Page 10 of Oar Than Friends

A small grin made an appearance as I thought about it. ‘I’m from the east coast, a little village up the northern Connecticut shoreline. My dad is a fisherman, he has a business fishing for oysters and lobsters. I had planned to study business, then open a restaurant in the harbour which sold them. I wanted to make the best lobster rolls in the state.’

Oz stared at me until I was almost shrinking under his scrutiny.

‘I told you it was dumb.’

Then his bright blue eyes widened. ‘Are you kidding! It’s the best idea! I fucking love lobster, and oysters! There’s a place I go with my family in Cornwall. I’ll have to take you some time, I bet it’s like Connecticut.’

I laughed, ‘Where’s Cornwall?’

He waved his hand dismissively, ‘Right down at the very bottom of England. Miles away. But I’ll take you.’

He sounded so determined, it was easy to believe every word which passed his perfect lips. I wanted to know more about him, where this determination and certainty came from. It wasn’t arrogance, it was the confidence of knowing he could achieve whatever he set his mind to. Jake had been like that.

‘Isn’t it a bit early to start planning dates? Not to mention, we’re both going to be very busy studying.’ I glanced at my watch. ‘Save for the fact we’ve only known each other an hour.’

‘Nothing’s too early when it comes to planning your dreams,’ he grinned.

‘What about your dream?’

‘My dream?’

‘Yes, the classics dream. What are you going to do with it?’

He shuffled about, uncurling his legs and stretching them back out so they were almost surrounding me. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.’

‘A teacher? Like, in a school?’

He nodded, his mouth rolling into a straight line, ‘Yep.’

I frowned, that seemed simple enough. ‘Why can’t you?’

‘Ahhh,’ he took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck, easing whatever tension had just made a home there, ‘because of the expectation of family tradition.’

I stared, my eyebrow raised until he understood that he needed to elaborate on his answer.

‘I come from a long line of politicians, and I’m expected to follow.’

‘And you don’t want to?’

‘I’d rather have my fingernails pulled out.’

I tipped my head back with a loud laugh, until I saw that he wasn’t joking. Like, really wasn’t joking. ‘Oh no, Oz, I’m sorry. Is there nothing you can do?’

He shook his head, ‘Nope. I’m planning to study for as long as I can – the longer I’m here the less opportunity to force me into politics. If I can’t teach, I’ll end up as Britain’s best-known classicist with any luck.’

‘That really sucks.’ I put my hand over his, then whipped it away just as quickly.

‘It does.’ Oz picked my hand back up and held it firm.

This time he laughed with me, his eyes boring into mine as he did, and it became impossible to look away. Out of nowhere, the cool air became hot and sticky. Cloying.

A bead of sweat rolled down between my shoulder blades.

He glanced at his thumb brushing back and forth along mine, and when our eyes met again I swear I saw a fire blazing behind his.

‘Did you know that according to Greek mythology, humans were born with two heads and four arms and legs? Zeus, sitting on his throne in Olympus, became worried that humans were going to be strong enough to overpower the Gods, and so split them down the middle. Ever since, humans have searched the earth for their other half. Their soulmate.’

I think I stopped breathing. I was absolutely certain he was much closer to me than he had been when he’d started talking about soulmates, at least his face was. His mouth was.

---