Page 84 of Summer, in Between
‘Can I have a look?’He stands before me, tilting my head in his hands.
‘No, I’ve got it.’I pull back out of reach.‘I told you; I didn’t hit my head.It doesn’t hurt.’
‘Will you just let me see for myself?It’s not that deep, Cat.’
‘Exactly, I’m fine.I told you.I don’t need rescuing.’
‘Says the girl who I just carried across the rocks.’
I have no answer to that, so I continue splashing myself with sea water.
‘Come on, let me kiss it better,’ says Paul.
‘My head’s fine.It’s my left hip that hurts, but you better not kiss that in front of Dad.He might feed you to the sharks.’Already my skin is starting to swell with blues and purples.
‘I’m kinda thinking it would be worth it, but point taken,’ he says.‘Let’s just stick with this invisible head injury.There’s a scar in your hairline, did you know that?’
‘Yep,’ I say.‘When I was three, I tripped over Matty and split my head open on the coffee table.Nowthatbled.We had to throw out the rug.Yet another time Matty’s caused me grief over the years.Speak of the devil...’
‘Look at him go,’ says Paul, ‘he’s loving it out there.’
‘Ihatehim being out there,’ I say.
‘The boys are taking care of him, he’s all good.But if it’s really stressing you out, I’ll go back out, give him another couple of waves then bring him in?’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Am I sure that I want my girlfriend watching me be a hero out on the waves?That’s a yes!’He kisses me and skims across the surface of the water, the sun bouncing off the white foam.
36
‘COME on, Matty, Mum’swaiting.Can you move it?’
‘Two more lives,’ says Matty, his body writhing around the freakin’ pinball machine.‘Just go, I don’t need you to hang around.’
‘Nice try, shithead,’ I say.‘I’m not carrying all these bottles by myself.I’ll wait outside.Hurry up.We’ve got to get home before they get there or Mum’ll kill us.Thanks, Sadie.’I wave to Sadie and as the door opens, I move quickly to make it through.I bump into Steve, the Neanderthal I punched at the Gap party.‘Excuse me.’
