Piper Dreams: Dream it, Seize it, Live it. (Dreams Series Book 1)

by Duncan, Amélie S.

  “We should all get together and look over our videos in our suite tonight. Since we are breaking up the group tomorrow?” Fiona asked looking at all of us. We all agreed.

  “We need to get moving for the call,” Seren sung out. She looked radiant. In fact, everyone was glowing with happiness after the flight.

  Seren came up to us at the bikes. “I want to introduce Piper to Cole.”

  Brody stiffened. “I don’t know.”

  My mouth quirked. “You don’t have to if it’ll be a problem.”

  He took my chin. “It’s not that I don’t want him to meet you, but he can be. . . .” He stared hard at Seren and said. “Alright.”

  “Great,” Seren said and got on her bike.

  I didn’t know what to make of it, but my gut twisted as we navigated back to the hotel and the call.

  WHEN WE GOT THERE and finished securing the bike, Brody turned to me. “Let us talk to him first. I’ll call you in.”

  I nodded and we walked into the hotel room. I went into the bedroom and lay on the bed while I heard Brody and Seren arguing about the call. A few minutes later, Seren came to me. “Come on out, Piper. Cole will be on the line in a few minutes.”

  Brody was sitting on the bed with his arms crossed next to the phone. I sat on a chair and watched them stare a conversation between each other, and was startled when the phone started chiming.

  “Hello, baby,” Seren said, spinning around with the phone cradled in her hand though it was on speaker.

  “Hey, baby,” A deep voice, said. “I’m so happy to hear you. I was thinking about you and your skydive. How did it go?”

  “It was unbelievable. We must go together when you come home,” Seren said. “When are you coming?”

  “Hold on. Let me hear from Brody. You didn’t chicken out did you, bud?” Cole mused.

  “Of course not. I was the first out of there,” Brody said with a lopsided grin.

  “Show off,” Cole teased.

  “We got someone else here with us. Piper, say hello,” Seren said.

  I cleared my throat. “Hello, Cole.”

  “Hello. You’re the one from college, taking photos and stuff for the group right? Seren’s been writing me about you. Thanks, I like all the pictures and website,” Cole said politely.

  “Uhm, thanks, it’s my pleasure,” I responded.

  “That’s not all she’s doing. Right, Brody?” Seren said and giggled.

  “What’re you on about?” Cole asked, his tone curt.

  “Brody is with her. So now is the time for you and Brody to stop your nonsense. Brody’s my friend, but you’re my fiancé. Brody likes her. Tell him, Brody,” Seren said prodding him.

  “Tell me you’re kidding, right?” Cole said. “Listen, kid—”

  A knot formed in my chest. I crossed and uncrossed my legs. Should I leave?

  “Wait a minute, Cole. Piper’s not a kid. She’s twenty-one,” Brody replied.

  Cole snorted. “A kid. Listen, Piper, whatever. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing, but we all know you’re not serious about Brody. You’ve had your sex and fun. So you need to leave and go back to your college friends and big up your summer. She’s after excitement, but life isn’t always so exciting is it, Brody?”

  “Shut up, Cole,” Brody snapped.

  “Why should I? You’re making another mistake here. She doesn’t care about you. She’ll leave, and you’ll be depressed again, just like after that last bitch that turned your head,” Cole said.

  “Shut the hell up, Cole,” Seren yelled.

  “You don’t know me,” I gritted out. “I do like Brody, a lot.”

  “Let’s keep this shit real. But you’re going back after you use them for your college stuff right?” Cole said.

  “That’s not what this is,” I stammered.

  “I’m right, so don’t bother denying it. Seren and I love Brody. We want to be a real part of his life, not for a project, we are here for the long haul so—” Cole said.

  “You done?” Brody said cutting him off. “Yes. Piper is going back to her life. I know it and accept it. I’m not upset so get off your high horse.”

  I felt my eyes water. “I do like Brody a lot. I don’t care what you say, you asshole!” I hissed. I got up and wiped my cheek. “Sorry, Seren.”

  “You know what? Fuck you, Cole,” Seren yelled. “You’re the one that’s gone; Brody didn’t sign up to give up his life.”

  “Wait, pumpkin. That’s what I was calling about. I have one more thing before I—” The line went dead.

  “You hung up on him, Seren?! Cole! Get him back on the phone. Now, Seren!” Brody yelled.

  “No. Fuck, Cole. Fuck you, for not standing up for yourself,” Seren screamed.

  “You know we don’t do this to him. He could get hurt. Call him back and apologize now,” Brody demanded.

  A pained expression crossed her face as she struggled to get Cole back on the line.

  “I’m trying,” Seren said miserably. “It’s his answering machine. Cole. I’m sorry. Everything will be alright. Call back please.”

  Brody cursed loudly. “What the hell did you do?!”

  “What you’re too afraid to do,” Seren said.

  “He loves and cares about you, and so do I,” Brody said.

  “I know,” Seren said

  I turned away and walked into the adjacent bedroom. Seren followed me and fell on the bed and cried.

  Brody walked in and glanced at me. “I’m sorry, Piper, but would you mind if . . .”

  I got up without another word and walked back into the other room, and he closed the door behind me. I collected my purse and bag, then slowly opened the door and headed to the office to rent my own room. Or go home? This trip was certainly over. My phone rang, and I picked it up and answered without a thought.

  “The photo was blurry. You need to send another.” It was Royce.

  “I just sent you one,” I griped.

  “That wasn’t enough for the money I sent to your bank account. I want a better one of your whole body with cleavage showing,” he commanded.

  “No,” I said flatly.

  “What do you mean no?” he said amused.

  “Fuck you, Royce. I’m not sending a damned thing else. You can tell my mom, in fact, put her on the phone,” I screeched.

  “You don’t mean it,” Royce said.

  “Like hell I don’t. So stop with your threats. Tell her I ran off with a biker. Tell her it’s the one from the gas station. Tell her I lied to her. Tell her I have been shacking up with him. I don’t care,” I snapped. I didn’t care about anything right then.

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this is serious. I’m serious. I tell her all that, and she will be devastated. You won’t be welcomed back home. You will lose her,” Royce said.

  “She’ll understand. If not, well we’ll work on it, but without you,” I spat.

  “Ella won’t leave me. I’m more likely to leave her,” Royce said. His threat, as clear as crystal.

  “I still won’t be giving you pictures or having sex with you. So, if I end up on the street, that’s the way it will be. At least your grubby, sweaty hands won’t be on me,” I growled.

  “Have it your way, but I’m here, sweet girl, when it all comes crashing around you,” he got out before I hung the phone up on him.

  “Piper. What the hell was that?” Brody said making his presence known behind me.

  I folded my arms. “I’ve handled it. Is there something you want?”

  “I’m sorry about the phone call. Cole was being an ass. But you don’t need to get another room,” Brody said.

  “I don’t know what I want, Brody. I don’t care what Cole said; he doesn’t know how I feel about you. I do care for you. I didn’t set out to use you, Brody, or the group. In fact, I don’t think I’ll use this trip for college,” I said.

  “Yes, you will. We all want you to,” Brody said with authority. “You’re rig
ht. Cole doesn’t know you. So you will continue this trip and get everything you need.”

  “So what happens now?” I asked dully. “What do we do?”

  “Now, we’ll go to the group celebration of the flights, and you’ll record everyone. If you still want to, we’ll go with Fiona and Doc for their bucket adventure together. In other words, you can have me for a little while longer,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. I would go on. I wouldn’t stop the trip; because the group was counting on me. Truly, I wasn’t ready to let Brody go, and I didn’t think he was he ready to let go of me.

  PIPER WAS QUIET when we returned to the room and pretty much through lunch too. I didn’t speak much either. Cole had said enough for all of us. Seren, on the other hand, wasn’t as quiet.

  “I can’t believe Cole was so rude. I swear I’ve never heard him so upset before. I’m really sorry, Piper,” she had said over again.

  “It’s fine. I’m fine,” Piper told her, but it was clear as the sky she wasn’t. I didn’t blame her. Seren may have been upset, but she was still checking her phone every few minutes to see if he’d responded. I had warned Seren that this was what would happen if Cole found out, but she was too stubborn to listen as usual. She had worked a dream up in her head that there was happily ever after’s. It amazed me every day that she still could find the sun when most of her life was filled with darkness. I loved that about her. I love her, and a part of me wished I loved her in the way Cole wanted me to.

  Piper had organized our videos, and we walked on down to Doc and Fiona’s room. The suite was larger than I had expected; giving us two full couches and extra chairs to sit on to watch our videos and eat together. Doc had ordered in a few pizzas for the night while we hooked up Piper’s laptop to stream all of our jumps through the television.

  “If I do this, I don’t have to show mine,” Piper announced to us as she logged into her email on the screen.

  “I’m not too keen on mine either,” Fiona said.

  “Oh no, you two don’t. We all watch and you just have to deal with it,” Riley said.

  “Show mine first will ya Piper? I screamed the whole way down,” Seren said. I got a couple of slices of pepperoni.

  “It’s all set to run,” Piper said walking over to sit down next to me. “Isn’t that all carbs?” she said, scraping off some of her Cesar salad onto my plate.

  “That salad dressing isn’t light,” I told her and bit into my slice.

  “It’s starting,” Fiona said. We watched the screen fill with Seren’s pink hair flying in the wind. She was screaming like she said, but giving the thumbs up. “Biker Babes. I love you. I love all of you. Thank you for this memory.”

  “You’re gonna make us cry,” Fiona said, wiping her eyes.

  “Aww,” Riley said and got up from her seat and hugged Seren.

  “Kiss ass,” Zack said kissing her cheek.

  “It’s the truth. I’m loving this trip, and I do love all of you,” Seren said.

  “We all love you too,” I said to her. She smiled, and the next video started. This time, it was Zack.

  “Fuck ya. Wooohooo!” was his war cry.

  “A man of few words,” Doc said, and we all laughed. Doc’s video played next. He gave a thumbs up; and a smirk.

  We next watched Riley giving the camera the finger. “To hell with cancer. I’ll be here another fifty years,” she yelled out.

  Piper’s was up next, and she looked terrified, screaming and her arms flying around, but then she let go and like a sun out of a cloud her grin showed up. “Shit, I don’t want to look at this video later,” she said on camera

  “Were those going to be your last words?” Jay joked.

  “I don’t remember saying that, but yeah. Pretty bad,” she said hiding her face.

  I leaned over and kissed her lips. “You did fine.”

  Mine came next. I looked around, and we all watched Sam trying to get me to do silly stuff.

  “Too cool for flying,” Fiona joked.

  “Yeah, that’s me,” I said. Fiona’s came up next, and she was a screamer. “Wow. Oh my god. Oh My God. Oh my god.”

  “Hey, Fiona?” Zack said.

  “Shut up,” Fiona said before he could say anything else. “I was fascinated. It was thrilling.”

  “I was going to say you look pretty when you’re excited,” Zack said.

  “And leave it there,” Doc said.

  Jay’s came up last. “I’m freefalling’” He was singing. We all groaned and snickered at him.

  “Shit. I should have done that,” Zack said.

  Jay laughed at him. “Yep. I’m uploading that video everywhere.”

  “Thanks, Piper,” I said, and we all thanked her.

  “I didn’t do anything,” she said lifting her shoulders. “I just brought the laptop.”

  “You did much more than that. Thank you,” I said, and we all thanked her.

  She blushed and put her laptop away. We ate the rest of the pizza. Some cartoon came on, and we decided to watch it for laughs.

  “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” I asked.

  “We’re going to head out to the convention early. I want to go shopping in downtown Chicago first,” Riley said.

  “We’ll be leaving early as well. I want to cook something fresh for the potluck tomorrow. We’ll all be staying over at our friends Gary and Monica’s house. You and Piper still need to get costumes,” Fiona pointed out.

  “Get a piece of wood and cut it and say you’re vampire slayers,” Zack said.

  “No. Don’t do that,” Fiona said.

  “I’ve something in mind,” Piper said cryptically. I was about to get it out of her when I noticed Seren was quiet and looked over at her. She was still looking for Cole to call. I pulled out my phone and sent him a text telling him to call her and that everything was alright.

  “I’m going to turn in,” Seren said sadly.

  I got up. “I think we’ll go too.”

  “Alright. We’ll see you in the a.m.,” Zack said.

  The three of us left and went back to the room.

  “What if he’s missing?” Seren said. “He was trying to talk, but I didn’t let him. I can’t lose him,” she said, tears pouring down her face.

  “He’ll be fine,” I said sitting next to her. She crawled into my lap, and I held her though I looked over at Piper, who was staring at us. “Sorry . . .”

  “You don’t have to explain. I understand,” she said and went into the other room.

  I sighed, and Seren got in her nightgown and came back to bed. She rested her head on me through the night. While I stayed up for most of it. Thinking of where I longed to be.

  THIRD WHEEL, THY name is Piper, I thought, lying in the bedroom alone since Brody spent the night comforting Seren. I was still smarting from being told off by that asshole Cole. At least, that was what I was complaining to Jorge on the phone about. “I mean, telling me I don’t give a damn about Brody and am only after sex. I could get sex. Plenty if I wanted to. He is the one shortchanging his friend.”

  “I don’t want to listen to this,” Jorge griped.

  “You were the one complaining I wasn’t talking to you, so now you get to listen to what is bothering me,” I replied.

  Jorge groaned. “I know. I didn’t expect this though. I also think Cole is right. You don’t know Brody like he does. You’re not looking to settle down and take a husband at twenty-one. They want to be there for him.”

  “How do you know I don’t want to? Maybe we can work it out with the program, or I can take some time off. Professor Gilmore always said I could be a global journalist without the degree,” I said.

  “Whoa. Slow down there. Spending a little time with them and you’re ready to throw college out the window. You can’t do that. I won’t let you do that,” Jorge said.

  “And how are you going to stop me? God. I’m tired of everyone bossing me aroun
d. Mom, Royce, Brody, Cole, and now you. I’m a grown-ass woman, and I can make my own choices,” I said hotly.

  “I’m nothing like any of them, but I’d be damned if I’m sitting here idly by and watching you throw your life away on some drifter,” Jorge said.

  “He’s not a drifter. He’s a mechanic. He has three thriving shops. He’s wonderful, and I like him a lot,” I said and sobbed.

  “We never fought until they came around. I wish you would look at how much this trip has affected our friendship,” Jorge said.

  “I’m still your friend,” I said.

  “And I’m yours, but a friend doesn’t just agree with you. You’re making a mistake,” Jorge said.

  “I’m making a mistake because I’ve fallen in love with him.” I covered my mouth.

  Static. That was all I heard on the phone as we let my admission fill the line.

  “Piper, we’re leaving. Brody checked us out. I’ll be outside,” Seren called out.

  “You have to go. I don’t want you to hang up angry. I’m here, and I love you,” Jorge said.

  “I love you too,” I said and hung up the phone.

  I went to put my phone away and saw the photo I had sent to Royce. My mind was playing over the absurd demands he had placed on me during his last call. I cursed myself. I shouldn’t have ever sent the first one. I could call my mother, but what would I say? I wasn’t ready to leave. She couldn’t make me, but she could make my life hell when I got back. She could keep the money I needed to close the gaps between working for Aunt Luna and going back to school. The money Royce had sent could help some. Could he take it back? I went to check my banking account. The money was still there. But for how long? If they didn’t help with school what would I do? I had to start working on a plan and vowed to spend part of the ride down to Lake Forest on it. I packed my belongings away, then rolled my bag into the other room and outside. I found Seren balanced against her bike. Her eyes were puffy.

  “Something else happen?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I still haven’t heard from Cole.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sure he’ll call soon,” I said.

  “Do want to come with us,” Brody said to her as he walked up.