Blended Ch 9

“I’d better get Bella home,” Piper says graciously.

Kylie doesn’t like that. “Little early, isn’t it?”

“We can’t all be as fun as you, Kylie.”

“What’s she even doing here?” Kylie asks before Piper can turn away. Piper senses danger. When Kylie’s ego and insecurity are making her decisions for her, she’s a moron. That can be said of most people, but Kylie does have the capacity to be perceptive and intelligent.

What is Bella doing here? Trying to compensate for being an introvert. That’s obvious. Why does she suddenly feel strongly enough about this to put herself out here? That’s a little more complex, and Piper doesn’t have all the answers. Kylie doesn’t care; this conversation has nothing to do with Bella, and nothing good can come of it.

“Maybe she’s on a journey of self-discovery,” Piper suggests, then walks away.

It doesn’t take long to find the occupied bathroom; two girls are outside, looking concerned. Piper points and mouths Bella’s name. They nod.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Piper sighs and knocks. “Can I come in?”

“I’m OK.”

Piper puts her hand on her hip and rubs her eyes. “OK, I’ll just wait.”

“Hey, Piper.”

Piper stiffens and her thumb and forefinger instinctively tighten on the bridge of her nose. Then she lets her breath out, smiles, and turns to Flynn Stackwell. He towers over her, and he’s wearing a polo shirt. That’s pretty formal for him. What’s the occasion? Piper’s tempted to ask, but she finds those types of questions annoying when she’s on the receiving end of them.

“Flynn. How you doing?”

“Pretty good. Graham was asking about you.”

Piper puts her hair behind her ear. “Asking what?”

“Well, he wasn’t like super obvious. He wasn’t like ‘did she mention me?’ or anything, but he would’ve been here if he’d known you were gonna be here. If you know what I mean.” Flynn puts his hand on the wall and leans. It’s obnoxious that he can pull that off convincingly, but he needs a haircut.

“It’s a CCL party. Dudes aren’t invited. I thought you were here working.”

“I was. Graham would just be my helper. We’d figure it out.”

“If Graham wants to ask me out, he should just do it.”

“I think he…” Flynn’s smile becomes bigger and dumber somehow, “…and other people think you might not be available.”

“What? Because of Ines? Come on, Flynn. What is this, the Handmaid’s Tale?”

“Good to know. Are you doing anything later?”

Unbelievable. Hardly a millisecond passes, and he’s doing this. “No loyalty to Graham, huh?”

“He’d understand.”

Piper isn’t going to go out with Flynn, but the fact that she feels even the faintest tug of temptation is alarming. The idea that there might be more to Flynn than working out and being a huge slut is a little frightening.

“What kind of stuff do you like to do?” he asks.

“Depends. Will Graham be there?”

Flynn looks intrigued.

The door opens, and Bella emerges along with a smell of Bath and Body Works hand soap and Colgate mouthwash. Piper is impressed that CCL keeps mouthwash in the downstairs bathrooms. Maybe she has underestimated them.

Bella looks distinctly droopy.

“We’ll have to put a pin in this,” Piper tells Flynn as she puts her arm around Bella. “Come on, sweetheart. Did the bad women give you the wrong juice box?”

“I deserve to be patronized,” Bella mumbles.