Mary’s voice drifted out to her. “Have a seat, Roman. What happened? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. I can see pain written all over your face.”
His sigh seemed to stretch out for minutes. “I’m leaving.”
“Leaving? What do you mean?”
“My parents have come home to pack up the house to sell. They’re moving us to Estonia.” Cassie sucked in a breath. Estonia? She tried to envision a life without Roman dropping by their house, without him sharing secret looks with her she didn’t know the meaning of.
“I’m sorry, kiddo.” Mary’s voice held the same kind of warmth Cassie’s mother’s once had. “When do you leave?”
“This week. They just told me two days ago. Until now, I couldn’t even say it out loud. Now they expect me to pack everything I own into boxes and move to a different country.”
“Change is hard, but sometimes it’s for the best.”
No, that wasn’t the right thing to say to him. If Cassie still knew Roman at all, she knew it wasn’t what he’d want to hear. At that moment, he’d probably stand to leave, knowing Mary wouldn’t have what he came for.
Cassie clenched her fists, forcing herself to stand. They were friends once; she could do this.
She walked into the kitchen where she found Roman readying to leave, just as she knew he would. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Come on, Cassie. Talk to him.
Swallowing waves of anxiety, she sucked in a breath. “This sucks, Rome.”
His eyes snapped up at the sound of her voice, widening when they locked onto hers. That was what he needed to hear in that moment. He needed someone to be on his side, to tell him he wasn’t a selfish jerk for feeling the way he did.
Mary smiled at Cassie’s words, not because of what they were, but because she’d said them at all. Annie would call this progress. Cassie didn’t know what to call it. She tried saying something else—that she’d miss him, that his parents were awful for making him leave—but none of that made it past her lips.
“I’m going to go check on the boys.” Mary slid out of her seat and left Cassie all alone to face Roman.
Her fingers tapped against her leg as nervous energy raced through her limbs. Roman closed the distance between them, pulling her into a hug. They made quite the pair. His perfect appearance, and her sloppy un-showered one.
“Thank you for saying that,” he whispered. Anyone could have told him it sucked, but until that moment, she hadn’t realized how much her silence hurt him.
Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing he was leaving. Then she couldn’t cause him anymore pain. He’d find friends who’d laugh with him and go out to have fun, not ones who abandoned and ignored him.
Not friends as screwed up as she was. She mentally slapped herself, imagining Annie telling her not to call herself screwed up.
Roman pulled back, putting distance between them. “Cass, even though we haven’t been friends in a long time, I’m going to miss you.”
She studied his red-rimmed eyes. Had he been crying? The charming, egotistical, always-joking man?
Somehow, it brought him down to earth a bit, made him more human.
When she didn’t say anything else, he smiled sadly and walked down the hall to the door. Once it shut behind him, she finally released the words she’d been trying to say.
“I’m going to miss you too.”
4
Roman
The school day passed, and all Roman could do was watch the people he’d never see again. Sure, a few days ago he didn’t care about them, didn’t know most of their names, but that wasn’t the point.
The building he couldn’t wait to get out of most days suddenly became a place he’d miss. The bell for last period reverberated through him. He didn’t even know why he was there. By Thursday, he’d be on a plane across the ocean with his parents who barely knew him.
Mary said it was going to be okay, and part of him knew it would… eventually. But the rest of him didn’t feel like being rational.
He couldn’t go to hockey practice and say goodbye to the team. After a rough season, they’d just won their first game less than two weeks ago. Since then, they tied a division rival. It wasn’t only because Charlotte joined the team, though that did have some effect. They believed now, believed they could win, that they were good enough.
And Roman’s absence would hit them hard.
Instead of entering the rink, he planned to go home like the coward he was, to work on packing his room. The movers his parents hired already had most of the house packed in two short days, but Roman refused to let them into his room.
Friends and classmates tried to talk to him as he strolled down the hall, struggling to hold his head high like he normally did. He knew what these people expected of him. Light jokes and bright smiles. It was why they loved him so much. Spinning the dial on his locker, he yanked it open and pulled out his bag. He stuffed the contents of his senior year into the bag and stared at the empty space that had been crammed with school papers and pictures only moments before.
A life he had to leave.
Drama much? Yeah, he was dramatic. But only because he loved Gulf City, his team, and his friends.
Cassie—whatever box she fit into. She’d spoken to him, and for a brief moment, her simple words were enough to breathe life back into him, hope.
But even if she somehow came back to him after two years, even if there was hope for their friendship, he’d be across the world.
A thud sounded next to him as Jesse kicked the lockers, shocking Roman out of his momentary stupor. “Dude, I haven’t talked to you since Friday. Where ya been?”
Roman shrugged. They had a single class together—chem—but with Charlotte and her best friend Hadley also in the class, it wasn’t exactly bro-time anymore. He’d gathered the courage to tell Jesse the news this morning, but after telling Mary and Cassie, all that courage dissipated.
“What’s wrong, bro?” Jesse nudged his shoulder.
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well, let’s go. Coach will kick our butts if we’re late.”
Jesse started walking but stopped when he realized Roman hadn’t followed him. Roman hiked his bag onto his shoulder. “I can’t go today.”
“What do you mean you can’t go?” He walked back to Roman and peered into his still-open locker. “And why is your locker empty? What’s going on?” Jesse’s jaw clenched. “What did you do? Were you expelled?”
Roman slammed his locker shut, and the sound echoed down the emptying hall. “I wasn’t expelled.” He hadn’t been a troublemaker since he was a kid with Cassie at his side.
Jesse’s expression softened. “Rome.”
“I just…” He sighed. “I can’t go to practice, okay?” He suddenly knew—at least in part—how Cassie must feel not being able to get words out.
“If you’re not going, then I’m not either.”
“But you have to go. Coach will—”
“Understand,” Jesse finished. “He’ll understand. Something is up.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll text Charlie. She’ll cover for us. You and I can go to the diner and eat something Coach wouldn’t approve of.”
Roman didn’t know until that moment if he realized how good of a friend he had. Maybe the old saying was true. You didn’t know how much you needed something until you lost it.
He followed Jesse to the parking lot.
“Meet me at Emma’s?” Jesse glanced back at him.
Roman nodded as he slid into his Dodge Charger. He had a grand total of ten minutes to come up with a way to tell Jesse. It should have been easy. The words were right there in his mind, but saying them to his best friend, his brother, made them so much more real.
By the time he pulled up beside Jesse’s jeep behind Emma’s, he wished he’d gone to practice where he didn’t have to talk, where he could have hit a few people and generally felt better.
Jesse raised an eyebrow as he held the door open. �
�After you.”
“What?” Roman shook his head. “This a date?”
“You wish you could date someone like me.”
“You know it.”
“Jesse,” Callie called as she rushed toward the door. “Roman. It’s good to see you boys.” She crossed her arms and eyed Jesse. “Once again, I get the feeling you’re here when you’re supposed to be somewhere else.”
“Again?” Roman looked sideways at his friend.
“Cass and I came here after her appointment last Friday.”
“Cassie came into the diner?” That surprised him. She wouldn’t go anywhere around other people.
Callie handed them menus they didn’t need and left them to their favorite booth in the corner. Roman’s leg shook as he pretended to look at the menu.
“Rome, you never read the menu. What’s wrong?”
Roman just needed to rip off the Band-Aid and let the words fall off his tongue. Before he could, Callie returned with two milkshakes. She set the chocolate shake in front of Jesse and the strawberry shake in front of Roman. Just like with his girly coffees, his teammates gave him grief for this as well.
Callie eyed them. “You boys looked like you could use these.” Was it sad they frequented her diner so much she knew their flavors? “Are we eating healthy or yummy today?”
“Yummy, definitely,” Jesse answered.
“Gotcha. I’ll be back.” She walked over to the kitchen window to put their usual order in.
Jesse leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Spill. Now.”
Roman took a fortifying sip of his shake before pushing it away. “I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?”
“Yeah, moving.”
“Moving?”
“Are you just going to repeat everything I’m saying?” Roman needed Jesse to react, to get as mad as he felt.
“Processing.” He took a sip of his shake. “So, you’re moving? Like after graduation?”
“No. Like a few days from now.”
That got his attention. Jesse straightened in his seat. “But you can’t. The team… our season isn’t over yet. You can’t leave, Rome. What about me? What am I going to do without you around?”
“Gee, I’m so sorry for you.”
Jesse’s face fell. “I just… this sucks, Rome. But I know it sucks more for you. Where are you moving?”
“Estonia. The parental units have some empire to expand there.”
“Estonia? Like somewhere in Texas?”
For the first time that afternoon, a smile spread across Roman’s lips. Jesse was ridiculous. “No, not Texas. Europe. As in once a USSR country and on the Russian border.”
“You’re not going.”
“Sorry, man. I kind of don’t have a choice in this.” Before he could say anything else, the bell over the door rang and Hadley walked in. Tall, blond, sarcastic… she was the kind of girl haunting the dreams of high school boys everywhere. And right now, she was Roman’s savior. He couldn’t stand to talk about this anymore with Jesse or to see how upset he was.
“Hadley,” he called.
She turned, smiling when she saw them, and walked over. “Hola, boys.”
Callie appeared at her side with two plates balanced in her hands. She set a bacon cheeseburger with fries in front of Roman and a pulled pork slathered in slaw in front of Jesse.
“Hadley.” She smiled. “The usual?”
Hadley nodded. “I’ll eat with the boys, so you can bring it here.” She slid into the booth beside Roman and plucked a fry from his plate.
He swatted her hand. “Mine.”
The mischievous smile he knew her for took over her face, and she reached over before he could stop her, stealing half his burger and taking a giant bite. She swallowed and handed the burger back to him. “Yummy.” Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. One eyebrow quirked up. “Don’t be so serious, Rome. That’s not like you.” She patted his cheek.
Jesse still hadn’t recovered from Roman’s news, so he stayed silent through their entire exchange. The great thing about Hadley was she took Roman’s mind out of whatever dark place it had been in. It was impossible not to joke and smile and flirt with her.
She sat so close, her leg pressed against his. Jesse was too distracted to notice them when Hadley leaned in, dropping her voice. “Why haven’t we ever gone out?”
Because until a month ago, she hated them as much as Charlotte had. The girls were best friends in every sense of the word. But he didn’t say that. “All you had to do was say the word, doll.” One corner of his mouth quirked up. This was comfortable. He knew how to be this guy. The ladies’ man with the crooked grin. It was the darker version of himself that made him uncomfortable—because it was real.
Her fingertips brushed his arm, and she burst out laughing. “You and I, Roman? No Bueno. But, I’d be cool to hang as friends now that my girl is all attached to your bestie’s lips. This weekend?”
This weekend he’d be gone. Darker thoughts overcame the flirty ones, and his smile dropped. “I need to get out of here.”
“What?” Confusion flashed across her face.
“Please, let me out.” He threw a twenty on the table, more than enough to cover his uneaten food.
Hadley scooted out. “Rome…”
“I’m sorry.” He gave her one final look. “It’s not you. It’s…”
“If you say me, I’m going to smear ketchup down your shirt.”
She was creative. “Just… I’m sorry.” He walked away.
Jesse ran after him in the parking lot. “Roman, stop.”
“It’s better to make a clean break from everything, Jess.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
Roman turned on his heel. “Dramatic? I’m moving to another country months before I’m supposed to graduate high school. I’m leaving everything. You, the team…” Cassie, but he didn’t add her out loud. “I think I’ve earned a little drama.”
“No, you haven’t because you aren’t leaving.”
“I already told you—”
“Move in with me.”
Roman froze. “What?”
“Come live at chez Carrigan. At least for the rest of the school year. We have a guest room. My dad won’t care. It’s not like you haven’t been there pretty much all the time for years anyway.”
Live with the Carrigans? Could it happen? Their house was more home than his own.
“Please, Rome.” Jesse’s voice softened. “It’s our senior year. I want to finish it with my best friend.”
So did Roman. He rushed toward Jesse, pulling him into a bro-hug and pounded him on the back. “Thank you.” Once again, his friend saved him from himself. He pulled back. “What about Cassie? Will having someone else in the house halt her progress?” If it was the best thing for her, he’d turn down this lifeline.
“I think it might be good for her. You used to be as important to her as you are to me.”
Her simple words from the morning rolled through his mind. It was never about what she said, only that she’d said it. Could he really have her back? After the past couple years, could they really be friends again?
“Will your parents agree?” Jesse asked.
Roman shrugged. He wasn’t under any illusion they’d actually miss him. “Yeah, probably. They just want to sell the house, so I’m sure they don’t care if I actually come with them or not.” He looked back toward the diner where Hadley stood in the doorway watching them. Running to her, he scooped her into a hug and spun her around. “I’m staying.”
“Wasn’t aware you were leaving.” She laughed.
He set her down and faced a grinning Jesse. When he had friends like his, it lessened the sting of his parents’ indifference.
5
Cassie
The floor was as good a place as any to eavesdrop. Cassie sat with her back against the wall next to the cracked open door of her bedroom. She pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them.
Jes
se was a dead man.
She’d been prepared for Roman to leave and even accepted it. It wasn’t like they were friends anymore. So, a few days later when he showed up with boxes after hockey practice, she didn’t know what to think.
Her brother hadn’t thought to tell her. Dad was silent as usual.
“Welcome to your new home for the next few months,” Jesse huffed as he carried a box up the stairs to the guest room, a guest room that happened to share a bathroom with Cassie’s.
She tried to distract herself with her Kindle, but not even a romance could take her mind off the current situation. How was she supposed to live in the same house as Roman, a man she couldn’t even speak around?
Anxiety roiled in her, making her limbs heavy. She should move, get off the floor, but she couldn’t as dizziness overtook her.
Fumbling her phone out of her pocket, she dialed Annie’s personal cell. The therapist picked up after two rings. “Is everything okay, Cassie?”
“No.” Her voice shook.
“Remember your breathing exercises.”
Cassie nodded as if Annie could see her. “R-Roman is moving in.”
“Your old friend, Roman? That’s wonderful, Cassie. This could really push you further along.”
“I d-don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t do anything. Just try to be around him. Eventually, the words will come to you. I really think this is a good thing, Cassie. Don’t fear the anxiety. It will always be there, but what have we been working on?”
“Mastering it.” She sucked in a deep breath. Annie always told her the issues she had wouldn’t go away on their own, that she’d have to master them.
“Proximity, Cassie. Try it. Hang out where he is in the house. Just be around.”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the door. “I can do that.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you Friday, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” She hung up and practiced breathing deeply as Annie taught her.
Roman and the Hopeless Romantic (Gulf City High Book 2) Page 3