A Lifetime Made for Two

Ch 13: Gabe the Drummer

Piper stopped in the doorway- Lily, Margret, and Jenny were sitting on their bunks staring at her, excited smiles on their faces.

"Michael is going to love it when I tell him he was right," Piper said as she closed the door.

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked.

"Nothing. Were you three really spying on us?"

"What? No. No way. Why would we- of course, we were! We were so sure you guys were going to kiss too! It was better than the talent show till you didn't kiss." Margret complained.

"Sorry to disappoint. I didn't know my relationship with Michael had become a soap opera for you guys."

"Why didn't you kiss him? He obviously wanted to kiss you and then y'all would be officially dating," Lily stated.

"Maybe if we didn't have a bunch of peeping toms we would have. So thanks, guys."

"Wait. Has he already kissed you? He has! Oh, that's so cute! Why didn't you tell us?"

"Hold up! Who even said we have kissed?"

"Oh, come on. You must have. Two people don't look at each other like that if they haven't kissed before."

"I'm not going to argue with you anymore. It's late, I'm tired, and Morgan is already asleep."

"Avoiding the question. That's a definite yes." Margret nodded her head in agreement.

"Good night guys. Sweet dreams." With that, Piper snuggled into her blankets and closed her eyes to sleep.

"We all know who you'll be dreaming about," Jenny commented as she too laid down to sleep.

Lily and Margret snickered. Piper didn't say anything, but she hoped they were right. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

..........

Piper woke up early the next morning. It looked like it was going to be an overcast day so she wore a pair of bootcut jeans over her cowgirl boots and pulled an oversized sweater over her hair which was crimpy from being in French braids the day before. She tied a bandana as a headband to contain her thick hair a bit and stepped outside. The thing about Upstate New York weather was that overcast could mean hot and humid, cold and dry, about to rain anytime, or lacking precipitation all day. You never knew until you actually stepped outside. Luckily for Piper, today was on the cold and dry end of the scale; rain was still a possibility though.

As luck would have it, Piper arrived at the dining hall just when Michael did. He looked like a zombie but his eyes brightened a bit when he saw Piper.

"Hey, kid." Michael kissed Piper quickly before she could protest.

"Good morning. Any reason you're up?"

"I usually wake up early."

"Oh. I try not to wake up any earlier than necessary. But I just couldn't sleep this morning."

"I know the feeling. Sleep well otherwise?"

"I did. And you?"

"Yup."

"Good."

Michael and Piper walked through the dining hall to the vacant rec room and sat down on one of the couches.

"Aw man. Breakfast isn't for another twenty minutes, is it?"

"Nope. Hungry?"

"Yes! I usually eat right when I wake up," Piper pouted.

"I'm sure we could convince Nick to let us eat early. Come on." Michael stood up and reached for Piper's hand.

"Mmm. But that involves moving and I'd rather stay here." Piper wrapped herself up in a blanket.