Page 30 of Mr. Principal

“Well,” she said with a big smile on her face. “Morgan is coming back into town.”

“Morgan?”

“My magician lover. Not that we’ve gotten down and dirty like you and Carter…”

“Piper—”

“What?”

“Can we just pretend that what you saw didn’t happen?”

She sighed, “I’m the one that had to endure seeing the naked bodies of both my friends… so spare me.”

I grimaced. “Sorry.”

She said as if she were a schoolmarm, “You should be.”

My phone began ringing and I jumped up to find it. My purse was somehow wedged under the coffee table. I gave it one hard yank and flew into the couch as I unearthed it.

I dug through my purse searching for my phone, knowing that the ringing would stop in a few seconds and worried that it was Meredith. When I finally found it at the bottom of my purse, the caller had already hung up. It was a missed call from Carter.

I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. I just couldn’t.

“Who was it?” Piper asked.

“Carter,” I said softly.

“So are you guys an item now and I’m just the last to know? First you make out at my party and now this,” she said, gesturing to her couch which was still a little disheveled. “And don’t try to tell me you guys were just pretending… that might have been a likely excuse before, but definitely not now.”

I blushed. “We’re not an item. We’re just friends… we’ve always been friends…”

“Friends that just happen to have sex with each other?”

“It was a one-time lapse in judgment,” I lied. “Carter and I are just friends. I’m not ready to be in a relationship with anyone. I mean, your brother really left me feeling like a… a… nobody.”

Her face instantly changed. Gone was the teasing smile. In her eyes was sympathy. “I’m sorry. My brother’s a dick. I wish you’d never had dated him, let alone married him.”

“It wasn’t all bad”, I said pitifully. “I got Meredith.”

“And Meredith is an amazing little girl, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting more for yourself. You deserve to move on, too, Dana.”

“I know that. I just… can’t…”

“Well, it seems like you’re off to a good start,” she said teasing again.

I sighed. “What happened between me and Carter was just a spur of the moment thing. A mistake. I was feeling emotional. He was really comforting. One thing led to another—”

“And you guys found yourself butt naked on my couch. Yeah, I get naked on my couch with Carter all the time when I feel emotional,” she mocked. I narrowed my eyes at her and she sighed. “Fine. If you want to pretend nothing is going on between you and him… but hey, as his friend, could you not call it a mistake around him?”

I gulped. “But it was—”

Her face tightened, and she had a look on her face that I wasn’t familiar with. Was she angry with me?

“Are you angry with me?”

She shrugged. “I’m trying not to be. But Carter loves you, Dana.”

“He’s my friend—”