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“Piper, he’ll work it out.” I decided not to call her out on the emotion in her voice this time; Hadley could do with some more practise with emotions.
I shook my head. “I don’t think he will.”
She sighed. “Then help him, babes.”
“How?”
“Well, seems to me that Roman’s your perfect, accident or not. So I say, we’re strong, independent, modern women. Fight for your perfect, Piper. Tell him what he means to you.”
“How? We’ve tried that, it doesn’t work. He just tells me that he’s got nothing to offer me and he’s no good for me. That he can’t be the guy I need.”
“What do you think about that?”
I huffed. “It’s fucking bullshit.”
“Why?” Hadley snorted and I knew she was enjoying this more assertive version of me. “Why is it fucking bullshit?”
“Because he’s already the guy I need. He’s always been there for me. He knows how to make me feel better. We might get pissy with each other, but in the end it’s… It used to be fine.”
“Until he decided to deny his emotions.”
I nodded, conceding that. “Well, yeah.” I looked at her. “Wait. You really think he’s denying his emotions?”
“Way I see it, babes… The guy’s in love with you. This is new for him – presumably, right? So, it’s kinda scary. He doesn’t know how to do this attachment thing. So, he freaks out and he pushes you away, thinking it’s just a matter of time before he hurts you–”
“You seem very knowledgeable about all this…?”
“Iamthe female him, remember?”
I snorted. “Right.”
“So, what you need to do is reassure him he’s perfect. Remind him he’s already the guy you need and make him really realise that you don’t need or want him to change.”
I nodded as I waved back to Mason. “And, how do you propose I do this? I’ve tried, Hads. He won’t hear me.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Just ask him to meet you and make him listen.”
“Still not really seeing the ‘how’ here…”
“Babes, I’m the ideas one. You’re the make things happen one.” She indicated Roman on the other side of the oval. “So… Make things happen.”
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that.
But, I made full use of the Ideas One and bounced things off her erratic, emotionless brain. She was a fantastic Roman, all snide and sarcastic and rude. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d almost have thought Roman at his lowest was standing in front of me. And, I knew she was having a marvellous time with it all. Still, it helped me work out exactly what I wanted to say.
Finding the courage to say it to him was another matter.
Hadley helped keep me distracted with study and uni applications and looking for places to rent. Now that I didn’t have the threat of Melbourne or Sydney hanging over me, I felt a little better about it all. Being able to tell Hadley the real reason I was apprehensive also made it all better; when it was all getting too much and the panic set in even unexpectedly, I could just ask her for a break and she was more than happy to oblige with no questions asked.
We all went to Mason’s last lacrosse game of his school career and cheered him on fantastically. The trophy hinged on that last game and we all knew Mason was a bit nervous about it. So, we piled ourselves into every piece of school paraphernalia we could find and stood on the sidelines waving to him and booing the opposition.
Naturally, Mason was great. He was the perfect captain who took his team to victory for the last time. He was hoisted onto shoulders and paraded around, to be finally dropped in front of me and I hugged him hard.
When I let go of him, I turned to see Hadley and Tucker in a total make out fest. Mason and I shared a comfortable grin, put our arms around each other and gave Hadley and Tucker a little bit of space.
“How’re things going?” Mason asked.
“Other than how sweaty and gross you are? They’re actually pretty good.”
