Page 60 of Oar Than Friends

‘I like it, but I like Oz too.’

‘You, Kate Astley, may call me whatever you want and I will likely break into a sprint to get there as quickly as possible.’

She grinned at me, and I had to rub away the heavy thudding in my chest. I was reaching to put my hoodie back on when she stopped me, ‘Oh, what’s your second tattoo?’

‘You only have to ask if you want me to sit here naked,’ I waited for her to blush, but she merely raised an eyebrow that had me chuckling and I moved back a little, twisting in the frame of the screen so she could see me properly, and lifted my arm up.

She squinted into the lens, trying to get closer, ‘What is it?’

I ran my fingers down the length of the extravagantly drawn blade printed into my left side, stretching from my third rib all the way down to the top of my pelvis, ‘It’s Excalibur. King Arthur’s legendary sword. The story goes that it held magical powers, providing strength and protecting him from forces that would otherwise have killed him.’

‘Do you need protection?’ she asked quietly.

I pulled my hoodie back on, and sat back. My herbal tea was now almost cold, but I drank it anyway while I thoughtabout her question. I could dismiss it with a head shake, or a simple ‘no’, but not many people ever asked what it was. Only a handful had ever seen it properly, and in those situations we’d always been too busy to stop and discuss why I had a sword tattooed down the length of my torso.

‘No, not as such,’ I replied, finally, and she waited for me to expand. ‘I don’t need physical protection. I can take care of myself, but I worry about my mother, and my siblings. I got this about eighteen months ago. The day before, I’d been at home alone, and a woman showed up at my parents’ house claiming she was in love with my father and she was pregnant …’

Kate stayed silent; her wide eyes did all the talking. ‘She wasn’t, but I called my father and it was clear he knew her. She was quickly sent off to the family lawyers and paid off with a chunk of money, never to be heard from again. My parents haven’t technically been married for a long time, not in the truest sense anyway, and I’m not sure he’d ever been faithful. If you ask me I still can’t comprehend why they got married.’ I sighed, ‘Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, my mother was at home in Greece, with my siblings, and I had to call and tell her what happened. It was the first time I’d ever seen her cry over him, and I think that was the day which cemented my hatred. I couldn’t do anything to protect her, but the next day I got my own Excalibur, in the hope it might protect us all. Stupid really,’ I added.

Her expression of shock morphed into one of sadness, but not pity which I was glad for. I wasn’t sure I could take pity right now. Or ever.

‘Oh, Oz, I’m so sorry. That’s awful for you to have toexperience, I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you. No wonder you don’t want to go and work with him.’

I shrugged a little, thinking back to this morning and my father’s vicious words. Even though I knew they weren’t true, it never stopped the sting when they came. ‘My father doesn’t have one moral bone in his body, but he’s very charming, and I sometimes wonder if he can’t help himself, like he doesn’t even realize. It’s gross, and manipulative, and makes me all the angrier when people say I’m just like him. I’m nothing like him.’

‘No, I don’t think you are.’ She smiled softly, then sat up straighter. ‘I know I’ve been told things about you, but the stories I heard didn’t match up to the same person I’d met. You’re kind and sweet,’ her collarbone dipped as she shrugged one shoulder and looked at me from under her thick, sooty lashes, ‘you’re kind of funny …’

I barked out a laugh. ‘Hey! I’m funnier than you are!’

She shook her head with a grin, ‘No, you’re not, but that’s okay, we can’t be good at everything.’

‘Oh! Just you wait. I’m going to have you laughing so hard, I’ll need to take you to A&E to get your sides stitched back up.’

She drummed her fingers to her lips, ‘Hmmmm. I don’t think so, but it’s cute you believe it.’

‘Cute …’ I shook my head with an exaggerated huff. ‘Unbelievable. I’ve literally bared my chest and my soul, and all I get is a cute.’

‘Hey, I’m not making your head bigger than it needs to be, Mister Olympian!’

‘Ooh, Wizard of Oz and Mister Olympian. I can’t decide which I like more.’

Her eyes darted to the side, then back at me. ‘Well you think on it and let me know tomorrow. I need to go to sleep, in fact we both do.’

‘You’re right, I should stock up on beauty sleep to move from cute to devastatingly handsome.’

She rolled her eyes, her light laugh wrapped around my heart and squeezed, ‘Night, Oz. Sleep tight.’

‘Sleep tight, Yankee Doodle. Dream of me.’

The screen went dead before I had a chance to press end, making me laugh again. The day might not have started off so well, but it couldn’t have had a better end.

And just like that, I was in my first long-distance relationship.

12. Kate

(Who knew community service could be so romantic? Part 2)

It started exactly the same as it had last Saturday, with a quick nudge to my ribs from Hannah sitting next to me, waking me up from the deep sleep I’d fallen into. I could sleep anywhere, a skill I really should add to my résumé.

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