Love is the New Black Page 17

  Just before he descended the stairs, he remembered he still had Dylan’s phone in his hand, and slipped it into the pocket of Piper’s jacket.

  Piper grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair. The Texan seemed strangely airless and dull since Mason had left, like he’d taken all the oxygen with him. She felt empty inside, too. She thought of his words.

  Whatever it was, it’s over.

  She looked over the edge of the balcony. In among the pulsating throng she saw Dylan dancing with Xena and Petal – it looked like he might be having a bit too much fun. But she wasn’t really in a position to judge him; not after what she’d put him through.

  Maybe she just needed to go outside for a bit.

  The woman on the door stamped her hand so she could get back inside. Piper looked at it and smiled weakly. It was a heart-shaped stamp that read Laurie Anderson and Kara Kingston. Big Love at The Texan.

  It was nice that some people, at least, had their love lives sorted.

  The night air was bracing. Piper breathed deeply, but she couldn’t shake the hollow feeling in her chest. The queue to get into The Texan was still long, as though it was the place people just had to be. But Piper didn’t want to be there anymore.

  Outside, cold air swirled around her, whipping her hair around. Piper dug down in her jacket pockets for warmth. Her right hand came across something hard. She pulled it out.

  Piper’s own phone was in her bag. It certainly wasn’t like Dylan to put his phone in her pocket, but Piper could tell by the crack along the back that it was his.

  She turned it over to the front.

  On the screen, there was a message waiting. Piper saw it was a photo of … Leanne? Her hairdresser?

  Piper blinked. She clicked on the message and looked again. It was a selfie of Leanne. Her hair was wet, like she’d just got out of the shower, and her lips were puckered, as though she were sending a kiss. In front of her chest, she held a piece of paper with writing on it.

  Piper felt a sense of foreboding as she zoomed in on the photo. Now she could see the print.

  Leanne’s Song

  Before I met you baby,

  life was coloured grey.

  There wasn’t any loving in my

  ordinary day.

  Your blue eyes make my heart pump,

  it’s you that I adore.

  If you tell me that you love me,

  I’ll say I love you more.

  Now life is bright and breezy,

  you’re my one best score.

  When you tell me that you love me,

  girl, just know I love you more.

  The wind roared around her now, but the roar growing inside her was stronger, fiercer.

  Two words. He’d only changed two words.

  But Piper had several for him.

  She strode back into The Texan.

  Piper wove her way through the crowd on the dance floor. Dylan was right where she’d seen him last. His arms were wound around Xena and Petal’s waists, but he was still managing to do his jerky, all-over-the-shop dance moves. She used to think it was cute. Not anymore.

  As he spotted Piper, he dropped both arms. Xena and Petal kept dancing around him, keeping him in the centre.

  ‘Hey babe, where you been?’ he said into the din.

  In answer, Piper held up the phone. Dylan stopped moving. Piper pointed to the door and started walking.

  When they found a spot outside to be alone, Piper thrust his phone into his hand. ‘“Leanne’s Song”, hey?’ she demanded. ‘How very strange, Dyl. I recognise that song. I thought it was called “Piper’s Song”.’

  Dylan looked at the screen, then put the phone in his pocket. He rubbed his arms, staving off the cold. Staving off his response.

  Piper waited. She wasn’t going to help him.

  ‘Aw, come on, babe,’ he said finally. ‘I wrote it for you.’

  ‘Did you?’ Piper said quickly. ‘I’m beginning to wonder whether you just recycled it for me after you’d given it to someone else.’

  ‘No, seriously babe.’ There was an expression of relief on Dylan’s face, as though she’d given him a lifeline. Piper felt like strangling him with it. ‘Babe, I promise, I wrote the song for you. I just … well … I just ended up giving it to Leanne. You know, like, as a favour.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad you didn’t put too much effort into altering it for her,’ Piper seethed.

  As she spoke, she remembered hearing the Beyoncé track in the background when she’d rung Dylan at his place. She remembered the female voice in his office when she’d been waiting for him to book the flight to Melbourne. She remembered Ally, straining and serious, letting her know Dylan’s car was out the front of Leanne’s house. How she’d made him her first priority when she should have been studying, despite her mum’s constant protests. How that decision had changed her life.

  She’d been a fool.

  ‘So, what could have made you decide to give her the song?’ Piper quizzed.

  Dylan scuffed his shoe on the ground.

  ‘You’ve been with her, haven’t you?’

  ‘Well … yeah … kind of,’ he said slowly. ‘But, you know, like, it wasn’t anything big. Like, you’re the one, Piper. Leanne was just kind of … well, she was just sort of there.’

  ‘How far did you go?’ Piper asked. She purposely kept her voice soft now. She didn’t want to scare him away from telling the truth. God knew, she needed to hear it. Finally.

  ‘Aw, babe, you know how it is with chicks like that. Just, you know, we kind of … a few times here and there … you know.’

  Piper did know. If Dylan hadn’t had sex with Leanne, he would definitely be defending himself now.

  ‘So, it was just convenient?’ Piper asked. She felt vaguely conscious of luring him into a trap.

  Dylan nodded. ‘Yeah, well, that’s it, babe,’ he said, grasping at the excuse she’d flung his way. ‘It’s just, you know, like a guy thing. Like, you were away and all …’ Dylan suddenly snapped his head up. ‘You did it too, Piper,’ he said accusingly.

  Piper sighed. ‘Dylan, I told you about what I did,’ she said. ‘You had a chance to tell me too, but you didn’t take it.’ She felt tears spring to her eyes. ‘You were going to keep going like that. You were going to twist what I’d done and use it against me, when you’d actually done worse yourself.’

  Dylan stepped towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. They felt heavy.

  ‘Yeah. I guess that’s not right,’ he admitted. He looked her in the eyes. ‘Look, Piper. I reacted like that because I honestly don’t like the idea of you being with someone else. I’m a bloke. And I’ve got urges; it’s just the way it is. It’s not like I’m going to fall for Leanne or anything like that. But you, you have this thing where you’d probably end up overanalysing everything. You could end up convincing yourself that a random kiss was something more.’ He paused. ‘You’d probably just get all confused.’

  Piper breathed in. That last bit was true. She was already confused. She didn’t say anything. She could almost see Dylan looking for words to sell his action plan.

  ‘The thing is,’ he continued, searching for words to press home his point, ‘essentially, I’m yours. The other stuff doesn’t matter.’

  Piper took a step backwards, shrugging her shoulders free. ‘So, wait, let me get this straight,’ she said. ‘You can be with other people, but I should stay faithful to you.’

  ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ Dylan said defensively.

  Piper shook her head. Just then, Xena and Petal appeared at the doorway of the club.

  ‘How long are you going to be, Dylan?’ Xena called. ‘We’re about to chop up again.’

  Piper looked at the girls. Did they even know Dylan was supposed to be with her? They probably wouldn’t care even if they did. She could feel Dylan’s desire to go back inside with the two beautiful, empty girls and get wasted.

  And suddenly, Piper knew. She didn’t want to be part o
f any of it. ‘Dylan, it’s over,’ she said.

  Dylan stared at her. ‘You can’t mean that, babe.’

  ‘Yes, I can,’ Piper replied firmly. ‘You slept with another girl, and you hid it from me. And you made me feel like shit for doing something that wasn’t nearly as bad.’

  Dylan hung his head, as though he finally felt some shame. Tears sprang from his reddened eyes. ‘Babe, you and me … we’re it …’ he fumbled desperately.

  ‘It’s over, Dyl. It’s so over.’ She didn’t need to analyse this. Her feelings were clear. ‘I’ll make sure your stuff gets back to Mission Beach.’ She didn’t care how much it would cost to send his luggage home. She just didn’t want to see him again.

  Piper stood alone outside The Texan and called Gaynor.

  ‘Hi, love, how are you? I only just got home,’ Gaynor said. Piper could hear her keys jangling.

  ‘Gaynes,’ she said softly, ‘can you do me a favour? Can you come and pick me up?’

  Gaynor’s keys stopped jangling.

  ‘Oh sweetheart,’ she said. ‘Of course I can. But why? What happened?’

  Piper could hear the squeaking sound the leather couch made when you sat on it. She knew that Gaynor would be there, listening, for as long as Piper wanted. That was how it was with Gaynes. Piper wished she’d realised that earlier.

  ‘I just broke up with Dylan,’ Piper said, trying to keep the tears in. ‘After all that drama last night, it turns out that he’s been seeing someone else.’ She didn’t mention how she found out, and she didn’t say anything about the song. That bit was too humiliating.

  Piper could hear Gaynor exhaling slowly before she spoke. Gaynes wasn’t the type for platitudes, and Piper knew, instinctively, that Gaynor wouldn’t be sorry about the breakup.

  ‘So, sweetheart, the important thing is that you’re okay. Are you?’ she asked.

  Piper looked up at the sky. The moon was a sliver. One day, it would be full again. She let a few tears slip down her cheek.

  ‘I’m fine, actually,’ she said. And, in saying it, she knew it was true. She was fine.

  ‘You sound fine,’ Gaynor confirmed. ‘But listen, Piper, where are you? I’ll be right there.’

  ‘I cannot believe you even own one, Gaynes, let alone two. So stylish!’

  ‘Well, they were two-for-one,’ Gaynor replied. ‘And they’re just for emergencies. Anyway, this one is not your ordinary Snuggie. It’s leopard-print microplush, after all.’ She smoothed the fabric covering her body as though it was the most luxurious fabric in the world.

  ‘Ah, that’s fine then,’ Piper replied. She definitely felt ridiculous, sitting on Gaynor’s couch in what was, bottom line, a blanket with sleeves. But, she had to admit, there was something extra comforting about being cocooned like this. Plus, she’d been able to use her hands to set up a 3 a.m. Skype call with Ally and Sarah.

  Both of them looked extremely bed-heady. Sarah was pretty vague, like she was still half-asleep. But they were there.

  Such reliable friends, Piper thought, always in my corner.

  ‘Guess I’ve been a bit of an ostrich,’ Piper said to the screen, as Gaynor handed her a cup of tea and went back into the kitchen. ‘I mean, Mum was always anti-Dylan, but I was pretty sure that was just her snobby side coming out. But I should have listened to you, Ally, when you told me about Dylan’s car being at Leanne’s place.’

  Ally shook her head. ‘We should have pulled your head out of the sand a bit better,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, like with an excavator,’ Sarah joined in.

  ‘But we didn’t really know anything,’ Ally said. ‘We only suspected he was a dog. I guess you had to put all the pieces together and figure it out. You’ve always been good at that sort of thing.’

  ‘You think?’ Piper asked. It was strange, but even with all the angst going on inside her, it pleased her to hear that.

  ‘We know,’ Sarah replied.

  Piper shook her head. ‘I suppose it’s harder to be objective when you’re involved,’ she said. ‘And maybe he is a dog, but I guess we both made mistakes.’

  ‘You faced up to yours, Piper,’ Ally asserted, echoing Gaynor’s sentiments. ‘He’s just … well, I think he’s actually just really immature.’

  As soon as Ally said that last word, Piper thought about Mason. That was it, really. He was mature in a way that Dylan couldn’t be. He was a man, rather than a boy. But her chances with him were shot. In a way, she was glad her best friends had never met him, that their thoughts on him were sketchy. Because she was going to have to erase him from her mind. Piper reached out a Snuggied arm for a tissue. ‘I’m okay, girls. Truly,’ she said, wiping her teary face. ‘It’s just a flesh wound.’

  Ally and Sarah both smiled. The three of them were probably the only people under forty who understood the Monty Python joke.

  ‘Want us to come down?’ Ally asked after a moment. ‘We could get there for a few days before uni starts.’

  Piper shook her head. It was gorgeous of Ally to offer, but they couldn’t really afford a trip to Melbourne at the moment. Piper knew that they were there for her. A bit of physical distance couldn’t change that.

  Besides, there was something she wanted to focus on. Not just her work at Aspire, but her long-term goals. Maybe she could beg to help Wendy out somehow, even after her regular work hours?

  ‘Thanks, but no,’ Piper said. ‘I’m not going to let all this go against me. I’ve got work, but I also want to get a new folio together.’

  ‘Go girl,’ Sarah said. ‘So, you’re going to try to get into the creative writing course again?’

  ‘I think there’s been a bit of a detour away from that idea,’ Piper said. As she was saying it, she knew it was right. It was as though loads of things had conspired to get her to this point. It just seemed to make sense.

  ‘I’m going get my shit together and apply for journalism,’ she announced.

  ‘You’ve got a busy Monday ahead of you,’ Vivian said as she handed Piper a list of jobs. Piper held in a sigh: more pickups, more deliveries, data entry and confirmation of the catering requirements for a Thakoon shoot.

  ‘And Lucy, make sure that there isn’t a single stuff-up with the Georg Jensen hand models. The last girl Anita Barnes sent had a freaking wart on her ring finger.’

  It was weird how Lucy seemed to stare Vivian down, rather than looking away as usual. It actually made Piper pause rather than get on with her work.

  ‘As in now, girls,’ Vivian said, clicking her fingers.

  At that moment, Patrick Wakefield entered the office. Piper knew who it was straightaway. He was so like Mason, though his hair was grey.

  ‘Vivian,’ he said. His voice was deep and even, but there was no mistaking the tone. This was serious. ‘My office. As in now.’

  As soon as they’d gone, Lucy turned to Piper. ‘Ding, dong the witch is dead,’ she squealed.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Piper asked, in shock.

  ‘Do I have news for you,’ Lucy said, wheeling her chair over.

  ‘I know it was you two,’ Vivian hissed, standing in the doorway of the office, clutching a hurriedly packed box in her claw-like hands. ‘You’re the ones who sold me out.’

  Lucy and Piper looked at each other and exchanged a nervous smile. A sacked Vivian was a much less venomous one – but she was still a snake.

  ‘Christ, the cops are at my house. Going through my things!’ Vivian ranted.

  ‘Well, if they are your things,’ Lucy said, ‘then it won’t be a problem.’

  ‘And you,’ Vivian said, spinning to glare at Piper. ‘You little slut. I know what you’re playing at. After all I’ve done for you!’

  Piper raised her eyebrow. ‘Like stealing my article?’ she asked. ‘Thanks for that.’

  ‘You girls are nothing,’ Vivian spat. ‘You haven’t learnt a single fucking thing from me.’

  Lucy and Piper looked at each other. This time, their smiles were defiant.

 
‘Bye bye from Bronwyn, Viv,’ Lucy called. ‘And please be assured that we have learnt something from you.’

  And, without even having planned it, Piper and Lucy both clicked their fingers and pointed to the door.

  It was mid-morning and Piper was working through some data entry when she got a call to see Rose in her office.

  As usual, Rose seemed to be doing a hundred things at once and making it look effortless. There were masses of new photos on her desk, and Bruno was nestling in a pile of pink chiffon at her feet.

  ‘Well. Congratulations on your “Sheer Sense” article, Piper.’ She sat down and leant back in her chair. ‘I knew something good would come out of having you at Aspire,’ she said kindly. ‘It’s in your energy.’

  Piper smiled, remembering the first time she’d been in that office. It seemed so long ago, after all that had happened. But Piper vividly recalled Rose telling Vivian, I have a good feeling about her. And, despite not really believing in all that spooky stuff, Piper appreciated the goodwill Rose emanated.

  ‘Thanks, Rose,’ she began.

  But Rose was already moving on. ‘I think your skills might extend beyond the tasks you’re doing at the moment. How would you feel about joining Wendy and Lawrence in features?’

  ‘That’s a really good start, Piper,’ Wendy said, looking over Piper’s shoulder.

  Piper had been moved into the features office just up the hall, with a small window that showed just enough of the outside to remind Piper that the world still existed. Lawrence often worked at home, so Piper was mainly guided by Wendy.

  ‘But maybe reshuffle the paragraphs so that part in the middle,’ she pointed at the screen, ‘becomes the intro. Oh, and delete half the adjectives and pare it back until only the bare bones remain. It will hit harder that way.’

  Very soon after she’d started reporting to Wendy and Lawrence, Piper had realised what a tough gig it was. But Wendy’s management style wasn’t bossy, like Vivian’s. She was more carrot than stick.