Almost forgot all about Rae. Wow, she would kill me if I forgot to mention her in all of this. After all, she did play a pretty key role in helping Justin and Piper find each other.
Anyway, so things were actually looking up for Piper. She had a new friend that she absolutely adored (seriously, there’s not a soul who can hate Rae Daniels), an asshole boyfriend out of the picture, and a brand new opportunity to pursue her dreams.
As for Justin, well, things were still difficult. The depression was nowhere near gone, so he continued to walk around like there was a black cloud over his head. Unfortunately, there was nothing any of us could do about it, so as much as I hate to say it, we avoided him as much as possible. Trace was such a brave soul, facing Justin’s wrath multiple times a week when the rest of us chickened out.
But enough about that. I’m actually getting to a good part here. After all, it’s March of 2004, a very important month in this story. A month that, I guarantee you, Justin and Piper will never forget.
March 3, 2005 – California
“Justin, man, you need a vacation,” his best friend Trace commented, throwing a pillow at the taller man lounging on the couch. He had been watching TV for the better part of three hours.
“Fuck off Trace, I’m fine,” Justin growled, flipping through the channels as he became bored with the reality show he’d been watching.
“‘I’m fine’,” Trace mimicked, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, you’re about as fine as a two year old being spanked for writing on the wall with crayons.”
“Lay off,” Justin warned, thoroughly annoyed.
Trace was becoming more of a pest as the days passed and spring loomed on the horizon. Justin felt there was never a day where he was safe from Trace’s sarcastic tongue, so much so, that it was getting to the point that he wanted to scream and throw a tantrum like a little kid.
“Get off your lazy ass and give me a reason why I shouldn’t call your mother up and tell her that her cherished son is being a bastard,” Trace challenged.
“Shut the fuck up Trace!” Justin roared, leaping off the coach and in his friend’s direction, “You leave my damn mother out of this, I can handle my own fucking problems thank you very much Mr. Psychologist.”
“I’m just trying to help,” Trace commented, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Ugh, I know, damn it,” Justin replied, running a hand over his face as he calmed down, “Look, I’ll take a goddamn vacation to my house down the coast for a few weeks, will that make you happy?”
“Damn straight it will,” Trace agreed, grinning, “Now how about a game of one on one? I’ll even let you win this time.”
“Fucker,” Justin commented, rolling his eyes as he tackled his friend to the ground.
March 3, 2005 – Michigan
“Oh my god, I can’t believe we leave tomorrow!” Rae commented, bouncing on Piper’s futon in excitement, “You’re gonna love it out there.”
“I’m sure I will, now get off my couch before you knock all my clothes down,” Piper teased, giving Rae a friendly shove.
“You should have packed last weekend when I did. Then you wouldn’t have to be doing it at the last minute,” Rae whined. Piper rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I haven’t even packed yet,” Virginia suddenly commented, jumping into the conversation.
“Yeah, well you’re a loser,” Rae commented, sticking her tongue out at Virginia, who promptly returned the favor, “You’re gonna be left behind cause this plane ain’t waitin’ for nobody.”
“I’ll be ready with all four of my suitcases, just you wait and see,” Virginia threatened, making Rae wince.
“Four suitcases my ass,” Piper spoke up, “We’re gonna have to get you your own freakin plane if you take that much stuff for a week-long vacation.”
“Hey, you never know what could happen in a week,” Virginia protested, slouching in her chair, “I could meet some great guy…”
“And what, have to change eight times in one day?” Piper demanded, raising an eyebrow at her roommate.
“Shit happens,” Virginia replied, shrugging her shoulders. The three girls promptly burst into a fit of giggles at the absurdity of the idea.
It had been the very next day after first meeting Rae, that Piper had introduced her to Virginia. The two girls had hit it off instantly and Virginia had quickly been added to the Andrew Harwood-hating list, despite the fact that she was his sister.
From then on, the three of them had been inseparable. They hung out together, studied together, went to football games together, and were known by their other friends as the three musketeers. Piper didn’t think she could be happier.
Then Rae invited Virginia to come on vacation with them, making the trip even more exciting because Virginia had never been west either. It was an adventure waiting to happen for the three of them.
“Hey Piper, you know Andrew’s been asking about you nonstop,” Virginia suddenly commented; the room went deathly silent.
“Tell him to go fuck a tree,” Piper spat, frowning at the mention of her ex.
“Fuck a tree?” Rae questioned, giggling, “Now that’s a disgusting visual waiting to happen.”
“Hey, I’m trying here,” Piper stated, rolling her eyes, “I’m not a stand-up comedian yet, but I’m working on it.”
“You’ll be at it for awhile,” Virginia teased, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that Piper hadn’t freaked out at the mention of Andrew.
Truth be told, Virginia still loved her brother, but that didn’t mean she liked him. In fact, she was downright pissed at his player manner, disgusted at how he had treated her best friend. But she couldn’t get him to leave her alone; she was his sister after all and she couldn’t change that fact.
Andrew had been bugging her all week to let him talk to Piper. Virginia refused. She had downright yelled at her brother, calling him every name in the book, before hanging up on him. He had called her back and she hadn’t been able to get off the hook without promising to mention his name to Piper. And Virginia wasn’t one to go back on a promise.
So she kept it, thankful that Piper hadn’t had a cow. Now they could all go on their vacation in peace, no Andrew Harwood within a thousand miles of them. Virginia couldn’t wait for the plane ride the next morning.
“Man, I’m starving,” Rae suddenly commented, “Let’s go eat.”
“Hold your horses chow hound, let me finish packing everything up,” Piper stated, rolling her eyes, “Geeze, when are you not hungry?”
“Try never,” Rae replied.
“Damn, I wish I could eat as much as you do and not gain a pound,” Virginia whined, glancing down at her curvy figure, “You’re so freakin’ skinny and yet you eat more than me and Piper combined.”
“What can I say, it’s in my wonderful genes,” Rae gloated. Virginia chucked a pillow in the taller woman’s direction, hitting her squarely in the face.
“Hold up, before you two get in another pillow fight and I have to replace some pillows yet again, let’s get some food,” Piper announced as she zipped her bag shut.
“Yay, food!” Rae shouted, bouncing up and down, a relentless fountain of energy.
“Damn, we gotta get that girl a leash,” Virginia mumbled as she followed the two girls out of the room and locked the door.
“I heard that!” Rae called, skipping down the corridor.
“You were supposed to,” Virginia shot back. Piper just sighed as she rolled her eyes at her two closest friends.
The three of them were in the cafeteria in no time and were soon engaged in excited conversation about their upcoming trip. Never mind the fact that they still had a few more classes the rest of the day, along with an exam or two, the trip was the main topic of conversation.
“Do we get to see the ocean?” Piper excitedly questioned, spearing a green bean with her fork, “I hear it’s really different than the Atlantic Coast.”
“Oh hell yeah, my aunt lives like ten minutes from the coast, so we’ll be there a lot. Actually, it’s one of my favorite places to photograph,” Rae explained, sipping her milk.
“Hey, no photography talk at the dinner table, I get lost easily,” Virginia commented.
“You would,” Piper teased.
“Hey, it’s not like you know all that much about the human body. I bet I could name the body systems faster than you can,” Virginia challenged.
“I sure bet you could. Do I give a damn? No,” Piper replied, grinning.
“Well, you’re no fun,” Virginia huffed, pretending to be offended.
“Uh oh, here comes trouble,” Rae suddenly stated, her voice barely above a whisper.
Piper glanced up and locked gazes with none other than Andrew Harwood, headed straight for them. She wanted to die right then and there, wanted to floor to open and swallow her whole, but she knew that was impossible.
What the fuck could he possibly want now? Hadn’t he already humiliated her enough for one lifetime? Whatever it was, she could take it. She had her pride, and there was no way she was letting Andrew step on it one last time.
“Hey sis, Rae. Hi Piper,” Andrew greeted, setting his tray down at their table, “How’s it going?”
“Shitty since you just contaminated the table,” Piper spat, glaring daggers at him. He seemed surprised at her suddenly sharp wit.
“Well that was uncalled for,” he commented, nonchalantly taking a bite of his hamburger, “Is that how you treat all old friends?”
“One, you are no longer my friend,” Piper hissed, trying to keep her voice down so as not to attract attention, “And two, that was totally called for you cheating, lying, conniving, manipulative son of a bitch. Fucking rot in hell for all I care.”
Piper stood up and disposed of her tray, telling herself not to run from the room. Calmly, she walked back to the table, looking at her two friends and pointedly ignoring the still speechless Andrew.
“I’m going back to grab my bag, then I’ve got class till around three, so I’ll see you guys later,” she announced, then walked away.
“Piper, hey, wait up,” Virginia called, quickly throwing her tray on the rack and running to catch up to her friend. Rae was right behind her.
“I’m sorry,” Piper said, her steel façade disappearing the moment the cafeteria doors closed behind them, “I didn’t mean to be such a bitch…”
“Honey, he deserved it. He may be my brother, but that doesn’t mean he’s not an asshole,” Virginia soothed, putting an arm around Piper’s shoulders.
“Come on Piper, that was awesome what you said to him. He totally had it coming and didn’t even see it; it was brilliant,” Rae added, keeping stride with the two.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t make me a better person,” Piper moaned, running a hand through her hair, “I shouldn’t have said something so mean, but I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Piper, don’t you fucking think bad of yourself just because you told that asshole brother of mine off for breaking your heart,” Virginia snapped, eyes flashing, “He deserved every last word of it and more.”
“Alright,” Piper agreed, flopping down on the futon once they got back to the room.
“Damn, what a sucky lunch we had,” Rae commented, rocking back and forth in Piper’s desk chair, “Ah well, tomorrow we’ll be over a thousand miles away where there are plenty of hot guys and no Andrew Harwood.”
“I can’t wait,” Piper groaned, rolling onto her back, “I don’t think I could take one more day of this awful weather and even more awful situation with Andrew.”
“Well, we’ve got twenty-one hours and counting,” Virginia added, glancing at her watch and grinning, “Then we can go get in jiggy wit it!”
Piper and Rae glanced at each other and immediately burst into a fit of giggles. Virginia stood there glaring at them, not thinking it was funny in the least bit.
“Oh, that was priceless,” Rae howled, holding the stitch in her side.
“Damn V, I haven’t heard that particular phrase in over five years,” Piper added, wiping a tear from her eye, “Good god, we were still in middle school then.”
“Ah, shut-up, nobody said I was hip,” Virginia defended, crossing her arms as she pouted.
“Yeah, hick is more like it,” Rae commented, causing Piper to erupt in another fit of laughter that lasted even longer than the first.
“I hate you guys,” Virginia said, rolling her eyes at the two women, “I’m always the one you pick on.”
“That’s cause it’s so easy to do,” Piper explained, sitting up and quickly piling books into her backpack as she got a glance at the time.
“Seriously, there are so many times you’re just asking for it,” Rae added.
“Yeah well, just shut-up!” Virginia cried for lack of a better comeback.
“Alright, well I’m off to my WRA class, so wish me luck with my exam,” Piper announced as she shrugged into her coat and settled her bag over her shoulders.
“You don’t need luck,” Rae stated, rolling her eyes, “I’ve never met a better writer than you.”
“Whatever, you’re so biased because your favorite thing to read is Cosmo,” Piper shot back, grinning.
“Just get the hell out of here now, while you still have the chance,” Virginia commented, ushering her friend towards the door.
“Yeah, you’re right, if I don’t leave now, I may be tempted to start another pillow fight,” Piper agreed, grinning.
“And we all know how that would end up,” Rae stated.
“A disaster!” the three chorused, giggling at their own predictability.
“Okay, well I’ll see you guys in a couple hours,” Piper said, walking out the door.
She rolled her eyes at her friends’ eccentric behaviors, glad that she was a part of it. If she was honest with herself, she wouldn’t want it any other way.
Sighing, she made her way out of the building, trudging through some slushy snow to get to the bus stop. In a few more hours, she’d be across the country in sunny California, away from Andrew Harwood and all the heartache that still came with him.
