PIPER'S P.O.V.

That first week was more bearable than I had expected. Riley and I skipped our classes that Monday after our goodbyes and spent it at Disney World on our own. Waiting in lines was so much worse after not having to. By dinner time, we were ready to go home. The next few days were a blur, filled with lectures and science labs that I tried my hardest to focus on. Harry texted me as often as he could, usually for a few hours while he was on the bus in between naps. I felt bad that he hadn't slept much the weekend he was with us. Surely, his weekends off are usually spent sleeping as much as possible and now he was more exhausted than ever. We FaceTimed three times that week, usually for only about ten minutes, but it was still nice to see his face. He did look tired. There were dark circles under his eyes, his face looked paler than normal, and his eyes were bloodshot. Whenever I told him he should go to bed, he always insisted on talking to me instead, but it worried me that he was so over-worked.
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"Hey, Pip, what classes do you have this morning?" I had to turn my hair dryer off to hear her better.

What day was it? Thursday. Riley looked like she had some sort of a plan up her sleeve.

"Umm. Marine, Trig, and English. But, I'm going to lunch with my mom so I'm skipping English. Why?"

"I was kind of hoping that you might skip a class or something and go shopping with me. Maybe a little retail therapy?"

"Well, how about you come to lunch with us? My mom would love to see you, I'm sure and we're eating at the mall. We can shop after."

"Perfect! I'll meet you hear after noon and we can ride together."

I nodded in agreement at Riley's suggestion and continued to blow dry my hair. I had almost made it through the first week of no Harry, but I had a feeling that the weekend would be the worst. School was a pretty good distraction and it gave me something to do, besides search Tumblr for new pictures of him or texting him. The regularity of our conversations was reasonable and didn't make it much harder. I got my daily dose of Harry, but not so much that I was unable to do anything else the rest of the day. The fact that we were both so busy and had our best friends with us helped a lot. I was excited to see my mom that day. She could finally hear about Harry and feel like she was included in my life more.

When I left for class, I had some extra time, so I walked to the Starbucks on campus to get some caffeine. The guy standing behind the counter looked familiar but I couldn't tell from where. Probably a class, but I never paid attention to anyone.

"Hey, you're Piper, right?"

"Umm, yeah. I'm sorry, I don't know your name, but you look familiar."

"Yeah, I'm James. I sit behind you in Psych."

"Oh! Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm oblivious most of the time."

He chuckled and turned his gaze to the counter shyly.

"It's alright, I sit behind you, so it's not like you're staring at the back of my head every Monday and Wednesday."

We both laughed and the girl behind me cleared her throat, indicating that there was an impatient line of people behind me.

"Oh, sorry. Umm, Venti upside down soy iced caramel macchiato, please. Hold the whip."

"Damn, I guess you've got the bases covered."

I started to hand him a ten dollar bill but he shook his hand at it.
"It's on me. I'll see you Monday."

"Thanks! See you Monday, have a great weekend!"

He smiled and looked to the impatient blonde, who was now rolling her eyes. Maybe if I paid attention to my classmates I'd have more friends at school. I loved having Riley, but she had other friends that she went to parties with and I just stayed at home. Sure, she always tried to get me to go, but it just wasn't my scene. There had to be other people that liked to watch movies or go to a nice dinner, right? James was nice, but I could already foresee Harry having a fit if I started hanging out with some guy I just met. I'm sure he hung out in a group.

"Hey, James. What are you doing this weekend?"

He had just switched with one of the baristas making drinks.

"Nothing planned yet, but my friends and I usually just hang out. You should join us!"

"I'd love to! Here..." I wrote my number on a napkin and handed it to him, "text me if you guys do anything. See ya!"

He shoved the napkin into his pocket and smiled kindly, quickly returning to his work. I grabbed my coffee and left the shop, trying to move quickly to Marine Biology. I instantly regretted the way I gave James my number. I had a boyfriend. One who didn't get to see me often. How would he feel about what I just did? I had completely innocent intentions, but I'm sure it looked differently. Sure, he was a handsome guy, but I really just wanted to make new friends to distract me from not seeing Harry all the time. I'd have to talk to him about it later so that he didn't feel like I was hiding something.

My classes went pretty smoothly but I was relieved to walk back to my dorm and go to lunch.

"Ri!! I'm back, are you ready?"

She appeared in her doorway and grabbed her purse in a hurry. She was dressed to the nines, heels and all.

"Really? I'm wearing sweats! What the hell?"

"What? My class was cancelled today so I decided to get spruced up."

"Well, you look great, now come on."

We locked the door behind us, took the elevator downstairs, and strolled to the car.
The drive to the mall was dreadful, lunchtime traffic clogging every street we had to take. Parking was just as bad so I decided to spend five dollars for valet. It was worth it. My mom was waiting in front of the restaurant on a bench.

"Hi, girls! It's so good to see you!" She took turns wrapping us both in bear hugs, squeezing me a bit too tight.

"You too, mom. Come on, let's get a table, I'm starved."

After we sat down in the small Italian restaurant, mom looked at me with a toothy grin. I knew what she wanted. Details.

"Alright, mom! You got me here, I'll talk."

She clapped her hands together and folded them on the table, full attention on me.
"Alright, well... We met them at their meet and greet before the concert and long story short, I ended up giving Harry my phone number in an act of stupidity that ended up working in my behalf. He sent me a text, inviting us to their hotel and we went. Liam and Riley hit it off right away..." My mom turned to Riley, wondering who Liam was. She pulled out her phone to show pictures but I stopped her, "Pictures later, let me finish!" They both looked at me with a 'well, someone's being a bitch' face but I ignored it. "Anyway, Harry and I... spent that night together," I hadn't planned on sharing those details with my mom, "and they took us to the beach the next day. When they left, we kept in touch and when they were here this last weekend, they stayed at our place. We ended up hiding out because a mob of girls tried to break down the door, at Becca's command, I'm sure." Riley nodded in agreement with my facts. "Then, we went to Disney on Sunday, hence the pictures, that I still can't believe circulated so quickly, and then the left. They're still on tour so it'll be a while between when we can see them." I let out a long breath after my speech.

"Well, I can't wait to meet him. He was quite the charmer on the phone."

"Yeah, about that, what did you two talk about?"

"Nothing! Just wanted to make sure he had decent intentions, that's all!"

She was hiding something.

"Well, thanks for not bringing up Matt."

Riley shook her head, "You really need to tell him, Piper. Especially after..."

Her voice trailed off as she realized that we were not in appropriate company for that secret.

"After what?"

"Nothing, mom, I promise."

"Okay. Well, when are you going to bring him around? You're father and I would really like to meet him."

"I don't know, I don't want to scare him off!"

"Thanks!"

"No, not because of you. Just meeting parents in general. Isn't that kind of... serious?"

"Not always! Bring him to your brother's party!"

"No, mom, that's familial overload. I can't do that to him."

She seemed to get the point because she reached for the wine that was freshly placed in front of her and took a swig instead of saying anything more. Thank god.

Notes

Hello <3 keep the comments coming, please. You guys are wonderful subscribers!! x I didn't do a song for this chapter because I don't know if anyone listens to them so let me know if I should do it again!