It Never Took a Lot to Make This Hard

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Piper demanded, not wasting any time in letting Daphne know how furious she was at her. “Louie’s in the hospital, and you can’t find enough time in your busy schedule to come see him? I get that you’re not dating any longer, but to just not even come visit him? Who the hell are you, Daphne?” she questioned.

“What do you mean Louie’s in the hospital?” Daphne asked, and she could hear Katrina in the background, causing Piper to roll her eyes. “I haven’t heard anything about him. Piper, I’m not in Salt Lake City right now.”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about. I was in fucking New York, and I still knew. Don’t tell me you didn’t know. Daphne, you have turned into such a bitch. You’re not the person that I grew up with. You’re not the person I coached and trained. You’re not my little cousin anymore. You’re someone that I don’t even know, and I don’t think I want to know you anymore,” Piper finished, hanging up her phone, not wanting to hear what Daphne had to say to that.

Piper walked back into Louie’s room, and he stared up at her. “Let me guess, the call didn’t go so well?” he asked her with a smile, knowing all along that nothing was going to happen from her calling Daphne.

“She’s changed,” Piper said simply. “And, I don’t know what to do to get the old Daphne back.”

***

A week later, Louie was finally about to be released from the hospital, something he was extremely grateful for. He had been in there far too long in his opinion, and he couldn’t be happier to get out of there.

Piper had practically become a staple in his room, always there whenever visitors were allowed, and Mason always seemed to be there with her. Louie knew something had happened between them in New York, not that Piper would fess up about anything. “So, where’s Mason?” Louie prodded Piper once again that morning, a little surprised to see Mason wasn’t there with her.

“What, you can’t be happy to have just me here?” she asked him with a laugh.

“I’m just surprised he’s not here right now. You two kind of seem inseparable at this point. What’s going on with you two?” he asked her for what felt like the millionth time since she had come back, still not expecting to get an answer from her.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders. “He was there for me in New York,” she said, giving him more information than she had previously.

“So, are you two dating or what?”

“I don’t know,” she said, trying to keep the smile off of her face.

“So, you are,” Louie smirked. “Looks like I might not be as bad of a matchmaker as you suspected!” he said, recalling when he had jokingly said she should hook up with Mason.

“I don’t believe you had anything to do with me and Mason getting together in New York,” Piper reminded him.

“Are you happy?” Louie asked seriously.

“Yeah, I am,” Piper nodded her head. “Well, with that part of my life. With Daphne, not so much.”

“You still haven’t talked to her?” Louie asked, and she shook her head. “Piper, didn’t she have a competition? You didn’t call and ask her how she did?”

“She didn’t do well,” Piper stated.

“You talked to her?”

“No, I saw the results online. Her rides were actually up online, too. She didn’t do well at all. She fell on her first two runs, and her third one just wasn’t up to her normal caliber,” Piper shrugged her shoulders. “It’s like her head wasn’t into it or something.”

“Wonder what Katrina had to say after that competition,” Louie laughed.

“She wasn’t happy,” they heard a voice say, and both turned their heads to look at the doorway to see Daphne standing there. Both just stared at her, shocked that she was back in Salt Lake City and in Louie’s room.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Piper questioned.

“I came to apologize,” Daphne said, and Piper just looked at her, not believing a word that she was saying. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.”

“Katrina stopped being your best friend when you lost, didn’t she?” Piper asked, and Daphne nodded her head, looking down at the floor. “That’s the only reason you’re here right now. Because you lost your supposed best friend, just like I told you you would. Guess what, Daph, we’re not going to give you any sympathy, not after the way you acted with us!”

“Piper,” Louie said, trying to calm her down.

“No, Louie, we both know that she completely changed for Kat!” Piper yelled, not able to understand why Louie was being so calm at the moment.

“I know I did,” Daphne spoke up, causing both Louie and Piper to look in her direction. “And, on my flight back, I realized just how stupid I’ve been. Piper, I never should have told you that I didn’t need you. Obviously I need you! Look at how terrible I did this past weekend.”

“So, you never would have done anything if you had done well?” Piper asked, refusing to let her off that easily.

“Piper, I was stupid. I get that now. And, I can’t change what I did in the past. But, I do want to try to make things right again. I’m sorry! Can things please just go back to how they were? Can you please just be my coach again? Or at the very least my cousin and friend again?” Daphne was practically begging at this point.

“You’re going to have a lot of work to do again if I’m going to be your coach. And, you’re going to have to listen to everything that I say. You can’t ditch out on practices any longer.”

Daphne couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “I won’t, I promise. And, as far as being my cousin and friend again?” she asked hopefully.

“I’ve missed you,” Piper replied, pulling her into a hug. “I really have.”

“Me, too,” Daphne smiled at her before looking over at Louie. “And, I owe you an apology just as big. You were right. I completely changed when I started hanging out with Kat. And, I’m sorry.”

“You’re forgiven,” Louie smiled at her.

“So, do you think we could start over again? Maybe go out on a date when you get out of here?” she asked him, biting her lip, nervous for his answer. She knew that she had hurt him in a bunch of ways, and she wasn’t sure he was going to want to go out with her again.

“I’d like that,” Louie told her.

“Thank God everything’s back to normal,” Daphne smiled just as Mason came into the room and walked over towards Piper, handing her a bag of food, which she squealed about before kissing him. “Except for that!” Daphne said, pointing towards the two of them. “When the hell did this happen?” she asked Louie.

“Sometime when they were in New York,” Louie shrugged, looking up at them.

“Wait, they were in New York? Together?” Daphne asked, trying to get caught up on all she had missed.

Piper looked up at Daphne. “Well, it was more like I was there, and Mason stalked me there and refused to leave without me,” she laughed.

“Awww,” Daphne said, smiling at the two of them. “I’m happy for the two of you.”

“I’m just happy to have the real Daphne back,” Piper replied.