My Aussie Guy - Liz Lovelock Page 0,24
eat me.”
Aiden laughs, throwing his head back. “It’s not a scary place. Dude, you have bears around here. You’re overreacting. I’ll protect you if you ever travel to Australia.” He taps his hand on my leg, and immediately, goose bumps rise over my skin.
“Yeah… when I eventually come to Australia,” I say sarcastically. “That won’t happen.”
“Why not?”
I shrug, turning to him. “I feel like there’s pressure for me to finish college and get a good job. You know, make money. It seems to be the normal thing to do. Well, that’s what my mother expects me to do. If I don’t, then guilt eats away at me because I’m not doing what my mother expects of me. I already feel guilty because I’m not studying what she wants me to.”
Aiden’s lips form a thin line, then he shrugs. “I think you need to find a balance. You have to find what sets your heart on fire. What’s the point in this life if we aren’t going to enjoy it? There are so many people who don’t live, and when a terrible thing happens, or they get sick, they decide then that they must do something to make themselves happy. Live in the now. There are traveling bloggers who make money.”
Aiden’s words cause me to turn to him. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience when you talk about a person getting sick or something?”
He fiddles with the fishing rod, then his head rises, and I can see the pain in his eyes as he looks out to the bright-blue ocean. “Yeah…” He pauses then continues, “My best friend died from leukemia.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Aiden.” Raising my hand, I reach over and gently rub his leg, just a friendly gesture. As I lift my hand to remove it, he takes it and places it back on his leg. Only, he doesn’t let it go. My chest swells.
“It’s okay. I guess that’s why I’m so out there and trying to live my life. I saw how quickly his deteriorated. He was such a happy-go-lucky guy who could make anyone smile. The day he lost his fight, a light went out in my life. I felt it. It was the worst kind of feeling in the world. You don’t understand true loss until it’s a friend or family member. I grew up with Tom. We’d been best mates since we started in first grade. Our mums soon realized that we were inseparable, and they became great friends as well—still are to this day.”
A tear slips down my cheek. I let it. I don’t care if he sees it as I stare out at the ocean. The way the breeze kisses my damp cheek and the waves dance into the shore is peaceful. My hand is released, and Aiden brushes away my tears.
“I’m sorry.” I bring my hand back and swipe away the tear on the other side of my face. His words hit me right in the chest, because I’ve never known true loss like he has. Well, not yet, anyway.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. I’m okay to talk about Tom. It’s because of him I’m here.”
“How so?”
“It’s been twelve months since he passed away, and we were both going to travel. Two crazy Australian boys with only our dreams carrying us across different countries. We’d been saving since we got our first jobs in high school.” He clears his throat as if moving his emotions from there. “When Tom passed away, he left his savings to me.” He takes a large breath. “Of all people, me. His family are well off, just like mine, and so his parents had no issues giving me the money, but they felt like I needed to do something worthy with it. So, I’ve stuck to our dream. This is only the beginning of a year-long travel I plan to do.”
I take a deep breath. “Wow.” I sigh. “That’s beautiful. You’re keeping the memory of your friend alive.” I turn to him, catching him nodding. “You and he must have had a great friendship.”
“We did. It was always me and Tom. When it came to girls, we had each other’s back and made sure we didn’t date crazy chicks.”
I laugh. So does he, and that’s when I feel a small tug on my line.
“Oh, I think a fish is biting,” I whisper. “I am not sure why I’m whispering, though. Perhaps I don’t want to scare away whatever’s biting on my line.” I look