Free Deeper Water by Jessie Cole Page B

got on your face?’
    I realised I hadn’t rubbed the paint off yet.
    ‘It’s just some ochre, you know?’ I splashed water up to my face, trying to rub it off. ‘Painting-rocks.’
    Billy didn’t say anything, just watched me. It was making me feel funny, the way he stared. My nipples tightened beneath my shirt and I hoped he didn’t notice. I crossed my arms over my chest.
    ‘Well,’ he looked at Hamish one more time, ‘I guess I’d better get back.’
    Turning around, Billy headed off across the paddock. He must have seen us from a mile away and come to check us out. My cheeks were hot and I dipped down one more time, scrubbing my face underwater. Since Billy had asked me out, seeing him got under my skin. I didn’t know quite what it was, but something about him made me feel more alert, sensitised. I guess I was conscious of being watched in a way I wasn’t used to.
    I swam back to the bank and stepped up on the grass.
    ‘Billy,’ I said, though Hamish hadn’t asked.
    He didn’t reply but looked across the paddock to where Billy had disappeared.
    ‘You think if I swam across now, he’d give me a lift into town?’
    I knew Hamish didn’t like being stuck with us but I suppose I’d expected him to wait for the water to go down, ’cause when he said that my stomach dropped.
    ‘Probably,’ I said, looking at the ground.
    He was silent a minute, weighing up his options. ‘But if I stay one more night you’ll drive me in tomorrow?’
    ‘Yep, we’d be going in anyway to get supplies.’
    ‘Your mum doesn’t mind, does she? She doesn’t seem to like me much.’
    I didn’t know what to say about Mum. ‘She’s okay. You know, she’s just … like that.’
    He thought for a minute longer, still deliberating.
    ‘Okay.’ He finally nodded at me. ‘One more night.’
    I smiled and pulled my skirt off the tree, swinging it over my arm. I didn’t want him to disappear just like that.
    ‘Come on, flood guy, let’s head back.’ It was hard to hide my happiness, though something told me I should. He stood up beside me and we wandered back towards the house. The grass was springy beneath my feet. I marvelled at how flattened it got in a flood but how quickly it righted itself. Everything stretching out towards the sun.
    ‘That guy Billy likes you, Mema.’ Hamish nudged his arm against my shoulder. ‘He thinks you’re hot.’
    I felt myself go red. No one I knew used that word. Hot . It sounded odd, hanging in the air between us. I thought of how he’d described Anja yesterday— built like a thoroughbred —appraising her like horseflesh at a market. There was something about it that wasn’t quite right.
    ‘Mema?’
    ‘He asked me out a little while back.’ I couldn’t tell him about the chook joke.
    ‘Where would you go around here on a date?’ He gazed across the open paddocks with their smattering of trees.
    ‘You haven’t been into town yet,’ I said. ‘There’s a pub and stuff. Couple of shops. Or—I don’t know—you could go further afield, go out to the movies.’
    ‘Did you go out with him?’
    It sounded offhand but I could feel him waiting for my answer.
    I looked at the ground. ‘Nah.’ I wasn’t sure how to express it. ‘He isn’t my type.’
    ‘What’s your type, Mema?’
    Up until that point I’d had no type. Hamish was glancing at me sideways and I wondered if he was teasing me.
    ‘I don’t really …’ I could feel my face getting hotter, ‘… do boys.’
    He looked startled. ‘Girls?’
    I shook my head. ‘No, just not anyone really.’
    ‘Oh.’ He glanced away from my face.
    We walked for a bit in silence.
    ‘You’ve never done it? Not even once?’
    I shook my head. I guessed it might seem odd—I wasn’t a child, after all.
    ‘How many times have you?’
    ‘I don’t know, Mema. Too many to count. I’m a guy.’
    ‘How many different girls?’
    Hamish shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I don’t remember, exactly.’
    My mind flashed with