Page 103 of Tailwind

Theo stopped rummaging around and held up a pencil, brandishing it at me like we were about to spar.

‘Very funny.’ He placed a warm hand on my shoulder, pushing me backwards until I bumped up against the chimney stack. ‘Hold still.’

I held my breath, hyper-aware of his lightly stubbled chin and how close it was to brushing against my forehead. His throat bobbed as he peered over me, scratching the pencil against the whitewashed plaster just above my head.

‘Hm.’ The noise was low, reverberating through me. ‘How old are you again?’

I ducked out from under his arm, watching as he wrote my name next to the line he’d drawn.

‘Twenty-three years and five months.’ It was important to be specific.

Theo sighed. That’s why it was important.

‘Why? How old are you, Vaspre?’ I made sure to cram as much condescension into my voice as possible.

He narrowed his eyes as he backed up against the wall, swapping with me. ‘Twenty-two years and six months.’ He held out the pencil to me. ‘My turn.’

‘I guess, as the older and wiser of us, I can find it within myself to help you.’ I didn’t bother pretending not to enjoy the gloating. He got height, I got age. I stood on my tiptoes to reach over Theo’s head, making sure to stand off to the side and avoid the closeness.

‘It’s almost as if you were born and fate decided you couldn’t exist without someone here to keep you humble … so it sent me,’ Theo mused, like he hadn’t suggested it a thousand times before.

‘It’s okay, Theo, I know you believe your entire existence revolves around me.’

He exhaled sharply, half a laugh.

‘But the extra nine months I’ve lived have taught me that life isn’t so black and white.’

‘Oh please! Like you’re not the most all-or-nothing person on the continent.’

I finished measuring his height and patted him on the shoulder as patronizingly as I could. ‘You’ll understand when you’re older, buddy.’

Joy bubbled up inside me as I watched his jaw set. It was the most irrelevant difference between us, yet it had bothered him since the day we’d met that I was a little bit older.

So I’d never let it go, not once.

‘Hold on.’ He’d been distracted by my measuring. ‘What the fuck is this?’

He touched the line I’d drawn, which was at his eye level.

‘Oh, yeah. I had to account for your inflated ego. Your real height is around there. You’ve also let your hair grow so long that I had to account for a curly hair margin of error. It’s just statistics – Josie taught me.’

It was dragonshit, but it was also funny.

‘Speaking of which …’ – I used the pencil to catch a lock of his hair. – ‘Are you sixteen again? Last time it was this long you nearly crashed because you couldn’t see when flying.’

Theo grabbed the pencil out of my hand and prodded me with it.

‘You come to my home after weeks of ignoring my messages, eat my food, climb up on to my roof, vandalize the sacred height chart and now you insult my hair?

‘Do you know how many sponsors call up my agent specifically to get endorsements for hair products? Paldon, this hair gets me more money than the rest of the sponsors combined.’

‘I think short suits you.’ I shrugged, wanting to segue into the opening I’d spotted. ‘Speaking of sponsors …’

I flopped down into one of the deckchairs, tucking my feet under my legs as the aged wood groaned from the mistreatment.

‘I need a favour.’

He sat in the twin chair, far more gentle than I’d been. He pushed his hair away from his face as he leaned back, watching me. ‘Okay.’