It won't keep us apart

Chapter 15: Tell me why

"Tell me why

Ain't nothin' but a heartache

Tell me why

Ain't nothin' but a mistake"

Piper's POV
Two nights ago, was a fun, but tiring night at prom.

Finn acted as if we came to prom together as dates. He's a sweet and caring guy, but I'm not up for any relationship stuff now. I had a great night dancing with him and all, but who knows what the future could bring?

"Piper! The popcorn's done!" a voice calls from the kitchen.

I snuggle down even further under my fluffy blanket as I watch the tv screen.

"Come over to the couch and sit with me," I call back. "Oh, and don't forget the popcorn, Richelle," I quickly add with a chuckle.

Richelle's POV
Carrying the popcorn bag in my arms, I run out of the kitchen and into the living room.

I'm staying at Piper's for the night since someone else chose to cancel their plans with me at the last minute...

It's kinda complicated to explain and I don't really want to talk about it.

So, I decided to hang out with Piper. After all, I was going to come to hers after I had dinner. Instead, I went out with her for shopping and dinner.

Piper's eyes dart to me, then to the popcorn.

"About time!" she grins and moves over to make room.

As I sit beside her, I pass her the bag and drape the blanket over myself. When Piper opens the bag, the strong waft of butter makes its way to my nose. I reach over to grab a handful of popcorn and popped one into my mouth. It's slightly salty, but still warm. I finally settle back on the couch and focus my eyes on the screen.

Although my eyes remain focussed on the tv, my mind drifts off to somewhere else. I can't stop thinking about the last few days. It's been hard for me, but I'm trying my best to understand that Elliot's career is really important.

Like yesterday, I was going to go over to his place so we could hang out for the morning. However, he called me to tell me that his rehearsal got shifted to an earlier time. I was a little upset that his rehearsal had to stop him from spending time with me. Elliot asked me whether I wanted to have dinner with him tomorrow (well, it was supposed to be today). I agreed to that, but now I don't know how to feel about his 'constantly shifting' schedule. Surely there's a time we can be together without any interruptions from his work.

"Richelle."

"Richelle? Richelle? Earth to Richelle," the voice repeats again, and I snap from my daze.

Still hazy from my thoughts, I reply, "Yes Piper?"

She crosses her arms in front of the blanket. "You're not watching the movie."

"I am watching," I insist, indicating to the tv in front us.

"Then tell me why I had to call your name a couple of times until you responded?" Piper questions, arching an eyebrow in my direction.

I divert my eyes from her with a nervous smile creeping up on my face. Oh no. I don't know how to answer her. She got me there.

"Well, if you wanna talk, go ahead and talk," she sighs.

I look back at Piper, who's watching me expectantly.

"Where do I start?" I ask. There are so many things I could tell her, but I don't know how. She does know that I'm with Elliot.

"How about tell me what you've been thinking about lately?" she suggests.

"About that, it's mainly about Elliot," I say without hesitation.

"Just gotta point this out to you, I'm not the one to ask about relationship advice," she holds up her hands in surrender.

"It's not about that, it's just that I've been feeling like he hasn't been hanging out with me lately," I bite my lip nervously.

"Oh. What about prom? He was there," Piper says with a small smile.

I shake my head in response. "He had to go early for this play he was an understudy for."

"Okay... By any chance, did you two plan to hang out after prom?"

"I'll tell you what: I asked him the next day whether I could go over to his place for the morning," Piper's eyes go wide.

"No, no, not like that Piper!" I laugh and gently nudge her with my elbow.

A tinge of red rises up her cheeks. "Sorry!"

"Continuing on... he had a morning rehearsal so he suggested that we could go out for dinner today instead."

Piper frowns. "I guess that you guys didn't end up having dinner together? Since you and I had dinner earlier."

"Yeah clearly we didn't – and no, I mean him and I," I hastily add. "Originally, I was going out with him before coming over to yours."

"Mm I figured that out," she mumbles.

"Wait a second, what has he been telling you every time he couldn't make it to something you guys planned?" Piper asks, her eyes firmly focussed on mine.

I quickly recount some of the recent excuses that he's made. Yep, all the same.

Keeping a steady voice under her gaze, I say, "The usual: dance."

Piper studies me with a sceptical look. "Are you sure about that?"

"What? Yes I'm sure," I reply, feeling horrified.

We sit in a moment of silence, our words left hanging in the air surrounding us.

After a moment, she says, "I mean, you don't know what he's doing for sure."

"Lately, I don't know how I feel about him anymore," I sigh, withdrawing my eyes from the television.

She picks up the bag of popcorn and offers it to me.

"No thanks, I'm good," I give the bag back to her even though it was nearly finished.

What if Piper's right? He could be sneaking around behind my back. Elliot has more spare time than I do by the looks of it. I've got rehearsals five times a week at the studio. Whereas he is either practising for some play he is in or might be in, or working on one of many auditions he could have – which surely doesn't occupy most of his time. I don't know, and I'm not sure whether I'm willing to accept this yet.

Piper sighs wearily and reaches out for the remote and switches the tv off.

She turns to me and says, "I guess we'll call this a night then?"

I try to bring myself to smile at her, but I can't bring myself to do it. All of this is a lot to take in.

"Okay."

A/N: This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I decided to put the next part into the next chapter.

Are the things about Elliot true after Piper and Richelle's conversation? The doubt had already started creeping into Richelle's mind not long after prom, but hearing that he could be spending time with someone else takes everything up to a whole new level.