The Untitled Piper Watson Project

It's A Date (With Ravioli)

Mack's POV~

        Today was the day after I met Piper Watson. I woke up exceptionally earlier than usual, and I was sprawled out on the couch reading Retaliation. My mom was in the kitchen getting ready to leave for work. She was a defense attorney and that just naturally made her judgemental towards everything in this world. My dad came downstairs, surprised to see me up this morning. He and Mom exchanged a look. Dad sat down next to me and I continued to be lost in the beautiful words written by the beautiful Piper Watson. "Whatcha doing, son?" Dad asks. "Reading." I replied. What does it look like I'm doing? I show him the cover of the book and go back to reading, not realizing the grin I'm wearing on my face. Mom walks over. "What are you so happy about today, sweetie?" She asks. I grin wider. "Nothing." Dad and Mom exchange another look. "Is it...a girl?" Dad guesses. At this point I'm grinning so wide my mouth aches. "Maybe." I say like the smart ass I am. Mom's eyes narrow and she hits Dad on the arm, motioning to him to keep asking questions. "What's her name?" Dad presses. "Piper Watson." Dad looks puzzled. "Isn't that the author of the book you're reading?" I fold the page and finally give my parents my undivided attention. "I met Piper Watson at Barnes & Noble yesterday." I explain. "We totally hit it off and she bought me her books." Mom speaks this time. "What do you mean you 'hit it off'?" I pick Retaliation up again and show them the inside cover where she wrote her phone numbers. Mom looks horrified. "So you're keeping in touch with this girl?" I shrugged. "She said to call her when I finished the book. So I plan on calling her." Mom turns pale. "That is a terrible---" "Good for you, son!" Dad cuts Mom off. "Thanks, Dad." 

        Mom gives Dad a dirty look. "Just be careful, Mackenzie." Is all she says. "I don't want you rushing into things." I scoff. "Whatever." She glares at me for my attitude. "I need to go to work. I'll see you later." she kisses Dad and kisses me on the cheek before she leaves, slamming the door behind her. Dad pats me on the back. "Don't mind your mother, she doesn't understand these guy things." "She doesn't understand a lot of things." "Mack, about this girl," Dad continues, changing the subject. "Does she like you?" I hesitantly nod my head. 'I think so. Maybe." Dad straightens up. "Well, in that case, good. I"m glad she likes you. You deserve some things in your life. There's nothing wrong with you." "I know." But there are a lot of things wrong with me. Piper doesn't know about them and I prefer to keep it that way. But I'm falling for her. Hard. 

Piper's POV

        "Was he cute?" Jen asks as she's perched on top of the counter next to my desk. I shrug. "Yeah, he was pretty cute." Jen fiddles with her hair, pulling it into a braid. "But what kind of name is 'Mack', though? It sounds like a dog's name." "His real name is 'Mackenzie'. 'Mack' is a nickname." "Well, Mackenzie is a girl's name." "Jennifer, shut the fuck up." "I'm just saying!" I updated my blog, talking about the encounter at Barnes & Noble with me and the poor worker. I wrote: "Phil from Barnes & Noble was very kind in trying to help me with my book restocking crisis. I treated him poorly, so on my blog where he can read it, I would like to apologize for threatening his spinal cords and his genitalia."  Jen read the post over my shoulder. "You threatened his genitalia?" "Something like that." My house phone began to ring, and my heart fluttered at the thought of it being Mack but the caller ID read David Watson. "It's David." said Jen. "No shit." "Are you going to answer it?" "No." David is my cousin. Sam's brother. The only reason he'd be calling me is to tell me how I need to visit Sam when I don't want to. Everyone in my fucking family keeps pressuring me into seeing someone I don't want to see. It's annoying. The voicemail went off and David left a message. "Hey Piper, it's David. Listen, please call me back." Jen looks alarmed. "Maybe you should call him back." I clear my throat. "Jen, I swear---" "Piper, it might be really bad!" "---keep lecturing me and I'll kick you out of my motherfucking house." 

        "Pipes, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to regret anything." "Don't worry about it." She said nothing else, and the only sound was the sound of the keys clicking the keyboard. The phone rang again, and this time the caller ID read Vincent Gibbons. Gibbons. I picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?" "Hi...Piper?" "Hi." "Hi." "...hi." Geez this is awkward. "It's Mack." he said. I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I figured." he laughed awkwardly, too. "So...I finished Retaliation." "Really? How'd you like it?" "I thought it was interesting. Very entertaining. And by the way, I totally ship 'Jellie'." My jaw dropped. This boy just said he "shipped" something. "You ship it?" I asked. "Uh..." he sounded embarrassed. "Do you not know what that is?" I shook my head even though I knew he couldn't see me. "No, I do, it's just...I've never heard a guy say that." "Well I guess I'm just a nerd." I acted impulsively. "Are you busy tonight?" Silence. Oh, no. I shouldn't have been so straight forward. "No, I don't think I am. Why?" I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I'm not completely stupid. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to maybe come over. I make a really good...." I look at Jen for help, and gestures for me to continue. "....ravioli." I hear him chuckle and I lose my confidence. "I love ravioli." he says. "How's 6?" I look at Jen and she gives me a double thumbs up. "6 is great." I say. "I'll text you the address." "Perfect. I'll see you later." "Okay, it's a date." I hang up and Jen squeals in my ear. "You have a date with the cute guy from Barnes & Noble!" I pick up the phone again and dial a number. "Who are you calling?" "Mom. I have no idea how to make ravioli."