It Never Took a Lot to Make This Hard

Piper stood in the living room of her apartment, tapping her foot impatiently on the hardwood floor and staring at the clock on the wall, watching the seconds hand slowly make its way around the circle. She uncrossed her arms from in front of her chest, punching in Daphne’s number into her phone for the fifth time in the past half an hour. Daphne was supposed to meet her nearly forty minutes ago for practice, and Piper hadn’t even so much as heard from her since she had left her with Katrina the previous night at the ESPN party, having had enough of standing by herself in the corner of the room.

Daphne had promised Piper that she would still be on time for practice today, but that obviously was a lie, as Piper listened to it go to Daphne’s voicemail once again. She left her another message, though she knew it was pointless at this point, as she had already left four other ones just this morning.

Piper knew it was going to be a bad idea to leave Daphne last night, especially since she was spending time with Katrina. She couldn’t help but wonder if Katrina had done something to ensure that Daphne wouldn’t show up this morning. She wouldn’t put it past Katrina, who loved to do anything to irritate Piper, and she knew that one thing that Piper was adamant about was punctuality.

Letting out a frustrated breath, Piper looked at her phone, wishing Daphne would at least call her back to let her know she was alive and hadn’t gotten herself injured last night. Not knowing what else to do, she dialed a number she knew by heart. Moments later, she heard a tired Louie answer his phone. “Yeah?” he asked.

“Hey Louie, sorry to be bothering you right now,” Piper began, unsure whether Louie would still be asleep right now. It was almost eight in the morning, and she didn’t know if Louie was headed out to practice that early or not.

“Piper, what’s up?” he asked, and she could hear crunching on the other end, and she knew he was eating cereal at the moment.

“Daph wouldn’t happen to be at your place right now, would she?” Piper asked hopefully.

“No,” Louie said slowly. “Why would she be here? Didn’t she leave the party last night with you anyways?” he inquired.

“No, I left way before she did. And, last time I saw her she was still with Kat. I told her I was leaving, and she promised to be here at my place on time for practice this morning, and I still have yet to see her or hear from her,” Piper explained.

“Did you try calling her?”

“Of course!” Piper snapped at Louie, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous question. “That was the first thing I did!” she exclaimed.

“Hey, calm down!” Louie ordered. “Don’t take this out on me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Sorry,” Piper mumbled an apology.

“What time was she supposed to meet you?”

“Seven,” Piper told him. “And, it’s now nearly eight, and I’ve tried calling her like five times, and it just goes to her voicemail.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Louie said. “And, I know you’re not going to like hearing this, but if she was last seen with Kat, maybe you should try calling her,” he suggested.

“No,” Piper said instantly, and Louie couldn’t say that he was surprised to hear her refuse immediately. He knew all about her past with Katrina, and in all honesty, if he was in her position, he wouldn’t call her either, even if she was worried about Daphne.

“Then I’ve got nothing,” Louie said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Thanks,” Piper sighed. “Well, if you do see her, can you call me and at least let me know that she’s alright? I’ll be up at the pipe,” she told him, and Louie told her he would before she hung up with him. Even though she couldn’t ride herself, she still loved just going to the half pipe simply to watch other riders, especially ones who weren’t pro riders yet. That was one of the ways that she came up with new tricks for Daphne to try, by taking amateur riders’ freestyle nature and putting a spin on it to come up with something new. It was by far one of her favorite things to do, and a lot of times it helped her to calm down, which she greatly needed to do right now.

Piper pulled her bright pink snow jacket closer to her body, zipping up the front as she walked up the hill, trying to get to her normal spot where she watched the pipe from. When she reached the spot, she saw a familiar person already standing there, and she called out, “You just had to steal my spot, didn’t you?” Mason turned around from where he stood, his hands buried in his pockets, and Piper smiled at him. “Hmmm?” she continued, waiting to hear his response. “I show you one time where I always hang out, and then you go and steal it from me.”

“Sorry,” Mason apologized, trying to keep from laughing, knowing that Piper was only kidding. “But, I didn’t expect to see you up here right now. Didn’t you tell me last night that Daphne had practice this morning?” he asked, and Piper nodded her head. “So, you’re up here now why?”

“Because Daph didn’t show up this morning,” Piper told him bitterly.

“What?” Mason asked. That didn’t sound like Daphne, who was one of the hardest working people he knew. If she was missing a practice session, he knew something big must have been going on. “What happened?”

Piper shrugged her shoulders. “No idea. In fact, I don’t even know where she’s at right now. When I left last night, she was still hanging out with Kat, but she promised me that she’d be here for practice this morning. I waited at my place for about forty-five minutes before giving up and coming here by myself,” she explained.

“Just another person Kat is corrupting,” Mason muttered, and Piper nodded her head in agreement.

She looked over at Mason to see him staring off into space, and Piper took a deep breath before asking him the question that she had wanted to ask him for the longest time. “What did you ever see in her anyways?” Mason continued to stare out at the pipe, and Piper started to think that he wasn’t going to answer her.

“I don’t know,” he finally spoke.

“Come on, you had to have had some feelings for her at some point,” Piper continued. “What made you want to ever go out with her in the first place?” she asked. She never had understood how Mason could have ever had a relationship with Katrina, let alone have a serious enough one that lasted for several months. She had always believed that Katrina was using him all along, but she never was able to prove that, as Mason had broken up with her shortly after Piper’s accident and after hearing the things that Katrina had said to her.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mason said, and Piper turned her head to look at him, and for the first time in as long as she knew him, he wasn’t carrying that infectious smile that she was so used to seeing. Like Louie, Piper could always expect to see a smile on his face, and to see this stern expression he had on right now, she knew she shouldn’t press the issue any further.

“Okay,” Piper said, looking out at the pipe. She continued staring, seeing someone currently riding that she could have recognized from miles away. “Speaking of the bitch,” she muttered under her breath, and she heard Mason laugh from beside her.

“I’m kind of surprised to see her out here right now,” Mason said, his eyes focused on Katrina riding down the pipe. “I’m surprised she’s not hung over right now. I was sure she’d get wasted at the party last night.”

“Maybe that’s what happened to Daphne,” Piper shrugged her shoulders, still irritated that Daphne hadn’t even called her. “Kat probably convinced her to have a few drinks last night, and she’s probably passed out somewhere.”

“Or not,” Mason said, and Piper looked over at him curiously, wondering what he meant. “Isn’t that Daph?” he asked, pointing to the half pipe, where a new rider was currently going.

Piper turned her attention to where Mason was pointing, and she slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, it is,” she told him. “But, why didn’t she call me if she was here? Why is she riding by herself?” she wondered aloud.

“Maybe because she’s not riding by herself,” Mason responded as he watched Daphne finish her run and head over to Katrina, who was waiting at the bottom of the pipe. Katrina engulfed Daphne in a hug after watching her near-perfect run, and Mason turned to look at Piper, who looked as if she was about to kill someone. “Piper,” Mason began. Piper didn’t say anything but instead clenched her fists and began walking towards the pipe. “Piper!” Mason called out. “Piper, where are you going?” he asked.

“To get some answers,” Piper yelled back, obviously angry at Daphne and Katrina, as she quickly made her way down the hill, keeping her eyes on the two women who were celebrating and chatting at the bottom of the pipe.