“Fell off. Sat in a puddle. Much of a muchness.” He flicked his wet hair out of his eyes and looked at me with that characteristic Roman Lombardi intensity. “The result was as expected.”
I looked down and kept walking. “Roman Lombardi isn’t the kind of guy to fall off his skateboard to make someone else smile…”
He walked beside me at my pace. “Isn’t he?”
I’d snorted and said “no” before I could stop myself.
He laughed. “Then, it must have been an accident.”
“Must have,” I said softly.
Once again, I couldn’t look at him. Roman wasn’t the kind of guy who would do anything to make someone feel better; the fact that he spent so much time at school pulling pranks on people proved the opposite. But here he was, heavily implying he’d fallen off his board because he knew that would make me smile.
But actually, I had to admit it wasn’t the first time he’d done something similar in the last three weeks.
Never where anyone else would see him, of course. That wasn’t his style. It was only along this stretch of road.
He’d make some quip that never failed to make me smile or did something to make himself look stupid. And he’d never outright said he was trying to make me feel better, but it was one of the things that made me feel antsy and weird around him because it seemed so out of character for him.
I lost all ability to be intelligent the same way I did around Mason, but Roman annoyed me and confused me. At school, on Main Street, at parties, he was the town bad boy. But on this stretch of road, when it was just the two of us, he acted like there might have been more.
His little stunt had brought me a little bit out of my funk and I appreciated the fact that he didn’t feel the need to talk as we continued walking.
Sometimes, he chattered incessantly whether I had my headphones on or not. And, sometimes he just seemed content to wander along beside me in an almost companionable silence, like today.
Although, today he wasn’t quite silent.
As we walked along, I realised he was humming. He had a nice voice – as much as you can tell when someone hums – and I thought I recognised the song. I stopped as he got to a bit I totally recognised and I blinked at him in surprise. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he kept walking and I hurried to keep up.
Yep, he was humming ‘Waking up in Vegas’.
That made me snort.
And when he got to the chorus, he surprised me totally by breaking full into song. Even a pretty decent singing voice couldn’t stop me laughing out loud. He slid a questioning look at me as though there was nothing weird going on until he got to ‘why am I wearing your class ring?’ and looked at me like he was truly asking me.
I couldn’t stop laughing as he continued. Apart from a small head-bop, he kept walking as though everything were normal until he got to the chorus again and he added a little extra swagger into his walk.
Finally, he was done and I had tears escaping I was laughing so hard. He walked in silence, his expression completely deadpan, while I tried in vain to compose myself. Finally, I managed it.
“Speaking from experience?” I asked.
He nodded solemnly. “Definitely. The hangover was real. He was a perfect gentleman, though. The annulment was quick and easy. We still exchange Christmas cards.”
That set me off again and he slid me a wry glance, looking very pleased with himself.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Barlow,” he said as we got to his house.
I nodded and waved. “Sure. Perhaps you can regale me with another Katy Perry classic on the way to school?”
“You take that to your grave, Barlow!” he said, his face stern, but his eyes full of humour.
I crossed my heart. “Of course.”
He shook his head with a smile threatening, slid me one more look as he bit his lip, and disappeared inside. I walked the bit further to my house, still laughing and wondering what the hell was wrong with Roman Lombardi.
I stopped as I wondered what the hell was wrong with me to be laughing at something Roman had done. Laughing like it was okay that he was making me laugh. When it so wasn’t because Roman was a player and I was in no way interested if he was actually looking at me the way Hadley kept trying to tell me he was.
I was so busy telling myself I was not going to be Roman’s next conquest that I didn’t even realise until later that night that he’d brought me completely out of my funk…
Chapter Three
Lazily Ambling Turtles, Hads!
Unsurprisingly, Roman hadn’t been anywhere in sight when I’d left the house that morning. So, I’d had an oddly lonely walk to school.
But, it was surprising just how lonely you could still be even though you were surrounded by people.
And I wasn’t even craving anyone particular’s company, I just had some moments when I was surrounded by my friends that I still felt alone. It was weird and irrational, so I didn’t tell anyone. I just pretended everything was okay. It was like those times when I just felt crappy; sometimes it just was and sometimes it wasn’t. When it was, I smiled and laughed and told myself it would pass. Sometimes it passed faster than others. Sometimes it was harder to pretend than others. But, it did always pass.
Anyway, the point of that segue was that Recess on Thursday was one of those times. Term was over the next day and I had two weeks stretching in front of me where I could just have a break from people if I wanted. Because sometimes you needed that. Sometimes, you just needed downtime where you didn’t have to pretend everything was okay and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t.
So, there I was at Recess – already over my surprising but minor disappointment that Roman hadn’t been singing at me first thing in the morning – and talking with Hadley and Celeste on the bleachers.
“Mason’s coming,” Celeste squealed at me and I looked up to see him heading towards us.
Like all things Mason did, he didn’t do it by half. He was striding towards us purposefully, his eyes locked on me.
The blonde, semi-bombshell who didn’t look orange anymore that was Shayla Green grabbed his arm as he passed. “Hey Mason!” she said, her tone full of meaning.
To Mason’s credit, his eyes didn’t leave my face as he smiled politely. “Hi, Shayla. How are you?”
“Fine. You coming to the party tomorrow night?”
One of Mason’s eyebrows rose in my direction. “Don’t know. Depends what Piper’s up to.”
Shayla threw me a heated glare, flicked her hair and rallied like a pro. “Well if Piper’s busy, I’ll be around.”
Mason nodded. “I’ll let Craig know.”
He missed Shayla’s face turn red as he was still looking at me. He pulled his arm from her hands gently before she had a chance to say anything more and kept walking towards me. He jogged effortlessly up the bleachers and stopped a couple of rows below us, a huge smile on his face.
“Hey,” he said suavely and I bit my lip.
“Hi.”
“How are you?”
“Fine. You?”
He nodded. “Good.”
I looked down to try to hide my shy smile.
“So, about that party tomorrow…” he started and sounded a little awkward.
I looked up and shook my head. “Oh! No, it’s fine. Your flight’s on Saturday morning, isn’t it?”
He looked more relieved than I was sure he needed to as he nodded. “Yeah, nine-ish.” He ran a casual hand through his hair and I was sure every girl watching just sighed. “And we still need to get to Adelaide. I don’t think my parents will be too keen on me going to a party the night before.” He smiled an apology.
I shook my head. “No, that’s totally understandable.”
Why were we talking like we’d be going together otherwise? Had I missed the part of dating where you don’t actually get asked out anymore? Had he asked me out and I’d missed it? Even worse, h
ad I said yes and not just completely missed it but not even realised?
He grinned. “Sweet. Well, I – uh – told Tucker I’d meet him. So, I’ll see you later, yeah?”
I nodded. “Sure,” I said, realising I had my finger in my mouth again and pulling it out quickly.
Mason bowed his head to Hadley and Celeste and jogged back down the bleachers.
“Why didn’t you tell me my finger was in my mouth again?” I hissed at Hadley, forcing a smile for Mason as he turned and waved at us.
“Oh, no. You can suck your finger as much as you like around him.” She flicked her curls out of her face and took a sip from my Coke.
I blinked. “What? Why?”
“Because,” Celeste said, “he wants you. But he’s shy about it, so he needs encouraging.”
“And Roman needs discouraging,” Hadley added.
“Oh, this again?” I huffed. “Roman isn’t…couraged enough to need discouraging.” Before she continued, I remembered what he’d said the day before. “He did ask if you needed his number though.”
“What? When?”
“On the way home last night. I told him I was supposed to let him down by offering up you and he asked.”
“Wait. Why were you letting Roman down?” Celeste asked scandalously.
I rolled my eyes. “It was a hypothetical. He was being a douche about Mason. Anyway, I told him you didn’t actually.”
Hadley huffed. “Trust you to ruin my chance at the best sex of my life.”
“You don’t know that,” I answered.
She shrugged. “I won’t now.” She grinned. “Mason’s watching you again.”
I looked down and saw him with his mates. They jostled him and teased him – probably for the fact that he was staring at me – but it didn’t seem to deter him.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked down with a smile.
“Why can’t a guy look at me like that?”
“Honestly, it’s worse than Tormund and Brienne. It’s disgusting, really.” Hadley snorted, but I saw she was smiling at me encouragingly.
And that was the thing about Mason Carter; he had girls literally hanging off him, begging for his attention. But, unlike some guys – see Roman for example A – it didn’t go to his head. In fact, he barely seemed to notice. He was only concerned with the girl he was interested in.
We saw it with Kristen before, during and even a little after they’d dated. We saw it with Amy before that. And with Nikki before that. And whichever other girls had come before her. None of his exes ever had a bad word to say about him and, likewise, he only had good things to say about them. We had no idea who dumped who in any situation and it all seemed totally amicable.
To a certain degree, it seemed awfully unlikely. But, Mason was just that nice a guy that it was believable.
And, every day was a testament to how damned nice Mason Carter was.
Every time we saw each other in the corridor, he smiled at me like I was the only one in the room. He’d stare at me in class to the point where even teachers teased him for not paying attention. He’d stop to talk to me. He’d hold doors open for me. He just made me feel ridiculously special. Every time I saw him, I’d be smiling and blushing and I barely knew what I was saying. He turned me into a blithering idiot, but my chest warmed and I didn’t hate it.
Lunch passed and he still hadn’t asked me out. A part of me assumed it made sense what with him going to Europe for the next couple of weeks with his parents; what’s the point of asking me out then going away? Another part of me wondered if he was actually going to get around to asking. Maybe everyone had the wrong end of the stick and we were just good friends.
When did dating get so difficult? Or, was it just me?
Some kids at school went on one date – or didn’t even get that far – and they just seemed to know that they were going together, officially boyfriend-girlfriend. Other kids went on a couple of dates with the same person and it was just understood it was just two people hanging out, with or without kissing – or more – involved. I was at a loss as to how you were supposed to know which was which. Everyone else seemed on the same wavelength as their crush or whatever.
Everyone, except me.
I felt like a complete weirdo. But, who was I supposed to talk to about that sort of thing?
h
Friday, and still nothing from Mason.
But, my thoughts from the day before placated me.
Then I wondered, why placated?
I mean, I liked Mason – anyone with a brain did – and there was something enticing about the idea of him asking me out. But if I was honest, I wasn’t super upset he hadn’t. It was more the waiting and wondering that was annoying me. Either way, it seemed like a good idea that he didn’t ask me out before he left for Europe. But, I would have liked some indication of whether he was going to when he got back.
I shifted my bag on my shoulder as I wandered down the hallway at the end of the day. I tried to work my way around my feelings while Roman was busy exasperating teachers with his refusal to apply himself, if the yelled “That’s another F, Roman. You’re smarter than this!” from one of the classrooms in the hallway was anything to go by.
Honestly, I was just feeling overwhelmed and all over the place with this Mason stuff. But I had two weeks to work it out, so that was going to–
“Piper!” Mason jogged up beside me and I smiled as I looked down.
“Hey. All packed and ready?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I think so. Mum’s been on me all week to make sure I’ve been packing. And, she’s washing constantly so we don’t forget anything. It’s total mayhem, but I think it’ll be all good in the end.”
I nodded. “Sweet.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes, then he blurted, “So, I mean, is it okay if I email you?”
I blinked in surprise for a second. “Uh, yeah. Of course. I’d love to hear what you’re up to.”
I shot him a look and found him grinning; calm, confident, hot. “Cool.”
“Oi, Carter!”
We both looked up and saw Tucker waving at him as he hung out of his old Vitara.
“Uh, I’d better go. Tucker said he’d drop me home.”
“Sure, no worries. Uh, have a good flight, yeah?”
He smiled and nodded. There was a moment of tension, then he hugged me quickly.
“Have a good holiday. I’ll miss you.”
“Yeah, you too. Have a great time,” I answered as he let go.
He grinned again, nodded once and jogged over to Tucker’s car.
“Ugh, nothing?” Hadley asked as she walked up behind me.
“Was there supposed to be something?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I would have thought so by now. Are you not…”
“Not what?” I asked when she didn’t elaborate.
She shrugged again. “I don’t know. I mean, you’re not giving him the wrong idea, are you? Like, you’re letting him know you’re interested?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s the universal sign for interest? Is it blushing and being weird and awkward? If so, I’m doing great.”
She laughed. “I think that’s one of them.” She ran her hand over her curls. “It’s weird. I would have thought he’d have made a move by now.”
“Has he actually said anything about liking me? Or, are we just making huge assumptions here?” I asked, looking at her.
She spared me an exasperated look. “He doesn’t need to say anything. It’s obvious how he feels.”
I frowned. “Is it though?”
She nodded. “Yes. Look, everyone knows that you’ve got to take it slow with Piper Barlow.”
I frowned. “Really?”
“Yes,” Hadley replied, matter-of-fact. “No ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’ with you. Guys know they have to ease into it, be gentle.”
My frown deepened. “Why is that again?”
“Because you’re sweet and innocent and decent guys don’t want to scare you off.”
I sighed. “Well, maybe I should stop wasting my time with decent guys. Then, I might see some action before I die.”
“You don’t mean that,” Hadley scoffed.
I did. But, we both knew how awkward I got around nice boys like Mason – let alone the Roman Lombardis of the world. I knew neither of us could actually picture me chasing after any guys, decent or otherwise. I just didn’t get flirting.
“Yeah, but there’s slow and there’s slow, Hads.”
“Just let him woo you!”
I snorted. “At this rate, a turtle lazily ambling in my direction would get to me faster than Mason! Without even meaning to.”
She flicked her hair over her shoulder with a wry smile. “Regardless. Party tonight?”
I sighed. “I guess.”
“How are you getting there?”
“I’ll ask Mum for the car, I guess.”
“Shame we’re not better friends with Roman. He could drive you.”
I snorted. “If we were better friends with Roman you’d have ruined it because you’d have screwed him senseless, broken his heart and moved onto someone else. So, we wouldn’t be friends anymore and I’d still not have a ride to the party.”
Hadley huffed a laugh. “Yeah? Who’s to say I’d be the one who did the breaking? Roman Lombardi is more likely to break my heart than I am his.”
“I guess. But, still my lack of ride is still not solved unless I drive myself.”
“Did I hear my name?” Roman asked and Hadley threw me a wicked grin.
But, it was a glare she turned on him. “No.”
“If it’s a ride you’re after, ladies, I’d be more than happy to accommodate.” He oozed dark charm and Hadley held her own quite successfully.
“I’m sure.”
Roman looked between us, his black holes of eyes searching. “My…ride…suits two just as easily as one.”
“Ugh,” Hadley sighed. “Because that’s just what I’ve been missing in my life.”
Roman’s eyes ran up and down her body slowly. “I live to serve, gorgeous.”
Accidentally Perfect Page 3