Page 10 of Meet You in the Waves
“I’m starting to see that,” Nick mulled. He ran a palm along his chin, the skin a little scratchy with evening stubble. I liked the sound it made. “So you obviously got the scholarship andmoved up to Sydney?” he prompted after I realised I’d lost my train of thought again.
“Yep. Got the scholarship, moved to Sydney,” I told him. “I lived in the boarding rooms on site at school which was actually pretty cool. That’s where I met Dane and we became instant friends. Mum came up to see me whenever she could but money has always been tight for us and Sydney is stupid expensive. And then somewhere in that year I was away she met Tim. They were married within a couple months of meeting.”
“I see what you mean about whirlwind.”
“Yeah. I was kind of okay with the whole thing at the time though. I mean, my mum had been on her own for a really long time. I was happy she’d met someone. Maybe not about the hasty marriage but then Tim seemed okay on those two times we met.”
“Do you mind me asking what happened to your bio dad?” Nick asked quietly. I glanced at him, a contemplative look on his face that had me wanting to keep talking even though it was a subject I rarely volunteered.
“Nothing overly dramatic. He just walked out on us is all,” I shrugged. “I was only two so I have no memories of him and Mum never talks of him.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I honestly never missed him from my life. I mean, it did kind of mess up my mum financially for a while. I get the impression he left her with quite a bit of debt so we’ve never been flush with cash.”
“Money is not all it’s cracked up to be,” Nick said quietly.
“Spoken like someone who’s never wanted for it,” I returned.
“Ah, now I feel like the entitled asshole,” he groaned.
I smiled. “Pretty sure only one of those is true,” I joked, nudging his shoulder with mine.
“You calling me an asshole, Tassie boy?”
“Maybe I was calling you entitled,” I grinned back.
“I think I’d rather be an asshole to be totally honest,” Nick returned, blue eyes sparkling.
“You know, I reckon that’s just a front,” I mulled, turning again until my entire body was angled his way. Nick straightened, something crossing his face.
“Do you now?”
“Yep. I reckon you’re way nicer than you let on,” I continued. “Maybe not to Dane but there’s some kind of history between you two. To me, you’ve been nothing but sweet.”
“Don’t go around calling me sweet, Ajay,” Nick chided. “I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Sure you do.”
Nick grinned at me and I grinned back, caught out by that glint in his eye that was drawing me in. What was it about Nick that had me so hooked? Was I jealous of him? Envious maybe? I mean, maybe of that body of his and his obvious talent on the back of a surfboard. I didn’t normally go around noticing guys but for some reason I seemed to havenoticedNick. I wasn’t usually insecure in myself either but I didn’t think that was it. Nick had not made me feel bad about myself in any way. Quite the opposite in fact.
Maybe he was just one of those magical people who drew others in, one of those magnetic personalities who also happened to look like something out of a Greek myth with his long, golden brown locks and sparkling blue eyes.
It wasn’t until I heard the sliding door open that I realised we were still grinning at each other. We had also somehow managed to close the gap between us as we’d stood out on the deck talking until our arms were bare millimetres from each other, Nick’s smiling face right in front of mine. Dane stepped out onto the deck and I blinked, the moment lost.
“Hey,” I greeted my best friend, shifting away from his brother. I hoped the false enthusiasm was only obvious to my ears.
“There you are,” Dane replied. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Just out here,” I said, casual as could be. Nick had gone silent, his eyes watchful and a little wary as they looked between Dane and me.
“Got some good news,” Dane announced, a little pep in his step. “I just got off the phone with Dee. She and Kira are going to drive down to see us in a couple of days. How good is that?”
A little bit of lead emerged in my system and sank itself right down to my stomach at Dane’s words. I had nothing to say as I felt my eyes flick across to Nick.
“Who’s Kira?” he asked, always watchful.
“My girlfriend,” I admitted with a sigh. The one whose very existence I had managed to forget the last day or so since my arrival in Esperance.
