AN: This chapter will clear up all of your concerns about Piper's "affair." Hehehe…
Phoebe had said to treat it like a mini-vacation. That was what she'd managed to whisper as Leo had rounded up Emma and Anne, who'd run off to Cinnabon. When they'd gotten back, Leo had taken her in his arms and kissed her breathless. It was if he knew she was going off to something new, some outstanding adventure—and he wanted to be sure she still wanted him when she got back.
Piper just kept replaying the scene at the airport—that kiss, her kids, as she slid the key into the door of her hotel room. It opened easily and the first sound she heard was the trickling of a fountain in the entryway. The room was cast in shadow, but she could tell it was decorated in warm, neutral tones like, beige and caramel. She wheeled her luggage into the bedroom and propped it up against the bed, dropping her matching duffel bag on the caramel, gold-and-red embroidered bedspread.
She brushed her hair away from her face and sat down on the aforementioned bed. She carefully pulled off her heels and then her leather gloves away from her manicured fingers. She placed them carefully together on the nightstand. She checked her messages to make sure she had the meeting time and place correct. Then, she curled up on the bed, and for the first time in a long time, she let herself cry.
XxXxXxXxX
He was undeniably, indisputably handsome. Kind of the same color hair as her, but more chocolaty. He had green eyes and that don't-mess-with-me-even-though-I'm-the-nicest-guy-you'll-ever-meet tilt to his mouth. Stunning green eyes and preppy-emo clothes. He acted like he'd already had too much coffee, his legs jumping as he glanced around him his wavy hair falling in his eyes.
She watched him from the window of the coffee shop before strolling in. She strolled right up to the table. "Hi." She said softly. He grinned, if awkwardly, and showed straight white teeth. She gripped her purse tightly in her hand and suddenly, standing there, she felt like a mother. She had pictures of her girls practically spilling out of her bag, which was also brimming over with tissues and pens and fliers sent home from school. And as if that wasn't enough, her she was staring at Adam, her Adam.
Her son.
"Hi." He said finally. Another awkward moment. "Are you going to sit?"
Piper nodded eagerly and slipped into the chair opposite him. She stared at him, the classic lines of his fifteen-year-old face, even though he was handsome now, he'd probably be exceedingly so, when he hit his stride. "So." She said finally.
"So." He replied. She didn't have anything to say—for once, her panicking didn't make her blubber on and on. Then, the most amazing thing happened: he did it for her. "This is weird isn't it? I mean, we've done the whole email-online-chat-room thing, but face-to-face is so…weird." He finished lamely.
Piper nodded. "You're right, it is." Silence. "Well, do you have any questions for me?"
He looked down into the dregs of his coffee cup, unable to look at her face. "Why'd you give me up?" He looked up, despair and alarm written over his features. "I mean, that's what they always ask in TV and books and stuff, but I mean, really. Why'd you give me up?"
Piper sighed. She'd expected this. She closed her eyes and suddenly, she was back at that time, a month after leaving Bolepick…
XxXxXxXxX
The music throbbed uncontrollably, like a beating heart, the over and over again tattoo pumping out some insane tempo, something no dancer could keep up with, but could certainly have fun trying.
Ah, so this was what a rave was like. Phoebe, at sixteen and a complete wretch, had dragged a depressed Piper to it, claiming that she needed to get over the ball and ball. Ha-ha. Piper hadn't been in the mood, but after showering and playing some good music, finally agreed. She'd thrown on a tank top, with tight capris and a light, floor dusting jacket. Phoebe had gone the opposite direction—less was more: less skirt, less shirt, less everything equaled more skin and more attention.
At the party, Phoebe wandered off in the glow-stick darkness, leaving Piper to fend for herself, weaving her way in and out of gyrating bodies. But now, here she was stuck in a semi-moshpit, unable to move and getting terrified. She watched the jostling bodies in front of her for what felt like hours. But then, from lack of oxygen and utter fear, closed them.
She woke up in the backseat of a car. A man sat in the front with dark hair. That was all she could tell, other than that, she was in some unknown car, with some stranger, and as far as Phoebe knew, still inside. So, she screamed. He turned quickly, turning down his music. There was as much fear in his face as there was in hers, so he did the only logical thing: he screamed too. This, in turn, made Piper stop. Since when did rapists scream?
She sat up. Out the window, she could see the abandoned warehouse, where the rave was being held. "Why the hell am I in here?" she demanded, turning her brown eyes on his green ones. "If you plan on touching me, so help me God, I'll tear your balls off and then—"
He held up a hand to silence her. "Now, wait just a goddamn minute." He growled out in a husky southern accent. "I saved you! You should me thanking me, not threatening to castrate me."
Piper's eyes went from pissed off to quizzical. "Really?"
"Really." He replied. He sighed. "They were getting ready to squash your pretty face into a rave-pancake."
"Gross!" she laughed. Then stopped. She hadn't laughed in a long time. Not since Leo'd figured out if he tickled her just right… "I'm Piper."
"Well, Piper, I'm Harris. Would you like a ride home?"
Piper shook her head. "Nah, I've got a sister I've got to find."
With that, he climbed out and opened her door. She scrambled out of the backseat and wobbled, almost fell, but tripped right into his arms. Harris just gazed at her. "Hey there, girl." He said softly.
Piper didn't know why, but she wrapped her arms around him. His arms wound around hers in an undeniably sweet way. They stood there for a long time, lips hovering over lips. Piper knew her heart belonged to Leo, she knew that, in a way she would always belong with him. But what about the Phoebe method? Move the hell on. To another ball and ball as it were.
"So," she whispered in the sexiest voice she knew, "are you gonna kiss me, or not?"
And in that rumbling drawl of his, he replied. "Yes, ma'am."
XxXxXxXxX
Piper wrung her hands, twisting them helplessly. If one thing, Adam was like her, stubborn, defiant, chased answers where he really wanted them. She could tell. From the way his green eyes refused to back down. Ah, yes, so much like her.
"I mean, your dad—is it alright to call him that?" Piper was anxious.
Adam nodded, his chin rested in the palm of his hand. "Yeah."
"Well, your dad," she went on, "was very good to me—it wasn't a quickie in the back of a car." She added sharply. "Do you understand? We were very serious." She nodded matter-of-factly. "Very serious, but Harris regarded himself as less-than. We were alright if we pretended if it was casual. But I knew he felt the same thing whenever we had sex. Whenever we made love." She was looking off distantly, as if watching the whole thing on a screen. "But, I don't know, he came from a 'bad' part of town and when he started thinking about the future, he didn't think he could give me what I needed, or, wanted.
"So," she went on, "we just pretended it was an extra-long fling. Then, I found out I was pregnant. He was devastated and overjoyed. I was terrified. What was I supposed to do? How could I tell my father? And my sisters? What would they think of me? And, finally, I settled on an abortion. All of them came with me, and they helped me pay for it. But, I couldn't do it. Harris suggested adoption. And, I…that was best. So, I told my dad. He kicked me out, that first night." There were tears in her eyes now. "And I spent it with Harris, in his trailer. After that, my dad let me back. I think it scared him to loose his little girl. Here we are, fifteen years later, and ta-da!" She gestured to him in a Vanna White impression.
Adam was silent, thinking hard. "What do you do?"
"I own a nightclub."
His jaw moved. He was thinking again. "You said you have a husband. Is he my dad?"
Piper shook her head. "No."
"You said you have kids."
"Two. Emma's really my husband's and his ex-wife's, biologically. Emotionally, she belongs to me. And Anne. She's five."
Adam nodded. "You said, that you have sisters. So, I have aunts?"
Piper smiled softly. "Yes, my older sister, Prue, she's very cool, collected, but inside, she's an utter nutcase. In that good, protective kind of way. And Phoebe, my younger sister, she's a nutcase inside and out."
Adam was startled into laughter, then, softly, slowly, it died. "I've never had a mother." He started, going into his own reverie. "My adoptive mom died when I was two—I don't remember her." He sighed. "And its always been just me and my dad, you know? But I had to find you."
"Why?" Piper wanted to know. "Don't get me wrong—I'm happy to be here. But why now?"
Adam shrugged. "Well, my dad and I don't get along so well sometimes. And I figured that somewhere, out there, I had to have a parent who would listen to me."
Piper nodded, tearing up. "Is that what you want, Adam?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Mostly, I want to feel like I'm coming home."
AN: See, it wasn't an affair! It was her dun, dun, dun—son! Wow, huh? Anyway, I love you all and was so surprised—twenty reviews for one chapter! I love you guys! Anyway, please review!
P.S: If you love me, go check out my story on fictionpress com. It's called "Sparkle" by JustTheGirl and you will love it, if you love any of my writing. So, please, check it out! Tell me I sent you and you get a candy bar::dangles candy wildly:
