All That Still Matters

"You gonna talk to me, man?" Mason asked Louie when he found him sitting by himself in the busy Olympic Village. "If you don't want to, I get it," he told him.

Louie looked up at him, taking his headphones out of his ears. "Answer me one question," Louie said, and Mason nodded his head, sitting down across from him. "This was the first time, wasn't it?"

Mason nodded his head. "Yeah," he replied.

"I guess Daph and I are really through," he mumbled to himself.

"Louie, I never came here to cause trouble for you, you know that, right?" Mason asked him. "You should be focusing on the games, and I know right now that's the furthest thing from your mind." Louie nodded his head, and Mason continued. "You've got to talk to Daphne. There's more to all of this than either you or I know. You guys need each other. It's a simple as that."

"What the hell are we doing being sappy right now?" Louie suddenly asked. "I know you didn’t come here to cause trouble, so why the hell are we talking about this right now? We're not the type to get all messed up over women. Come on, let's go find Scotty and cause some trouble," Louie smirked mischievously.

"Sounds perfect," Mason nodded along with him.

***

"We need to talk," Piper stormed into Daphne's room.

"Well, hello to you, too, Piper," Kelly smiled at her.

"Sorry," Piper apologized. "Where's Daph?"

"In there," Kelly said, pointing towards the bathroom. "I'll leave you two alone since it's obvious you've got a lot to talk about. See you later, Daph," she called out loud enough so Daphne could hear her in the bathroom. "Bye, Piper."

"Bye, Kel," Piper told her as Daphne opened the door to the bathroom, realizing there was no way to escape Piper.

"Do we really need to do this right now?" Daphne asked her, crossing her arms over her chest. "I need to focus on the competition. It's only a week away."

"Which is exactly why we need to talk," Piper responded. "What's going on, Daph? With you and Louie? With you and Mase? With you and me?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Daphne muttered.

"That's too bad!" Piper practically screamed at her. "Listen to me when I tell you nothing happened between me and Louie, nor will anything ever happen between us. He's my best friend, practically my brother. But, I am not romantically interested in him at all. You know he loves you and only you. So, what gives with Mase?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Daphne repeated.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this one way or another. And, Mason refuses to talk about it with me. So, you're going to have to tell me. Daph, please, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in that head of yours. Why, all of a sudden, were you so invested in my relationship with Mason, so much so that you and Louie got into a fight? And, why the hell did you kiss Mase?" she asked, desperate for answers.

"I kissed Mase for revenge," Daphne rolled her eyes, realizing just how stupid that sounded now, but at the moment it seemed like a good idea. "After I saw you and Louie, I ran into Kat," she began explaining.

"Please tell me you didn't tell Kat about what you thought happened between me and Louie," Piper begged.

"I did," Daphne admitted. "And, she told me that I needed to get revenge on you two. So, when I saw you approaching us at the top, I decided that was my chance, and I kissed Mase. He didn't do anything. He was pretty much an innocent bystander."

"I'm sure he wasn't complaining," Piper said with a laugh. "Okay, so that explains the shit with Mase. You don’t have any feelings for him, do you?" she suddenly asked.

"No!" Daphne exclaimed. "He was just there," she said.

"Okay, so now tell me why you were so invested in our relationship. Why did you and Louie get into a fight about it?"

"He thinks I worry about it too much," Daphne shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, Daph, I have to agree with him. I don’t get why it matters if he and I are together or not."

"Because, Piper, you two were the ones that were going to prove to me that love exists and it can last. If you and Mase can't stay together, then what makes me think Louie and I stand a chance?" Daphne asked.

"I don’t understand," Piper admitted, shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it," Daphne mumbled.

"No, explain it to me. Mason and I are just one couple in the entire universe. So, we didn't work out. What makes you think that you and Louie won't?" she asked.

"Piper, I've never seen love last. My parents didn't last. You and Mase were so much in love, it was disgusting sometimes. But, it made me think that maybe love does exist. And, then you two just fell apart without really a reason, or at least one that either of you will tell me about. If you guys don't stand a chance, then Louie and I don't either," she explained.

"Mason and I are not you and Louie. Louie loves you. You love him," Piper began.

"So, you're telling me you and Mason didn't love each other?"

"No," Piper sighed. "I'm just saying you and Louie are different than we were."

"What happened?" Daphne asked. "Between you and Mase? Why did you break up? Why couldn't your love survive?"

"Daph," Piper sighed.

"Piper, come on! Just tell me! Was it that bad? Did he do something unforgiveable? Did you?"

"No!" Piper exclaimed. She tried to figure out a way to not have to talk about this, but she knew Daphne wasn't going to let this go, and she did deserve an explanation after all this time. "I…He…When Mase first injured his shoulder," she began. "I wanted to be there for him, you know? I tried to go to rehab with him and help him through. I mean, I knew what he was going through after my accident and my knee! But, he kept pushing me away. The more I tried, the more he pushed me away. He started hanging out with the crew more and started closing himself off to me. It finally came to a head, and we had a big fight over it. He told me I was suffocating him, trying to control every aspect of his life, and I told him that he didn't really love me, that he cared more about his friends than me. Some other things were said, but that was the gist of it, and we broke up."

"Piper, I don’t even know what to say," Daphne admitted. She had thought of so many reasons the two of them had broken up, but none of them was anything like what had really happened.

"So, now you know."

"Do you still love him?"

"What?"

"Do you still love him?" Daphne repeated.

Piper was quiet for a minute, and Daphne thought she wasn't going to answer her. But, then she said barely above a whisper, "Yeah, I do."

"So, why don't you try to work things out?"

"Because, Daph, we don't belong together. As much as I'd love it if we did, we just don't. Like he told me, I suffocate him, and he pushes me away. That's not a healthy relationship. And, as much as I'd like it to change, it's just not going to," she sighed.

Daphne let out a sigh. "What about this new guy that you're with? How do you feel about him?" she asked.

"No one's ever going to measure up to Mason, but I don't know. We're not official or anything. Hell, we haven't even gone out on a real date," Piper said with a laugh. "But, who knows where things will lead?"

"I'll stop," Daphne told her. "If you want me to."

"What?" Piper asked, confused.

"I'll stop badgering you about you and Mason if you want, even though I still think you two belong together. I'm not going to stop thinking that, but I will tone down the constant badgering."

"Thank you," Piper smiled. "And, I wouldn't expect you to stop believing in Mase and I. And, I don’t think I'd want you to. If you stop believing, then we're truly over and nothing's ever going to get us back together again," she told her, just as her cell phone rang. She glanced down at it, furrowing her eyebrows when she read the name flashing across the screen. "Mase?" she asked in confusion.

"Hey, Piper, sorry to bother you, but I kind of need your help," he told her.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"You need to get to the Olympic Village now. Louie's in trouble."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Piper said. "I'll call you when I get there so you can tell me where you're at," she added, hanging up the phone. "Come on," she said, grabbing Daphne by the wrist. "We've got to go. Louie's in trouble."