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“Elitist? Stuck-up? A spoiled brat? Better than everyone else?” Emma suggested.
“Jesus,” Piper huffed out. “Yes. Those things. Am I—”
“I don’t think so, no.” Emma’s mouth broke into a small smile that felt almost secret in nature. “And I don’t think Leo does, either.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s called me every single one of those things.” Piper scoffed.
“And I’m pretty sure he’s drastically changed his mind since then.” Emma gave a cavalier shrug.
“Drastically?” Thea narrowed her eyes, and Piper felt her gaze like a magnifying glass, ready to uncover every single illicit affair Piper had had with Leo just by inspecting her.
“So, we get them groceries, and we leave them on their porch.” Piper quickly took the reins of the conversation, eager for Thea’s focus to be elsewhere.
“Sounds good to me,” Thea said. “Do not let me forget laundry detergent while we’re there this time.” Thoughts of Leo’s scent wafted into Piper’s head at the mere mention of laundry. His clothes always smelled intoxicatingly clean, like he rinsed all his shirts in rainwater and washed them in a mountain breeze. The hoodie she had stolen no longer smelled like him, and she was surprisingly disappointed by that fact.
“I should get my lemon custard shampoo while we’re there, too,” Piper considered. She had almost used the last of her current bottle. “Need anything while we’re there, Emma? I’m buying.”
“You’re both so… nice.” Emma gave a halfhearted smile.
“Hey.” Piper softened her voice. “This night is about you. If you don’t want to, then we don’t have to do anything but sit here.”
“No, I want to, I just wasn’t really expecting to have fun or for you to be on my side. On everyone’s side.” It had not been necessary for Emma and Piper to explain much before their girls’ night for Thea to intuitively know why they needed one. And, like everything else she did, Thea had thrown herself into a supportive role right beside Piper. “I told my roommates what he did, right down to where we were in his office when he put his hand on my thigh and what he did while it was there.” Emma swallowed and gave a short shake of her head. “They either didn’t believe me, or they didn’t care. I can’t decide which is worse.”
“That says more about them than it ever will say about you,” Thea stated.
“I keep thinking I’m crazy, like maybe I’m the one overreacting,” Emma whispered.
“You’re not overreacting,” Piper said earnestly. “I don’t have to know about the logistics of what happened to know it was wrong.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Emma fell back against the couch. “And I’m pissed I have to do fucking anything. I didn’t ask to be in this position, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Say nothing? What if he does this to someone else, but worse? Then I have to be the one who feels guilty because I didn’t say anything?”
“You should never feel guilty about someone else’s wrongs,” Thea said. She was using her therapist voice, the soothing sound of which Piper was convinced could heal many people’s problems. “That being said, if you do want to say something, it will not be easy. There will be people who don’t believe you. They’ll say you’re being dramatic or that you must have read the situation wrong. Some people will even say that you should be appreciative of attention like that. And he’ll either deny it entirely or blame it on you, and that’s if he gets reprimanded. All of that sucks. All of it is unfair. You should not have to beg for people to care about this or about you. Some women find peace after speaking up, and some women think it would have been better if they kept silent. That’s a decision you’re going to have to make, but whatever you decide, I will be there. I am on your side.”
“We’re on your side. Whether you want to report it, whether you want to slash his tires, whether all you want to do is to move on, I’m there.” Piper nodded.
Emma took one choppy breath before responding. “I think the worst part is that he seemed so concerned at first. He had me telling him all the things I was struggling with in school and even in my personal life and acting like he genuinely gave a shit. And I was eating it up, thinking he was actually going to help me.”
“The patterns for these types of people are usually the same. I’ve been studying psychology for a while, and it’s still hard to see when someone is genuine. Manipulative people prey on vulnerability. They want you to feel obligated to them so they can get what they want,” Thea said.
Each word sank into Piper’s chest. The fear of being used was so ingrained in her. Her high school boyfriend was the textbook definition of manipulative, along with most of the men she had dated after. The problem—for her, at least—along with identifying the manipulators, was her very real fear of the genuine connections on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. The people who didn’t manipulate, but, rather, loved her regardless of her faults would end up hurting her, too. She could never decide if losing the good people in her life was worse than dealing with the bad ones. There didn’t seem to be an in-between she could balance on.
Emma slowly bobbed her head, considering. “I have no idea what to do, so for now, I just want to go ding-dong-ditch Leo and Sam’s apartment and scream loud music in the car.”
Piper lit up and jumped to her feet. “We need angry girl music immediately.”
The hardest part about dropping the stuff off on Leo and Sam’s porch was not the act itself, but how to escape without Leo noticing. The parking lot that belonged to the apartment complex was wide open, with nowhere to hide three girls who couldn’t stop giggling to save their lives. And so, Piper sat in the passenger seat of Thea’s car with an assortment of packaged food on her lap. The clementines peeking out the top of the bag were a little green and definitely not in season. Emma was in the backseat holding another full bag of college meal essentials, ranging from frozen chicken nuggets to a secret item that Thea had gone on a solo mission for at the store. Knowing her, it was probably some sort of baking ingredient that Piper couldn’t imagine Sam or Leo would ever use. Thea liked to leave random bags of flour everywhere she went on the off chance she needed to compulsively bake at someone’s house. There was no need to leave baking products at Leo’s apartment, though, and Piper had said as much, but Thea had just brushed her off and gone about her business.
“Okay, so, what if we don’t ring the doorbell at all?” Emma suggested.
“But then the food will just be sitting there all night unless one of them decides to go out,” Thea retorted.
Piper hummed in agreement. “Well, Sam is staying at Wes’s, so we only need to worry about Leo. We could call him? He has my number, so it can’t be me.”
“He’s got mine, too,” Emma said.
“That leaves me. I don’t think he has my number.” Thea stroked her chin like a conspiratorial villain.
“Perfect.” Piper grinned. “So, we very stealthily put the items on their porch, drive away, and then Thea calls Leo.”
