Blended Ch 10

Bella climbs into Piper’s CRV without a word and straps in.

Piper is pleased with how she handled Kylie. It could’ve gone better; she should have been more mature, but she also could’ve been much worse. With mutual self-control, ugliness was avoided. But appreciating Kylie is even less appealing than appreciating Flynn. Speaking of, Piper is pretty sure she just did the equivalent of waving a steak in front of a shark. It’s not the first time she’s had to distract those guys, but that was an interesting reaction from Flynn. People say a lot of things about him and Graham; only they know how much of it is true.

The idea of something casual with someone who looks—and she grudgingly admits, acts—like Flynn Stackwell is not an unpleasant thought, her pride doesn’t like the idea of becoming one of his countless conquests.

But the rumors about him and Graham are intriguing.

“What are you thinking about?” Bella asks after a second.

“Breakfast tomorrow. How do you feel?”

“I’m fine. I’m a little drunk.”

“Were you throwing up?”

“No. I just thought I would. I think it was more like a panic attack.”

Piper’s impressed that Bella is admitting to that. “Are you sure you’re not autistic?”

“You don’t have to be autistic to have social anxiety, Piper.”

“But it helps. And you have to drink some Gatorade.”

“I will.”

It’s a short drive home.

Bella seems closed off, and it takes Piper a minute to figure out that she’s either freaking out or depressed. Either way, she needs support. Piper would like nothing more than to take a shower, eat a snack, and then climb into bed and scroll for half an hour before going to sleep.

Instead, she checks on things around the house, carries some laundry downstairs, and almost has her nose broken by Kayla’s door when it bursts open. Only the laundry basket saves her.

Kayla wears green panties and a black undershirt. Piper doesn’t like Kayla’s new bellybutton piercing, but she does like how the undershirt shows a little tummy.

“I like your perfume,” Piper says.

“Were you gonna tell me Flynn was there tonight?”

“I didn’t know he would be there.” Never mind that it’s not Piper’s job to spy on him.

“What was he doing there? Who was he with?”

“Ying said he was fixing something. So I think he was with Leni.”

“Is that the German chick? The stuck-up blonde?”

“She’s not stuck-up. A stuck-up person thinks they’re better than you, Kayla. She’s not American, so she is actually better than us.”

Kayla makes a face. “Is he into her?”

“I really don’t know, Kayla. I hardly even saw him. I was talking to Kylie.”

“Fuck her,” Kayla says, rolling her eyes.

Piper smiles.

Shaking her head, Kayla goes back into her room and shuts the door. The best thing to do is probably to pretend not to notice that Kayla has an actual crush on Flynn. Kayla knows that she’s bad at relationships; that’s why she doesn’t really have them. If she’s wanting to get serious, Flynn is literally not figuratively the worst person she could possibly pick to try it with.

Bizarrely, he doesn’t seem to be a bad guy. But he is not emotionally available. Everyone knows that. Surely Kayla realizes it.

Surely. But that’s not Piper’s problem; she isn’t Kayla’s mother. Tonight, she needs to focus on Bella.