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Leo smirked. “I was going to say it means you spend too much time doing useless shit.” Now that she’d mentioned it, he couldn’t for the life of him stop staring at Piper’s lips as she stuck the cherry stem in her mouth. The bright red lipstick she was wearing accentuated her cupid’s bow, and the fluorescent bar lights illuminated her blue eyes like electricity was flickering behind them. For his libido’s sake, he wished Piper looked like an evil witch with a pointy nose instead of a freckled Margot Robbie.
Piper pulled the stem from her mouth with her thumb and forefinger to reveal a tight knot in the center. “A useless trick it may be, but I think your bartender is now more interested in me than in you.” She pointed across the bar, and he found she wasn’t wrong. The bartender had the same flirtatious smile from earlier on her face, but she was no longer looking at him. Point Piper.
Leo took one last stab at Piper. “Maybe you’d choose better women since you aren’t very good at choosing men.”
“I seriously wish I swung that way. Too bad you’re missing out, too.” Piper took a long sip from her drink and turned to leave, running right into two other women. She stumbled back into Leo, and his hands shot to her hips to steady them both.
“Woah.” Leo dug his fingers in and pushed Piper into a standing position.
“Get your hands off me!” Piper batted his hands away from her hips like he hadn’t just saved her ass.
“Gladly!” he shouted back. “Learn how to walk, and I won’t have to protect myself and everyone else from you spilling more drinks!”
“Funny.” She rolled her eyes and turned to face the two women she ran into. “Can we please leave now?” It was then that Leo realized he recognized the other two. He had been in a few prerequisite classes with Thea Galanis his freshman year, but he couldn’t quite place the slightly older woman, who looked to be in her thirties.
“No! You haven’t sung yet,” Thea protested.
Piper singing was the exact last thing Leo needed. She was probably one of those types who thought they could sing because no one in her rich-kid family had ever told her that she was terrible. Everyone was always happy to pass out participation trophies to those types.
“I signed you up already, so we can’t leave,” the older woman said, cheerfully pointing toward the signup table.
“Talia, I appreciate you trying, I just don’t know that I’m in the mood to sing right now.” Piper sighed.
Talia. The name sparked a memory, and a split-second later, Leo remembered who the older woman was. “Talia Cohen, right?” he asked, weaving around Piper, who he could see glaring at him in his peripherals.
“It’s Talia Hartrick now.”
“Oh, right.” Leo tapped his temple. “I forgot. My parents went to your wedding.” He neglected to mention that he had also met Talia’s husband once.
At the time, Leo had been in high school, trying to pay for an online directing class and save up for film school—efforts that eventually proved pointless when he got the rejection letter in the mail and had to reroute his plans. Tutoring Spanish was a quick way to make money, and Harden, Piper’s boyfriend at the time, had rich parents who were willing to pay up the ass for Leo’s expertise. After Harden blew him off one too many times, Leo had invited himself out to lunch with the jock crew to try to cram some knowledge down his tutee’s throat before his parents could notice he was still flunking. Instead, Leo had run smack dab into the most entertaining altercation he had ever been part of. Walker, Piper’s uncle, had accosted Harden for being a good-for-nothing creep by literally hopping into the driver’s seat of Harden’s showboat of a car. It was insane behavior, so, naturally, Leo had eagerly taken a front-row seat to watch while Walker explained that under no certain circumstances would Harden be allowed to contact Piper again. And then, as one does when fed up with entitled jerks who were wasting one’s tutoring time, Leo offered to tell the whole school that Harden had a micropenis.
Talia gave him a kind smile, and Leo stood a little straighter, trying to make a good impression. His parents would have his head if he wasn’t the epitome of respect in front of their employer. Plus, from the way his parents had spoken of Talia and her business partner Amala, they deserved respect.
“You know him?” Thea asked Talia.
“His dad is the head butcher at Lydia’s, and we just promoted his mom to the manager position this morning before I left,” Talia explained.
Piper leaned conspiratorially in Thea’s direction. “His parents are both super nice. No idea where Leo came from.”
Leo ignored the jab, focusing on the news he hadn’t yet heard. “I didn’t know she got the job. That’s great! I’ll have to call her and send her some flowers or something.” Leo pulled out his phone and made a note to himself to call his mother. This was a big deal. She had been so nervous about the interview process. The fact that she’d gotten the job filled him with his usual familial pride, and he practically beamed down at his phone as he made the note.
“You’re going to send your mom flowers?” Thea squeaked, darting her eyes to Piper.
“Yeah, I think I can swing it,”Leo said. The endless calculations to determine what exactly he could afford jump-started in his head. It would have to be the cheapest bouquet he could find. If nothing else, he could call up his siblings, and they could all chip in on something. College was expensive. Adulthood was expensive. He didn’t often fork out money for extra things, but he would spend a little extra on his mom. She deserved it.
“Let me take care of it.” Talia tossed her hand in the air, and Leo pulled his eyebrows together in confusion. “Just let me know which flowers she likes, and I’ll leave them on her desk with a note from you.”
“Okay, just let me go to an ATM, and I’ll—”
“No, no! I got it, don’t worry about it.” Talia smiled. “We love your mom at the store. I’ll make sure she knows they’re from you.”
“Um… are you sure?” Leo’s eyes shifted to Piper and then back to Talia. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“No problem. Just text Piper and let her know what you’d like to say on the card and which flowers, and I’ll make sure to get it to her.” Talia yanked on Piper’s arm so she was forced to stand beside her.
At the same time Piper said “he doesn’t have my number,” Leo found himself yelling “I don’t have it!” like a nervous head case. It was her freaking dress. That was what had his head so far up his ass. He just could not stop staring at Piper. Never before had she looked so… enticing. Okay, technically, that was a lie, but most of the time he could just use that as fuel to hate her more.
“Here.” Thea yanked Piper’s phone from her grasp and passed it to him. “Put your number in.”
