*E*
The last thing I was expecting on my so-called date was to run into Pip.
Turning away from Naomi after she called me a douche, I swung my sweatshirt on and pulled up the hood. It hadn't been cold today, but I had the feeling that I would need it tonight, so I'd brought it along with me. I was sure happy for my foresight now.
I didn't look back at Naomi and trudged forward, keeping my head down. There was a girl standing in the center of the sidewalk a little ways down and I briefly wondered how long she'd been there.
I moved to brush past her when she spoke. Actually, spoke doesn't do what she did justice. She practically threw the words at me, like she was disgusted with me. "You shouldn't be that rude."
I froze. "What?" I don't care if I was wearing a sweatshirt or not, people didn't talk to me that way and I wasn't quite sure how to react.
She squared her shoulders and repeated herself. "I said that you shouldn't be so rude, you jerk."
Now I looked at her, really looked at her. Everything about her was curiously familiar, even her voice, but I didn't recognize her. I had every feeling that I should know her, but everything about her seemed just a little bit off.
After a minute, I figured that if I didn't recognize her by now, I probably didn't know her at all and I told her to fuck off. I wasn't in the mood for more girls, especially not of the psychotic brand and I didn't want to stick around long enough to find out if she was one or not.
If I was expecting her to get mad and storm off in a huff, I was disappointed.
"Now see that's what I mean!" she exclaimed.
I looked at her again, curious to know why she looked and sounded so familiar if I didn't know her. I looked past the makeup and the dress and the hair and looked at the girl underneath. That's when it hit me. I'd only seen her twice before and she never looked anything like this before.
Pip.
That damn girl always managed to show up at every odd point in my life.
"What?" she said. "There might be little old ladies around who take great offense at words like that!" She paused for a breath. "Or! Or there could be small children and you'd be giving them a truly awful role model!"
I couldn't speak. I must've looked like an idiot, but here Pip was looking as beautiful as I'd ever seen her and that's saying something because I saw her in a bikini at the beach.
Her dress ended just above the knee and flared just enough to accent her hips. The top wrapped around her neck and hugged her curves snugly. The curls in her hair framed her face even better than the slight waves did.
I, Theo Archer, was starstruck.
As I stared, Pip lowered her gaze for a few seconds before returning her gaze to me.
"Sorry," she whispered. "Please don't kill me."
I realized that I still had my hood up and she probably had no idea who I was, and she was standing across from a 6'3" guy in the dark in downtown Los Angeles.
I pushed my hood back slowly, so I didn't make any sudden movements to scare her and she stared at me.
"Want to tell me why I want to kill you, Pip?" I asked.
She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a car door slamming and I remembered Naomi.
When I glanced back to look at her, she was gone. Disappeared into the limo, I was sure. I was proved right as it peeled away from the curb.
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."
"So she slapped you?" The skepticism in Pip's voice was evident.
"Yeah, well. That's a long story."
"I have time."
"You do? You, a high school girl, have nothing to do at," I checked my phone, "nine o'clock on a Friday night? Highly unlikely." I knew I was stalling, but I was also just curious.
She laughed and it was a beautiful sound. I noticed that pretty much everything she did was beautiful in some way or another. "Yeah. I wish. I have no social life."
"In that case, want to grab dinner? The tiny ass salad I had maybe 3 bites of in there didn't do much for me," I said. Sure, this whole thing might backfire on me, but I was hoping it would be worth it if it didn't.
"I, uh... I don't know," Pip replied, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
"Please? I know this awesome place and I really am starving. Plus I'll be a total gentleman and stay at least 6 inches away from you while we walk." I did my best pouting look and didn't break my gaze from her eyes.
"Alright," she relented and I mentally fist pumped. She squared herself up like she was trying to be intimidating. It didn't work, no one that small in stature can be that intimidating. "But only because the panini I had earlier tasted like poo."
I didn't know it was possible to laugh as hard as I did at a poo joke.
It wasn't a long walk to the place I was thinking, but about 10 steps into the journey I tried to take the bag Pip was holding.
When I reached for it, she recoiled. "What are you doing?"
"Taking the bag," I said, pointing.
"Oh. Thanks, but I got it," she replied.
I sighed. Modern generations were impossible. "Pip, I wasn't joking that much about being a gentleman. Please just let me have it."
I noticed the surprised look on her face but elected to ignore it. She handed me the bag and, seriously being the perfect gentleman that I am, I didn't even look inside.
I subtly looked her up and down again, carefully, so she didn't notice. That dress really was incredible looking on her. It was so perfect for her height and body that I found myself staring before too long. "I like the dress," I said, without thinking.
"Uhh, thanks, I guess." Her cheeks were bright red and it was so cute.
Seeing her blushing pushed me into it. I had to ask. "So, did you enter the contest?" I tried for nonchalant, but even I knew I fell way short of that mark.
Her blush deepened, making me even happier. "Yeah, but only because Elle made me."
I thought for a minute and decided to give her a break from blushing. "Elle. The tall blonde one?"
She nodded, a tight smile playing on her lips. "That's the one. She's my only friend." She was looking straight ahead as if completely lost. It was as if she wasn't here with me at all, but somewhere else entirely. "I used to have a lot of friends. Well, technically, first I had none, then I had a lot, and now I have Elle. Long story, but yes, the tall, blonde, gorgeous one is Elle."
I could hear so much emotion in her words that it was hard to tell what it was all for. It was obvious that she loved and appreciated Elle something fierce and that the dramatic changes in her friends were not natural changes. Somehow though, I swore I heard an undercurrent of something like jealous resignation when she described Elle.
I clamped my mouth shut, fighting the urge to tell her that she was just as, if not more, gorgeous than Elle.
Oh. And there was no part of her that wanted me to ask about the "long story." (I didn't pick up on this out of luck though, don't worry. Over the years in the fighting ring, I'd gotten good at reading people's actions, tones, and words.)
"So, Elle...?" I wanted her to talk about her friend, honestly. I wanted to know why she sounded half upset when talking about her.
"Yeah. She's great. Body to die for, hazel eyes, perfect skin. Already mentioned the blonde hair and the height. Uh, she's sweet, but can be pretty feisty at times..." She trailed off like she was brainstorming more, but I'd noticed her voice get more and more tired with every word.
It occurred to me that I'd tragically misread the situation. Pip thought I was interested in Elle and was talking her up to me. "Wait, wait, wait!" I said, cutting her off right as she was about to start up again. "Pip, I don't want to date Elle. I'm not interested in her."
For the first time since I'd taken her bag, she looked at me. Her green eyes were wide and I'm 99 percent sure I could see her brain working behind them trying to see if I was serious.
I decided to help her out. "Seriously. I'm not. The only reason I mentioned her was because you seemed... I don't know... Not completely happy when you were talking about her earlier." I shrugged. "But I could definitely be wrong."
Pip looked at me for a few seconds longer before looking straight ahead again. "I love Elle. She's stuck with me through things most people didn't. Things my family didn't even stick with me through. It's just... hard sometimes being—" she looked down at herself with a small frown before motioning to herself, "—this, when she's... that. Maybe it's stupid, but I feel so literally small and insignificant and, yeah, sometimes ugly when I think about the both of us." Pip stopped talking abruptly and her cheeks grew flame bright. "I'm sorry. You don't want to hear this dumb stuff. It's not your problem or your business."
I stopped walking and faced her as she stopped too. "Maybe it wasn't my business, but you just told me so now it can be. Maybe I want it to be." I shrugged. I didn't have a clue what I was doing right now. "I can't pretend that I know you and I can't pretend that I know what that situation is like, but I can tell you this: that day at the mall? I saw Elle obviously, but I noticed you. I wanted to talk to you. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. So maybe in your head tall, blonde, and blue eyed is perfect, but I'm here to tell you that in some heads, short, brunette, and green eyes is perfect."
Too late, I realized I shouldn't be saying stuff like this. The few words I had just said might've just shattered the reputation I'd spent the last two years working on and protecting. Lacey's gonna kill me.
I waited with bated breath for Pip to say something about the slip I just made, but she just cocked her head at me with slightly narrowed eyes and an almost-smile. "Alright, Mr. Dramatic. Whatever you say."
I grinned at her, still nervous.
Then, miraculously, she winked. "I won't tell anyone you're a big softie, don't worry."
The grin got bigger and became so much more real.
On impulse, I leaned down to her cheek and lightly kissed it. "You really are beautiful."
I pulled away to see yet another blush rise up in her cheeks and felt a genuine smile take over my lips as we started walking again.
After a few steps, I saw an evil grin cover her lips. "Yeah, well, nice purple pants, Theo Archer."
I threw my hand with her bag up to the sky. "Thank you! My manager wouldn't even let me leave my house until I agreed that they're maroon." I would've been in to give her shit for that comment if she hadn't agreed with me that they were purple.
Pip laughed and looked closer at my pants. "Uh, no. Definitely purple."
I gave her a huge smile in thanks and was rewarded with the blush returning to her adorable cheeks.
We kept walking in silence, and I noticed that her cheeks never faded from that bright red.
Ifelt more happy than I had in a long while.