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Elliot beamed, and Piper suddenly realized why Leo found her constant cheeriness annoying. “Amazing show tonight.”
“You said you were looking for both of us?” Leo raised his eyebrows, and Piper watched a blush sprout across Elliot’s cheeks, his eyes sliding over to her. “Oh, uh… just to give you the keys and…” Elliot turned more in Piper’s direction, and she blinked up at him, waiting. “Well, this is kind of personal. I was wondering, since we’re no longer working together, if you wanted to go out with me sometime?”
Piper’s mouth parted, and she immediately got flustered, not from Elliot’s question but from the wetness of her underwear that she could feel where Leo had just been. “Like a date?” Her eyes slid to Leo in a panic.
A cold expression took over Leo’s face as Elliot yammered on, “Yes if you’re up for it.” He turned to Leo conversationally. “That’s not, like, against the rules or anything, right? I didn’t think it was appropriate when we were working together, but now that the set’s finished and everything went off without a hitch…”
“It is not against the rules,” Leo confirmed, his eyes meeting Piper’s. She swallowed, knowing exactly what he was thinking before he said anything further. “I appreciate you waiting for the sake of professionalism. Not a lot of people would do that.” He let out a long sigh and messed with the keys in his hand. “I’m gonna go home. It’s late.” Dread crept up Piper’s spine as Leo started to walk to the end of the hallway.
“But we’ll talk later, right?” she asked. The question felt shaky coming out of her mouth.
Leo paused but didn’t glance backward. “Sure. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Once the door to the night air had finally shut and Leo was gone, every muscle in Piper’s body locked up. She wanted to chase after him or break down, but all she could do was stand there, wishing he would come back.
“Is he okay? He seems off.” Elliot peered at the door, looking genuinely concerned. He was so nice. So sweet. The exact kind of person she should want to be with.
“I don’t know,” Piper admitted.
“I’ll shoot him a text. I’m sure he’s all right. The show was fantastic.”
“Right.”
“So…” Elliot’s shy smile made the gnawing feeling inside Piper’s stomach grow. The feeling that told her to accept whatever was thrown at her so as not to disappoint. “What do you think? Do you want to go out with me?”
Fifty-Six
LEO
A very manly giggle escaped Leo’s throat as he wobbled on his unsteady feet. Antonio’s forearms slipped under his armpits to steady him, and Leo laughed again. The high of being with Piper in his office had not only worn off but had plummeted into hell. His attitude had transformed from hopeful and excited to all doom and gloom. His laughter sounded like a sarcastic cry for help, but he wasn’t about to snap out of it any time soon given the number of empty glasses in front of him. The second he had escaped that fucking hallway, he immediately shot his brothers and Sam a text to see if they wanted to “continue the celebration” before his family headed home in the morning.
“I sink we sood do… karaoke,” Leo slurred, trying and failing to direct his feet to the stage. “Piper was so good at singin’ karaoke.” The neon-lit signs at the head of the Hot Mic stage were disorienting him further, especially when he realized that the design looked similar to the one Piper had designed for the club scene in Guys and Dolls.
“No karaoke for you, hotshot,” Alvaro said.
“You understood that? I didn’t understand a word,” Sam scoffed.
“He speaks fluent drunk,” Marcos chimed in.
“I speak fwee languages.” Leo tried to hold up three fingers and laughed when it was harder than he thought it would be. “Piper fought it was two, but it’s fwee!”
“Jesus. Thanks for inviting me, Varo. This is a blast,” Carter muttered and dropped his voice even lower. “I’m wasting my fake ID on this.” Leo was making an absolute fool of himself in front of Piper’s brother, and he couldn’t care less.
“Don’t blame me! This is clearly your sister’s doing,” Alvaro accused. “Leo, what the fuck did she do to you?”
“She stwole my howt.” Leo swayed. Four sets of eyes turned to Alvaro, who translated it easily.
“Ugh,” Carter groaned. “Gross.”
“Okay, but this is not new news,” Antonio reasoned.
“It’s not?” Carter seemed surprised by this.
“I told him this was a bad idea, and he didn’t listen to me,” Sam said. “She said she didn’t want a relationship from the very beginning. Then again, it did kinda seem like she wanted him back, though.”
Leo frowned and closed his eyes dreamily. “See’s so pwetty and nice. And the sehx was so good.”
“I don’t think you want me to translate that one.” Alvaro blanched.
