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“Piper,” I said as I turned her to face me.
She barely looked at me when she said, “Sorry. Didn’t sleep well last night. Bit out of it.” Like I was no one.
I frowned. “Yeah, I remember. I was there. What’s with the apology? What’s the matter? You’ve looked out of it all day.”
She blinked and that’s when she saw me. “I don’t know.” She sounded lost and small, and I wasn’t standing for it.
“What did he do?” I looked for Mason, determined to wipe the pavement with him if I had to.
“No. He didn’t…” She sighed. “He asked me out.”
I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest and all that was left was a blank cold space. It wasn’t cold, it was freezing. I chilled to the centre of my soul. The ground felt like it was about to fall out from under me.
“What?”
“Mason asked me out.”
“Another group outing, then?” It was a futile hope, but one I entertained none the less.
She looked down and didn’t say anything. Why didn’t she say anything? My heart, despite not actually existing in my body anymore, pounded too fast. This was it.
This was it and I wasn’t ready.
But it wasn’t about me.
It was only ever about her.
I tipped her chin gently to make her look at me and finally she answered.
“Uh, no. Movie. Food. Just him and me,” she admitted.
Now it was out in the world, me touching her was a bad idea. I took my hand away from her quickly and stepped away from her.
I cleared my throat. “Right, well. About time, too. Fucker should have manned up weeks ago.” I raked a hand through my hair and searched for a smoke like that was going to cure what ailed me.
“I… Uh…” Now she cleared her throat. “So, I um have no idea what it means, of course. And Hads is being no help, naturally. But, well… Yay. A date!”
She didn’t sound all that excited, but maybe she was just hiding it for me.
“Do you need a ride home?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer. Just stared into space.
Great.
They’d been official for all of – what? – five fucking minutes and already she was some airhead over him? Fuck that.
“Piper,” I snapped, more harshly than I should have, but she finally looked at me. “I get that the fantasy of your date with Carter istotallydreamy, but I asked if you needed a ride home.”
“I wasn’t daydreaming about my date, thank you,” she snapped back. “I just don’t know where this leaves me. I don’t do this whole dating thing well, all right?”
I wasn’t sure why it sounded like she was asking my opinion or advice. I’d spent all this time telling her I didn’t date. She’d spent all this time telling me she knew I didn’t date. What was she expecting from me?
I huffed a plume of smoke. “How can you be bad at it? You get asked out, you go on a date, you hook up. It’s really not that hard, Barlow.”
Her frown matched mine and I didn’t know what she had to be so pissy about. “It is, actually. Are we dating now? Girlfriend-boyfriend? Are we one of those couples that just go on some dates? What do I do?”
I didn’t fucking care.
