Missing Moments

Piper Finds Out About Miss Angela

TW: This chapter contains a descriptive account of a panic attack. It occurs toward the beginning, so if you want to skip over that part, the second half of the chapter is mainly Piper and Finn talking.

7x13

Every time Piper thought of confessing her feelings to Finn in the locker room, her flight instinct wanted to kick into overdrive. Even after multiple reassurances from Finn and asking him to forget about it completely, Piper still felt like a nervous wreck. And as if things weren't bad enough, she'd had to dance with Finn in front of the Dancemania cameras and their entire team while trying to pretend like everything was fine. She usually loved dancing with Finn, but doing so yesterday had only filled her with dread as it only reminded her of what she could have had if only she'd spoken up sooner.

Frankly, she wasn't convinced having feelings for her best friend was worth all this trouble.

Every part of Piper wanted to run away from this entirely, but it was the love she had for Finn and Amy that kept her from doing so. Regardless of anyone's feelings, they were still her best friends. She couldn't lose them- not right now, not in the middle of preparation for Dancemania, which was enough of a stressor on its own. The thought of performing on live national television both excited her and made her want to hide under the covers of her bed, never to emerge again.

Becoming a professional dancer would be a dream come true, but performing in front of millions of people watching from home?

Yeah, no pressure or anything. No pressure at all.

Despite her nerves and the restless energy that had been coursing through her over the last few days, Piper was desperate to attain some sense of normalcy when she arrived at the studio that afternoon. If she really didn't want her feelings for Finn to change anything between them, then she had to stop letting her nerves control her and start acting as if nothing had happened at all.

Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done.

In true Finn fashion, he strode into Studio A with Ozzy only a couple of minutes before rehearsal was due to start. Piper's heart sped up just at the sight of him and even more so when he started to approach her. She took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as she tried to focus her attention on stretching.

No need to be nervous. It's just Finn, she reminded herself. If he was weirded out by her feelings for him, he wasn't acting like it.

He was too good to be real sometimes.

"Hey Pipes." Finn grinned down at her as he began stretching next to her.

It's just Finn. Just be normal. You can do this.

Piper managed a small smile and told him, "You really should give yourself more time to stretch before rehearsals."

He grinned and rolled his eyes. "I've got plenty of time. Nick and Emily aren't even here yet."

"Does it really never bother you to cut it so close every day?"

"Nope."

"But what if you hit traffic or something goes wrong on your way here?"

"I give myself plenty of time to get here," Finn retorted, "Give me some credit, Pipes."

Their usual, easy banter still came so naturally, and Piper's smile grew genuine as she looked up at him. Maybe all hope for their friendship wasn't completely lost after all.

"Oh hey," Finn started to say. "I also have to tell you- me and Amy—"

He cut himself off abruptly, his attention caught on something just outside the doors of Studio A.