FLASHBACKS ARE IN ITALICS

Chapter ten

PIPER POV - age 13

"David has become such a jerk," Julia said as we walked down the streets of the city that used to be my home.

"He has?" I asked in shock, because of all the boys from my previous class, I had never expected David to turn into a jerk.

"Yeah, he is turning into Thomas," she said and looked at me.

"Augh," I grunted as I thought of Thomas.

It had been six years since we moved, but I still met Julia as often as I could. It was hard, living on the other side of the country, and even though I have gotten new friends and I really love hanging out with them too, it is still hard.

I am happy that Julia and I have managed to keep in touch, considering how young we were when I moved, but it is getting harder. We are both growing up and I am afraid that we are growing up in two different directions. I know we are still young, and that we have many more years until we have to make some decisions, but we had plans. We knew what we were going to do, but I am already sensing that those things won't happen.

"I miss you," she said and placed a friendly arm around my shoulders. I smiled at her before I placed my arm around her shoulders.

"I miss you, too," I said.

"You know what? I have figured out which university we should go to."

"You have?"

"Yes, Harvard."

"Harvard? But that is in the US."

"That is the whole point, Pipe. To get away. You need to get away."

"We have always been talking about moving to America."

"Exactly, and Harvard is one of the best schools in the whole world," she said and looked excited at me.

Our childhood plans consisted of aspects most children dream about. We wanted to get married, hopefully, to twin princes, but at least to twins and live in the same street. We were going to get children of the same age, first a girl and two years later, a boy or two, we were obsessed with twins. If we didn't marry princes, we wanted to work as teachers.

Since I moved, our plans have changed significantly. We got older, and both of us wanted something else. No longer was the importance of princes nor twins. Neither of us wanted to become a teacher. But one thing never changed, and that was the plan about living close to each other, maybe not in the same street, but at least in the same city.

"I am looking forward to it," I said and looked exited back at her.

PIPER POV

Julia didn't end up at Harvard nor in America, for that matter, but we still talked a lot. She is coming here next Saturday for her winter break.

Coming back from Christmas break was hard. I manage to not think too much about how much I miss my family back home, but after I was home, it has been hard. I missed Alex incredibly much during the break, so I am grateful to be back with her.

"Alex!" I shouted as I spotted her at the arrival section.

I could see that she spotted me too, and when she did, a huge smile appeared on her face. I picked up the speed towards her, and right before I smashed into her, she opened her arms and caught me as I collapsed into her. Just the smell of her made me realize just how much I missed her.

"Hey, kid. God, I missed you," she said and pretended to examine my face.

"I missed you, too, Al."

I brushed some hair behind her ear and let my hand linger at her ear, and closed the gap between us.

I know we haven't been that long from each other, but I have missed her so much that just the feeling of our lips meet, even though it is not a long kiss, it feels like the whole world stops and it is just the two of us in the entire universe.

"Come on, Pipes, let's get out of here."

ALEX POV

Of course, I am happy that Piper's friend is coming here, I can see it all over her how excited she is, but I can't help but be a little worried. This is the first person from Piper's life that I will meet.

I have never been this worried about meeting a person before. I never cared about what people thought about me, as long as I was true to myself, they could think whatever they want. But meeting Piper's best friend, it is important. I want her to like me, I want to be accepted, but I know I am not the person they expected Piper to end up with.

"Look, Al, there she is," Piper said and pointed at a brown-haired girl in the middle of a crowd that was coming towards us. As the crowd spread all over the arrival section, Piper made a run towards the girl and jumped into her arms, and I swear this doesn't calm me down.

When they let each other go, Piper took her friend's suitcase and led her towards me.

"Julia, this is Alex. Al, this is Julia," Piper introduced us.

Julia held her hand towards me, and I politely took it. "Nice to finally meet you, Alex."

"Nice to meet you, too, Julia."

"Piper's told me a lot about you. It feels like I already know you," Julia said, and I quickly looked at an uncomfortable Piper. For once, it wasn't just my secrets that were being shared.

"She has huh?" I said and glanced at Piper again. "Nothing bad I hope."

"Oh no, you're famous all the way to Norway."

I was about to ask her more about what Piper might have said, but Piper said something before I had the time. "Okay, maybe we should go?"

"Okay, but only because I want to see the dorm."

ALEX POV

"Do you remember the time we filled your bottle with that gas and it exploded?" Julia said and almost couldn't breathe through her laughter.

"Yes! I think the first-grade room still has that hole in the ceiling."

"What kind of gas was that?" Julia asked as their laughter died out.

"I don't know actually, but it is not safe around children."

Suddenly Julia started to laugh again. "Do you remember the time we tried to do the around-the-world, and you fell off?"

"Yeah, two weeks with a concussion and six months with a broken arm, but it was worth it."

"What is the around-the-world?" I asked because I really wanted to understand their jokes.

"Oh, it is just when you are on the swing and you swing it all around," Piper said and barely looked at me, she was way too busy looking at old photos on Julia's phone.

I am not going to lie, I was starting to feel a little forgotten. I am overly happy that Piper can spend some time with someone who seems to be one of the most important persons in her life, but I still feel a little forgotten.

I have almost not seen Piper the whole week, she spends all her time with Julia. I get it, it's not like she is trying to push me away, I know she just wants to spend time with her friend, but I still feel like I am in second place like I am not her person anymore.

I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be this person, the person who gets jealous when her girlfriend is with her friends, but I am. And I don't know what to do.

PIPER POV

The week was going way too fast. I tried to spend as must time as possible with Julia, but now and then I had to go to class.

"So, Pipes, you think we can hang out later?" Alex asked me as I was packing up my things after my last lecture.

"I am sorry, Al, but Julia and I were planning to stay in and watch our movies before she leaves. You know, you can hang out with us."

"Nah, it's okay, I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay," I said and kissed her quickly on the lips before I went.

"Okay, so I have something I have to tell you," Julia said as the movie was over.

"Yeah?"

"You know Joakim?" she asked and looked at me.

I nodded as an answer.

"We hooked up for a while," she said and looked nervous.

I know exactly why she is nervous to tell me this. None of us was a huge fan of Joakim when we were kids. He wasn't rude or anything, he was just the wild kid, the kid who never managed to stay still. He grew up to be a little ruder though, only giving respect to the few people he finds worthy.

"You did?"

"Well, technically, we were a couple."

"You were?" I asked even more surprised than in my prior question.

"Yeah, but I broke up with him," she said and looked down on her hands.

"Why?"

"Because I was scared of my feelings for him."

"What were you scared of?" I asked, not in a rude way, but in a sympathetic way.

"I was scared of getting too attached," she said still looking at her hands.

"But you liked him, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why were you scared?"

I was trying to understand. With Alex, I was never scared of getting too attached to her, I was only scared that the feelings weren't mutual.

"You know how he is, I didn't want to catch feelings and then being disappointed."

"Okay, but did he give you any reason for feeling like you would end up being disappointed?"

"Not exactly, but I know he's been sleeping with somebody else already."

"Julia, you broke up with him. What do you expect him to do, wait around?"

When she didn't answer, I decided to say something more. "Julia, I know relationships can be hard, but you have to trust the person you are with. I say you should try again, but if he doesn't want to, you can't really blame him."

She laid her head on my shoulder. "Everything is going so well with you and Alex. I just want something half of what you too have."

"Yes, but I have always trusted Alex."

"Yeah, so you think I should go for it?"

"Yes, I do. And if he does anything that hurt you, you know what, he doesn't deserve you. But, I don't think you should focus so much on the fact that he might hurt you, focus on the fact that he might make you very happy."

"You make it sound so easy."

"I know it isn't, but you should try to get out there, okay?"

"Okay, thanks, Pipe."

"No problem," I said and gently kissed her on the forehead. You know, nothing special, we do that all the time, but just as I did it, Alex came into the dorm, and I know how it looked.

"Oh, so this is how it is then," she said before she turned in the door again.

I stood up from the bed. "No, Alex, this is not how you think."

"Alex!"

ALEX POV

"Beer me, Nichols," I said in an exhausted voice as I sat down on one of the barstools at the bar she is working at.

"Oh-oh, trouble in paradise?" she asked as she gave me my beer.

"Yeah…"

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I just wasn't prepared of how close they are," I said and took a sip from the beer.

"What kind of close? Like, you think there could be something more between them?"

"I don't know what I think, all I know is that I saw Piper kiss her."

"ON THE LIPS?" Nicky shouted so the whole bar heard her.

"Shhh, and no, it was on the forehead."

"Alex, on the forehead? I kiss my grandma in the forehead."

"It's not just that though. They have known each other from day one. They have even known each other longer than we have known each other. She knows stories of her. She knows her in a way I will never know. She knows her better than I do."

"Alex, you have been together for what five months? You can't expect to know everything about her this early, it would be boring," she said and laughed a little. "Piper chose you though. Piper chose to leave her best friend, to study at in another continent. You think she would have done that if there was anything more going on between them?"

I thought about it for a moment. Maybe I overreacted about Piper and Julia. Maybe there isn't anything going on between them. Maybe they are just really close as friends.

"Look, you might think she knows her better than you do, and maybe that is right, but you know Piper as the person she is today. You get to live your everyday life with her. You know what she wore Wednesday last week, you know if she goes to the gym one day, you know if she will be able to hang out or not. When something big happens, you are the first to know. Piper has to call Julia, for her to know. That girl is head over heels in love with you, you two love each other in a way Julia and Piper will never. So fix it."

I drank the last sip of my beer.

"Thanks, Nick," I said before I left the beer.

ALEX POV

I opened the door and went into the apartment. It was pitch dark in the apartment, so I turned on the lights, and I startled as I saw Piper rise from the couch.

"How did you get in here?" I asked as I took off my shoes.

"Your mom let me in," she said in an exhausted voice. She was standing in front of me fully clothed, in shoes and her winter jacket. I can't read her facial expressions, I don't know whether she is angry or just tired.

"Where is she now then?"

"She had to work," she said and looked down at the floor before she looked at me again and sighed. "Alex, what is going on?"

"I don't know, I have been feeling like you have pushed me away all week and then when I saw you kiss her…"

"On the forehead," Piper said tensely.

"I saw you kiss her, yes on the forehead, and I lost it."

She thought about it for a while. "She is my best friend, Alex. I kiss her on the forehead all the time. That is just what we do."

"I know that now."

"Alex, I can't be with someone who doesn't trust me. I can't be with someone who freaks out only because I want to hang out with my friends."

"I get that. Okay? I do, but I just got insecure. I hate that she knows you better than I do, and I really missed you this week." I said and looked down at the floor.

"Alex, don't think about that. You will get to know like she does, after a while. And, you know, I think I did push you a little away. I am sorry about that. I just really wanted to spend all my time with her, like we used to."

"I know, Piper. And you don't have to apologize. I should apologize. I am sorry I overreacted, I just hated the idea of you being with somebody else. I love you."

"I love you too, Al, but you have to trust me, and you have to be secure about the fact that I chose you."

"Yes, I know, I am sorry Pipes. Are we okay?"

"Yeah, we are okay," she said and gave me her beautiful smile.

"I hate fighting with you," I said and placed her hand in mine.

"Yeah, me too, but I have heard that makeup sex is great."

God, she knows how to set the mood.

"What about Julia?"

"Ah, her flight is delayed so I managed to sneak her into a lecture she found interesting."

"Okay, then, so you have what an hour?"

"It would have been longer if you hadn't taken so long time getting here."

I laughed and gently pressed my lips against her at the same time as I took off her winter jacket.

A/N: so I have two things to say.

I have tried to write this chapter for two weeks now, and I found it hard because I wanted some drama between them but I also didn't want something big to happen between them, so I settled with this. What do you guys think?

I have decided that I am going to take a little break from publishing. Mostly because that way I will be able to get ahead with chapters so I won't get writer's block, but also because I am currently in a writer's block. I have plans for later chapters, but I feel like the story isn't at the point for those things to happen yet, so I have to take some weeks or a month away. But I will be back.

Thanks!