Читать книгу A Girl Called Malice - Aurelia Rowl B. - Страница 16

Chapter eight

Friend

The rest of the year flew by, especially with restaurant and function bookings on the increase thanks to work parties throughout December. Overtime was plentiful, along with generous tips, so I had the perfect excuse to be out of the house most days with the added bonus of boosting my Freedom Fund. I wasn’t missed, of course, except by Charlie.

Based on Zac’s recommendation, I’d downloaded a jazz compilation album and it fast became one of my favourites, taking me to my happy place. I couldn’t remember when I’d last been so relaxed as that night, simply enjoying the banter, the chit-chat, the gorgeous food and the amazing music. My memories from that night out helped to keep me going through the tougher days.

On the one day when families were supposed to come together, there was just me and the Norwegian spruce at home. Mum, Derek and Charlie had left a few days earlier to spend Mum’s birthday and the festive break with Derek’s sister. Naturally, I wasn’t invited. Not that I’d have gone. The stuck-up bitch always looked down her nose at me and made tutting sounds whenever she came to stay with us.

Overcome with the sudden urge to hit something, I made my way upstairs. After quickly changing into a vest and shorts, I planted one punch and kick combo after another into the poor beaten-up punchbag. My music blared out loud enough to disguise my yells and my foul-mouthed curses since there were no young ears to overhear me.

The deafening volume also covered up the sound of my crying, as tears and sweat ran in single file down my cheeks. Heart pounding and blood pumping, I stepped away from the bag and jumped on the treadmill, but my planned 5K got cut short by a buzz from the gate. Who the hell made deliveries on Christmas Day?

Hot and sweaty, I raced down the stairs, then hit the button for the gate, too out of breath to speak over the intercom to find out who was calling. Still glowing like a beetroot, I opened the front door and my pulse stilled momentarily. I shook my head and blinked hard, just in case the sweat stinging my eyes had affected my vision.

Nope, Zac indeed stood there, his arm still raised in mid-air where I’d caught him about to knock. He lowered his hand and smiled sheepishly. ‘Merry Christmas, Alice.’

‘What?’ I blurted. ‘I mean… Merry Christmas, Zac.’ I wiped my hands over my shorts then gripped onto the door handle as flames cooked me from the inside. At least I was already bright red from exertion. ‘This is…unexpected?’

‘Yeah.’ One corner of his mouth climbed higher than the other. ‘I was on my way to my folks and thought I’d come and say hi.’

‘I see. Well thanks, and hi.’

Zac shuffled on the doorstep and darted a glance over my shoulder into the house. If he was waiting for the cavalry to come to his rescue, he’d have a long wait. ‘I also wanted to give you this.’ He revealed his other hand to offer me a small, carefully wrapped gift.

‘Oh.’

‘I can see I’ve disturbed your workout so I’ll let you to get back to it,’ he said, turning away and getting ready to leave.

‘No, no, it’s fine.’ I lunged and put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Do you—’ My voice died. What the hell was I doing, throwing myself after him?

Zac looked from me to my hand on his shoulder. ‘Do I…’ he prompted, with one eyebrow raised high on his forehead.

Fuck it.

Now that he was here, offering me a reason to smile, no way could I let him go so easily. ‘Do you have to rush off?’

‘Nope.’ A grin spread over his face. ‘I’m not expected until one.’

‘Perfect.’ I stepped to the side and held the door open wide. ‘Would you like to come in?’

‘Thanks,’ he said, taking that all-important footstep. He paused in the hallway and frowned. ‘Are you on your own?’

‘Er…yeah.’ I closed the door, then set off for the kitchen. ‘I’m in work later anyway though. It’s double-time today,’ I said, as if that explained why I found myself home alone at Christmas.

‘Right.’ Zac followed close behind. ‘So what do you usually do on Christmas Day? Are you subjected to board games too?’

‘Um…yeah.’ I made a dash for the kettle. ‘Would you like tea or coffee? Or I have juice? Water?’

‘Alice?’ Two hands closed on my upper arms as Zac spun me around. His troubled gaze searched mine, seeing more than I’d intended to reveal and a whirling vortex opened beneath my feet.

‘Actually, do you mind waiting a couple of minutes while I jump in the shower? I don’t want to stink the place out.’ I shook off his loose grip, then bolted for the door. When I returned six minutes later, showered and dressed in jeans and shirt, Zac had made the drinks and taken a seat at the breakfast bar.

Unaware of my approach, I watched as he stared out into the garden, only turning his head when he spotted my reflection in the glass.

‘Hey,’ he said, smiling.

‘Hey.’ Careful to avoid meeting Zac’s gaze, I eased onto the stool next to him.

He slid the mug towards me. ‘I think I remembered it right.’

‘Thanks.’ I wrapped my hands around the hot mug, then took a sip. ‘It’s perfect.’

‘Great, I’m glad I got something right,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry about before.’

‘It’s fine,’ I lied.

‘Yeah right.’ He shot me the hitched eyebrow. ‘I scared you off before I could give you this,’ he said, offering me the gift again.

This time I took it. ‘You really shouldn’t have.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s just a little something.’

‘Thank you.’ I tore at the wrapping paper and discovered a little black book. A laugh launched itself out of my throat. Zac had a knack for that, making me laugh, and what was with the weird kind of calming effect he had on me? ‘You’re a swine. You know that, right?’

‘I do my best.’

I met his grin. ‘So are you in here under Z or I, or maybe N?’

‘I’m not in there at all, actually.’

‘Oh.’ I stopped flicking through the blank pages and stared down at the front cover, buying time to disguise my confusion.

‘I don’t think I’m “black book” material, you see, it’s not the done thing for friends.’ The word shivered over my spine, only to be chased away by the unfamiliar warmth spreading from my chest.

‘Is that so?’

‘Uh-huh. I would like to trade numbers though, if you’re happy to?’ He held out his phone in one hand, then turned his other hand over in an unspoken challenge.

I responded in kind, grabbing my phone from my back pocket, then I slapped the handset onto his upturned palm. Neither of us spoke as we keyed our numbers into each other’s phone, then traded back again but something had definitely changed.

Of all the things I’d been given for Christmas over the years, Zac’s friendship ranked as one of the best gifts of all time, if not the best gift ever. We spent the rest of the morning chatting and drinking coffee but the time went so fast it was more of a blur. The clock in the hall struck twelve far too soon so Zac got going, setting off to his parents early to leave me to get ready for a double shift.

Once the post-Christmas lull kicked in, the nagging inner voice inside my head refused to leave me alone. To drown out the constant drone, I hit the town and went out on dates every opportunity I got. Why have a little black book if it wasn’t going to get used? Never the same guy twice, I managed to dull the internal noise until it barely interfered with me any more.

Valentine’s Day rolled around and, unluckily for me, I had the misfortune of being off work for the entire weekend. Short of begging to swap shifts or volunteering to work for free, I had no choice but to stay home and not because I was short of a date for the night; on the contrary, I’d been inundated with offers but I’d turned every single one of them down.

Desperate to avoid all the lovey-dovey vomit-inducing crap, my revised plan involved a couple of action movies, a huge bag of salted popcorn and a giant slab of chocolate. I figured I might as well get an early night too, since the only man I wanted to spend the ‘most romantic’ day of the year with had to be in bed for seven o’clock on account of him being only four years’ old.

If you asked me, Valentine’s was nothing more than a commercial money-grabbing gimmick anyway. Maybe if I ever fell in love with somebody I’d feel differently but, until then, I wanted no part of it. There didn’t seem any point in all of us being at home so I magnanimously offered to mind Charlie, hoping it would buy me some peace as well as bank some brownie points with Mum and Derek. Plus I loved spending time with the little guy.

Derek actually made a point of thanking me but I didn’t know what to say. I ended up saying something incoherent as I headed out the door to collect Charlie so that they could pack and get going. My phone rang while we were out, with Derek calling to let me know they were off and to say goodbye to Charlie and already I felt calmer.

Charlie and I grabbed lunch then stopped off for a kickabout in the park. Next stop was the supermarket on our way home to grab pizzas and garlic bread for dinner, and popcorn for my movie night. I’d just unlocked the front door when my phone rang again. I shepherded Charlie inside and answered without bothering to look at the screen.

‘Hey, what’s up, Derek?’ I said, following Charlie into the house. ‘Did you forget something?’

‘Er…hey, Alice.’ Instead of Derek’s voice, a different male spoke at the other end.

‘Whoa. You’re not Derek.’

‘No, you’re right there. D’you want another guess?’

‘Zac?’

‘Yep,’ he said, before taking a heavy breath. ‘Now I know this is a total long shot, but I don’t suppose you’re free tonight?’

My stomach lurched and I bit back a groan. We hadn’t spent heaps of time together since Christmas but I thought we’d long sailed past the point of possibility of a casual fling. If anything were to happen now, it would surely jeopardise the friendship we’d built and I didn’t want that at all.

‘Please tell me you’re not asking me out on a date, Zac?’ I asked, with about as much energy as a tranquilised snail, tensing up more with each word.

‘No way,’ he protested and I could picture him stood with his hands raised in surrender. ‘I was just heading home to avoid the crazy people when the thought occurred to me that I could catch up with a friend instead.’

‘OK. Well that’s good,’ I said, able to breathe freely again. ‘But no can do, I’m babysitting Charlie tonight.’

‘I can do babysitting,’ Zac replied. ‘How about you buzz the gate and let me in?’

‘The gate?’

‘Yeah, I’m outside. You know, just in case.’

‘Oh.’ The carrier bag containing the pizzas slipped from my fingers and landed on my foot. In trying to hop over the damn bag, I tripped and went down knee-first, only for my fall to be cushioned with an ominous squelchy sensation. ‘Shi—oot,’ I corrected, then settled for cursing under my breath.

Thank goodness my impressive performance of pure klutz had gone unwitnessed.

‘Sorry,’ Zac said. ‘I’m guessing whatever the hell just happened is my fault?’

Unwitnessed but not unheard.

‘I’ll live.’ Heat filled my cheeks. ‘I’m not sure about the pizzas though.’

‘Pizza? Even better. And since yours just got murdered or something, it’s only fair I pay for replacements to be delivered. I’ll even throw in some dough balls and potato wedges?’

‘Um…’

‘And Ben & Jerry’s?’

‘OK, deal,’ I blurted before hanging up on him. Without looking at the pizza crime scene, I clambered to my feet then crossed to the control panel to press the gate release.

Thirty seconds later, the sound of crunching gravel signalled Zac’s arrival and a smile spread slowly across my face. I opened the front door and watched him park his über-manly Freelander next to my outrageously feminine Beetle. As he cut the engine, Zac looked over his shoulder and hit me with a grin but it stuttered and vanished. He elbowed the door open and jumped out of the car in one move.

‘Alice, do you realise you’re bleeding?’ he asked, leaping up the steps three at a time.

‘What? Where?’ I glanced down to where his gaze had fallen and saw my knee covered in pizza sauce. ‘Oh dear,’ I said, failing to stifle a giggle. ‘I’m not sure your first aid skills can help me this time, Zac, but come on in anyway.’

‘Are you going to tell me what’s so funny about bleeding?’ he asked, both bemused and befuddled. The look on his face was priceless.

‘It’s not blood,’ I choked out between fits of giggles. The noise drew Charlie out from the playroom to see what was going on while I struggled to draw my next breath. ‘It’s tomato sauce. The victim is still in the kitchen.’ I laughed even harder when I saw the disaster I’d left behind.

Zac’s guffaw didn’t help. He picked up one of the poor murdered specimens and looked at me through the hole in the centre. ‘You know, you might be onto something here,’ he clamped his facial muscles down hard but the smile crept past his defences. ‘Ring doughnut-shaped pizzas could be the next big thing.’

‘But isn’t the topping supposed to be inside the wrapper?’

‘Well, there is that.’ He examined his sauce-covered hand, then picked up the carrier bag and peered inside. ‘I’m afraid the garlic bread is dead too, unless it’s supposed to look like a lumpy pancake?’

‘Can I see?’ Charlie asked.

‘Sure thing.’ Zac offered the bag out to Charlie and his eyes went wide.

‘Eww, yuck!’ Charlie carefully reached into the bag to extract the mangled bread and they both burst out laughing while I clutched at my aching sides. Who knew pizza and garlic bread could be so funny?

‘Can Zac come with us tomorrow, Aunty Alice?’ Charlie’s hopeful question proved a worthy antidote to my incessant giggles and the sound cut off with more of a gurgle as I wracked my brains, trying to come up with a way to let him down gently.

‘Where are you going?’ Zac asked, filling the awkward silence.

‘We’re going to the zoo,’ Charlie replied, bobbing up and down and giving Zac the full doe-eyed treatment.

‘Wow, that sounds exciting,’ Zac said. ‘I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun.’

Charlie cottoned on fast and stopped mid-bob. ‘Does that mean you can’t come?’

‘I wouldn’t want to impose on your special time with your aunt.’ Zac reached across and ruffled Charlie’s hair. Such a simple yet familiar gesture, it made my pulse spike with the force of an arrow stabbing my heart.

‘Would you like to come?’ The words escaped before I could swallow them back down, causing two pairs of eyes to turn in my direction: one gaze giddy with excitement and the other curious, analysing my face and body language. I made a point of relaxing the tension in my jaw and shoulders and focused my attention on Zac, arching my eyebrows at him.