CHAPTER ELEVEN.
PIPER DROVE EDITH and Willa home, John B and JJ escorting them in the Twinkie so Piper could get back to the Château without walking home by herself in the dark. After that, though, they passed out in random corners until the next morning when Kie and Pope pulled around to test out the ROV they managed to steal from the salvage yard. In the process of Piper pulling together a pathetic breakfast of five glasses of Carnation's Breakfast Essentials mixed with water instead of milk and half-ripe bananas, JJ, once again, gave Piper a rundown of how exactly he managed to escape Bobby the security guard. Piper fawned when it was obvious JJ wanted her to, but she knew she couldn't trust exactly how much of his story was based on real life versus what he made up in his head.
Then, Piper pulled on a red bikini in the bathroom before following her friends out of the back door to the dock where Pope was getting the ROV set up correctly. Kie and John B were standing on the edge of the part of the dock that didn't have a fence keeping people from falling into the water, while JJ was leaning over Pope's shoulder, watching him fiddle with the equipment and asking unnecessary questions that Pope took in stride. So, John B pushed Kie into the water, and when she resurfaced, spluttering, she reached her hand up for John B to take. He knew what she was doing—they had been friends for too long not to—but he reached his hand out anyway, and she gripped his wrist and pulled him in after her.
Piper did a front flip off of the dock and into the water once the space was clear of John B and Kie.
The three of them treaded water. Well— John B and Piper treaded water. Kie was holding onto Piper's shoulders like she was sure they'd all chicken fight later. Meanwhile, JJ lowered the ROV camera into the water. John B swam up to it first, tapping on the lens gently. Pope and JJ bickered. Kie let go of Piper and they pushed themselves underneath the water together so they could swim around the ROV and inspect it. Piper made faces at the camera until the muffled laughter filtered through the water from JJ and Pope above.
John B swam upward, and Kie and Piper followed suit.
"Hey," John B started, shaking out his wet hair like a dog, "once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim."
"It's such bullshit," JJ complained. "Why do we have to do that?"
"Well, there is maritime salvage law," Pope said, standing up to stand by JJ at the edge of the dock, forearms leaning against the supporting beam.
"Excavating the ocean floor for shits and gigs is a little bit illegal," Piper said.
"I know, I know," JJ said. "It's just lawyers aren't cheap, bro."
"Hyperinflation, JJ. Nothin' is."
"As soon as they see the footage," John B said, "they'll work for a comp."
Kie blew water out of her mouth, "How do you know all that?"
John B shrugged, but his gesture was swallowed by the waves, "'Cause my dad said it, like, a million times."
"Fair."
Pope gestured down to the rope of the ROV. "This rope is, like, really long. In the wrong weather, it could get pushed around."
"Then we'll go out at dead calm," John B concluded, taking up the rear behind Kie and Piper as they swam for the ladder.
Kie looked over her shoulder as a thunder rumbled in the distance. "Slack tide."
"So now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather," Pope said. The five of them turned around, looking for the cloud responsible for the rain on their parade. They spotted it: great and gray and giant and a total buzzkill. "And today is not that day."
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AFTER THE TESTING of the ROV outside the Château, the five of them split up with the intention of reconvening at the beach to surf at sunset. JJ and Pope went off to help run groceries for Heyward, Kie had to pick up a shift at The Wreck, John B was feeling mopey after losing his job, and Piper wanted to jaunt about the marina, maybe pop on over to the mainland for some good, old-fashioned vandalism. So, after pulling shorts and another one of John B's Hawaiian shirts over her swimsuit, Piper took the afternoon to be alone.
With a can of spray paint in her backpack, the cool breeze of a potential impending storm blowing causing her shirt to billow out behind her, JJ's red baseball cap on her head, and blackout polarized sunglasses over her eyes, Piper knew the world was her oyster. This day would be hers.
She found peace at the dock by the charters. It was boring, but not in a mind-numbing way. She sat at the end of the dock, her arms crossed over the railing and her legs hanging over the edge, as she watched families of tourists and business partners climb on boats, teenagers from the Cut carrying tackle boxes and fishing rods styrofoam cups from the bait shop trailing behind them.
"Piper!" A familiar voice called out behind her. The voice's steps were quiet and steady as she walked up toward Piper. Piper turned so only one of her legs was hanging off the dock, and the other she drew up to her chest, so she could rest her chin. Edith brushed a piece of her curly brown hair out of her face after having escaped her ponytail. "Do you have time to go to the mainland today?"
Piper grinned. "If you're inviting, it's a date."
Edith did not. In fact, her face, which was already quasi-neutral, fell into one of reprimand. "Piper, be serious."
"What? I'm an optimist!"
Edith didn't flinch.
"Yeah, I have time," Piper admitted. She pulled the ferry ticket she had bought when she first arrived at the jetty after dropping JJ and Pope off at Heyward's out of her pocket. "I was planning on going to the Ford dealership, finding where all the Tauruses are parked and spray painting 'clit' over the word 'Taurus' on each car."
"Wow, you have a mouth on you," Edith said. Her eyebrows shot up.
"It's good at other things, too," Piper said.
She was enjoying this way too much. But Edith's expression pinched in a way that, though familiar, had something unfamiliar about it, and Piper didn't know what to make of that. Usually, it was just annoyance, and Piper loved annoying Edith. But this wasn't just annoyance, and Piper didn't know what to do with that. Did Piper really dislike Edith? Yes, sure, to an extent. But, only because Edith has so obviously disliked her this entire time, so what was Piper supposed to do but match Edith's quite clear disdain?
"That's... so interesting," Edith said after a moment. "I was wondering if you wanted to go dress shopping with Willa and me."
That was out of left field. Piper stared blankly up at Edith. She stammered for a second before finally landing on a really smooth: "I would kind of rather die."
"Right, so Harry and Inez want you to come to Midsummers with us as thanks for all you do, or whatever, and that means dress shopping with Willa and me today," Edith bounced back. Knocking Piper off-kilter was good for her, apparently.
"Okay, yeah, whatever," Piper said, rubbing the plateau between her eyebrows with her index finger, massaging away her headache. She just wanted to be alone. "Except I really don't think you get how much I don't want to go shopping with you. Like at all."
"I don't really care, yeah? My parents want you to go, and they'll take it as my personal failure if you don't."
"So I have no choice?"
"You'll get free food and booze. It's an open bar." Edith shrugged. An olive branch. A compromise.
Piper thought about, really exaggerating her brainstorming the pros and cons. "Well... I suppose it won't be so bad. But I need to be back here by sundown today. If this dress shopping thing is an all-day affair, I might actually die. And, I'm much too young and much too beautiful for that. Also, I have plans."
Edith's expression quirked. "With your gang of trespassers?"
"You and Willa seemed to enjoy my gang of trespassers last night." Piper smirked. "But, yeah. We're surfing at sunset."
Edith looked passive, and done with Piper which made her wonder how exactly Edith was going to fare dress shopping with her all afternoon. "How... scenic."
"You know us." Piper's face flickered with faux-peppiness as she stood up. "Manicuring our Instagrams to oblivion."
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WILLA LINKED HER elbow with Piper's and pulled her into a boutique off of the pier. All of Piper's worries about having to spend another afternoon with Edith when she's experiencing all of these non-annoyance related emotions were wiped clean when they met Willa at the ticket seller for the ferry. And her worries didn't resurface because Willa didn't stop bouncing out of her seat. Apparently, Willa had been waiting for the opportunity to make Piper over forever. Piper was more or less resigned to the fact that Willa was about to go fashion-zilla.
Piper picked up a pair of earrings from a revolving display. She flipped the tag over to see the price, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Willa, even the earrings are out of my budget."
Willa pulled her wallet out of her purse and waved it around, "I've got Dad's credit card!"
Piper sighed, "So this was a family-orchestrated event? To get me in heels?"
"Dad's a shopaholic!" Willa said, her excitement bubbling over. "Mom always says 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'"
Edith, who Willa had also linked arms with so she was dragging both of them along, rolled her eyes. "Everyone says that, Willa. It's a very common saying."
One of the workers in the boutique approached them. "Good afternoon, ladies. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Willa looked at the lady's name tag, "Ms. Lucille, I'm Willa. We're looking for a cocktail dress for Piper, here." Lucille nodded and smiled. "We'll need a dressing room and a lot of time."
"Sure thing." And Lucille turned on her block heel.
"Okay, Piper," Willa said. Piper had never seen her so focused. "What's your best color?"
"Well, my favorite color is green."
"That's a different question," Willa said. "What's your best color? Like, to compliment your skin tone?"
Piper shrugged helplessly. Willa nodded to herself. "This'll take longer than expected."
Piper was only allowed a quiet, mumbled, "Jesus," before Willa sat her in a plush armchair that was stationed in front of a dressing room in the very back of the boutique. While Piper sat there, twiddling her thumbs, Willa, Edith, and Lucille split the shop in thirds, hunting down dresses for Piper to try on.
Not even twenty minutes later, Willa shoved a rack's worth of hangers at Piper and pointed her to the dressing room. So, Piper pushed the heavy velvet curtain that blocked the small cubicle from the main room of the boutique aside and dropped all of the dresses on a hook. Piper had never been in the dressing room of a clothes shop before. She either wore JJ and John B's clothes or clothes she bought from a secondhand store and just hoped would fit her fine. And, Piper didn't think all dressing rooms looked as extravagant as this one, but for someone's first time in a dressing room it was a bit much.
For someone who lived in the water, Piper felt incredibly out of her depth.
Beside the velvet curtain, there was an upholstered footrest in the corner and a full length mirror with a golden, decorative frame. Piper flicked through the dresses quickly and decided that she should avoid looking at the tags for her own emotional wellbeing. Frankly, she wasn't even sure where to start, but she was already there and she couldn't turn back now, so she pulled the first dress off the hanger and changed into it.
It was a dark color, but in the light, Piper couldn't tell if it was blue or black. There were tan buttons running down the center from the top to the bottom of the skirt that ended just at her ankles, and Piper got the impression that it was supposed to be tight to her body and then flare out once it hit her waist, but it looked saggy.
"Piper," Willa called and whistled. "Let's see it!"
So, Piper pushed the curtain aside and stepped out into the main room. Edith and Willa were sitting in side-by-side chairs that matched the footrest inside of the dressing room. Willa looked at Piper scrutinizingly while Edith looked up from her phone disinterestedly, smiled tightly, and looked back down.
If only Willa's feedback had been so kind.
"What's with the buttons?" Willa said, beckoning Piper forward. "You look like a pregnant lady at her baby shower."
Edith snorted in her attempt to avoid laughing out loud. Piper, for her part, took it in stride, turned around on the heel of her beat-up Converse and disappeared behind the curtain.
The next dress in the lineup was deep red and skin tight and hit Piper mid-calf. When she walked out this time, she felt like she was waddling.
Willa experienced many emotions before speaking this time, and they all blended into an unflattering expression on her face. "You look like you spend all your time with a pimp. Piper, that would make you the—"
"No, I get what you're implying."
Edith looked up for more than a second this time, presumably to gauge what exactly Willa was implying. Her eyes caught on Piper looking incredibly uncomfortable, but when Piper saw Edith looking at her, she wrapped her arms around her torso. She was wearing more clothes than she had been when she walked inside the boutique, but she felt exponentially more naked.
"—off duty prostitute."
Piper's eyes widened and her hands curled into fists. "Thank you, Willa!"
The next two dresses were equally unimpressive, and the only thing really memorably about them was Willa's succeeding commentary:
"Too Wednesday Addams."
Then,
"Too 'Picnic, bitch.'"
Before Piper went back behind the curtain to try on the next dress, Edith stood up, said she was thirsty and saw a gas station down the road, and excused herself.
The next dress up was an off-white sort of cream color, lacey, and the skirt (which when Piper twirled extended for miles) ended just at Piper's knees. It had spaghetti straps, but it somehow still managed to swallow her whole.
Willa's opinion was short, succinct, and in-line with all of her other comments: "What is this? Your First Communion? Next!"
The next dress was a black, ankle-length number, but still equally unsatisfying. It had puffy sleeves and a floral pattern, and the sweetheart neckline gathered in the center of Piper's chest with a bow.
Willa agreed.
"You look like you're wearing my Great-Aunt Esther's tablecloth."
Piper nodded, turned on her heel, and her hand involuntarily grabbed the next hanger. As Piper was making another change, a pang of isolation struck her chest. Although Harry and Inez did a lot for her, more than really any employer would, Piper still felt a barrier of difference between herself and Willa and Edith. And, here, away from the island, it was still standing strong and wide. Willa was having fun doing this. Piper could see it. Piper was only here because she had agreed in an aloof, go with the flow sort of way, but the more she tried on dresses, the more she wanted to go home. She couldn't imagine Midsummers being any better than this. Even with Kie and Pope there.
But, she tried on the next dress. It was similar in cut to some of the others, but the material was a shade of periwinkle and it flowed in between her fingers like water. This time, when she looked in the mirror and adjusted the shoulder straps, she felt different. Good, different. She looked different than she usually did, but she recognized herself in the mirror. Even if Piper's energy battery wasn't low, she knew this would be the dress to choose.
She still needed Willa's opinion, though.
So, she braved the world outside of the dressing room. She held her hands out in a presentation-type way, and waited for Willa's verdict.
A very serious looking Willa looked at Piper. She blinked. Then, smiled and nodded approvingly. "This is the one."
Piper was trying to bite down a grin. She wasn't sure if she was really happy that they had decided that this was the one, or that dress shopping was finally over. "You think?"
"Give it a spin," Willa spun her pointer finger in the air, dictating what she wanted Piper to do. So, Piper walked in a little circle. "Yep. You look good. You look comfortable. This is it."
Piper's posture caved, "Oh, thank God."
"Don't thank Him, yet, Piper," Willa said. Her conspiring smirk that she had when she talked with Lucille was back. "We still have to decide on shoes."
Piper tried not to let it burst her bubble. Instead, she pointed to the first shoes in sight. Plain black sandals with a block heel and thin buckle around the ankle. Willa looked and tilted her head, studying them appraisingly.
"Actually, those aren't bad."
"Oh, thank God."
When Lucille finished ringing them up (Piper pointedly covered her ears and closed her eyes when Lucille announced the total), Willa linked elbows with Piper once again, and steered them toward the door. They were greeted with fresh air, free of linen air freshener and full of the salt of the sea.
Turning around the corner of the row of shops, was Edith, with a cup tray in one hand. She waved at Willa and Piper with the other. When they met in the middle, Edith started handing out drinks. Piper took her ICEE-labeled cup, but after she took a sip of hers, she stopped to stare straight at Edith.
"Half cherry, half cola. You remembered."
Edith adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder. "Well, you just told me yesterday, so..."
"Thanks, Edith," Piper smiled. It was friendly. "Seriously."
"Of course," Edith smiled back. "So, do I get to see the winning dress?"
Willa snatched the bag out of Piper's hand and held it far away from Edith. "No way! It's a surprise."
✧.*ೃ༄ [ x. author note ]
another shorter chapter, but we have more willa & piper friendship content because they are so fun to me but this is so unedited it's not even funny
okay so. .... u don't get to see the magical winning dress yet! you'll find out at midsummers like edith! however, here are the not-so-winning dresses piper tried on (with willa's stunning commentary of course🤩🤩🤩)
also i do not think these dresses are ugly, i just picked photos that i could talk shit about.
i cant believe i forgot to sign off my last author note so now u get it twice to make up for it
yours, lindsey
yours, lindsey