Meet Virginia

"Dude, why did you make me eat all that food?" Piper groaned, patting her stomach softly.

Jean chuckled as he placed a few bills on the table, "because it's a buffet, bro, you're being a wuss, have a smoke and you'll be fine."

The duo held Saturdays in the highest regard as it was the only day of the week the two friends were able to see each other. It was spent getting stoned and going to China Bowl, an establishment that marked the middle ground for them to meet, though today had been a bit more special. She had moved most of her things into the spare room in his apartment, her mother had been excited about it, hoping that the two would eventually confirm her suspicions of them being a couple.

Piper sighed heavily as she dug through her purse for her cigarettes, "do you have my cigarettes?"

The Frenchman made a noise of confirmation, tossing the small green box. It connected with her cheek, making her hiss curses at him. The blonde tutted, "your mother wouldn't approve."

The auburnette huffed, "don't you have places to be or something?"

"Yeah, I've got work in an hour," Jean exhaled, drumming his fingers against the table, "what're you doing for the rest of the night?"

"I brought my camera with me, figured I'd go by The Spider- I'm staying with Mom tonight, so don't worry if I'm not there when you come home."

"Phil's picking me up after work, I probably won't be home until tomorrow afternoon- we can burn down then."

As they made their way to the curbside, Piper nodded in approval, "sounds like a plan dude, tell Phil I'm looking forward to watching the came with him."

"Ugh, you two and hockey, bro, if you end up with a nasty hangover you still have to go to school- I promised your mother you wouldn't miss any school."

"Dick."

"Your mom wishes."

"Dude, don't even get me started on her <i>'I-wouldn't-mind-to-be-a-grandparent'</i> speech she gave me- how does she not realize that you're gay?"

Jean gave an award winning smile, "she knows- I mean, you can't be this happy all the time and somebody not notice." Shoving her companion, Piper laughed. The duo said their goodbyes before heading in separate directions, Jean to his family's bar and Piper to a music venue.

Piper had opted to walk home, despite the buses still running, the city was far more beautiful in the dusky orange twilight- light pollution, in her opinion, was one of the most amazing things she had ever beheld, it made photography at midnight feasible. It was her city, Chicago, a city she loved more than any other place in the world. It supplied her with all that she needed through the viewfinder of her camera. It had seemed like a regular night, firetrucks and ambulances whizzing past, drunks staggering to catch cabs.

Though, tonight, something felt off. She had texted her mother, who was battling a particularly nasty bout of the flu- granted, she hadn't expected a text in return, but it had still mildly unsettled her. She was used to it though, the feeling of things being off; Her anxiety made everything feel sort of off-kilter.

It was three blocks from home when she first noticed the smoke. If her camera hadn't been around her neck, she would have dropped it onto the sidewalk. Piper ran her fingers through her hair, hissing curses as she was apt to do, and broke into a sprint. Building 19 was on fire. On the fourth floor of Building 19 (that was still on fire), was where her mother had been last.

There were flashing lights everywhere. Crowds of gawkers and news crews made it difficult to make her way towards the yellow tape that prevented people from going any further. Raising her camera, she took a few shots of her burning home. With how this fire raged, her mother was dead. Her mother, the woman who was a phoenix- eternally rising from all that weighed people down, was probably nothing more than ash. It all felt terribly surreal.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from taking pictures," a burly policeman stated coming up to her side.

She lowered the camera, "I think my mother is still in there- is there any way of knowing for sure?"

"Have you tried contacting your mother?" He frowned, probably at how the situation had suddenly turned. First a seventeen year old girl taking photographs of a burning apartment building to now her mother was dead- in said apartment building.

He spoke into his radio after collecting her and her mother's name, the building collapsed upon itself as Piper turned in horror and emptied her stomach onto the asphalt. The severity of the situation suddenly weighed upon her- the photographs, the moment of false security. Her mother was dead. The neighbor had confirmed it- they hadn't been able to get to her mother in time.

The teen was corralled into a patrol car and taken to the station, where she was met by a social worker.

"Lady, I'm going to be eighteen in a few months, like, I moved out yesterday morning- I've got a guardian," Piper argued, as the woman dressed in a crisp business suit informed her they were going to place her in a home.

"I'm sorry Virginia-"

"Don't call me that. Nobody gets to call me that."

There was a long silence, the young woman staring into the styrofoam cup of shitty coffee. She looked up when a man approached her, he looked tired and hastily put together, maybe a detective- she mused. Then, studying him closer, she realized she had seen him before, though, he had been younger then.

Hazy memories of her seventh birthday party became crisper, leading her to recognize him. He had stood awkwardly in the kitchen with her mother, his hand wrapped around a cup of coffee. She hadn't known him then, it had been the last time she had seen him. When Piper had questioned her mother upon the matter, she had been given a sad smile and a reluctant answer.

"Pip? Pippy, is that really you?" He proffered a small smile.

Tossing her cup of coffee onto the floor, she sneered, "you."

"So what's this I've heard about you having somewhere else to live?" He asked curiously.

"I have a roommate- Jean, he's a work right now, but I could have him pick me up if these people would let me go."

There was a long silence before the man awkwardly stated, "as your father, I don't find it appropriate for you to be living with your boyfriend while you're still in high school."

"He's gay."

"Oh, well, uh-"

"Just sign the papers to get me out of here and go back to your perfect life without me okay? I can take care of myself, I have been for years."

But of course, nothing ever goes the way you want it- and Piper was unceremoniously stuffed into her father's car and taken away from her life.