Piper June.

Piper and Jude shared a sigh as they pushed the empty carton of pizza away from them. Jude propped her legs up on the coffee table, groaning a little. Since Quinn decided that partying with his best friend instead of hanging out with his girlfriend was a good idea, the girls could have their sleepover that weekend like they usually did.

“I’m having a food baby,” she snickered, patting her belly tiredly. Piper closed her eyes and shook her head, sated.

“Never again, Jude. We had way too much,” Piper murmured, glancing over at her friend.

“But it was so good!” The girls laughed and watched the reality show on Jude's TV with the occasional comment about what was going on. “So, have you talked to Ezra lately? He's been acting weird.”

"Weird how?"

"He left lunch early today for no reason and kept asking about you. I didn't know what to say," Jude said, glancing at Piper to gauge her reaction. She seemed to be hiding something and Jude couldn't help but to feel like it had something to do with Ezra.

“Hm?” Piper looked at Jude, wondering what she was getting at. Jude and Piper weren’t exactly distant, but they were getting there. Jude had Quinn now, and she spent most of her time with him and his friends. And Piper had…Ezra.

Sort of.

Maybe.

She didn’t really know.

“I don’t know, it was weird. He asked how about how you were doing and then he just left.”

“Interesting,” she said softly, playing with her long thick braid of hair. She glanced at the ends, trying not to make eye contact with Jude. If Jude knew what happened earlier, she'd never let it go and she'd try to tell her all these terrible things about Ezra that Piper knew just weren't true.

“Did he stop by?” Jude asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“Stop fishing,” Piper answered, shaking her head. "We're just friends, Jude."

“I’m not…I’m just…okay, maybe. You guys just seem awfully cozy lately, that’s all.”

Piper shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. Maybe she liked Ezra, a little. Maybe. She didn’t know what she felt, it was just rather nice and different. It made her giddy for reasons she didn’t want to think about or believe, really. So she didn’t talk about it and tried to brush it under the carpet. Jude was right. Crushes came and went. There was no point talking about something that wasn’t going to last more than a couple of weeks.

Piper was sure that she’d be back to her normal self in no time. But then her mind would wander to thoughts of Ezra, mysterious and funny Ezra, Ezra who seemed to act differently around her than around everyone else, Ezra with the bright eyes and electric grin.

Piper had it bad.

“You’d tell me if there was something going on though, right?” Piper nodded with a slight smile, patting Jude's knee.

“There’s nothing going on though, so…” She shrugged, playing with the remote. "There's not much to tell."

“Are you sure?”

“You're starting to sound like Olivia.”

“Well I’m just… curious is all. I don’t want to be that person, but Ezra’s… he…” Jude trailed off, trying to figure out how to say it without hurting Piper’s feelings or sounding like a know-it-all. “He’s unpredictable. There's no telling what he’ll do.”

“He’s not that bad,” Piper said quietly, picking at her nail polish. “He's actually a pretty nice guy, once you get to know him, sort of ?” she half asked, looking at Jude. Jude rolled her eyes, sticking her hand into the bowl of popcorn.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Piper. I’m telling you.”

“Yeah, and you do,” she scoffed under her breath, taking a sip from her can of soda. Jude heard but said nothing because her phone started to ring.

“Jude!” Magdalyne exclaimed, and all Jude could hear was music and people screaming and laughing in the background. “Jude, Jude, Judy!” Magdalyne sounded drunk and probably high, which didn’t really surprise Jude. "How's it goin', Judy? You busy?"

“What, Maggie? You want me to come get you?”

“No, no, of course not,” she drawled on, giggling. “We’re not at The Cross anymore…we’re going to…where are we going?” There were a few replies yelled to her. “Some kid’s house, I don’t know.”

“Maggie.”

“I think we’re going to Clark’s. ’Kay, bye! I'll see ya later.”

“Wait, wait, why did you even call me if you’re going to Clark’s?”

“’Cause I… I think I’m going to be sick, and I wanna go home. I'm - excuse me.” Jude hung up before she could hear her sister retching on the other line.

“Do you want to come to Clark’s with me?” Jude asked, looking at Piper. Piper just shrugged, getting up off the couch with Jude. "We have to pick up Maggie."



Ezra stared down the flask in his hand, trying to figure out a way to stop thinking so much. It wasn't like he'd really had that much to drink, but he did have more than enough pills and a few hits off the joint that kept getting passed around. He'd either have to crash at Clark's (which he didn't really want to because he wanted to sleep in an actual bed) or find enough money to take a cab home and pick his car up in the morning before his dad woke up. He could also just take the bus, but his metro card was officially expired and he didn’t have money to buy a new one. So, he'd have to hit up Quinn for money to take a cab, because the wrinkled five dollar bill in his wallet just wasn't going to cut it.

But first, he'd have a drink.

And another drink.

And one more for good measure. When Ezra drank, his thoughts went off on tangents, here, there, and everywhere. Tonight, his thoughts roamed to Clark, Maggie's boyfriend and the occasional source of good weed. Clark happened to be one of those Upper East Side types who had a big house and parents that were out for the weekend, which made him think of Piper and where her parents were.

Thoughts of Piper were quickly dismissed by a limber girl with brown hair who threw her arms around Ezra and kissed his cheek sloppy. Her name was Jenny, and she was one of the few girls in the world Ezra couldn't stand. Jenny had just gotten home from her third stint in one of those fancy private teen rehabs for her drinking problem, and had wasted no time in putting all her therapy to waste. She was stinking drunk, and had Ezra not disliked her so much, he would have felt kind of bad.

“Ezra!” she exclaimed, kissing him again with a cheerful grin. "I missed you so much, honey."

“Funny, I didn’t miss you.” Ezra laughed, prying her off. "Bye."

Jenny and Ezra had a rather interesting relationship. They were sort of friends with benefits, but Ezra and Jenny actually liked each other, so things got a little complicated. Jenny had a problem with fidelity, and Ezra had a problem with holding grudges. Their breakup was probably the most memorable one all year. Maybe Ezra beat the crap out of the guy who had the nerve to mess around with his girl, and then maybe Jenny ended up drinking enough to need to get her stomach pumped. And then Jenny, ever the budding alcoholic, got sent once again to rehab.

Ezra was both surprised and rather annoyed that she was even there in the first place.

Why hadn't anyone told him she'd be there? Or maybe she just showed up and didn't tell anyone?

“Don’t be like that, Ezra,” she said quietly, playing with his hair. He just took her hand and let it fall, glaring at her. “What?”

“Go away, Jenny. I'm really not in the mood to talk to you right now or ever again really, so beat it."

“What’s wrong?”

“I'm fine. Go away.”

Nothing was really wrong, not really... except for the fact that Piper was getting the living snot beat out of her by someone—he’d get it out of Jude or something, because she had to know. There was no way that she didn’t know, and if she did know, why hadn’t she told someone? He was desperate to get to the bottom of it and help Piper. And he didn't really want to mess around with Jenny—for once—because of Piper. Bright eyed Piper, glorious Piper, sweet little Piper June. Piper, Piper, Piper.

“I could fix it,” she mumbled in his ear seductively, grinning. Ezra rolled his eyes and walked away, but she kept following him as he moved through the crowded house. Ezra picked a beer out of the cooler in the humid, dark kitchen and turned around with a heavy sigh.

“Really, Jenny, what’s your problem? What part of leave me alone is so hard to understand?” he asked, shaking his head. "Go find someone else to bother."

“I just missed you is all,” she said softly, frowning a little. "I really did."

“And I didn’t miss you, so get lost.” He walked back into the throng of dancing teenagers, hoping to forget all about what happened with Jenny, even if it was just for a little while. But dancing didn't help much and just made him feel like he was too warm, so he decided to go outside for a fresh of breath air. Maybe he'd even smoke a cigarette or two.

Ezra caught a glimpse of Maggie throwing up in Clark's bushes. That probably meant that Jude was on her way. And wherever Jude was, Piper was never far behind. He smiled a little at the prospect of seeing her again as he struck a match and lit his cigarette. He leaned against the side of the house, which was on a hill that overlooked the city, and glanced down at all the pretty twinkling lights.

Ezra Finnely wanted very few things, among them maybe one day being known. He wanted to walk down a street and have people stare and whisper because he was that guy, the famous artist or singer or painter or whoever. And he would make it happen, one day.

One day, everyone would know exactly who Ezra Finnely was.

But for right now, he had other things to think about, like how to get rid of Jenny. At least for tonight. Tomorrow, he'd think up something else.

"Is this some sort of weird game or something? Why do you keep leaving me behind?” she asked, doubling over to catch her breath.

“’Cause I don't wanna be around you, that’s why. Don't you have something better to do?”

“But - ”

“Get lost, Jenny.”

Maggie glanced over at Jenny and Ezra, shaking her head. She started to fix her hair and wipe at her mouth with a napkin from her back pocket. She put on some lipstick and wiped at the edges of her lips daintily, sighing before walking over to them. Jenny was just clueless, sometimes.

“Hey guys,” she greeted cheerfully. “What's going on?” Jenny mumbled a reply and looked at Ezra. She still didn't understand that they were over and done with, mostly because Ezra always took her back.

He didn't really have a soft spot for her anymore, though. The last few weeks had taken care of that.

“Ezra, really. Loosen up,” Jenny begged, tugging on his hand with a frown. "Please?"

“What part of get lost are you not getting right now? Leave me alone.” Jenny's bottom lip quivered as she blinked her green eyes questioningly. Maggie shot Ezra a look before putting a hand on Jenny's shoulder.

“Why don't you wait for me inside, huh? There's some friends of Clark I want you to meet.” Jenny nodded tearfully, turning around and stumbling back inside the house. “That was really rude, even for you," Maggie said simply, looking down at her phone.

Ezra shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he spit out his cigarette, putting it out as he stepped on it lightly. Maggie offered him a piece of gum which he took silently, shoving the wrapper in his pocket as they stood in silence.

“You know how she feels about you.”

“I don't care anymore, you know?” Ezra shook his head, rolling his eyes. “I've had enough drama to last me a lifetime."

“But she still has feelings for you,” Magdalyne said, shaking her head. "How can you just say that?"

“Things change, okay? People changes. Feelings change. It's a beautiful thing, Maggie,” Ezra replied, biting his lip.

“Okay,” she said simply. “You need a ride? Judy's comin' soon.”

“I'm okay, thanks.” After a beat, he bites his lip and says, "Piper's with her, right?”

"She usually is," Maggie said, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. "I think she likes you, you know."

"Yeah?"

"She just stares at you all the time." Maggie nudged him, wriggling her eyebrows. "Is that why you're not drooling after Jenny, huh?"

"No. We're just friends." Ezra glanced at Maggie, watching as she blew a small white bubble and clicked her gum.

"Friends," she laughed. "Right. Because you're only ever just friends with a girl."

"We really are friends. I'll show you, watch."

Jude's headlights slowly inched up the long drive and Maggie grinned, curling her arm around Ezra's back.

“You ready?” Jude asked, leaning over Piper.

“Yeah, almost.” She turned back to Ezra and smiled. “Piper’s here.”

Piper was watching the exchange silently, biting her lip. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to say hi? Not say hi? Make eye contact? Not make eye contact? It wasn't like Piper had much experience with guys. And she couldn't tell Jude, because Jude would freak out.

Maggie dragged Ezra over to the car, giggling impishly.

“Hey,” he said awkwardly, watching as Piper blushed and looked up at him.

“Hi,” she replied, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “Do you want a ride home?” Jude shot him daggers with her eyes, scowling. If he left with them, he was almost certain Jude would make sure he wouldn't make it home in one piece

“I'm okay, thanks." He smiled and helped Maggie into the back seat. “But I'll see you later, yeah?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Piper really did have a nice smile, he noted passingly as Jude turned around to make sure Maggie put her seat belt on.

“I'll call you. Maybe we can do something tomorrow?” he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jude cleared her throat loudly and leaned across Piper again, lips in a frown as she sighed.

“Piper's busy tomorrow, boy wonder. Bye.” Jude rolled the window up and peeled out of the driveway, shaking her head at Piper. "What's wrong with you? Don't you know what kind of guy he is?" She rolled her eyes. "He's no good for you."