"I need to talk to you," Roman said.
He dumped down on the seat next to Chris. As always Chris sat in the back of the tour bus. They had flown out two days earlier and Roman had been thinking things through in his head and finally come to the point where he thought it was best to involve Chris.
"You wanna take Piper out," Chris stated.
"How do you know?" Roman asked surprised.
"Please! We all saw the way you two were around each other Sunday. You had puppy love in your eyes and quite frankly, so did she," Chris said.
"So you're okay with it?" Roman asked.
"I know I pretend to be the evil daddy monster when it comes to her but she's a grown woman and she can make her own choices. And if I have to choose someone I work with to date her, it sure would be you," Chris said.
"Only problem is that she's too afraid to go out with anyone. She plays it off cool like it's no big deal but she's afraid. She hasn't been too lucky in the past with men apparently," Roman sighed.
"Well, we just have to come up with a plan then, don't we?" Chris winked.
Friday quickly came, the day where they would return home from the road. Late that afternoon Piper was sitting in her room, just watching different YouTube videos to make time pass by.
"Piper?" Jessica knocked on the already open door.
"Hi Jessica," Piper smiled at the woman who allowed her to stay in their house.
"I got something for you. I saw it earlier when I was out shopping and I thought it was just you," Jessica said and handed Piper a short, grass green dress.
"It's beautiful," Piper said.
"Try it on. I'll wait outside," Jessica said.
A couple of minutes later Piper came out with the dress on.
"I knew it. It's so you. It matches your eyes," Jessica smiled.
"It really is beautiful," Piper said and hugged Jessica. "Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. I do have a favour to ask you though," Jessica said.
"Anything," Piper said.
"Chris will be home any second and he wants to take us both out for dinner and I did drop the kids off for the night but I'm stuck with work. Can you go out with him? It'll give me enough time to finish my work when I got the house to myself, and him and I can have a more private date later when you get back," Jessica said.
"Of course. You want me to find somewhere else to spend the night so you can get the house to yourself?" Piper asked.
"Oh honey, we've got three kids. We know how to be quiet," Jessica laughed and winked.
They both heard the front door open and shortly after Chris' voice reached them both.
"Baby? Piper? Anybody home?" He yelled.
"We're coming, baby!" Jessica yelled back.
The two women walked side by side out to greet him. Jessica launched herself into his arms for a hug and kiss.
"Nice dress," Chris said once he looked at Piper.
"Jessica got it for me," Piper said.
"You did?" Chris looked at his wife. "You always have the best taste."
"I thought she could wear it while you two go out for dinner. I'm drowning in work but I promise to have it done once you get back," Jessica said.
"Sounds good to me. Piper?" Chris held out his arm.
Piper giggled as she walked over and hooked her arm into his.
"Have fun, kids," Jessica said teasingly.
"Love you, baby," Chris looked over his shoulder at his wife.
"Love you too," Jessica said.
Chris drove them both to the restaurant. It was a cozy little place where they could sit privately which she knew he liked due to being famous. A waiter escorted them to a table and she sat down.
"I just gotta use the bathroom real quick," he excused himself and walked away.
She started looking through the menu and not even a minute later, the chair across from her was pulled out and someone sat down.
"That was quick," she said.
She looked up from the menu and her jaw dropped.
"Roman?" She asked surprised.
"Hey, baby girl. What looks good on the menu?" He asked casually.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I'm on a date with you," he answered.
"You sneaky bastard. Where's Chris?" She asked.
"Out on a date with Jessica," Roman chuckled.
"You two have been working together on this," she shook her head but couldn't keep the smile from her face.
He reached over and took her hand while smiling back at her.
"I told you I would accept it if it was still a no by the end of the week. I just never gave you the chance to answer," he chuckled.
"I didn't know you had it in you," she chuckled too.
"If you really wanna get out of here, I'll take you home," he said.
"Anyone playing me like that deserves the date," she laughed.
"I'm glad to hear it," he said and gave her hand a squeeze. "By the way, you look smoking in that dress."
"Of course. Jessica is in on it too," she said and shook her head again.
She found herself relaxing all through dinner. He was so easy to talk to and be around and she had to admit that she was having a great time with him. They seemed to share the same humour and the conversation never felt awkward between them so when he suggested they'd go for a late night walk after dinner, she accepted. They walked through town until they found a late night coffee shop. With a coffee each they found a quiet place outside and a bench to sit on.
"So what happened between you and your foster family?" He asked.
"Wow, diving right in, are we?" She tried laughing it off.
"Sorry, it's just that last Sunday in your drunken state of mind, you tried to tell me something but you stumbled over the words and I couldn't make any sense of it," he said.
She sighed and looked down and he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said.
"They were extremely Christian. Not like those normal people having their faith in peace inside their own homes but those extreme ones you often hear about on tv whenever they do all sorts of crazy shit," she said.
He kept holding her hand while his thumb gently graced her skin, silently urging her to continue.
"I don't remember my parents. I was only 2 when they died. A car drove straight into my mother's side of the car, killing her instantly. My father didn't wear a seat belt so he went out the front window. Only thing that saved me was that I was in the back seat and didn't take much of the hit," she said.
"Shit! You were in the car?" He asked. "Baby girl, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I don't remember anything. I was too young. I got thrown into foster care and they never missed a day telling me I wasn't a real part of their family. I wasn't a real child. I was a bastard child because my parents weren't married and the car crash was god's way of punishing me for being born outside of marriage. It was my fault that my parents were killed," she said.
"Jesus," he said, immetiately regretting choosing that word. "I mean, fuck! No one deserves being told that."
"Doesn't really matter," she shrugged her shoulders.
"Yes, it does. No wonder you're so afraid of getting attached to people when you grew up around crazy people like that," he said.
He let go off her hand and instead wrapped both arms around her and dragged her in to lean up against his chest. He held her close and kissed the top of her head.
"You got us now. Me, Chris, Seth, Dean... everyone. None of us will play around with your feelings like that," he assured her.
"I know," she said.
"And we're gonna earn your trust," he said.
"You're doing pretty good so far," she said.
They finished their coffees to a lighter conversation and afterwards he drove her home. The house was dark, indicating that either Chris and Jessica weren't home yet, or they had already retreated to the bedroom for some alone time. Roman followed her to the door to say goodbye.
"So I'm kinda rusty in this whole dating game. How do people end it? A kiss on the cheek or on the mouth or something else?" She felt stupid asking.
"I'll settle for a hug if that's what you're comfortable with," he said and leaned down to hug her.
"You can kiss me if you want," she giggled into his hair.
"Baby girl, you don't say stuff like that. I'd rather sneak up on you and surprise you for the first kiss," he chuckled.
"Oh well, just putting it out there," she said.
"You're crazy," he laughed as he released her.
"So I've been told many times," she said. "Anyway, I had a really good time. Goodnight Roman."
He smiled at her and she turned around to unlock the door. She heard the lock click and took out the key. Before opening the door, she turned around to see if he had made it back to his car. She was taken by surprise when his lips met hers and he gently pushed her up against the door. It was a short kiss but a hot kiss nonetheless and she couldn't help but run her fingers through his hair, trying to pull him even closer. He smiled against her lips as he slowly broke the kiss and moved his head back to look at her.
"You sure got the surprise element down," she said.
"Goodnight baby girl," he said with a smile before finally turning around and walking back to his car.
She couldn't keep the smile from her face as she watched him drive away and she felt like a giggling school girl as she entered the house. She walked through it to her room and just as she reached it, the light in the hallway got turned on and Chris stood there.
"Did you have fun?" He asked.
"I did. But you are all some sneaky bastards, you know that, right?" She laughed.
"We know but as long as you had fun, that's all that matters," he said. "Besides, we all felt like you could use a friendly push."
"You were right. Thank you, Chris. Not just for this but for everything you've done for me so far," she said.
"Don't mention it," he smiled. "Sleep tight, Piper."
