By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

9. Not Beautiful-Perfect - E

We both watched the back end of the car until it faded from sight and then we turned back to face each other again.

"Theo?" Pip asked. "Theo Archer?"

I nodded and smiled. "The same."

"Oh," Pip said and brushed gently past me.

I was left standing, shocked and facing open air as she kept walking.

I turned and jogged to catch up with her.

"Wait. Pip, what's up? What's wrong?" I put my hand on her arm to stop her.

"Nothing," she said. Her eyebrows knitted together adorably as she turned to look at me. "Why?"

"Well you just kind of left me hanging back there."

"Like you did that other girl?" She pointed towards where the car had gone.

"Ahh. Saw that, did you?" I grimaced and rubbed the back of my neck. How much had she seen? Enough to make her hate me?

"I saw you drag her outside and get slapped." She started walking again.

"Pip let me explain. Please," I begged. I liked her and I really didn't want for her to hate me.

She stopped walking again but stayed facing forward. "Maybe. Tell me why you call me that and we'll see if I'll let you explain."

I grinned. There's the Pip I expected to see. "Ah. See, you're rather small."

"That's it?"

"Well kind of. The first time we met in the mall, I called you pipsqueak. After that I didn't know your name, so I kept calling you pipsqueak and it eventually just got shortened to Pip. It wasn't on purpose, but it stuck for me. Sorry," I explained sheepishly, staring down at my shoes. The longer I talked, the more I realized how weird this situation really is.

"Don't be sorry, Theo. It's kind of funny and I'm used to the short jokes," she replied.

My eyes found her face again, searching to make sure that she was serious about the short joke thing. "It wasn't meant as a joke, Cora," I said, deliberately using her real name. "More as a term of endearment."

Her eyes widened. "Endearment?" As she asked a blush rose in her cheeks and it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

I felt a similar feeling in my own face, just less cute, and said, "I- I didn't mean it like that. I just mean it wasn't supposed to be a joke."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I don't mind it, isn't it?"

I smiled in relief. I was so worried about her being upset that it hadn't even occurred to me that she could like the name. "Guess so."

"So...?" she drawled.

"So... what?"

"Explain."

"Oh right." Lost in the moment, I'd forgotten what this was all about. "That was Naomi Watson-"

"The contest winner?" She seemed surprised.

I found myself enjoying that she knew about the contest. Sure, practically everyone knew about it, but she knew the winner's name. Mostly, the only people who know who won are those who followed the contest because they entered it. This thought pleased me.

I decided not to say that and play it cool. "Yeah. You know her?"

"No. Just heard about her."

I nodded. Having won the contest, Naomi would gain a following. She would be well known; I should've thought of that too. Made me glad I played it cool. "Oh. Right. Well, she decided to push things and I wasn't having it. I took her outside to tell her that I wasn't interested in anything past tonight."