Page 29 of Power Moves
‘Lazza, hey?’ says Archie.
I grin. ‘He’s a good man.’ Larry is in his mid-sixties and gives off an Aussie Rod Stewart vibe, which I find endlessly hilarious. He tells the craziest stories and has the loudest laugh. One time he offered to hook me up with his pot dealer and shamefully I had to turn him down, explaining that despite growing up in a badass suburb and generally presenting as a work-hard-play-hard boss lady, I am super straighty-one-eighty. I know deep in my soul that as long as I’m alive, I will never be as cool as Larry.
‘It’s good to see you like this,’ Archie says, smiling.
‘Like what?’
‘Kind of … jolly.’
I crack up laughing. ‘I do feel quite jolly,’ I admit. ‘Whereas, normally I’m quite tense around you, Archibald. A clever person might be able to find the common denominator there.’
I smile and point my finger at his chest, and he snatches it out of the air. His fingers tighten around mine. We’re both grinning and our eyes are locked and I’m thinking there’s probably a joke to be made about his giant hands, but suddenly everything feels very warm and I’m overwhelmed by some kind of strange premonition that we’re about to hug.
‘Let’s get on this bus,’ I say, hastily disentangling myself.
Archie shoves his hands in his pockets. ‘Yeah,’ he agrees. ‘Bus. Definitely.’
?
Inside, the bus is stuffy and smells like stale hot chips. The seats are velour with papery yellow covers on the headrests, which I assume are intended to prevent headlice outbreaks.It looks like a regular coach that schools would book for excursions to Canberra. It’s so much lamer than what I’d imagined.
I sigh as I take in the scene. ‘Archibald, did you bring me here to disappoint me? I thought it would be more like a tour bus, the kind rockstars have.’
Archie’s standing in the aisle behind me. ‘Once I thought I saw cocaine on the floor, but I’m pretty sure it was Ken’s dandruff. The closest thing we have to a rockstar is Jimmy from Channel Four. He plays Led Zeppelin pretty loudly.’
I scoff. ‘You’re more of a rockstar than him. You were on three networks last week.’
‘Only because I’m a workaholic, not because I’m cool.’
I laugh despite myself. I know the feeling. And also—it’s true: Archie isnotcool. It’s just that everyonethinkshe is.
‘I sit there,’ he says, pointing over my shoulder to a seat halfway down the bus.
‘Interesting,’ I muse. ‘I thought you’d be a backseat bandit. That’s generally where the rugby league types hang out.’
‘Millsy, you know my rugby league career was a disaster. Now, I’m a word nerd like you.’
At this, I smile and turn to face him. ‘Archie, we are not similar at all.’
Archie’s mouth hooks up. ‘Apart from you being a girl and me being a guy, I would say we’re actually very similar.’
‘Archie, everything you say confirms that you are very dumb and I am supremely intelligent, and hence, we are complete opposites.’
Archie shakes his head, smiling. ‘Millsy, you talk so much crap.’
I grin. ‘I’m in the business of it.’
‘Do you want to sit in my seat?’ he asks, nudging me in the back so I have to walk down the aisle to regain my personal space.
‘Not really. Do you have headlice?’ His brown hair is so thick, headlice would have a wonderful time in there.
‘You can sit there,’ he says, pointing to the seat next to the window. ‘I always take the aisle so I can stretch my legs.’
‘That figures,’ I say, glancing at his thighs. I slide into the window seat and Archie drops down next to me. He’s too big for his seat, of course, because he’s too big for everything: suits, doorframes, human-sized chairs. His shoulder is jutting into mine. He smells faintly of cologne and there’s also a hint of something else that I can’t put my finger on. It’s earthy and citrussy. Not hot-chippy at all.
‘What do you do on the bus?’ I ask, lifting my chin to scan the headrests in front of me. I have to look ahead because otherwise all I can see is Archie. ‘Do you all strategise together?’
Archie shakes his head. ‘It’s pretty boring. Normally we’re on our laptops, not talking. Even though we’re packed in like sardines, it gets pretty lonely.’
