A Girl Called Malice. Aurelia Rowl B.

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.