The Untitled Piper Watson Project

Where We Are (and how we got here)

Piper's POV~

"Are you sure you don't want a wheelchair?" my mom asked for the billionth time. I was finally checking out of the hospital and despite my sprained ankle, I refused a wheelchair or crutches because of how hard it would be to use either considering my broken arm. "Yes, Mom, I'm sure." I replied. I made my way on the crutches down the hall, where Dad was signing me out and Jen and Mack were talking. "Pipes!" Jen exclaimed when she saw me. She ran over to me and pulled me towards them while Mack blushed. "Mack was telling me something I think you should hear." Jen said while looking expectantly at Mack. Mack coughed. "Well, I was wondering since I kinda don't want to see my parents as much, if it would be good if I...moved in with you." When I didn't say anything at first he quickly added: "Only because you might need some help with your arm and ankle and stuff..." "That would be great." I said with a smile. Mack smiled. "Awesome, well I guess I'll go home and get the rest of my stuff then."

Mack's POV

I opened the front door to my house, trying to be quiet so my parents wouldn't hear me. I was tiptoeing to my bedroom when I heard a cough. My mother was in the kitchen, a coffee mug in hand. Seeing me made her turn pale. "Mackenzie, what are you doing here?" I sighed, exasperated at the thought of having to explain myself to my mother. "I got out of Boston, Mom. I'm just getting my stuff and then I'll go." "Go where?" Mom pressed. I turned around to face her. "I'm moving in with Piper." I said. "I am 24 years old and it's about time I move out and live my life. I'm sick and tired of the bullshit that goes on under this roof and I'm not dealing with you anymore, Mother." Mom stared at me in shock. "Mackenzie, you will not speak to your mother that way—-" "I know what you did to Piper." I cut her off. "I know how you treated her and you put your hands on her. She got in a car accident after leaving here and I decided I wasn't gonna sit and rot just to make everyone else happy. Don't I get to be happy, Mother?" Mom didn't answer, she just stared at me like I was a demon who possessed her son. "Don't I?" I repeated.

"Of course you do." she said finally. "But don't you think it's a little soon to be moving in with Piper?" I shook my head. She shrugged. "Alright, just go then. So be it." She handed me her car keys. "We can live off one car." she said when I gave her a questioning look. "Mom—-" but she was already briskly walking upstairs. I sighed. I spent the next hour packing up the few belongings I had in the house and thinking about how much my life had changed in the past month in comparison to the past year. How did I get so lucky yet so unlucky at the same time? Yes, I was grateful to have Piper in my life, but it had taken a bunch of screwed up paths to get there. Where we are now is where I want to be forever. Not low, not high, but right in the middle. But how did we get here? It basically only took one bad event to cause a string of events to make my life worse. The question now is just will things continue to get worse, or will they get better?

***

I rang the bell to Piper's house, realizing that I no longer had a key, and waited. Jen opened the door and smiled when she saw me. "Speaking of the devil." she smirked. "Talking trash about me, Jen?" I joked, walking in. "Not very nice." She laughed. "Not at all. Need help with those?" "No thanks, I got it." I dragged in my bags and dumped them on the stairs. I just remembered, would me and Piper sleep in the same bed, or...? "Is that Mack?" I heard Piper's voice from the kitchen. "Yeah!" I called. I went into the kitchen and she was propped on the counter, her legs swinging like a toddler. "Hey." I pulled her into a hug, her legs wrapping around my waist. I was going to lift her from the counter when she stopped me. "I wouldn't advise that." she cautioned. "You lift me and we both go down." I smiled. "At least you're honest." Personally, looks and weight and all didn't matter to me. What mattered was that the other person loved me and I loved them.

"Do you want me to go?" Jen asked, witnessing us. Piper shook her head. "You can hang out still if you want." Jen grabbed her purse and her phone and made her way to the front door. "That's okay, I'll go. Call if you need anything." And we were alone. Piper carefully climbed down from the counter and grabbed a bottle of vodka from the pantry. She raised it and two glasses. "Compliments of Jennifer." I chuckled. "Nothing solves problems better than alcohol." She poured a glass for herself and a glass for me. I clinked my glass against hers. "To you." I toasted. Piper narrowed her eyes. "How come?" I shrugged sheepishly. "Without you, my life wouldn't be as great as it is now." "In that case," she winked and placed the glass to her lips. "To us." After consuming the alcohol, we sat on the couch, and I was reminded of our first date. "I was thinking of some things before I came here." I said after awhile. "Like what?" Piper asked. "Like...where we are." Piper frowned. "I like where we are. It's how we got here that's confusing me." I put my arm around her. "I just keep thinking about how my life would've been if I didn't meet you. If it would've been better or worse." "That isn't important now." Piper said sternly. "What is important is that we're together and even if things aren't perfect down the road, we'll have each other." I couldn't have said it better myself.