Chapter 25: Break-Ups and Arguments

Her dad made his promise true. He was home earlier every day and used most of his time trying to make it up to his kids. Cal wasn't so overly excited about it. He had enjoyed the 'being by himself' time a lot and currently lived through his 'my parents are the most embarrassing people in the world' phase. Piper however liked it, she always had had a better relationship with her father than with her mom. The two of them developed a new routine. Everytime Bill came home they drank a cup of coffee together, sit in the kitchen and do the daily crossword puzzle in the newspaper. While sitting there together they talked about almost anything. Bill was happy about his time with his daughter as he learned quite a few new things about her. Slowly he had to admit that Piper indeed wasn't his little girl anymore but was growing up and developed into a independent young woman. The realisation that he would have to let her go to live her own life in the nearer future pained him a lot. Both of them enjoyed their time together a lot. Sometimes Cal joined them to chat a little but that was rather rare.

Couple weeks later Piper met with Michael on a sunny and warm afternoon in September. They had agreed to go swimming and Alex had promised to join them later after she was done with her household chores. She obviously had tested Diane's patience a bit too much and was forced to finally do everything she had procrastinated.

"How did your talk go with - Brandon was it?" Piper started. Even though it had been months since they had first talked about him they hadn't talked again after that.

"Oh. Not so good actually." Michael shortly admitted.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Piper replied honestly.

"It's okay. Really." Michael answered.

"I sense that you don't really want to talk about it, do you?" Piper carefully tested.

"There isn't much to talk about, actually. We talked a couple times and had some really nice conversations. And then I eventually brought it up and said that a friend of me is actually struggling with his sexuality and that he just discovered that he is gay. And I waited for his response. He only commented that these - I won't repeat any bad word he said - can go to hell." he said and it was clear that it had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. "And well I decided I don't want to be friends with people like him."

"Wow. What an asshole. I'm sorry, Michael. But you will find someone who will be right for you. Someone who is nice and kind and deserves to be with you. Someone who isn't a homophobic ass like that Brandon guy." Piper replied.

"It's easy for you to say. You already found someone who makes you happy." Michael replied. "And I'm happy for you and Alex. But sometimes it also makes me a little envious to be honest."

"Don't be. I know there is someone for you too. I am sure you'll find your person too." Piper told him. Michael finally smiled a little.

"Thank you, Piper. You've always been so supportive." he replied.

"You're welcome. And it's what friends do." Piper played it down.

"I'm very glad you're my friend." Michael smiled.

"So am I." Piper replied his smile.

"So Alex is your person?" Michael asked.

"I couldn't imagine being with someone else. I doubt that there is someone out there that'll be a better partner than her. No one knows me like her, I've never felt a similar connection with anyone else ever and well, I just couldn't imagine her not being there with me. Plus have you seen her? She's so sexy and gorgeous I just can't let anyone else have her." Piper laughed. "That sounded so selfish."

"But also very much in love." Michael noticed.. "So Alex is it for you? The whole getting married, having kids thing?"

"Gosh, I'm 16. I'm not thinking about marriage or anything like that yet!" Piper replied a little shocked.

"I know, it was more like could you see yourself doing these things with Alex?" he replied.

"I actually haven't thought about that much. Right now it's more about if I should eventually tell my parents or go on as before and hide that I'm in this relationship?" Piper answered.

"Woah. What has changed that makes you consider telling them?" Michael was surprised.

"Well… I was more thinking about my dad, but I know if I tell my dad I have to tell my mom too." Piper started and told her friend about her dad's recent change of behaviour.

"And you think he will be okay if you told him that you are in a relationship with Alex?" he wanted to know.

"Well I intended to rather start by asking him what he'd say if one of his kids told him that they like the same sex. And then see what happens. It scares me though. A lot." Piper revealed.

"That is reasonable. I actually don't know what the right advice would be right now." he said.

"That's okay. I didn't expect that you had a solution to my problem. I guess no one does." Piper replied.

"I think that's a brave thing to do if you do it." he told her.

"Yeah? Well let's see if I'm brave enough." she stated.

"Brave enough to eventually get in the water?" both heard from their side. "How come you two are dry?"

Piper turned to the voice she immediately recognized to be her girlfriends. "Hey Al. You are here."

"Looks like I am." Alex gave back and Piper rolled her eyes. "You know that's cute, when you roll your eyes like that?" Alex chuckled.

"God you two are too much." Michael said jokingly. "And hi."

"Hi." she turned again to Piper. "Come on. I need some water." she said, threw her stuff next to Pipers and pulled her girlfriend towards the water.

They swam for a while and Michael went and got the beach ball he brought and they played for a bit. After a while Michael said he'd go back to their blanket. Piper and Alex stayed in the water a bit longer enjoying the cool of it and spending time together. As it was a warm but not hot day the pool wasn't visited from too many people and the girls enjoyed having space. Alex and Piper both weren't fans of overcrowded places. Then Piper dove and swam a bit underwater surprising Alex when suddenly appearing next to her. That earned her quite a few splashes and laughter.

"You wait for it." Alex only replied as she remembered something Piper would always do when they went swimming when they were kids.

"Huh, what are you gonna do about it?" Piper grinned back, clearly challenging her girlfriend.

Alex didn't answer but instead just swam, like she wasn't up to anything. Piper obviously decided to just follow and soon swam next to her. That's when Alex dove and as Piper used to do when they were kids pulled her down too. After a short shocked look on her face it turned into a wide smile as Piper realized what Alex did. They shortly stayed there like that, floating in the water almost weightlessly. Then Piper pulled Alex closer and kissed her. It was only a short kiss as both had to come up for air but both smiled at each other widely when they got out of the water.

"There you are. For a short second I thought you two drowned." Michael laughed as he saw them approaching.

"Sure..." Alex chuckled.

The three kept chatting about different topics. Alex was the first who suggested swimming another round. As they were swimming next to each other Piper addressed Michael again and brought the conversation back to the topic they'd been discussing before they got interrupted by Alex's arrival.

"There's another thing I wanted you to ask." Piper started.

"What is it?" Michael wanted to know.

"When I tell my dad about me and Alex, he surely wants to know about you and me. And we need to discuss this before so I know what to tell him." she told him.

"What do you mean, what do you want to tell him?" Michael was confused.

"Well there are different options. I could tell him the truth, that we were just pretending to be together and ask him not to tell anyone, but I'm not sure how this will turn out. Or I could tell him that we broke up. We'd both have to play the broken hearted teenager for a short bit but at some point that had to happen. We can still be friends. We just have to figure out how we explain it to everyone so that it still makes sense." Piper explained her thoughts.

"Urgh. I don't know if I'm ready for this Piper. I'd rather you tell your dad we broke up, but then I have to tell my parents too, cause they'll get mad if they meet your dad or mom somewhere and they'd tell them. When we do this, they'll be just like before we started this. They'll set me up with some girl and I don't know how that'll end. And I'm so not ready to come out to my parents." he told her honestly.

"Well, you could first play the broken hearted a bit longer and then tell them that you aren't ready for something new yet. That buys you some time. Not forever, but a bit and at some point you're going to leave for college and that'll end that problem anyway. They can't set you up like that anymore if you're not living at home." Piper concluded.

"That doesn't sound so bad actually. But if I play the broken hearted and act like this break up is really hard on me, it's going to be hard to find an explanation of how we're still friends." Michael argued.

"Oh, yeah. That's true." Piper went silent. She didn't have an answer to that. They discussed that a bit longer but didn't find a solution to the problem Michael had pointed out. Alex suggested they'd tell everyone they broke up, Michael would have problems coping with the break up and that they keep low profile and just text for a while and as Michael 'slowly recovers from the heartbreak' they can be more open about being friends. People will ask questions, but that's something they could deal with. Michael and Piper liked the idea and soon agreed.

After another few rounds of swimming and playing with their beach ball they decided to leave and go home.

"So. I guess we won't see each other for a while. Since we're officially broken up now." Piper said to Michael.

"Guess so. We'll text and I'll call you as often as I can. You'll be annoyed by me." he laughed.

"We'll see." Piper joined in the laughter. They hugged goodbye and Piper and Alex walked to the Vauses house. Piper had told her parents she'd go swimming with Michael and Alex and stay over at her 'friend's' house after.

"You really want to tell your dad?" Alex asked after a while of walking silently next to each other.

"Yes. And maybe at some point my mom too. I don't know how this will go with my dad. If he reacts bad to the general idea I might not tell him. But I want to. I'm so tired of hiding this. I love you and I want them to know that. I want to show them that part of me. I don't want to hide any longer who I am from my parents or anyone for that matter." Piper explained.

Alex smiled widely. "I would love that too. To be open about how we feel for each other. I'm really proud of you, Pipes."

Piper blushed a little. "Thank you, Al."

"Hey you two." Diane greeted them when they entered the Vause's living room.

"Hi, mom." "Hi, Diane." the girls greeted back.

"Would you be up to a game night?" Diane wanted to know.

They looked at each other. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I'm in." Piper answered the first and Alex soon agreed. They quickly hung up their wet swimsuits and towels and then went back to the living room where the rest had already gathered around the table.

They started with a few family games but when Felix couldn't handle losing two times in a row he got so upset that Diane sent him to his room to calm down. After a couple minutes she checked on him again but he said he didn't want to play anymore games so Diane, Louis, Alex and Piper went on playing without him.

"What next?" Louis asked.

"Ludo?" Piper suggested. One of her favourites. Everyone agreed.

"Hey! Not again!" Alex complained a while later when Piper with her red meeple kicked her last green one out.

"That's how the rules are, Al." Piper complained.

"I know. But how about you kick out that yellow one over there. It was the same distance! And mom got like three meeples more out there than me. I have to restart completely." Alex pointed out.

"Yes but look how close that one is to be safe in there? It would be really mean to kick her out like two fields before she made it." Piper argued.

"Exactly. Do you want to win this game? It wasn't designed to be nice to the people you're playing with." Alex argued back. "I can't believe it. Seems like you like my mom more than me."

"Oh, you know that's not true." Piper gave back grinning slightly.

"Girls, don't fight over a simple board game. It's okay, Piper, kick me out." Diane tried to calm the waves but Alex quickly answered. "No. She made her choice. No taking back once it's done." she looked at Piper teasingly.

They kept playing and in the end Louis won. The girls said goodnight and went up to Alex's room. As soon as the door was closed - and locked - Alex felt Piper really close behind her and heard her whisper seductively in her ear "I think I need to show you how much more I like you than anyone else on this fucking planet.". Hearing this turned her on immediately and she could feel goosebumps rise all over her body.

"Yes, please." Alex answered her voice raspy and deep and her eyes filled with desire.

XXXXX

The next morning Piper had to go home after breakfast even if she'd rather stayed, but her mother wanted her back home. And if she really wanted to tell her parents soon about her and Alex she wanted to have a trouble free time before she did so, which hopefully would put them in a more understanding and positive mood.

When she got home Polly texted her asking if she could come over. Half an hour later she arrived at the Chapman's house and was greeted by Carol. Piper came just down the stairs and they went up to Piper's room together.

"Hey, Pol. What's up?" Piper asked.

"I don't know really." Polly answered and soon added. "I think I'm going to break up with Will."

"What? Why? What happened?" Piper wanted to know. That her friend wasn't happy in her relationship anymore was news to her. She had been raving about her boyfriend of a bit over six months about a week ago. It had seemed like they were still totally and utterly in love.

"He's always so absent when we meet recently. He barely listens and if I ask him something all I get is a yes or no. And I think if I asked him what I just told him or asked like a minute earlier he'd have no clue. Besides we barely even spend time together." Polly explained.

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Last week you were like 'Oh we're the best couple ever.'" Piper voiced her surprise.

"I know. And in a way I wanted to be. But obviously saying so doesn't make it true." Polly told her.

"Have you tried talking to him about it? I mean, maybe he didn't notice or something else is on his mind recently and he'll do things differently?" Piper asked.

"No. Not yet." Polly admitted.

"Then do. Don't end your relationship before you haven't tried to fix what is bothering you." Piper reminded her friend.

"Says the one with the perfect relationship." Polly mumbled but Piper heard her.

"What? Great that it looks like that but Alex and I argue quite often actually. But we discuss everything and tell each other about everything. You just don't notice cause we tend to do that in private." Piper explained. She was surprised that her friend thought of her and Alex as a couple that never argued and everything was love, peace, and harmony.

"Oh. Okay. I didn't know that." Polly gave back.

"It would be weird, wouldn't it? It's bound to happen that there is a misunderstanding, that two people have different opinions or want to approach things differently. For a relationship that's supposed to work you need to be able to talk about things." Piper reasoned.

"Wow. When did you become so … grown-up?" Polly asked taken aback a little.

"I don't know if I'd say that. But it's true. Alex and I just had a little argument yesterday. We talked about everything, told each other how we felt about it and everything was fine." Piper said.

"May I ask what it was about?" Polly was curious.

"Alex was upset that I didn't tell her I wanted to 'break up' with my fake-boyfriend. We met Michael at the pool yesterday. And I forgot to let Alex know that I wanted to talk to him about ending our fake-relationship. We talked about it and no one is upset anymore." Piper explained.

"Okay. Good to know. I always thought you two are just… I don't know. I never thought about it like that." Polly replied.

"That's okay. But talk to Will. Maybe things are different than what it looks like. And he can only react if he knows about your feelings." Piper pushed her a little.

"I will. I promise. And thank you for your advice." Polly seemed content with that plan. The two of them continued to talk about various things before Polly had to go home. "Bye, Pipes. See you at school tomorrow."

"Bye. See you tomorrow. And let me know how that talk with Will goes!" Piper requested. Polly nodded and was out of the door.