Page 70 of Wild Hearts

“Whatever.”

THE WEATHER IS UNSEASONABLYwarm for April, which I take as a good sign as Ivy and I walk the two kilometres to Tag’s Mini Golf after her birthday dinner with Mum. My knee is holding up surprisingly well and with all of my rehab I’m hoping I might be able to get back out on the water soon.

There’s a small group of our friends waiting for us out front and Ivy squeals as Wren places a sparkly yellow party hat on her head. Felicity pins a hot pink ‘Birthday Girl’ pin to Ivy’s tank top and Lachy hands her a small gift box. It’s a silver anklet filled with different charms from each of us.

“You guys,” Ivy tears up. “This is too much.”

I wrap her in a side hug and press my lips to the top of her head. “You deserve it, Ives.”

“Love you, B,” she replies with a grin.

“Our turn.” Felicity’s roommate Jemima grins, pressing a small gift bag into my sister’s hand.

Ivy laughs as she pulls out an iPhone case with a dozen or so pictures of Lachy’s face on it. “Oh my gosh, I love it,” she gushes, laughing so hard that tears start streaking her cheeks.

Lachy groans, eyeing his brother. “I’m gonna get you back for that. That gift has your name written all over it.”

Jordan just shrugs and flings his arm around Jemima’s shoulder, whispering something in her ear that makes her laugh. I raise my eyebrows, wondering if there’s something more than I realised going on there.

I find myself standing next to Wren as we wait for Lachy to distribute our putters and golf balls. “Hey Rookie,” I say with a small smile. “You look nice.”

She’s dressed in a white cotton sundress that accentuates her golden tan. Her blonde hair is piled up on her head in a messy bun. She ducks her head, but I don’t miss the flush on her cheeks. “Thanks.”

“Okay peeps,” Lachy calls out. “Since there’s so many of us, we’re splitting into two groups of four.”

“We can count, dipshit,” Jordan quips, and Lachy shoots him a dirty look.

Wren keeps her gaze down and I’m just about to ask her if she wants to partner up for old time’s sake when Jordan throws his arm around me, dragging me over to Felicity and Jemima.

“What are you doing?” Felicity hisses at him.

Jordan’s brow knits in confusion, but Felicity just shakes her head muttering, “No wonder I date girls. Clueless.”

His eyes turn to mine, but I just grab my putter and the score sheet and head over to the first hole. We let Ivy’s group go first, since she’s the birthday girl. Felicity sidles up to my side as we wait.

“Wren looks good tonight.” She keeps her voice low so only I can hear her.

I give her a wry grin. “Should I be worried about a little competition?”

“Maybe.” She laughs, throwing me a wink. “How are things going with the two of you.”

I sigh. “They’re not. We’re just friends.”

“Dude, that girl can’t keep her eyes off you.”

I glance up and catch Wren watching us with an unreadable expression before she quickly looks away. A spark of hope attempts to flicker to life, but I push it down. She only wants to be friends, she’s told me so on numerous occasions. If I have to hear it one more time I think I’ll punch something.

It takes us over an hour to finish our game in which I came in a close second to Felicity, who is surprisingly competitive. Jordan and Jemima ended up forfeiting halfway through in favour of disappearing to Jordan’s Kombi while they wait for us to finish. It was better than us having to bear witness to their borderline indecent PDA.

Jordan and Jemima walk ahead of us on the way to Patty’s. “What’s up with those two?” I ask Felicity.

Felicity rolls her eyes. “Friends with bennies, apparently. No strings. No feelings.”

I snort. “Typical Jordan, he’s such a commitment-phobe.”

“Jem’s just as bad,” Felicity says with a shrug. “She was with her high school boyfriend for four years and things were pretty intense. Once they broke up, she decided she was just going to have some fun.”

“I’m kind of jealous,” I admit, rubbing the back of my neck.

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