by Serena Robar
She opened the fridge and took out a Mountain Dew. “I’m just saying this thing has disaster written all over it.”
She tried to open the can but couldn’t get her finger under the tab.
“Oh here, give it to me.” I used my manicured nail to pop open her soda.
“Are you still biting your nails?” I started to lecture, “Don’t you know that everyone looks at your hands and gains an impression about you?”
Piper put her hands over her ears and started to sing, “La la la la, I can’t hear you, la la la.”
“Oh fine.” Piper always resisted my suggestions for self-improvement. I returned her drink and brought the conversation back to my meeting. “And tonight doesn’t have disaster written all over it. These girls are lucky to be alive and I bet they are just as excited to meet me as I am to meet them. After all, I saved them and, because of me, they get a second chance. You’ll see.”
We plopped down on a comfy couch in her living room, enjoying the air-conditioning for a moment.
“Where’s your mom?”
“She’s still at work. We only have a couple of days left until we go to Europe. Even though she is dragging us on a work thing, I’m kind of excited. I miss England,” she added wistfully.
Piper spent a summer with her family roaming the European countryside and loved it. She was kind of a Gypsy at heart.
“You’ll still be on e-mail right? I know your cell phone won’t work over there, but you’ll still have Internet access, right?”
“Quit being so nervous. You’ll be fine,” Piper reassured me.
“Yeah, I know.” I started to nibble on the cuticle of my thumb.
“I saw that Thomas was over last night. Is he finally putting out?” Piper asked.
“Piper! What kind of question is that?” I gasped, feigning outrage.
“So that would be a no then.”
I debated playing the offended victim but frankly, I needed some advice on this one. “What’s wrong with me? We’re in constant physical contact. He wrestles with me at training and I’m all, yeah baby come and get it, but he’s been a perfect gentleman. It pisses me off.”
“I sense a little frustration coming from the Blanchard household,” Piper remarked dryly.
I scrunched up my nose, holding my thumb and forefinger up, about an inch apart. “Little bit.”
“So why not just ask him what the deal is?”
“It’s not that simple. He’s old fashioned and obsessed with training me. Like, totally obsessed. It’s on his mind constantly. The other day I was in my knit bikini. You know, the purple one? It’s totally scandalous!
“Anyway, I’m all prancin’ around trying to get his mind off of training and he goes and gives me his sweatshirt to wear, so I won’t get cold in the drafty warehouse we work out in. Ohmigod, he doesn’t even ask why the hell I am wearing a purple knit bikini to practice or anything, just covers me up and is all business. I must truly disgust him.” I finished my tirade with a wail of self-pity.
“Wow.”
I punch the sofa cushion next to me.
“Yeah, wow.”
“You must look pretty bad in that bikini.”
“Piper!!”
She laughed at me. Did I mention Piper can be my arch nemesis while she is being my best friend?
“Okay, okay. First of all. Let’s think a little, shall we? It’s the middle of freakin’ August and he gives you a sweatshirt to cover up with so you won’t get cold? Hello? It’s like, seventy degrees at night. He wanted you covered up because he obviously didn’t trust himself to keep it in his pants if he had access to all that naked skin.” I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before and perked up at the thought of Thomas fearing he would lose control around me.
Piper continued her assessment. “Second, Thomas cares for you a lot. He’s been training you hard so you can protect yourself. He doesn’t want to lose you. And finally, maybe he’s gay?”
I threw the pillow at Piper’s head. No guy who kisses a girl like Thomas does could be gay. End of story.
“The last one must be it,” I jokingly agreed with her, not completely convinced but feeling much better about things.
After a moment of companionable silence, Piper said, “Colby?”
“Yeah?”
“Quit chewing on your nails.”
Brat.
