AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Perfectly Not Going Out.
In the end, I didn’t have to tell Mason anything. Which is not to say I didn’t try. Hadley had been right; Mason deserved better and I deserved better. Even if I never had anything with Roman, I couldn’t be with Mason anymore. Not when someone else took up more space in my heart and not when I just wasn’t into Mason like that.
I cornered him awkwardly the next lunchtime and laughed awkwardly in his face.
“Hi, Mason,” I said, nice and awkward-like.
He smiled down at me. “How are you, Piper?”
I grinned and wrung my hands. “Good. No, I’m good. How are you?”
“Piper, I feel like this isn’t going to go well for me.”
I looked down and felt my cheeks burn. “Uh, well… It depends, I guess.”
“Shall I do it?”
I looked up quickly. “What?”
“Well,” he said slowly, a smile growing that didn’t really reach his eyes. “I do like you, a lot. And, I get that you like me. But, something’s…not quite right, is it?”
I sighed. “I just… I’m sorry, Mason. I spent so much time trying to prove I was interested in you like that that I didn’t really register that I wasn’t… I tried so hard to make it work – to be that perfect couple that people expected – that I didn’t really see it wasn’t.”
He shook his head. “I get it. I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed. I really like you, Piper. But, you’re right. We’re just not each other’s perfect. Besides, it’s not your fault if you like someone else.”
“I don’t…” I stopped myself because lying to him wasn’t fair. “I do like you, Mason, and I’m sorry. I’m not really girlfriend material at the moment, if I’m honest. At least, I don’t feel like girlfriend material. I’d be doing us both an injustice pretending otherwise, I think.”
He nodded. “I get that. I’m just sorry I couldn’t be what you needed. And, for the record – if I can be so blunt – Roman really couldn’t do better. By any stretch. I never thought I’d see anything decent in the guy. But well, if he’s fallen for you, he obviously hassometaste.”
God, why did Mason have to be so nice?
I opened my mouth a couple of times and nothing came out. Finally, I managed words. “Mason… He and I… We never…”
He nodded. “I know.” I looked at him sceptically. “I assume,” he amended with a wry shrug. “You’re not that sort of girl.”
I smiled, not quite sure that he’d assumed what I’d been trying to say, or that I was sure about what he’d assumed. But, maybe it was just better to leave it in the good place it was.
“Thanks.”
“I imagine Roman’s man enough to let us still be friends?” he asked with a smile.
I snorted and looked down. “I don’t know that it matters. I really don’t see the whole Roman and me thing going forward.”
“Maybe I was wrong and he is an idiot.”
I batted him playfully. “I’d like to still be friends, though.”
“Then we will be.” He put his arm around my shoulder and we wandered back over to our friends. “So, about Tucker and Hadley…” he started and I laughed.
h
Nothing changed between me and Mason. Well I mean, we weren’t holding hands or kissing, but we actually got along better. We shared more jokes, we talked more, it was just so much more natural to just be friends; it was easy. We were even at a point where I let him use me to deter Shayla’s advances.
The next week was, basically, great. There was no stress, no worry. I had my great group of friends around me, I had my school work to finish, I had plenty of things to distract me. Not that I needed distractions. Because, I was okay.
Although, Hadley had taken to checking up on me far too often. I loved that she’d taken the whole I’d kept things from her thing seriously and wanted to do better, but I also could have done with being a better friend. Like maybe not keeping stuff from her in the first place.
