It Never Took a Lot to Make This Hard

“Wow, Daph, a dress?” Piper said when she saw Daphne come out of her bedroom wearing a dark blue dress, something that she never would have expected to see. Daphne hardly ever dressed up, and to see her in an actual dress was a rarity.

“Too much?” Daphne asked. “I mean, it’s a party. I thought I should dress up,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror, trying to decide whether she should keep her hair up or down for the evening. She wasn’t sure why she was so concerned about her looks. All she knew was that she wanted to make a good impression on everyone tonight, wanted to make her name known.

“You look fine,” Piper assured her. “I’m just surprised to see you in a dress. I was always the one that liked to get all dressed up. You were always the one that made fun of me,” she reminded her.

“Well, maybe I want to be someone new for a change,” Daphne replied, and Piper gave her a sideways glance, wondering what she meant by that statement. “You about ready?” Daphne asked, making sure her hair was perfect before spinning around to look at Piper, who was wearing a light pink dress with a pair of flats, already being five foot eight inches.

“Yeah,” Piper nodded her head. “Is Louie coming tonight?” she asked, figuring that he would be. He’d been going to this party for the past few years, ever since he started competing in the X Games, and now that Daphne was sort of the guest of honor, she knew he’d be there.

“Yep,” Daphne nodded. “He’s going to meet us there. Now, let’s go,” she said, adding a layer of lipstick onto her lips before walking out the door. Piper followed her, having a sick feeling in her stomach that things weren’t going to go as planned tonight. She ignored it, though, as she made her way to her car and drove to the party.

As soon as they started walking towards the building where the party was being held, Piper was blinded by all the flashing lights of the cameras, and she instinctively pulled the bottom of her dress down even further, making sure it went well past her knee, which still was heavily scarred from her surgery to repair it. Piper wasn’t normally a vain person who cared about her looks, but when it came to her knee, she didn’t want anyone to see it, especially photographers who were taking photos that could potentially end up all over the world.

Piper tried to hurry past all the cameras, and as soon as she got inside the building, she turned around to make sure that Daphne was behind her, but she found that she was still outside in front of the cameras, standing next to Katrina Lehti, one of the very few people in the world that Piper couldn’t stand. Katrina was a Finnish snowboarder who believed she was better than everyone else, and she was the only person that had told Piper that she was actually happy that she had injured herself, as she never had to compete against her again.

Piper thought about going back out into the cameras to try to save Daphne, but before she could go, she heard her name being called. She turned her head to see Louie standing there. “Hey,” she smiled at him.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where Daphne is, would you?” he asked her, and Piper’s smile instantly turned into a look of disgust. “What?” he asked cautiously, having no idea what could change her mood so quickly.

“She’s outside,” Piper said vaguely, and Louie stared at her.

“And, the problem with her being out there is?” he asked as Daphne walked through the door, linking her arms with Katrina. “Wait a second,” Louie said when his eyes laid upon Daphne. “That’s not Katrina, is it?” he asked, and Piper nodded her head, watching the two of them, trying to figure out how on earth Daphne could stand to be near her for more than five seconds without wanting to rip her head off.

“Yeah, it is,” Piper said.

“But, what is Daph doing hanging out with her?” Louie asked as Daphne and Katrina made their way over to them.

“Hey,” Daphne smiled, giving Louie a quick kiss as Katrina glared at Piper, who was biting the inside of her cheek in order to keep from saying something she’d regret later.

“Piper!” Katrina exclaimed in a fake voice. “I didn’t know you’re still around. I figured after you were told that you couldn’t even touch a snowboard anymore that you’d go on back home. You know, live in self-pity all alone.”

“I am home,” Piper said through gritted teeth, trying to figure out how to strangle Katrina without going to jail. She had always been able to tear Piper down with just a few words, and it appeared that tonight wasn’t going to be any different.

“I meant back to that unknown place. Where are you from again? Wyoming? Oklahoma?” Katrina asked.

Louie looked over at Daphne to see her laughing at Katrina’s joke, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why. He then looked over at Piper to see her about ready to explode. “Ohio,” he answered for her.

“Oh, that’s right!” Katrina exclaimed. “You lived there, too, didn’t you?” she asked Louie, who nodded his head. “You two grew up together. You know, you would be so cute if you two got together!” she told them excitedly, and Piper looked over at Louie, making a face at him that told him she would never even consider going out with him. They were too much like brother-sister, and nothing was ever going to change that.

“Actually, Louie’s already taken,” Piper said, slapping him on his back, while she looked over at Daphne, wondering if she was going to say anything. “Or did you just miss him and Daph kissing when you two walked up?” she asked. Katrina didn’t say anything, and Piper smiled in satisfaction that she had successfully shut her up.

“Hey, Daphne, why don’t you come over here with me, and I can introduce you to a couple of big names in snowboarding who I’m sure you haven’t been introduced to before,” Katrina suggested, looking over at Piper to let her know she was taking a direct swipe at her.

“Ummm,” Daphne trailed off, looking over at Louie and Piper, as if to get their permission first. Louie nodded his head, letting her know he was fine with it. He had plenty of friends here, and he wasn’t going to be upset if he wasn’t with Daphne the whole time. She then looked at Piper, who shrugged her shoulders. A smile lit up on Daphne’s face. “Okay!” she said excitedly, and Katrina once again linked her arms with Daphne’s and dragged her off.

“Okay then,” Piper began, staring in disbelief that Daphne had just ditched them for Katrina. She heard someone calling out Louie’s name, and he quickly told her he’d see her later, as he walked off into the crowd with one of his old friends. “Great!” Piper said sarcastically, once again pulling the bottom of her dress down further on her leg.

“What are you doing over here all alone?” she heard a voice say from behind her, and she turned around to see Shaun standing there, his hands linked with a girl next to him.

“Well, Daph ditched me for Kat,” Piper told him, disgust obvious in her voice.

“Kat? Wait, Katrina?” he asked, and Piper nodded her head. “Katrina Lehti?”

“Yeah,” Piper sighed before looking at the girl attached to Shaun’s side. “Who’s this?” she asked, trying to get the conversation away from Katrina.

“Joanna, my girlfriend,” Shaun answered. “Joanna, this is Piper,” he quickly introduced.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Joanna said with a big smile.

“You, too,” Piper told her as Shaun grabbed Joanna’s arm and began pulling on it.

“Come on, I want you to meet Kat,” he told her excitedly, pulling her in the opposite direction.

“Sorry,” Joanna apologized, and Piper gave her a small smile as she watched the crowd around Katrina and Daphne grow even larger. She shouldn’t have been too surprised that Shaun had gone off to be with Katrina. He and her had been friends for a while, and he and Katrina were much better friends than he and Piper had ever been.

“What are you doing over here all alone?” Piper heard the question for the second time that night. This time she turned to see Mason standing there.

“It appears everyone seems to have somebody better to hang out with here,” she told him with a smile. She wasn’t looking for sympathy, but instead was just stating the facts. “What about you? What’s a guy like you doing here all alone? Shouldn’t you be having a flock of girls around you right now?” she asked jokingly.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” he smiled at her. “What’s that crowd over there for?” he asked, pointing behind Piper.

“That would be Katrina Lehti and her posse, which now includes Daphne,” she spoke. She saw Mason’s eyes widen with the last part of her statement, and she couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Yeah, you wouldn’t think Daph would ditch me for her, but it looks like tonight they’re going to be best friends or something.”

“As long as Kat doesn’t rub off on her, we’ll be good, won’t we?” he asked her, knowing exactly how manipulative and deceitful Katrina could be.

“That’s what I’m worried about, that Kat will rub off on Daphne,” Piper mumbled, looking over at Katrina and Daphne who were caught up in laughter.