Chapter 23

Piper

“I should cancel,” I said to my reflection.

“Cancel what?” Andy asked as he passed by the open bathroom. The lighting was best in the hall bathroom, so that’s where I did my makeup and hair. Cerise was working, leaving me home alone with Andy.

“I’m having lunch with Austin,” I replied.

“You’ve been seeing a lot of Austin.” Andy’s comment sounded innocent, but I heard the censure in his voice.

“Has Cerise won you over on this?” I asked, turning to face him.

He shook his head. “She doesn’t have to win me over. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to get too attached to Austin after everything that’s happened in the past, not to mention his reputation.”

“Aren’t you the one who thought it was a good idea for me and Austin to be friends again?” I asked.

“Friends is good,” he agreed. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t try being friends. When I go out with my friends, I don’t put this much effort into getting ready.”

“Because you’re a guy,” I reminded him. When I went out with my girlfriends, I always dressed up. Not so much with Cerise, but she didn’t count. She saw me in the morning, so she’d seen me without makeup. She was more like a sister.

“And you don’t dress up when you hang out with me,” he argued.

“We live together,” was my response. “I don’t have to look nice for you.”

“Cerise told me women only go to this much effort for other women or guys they like,” Andy remarked casually.

I turned to glare at him. “I am not interested in Austin.”

What I’d said was the absolute truth. At least, ninety percent true.

“You should cancel,” Andy insisted.

“I can handle this,” I assured him. “Austin is leaving on tour tomorrow.”

“For two weeks,” he reminded me. “That hardly counts as a tour.”

“True,” I agreed. “What is up with two weeks of touring and then coming home? I suppose the band wanted to be home more around the holidays, so they scheduled this leg of the tour for later. It’s always possible some of these venues wouldn’t work out during their main touring time.”

“Isn’t it funny how interesting the scheduling practices of bands becomes when you’re trying to avoid talking about your feelings for Austin?” he asked.

I let out a sigh and turned to walk past Andy. “Maybe I am attracted to Austin. Me and half the women in the country. He’s hot, and he’s in a rock band.”

“I’d do him,” Andy agreed, startling a bark of laughter from me.

“Sorry, but you can’t pull it off,” I said around my laughter.

“Pull what off?” he asked innocently.

“Either you’re trying to act like my girlfriend or my bi-sexual guy friend,” I explained.

“I could be trying to act like your gay friend,” he argued.

“You could never pull that off after what I saw in the living room,” I said with a shudder as I looked around my living room. It wasn’t fair that Andy and Cerise were the only people who’d had sex in my living room. “How long have you had that thing?”

“Which thing?” he asked with a smirk. He laughed and put his hands up in surrender when I grabbed a throw pillow to toss at him. Clearly, he’d moved past his embarrassment. “We got it about six months ago.”

“You’ve been playing sex games in the living room for six months?” I practically gasped.

Andy chuckled. “More than six months. Why do you think we always ask about your schedule?”

“I don’t know why I put up with the two of you,” I muttered.

“I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to avoid talking about Austin,” Andy added.

“Ugh!” I threw my hands up in the air for emphasis before dropping down onto my sofa. “I hate it when you do that. How does Cerise put up with you?”

“I’m awesome, and you know it,” he bragged as he took a seat in the armchair. “Now, about Austin. This is a bad idea.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” I insisted, though it seemed ridiculous arguing about this when I’d told myself the same thing. I wasn’t falling in love with Austin. I didn’t even feel that girlish twitter of love I’d experienced all those years ago, but I liked Austin in a less-than-platonic way. When he’d almost kissed me, I’d been tempted to let him.

If this was a huge mistake—and I knew it likely was—why was I still going out with Austin? “I want to spend more time with him,” I admitted to myself and Andy.

“You like him,” Andy stated.

“Yeah,” I confessed. “I like Austin. That doesn’t mean I’m falling madly in love with him or putting my heart out there for him to break again, but I don’t want to cancel on him. I want to see him before he leaves for two weeks.”

“Do you think he’s changed?” Andy asked before adding, “Cerise will cut his balls off if he hurts you again.”

I laughed because it was the truth. “Yeah, she will. If he hurts me again, I’ll probably enjoy the show.”

“No, you won’t,” Andy insisted.

“What makes you say that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because you’re not as bloodthirsty as Cerise,” he replied.

“Good point,” I agreed.

The doorbell rang, interrupting our conversation.

“That must be your date,” Andy said as he went to answer the door.

“It’s not a date,” I insisted. No matter how I felt about Austin, this was not a date.

“Sure,” he agreed as he opened the door for Austin.