flopped | lippa

Lost Trust

It had been almost an hour since Pippa had left to go to the bathroom. Lin was chatting with her parents, trying to hide his nervousness and need to impress them. He was starting to get a bit worried about where she'd gone off to. Was she okay?

"That's incredible that you wrote a whole musical by yourself!" Pippa's mom exclaimed. "You really are a bright young man."

He smiled softly. "Thanks, Mrs. Soo. Uh, would you excuse me for a moment? I'm gonna go find Pippa, I'm starting to get a bit worried." he explained, pushing in his chair as he stood up.

"Alright." Pippa's dad replied as Lin walked away urgently. He turned down the hallway to the bathrooms. He approached the women's restroom and slowly creaked the door open. That's when he heard a sniffling noise.

"Pippa...?" he called softly. No reply. But he could tell it was her. He knew her too well. The only locked stall was the big one at the very end. He knocked on it. "Love, what's wrong?" 

She didn't reply. Part of him worried there was some random old lady in there that he'd just called "love", but he persisted.

"Did something happen? Are you okay?" he questioned in a concerned tone. Under the stall, he could see her shoes. It seemed to be she was curled up, head to her knees against the wall. "Please open the door, Pip."

Her cries grew louder. "I don't want to talk to you. Go away." she snapped between sobs, her voice shaky and quivering.

 A puzzled frown clouded Lin's face. What had he done? 

"What? Why? At least open the door please..." he begged. He watched as she slowly stood up. The lock to the stall door swinging open. 

Pippa stood there, mascara running down her cheeks, still unable to stop sniffling. 

"Oh my god... Pip..." he gasped, beginning to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him. 

But she pushed him away angrily.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled.

"What's all this about? What did I do?" he said, at last, searching for answers.

"You mean to tell me you don't know why?" she almost laughed at the thought. "Are you gonna lie and pretend it didn't happen? I have proof, Lin."

"Huh?" he stammered. "Proof of what?"

She found something on her phone and turned it towards him. Lin's heart dropped.

She held up a photo of Lin a few weeks ago. At the club. Kissing the bartender. He felt his expression go numb and his head began pounding with worry. How... who had taken this? Why?

"Proof that you cheated on me." she whisper-cried.

For a moment he said nothing, just trying to comprehend everything.

"Pippa, I- I can explain," he said, pain cracking in his voice.

"What, explain how you find a hot girl and kiss her first thing? When you're engaged? Am I that boring?" she exclaimed.

"No, it's not like that Pippa it was-" he began.

"I figured it was bound to happen sometime sooner or later. It always does. I don't know what's wrong with me. Why am I never enough for anyone?" she cried.

Lin didn't know how to reply, a single tear pouring down his cheek.

"You know, I'd rather you just say it to my face, rather than cheating on me." 

"Say what to your face?" he questioned loudly.

"That you don't care about me?"

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Where'd you get that from?"

"If I don't 'satisfy' you enough, just say so. I'll leave. Because I refuse to waste any more time on people who use me for my good heart." she snapped.

"Pippa... you know it's not like that at all," he murmured. "You are enough for me. More than enough. I wouldn't be marrying you tomorrow if I didn't feel that way!"

"Oh please," she scoffed. "You didn't even reply to that photo I sent you. It was a dare, and I had the guts to do it, and you just leave me on read. And then go kiss another girl! How was I supposed to feel after that? And were you just not gonna tell me? Ever? You were just gonna marry me and keep lying to me that you actually love me?" she yelled. 

They were both then silent for a long moment as if a bomb had just gone off and they were standing, staring at the remnants, not sure what to do next. 

"Pippa..." he started. "I was drunk. Like, really drunk."

"So was I." she pointed out, calmer now, her voice cold and emotionless. "And I could still think straight. I could still cry when you didn't call me back. I could still think about what you were doing instead. Although kissing a girl you don't know definitely wasn't what I'd expected. I thought you were different, Lin." 

Before he could respond, she walked past him and out of the bathroom as she wiped off her smeared makeup, back to the main area where everyone was. 

Lin just stood there in shock, unsure of what to do or how to act. He'd fucked up big time. By not telling her, he knew it would come back to bite him. He was more upset with himself than he'd ever been before. He'd hurt Pippa. And by doing that, he'd hurt himself as well. He slowly walked back to the dining area, contemplating what he could possibly do. 

When he'd returned to the main area, it was pure chaos.

"What the fuck..." he murmured in the doorway. People were hurriedly running around, talking to one another in panicked voices.

"What happened?" he whispered to Chris. Chris turned to him anxiously.

"Renee's missing."