"This sucks." Harry moaned as Piper folded her shirts.
"I know." She agreed.
"I mean do you have to go?" He asked.
"Unfortunately so. The British government would have a bit of a problem if I overstayed." She nodded.
"To hell with them. You should stay here with me! Just...live in my apartment forever." He said.
"And what would I do for money?" She questioned.
"Eh, you don't need that." He said nonchalantly waving his hand.
"Great. So we're going to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world on one income while I'm here illegally. Sounds like a great start to a new relationship; struggling and hiding from the law." She nodded in understanding. "Sounds like a good plan.
"Thanks! Thought of it myself." He smirked, smiling to himself as she broke into a fit of giggles.
"Coming to London was the best decision I ever made." Piper commented.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. This is a beautiful city, Holmes Chapel was pure magic, and I met you; which I'm incredibly thankful for." She smiled at him.
"I'm glad you came too. You truly have changed my life." He said.
"Now come on, don't get all soft and sappy on me now. I kinda liked having my own personal grinch who counteracted my wonderfully bubbly personality." She teased.
"Oi, I'm having a touching moment here." He frowned.
"Whenever you get upset, your accent gets thicker." She noted titling her head. "It gets thick a lot." She said. She closed her eyes with a sigh as she saw the wolfish smirk come over his face.
"Around you? Yes it does!" He grinned.
"I'm telling you, you need a muzzle." She muttered focusing back on her packing.
"Honestly I'm not even surprised that you're so organized. Nothing about you surprises me anymore." He said eyeing her.
"Would you be surprised to find that I was once suspended during high school?" She asked.
"You were?" Well he'd have to take that back, he could never, in a million years, imagine Piper getting suspended.
"Yup! For a whole week." She said. She wasn't proud of what she'd done but she'd do it again in a heartbeat.
"What did you do to get a week's suspension?"
"So this kid, Tommy Holmes, came up to me one day in the hallway. Out of the blue he grabs my hand and bends all my fingers back; for no reason. Of course I yell out in pain and he just laughs at me. I got so angry that I reached out, grabbed his hand, and bent all his fingers back in retaliation. Just so happened that as I was doing that a teacher walked by. We both got sent to the principals office and because of my track record of good behavior I only got the week. Tommy got 3 weeks, one of out of school suspension and the other two were in house suspension where he had to spend all day in the detention room." She explained. Thankfully her parents had understood where she was coming from and weren't too upset with her, her mom had always taught her to stand up for herself, and Andy was ready to beat little Tommy up. Piper had to remind him that doing so wouldn't make anything any better. Andy let it go with mutterings of calling her a hippie and too forgiving.
"Good for you. Sounds like he was being a proper dickhead." Harry grumbled. If he had seen anyone bending Piper's fingers back he wouldn't have hesitated before knocking their lights out.
"He was. He was also known as the school bully, constantly knocked kids into lockers all the time, stole food from people in the cafeteria, mouthed off to teachers a lot." She listed off. "Typical high school shenanigans."
"Who were you in high school?" He asked curiously. He tried imagining a teenage Piper and imagined she'd be pretty similar to how she is now.
"I was...I was nobody." She said after a moment. "I don't mean that in a depressing way, I just mean I didn't fit into a particular group. I guess I floated around, had friends in were in different cliques, but I just kinda was there. Wasn't popular wasn't really picked on. Slipped through the cracks." She shrugged.
"I see." Harry nodded. He understood what she meant and he wasn't surprised by her answer. Piper seemed to do what she wanted to do and didn't care what someone else may have thought about it.
"I'm gonna guess you were the...popular class clown. Friends with everyone, girls fell over their feet for your attention, made jokes...was a smart mouth with the teachers?" She guessed. She remembered what Mary had said about how he was incredibly popular with the girls and how some would go to the bakery just to talk to him.
"I was also quite studious, thank you." He protested. "More than just good looks."
"Of course. You are incredibly smart, but we both know some teenage girls don't care about smarts, others do, but some just want the good looking guy." She pointed out.
"But you're right. I was the class clown type. Had a lot of friends but it helped that they were also my neighbors. The downside of a small town." He shook his head. He saw the same people all day every day and it was one of the main reasons he made the move to London. Working independently meant he could work from anywhere and he often took advantage of that.
"Yes small towns can be both a good thing and a bad thing." Piper agreed.
"Are you done packing?" He asked. "As much fun as it is to watch you, I'd rather spend time cuddling on the couch and watching awful TV." He pouted.
"Just have to make sure I have everything packed up. Don't want to leave anything behind." Piper said looking around. She spied a sweater of hers balled up next to Harry and made a move towards it. She stopped short when she saw him slightly flinch as if to shield it.
"Is that my sweater?" She asked.
"I may have switched one when you were in the bathroom." He mumbled. Piper raised an eyebrow and looked in her suitcase and saw one of his sweaters and a couple shirts packed in her suitcase. "This way we'll have to meet back up to return our clothes." He said.
"As if I have to make an excuse to see you." She said.
"Just making sure." He said sadly.
"Don't be too sad. We've got all sorts of ways to communicate; phone calls, FaceTime, email, text messages, and even old fashion letters. You're determined to make this work and I'm determined to make this work. We'll figure it out." Piper encouraged him. Harry pursed his lips with a nod and gathered her in his arms.
"I know. You're completely right, it's just...all those things are great, but it's not the same. I won't be able to gather you in my arms through a computer screen. I won't be able to smirk at you through a text message." He said.
"I know it's not ideal, but it's what we've got." She said. "Until we can figure something out, it's what we've got." She said burrowing into his sweater.
"We'll figure it out." He said echoing what she said.
"Besides, we've still got all of tomorrow together." She pointed out. She wasn't leaving just yet and she didn't want her last day with him to be spent being sad. She could be sad on the plane ride home.
"Can I take you to the airport?" He whispered.
"Of course." She nodded.
"Can I hide in your suitcase?"
"It'll probably be awfully cold 30,000 feet in the air under the plane." She pointed out.
"I'd suffer through it, for you." He shrugged. She laughed and pressed a kiss to his lips.
"I'd ask you to help me finish packing, but I saw the folding job you did in your own suitcase when we left your mom's house." She shook her head.
"Grade A folding that was." He said.
"Maybe for a 4 year old." She commented.
"Rude. Are you always going to be this mean to me?" He pouted.
"Probably. Can't let you get too comfortable." She smiled up at him.
"Cuddling on the couch. Now." He said rolling his eyes and tugging her towards the couch.