So now we go from one of my favorite parts of this story to one of my least favorite. In fact, I completely despise this part of Justin and Piper’s history, but I can’t exactly leave anything out. This is a true story, not some fictitious cheesy romance novel.

Anyway, Piper’s vacation ended and she flew back for school that Saturday afternoon. We all saw her, Rae and Virginia off at the airport (Piper’s family had left the day before) with heavy hearts. Justin, though, was crestfallen.

Piper was his light and his laughter. She made him forget about the little mundane things that would normally bug him to no end and think instead of the great joy that life brought with each new day. With her gone, Justin seemed to deflate like an old birthday balloon.

As I said, I hate telling this part. But tell it I must, so prepare yourself for some anger and some tears. God knows Justin had a lot of that.

Four Days Later

After the party incident, Andrew was wise enough to leave Piper alone. He knew better than to raise the hackles back up on the man who had wounded his pride in the first place.

So Piper and Justin happily spent time with Rae, Virginia, JC, Genevieve, and Piper’s family. Justin had been nervous the first day after Piper’s party, not exactly knowing how her family would treat him after his violent streak the night before. But he needn’t have worried.

Piper’s family, and especially her younger brother Dylan, loved Justin. And if Justin took a moment to think about it, he realized that Piper’s family distinctly reminded him of his own; loving, caring, open, friendly and very non-judgmental.

So the time flew by and the day Justin had been dreading was finally here. Piper couldn’t delay any longer; she had to fly home in order to make it back for her classes. So with a heavy heart, Justin accompanied her, Rae and Virginia to the airport.

“You better keep in touch, you hear me?” Justin murmured against Piper’s hair as she, Rae, and Virginia prepared to board their flight home.

“As if I would keep you hanging,” she replied, hugging him close and not wanting to let go, “C’mon Justin, I’m not one of your bimbos.”

“Hey, I’m trying to be all sweet here and what do you do? Insult me. Geeze woman!” Justin exclaimed, pouting.

“You need a good insult every now and then since nothing else seems to control you,” Piper said, then grinned, “Except maybe if you fall off your surfboard in front of my entire family.”

“Shut-up,” Justin mumbled, cheeks flaming as he recalled the incident.

“Hey, that’s what you get for trying to be such a show-off,” she responded with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

Justin groaned. It had been about three days ago, the day after Piper’s disastrous party, that they had all gone down to the beach. Justin, being the kind of guy was, felt the need to impress everybody there, and especially Piper. He had failed miserably by wiping out in a small wave, one that Piper had conquered even though it was her first time surfing.

Everybody had had a good laugh at his expense, but Justin was mollified. His pride had been badly wounded and if JC hadn’t wiped out on the next wave, he probably wouldn’t have had the courage to go back out there.

“So you better call me the instant you hear anything about the scholarship, okay?” he demanded.

“Well duh,” she responded, grinning.

“Oh, and make sure you call me when you land. I want to know that you go home okay,” he added.

“Okay,” she agreed, grin widening.

“And you also let me know if you’ve got any problems with Andrew. I don’t have a problem flying across the country just to beat his ass for you,” Justin stated, grimacing, “You don’t need to take any of his crap so you better not think any different.”

By that time, Piper was laughing. His over-protectiveness, though somewhat annoying, was actually really sweet.

“That’s going to be one expensive phone bill,” she teased, poking him in the stomach. Justin rolled his eyes.

“It’s not funny,” he stated, quickly picking her up and spinning her around, “Now beg for mercy or I won’t put you down!”

“Okay, okay, I give up. You win. Now put me down before I throw up that wonderful lunch that Genevieve made,” Piper squealed, laughing as she clung to him for support, “Or worse, somebody recognizes you.”

Justin set Piper down so fast she was surprised she didn’t land on her butt. But Justin didn’t even seem to notice. He was too busy pulling his baseball cap lower and searching for any possible fans that would attack him. Piper laughed.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” he demanded, pulling her hair out of its holder.

“Justin! I can’t believe you messed with the hair,” Piper exclaimed, horrified as she tried to grab the ponytail holder out of his raised hand. She jumped as high as she could, but her 5’2 frame did nothing for the cause. She didn’t even come close to touching it.

“Now you’re starting to sound like me,” Justin stated.

“Yeah, well at least I don’t treat my hair like it’s a living, breathing thing,” Piper dryly replied, giving up trying to get the holder back by force, “Now will you give me that ponytail holder back?”

“Nope. Not till I get a big ole kiss on my sexy cheek,” Justin responded, grinning. Piper rolled her eyes as she stepped forward.

“This is going to do bad things for your ego,” she grumbled.

“Hey, did I say you could insult me?” Justin demand, suddenly raising the ponytail holder again.

“Justin,” Piper whined, sticking her lip out at him, “You’re not being nice.”

“I’m a boy. I’m supposed to pick on you,” he reasoned.

“Well somebody definitely didn’t graduate from the third grade,” Piper teased; Justin’s mouth dropped open in shock, “Now give that to me before you catch my cooties off of it.”

With a laugh and a shake of his head, Justin lowered his arm and reluctantly handed Piper the elastic band. It was so much fun to tease her, because it was almost certain that she’d tease him right back. It was one of the things he liked most about her.

“Hey, can I braid your hair?” Justin suddenly questioned. Piper gave him a weird look. “I’ve got female cousins who’ve been teaching me to braid hair almost as long as I’ve known how to play the guitar, so you have every reason to trust me.”

“Alright. If you insist,” Piper hesitantly agreed, wondering if she was being wise, “But don’t think you won’t be in trouble if you give me a fro to match yours.”

“This is not a fro,” Justin protested, smoothing his hand over his unruly curls, “I got rid of the fro a couple years ago.”

“You mean to tell me your hair was bigger than that at one point?” she demanded, pointing to his hair, “Geeze pop star, what were you thinking?”

“I blame my stylist,” he stated.

“You would,” Piper retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Shut up and turn around already, before I make you,” he threatened, restraining the grin that was threatening to grace his lips.

“Fine,” Piper huffed, “But be gentle, I have very sensitive scalp.”

“Yes your highness.” Piper socked him lightly in the stomach before turning around and submitting to his hands.

A few seats over, Virginia, Rae, Genevieve, and JC sat watching the pair. They exchanged knowing glances when Justin pretended to tangle Piper’s hair in knots.

“They’re adorable together,” Rae commented, finally voicing what they all had been thinking for awhile.

“I honestly think Justin has met his match,” Genevieve added, sinking back into the warmth of her boyfriend’s arms, “I just hope that he’s still this happy once Piper’s gone.”

“What’s wrong with Justin?” Rae questioned, confused.

“He and his ex had some major issues that didn’t exactly sit well with him. To be honest, Justin has been depressed for awhile now, but the second he and Piper became friends, the depression all but disappeared,” JC explained.

“Oh that’s right, the whole Cameron thing,” Virginia commented.

“Yeah. Those two have a nasty history,” Genevieve added, frowning, “And I always thought Cameron was a sweet girl.”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” JC ground out, not all that anxious to discuss this particular subject with a bunch of girls. Not when he didn’t even know all that had transpired between Justin and his ex.

“All I know is that Justin is good for Piper, especially where Andrew is concerned,” Virginia stated, sensing the topic needed to be changed, “I have never seen her open up to a guy this fast before.”

“Then again, Piper’s never met a guy like Justin,” Rae commented, looking over to watch Justin whisper something funny in Piper’s ear.

“All I’m saying is they better keep in touch,” JC said, rubbing his girlfriend’s back as he spoke, “I definitely don’t want Justin to slip back into depression again. It is definitely not a pretty thing to go through.”

“No doubt about that,” Rae agreed.

The subject was soon changed and the four of them left Justin and Piper alone to amuse themselves. Although with the two of them, it wasn’t hard.

“There, all set,” Justin announced as he finished putting the elastic band on the finished braid, “What do you think?”

“See as though I can’t exactly see the back of my head, I’ll have to trust your judgment,” Piper sarcastically responded.

“Aren’t you gonna feel it?” Justin whined, proud of himself.

“You want me to feel myself up?” Piper teased. Justin scowled, not finding the joke all that funny.

“Just touch your damn hair woman,” he said, “I did a good job.”

“Oh, so you want me to boost that ego of yours a little more, do ya?” Piper responded, grinning.

“Piper!” Justin cried, exasperated.

He quickly picked up one of Piper’s hands and ran it over her hair. She was surprised to feel how neat and tidy the French braid was. Wait, French braid? Justin knew how to french braid.

“It’s a French braid,” she said in wonder.

“I told you I learned a long time ago how to braid hair,” Justin proudly stated, grinning, “My female cousins saw to that very well.”

“I would say so,” Piper agreed, then frowned, “Now don’t let the fact that you can french braid a girl’s hair go to your head.”

“I don’t think I’ll be shouting that to the world anytime soon,” he quipped, “It’s not exactly something I share with every reporter and fan out there.”

“Aww, but they would all find it so cute,” she teased.

“Yeah, cute is the last thing I need to be labeled as. I’ve already got gay and faggot thank you very much,” he spouted.

“Seriously?” she questioned, surprised.

“Yeah, being smooth and having the voice of a god makes people jealous, so they have to stoop to childish name-calling,” he responded.

“Jerk. Too bad those names don’t do a thing to your ego.”

“Hey, I need this ego to survive,” he protested.

“Yeah, it’s the thing that keeps you going day in and day out, right?” she prompted, giggling at his shocked expression.

“You know what woman, has anybody ever told you that you need a good dose of soap in that naughty mouth of yours?” he demanded as he slouched into the seat next to the one she had taken.

“No, of course not. Now why on earth would you suggest that?” she asked, pretending to look shocked.

“Maybe cause that tongue of yours keeps wounding me right here,” he replied, pointing his hand to his heart.

“Aww, does the baby need a kiss?” she teased, leaning over to lay her head on his shoulder.

“Of course I do,” he stated, turning his chest toward her and knocking her head off his shoulder in the process.

“Justin, I’m not going to kiss your man boobs,” Piper protested, gaily laughing at his stricken expression.

“Attention all passengers, we are now boarding American Airlines flight 116 nonstop to Detroit Metro. Passengers in rows 18 and higher may now board,” the airline announcer suddenly stated over the loudspeaker.

Justin almost groaned aloud. That was Piper’s flight, which meant, in the next couple minutes, she’d be leaving him to go home. Home across almost the entire country.

“That’s us,” Virginia announced as she bounced up.

“No, we’re in row 15, so not yet,” Rae commented, rolling her eyes at her friend’s simple mistake.

“Shut-up, it’s not like me flying on a plane is a natural everyday occurrence,” Virginia said, sticking her tongue out at Rae.

“Now boarding American Airlines flight 116 nonstop to Detroit Metro rows fourteen and up,” came the announcement.

“Now that’s us,” Virginia stated in a huff, pretending to be mad.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Justin whispered in Piper’s ear as he pulled her in for a hug, “Who’s going to pick on me and make sure that my ego doesn’t get bigger than my head?”

“I’ll call you on the phone to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Piper assured him, not really in the mood to joke anymore, “Besides, as you said before, I’m just a plane ride away.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I want you to go,” he whined, not wanting to let go of her, “Now I won’t be able to just walk down the beach and find you lying on a towel getting a tan.”

“I’m going to miss riding the waves with you,” she said, a sad grin on her face, “Nobody can wipe out in a wave quite like you.”

“Oh hell no,” he agreed, the laughter dying the instant it passed my lips.

“Everything will work out fine, you’ll see,” she optimistically stated, pulling out of his embrace and trying not to let the tears show.

“Hey now, no crying. I just braided your hair and you look beautiful. Wouldn’t want to ruin it all by making your eyes all red and puffy,” he commented. She laughed.

“You’re right,” she agreed, then gave him one last hug before turning to say goodbye to JC and Genevieve.

“We’ll miss you girly,” Genevieve stated, hugging the younger woman with all her might, “Don’t you hesitate to call any of us if you need anything. And I mean anything.”

“Thanks Genny,” Piper whispered, her eyes welling up again.

“Don’t let any of the boys push you around,” JC added, specifically not mentioning any names, “Just like Justin, I’m a plane ride away.”

“Thanks Jace, I appreciate it,” Piper stated, giving him a hug.

Giving Justin one last fierce hug, Piper quickly walked towards the gate before she lost it entirely. She was strong. She wasn’t one who was prone to hysteric fits of crying. But for some reason, she felt like she was leaving part of her heart here.

“Piper Saunders!” Justin suddenly yelled. She quickly turned to look back over her shoulder at him. “This isn’t goodbye, you can count on that.”

“You bet I will,” she got out, her voice wobbly.

With a last wave, she followed Virginia and Rae down the tunnel, her emotions a jumble. She had never been this emotional about somebody before, so she couldn’t exactly understand why she was starting now.

Back in the waiting area, Justin had his face glued to the windows that overlooked Piper’s plane. He watched as it taxied down the runway and took off towards the east, taking the root of his laughter with it.

“Until we meet again,” he softly whispered as the plane flew out of sight.