Page 65 of Summer, in Between
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THE sky’s heavy withclouds and the storm belting into the shoreline obliterates the view.The wind hits hard, the gums doing a highland jig.A blanket of rain covers the road, filling the potholes.
I’m lying on my back on the couch, Paul’s lap a pillow, trying to read my Italian text but not getting farat all.I keep reading and rereading the same sentence over and over, my notebook on the floor beside me, a pen on alert ready to capture my most insightful thoughts and perceptions.Sadly, they don’t extend further thanoh my freakin’ God, oh my freakin’ God, caught in infinity as Paul’s thumb figure eights its way across the ball of my shoulder and dips into the hollow of my collarbone, around and around and around.A callous, just below his little finger, skims my skin following the trail of his thumb.I hear the scratch of hard against soft, even over the scream of the wind, the rain against the windows, the movie Paul’s watching.
I look up at him through my eyelashes.From this angle, he’s upside down, but I can’t fully see his face past the concave of his abs, his chest like a cliff face under his white t-shirt.I pull my head back slightly.His eyes fixed on the movie, he has a layer of stubble from the underside of his chin along his jawline and up into his hairline.I lift my hand and run my fingertips against him, it goes from soft and smooth to abrasive and back again.
‘Read your book.’Paul stills my hand and places it flat on my stomach, his eyes never leaving the screen.
‘I am.’I slip my hand out from beneath his to trace his lips.‘I’m one of those talented people who can do two things at once.’
‘I’m not.’He returns my hand, again.‘I do have a good memory, though, and I distinctly remember the serve you gave me yesterday when I had the nerve to ask if you wanted to come surfing down the coast for the day.’
‘Really?That’s not ringing a bell at all.’
‘Not even the slightest recollection?Nothing about me distracting you from the biggest year of your life, your complete lack of interest in ruining your future just to sit on the beach and be my official towel holder?’
‘Nope, nothing.Weird, hey?Yesterday never happened.I’m drawing a huge blank.’
‘Okay, let’s try and refresh your memory.What else was there?Oh yes, how a dipshit like me has no idea the work involved in...’
‘Shh...’I put my fingers across his lips, ‘don’t upset yourself by living in the past, beautiful walking surfer god.Harsh words might have been said, but the important part is I forgive you.’
‘Youforgiveme?For what?’
‘For being a distracting, beautiful walking surfer god.You’re very distracting, even now.’
‘Me?I’m just trying to watch a movie.’
‘It’s the view.It’s like I’m staring into a wall of gorgeous flesh.’I trail my fingers across his abs.
‘Yeah, well from where I’m sitting the view isn’t bad at all.’He leans down and we’re kissing, my textbook forgotten, hell,everythingforgotten.
‘Do you think you could come up for air and give me a hand, Paul?’
Dad’s standing on the level above us, hands on the railing.
Paul leaps to his feet, sending me flying onto the floor.He reaches to help me up, and I laugh.His face is the colour of what remains in Nonna’s dedicated passata buckets, no matter how hard she scrubs.
‘Yes, Mick, Mr Kelty, Mick, no problem, yep.’
‘Cat, go help your mother bring in the shopping,’ he says to me.‘Nonna’s with her, so maybe fix your top first.’
