, but it's not something James and I would do to each other. Maybe to our face to tease, but not publicly, or seriously.'

‘Hmm.'

Roman sat down next to me, elbows on his knees. ‘So let me get this straight. Nate's friends are spreading rumours about you and him and the girls are getting wind of it and running it into our school and giving you a hard time about it. And this is somehow supposed to make me more interested in Tiffany? Wow. They are more blonde than I thought.'

I agreed. ‘I know. It's so twisted. Especially the part about me two-timing. I wouldn't do that.'

‘No, you wouldn't. And you wouldn't sleep with him either,' he firmly assumed, almost absent-mindedly.

This comment surprised me. I didn't answer straight away, thinking about the possibility of that not being true. I avoided discussing anything personal, let alone a sex talk with my best friend who I was, up until now, enjoying flirting with.

Roman's urgent voice brought me out of my thoughts. ‘Daisy?'

‘Oh, gosh, no. I haven't slept with him. It's too early for that,' I said hastily.

Roman's eyes darkened in confusion. ‘Hang on. Is that the only reason you haven't? Because it's too early?' he demanded.

How would I get myself out of this hole? ‘No. Well yes. But I'm not ready yet. And we haven't talked about it. And it's scary and I feel weird talking to you about it.'

His face softened. ‘Sorry. I don't mean to pry. It's good to know that you haven't. Don't force me to bash him or anything, because I will. He can't touch you like that.'

‘Why not?' I asked curiously, without defiance.

‘Because. You're special. You're not there for that,' he said simply.

‘Yeah I know. But the time will come that I sleep with someone. I don't know when or where or who. Does that mean I have to report it to you and you can tell me if that's OK or not?'

‘No. I didn't mean it like that. Never mind. It's probably weirding you out,' he said, picking up the DVDs and spreading them in front of us. ‘So what are we watching first?'

‘You choose. I'll choose the first lot of lollies to be devoured.'

‘Sweet.'

Amazingly, we got through three packets of lollies by the end of the first movie, another two by the end of the second, and by the third, I was feeling like my head would explode from a massive sugar high. Roman and I were rolling around on the carpet clutching our stomachs and laughing hysterically. There was a crazy lolly party in our stomachs and every sweet that was ever created was invited.

We decided to watch one more movie and then agreed I'd crash on the couch and he'd walk me home in the morning. There was one small problem. We couldn't decide which movie to end the night on. It was funny; we'd agreed on the three other movies, but couldn't agree on the last one. We were always doing silly things like that. I wanted to watch
Defiance
, but he didn't because it was ‘too Hitler'.

Roman wanted to watch
Transformers
, but I didn't because it was unrealistic. I mean, a movie about a bunch of cartoon action figurines? Yawn.

He had his head in the bag of lollies so I took my chance. I grabbed the remote control and the DVD and scampered to the machine to put in
Defiance.

‘Oh no you don't,' he said, lunging after me and reaching for the remote. Luckily, we had placed a heap of beanbags on the carpet in his living room in unspoken preparation for such an event. I held the remote above my head while trying to negotiate the DVD player. After wildly pressing buttons and slapping Roman's hands away, the DVD finally went in and I pressed play. Roman grabbed at the remote and tugged. I held it firm. He tried to pry my fingers off it, one at a time. I still held it firm.

‘Haha, I win,' I squealed and bounded back to the couch. I put the remote down the back of my cargo pants and pulled the blanket up so he couldn't find it. Innocently, I grinned at him and started to watch the credits roll. My whole body trembled in anticipation at the war that was about to erupt.

‘As if. I haven't even started yet,' he said cheekily, slowly reaching over for my blanket. ‘And I still have to get you back for English …'

‘You'll never find it,' I screamed, loudly for that time of night. ‘You'll never win.'

‘Oh yeah?'

Swift as a lion taking down its prey, Roman pulled the blanket off me, rolled me over to pin my arms under my stomach and secured my legs down with one knee. Then he pulled the remote slowly out of my back pocket.

‘Now listen,' he said, breathing into my ear. ‘Because I'm a gentleman, I'll let you watch this movie, even though I
really
don't want to watch it. But just for the record,
I
win.'

Shaking, I pulled his leg hairs until he let me up and then threw a redskin at him.

I was wearing my pink bikinis under a blue summer dress and was dying to get into the water and splash around. It was perfect weather for a swim, but my self-conscious mind was overbearing. What would Nate think of my body? Yes, he had seen me in a bra and skirt, so a bikini top wouldn't be much different, but what about the rest of me? What if he didn't want me?

Nate drew beside me and laid his hand on my lower back. His other hand was out, offering to take my thongs to carry as well as his own. The wind pulled at his hair, making it wild and disobedient.

I loved it.

Being at the beach made me feel alive. The sun beating down on my skin, the soft sand squishing between my toes, together with the push and pull of the waves, were powerful reminders of the intricacies involved in creating such a place.

I waded further into the water, not caring that my dress was getting wet at my knees. Slowly I stepped, careful not to scratch my feet on the small pebbles and reef at the bottom, and gasping with delight at the way the cold water energised my spirit. Nate laughed, following my lead. My arms were in the air, balancing my steps.

Nate had chosen quite a secluded part of South Beach; a little C-shaped basin a few kilometres up from the communal swimming areas where I would usually walk or sit on the rocks to write in my diary and relax my mind. This place was special, with unique rock formations and stunningly green grassed areas.

We had picnic stuff in the car ready for brunch, courtesy of Nate's fine chef skills that I had yet to test, and there were plenty of places along the top of the basin where I'd have been very happy to spend all my spare days lying down, staring at the clouds and admiring the crashing waves.

A short way from the basin were the remains of a shipwreck. They were completely rusted and bent, the structure of the hull barely recognisable. Brass and red blended with green and brown seaweed to form a part of history that fascinated me. Who had been on board the wreck? Did they crash into rocks? Had anyone survived?

‘Let's go look at the wreckage,' I squealed, and splashed back out of the water. Nate happily followed, chuckling at my excitement, intent on letting me enjoy myself.

I ran around the site to check it out from every angle. I stood under it, trying to work out what it might have looked like in its prime. It was the coolest mystery in the world.

I trotted to Nate and threw my arms around his neck. My toes sank into the sand as I tried to stand on tiptoes to gaze into his deep brown eyes. His arms snaked around my back tightly and held me taller.