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Chapter Twenty-Three
Nose-First Crash into Awkward-town.
I’d fretted and fidgeted and I’d left my room looking like a bomb full of unwanted clothes had gone off. Even with Hadley’s help most of the afternoon, I still didn’t trust I’d worn the right thing. Hadley assured me I looked great, but I didn’t really feel like myself.
It hadn’t helped when I’d had the strong urge to see Roman before I’d left. But, halfway to his house, I realised his ute wasn’t in the driveway and I told myself I could deal with the anxiety myself. I took deep, steadying breaths and explained it away as excitement.
Still, I was walking towards the cinema complex just before half past six on Saturday, willing myself to let go of the death grip on my bag and convincing myself I didn’t need to check I’d locked the caragain.
I jumped like a complete git as I felt my phone vibrate in my hands, but ignored it; ten to one said it was Hadley checking I’d reapplied my lippie before getting out of the car. Ten to one also said I hadn’t done anything of the sort.
“Piper!” I heard Mason call and looked up to see him walking towards me.
I gave him my best impression of a relaxed, sweet but still a little spicy smile, and hugged him. I even kissed his cheek for good measure and was gratified when he kissed mine.
I got something right, at least.
“Hey,” I answered as we pulled away. “How are you?”
He smiled. “Good. You?”
I nodded. “Good.”
He looked down at me. “Wow. You look…amazing. I like what you’ve done with your hair,” he finished as he bounced one of the curls Hadley had insisted on putting in it.
I fluffed my hair self-consciously. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure it was going to work. But…” I flailed in a terrible attempt at a nonchalant ‘here we are’ shrug.
“No, it looks great. Super sexy.”
I flushed and looked down, which gave me a decent chance to look at him properly.
Of course heactuallylooked amazing – I still wasn’t convinced my skirt wasn’t slightly too short for the occasion even with tights. But then, Mason sort of just always looked amazing.
He was wearing sandy-brown boots, grey jeans with an olive t-shirt and a dark denim jacket with a sort of fuzzy lining. His blue eyes shone as he looked at me and his light brown hair was swept back in a way that looked far too cool for school.
Honestly, the whole package just made me a little tongue-tied.
“You… Uh… You look great, too.”
His grin was super sexy and he flicked his head back for good measure. “Thanks. Thought I’d dress up. Look the part, you know?”
“The part?” I asked, totally not knowing.
“Well, I could hardly be seen with a beautiful girl like you looking like my usual self,” he chuckled.
I knew he was joking really, but something about the idea he couldn’t be himself around me unsettled me. I smiled, though.
“Well, how about next time we both just wear our trackies and ugg boots and call that done?” I asked, wondering if I sounded as strained as I thought I did.
He grinned. “Next time?”
I nodded. “I assumed that was the idea here?”
“Pretty presumptuous, don’t you think?” he teased.
Well, I certainly didn’t know what to think now. Boyfriend-girlfriend? One date-done? Few dates, dating? I was so confused!
Don’t let it show!
