Dessi's Romance by Goldie Alexander Read Free Book Online

phone.’
    I drop the bottle. ‘Shit!’
I have to hang onto a rail to pick it up. ‘Who is it?’
    ‘Abdul… Abdul Malouf.’
    ‘Oh!’ Anticipation and
dread run through me.
    ‘You coming out?’ Hannah
calls impatiently. Lately she doesn’t bother to hide her stress. ‘I need the
phone.’
    I try to ignore my racing
pulse. ‘Tell him I’ll ring… I’ll ring back later.’
    ‘Phone him soon as you
can,’ Hannah calls.
    ‘Okay.’ My hands tremble.
‘Get his number, will you?’
    It takes ten minutes to dry
my hair. When I get to the phone, the buzz goes on and on. Did Hannah get it
wrong? Finally, someone answers. ‘Abdul.’ His tone is sour.
    ‘Hi. Uh… It’s me. Dessi.
You… ah ... called…’
    ‘Dessi.’ His voice
brightens. ‘How are you?’
    ‘Me? Okay, I guess.’ In the
long pause I can hear Graham hammering in the front room. ‘You … ah… phoned?’
    ‘Yes, so I did.’ Another
silence. ‘Emma get off okay?’
    ‘Sure. Yesterday morning.’
And though I’m really furious about the way he’s treated her and deep down I
know why he’s calling, I ask, ‘Haven’t you two spoken?’
    ‘Not for a couple of days.’
    ‘How come? Weren’t you
supposed to drive her to the airport?’
    ‘Um...ah...’ he sounds
embarrassed, ‘Look, it’s better I didn’t.’
    ‘Then why not let her
know?’
    ‘I figured it best if she
didn’t hear from me. Don’t want her to get the wrong idea.’
    ‘So…’ I keep my voice cold.
‘What’s the right one?’
    In the long pause, I hear
Graham’s tuneless whistle.
    ‘Come off it, Dessi,’ he
says at last. ‘You know what I mean.’
    ‘Do I?’
    ‘Course you do.’
    ‘Okay.’ Impatient. ‘What do
you expect me to do about it?’
    ‘Nothing. I just want to
straighten things out between us.’
    ‘Between us?’
    He sighs impatiently.
‘Well, I really rang to see if you feel like going out.’
    I gulp. This is it!
Something tells me this decision will influence the rest of my life. But I’m
not yet ready to make it, ‘Don’t go out much these days.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
    ‘No,’ he says. ‘You can get
in and out of a car, can’t you?’
    ‘Suppose so. But then I’d
have to get dressed.’
    ‘So?’
    ‘It’s a hassle. Anyway,
it’s not just that.’
    ‘What else?’
    How come he can avoid the
obvious? ‘I’d hate Emma to think I was poaching.’
    ‘Poaching.’ I picture his
grin. ‘Like fishing or shooting wild ducks without a licence?’
    My lips twitch. ‘Not quite.’
    ‘Emma did ask me to call
you while she’s away.’
    ‘Suppose so... But it still
doesn’t feel right. Emma and me…we’re mates. Actually more like sisters. Our
mothers are … like family.’
    ‘I didn’t think Anglos
bothered with family.’
    ‘Guess we’re the exception.
This way we have loads of people to fight with.’
    ‘You sound like my dad.
You’ve no idea how many people he isn’t talking to.’
    We laugh. A little tension
disappears. I cast around for a safe topic. ‘How’s Uni?’
    He laughs. ‘Fine. We don’t
go back till March.’
    Embarrassed, I manage,
‘Guess this accident’s left me brain dead.’
    ‘Sure. You’ve had a rough
time.’
    That’s not the half of it.
But not wanting to get into any discussion, I shift the phone to my other ear.
He quickly changes the topic. ‘What courses have you applied for?’
    ‘Melbourne Arts, Law.
Monash Arts, Law. Latrobe Humanities. Swinburne Arts.’
    ‘That’s only four.’
    ‘The rest don’t count.’ I
break into a sweat. What if I don’t get in? But my grades were good in English,
History and Psychology, though Legal Studies and Geography could have been
better. Still, I’m hoping my total score will still get me into Melbourne or
Monash.
    I push my fears away.
‘Weren’t you doing extra study?’        
    ‘Yes. Heard of fractals?
They’re a theory in geometry which claims things look almost identical at
different scales.