I angle myself towards him, ready to suck up all the praise, which I’m eighty per cent sure is to do with living in my over-achieving sister’s shadow for half my life. ‘So, what about me?’ I ask, like a fully diagnosed narcissist.
Zac laces his fingers behind his head as he runs his eyes over me, and I suddenly think I should have said ‘arms’ instead of ‘hair’.
‘Give me a few days to answer,’ he finally says.
My lips fall open. ‘You can’t come up withonething you like about my body or my personality?’
‘I can come up with many. But if I can only say one of each, then I want to make sure it’s the right one.’
A bemused chuckle leaves my throat. ‘Zac, it’s not a school project. You don’t have to come up with “the right answer”.’
He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip as his gaze rakes over me again. ‘Fine. I was thinking to maybe go with your ass,’ he says like he’s still thinking it over. ‘Or your eyes.’
Holy shit, I’ve totally fed Reserved Zac Jameson too much wine.
He drains the last of the red in his glass. ‘Given I’ve somewhat regrettably never really seen your ass, I’m probably going to say eyes. But, like I said, let me think about it. For personality, too.’
My body temperature has risen to a thousand degrees, and words are having trouble forming in my mouth.
Zac stands up, catching the table with his palm. I can’t remember the last time I saw him tipsy like this. Because there’s no way in hell he’d have said those words to me if he were sober.
‘Is it OK if we call it a night?’ he asks, covering another yawn with his fist. ‘I’m slammed from this week.’
‘Yeah, of course.’
I scoop up my wine glass and trail him inside, hiding my disappointment that this night has already come to an end.
I fish out a couple of clean blankets from the cupboard before grabbing the nicest pillow off my bed and setting Zac up on the downstairs couch beside Trouble’s makeshift dog bed.
After leaving him in the bathroom with a spare toothbrush from my bulk pack, I head back upstairs and shut the door to my bedroom, his comment doing circles in my head.
I’ve somewhat regrettably never really seen your ass.
What the hell? Is this just a guy thing? Guys like asses in general, don’t they?
As I crawl beneath the sheets, an image invades my mind of Zac strolling around in the room beneath mine wearing nothing but his T-shirt and boxer briefs.
Jesus, Josie.I scrunch my face into the pillow, hunting for the source of these weird thoughts so that I can annihilate them.
Zac and I have had our chances to turn our effortless intimacy into something more. We even floated the idea of going to the high school formal together over blushy giggles, but when Emily Weston asked Zac to go with her, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he said yes. I ended up going with Lucas Pallas, who was so timid that he barely said two words to me the entire night.
Zac’s never been anything more than my favourite friend and sidekick. But it’s been an ice age since I’ve seen him, and he looks undeniablygoodright now, and that’s thrown me off balance.
The desolate silence floating through the open window shakes me straight. We’re not in Sydney anymore, we’re in Newcastle, and this isn’t where my life is.
Zac and I live in two different worlds now, and he is not and has never been part of my hopes, my dreams, or my plans. Not inthatway.
CHAPTER 9
Sixteen years ago
My fingers pick at the St Teresa’s Girls High logo embroidered into my tartan kilt, my eyes braving a quick glance at the hospital bed.
Aunt Susie sits propped against a pillow with her lips curled up at the edges, gazing at me. I blink away, then to the empty doorway.Where’s Mum with her takeaway coffee? I want to go home.
I regret that thought instantly because I love Aunt Susie. I love how she calls me ‘Jojo’ and lets me try on her make-up and sparkly shoes, even though they’re so big that when I take a step, my foot comes right out. She never says no when I ask if she can braid my hair or if we can play another round of Uno. But right now, she looks so … different.
‘Your mum told me you’re changing schools next year,’ she says, sounding even more breathless than she did last week.
