The Role Switch | ✓

26. con fron ta tion?

"I MADE the issue dramatic," Stephen said, placing his head in his hands.

Piper raised an eyebrow at his words.

"That's what you get for being impulsive."

They were sitting in the library, pretending to read books in front of them which they had grabbed in a hurry. An odd hour- the library was eerily quiet- just what Stephen and Piper wanted.

"Alisha is not talking to me," Piper said in a sullen voice, patting Stephen's hand as she continued. "She is angry."

"You shouted I am his girlfriend all of a sudden, it was more impulsive than me," Stephen said, daring Piper to argue. "And with the way some people are glaring at us, it's obvious we have gone down the list of some people."

It was the truth. Though most were untouched by the whole fiasco, their close friends seemed more confused than angry. To put in in words, what Piper and Stephen did was absurd. They couldn't understand what they were trying to do. Who went to those limits for a simple dare?

Piper couldn't agree with them more.

"Let's meet Alisha. She is the most hurt right now." Piper said, quickly texting her to meet at the local coffee shop nearby school. Not that Alisha was replying to her texts, but Piper hoped Alisha would agree to it.

"Woah, wait, Piper," Stephen said as he peeked at her phone and saw the text. "Do you think she will meet us?"

"We can just hope. But, I know she will."

***

Piper never understood the line elephant in the room, until now. Along with Stephen, she sat stiff, staring at the coffee cup in front of her. None of them were speaking a word, waiting for other to break the silence.

"How are you?" Stephen finally asked Alisha, and Piper had a strong urge to slap her forehead at his question.

"After knowing my best friend has been dating a guy I partially liked for..." she pretended to think, then added. "A month? Yeah, I feel great, Stephen. Great."

Stephen diverted his gaze and hung his head, a few muttered sentences leaving his mouth.

"I am sorry for dropping in on you like that." Piper finally stepped in not giving Alisha a chance to speak. "I know we made a mistake, lied for a long time, but.."

"We never considered the possibility of someone liking one of us and falling into this mess," Stephen ended the sentence, looking at Alisha, a little sternness in his voice. "What do you want me to do? All I can do is apologise. Nothing else."

Alisha heaved out a big sigh, raising an eyebrow. Piper looked at Stephen, narrowing her eyes at his words which were on point, but spoken with little understanding. These were times when she wanted to hit Stephen for being inconsiderate.

"If you guys are done speaking, can I say my part?" Alisha said, staring at both of them.

"I am over this crap," Stephen mumbled, to which Piper made an exasperated sound and shushed him. "Stephen."

"Alisha..," Piper started but stopped when Alisha lifted her hand to speak up.

"Listen, you both. Stephen, stop being a surly goat, and Piper, for god's sake stop apologizing,"

Stephen and Piper both looked up, staring in shock, jaws dropped and wary of her tone.

"I was angry. I will admit that," Alisha said, running her finger on the rim of her cup, avoiding eye contact. "I do like Stephen,"

Piper saw Stephen's wince. Wisely he didn't interrupt her.

"I like you, Stephen. But, let's be real, I don't love you. And, I don't have it in me to be angry with you guys anymore. Whatever happened, happened. Let's just leave it there.." she trailed off.

"Ah..uhmm," No response to Alisha's words, Stephen cleared his throat. Piper placed her hand on his under the table and squeezed his hand.

"This is getting awkward. We should move on from this," Piper said, finishing her drink in one sip. "It's silly, and I don't want things to come in between our friendship. Let's give it a shot."

Stephen hummed in agreement. With a small smile surfacing on her face, Piper looked at Alisha and then Stephen.

"So, let's bury the whole thing here?"

"Agreed." Stephen grinned- the expression the same which still made Piper's heart race faster. "I might have a shovel hiding too."

***

I promise I will edit this tomorrow because it's night at my place and I wanted to get this chapter out today. Like today. Sorry for the late update. Sickness, laptop crashing, and just wasting time... the usual stuff happened;P