Three Words: A Novella Collection (13 page)

“
Get off me!” she screeched, her hands pushing against his
chest. “Now.”

“
What? Why?”

“
What do you mean ‘why’? You kissed me, you oaf.”

“
I thought you wanted me to.”

“
Well, next time you decide to use your brain, can you let me
know first?” She bent down, flicking bits of popcorn from her lap
to the floor and examining the splodges of butter on her front. “My
top’s ruined. Mum’ll kill me.”

“
Didn’t you like it?”

Was he
kidding?

“
That’s not the point.” How would she know if she liked it,
anyway? It had been over faster than she could blink.

Pushing the
armrest down between them, Georgie flopped back in her seat. If
this was the result of her attempt to look more like a girl, she
wouldn’t bother again. She had no idea what prompted Nate to react
the way he had. He’d never shown that type of interest in her
before. He was like her brother, for Pete’s sake. It was
disgusting. Sort of.

For the rest
of the movie, Nate sat in stony silence, his face grumpier than a
bear without dinner. Usually annoyingly talkative, especially in
the serious parts, he refused to engage with Georgie, even after
she apologized for spilling the popcorn and bought him a bag of
Gummi Bears as a replacement.

Georgie sulked
too. If this was how he was going to behave for the rest of their
lives, she would just give in and let Jessica have him.

Chapter 5

They’d been
sitting in the café for most of the afternoon. Juices had
progressed to coffee, food and then alcohol. It was as if the
twelve years they’d been apart had never happened, except that it
had. They knew nothing about what the other had been doing. They’d
never sought each other out on Facebook or asked mutual
acquaintances how they were doing. Since Georgie and Nate broke up,
in the summer when she was to leave and go to University, they’d
never spoken again. The only reminder of their life long friendship
was the ring Georgie wore, and the picture Nate carried in his
wallet. It was the way they’d believed it should be — a clean
break, a chance for each other to live their life.

“
What’s been going on, then?” Nate asked.

For the past
hour they’d been talking about old times but not a word had been
uttered about the present. It was almost as if they were too scared
to open the box, in case it contained something they didn’t want to
know about.

“
Not a great deal.” Under the table, Georgie felt Nate’s knee
knocking against hers, as he tapped his foot the way he used to
when he was nervous. She smiled a little to herself and fingered
the rim of her glass. “I went to Uni, got my degree. Then I did
Honors and a Masters. I moved to Sydney after that, got a job in
this huge building firm, designing interiors for show homes. I
didn’t like it much. I didn’t like being told how to be
creative.”

“
You didn’t become a vet?”

Georgie threw
an incredulous look in Nate’s direction. “And stick my hand up a
cow’s bottom? No, thank you. Once I got to Melbourne and started
the course, I discovered it wasn’t my thing. Architectural design
was much more fun. And cleaner.”

“
I never told you but I couldn’t imagine you knee-deep in cow
shit.”

How well he
must have known her.

“
You were right. I think I only chose it ‘cause Mum and Dad
wanted me to. You get those ideas in your head and they’re hard to
dismiss, especially when you’re young and you think your parents
must be right. What about you?”

“
I never became a fireman. And Batman’s offsider didn’t have
quite the same ring once I grew up.”

“
But you looked so good in tights.” Georgie smirked. “What did
you end up doing?”

“
After the split, I bummed around for a year or so,
travelling. I told myself it was a gap year but I think it was
because I was trying to block you from my mind by filling it with
new experiences. I ended up in Bali, working in a bar. I surfed all
day and drank all night. I met lots of pretty girls in bikinis but
none of them held a candle to you.” His face softened as he reached
across the table to take her hand. “I missed our trips to the beach
and the fun we used to have.”

“
Me too.”

“
Then the bombing happened. That was a wake-up call. It gave
me this urge to be at home with the people who loved
me.”

“
Wow. You weren’t hurt?” Georgie knew a number of people who’d
been directly affected by the bombings in Bali. It had taken them
ages to move on from it.

“
I was okay but I knew people in that bar. People who died. I
couldn’t handle any more so I came home, got my shit together and
got a degree. Now I’m an engineer. I fly in and out of South
Africa, sometimes Mongolia. It’s interesting and it pays well but
it’s dangerous.”

“
Ever the thrill-seeker.”

“
Isn’t that how life’s meant to be?”

“
I almost got married,” Georgie blurted, instantly wondering
why she had. Nate didn’t need to know stuff like that. It would
only hurt him but in the whole time they’d been apart that was the
most outrageous thing she’d almost done. She couldn’t think of one
thing, other than dancing on a table when drunk that would prove to
him she was the same girl she used to be. Being without Nate had
dimmed the switch on her enthusiasm for life.

Georgie looked
down at Nate’s hand, covering hers. That switch was definitely
turned on now. It was firing missiles through her body.

“
You’re kidding?” Nate joked, letting out a laugh so loud,
people at the other tables turned to stare. “That’s the best you
can do? I tell you I’m basically the
Blood Diamond
guy and
you say ‘I nearly got married’?”

“
Well, he
was
a mobster. Big drug lord. Huge amounts of
cash. He got sent down for ten years so I broke it off. I actually
had to leave Sydney… if you know what I mean.”

Nate sat up in
his chair. “Jesus, Georgie, how’d you get mixed up with someone
like that? You always hated drugs.”

“
I’m joking. As if I’d go out with a drug lord. I wouldn’t
even know where to find one. I was engaged, though. His name was
Matt. He worked for the same firm as me in Sydney. He was very
dashing. He looked a bit like you.”

“
What happened?”

“
I caught him doing the dirty on the kitchen bench after I got
home early from a girls’ weekend. It was all very
Bridget
Jones
. Apparently, he had every woman in the office, under the
age of thirty, on some sort of speed dial attached to his penis; I
just refused to see it. I had no idea men could play you like
that.”

“
And that’s why you came home?”

“
That, and the opportunity to freelance. I’m going to work for
myself, start my own business. I’ve already got a few accounts
lined up.”

“
Sounds like a plan.” Nate picked up his beer and tipped the
remains down his throat. He placed the empty bottle on the table in
front of him, a thoughtful look crossing his face. “Was it my
fault? Did us being together for so long mean you ended up
naïve?”

Georgie bit
her lip. She’d never thought of it that way. “Maybe. I never had
another serious relationship after us. Then Matt appeared, and I
was so blinded by his charm I fell for him hard. I thought he was
the perfect man, everyone did. I wouldn’t be as stupid again.”

“
And now?”

“
You mean, is there someone else?”

“
Mmm.”

She so longed
to tell him there would never be anyone else, that he was the only
one. Even if she hadn’t found out about Matt’s philandering, she
would have ended it. Being with someone other than Nate didn’t feel
right.

“
I’m single. You?”

As Nate opened
his mouth to answer, the sound of a female voice from the other
side of the alfresco distracted him. Both he and Georgie turned to
see who it was.

“
Nate! God, what the hell are you doing? We were supposed to
meet at the Bell Tower forty minutes ago.” The girl’s auburn hair
bobbed around her heart-shaped face, as she leant over the alfresco
wall to scold him. Her skintight running gear stretched a little
more, to reveal the cleavage of two pert and rounded breasts, the
kind Nate and Georgie used to laugh about when they were
seventeen.

“
I’ve been texting you for a good half hour.” The girl stopped
and straightened with her hands on her hips, a disapproving frown
taking up residence on her otherwise perfect features. “Who is
this?”

Nate picked up
his phone to check the clock. “Sorry, Lydia. I lost track of time.
This is an old friend, Georgie. Georgie and I grew up together. We
bumped into each other on the path and decided to have a drink for
old times’ sake. She’s only recently moved back to Perth.”

Lydia
scrutinized the empty glasses and plates on the table. She looked
Georgie up and down, her steel blue eyes stopping at the giant rip
in the thigh of Georgie’s pants. It was obvious she didn’t believe
a word.

“
And you didn’t think to message me? I would have walked over
to join you, if you’d told me. As it was, I only noticed you
because I happened to be walking back to my car and heard this
dreadful laughing. I thought someone was being
strangled.”

Georgie
suppressed a smile. That had been her. She and Nate had been
recalling other memories from their childhood, funny ones. Nate
always said she sounded like a foghorn when she got going. But this
was not the time to remind him of that. Clearly, he was meant to be
on a date with this girl, and Georgie was interrupting.

Gathering her
things, Georgie pulled a couple of notes from the pocket of her
pants and handed them to Nate. “Look, I should be going, anyway.
I’m going out tonight and I have to get this river stench off and
wash my hair. Tara will go ballistic if I’m late. She has this
whole OCD thing going on and she can’t abide tardiness.”

“
Tara Ford? From school? Are you still friends with
her?”

“
Yeah. I’m going to her boyfriend’s ‘welcome home’ cocktail
cruise. It’s on one of those tall ships; you know the ones down
Fremantle? If I’m late she’ll feed me to the sharks.”

“
Or make you walk the plank,” Nate chuckled. “She always had a
bit of an attitude.”

Georgie pushed
out her chair and stood. She wanted to swap numbers or at least
give Nate a kiss goodbye, neither of which would be happening with
Lydia standing over them baring her incisors.

“
It was nice to see you again, Nate.”

Very nice.

“
And lovely to meet you, Lydia,” she added, not meaning a
word.

“
You too,” Lydia replied, equally uncaring. “Can we go now,
please? In case you’ve forgotten, we have things of our own to
do.”

Nate stood as
well, and leaving a pile of notes on the table with Georgie’s, he
hitched a leg over the wall to join Lydia.

“
I’ll see you later, Georgie.” He leant back across the bricks
and Georgie thought for a second he was going to kiss her cheek
until Lydia stepped between them and took a possessive grip on his
arm.

“
Come on.”

As Lydia
bustled Nate away, Georgie felt a stab of jealousy. It was as if
the other girl had dug her pointy nails into Georgie’s chest and
jabbed repeatedly at her heart like a witch at a voodoo doll. She’d
had a similar feeling only once before in her life, and that had
involved Nate too.

Chapter 6

After the
dreaded kissing incident at the movies, things had been awkward for
quite a while between Georgie and Nate. She didn’t know why his
feelings towards her had suddenly changed. She assumed it was
because all his mates were getting with girls and being the
unofficial leader of the pack, he felt some type of obligation to
lead by example, with her as the obvious choice. After all, none of
the other boys would dare go near her. Not if they wanted their
faces to remain attached to their heads. To make matters worse,
Nate had started to talk about the way girls looked, about kissing
girls or even doing other stuff. He was always going on to his
mates about it, like it made him a big man or something. Georgie
thought she’d made it clear he wouldn’t want to be trying that
stuff on her. She’d whack him with a cricket bat before that would
be happening.

By the time
they reached fifteen, Georgie and Nate had begun to have a Saturday
night social life. Usually, one of their friends would invite
everyone over for a ‘gathering’ which basically meant sitting
around in someone’s family room watching DVD’s or the boys playing
Play Station while the girls talked about hair and make-up and
listened to music. Sometimes, they swam in each other’s pools but
they were rapidly getting to an age where having your hair wet
after spending an hour doing it before you left home was no longer
an option. So, the boys might swim or play fight in the water and
the girls would dangle their legs over the edge and laugh at them.
All except Georgie. Being the tomboy of the group and the only girl
who surfed, she didn’t give two hoots about her hair getting messed
up. Life was for having fun, not sitting on the side of a pool
trying to look pretty.