She nodded. “And he likes you.”
“No.”
“Yes. Don’t care what you two say, I’m a believer.”
“What do you believe?” Alex asked as he came back.
“You two like each other.”
Alex and I looked at each other like stunned mullets for a moment, then both burst into laughter, with much shaking of heads and words to the negative.
Marina got up, nodding a lot. “Yes.” She waved her finger in the air. “You’ll see. I need another drink…”
And she wasn’t the only person we had to disagree with over the course of the night.
“You make a good addition to our family, Elliott,” Babushka said to me later and I packed out in giggles.
I exchanged a look with Alex as I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Oh, no! It’s not…”
“Lottie and I are just friends, Babushka,” Alex finished for me.
She looked down at his arm around my waist. “Are you now, Sasha?”
His arm left my waist and instead picked up my hand. “Good friends, but just friends.”
We exchanged another, warm smile.
Babushka muttered something in what I assumed was Russian, then walked away.
“So, people think we’re dating,” Alex said, humour in his voice.
I leant into him for a second. “I wonder what gives them that idea?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s crazy.”
“Madness,” he agreed and we both laughed.
It was good to laugh with Alex. It was easy. It was like an undeniable force took hold of me when we were together. I liked it.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said to me, pulling me towards the doors.
“Ilya won’t miss you?”
He shrugged. “I doubt it.”
He took me out to a clear patch of grass and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I put mine around his waist. And we just wandered and talked long into the night. Even after the music in the barn had been turned down and most of the guests had left.
“Do you know anything about the stars?” he asked me.
I looked up at the sky. “Not really.”
He chuckled and kissed my temple. “Something the great Elliott Hopkins doesn’t know.”
“The stars never really interested me. Maybe if I lived out here and I saw them so brightly every night.”
“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
The moon was full. Alex stopped us and put his other arm around me.
“You know what I think when I’m here and you’re at home?” he asked.
“No,” I said as I leant against him. “What?”
“That even though we’re not together, if you looked at the moon and I looked at the moon, we’d be looking at the same moon.” He shook his head. “I swear that sounded less stupid in my head.
I appreciated the sentiment, so I hugged him tightly. “I get it. That’s nice.”
He pulled back to look at me and brushed a stray curl off my face. He was so close, his nose brushing mine. I almost wanted to stay in the moment forever.
But, when it started raining lightly, we decided it was time to call it a night and ran for the cover of the house, laughing all the way. My feet slipped a little on the verandah and Alex caught me easily, our gazes lingering for a few moments before he walked me to his room.
As we paused in the doorway, he leant on the frame next to me. Our bodies were close enough that mine was on high alert for the slightest touch, accidental or not.
His fingers played with mine. “I actually enjoyed myself at home for once, E. Thank you.” The way he said ‘home’ made it all the more obvious how he felt about the place.
“I had a really nice time. Thanks for asking me to come with you,” I said as I tucked my hair behind my ear.
Our eyes met and I saw behind the humour is his. Behind the easy, carefree guy he was in the school halls. Behind the guy who just wanted to be liked and get along with everyone. I realised it wasn’t the first time I’d seen it. Not by a long shot. Had I really been paying attention, I would have noticed it far sooner. Far more often. I would have noticed he was always himself with me.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said quietly.
I nodded, feeling a soft smile on my face as I looked at him. I watched as his answering smile fluttered to life. It wasn’t the only thing that fluttered.
“Good night, Alex,” I said so quietly it was more a whisper.
For the span of mere seconds, the gap closed between us and our lips met in a simple, brief, warm kiss that left a wider smile on my face.
“Night, Lottie,” he said before giving my hand a gentle squeeze and heading off to his bed.
I hurried into his room, closing the door behind me and leaning on it until the sudden flurry of activity in my chest subsided. My fingers brushed my lips softly. My lips, where his had just been. There was something so terrifying and yet so…not about what had just happened.
The not part, somehow, seemed the most frightening.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alex and I went back to Acacia and things went back to normal. Which is not to say that things were ever not normal. They were. Always normal.
We’d kissed.
So what?
It clearly didn’t mean anything.
Alex had met me the next morning with a friendly shoulder bump and we’d both gone on as though nothing happened so well that I thought maybe I’d dreamt the whole thing. After all, I’d been giddy with the atmosphere and half a glass of bubbles.
I decided not to dwell on the kiss and just move on, as Alex was clearly doing.
When I headed for the bathroom on Monday morning, Alex was coming out of it.
So much for not wandering around in just a towel anymore, but at least he was holding it in place as our bodies bumped into each other with nothing more than my flimsy PJ tee between us.
Not that I noticed.
Nor did I notice his hand on my hip or my hand on his naked chest.
Nope.
Didn’t notice.
“Hey,” he chuckled. “My bad.”
I shook my head. “No. All me. Sorry.”
We stood there for a few moments and my brain had no idea what it was thinking. I did decide, though, that the tremble in my tummy was just hunger uncharacteristically early in the day.
“You going to breakfast now?” I asked him.
He looked down for a second. “I was going to get dressed first…”
“Probably a good idea. Wouldn’t want the girls of Acacia to lose their minds so early in the day.”
As he flexed his muscles, he gave me that crooked smile I couldn’t help but return. “Huh?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows. “But, seriously. It’s not like they don’t see it plenty.”
All humour I felt rushed out of me. “Oh.”
He smirked. “Swimmer. Remember? Those budgie smugglers leave very little to the imagination.”
“I’ve never seen you swim,” I said suddenly, trying not to think about him in his budgie smugglers very hard.
He shook his head. “You haven’t. We’ve got a comp coming up in a couple of weeks here at home. The boys will love to have someone new to use their boring old material about the visiting team on.”
I nodded. “Sure. Sounds good. I’ll be there.”
“Cool.” He made to head to his room. “Why did you ask about breakfast?”
“Oh,” I said. “I was going to ask you to wait.”
“Elliott Hopkins, having breakfast…” he teased. “What has the world come to?”
“Sasha Landry, wearing clothes…” I mimicked his tone and he grinned.
“Be quick. I’m starving after that practice.”
I was quick. Weirdly quick. ‘Aware not to keep him waiting’ quick. It was most unlike me.
On Tuesday, things were still norm
al.
Normally normal.
I didn’t think about our kiss as we sat on the floor of the library and nudged each other back and forth while we pretended to do homework.
On Wednesday, the same.
Alex and I were sitting at Lunch with the boys and I stole one of his chips, like usual.
He turned to berate me and then broke into a wide smile.
“What?” I asked.
“You’ve got…” he said, shaking his head with an exasperatedly fond smirk. “Here.”
He then proceeded to wipe some sauce off my face and lick it off his finger.
My heart thudded in my chest. My cheek tingled where he’d touched it. But, in answer to his split-second grin, all I had was a smile.
On Thursday night, while we watched tellie, we held hands until he stretched his arm around my shoulders. Had I been thinking about the fact we’d kissed, I wouldn’t have snuggled into him and let us both get more comfortable.
On Friday, I accidentally fell in his lap while I was trying to manoeuvre around Zac to get to a place on the couch. His hands went to my hips and his nose brushed my cheek as he laughed.
“You good, E?” he asked.
I nodded. “Fine. Just navigating the jungle of legs you boys have.”
His hands tightened ever so briefly on me, like he didn’t want me to move. For a moment. I didn’t want to move. But I had to move because I couldn’t just sit on Alex’s lap forever.
On Saturday, he was showing me a funny cat video on his phone on the window seat.
“Did you see the…” he laughed as we turned to look at each other.
We were so close, his nose bumped my cheek.
We looked at each other and I felt my stomach tumble and my chest flutter.
“I thought you’d like it,” he said softly.
“I did. Thanks.”
Then he was shifting over and on his phone, leaving me to get back to my reading.
On Sunday, he pulled my chair out for me at dinner and kissed my cheek as I sat down.
The other boys chuckled and teased him, but he sat down with a shrug.
“What?” he laughed and I felt him touch my leg briefly. “You can’t kiss a friend’s cheek?”
“Let me check,” Fret said, then leant over and kissed Luke at the same time Zac leant in from the other side to kiss Luke.
Luke winced, then smiled. “Better than I expected.”
“You think I’d bite you or something?” Zac asked.
Alex leant towards me and whispered in my ear, “Sorry.”
I shook my head and whispered back. “Don’t be.”
We looked into each other’s eyes and I felt the connection to him. The thing that joined us now. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it anymore. He’d barrelled into it uninvited and, quite to my surprise, I didn’t want him to leave.
Which definitely didn’t make me wonder where our kiss featured into it.
I realised, by the amount of time I told myself I wasn’t thinking about our kiss, that I was lying to myself. I wondered why that was. Was I holding back from him? If I was, why was I? Was I just convinced he’d never see me as anything other than a friend? Or was I more worried he’d see me as something else?
The questioning myself was exhausting.
Alex had stated on multiple occasions that we were just friends and he’d been believable every time. With me. With his sister. With his babushka.
I wasn’t scared he’d see me as more than a friend.
I was sure he saw me as just a friend.
The problem was, I wasn’t sure I saw him as just a friend anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Angelsharks! Angelsharks Angelsharks!” the people around us cheered and I laughed.
“Do people seriously get riled up about this stuff?” I asked.
“When we play against Preston College, yeah,” Birdman said as he looked around the pool.
I’d been led to believe that Preston College were our closest rivals. Teams from Preston came to Acacia, or vice versa, for an intercollegiate match or tournament for every available sport.
It wasn’t in the Australian spirit to wave school scarves around at sporting events, but you could tell who the Acacia kids were when Alex Landry stepped up to the block.
“Why Angelsharks?” I asked as everyone around us roared.
“Species in Australia,” Luke said. “All the sports’ teams are named after one. Rugby’s Rock Wallabies.”
“Baseball’s Bandicoots,” Zac said.
“Basketball’s Bilbies,” Birdman added.
“Soccer’s…Sugar Gliders,” Fret finished resentfully.
I snorted. “No. I’m sorry. That’s unfortunate.”
“The Angelsharks are by far the best team–” Birdman started.
“Especially now Alex’s hit his stride,” Zac interrupted.
“The rest of us don’t announce it quite so loudly,” Birdman finished.
“Frisbee Fruit Bats,” Fret offered.
“Seriously?” I asked.
All of them nodded.
“Oh, yes,” Fret said.
“That’s more unfortunate than the Sugar Gliders,” I said.
Fret nodded. “Oh, yes.”
Zac shook my leg. “Alex is up. Alex is up!”
“Settle down, fanboy,” I teased, but I was feeling pretty excited myself.
It was time to see what all the fuss was about.
And, boy did I get more than I bargained for.
Alex stood on his block at one of the centre lanes. Even under the swimming cap and goggles, I knew it was him. I’d recognise that toned body anywhere. Not that he was wearing much more than a swimming cap and goggles. He’d been right. Budgie smugglers left NOTHING to the imagination.
Nothing.
Not a single thing.
But my brain did its darndest to prove them wrong anyway.
He swung his arms and stretched his neck the way I’d seen swimmers do at the Olympics. Now and then he nodded to someone to one side of him or the other.
“Yeah, Alex!” Zac suddenly boomed out, standing up and throwing his arms in the air.
Alex didn’t react.
“Alex!” Birdman joined him.
Alex still didn’t react.
“Woo!” Fret stood up as well.
Still, Alex didn’t react.
I shrugged, stood up, cupped my mouth with my hands, and yelled as loudly as I could, “Come on, Alex!”
Even from a bit of a distance, I saw the curl of his lips into a smile as he got into position.
“Which race is this?” I asked the boys, feeling myself smiling.
“100m Freestyle,” Birdman answered.
“Ooh, there’s that arsehole from last year,” Luke said.
“What arsehole?” I asked.
“Middle lane next to Alex.” He paused while the gun went off and the swimmers launched into the pool. “He was the only guy Alex couldn’t beat last year. The only one.”
“That dick beat him by a second in every race,” Zac said.
“So there’s kind of a lot riding on this?” I asked.
Luke nodded. “That’s an understatement.”
It seemed useless to cheer Alex on while their heads were mostly under water, but we did it anyway. And, despite there being numerous Angelsharks in the pool, Alex’s name was being chanted the loudest.
I didn’t even really know how swimming worked. Was there some sort of trick or rule to it? But my heart was in my throat as Alex and the arsehole from Preston were pretty well tied the whole way.
Alex sheared through the water like a man on a mission. His arms gliding powerfully. He was a thing to behold and I regretted it was the first time I’d seen him swim.
In the final lap, the cheers rang out even harder and I tried to make sure he’d hear my voice among the noise. Slowly, Alex started pulling a
head.
Barely visible to the naked eye, Alex’s hand hit the end of the pool before the arsehole’s.
“Did he do it?” I asked the boys.
“He did it!” Zac yelled.
“Alex won!” Luke laughed.
“Of course he did,” Fret said. “Alex is the best.”
It wasn’t the only race Alex won. Every race he was in, he won.
He kicked butt in the Butterfly.
He led his team to victory in the Relays.
He sent the Preston boys packing in the Breaststroke.
He just scraped through in the Backstroke.
By the end of the competition, my voice was raw from cheering him on so loudly, but I was busting with pride.
The boys and I clapped as he was given his medals and awarded the intercol trophy.
As he held it aloft, he looked at me and beamed.
The pool started emptying of spectators and the Preston people, but Alex came over to us.
“You won!” I exclaimed as he wrapped me up in a hug, neither of us caring he was still wet from his last race.
“I won!” he cried happily. “I won!”
There was much cheering and celebrating the whole way to the locker rooms, where I waited outside. I could hear them all shouting and laughing.
After a couple of minutes, Birdman came out.
“Alex said he’s gonna head up to the dorm and change, and we should go ahead to the party.”
I nodded. “Yes, the party. Where are the others?”
“He is the champion!” Fret was singing as he came out of the locker room with the others.
And he kept singing, making up a lot of the lyrics to suit Alex and his wins…and just generally making up lyrics in lieu of all the parts of the song he didn’t know. Which was most of it.
The Banksia rec room had been bedecked in green and grey with the Angelsharks image strung up and a banner that read ‘Congratulations’ across it.
“What were they going to do if they lost?” I asked.
“We had another banner,” a random kid said as she walked by.
I nodded. “Good to be prepared.”
Zac and Fret sussed out the food table while I waited for Alex to arrive.
But when we hadn’t seen him for forty-five minutes, I started to worry something was wrong.
the Roommate Mistake Page 16
