Best of Women

Pippa

A/N: I may have mixed up the boy's name. I think I've called him William and Xavier. I'll fix it later!

I got home late after an evening with the girls. I loved being around Lin and the kids, but sometimes you just needed your she-pack. Renee and Jazzy were the best she-pack ever. We ate and ate and laughed for hours. I was feeling stuffed as I came in an locked the door. I was ready to head straight to bed when Mia's bedroom door open and her head popped out.

"Pippa?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," I said. She looked side to side and pulled me in by the wrist, then closed the door. I looked at her, wondering what was up. "Is everything okay?"

"Not exactly," she told me as we both sat on her bed. "You know Eva's boyfriend?"

"Xavier?" I asked and she nodded.

"Well you know how Eva got her phone taken away?"

"How could I forget?" The child had been complaining about it for days now.

"Well, he's kind of been texting me," she said, biting her lip.

"Like, flirting with you?" I asked and she nodded with a pained look on her face.

"Wow," I said, thinking this kid was a real asshole. "What do you think you should do?"

"That's why I'm asking you," she said.

"Well, I think you need to tell him to back off," I told her honestly. "And I think you should tell Eva what he's been doing."

"I don't wanna do that!"

"Which one?"

"Tell Eva," she said. "She'll kill me."

"It's not like it's your fault that he's texting you," I said. "But it is if you're encouraging him."

"Well," she looked away guiltily. "I kinda like him."

I breathed out. What was it about this dude?

"Did you like him before Eva started dating him?" I knew Lin didn't want the girls dating, but that's basically what they were doing. They didn't go out, but in middle school it was important who was with who.

"Yeah?"

"And you didn't speak up?"

"Well I knew Eva liked him," she said, biting her lip. Mia was the more hesitant of the two. If her sister spoke up first, Mia had a tendency to yield to her.

"Well, you've got a bit of a pickle, haven't you?" I acknowledged. "It won't be fun, but you need to either respect Eva's feelings and tell Xavier to back off, or you need to tell Eva about your feelings. Maybe she'll be okay with it."

"I doubt it," she said.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's up to you what you decide," I reminded her. "Let me know if you want to talk more."

I left Mia's room and wandered into my own. Lin was in bed reading. I quickly brushed my teeth and took off the day's makeup. I climbed into bed next to my man, curling up on my side. He kissed my head.

"How was dinner with the girls?" he asked.

"Wonderful," I smiled. "Just what I needed."

"Good," he said, closing his book. He laid down next to me and we kissed.

"Mia just stopped me in the hall," I told him. "Apparently she has a crush on this Xavier kid too. He's texting her."

Lin gaped. "What a two-timer! What do they see in this punk?"