25. Piper #2
“Let’s not overwhelm her,” Grace said. “And like Mollie said, you can tell us we’re asking too much at any time.”
“It’s still fine. But the reason I can’t be touched isn’t a happy one. And I am in therapy, but my fear is always fighting back. It has for years. There’s only one person in my life I can touch right now.”
“An old friend?” Jade asked.
“Family member?” Mollie added.
“Um. No. This is a recent development.”
Jade leaned in, eyes wide. Grace sighed and elbowed her. “Oh, right.” Jade was shaken out of her trance. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
“Definitely not.” Mollie shook her head.
“But we’d love to know,” Wren added.
I considered it. “You guys can keep a secret, right?”
Every woman nodded.
“Of course,” Wren said. “Whatever is said here stays between us. We’d never betray your trust.”
“I’m not the main one who wants to keep it quiet.” I bit my lip as I considered it. “I don’t mind if people know . . . but this person does. You guys know half of it anyway.”
“We do?” Jade frowned and her eyes went distant as she went through all she knew about me.
“It’s Theo,” I said.
“Theo?” Grace asked. “You mean the coffee shop owner Theo?”
“Yes.”
“The one who’s had a crush on you since you got here?”
“Yeah—wait, what?” Her words didn’t hit me until too late. “How do you know Theo has a crush on me?”
“He looked at you.”
“For a long time apparently,” Jade added.
“And as far as I’ve heard, he doesn’t do that with anyone.” Wren crossed her arms. “We’ve been talking about it for a bit. How did you go from him staring at you to touching?”
“Leave out no detail, please!” Mollie said. “If you want to, I mean.”
I was still stuck on what they just told me. “Hang on, he really doesn’t even look? I heard he doesn’t date, but I didn’t know it went that far.”
“He keeps everyone at arm’s length,” Grace said. “And he’s done it since he arrived. That includes pretty much . . . everything. Town events. Talking to people. Staring at them for sure.”
I hadn’t realized anything with me was different—at least not publicly. Sure, he acted differently when it was just the two of us, but no one else was supposed to notice.
It made sense, based on what I knew about him.
“You don’t seem shocked by that.” Grace’s eyes were narrowed. “Why aren’t you? Usually people hate it when someone isn’t an open book.”
“That’s because I know why he does it.”
Nearly everyone in the group exploded.
“What?” they all said at the same time.
“How?” Jade asked. “No one has been able to crack that nut for years.”
“Pause.” Mollie held up a hand. “Crack that nut?”
“What? Is it too weird?”
“It’s . . . new,” Grace said. “We’ll adjust.”
I laughed, but knew that the women couldn’t hold out forever. “Theo and I have talked quite a bit. So I know a lot about him.”
“Damn, you did that quick!” Jade shook her head. “Congratulations. Now let’s talk about you popping your cherry.”
“Jade!” Grace’s cheeks went dark.
I wasn’t bothered at all, so I continued. “I would definitely let him, but he’s not totally on board with dating me.”
“You could ask,” Mollie said. “I bet he wouldn’t say no.”
If it had been only twenty-four hours ago, I would have. “I won’t lie, I’ve pushed things. And he might be avoiding me now.”
“Oh, that’s why you looked a little sad.” Grace frowned. “I’m sorry, Piper.”
“It’s fine. If I did push it too far, I’ll back off. But I haven’t seen him and I have no idea what he’s up to. So I just have to wait.” I sighed and propped my head up on my palm. “It just sucks because he’s the only person I can touch.”
“Is that how you want it to be?” Grace asked.
“Not really, but it’s what I have to work with. I want to try it with other people.”
“You could try it with us!” Wren said.
“Yes!” Mollie said.
“Only if you want to,” Grace added, “but of course we would.”
I bit my lip as I considered. “That might be a good idea. Especially since I really have been pushing Theo.”
“Yes!” Jade said.
“So, how do we do this?” Mollie asked. “Should we try to touch you? Or you us?”
“I had to be the first one to do it with Theo,” I said. “So me first. Any volunteers?”
“Me!” Jade sat next to me. “I love being an experiment.”
“You would.” Grace chuckled before turning to me. “Is that okay?”
I let out a shaky breath. “I’ll do my best. I don’t know if I can.”
“It’s okay.” Jade’s voice was softer. “Even if you can’t, trying it is a great step.”
Nodding, I tried to imagine touching her. I’d only met her today, but it was a goal of mine to try to get used to touching others, even if I didn’t know them all that well.
My body tightened at the mere thought of it, but I told myself it was okay.
And it was. She wouldn’t hurt me. She was my friend.
I raised my hand, and I swore every woman in the room held their breath in anticipation to see if I could do it. I made it all the way to where I could feel her body heat.
Then my arm locked. It wouldn’t go any farther.
“Dammit,” I said. “I can’t do it.”
Slumping over, I hid my face in my hands, cheeks burning as failure washed over me. I wondered if all the women were looking at me with pity, or thinking how sad it was that I couldn’t do something as simple as touch Jade.
“Piper,” Grace said softly. “Thank you for trying it. You got really close.”
“Seriously,” Wren added. “That’s closer than I would touch Jade.”
“Hey!”
“If I barely knew you! I’d touch you now.”
“Would you be my lover if you were single?”
“One night. For pity. But yes.”
“You’re so mean.”
Despite everything, I smiled. “I would be your lover for longer if I could.”
“See? Piper has taste. Fuck you, Wren.”
“You’re too strong-willed for me,” Wren said. “I’d need to mold you.”
“But we’d be explosive together!”
Wren went on to say she didn’t want explosive while I looked at Mollie and Grace. Mollie gave me a smile and Grace made a heart with her hands.
My chest loosened. There was no pity. No judgment. Just understanding.
I really liked all of them.
“Thank you, guys,” I replied. “I’m so glad I came tonight.”
“Even if we had to draw Hugh naked?”
We all groaned as we remembered him.
“Wait, naked?” We all turned to see that Marjorie had walked into the room. “He wasn’t supposed to be naked.”
Jade laughed. “Well, he was. Look.” She flipped around her drawing.
Marjorie immediately covered her eyes. “You guys go to that class. You know they’re supposed to be nude, but tastefully covered!”
“It’s Hugh,” Mollie said. “He’s never tasteful.”
“Can we talk about how big his dick was?” I asked. “Like, it’s very disproportionate.”
“That’s my cue to leave.” Marjorie looked green in the face as she turned around, but then she paused and looked back at me. “I knew you weren’t as quiet as you said you were.”
“I’m not.”
“Library closes in thirty, but I might make it an hour since I like you all.” And then she was gone.
We all talked for way too long about Hugh.
And despite that, it was one of the best evenings I’d ever had.