It Never Took a Lot to Make This Hard

Daphne and Piper stood at the bottom of the half pipe, watching Shaun White take his first run of the night. Piper shut her eyes when he had finished, praying that the judges found something wrong with his run, though she knew they wouldn’t. He cleanly and expertly hit all of his tricks, and she knew it would show in his score. But, she just wanted there to be some hope left that Louie could beat him.

Since Louie had started competing competitively, he had never had much confidence in himself when it came to competing against Shaun. Shaun was the man to beat, and according to Louie, no one was ever going to beat him. Shaun was just too good.

Piper heard cheering all around her, and she slowly opened her eyes to see the judges had given him a near perfect score, only two points off of perfection. “Great,” Piper said sarcastically as she heard two female fans of Shaun’s squeal in her ear about how great Shaun was.

“Piper?” she suddenly heard someone behind her say, and she turned around to see Louie’s parents making their way over to them.

“Hi!” she exclaimed, meeting them halfway and enveloping them in a hug. She hadn’t seen them in nearly six months, since they had visited her after she had injured her knee. But, she would always consider them almost like family, as she was close to them when she was younger and lived in the same town as them.

“How are you doing?” Louie’s mother, Judy, asked. “You look fantastic, by the way,” she said, holding her at arm’s length.

“Thank you,” she smiled at her and her husband, Louie Sr. “Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed, seeing Daphne staring at her out of the corner of her eye. “Have you met my cousin yet?” she asked, not remembering a time that Daphne had ever met Louie’s parents. “Daph, come here,” she called her over, and Daphne made her way over to them. “These are Louie’s parents, Judy and Louie Sr. This is my cousin, Daphne,” she quickly introduced.

“Louie’s told us a lot about you,” Louie Sr. told her, and Piper could swear she could see Daphne blush just a bit, and she bumped her gently in the shoulder.

“All good things, of course,” Judy added.

“Thanks,” Daphne said nervously. “It’s nice to meet you two,” she told them.

“Ooh, come on!” Piper exclaimed, tugging on Daphne’s jacket when she saw that it was Louie’s turn to go. The four of them pushed their way to the front so they had the best view of seeing him.

“How do you think he’s going to do?” Daphne asked Piper, seeing Louie at the top of the pipe. “Is he going to let Shaun’s score get to him?” she asked, nervous for him.

“Yeah, I think he’s going to let it get to him,” Piper admitted. “Who knows, though? Maybe he’ll see you down here cheering him on, and he’ll make it a mission to beat Shaun for you,” Piper joked, shoving Daphne’s shoulder lightly with her own. Daphne’s eyes widened as she looked around Piper to see if Louie’s parents had heard Piper, but they continued to stare at the half pipe, oblivious to Piper and Daphne’s conversation.

Daphne playfully glared at Piper. “Stop it,” she told her. “I don’t like Louie that way,” she told her for what felt like the millionth time.

“Please,” Piper rolled her eyes, beginning to say something else before she saw Louie start down the pipe, and she instantly quieted down, focusing solely on him. Both she and Daphne held their breaths as they watched his run. “He just might do it,” Piper said quietly under her breath just as Louie tried to do a ten hundred eighty degree turn and came down wrong, causing him to fall to the bottom. “Spoke too soon,” she muttered watching as Louie stood back up and finished his run.

“And yet, he’s still got that smile of his on,” Daphne commented as he took his helmet off and waited for his score to be posted.

“He always does,” Piper replied. Louie made his way over to them, and Piper gave him a small smile. “You’ll get it next run,” she told him.

Louie nodded his head. “Yeah, I will,” he agreed, making his way over to his parents, giving his mother a hug.

They continued to watch the other men compete, some of them having pretty good runs and others falling. When it was Louie’s turn to go again, Piper laced her hands together, mentally praying that Louie wouldn’t fall.

“Piper, calm down,” Daphne laughed at her cousin. “You’d think you had bet money on him,” she told her jokingly.

“I’m the exact same way when you’re going,” Piper told her, and Daphne rolled her eyes as she turned her attention towards Louie. She watched as he did his run, not going for his huge trick, but still hitting everything perfectly. When he finished his run cleanly, Daphne and Piper screamed at the top of their lungs, along with his parents and his fans behind them.

Daphne looked over at Piper. “It wasn’t enough, was it?” she asked, knowing that Shaun’s run had more skilled tricks, and that even though Louie’s went off without a hitch, it just wasn’t enough to overcome Shaun’s score. Piper shook her head, but still waited for his score to be posted.

When a 45.33 flashed up on the screen, Louie raised his arm in the air for a little celebration, knowing he had just clenched the silver medal. He walked over to his parents, who offered him congratulations and told him how proud they were of him. He then was engulfed in a hug from Piper before moving on to Daphne. “Congratulations,” she smiled at him before hugging him herself.

“Thanks, Daph,” he told her with a smile of his own. “Let me go put my stuff away and then I’ll be back,” he told all of them.

“Piper, Daphne, would you like to join us for an early dinner?” Judy asked the two girls.

“I’m sorry, but I’m actually going to practice for a little bit,” Daphne told her. “Maybe some other time, though,” she smiled.

Judy looked at Piper, waiting on her answer. “Daph, do you want me to watch you practice?” she asked before answering Judy.

“Nah,” Daphne shook her head. “I’ll be fine on my own. Besides, maybe it’ll be less pressure if you’re not watching me,” she added jokingly.

“Fine, but I’ll come check on you later tonight,” Piper told her as Louie walked up to them, having put his snowboard away. “And, don’t wear yourself out too much,” she added. “I really do want to work on that 900 tomorrow.”

“Okay, Coach!” Daphne sarcastically saluted her, as Piper rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you later. It was nice meeting you two,” she added to Louie’s parents, who told her the same thing before they all walked off.

“So, why isn’t Daphne coming with us?” Louie asked as they made their way towards the hotel, where they were going to eat at the restaurant inside.

“Well, Louie,” Piper said, turning her head to look at him. “Your beloved Daphne wants to practice,” she told him, and both of his parents looked at him.

“Piper, when are you going to get a boyfriend?” Louie suddenly asked, and Piper tilted her head to one side, wondering where he was going with that question. “That way you can worry about your own love life and stay out of mine,” he said, and Piper couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Seriously, Louie, you’re fearless on the snow. But, when it comes to asking Daphne out, you’re like the shyest kid ever,” she told him. Louie turned around to look at his parents, who both quickly turned their heads, pretending that they weren’t listening to every single word of his conversation with Piper. Louie shook his head at them, turning back towards Piper.

“She doesn’t like me like that,” he told her. “So, I’m just going to keep it going as friends,” he explained.

“You’re missing out,” Piper said in a sing-song voice. “Daphne’s a great girl.”

“I know she is,” Louie said as they reached the hotel. “Now, can we please drop this conversation for lunch?” he asked.

“Sure,” she smiled at him before turning around towards his parents, asking them how their trip to Utah was.

***

Two hours full of memories and laughter later, Louie’s parents were saying goodbye. They had come down specifically to watch him compete, but they had to leave, unable to even stay the night. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad,” Louie said, hugging each of them goodbye.

“Bye,” Piper told them, having had a great time visiting them. With her own parents on a tour of the world, she enjoyed spending time with Louie’s parents, feeling as if they were practically her second family. “It was great seeing you again,” she told them.

“You, too, Piper,” Louie Sr. said with a final goodbye.

Piper looked over at Louie. “I love your parents,” she smiled at him. “And, I miss mine,” she added, her smile dropping, as she realized she hadn’t seen them since before she had injured her knee. They had left a month prior to the accident to make a world-wide tour, which was going to take about three years to complete. While they had called her during this time, she hadn’t actually seen them since they left.

“I know you do,” he said, putting his arm around her. “But, you can borrow my parents anytime,” he added with a laugh.

“Shut up,” Piper said, shoving his arm off of her shoulder. “So, what are you up to now?” she asked him.

“I’m thinking about going out to the pipe,” he replied. Piper looked at him with a knowing smile. “What?” he asked her.

“You want to go hang out with Daphne, don’t you?” she asked him.

“No,” he began.

“Yes!” Piper exclaimed. Louie rolled his eyes at her but didn’t protest anymore, knowing it would only make things worse. “Besides, I was going to go check on her anyways to see how she was doing, but if you’re headed out there, I won’t bother,” she told him. “Can you just text me to let me know she hasn’t fallen and broken anything yet?” she asked him.

“Sure thing,” he promised her. “I’ll text you when I get there,” he assured her, heading to go grab his snowboard before making his way back out towards the pipe.