Page 182 of Terms Of Un-Endearment
“Archie? Piper? Where are you?” a voice calls.
Archie moans and glares at the door before dropping his hands and stepping away from me. We don’t break eye contact as he calls, “In the gym, Frankie. Be right out!”
I can’t read his mind, but the question on his face feels like the same one I have. Am I sorrier that we were within seconds of kissing or that we were interrupted before we could?
I don’t know.
“If you’re a good boy, I’ll think about deleting the video,” I tease, to break the spell Archie still has over me. My breath is ragged, and the words scrape across my throat.
Archie huffs a laugh that I pretend not to hear as I step away from the door to let him through.
“Hey, is Piper here?” Frankie asks a few seconds later. “Dex, Britta, and Stella are on their way over, too.”
I take a breath, put on a smile, and walk out of the gym. “I’m right here!”
The surprise on Frankie’s face when I walk out of the same room Archie just did quickly passes as she pulls me into a hug. “I’m so happy to see you!”
I hug her back, choking back tears as a thousand competing emotions make their way from my chest. She holds me like we’re still friends. Sisters, even. With my world falling apart, Frankie’s arms are exactly the place I need to crumble until I can put the pieces back together.
Except, when she lets me go, I step back with a different perspective.
My world may be tipped out-of-balance right now, but it’s not imploding. In fact, it may be moving in exactly the direction it should be. Everything feels upside down, but in a good way.
I almost kissed Archie.
He almost kissed me.
I can’t even wrap my head around how wrong that would have been.
Or why the moment felt so right.
Chapter 29
Archie
Ican’t decide if Frankie and everyone else showed up at the exact right time or the absolute worst time. When I think about how close I came to kissing the girl who used to be my stepsister, I lean toward the right time. But when I look atPiper—who’s never been anything close to a sister to me—I want to kick every last one of the gatecrashers out of my house and get back to what they interrupted.
Not because I’m desperate for some action. That’s never been my thing. What I’m desperate for—what has me on fire—is Piper. I’m burning to kiss her in a way I haven’t felt for anyone else.
“Are you going somewhere, Archie?” Frankie asks as we walk to the front room. Dex, Britta, and Stella are already there.
“Hadn’t planned to. Why?”
“You’re all dressed up,” Dex says, answering for Frankie.
I look down at what I’m wearing, then unintentionally glance at Piper. “You all act like you’ve never seen me in trousers and a nice shirt.”
“I never have,” Britta replies.
“Me neither,” Stella pipes in. “You clean up nice.”
I force myself not to look at Piper to see if she agrees with Stella. “What’s this all about? Shouldn’t you two be in bed? It’s going on nine pm.”
I direct the last question to Dex and Britta, who are early risers.
“I told them what Dad’s done now and called an emergency brainstorming sesh.” Frankie waves everyone toward the couch. “We’re going to figure out a solution to keep you here.”
“Unless you really want to go back to Aus,” Dex quickly adds before sitting next to Britta on the couch. “We want to support whatever it is you want, mate.”
