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Chapter Fifteen
That Sexy Wet Dog Smell.
I avoided everyone the whole weekend; it was just me, my blanket, some chocolate, and John. I avoided Hadley, Celeste and Mason by telling them I was sick. I avoided my parents much the same way. I avoided Roman by just simply telling him I didn’t want to talk to him.
I’d been going to suggest we swap numbers on Friday afternoon, but I was glad I hadn’t got that far now.
I was feeling as innocent and naïve as my friends thought I was. Stupid Piper had thought she and Roman Lombardi were friends and that it was going to be okay when he walked away. So really, the sense of betrayal sitting in my chest was my own damned fault.
I shouldn’t have convinced myself that his friendship was less to me than it was, that I was fine with it being temporary. Just the same way I shouldn’t have convinced myself that it was possible to be friends with him in the first place.
“Roman’s waiting for you by his car,” Mum said, poking her head around my doorway on Monday morning.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and busied myself so I didn’t have to look at her. “Can you drive me to the bus stop this morning, please?”
“Piper, honey. Are you two fighting?”
“What?” I huffed an incredulous laugh.
“Well, the two of you have been spending a lot of time together lately and… Well, I just assumed…?”
Great, it seemed no amount of assuring her we were just friends had worked – although if we were never really friends, was I surprised? Carmen had probably told her how much time we’d spent together while she and Dad were away. I really wished they didn’t go to book club together sometimes…
“You know what happens when you assume, Mum – you make an ass of Ume.” I picked up my bag and pulled it over my shoulder. “And that’s just rude.”
She looked me over. “Honey, I won’t pretend to remember what it was like when I was your age. But, boyfriends are hard work. Especially–”
“Whoa! Roman and I aren’t dating, Mum– Weren’t dating,” I said quickly. “No dating.”
Mum nodded, looking like she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or not. I bristled on Roman’s behalf, despite everything. “Okay, good. So, you can go to school with him, then.” She popped into my room, kissed my hair and headed for downstairs. “See you tonight, honey!”
That doesn’t mean we’re not fighting.
I stood in my room for a minute, flabbergasted.
Until I heard Mum open the front door with a, “Morning, Roman. She’s upstairs.”
I grimaced and didn’t even make it out of my room before he’d jogged up the stairs and was standing in front of me.
“Barlow–”
“Not now, okay?”
“Look, I’m sorry–”
“We don’t apologise, Lombardi. Those are the rules.”
“And when one of us is a fucking idiot and does something that needs to be apologised for?”
“That’s the whole point! It’s impossible for us to do anything to the other that could possibly need an apology. I don’t expect you to be anything other than your true self with me and that’s all you’ve ever been. No apologies.”
As angry as I was that I’d let myself forget what he was really like, that was the deal and I was sticking with it. We weren’t really friends? That wasn’t Roman’s fault; he shouldn’t have to apologise that I’d thought I’d seen something in him that wasn’t there.
“If that was true, you wouldn’t have avoided me all weekend. So, I am sor–”
I pushed past him with a yell of frustration and pounded down the stairs.
I felt like something weird and uncomfortable had shifted between us and if he changed any of the rules on me now the whole thing was going to implode. I felt like I was going to implode. I felt like I was about to lose my grip on all rational thought.
