PIPER
Every iconic teen movie my dads ever made me watch prepared me for the moment a boy would throw pebbles at my bedroom window in the middle of the night. I just never thought it would be me throwing the rocks and at Gabe Rafferty’s window at four in the morning. I guess it helps that to throw rocks at Gabe’s window, I only had to open mine, and that instead of rocks I was throwing plastic beads from a beading kit my aunt Sylvia bought me because she thinks I’m still eleven years old.
“Psst, Gabe,” I hissed. “Psst!”
A light flickered on in Gabe’s room as his silhouette stumbled out of bed. After a minute, he pushed his bedroom window open for me like he had so many times before.
“He’s sorry,” Gabe swore for the hundredth time as he rubbed at his eyes and put his black-rimmed glasses on. “What time even is it?”
“Yes, I’ve heard him use that word many times, but I don’t think he understands the meaning,” I said as I leaned out the window into the dewy night air. “He can be as sorry as he wants,” I told Gabe. “It’s over for us. It was over the moment he even thought about sticking his tongue down Carolyn Daniels’s throat.”
Gabe’s full lower lip turned into a frown. “This blows. It’s the start of our senior year. We’re supposed to be having the time of our lives. All of us together.”
“Don’t pretend like I’m the one who completely ruined our friend group here, Gabe.”
“Well, if you’re so dead-set on not forgiving him, why exactly are you throwing shit at my window like an angry squirrel on a mission?”
I scoffed as I sat in the frame of the window with one leg hanging over the side. “There is nothing ‘squirrely’ about me, Gabe!”
He yawned. “Out with it, Piper.”
“I know that you knew.”
Gabe Rafferty was never a good liar from the time we were six and he tried to cover for me and take the credit for the time I pooped in the pool at Victoria Treviño’s birthday party. Mrs. Treviño saw right through his round, flushed cheeks then just like I did right now.
“I knew it!” I quietly shrieked. “Gabe Rafferty, you little piece of shit. You knew! You knew this whole time!”
“That’s not fair,” he said. “You know all my tells.”
“Calling the full-body reaction you have when you’re nearly caught in a lie your ‘tells’ would be generous at best. Your whole head turns into a flashing billboard.”
“I’m feeling very victimized here,” Gabe said as he squeezed his large frame through his open window. His body hit the grass with a thud, and he groaned as he stood. He used to keep a wooden crate between our two houses, so he could use it as a boost, but now he was so tall he could just lean right into my window like some giraffe at a drive-through safari.
“Gabe, I’m serious. How could you not tell me Travis was cheating?”
He ducked his head through my window and clasped both hands in a prayer. “He said it was a one-time thing, Pipe. I swear. Besides, they had that onstage kiss … I figured it couldn’t be that much different.”
“Well, it obviously was,” I said, trying and failing to disguise the hurt in my voice.
Gabe would always belong to Travis first. In the same way that Maisie would always be mine, but Maisie was a year older and already well into her semester at the University of North Texas. The four of us had been friends since our bikes had four wheels instead of two. And even though his loyalty would belong to Travis before anyone else, it still stung to know that Gabe—sweet, reliable, chronically funny next-door neighbor Gabe—had known about Travis’s transgressions and kept me in the dark this whole time. And now with Maisie gone, Travis turning out to be a cheating dirtbag, and Gabe covering for him, I had no one.
Tears began to well up as my chest tightened with a new kind of pain.
“Oh, Pipe, don’t cry.” He pulled himself up and ungracefully slithered
through my window. There was a fifty-fifty chance my dads would hear and come crashing through my door to defend me from an intruder.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of him there on my floor, but it came out like a sob. “What are you doing? We have school in like three hours.”
“You’re the one who started it by throwing rocks or nuts or something at my window.”
“Beads. They were friendship bracelet beads. And don’t worry, I’ll pick them up before Ziggy eats them,” I told him, referring to his mom’s Pomeranian, as he stood up.
He took a step closer and pulled me against his chest for the kind of hug that felt like a good wringing-out. Like Gabe’s whole body was a sponge and he was soaking up all the pain and all the heartbreak.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice raspy and muffled against my hair.
“Good,” I said with a pout before taking a step back, so I could look him right in the eyes. “Good. Because you owe me.”
Suspicion passed over his face like a cloud. Just like I knew Gabe couldn’t tell a lie, he knew I held on to a grudge like it was a life raft. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about. You let me go to all those Bye Bye Birdie rehearsals like a total fool. I’m literally Carolyn’s dresser! I have to help the girl my ex-boyfriend of three years
cheated on me with in and out of her costume so she can just go onstage and kiss him all over again.”
Gabe winced. “Travis does make a good Albert Peterson.”
Travis had explained to both of us several times during the lead-up to auditions that Conrad Birdie wasn’t actually the best role in Bye Bye Birdie. Why name a whole musical after a character that’s not even the star of the show?
“Could we just stop treating Travis like a god for a freaking minute?” I asked. “Yes, he makes a great Albert What’s-His-Face, because he’s good at everything. Including sneaking around! But not good enough to not get caught and humiliate me in front of the whole school. And you weren’t good enough to at least warn me!”
He exhaled heavily. “Okay, okay. What do you want me to do?”
“Easy. Be my boyfriend,” I said simply. I didn’t actually know if revenge was one of the stages of grief, but it only took me a few days of tears before I decided I wanted to get back at Travis and I wanted to make it hurt.
Gabe’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red as he wiped the back of his hand over his brows, and it was very clear that just the thought of seeing me as a romantic interest made him terribly uncomfortable. It was a real confidence boost to see one of my oldest friends find me so deeply disgusting. “W—what? What do you mean?”
“Not my real boyfriend,” I clarified as I took a step closer, peering up at him. “Just my fake boyfriend for a few days.”
“A, this is an awful idea. B, can this at least wait until next week when Bye Bye Birdie is done?”
“No,” I told him. “In fact, that’s exactly why it can’t wait. So what do you say, Gabe? Will you be my boyfriend?”
GABE
According to Piper, boyfriends picked their girlfriends up for school. I knew that wasn’t entirely true, because Travis only had his mom’s Suburban on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Piper made it clear that our arrangement was very much about appearances.
I shouldn’t have said yes to begin with, but it turns out it’s impossible to say no to the girl you’ve loved since first grade. I guess it probably seemed like my whole life up until this point must have been torture—my best friend dating the love of my life for so long that they were practically married in high school years. But I knew early on that Piper existed in a glass case for me. I could be near her and I could enjoy her company and her wry sense of humor, but she
would never be for me. The chubby guy with a dad bod didn’t really stand much of a chance when it came to girls like Piper, especially when I’d been in competition for her since the day she moved in next door and Travis and I trotted over to meet the girl with long brown hair, her know-it-all older brother, and two dads.
I fell for her first, but Travis was the first to let his feelings be known when in fourth grade, he gave her a mini box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day with a stuffed monkey wearing a T-shirt that said You’re Ape Out of Ten. To this day, it still bugs the shit out of me that the joke on the monkey’s shirt didn’t even make sense. Monkeys aren’t even apes. Whatever. I noticed the awful thing still pinned to her bulletin board when I crawled through her window this morning. I was almost shocked she hadn’t purged everything she owned relating to Travis, but the moment she asked me to be her fake boyfriend, I knew. This wasn’t about getting revenge on Travis or making him suffer just as much as she had. This was about winning him back.
Piper was quiet the whole drive to school. Either she was exhausted from only getting a few hours of sleep or she was feeling just as awkward as I was by the prospect of what we were about to do.
I parked the car and turned the ignition, Taylor Swift’s voice cutting out halfway through “Lover.” (Swiftie till the day I die.) “You ready, Pipes?” I asked.
She nodded. “We should have gotten here earlier to get a better spot. This will only work if people see us.”
I sucked in a deep breath and stepped out of my truck, preparing myself to fully betray my best friend. Piper met me halfway in front of the truck, and I did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I took her hand.
She looked down quizzically at our interlaced fingers, perfectly locked into place like they were finally right where they were meant to be.
“We gotta sell it, don’t we?” I asked.
She nodded, and squeezed my hand lightly.
We walked into school, heads slowly turning and chatter beginning to hum. “Let ’em stare,” I whispered as I pulled her a little closer.
She leaned her head against my shoulder and my heart … it soared.
It only took one class period for Travis to find out.
“What the fuck, man?” he demanded as he stayed close on my heels.
I couldn’t let him see my face, because then he’d know. He’d know I was lying just like Piper had. I threw my hands up and shrugged. “It just happened, but you’ve got Carolyn, so it’s cool,
right?”
“That’s no—not bro code,” he stammered. “And I don’t got Carolyn. That was a one-time thing! I even told you so!”
“Trav, you’re into theater and I’m a bigger Taylor Swift fan than almost everyone at this school. Pretty sure ‘bro code’ isn’t a thing for us. And explain to me how a one-time thing happened four times.”
“Well, then, best friend code,” he said as finally caught up to my long strides, gripped my shoulder, and spun me around.
I had about six inches on my best friend, but he was limber as hell from all those years of spinning and twirling dance partners across the stage of Martindale High School.
“I always thought there was something up with you two,” he said.
My jaw dropped and I immediately tried to pick it up from the floor. “W—what?”
“You two always laughed at the same nonsensical shit and your bedrooms are so close you might as well be sleeping in the same room. Fuck. I can’t believe I trusted you all these years, man, and all it took for you to turn your back on me was for me and Piper to take a break for a few days.”
“I’d hardly call it a break,” I spat back. “You cheated on her. You had it made, Travis. Piper adored you. She worshipped you. She showed up to every single one of your shows and even
helped out backstage. She was your ‘lucky charm’ and you gave it all up for a sweaty makeout sesh in the costume closet. Sounds like a you problem. Not a me problem.” The words were out of my body faster than I could stop them, like some kind of religious experience.
Ever since he’d told me about the whole ordeal with Carolyn, he talked about it like it was some kind of thing to gloat about. As if it was something to be proud of. Some sort of male rite of passage. I hated it, and holding on to the secret made me sick. In fact, when Piper had asked me just hours ago if I’d known all along, I would have told her if she hadn’t figured it out for herself. Because deep down, for very selfish reasons, I wanted Piper to know. For so long I’d cornered her off in some part of my heart as someone who would always be there in my life—an unwavering presence I could feel but never touch. A constant reminder that I loved her fully and that I would have to find some sort of joy in just simply knowing she was near and happy, but never mine.
“I need her, man,” he finally said. “I need her backstage with me. Mr. McCoy said she stepped down from the show entirely. But I can’t go out there without her waiting in the wings for me.”
“It was only a few weeks ago when you were telling me that you felt like you two were growing apart, and now you suddenly need her?”
He shrugged. “She’s my lucky charm.”
“Don’t you get it, Travis? Piper isn’t yours. And people aren’t lucky charms. They’re just people. With feelings and hearts and their own wants and dreams. Break a leg, dude.”
Piper and I didn’t have the same lunch period. She had first lunch and I had second lunch with Travis. But today, Travis was nowhere to be found, which was just as well. I’d said what I needed to say.
I sat there with my sloppy joe from the lunch line, because I was too freaked out to leave school and get quizzed by a junior or senior on off-campus lunch about my relationship status. At least here with all the freshmen and sophomores, they were all too intimidated by me to look me in the eye. And I wasn’t even a popular jock, but being a burly guy did come with a few privileges.
My phone lit up with a message from Piper.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY: Hello, boyfriend.
I smiled into my phone, dipping my chin down into my chest so no one could see. Hello, girlfriend, I typed back.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY: Date night tonight. You drive. I’ll pay. Roma Trattoria.
Whoa, I typed back, that place is pretty fancy. We can always just hit up that taco truck you love on Fifth Ave. I like it low-key.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY: Boyfriends and girlfriends go to nice restaurants.
Your call, I typed.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY: hey … I was thinking we should set some ground rules tho. Just so no one gets hurt.
My heart deflated a little. Sure.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY:
Rule #1 Physical contact for the sake of PDA only.
Rule #2 Kissing on the lips is allowed in public,
but NO TONGUE.
Rule #3 It’s over when I say it’s over.
My fingers hovered over the screen for a moment. Rule #3 hardly seemed fair.
PIPER “PIPES” BERRY: Don’t forget. You owe me.
She was right. Maybe I wasn’t just as bad as Travis, but keeping the truth from her definitely made me trash on the dirtbag scale. So I simply typed back, Does this place have a dress code?
There was, in fact, a dress code. The kind that meant I had to borrow a tie from Dad. All of his ties were covered in a thin film of dust, but I settled on a solid navy blue one, dark blue jeans, and a lavender button-up shirt Mom got me for Christmas last year.
Piper had called ahead and when we got there, the hostess led us to a candlelit table along the window that overlooked our little downtown of Goodnight, Texas.
“I’ve never even been to this place,” I whispered as the hostess held the menu out for me to take, which was bound in leather and heavy enough that I misjudged its weight at first and nearly dropped it.
Piper grinned. “I only ever came here once a year for Travis’s meemaw’s birthday.” She looked over the menu. “I just want literally anything with cheese.”
She looked perfect tonight. Piper always did, but tonight she wore a baby-blue dress that fanned out around her waist and made me wish I knew how or had a reason to twirl her around a dance floor. Her hair was pulled up into a bun that was still just a little damp from being washed and she wore cherry-red lip balm. I couldn’t help but wonder what it tasted like.
After we placed our orders, I leaned across the table and admitted, “I’ve actually never been on a date like this before.”
She grinned again. “Travis only took me out like this for birthdays or Valentine’s Day.” She shrugged. “We’re in high school. Who has money for this kind of shit anyway?”
“Speaking of … you don’t actually have to pay.”
She reached down the front of her dress and pulled out a shiny credit card with the name Parker Berry printed at the bottom.
“You stole your older brother’s credit card?” I asked.
“‘Stole’ is such a strong word. More like ‘momentarily borrowed.’ Besides, he still owes me for all those times he raided my piggy bank for gas money when I was in middle school.”
“Well, I can get behind that, I guess.”
She ripped off a piece of bread and dragged it through the plate of olive oil. “I like the tie.”
“It’s my dad’s. He’s not really using his ties much these days.”
“I thought he found a new job,” she said softly, her voice laced with concern.
I shook my head. “Didn’t work out. But he’s looking some more. At least, he says so to my mom.”
“Something will come up,” she said, with such certainty. Her gaze dragged along the window and then over my shoulder to the door. “Oh, oh, oh!” She scooted to the edge of her seat and reached for my hand, her soft fingers intertwining with mine, causing my heart to thrum. “He’s here. Make googly eyes at me.”
“Uh…” I glanced over my shoulder to see Travis, his parents, and his meemaw filing into the restaurant. “You didn’t tell me it was Meemaw’s birthday!”
“You’re his best friend,” she said. “You should know!”
“Was!”
“Was? What do you mean, ‘was’?”
“We got into a fight,” I told her. “I—I did
n’t like what he did to you, Piper. And I should have spoken up sooner.”
Her shoulders sloped down, her whole body softening as her eyes widened and her lips formed a soft “Oh.”
She leaned forward with her elbows on the table, and I felt my body move to meet her in the middle until the two of us were just barely sitting out of our chairs and hovering above the tiny circle table. The candle flame flickered beneath us as the shadow danced along her lips. She closed her eyes and I followed her lead. And then it happened.
Her lips pressed against mine, and I had to beg my brain to remember Rule #2. The feeling of her lips melting into mine was electric, and her cherry lip balm tasted like the rose tea my grandma used to drink.
“Piper? Is that—is that you, Gabe?”
We both dropped back into our seats to find Mrs. Fletcher, Travis’s mom, lingering at our table as Mr. Fletcher and Meemaw had gone on to their table and Travis drifted somewhere in between the two parties, looking back at us with nostrils flared.
But Piper’s eyes were on me, her cheeks flushed and her lips slightly parted as though something had just stunned her. ...
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