It's cold outside. She has no jacket, and her flimsy dress was made for the heat of dancing. Theo's a radiator, but she still shivers in his arms. He's still attempting to mumble soothing assurances in her ear. Yes, she's always found Dante's a dick to be a calming sentiment. How did he know?
Piper pulls away from him, feeling suddenly disgusting. She's sure her face is red and her eyes are swollen, and on top of that, there's an acute headache building behind her eyes, the one that always accompanies her tears. She looks away from Theo, embarrassed. She knows he's handsome- there's not a girl in school who doesn't- and right now, she's a mess. His hand is on her arm again.
"You know you can do better than him, right?" She thinks of Dante, his dark hair, his charcoal eyes. He always smells of smoke, and he said that he loved her. Will she ever get better than that?
"Who?" Piper snorts. She looks at him now; he's already staring at her. She pleasantly surprised to see he doesn't look the least bit intoxicated. "You?" Theo's made it know secret that he wants to get into her pants. He voices the fact almost daily, actually.
Theo's fingers slip down her arm until he's holding her hand. "Come with me he says," and tugs her along. Piper has that awkward limp born of wearing only one shoe; a heel, no less. Absurdly, this makes her laugh, and she tells Theo to wait a minute. He lets her hand go as she bends down to remove the sole survivor.
"Hey," Theo says, blue eyes suspicious, "where did your other shoe go?"
"Somewhere," Piper says. She's not sure on the specifics.
They go to the beach. It's ten minutes away, and eerie in the dark. It's a rocky beach, and the waves are loud against the stone. Theo stops, and hands her something gritty and cold. She throws into the ocean and the wind whips at her dress; he hands her another, and another, and the fresh sting of rejection is more than enough to convince her that Dante is more trouble than he's worth.
i crack myself up