Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.
Author's note: I'm really
sorry if this gets confusing I have to switch universes. J
1991 in the Alternate Universe.
"Piper! Time for
dinner!" Patty Hayes' voice rang out
down the ally where a sandy haired boy and a brown haired girl were playing
soccer.
"I have to go now, Leo.
I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Okay, bye!" Piper
turned around and ran back to her house and sat down for dinner.
"Why are we having dinner so early?" Piper asked as she
walked around the kitchen smelling the foods, she scrunched up her face when
she smelled the turnips.
"Well, your father and I have something to talk to you
about." Piper could hear the
seriousness in her mother's voice.
"Oh," she said, all the excitement lost in her voice, the
sparkle gone in her eyes. Her mother's
tone of voice had been like that once before, 3 years ago when she had lost her
brother in a hit and run accident. She
laid the table and sat down waiting for her dinner and the talk she was now
dreading. They ate dinner slowly.
"Piper," her father started, "we are going to be moving
away."
"Daddy, no! I'm
staying here!" Piper whined. She was
enjoying 2nd grade and she couldn't move away from her best friend.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, you have to come."
"Leo's coming with us then!"
Her mother smiled weakly.
"Honey, his parents are here, he can't come."
"Where are we going?"
"Ohio."
"Ohio! That's almost
forever away! I'm not going!" With that she ran to her room and slammed
the door. She cried into the
pillow. She just couldn't go. She couldn't leave Leo.
The next day her parents had dragged her from her perch on
the bed where she was holding onto the sheets and they put her in the car. Leo came to watch her leave with tears in
his eyes. They started to drive off.
"Daddy wait! I
didn't say good-bye to Leo right." Her
dad reluctantly turned the car around and she jumped out and ran up to
Leo. She hugged him. "I'll come back and visit!"
"Promise?"
"Promise! Bye Leo."
"Bye Piper." She ran back to the car and waved good-bye
to her life, as she knew it.
Piper glanced cautiously up at the big Victorian mansion
before her. 'So this is where he lives
now,' Piper thought. She walked up the
steps and raised her hand to knock on the door but she didn't knock. She laughed at herself. 'This was your best friend Piper, don't be
nervous!' She thought, 'Then why am I scared?
Oh yeah,' she smiled, 'it's been ten years.' She decided waiting wouldn't achieve anything so quickly, before
she changed her mind she knocked on the door. She waited timidly for an answer, picking at her nails. She didn't even know what she was going to
say if he opened the door. An answer
didn't come. 'Good,' she thought 'he's
not home!' She started walking back
down the stairs, half relieved and half disappointed. Just then she heard the door creak open and she glanced
back. Standing in the doorway was a
dashing young man with short blonde hair.
"Leo," she breathed, "It's really you."
Leo looked at her and then his face suddenly brightened.
"Piper? Is that
you? Oh my god, it is!" He ran down the steps two at a time and
picked her up and swung her around.
"I thought you weren't coming back!"
"Do I ever break a promise?" she smiled.
"Come in! We have 10
years to talk about."
The sat down in the big sunroom catching up on the 10 years
of each other's lives they had missed.
"I was miserable in Ohio and to this day I don't have any
good friends. When my parents offered
to have me come back to college here, I was more than happy."
"Which college?"
"San Francisco Bay Area College (Author's note: I made that
college up)."
"Really? I'm going
there too!"
"Yay!" said Piper, "So, have an girlfriends?"
"Plural?"
Piper laughed. "You
know what I meant."
"No, I don't, but I'm hoping I will have soon."
He looked in her eyes. She was a lot more beautiful since
the last time he had seen her. Piper
smiled and changed the subject.
"You've heard enough about me. What's been happening here?"
"Nothing much. Its
still boring old San Francisco."
Piper laughed again.
"Well, you moved, why?"
"There was a flood shortly after you left and the houses in
our neighborhood were all flooded. We
were repairing our house when a hurricane came along. The house didn't stand much chance so we moved here. Pretty sturdy, don't ya think?"
Piper looked admiringly at the house. "I'll say."
"Are you using a dorm because you are welcome to stay
here. We have an extra…."
Piper cut him off.
"Thank you for your offer but I'm using a dorm."
"Oh. Okay."
They were at a lack of words now. It had been 3 hours and they had pretty much said everything
there was to say. Piper hated the
uneasy silence.
"I'd better be going now.
School starts tomorrow and I need to get my stuff in my dorm and meet my
roommates. I'll see you tomorrow at
school, then."
"yep!" Leo nodded.
Silently adding, 'hopefully you'll be seeing more of me.' Instead he said, "I'm glad you came
Piper. I missed you."
"I missed you too."
She said hugging him and then stepping out of the door. "Bye!"
Leo waved. Piper
smiled as she walked down the steps.
She continued smiling all the way to the dorm. It felt so good to be in San Francisco and Leo hadn't
completely forgotten her, as was the case with everyone else it seemed. She walked by the neighborhood shop and saw
old Mr. Neston stacking shelves. Every
day she used to go to his shop after school and he would give her a cookie and
they would talk while she helped him with shelving. She waved to him and he just stared blankly back. She sighed and walked on, still smiling
however. She saw Mrs. Rosine in the
garden again. "Hi Mrs. Rosine!" she
called. She was old now and couldn't
hear to well. "Who is it?"
"Piper! Piper
Hayes!"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know a Piper."
It was no use. Only Leo would remember her. She walked down the street gazing at all the
places she remembered. She walked past
her old school where children were playing on the playground. Ah…sweet memories! She walked past the beach and breathed in the salty air she loved
so much. Finally, she made it to the
college, put her clothes in her dorm, and met her roommate, Prue. She seemed nice to Piper. Maybe they could be friends.
"94.9 The Point playing two music marathons every hour! This is Johnny, Alex, and Al with your
morning point. Today's mystique mystery
song of the day is Evan and Jaron: Crazy for this Girl! If you hear this in the 11 or the 4 o'clock
hour call in 9th and get qualified to see Aerosmith innnnn
Vegaaasss!
She rolls the window down,
And she talks over the soun…"
Piper slammed her hand down on the radio. How much more annoying could it get? She grumbled and rolled out of bed. First day of college! Yippee……she wasn't looking forward to it at
all. The only good thing is she would
get to see Leo. She yawned and walked
down the hallway to take a shower. She
came back and got dressed. Oh yay…first
class-music theory. She was majoring in
music and minoring in law. Totally
different, she knew, but didn't care.
She slid into a seat in the back, glancing around the room
to see if she recognized any faces. She
saw an old rival, Becky. 'Oh great,'
she thought, 'just who I wanted to go to college with.' She continued looking around and saw
Leo? Leo taking music theory? Weird. She saw an empty seat next to him and
got up and sat there.
"Hey. Didn't know
you like music!"
"Piper! Hey! There are a lot of things you don't know
about me since you moved."
Piper felt guilty, as if it were her fault she didn't know
all these things.
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Like my love for the kitchen."
Piper laughed. "You
liar! You can't even cook something in
the microwave!" she teased.
"Wanna bet?"
"Yeah!"
"Come to my house for dinner tonight. I'll cook up a storm." 'Good one, Leo,' he thought, 'that was very smooth,'
he smiled to himself. Piper couldn't
resist.
"Okay, I'll be there at seven,"
she smiled as their teacher came bouncing in the door. "Good morning class!" Piper groaned. How could he be so bubbly at 9 in the morning?
---------
Piper walked a long Prescott
street to find Leo's old Victorian mansion when she heard whimpering. She looked down an ally to see a little girl
crying, she could only have been about 5.
Piper quietly approached her.
The girl looked up at her.
"Have you come to bring me home?"
Piper didn't know what to say.
"Where is your home?"
"It's on Prescott Street. Next to that big mansion."
"Oh really? I'm going that way. Why don't I take you home, um, what's your
name?"
"Phoebe."
"Okay, Phoebe, come with me."
Phoebe took Piper's hand and she
walked her down to her house.
Leo hummed while putting meatballs in the tomato sauce. It was 7:15. Where was she? He heard a
knock on the door. Yay! She's here!
He opened the door. "Hey!"
"Hey. Sorry I'm
late. There was a little girl in the
ally and she was crying so I went to talk to her and she told me she was your
neighbor so I brought her back. Her
name was Phoebe that really sounds familiar to me but I don't know why. I knew her mom, Patty, a long time ago. I remembered her because my mom had the same
name. Wow that smells amazing. What are you cooking?" Piper said this all in one breath and Leo
started laughing. Piper stood there
sternly.
"What is so funny?"
"You. You looked so
funny when you said that. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Piper
smiled and stepped in.
She walked to the kitchen and smelled the food he was
cooking.
"You remembered!"
"Of course I did. I
didn't forget anything about you."
Piper smiled and realized she hadn't forgotten anything
about him either. She helped him put
out the spaghetti and meatballs onto plates and they sat for dinner.
"Mmmm. This is
delicious."
"See. I told you I
could cook."
Piper held up her hands in mock defeat. "Okay, okay! I believe you!"
Piper and Leo talked for the rest of he evening and soon it
was 11 o'clock. Piper looked down at
her watch.
"Oh, I better be going.
It's 11 already and I want to get some sleep so I don't sleep through
music theory again."
"11? Already? Wow, I thought it was 9."
"Yeah so did I," Piper said standing up, "Thanks a lot for
dinner Leo. That was really nice of
you."
"Thanks for coming.
I had a great time." Leo got up
and walked Piper to the door. "Let's do that again sometime."
"Deal." Piper began
walking out the door when Leo caught her arm and pulled her around into a
kiss. When it was over both weren't
sure what to think of it.
"Sorry. I don't know
why I did that."
Piper smiled. "It's
okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"
"Bye."
When the door closed Piper and Leo
were both grinning. Piper had a great
feeling when they kissed and she thought that she might have a chance with Leo.
