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“Oh.” Leo took the phone and looked at Piper as she stood stock-still.
Flipping her phone around, Leo held the camera up to Piper’s face. It recognized her and unlocked, and he felt a small power trip from it, like he was holding her whole life in his hands. Piper must have sensed it, too, because her body went even more rigid than her normal stick-up-the-assery. He typed in his number and hit dial so he’d have hers, too, and let the phone ring as they locked in a staredown. Finally, when he ended the call, Piper reached for her phone. He held it out to her, then pulled it back at the last second.
“Not so fast.” Leo gave her a sly smile and turned the camera on himself, snapping a picture and saving it as his contact photo before labeling himself as “Leo” with a purple smiling devil emoji. Then, unable to help himself, he held up his own phone and pointed it at her. “Smile, princesita. I need a contact picture. I know a lot of Pipers.”
It was a flat-out lie. She was the only Piper, and there wasn’t a single person in his phone that had a picture with their contact. He was never that thorough with phone numbers. He actually had someone labeled in his phone with just the letter K, and he had zero clue who it was. Instead of smiling, because she never smiled for him, Piper held up her middle finger. He took the picture at an angle that showed the most of her dress, because he was a self-indulging asshole, and labeled her as “Piper” with a sunflower emoji next to her name.
“You could just put my last name in if the number of Pipers is throwing you for a loop.” Piper held her hand out again, palm up, waiting for her phone. Still feeling the need to tease her, he held it high above her head.
“What song are you singing?” Leo asked. “Who am I kidding, it’s probably something that sounds like the artist took uppers beforehand. ‘Barbie Girl,’ maybe? ‘Here Comes the Sun’? Or… ‘Walking on Sunshine’?” Piper’s eyes went wide, and he smirked. “It is ‘Walking on Sunshine,’ isn’t it?”
“It’s not my fault that you hate joy, Leo.” Piper ripped her phone from his hand.
“You’re singing a love song when you just got dumped?” He couldn’t help how intrigued he was. There was no way Piper was constantly this happy. The only time she seemed to show any other emotion was in his presence. Anger was her favorite flavor when it came to him. And she equally irritated him enough for several lifetimes. “Seems a little fake, if you ask me.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing that no one asked you, then. It’s a song, not a declaration. I don’t know if you know this, but it is possible for a girl to be okay after getting dumped. Just ask all of your ex-girlfriends.”
“All I’m hearing is that I have experience doing the dumping, and you have a lot of experience getting dumped.” Leo shrugged.
“Damn.” Thea gawked beside Piper. Leo blinked, suddenly realizing that Thea was still there, and so was Talia. It was probably in poor taste to be insulting the niece of his parents’ employer.
He shot a nervous glance at Talia and decided a quick exit was in everyone’s best interest before he and Piper could get into a more heated argument. “Anyway, I have friends waiting for me. Good luck with sunshine walking.”
Leo departed like a bat out of hell, forcefully slowing his steps so he wasn’t jogging through the bar to Sam and Wes’s table. When he sat down next to his best friend, Sam was looking at him like he was privy to some tantalizing information. Wes had his hand pressed over his mouth like he, too, was attempting to hold something in.
“What?” Leo asked dryly, already waiting for the punchline.
“I just figured you’d get the bartender’s number, not the girl you constantly complain about.” Sam broke into a grin. “But I think you now hold the world record for the amount of times you can check someone out.”
“Oh, fuck off. I did not check her out,” Leo grumbled. He definitely had, but a world record seemed extreme for the way he had very casually noticed Piper’s figure.
“The tension is tensioning,” Wes singsonged.
“You two are clearly bored,” Leo said. “I can’t stand her.”
“Thou doth protest too much,” Sam said in his Shakespearian accent.
“That’s your worst accent to date,” Leo critiqued.
“I apologize, Mr. Director Man.” Sam saluted him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that segue into a different conversation, though.”
“I’m not entertaining a conversation that is so off-base it’s not worth my time.” Leo rolled his eyes. “This entire night is a waste of my time. There hasn’t been a single person I’d cast for even the smallest role in our show.”
Just then, the emcee for the evening practically ripped the microphone out of a guy’s hand on stage after a very loud and pathetic performance of “All By Myself” to announce the next act. Leo mentally prepared his ears to take a hit.
“Next up, we have Piper Hartrick singing ‘Walking on Sunshine’ by Katrina and the Waves!”
Five
LEO
The beat started the second Piper grabbed the mic off the stand in the middle of the stage, and Leo waited on bated breath for her either to cut and run or botch the song. Piper looked like she wanted to throw up, her face a little green as she peered out over the loud bar. He almost felt a little bad about making fun of her until her voice wafted through the speakers.
Leo’s eyes widened as his self-righteous smirk fell away from his face. “Shit,” he hissed.
She was good. Too good. So good that it instantly filled him with dread.
Leo snuck a glance in Sam’s direction and knew instantly he was in for a world of hurt. Sam was entranced. Wes was entranced. They were both hunched toward each other, discussing something in hushed whispers. Leo didn’t have to guess to know exactly what they were thinking.
