Missing Moments

Piper Takes a Chance

7x15

The day after Piper's panic attack happened to be A-Troupe's day off, and Piper spent the whole day reorganizing her bookshelf by authors and wondering what was wrong with her. If she had learned anything from watching Finn be with Amy, it was that she didn't want him to be with anyone else. She liked Finn, and she wanted to be with him.

Hearing him say that he wanted the same should have made her the happiest girl in the world, and it had for a moment. But then he'd reached for her hand, and she had completely frozen up.

Maybe it was all the anxiety she had already been feeling from Miss Angela's return to the studio, but it all felt like too much. Piper had never been in a romantic relationship with a boy before, let alone her best friend. Her friendship with Finn was so familiar. He kept her calm. She kept him on time. They watched movies in his basement and texted for hours into the night when she couldn't sleep. Piper knew deep down that dating wouldn't change those fundamental aspects of their relationship, but regardless, she couldn't shake the feeling that everything would change, and there were already so many other things changing in her life. All of her siblings had moved away from home. Miss Angela was running A-Troupe rehearsals. Dancemania would change her dance career as she'd always known it.

She couldn't take any more change right now.

Piper had specifically chosen to leave out the details of her panic attack from her parents, but it worried her that something like that could happen again. And what would happen if Finn wasn't there to pull her out of it next time?

As much as she didn't want to take Finn's advice and seriously consider finding a therapist, Piper couldn't help thinking that maybe it would be good for her. She still didn't want to talk to someone she didn't know, however, so she called the next best thing: her sister.

Lauren had an undergrad degree in Psychology and was currently working on her master's degree in Boston to become a licensed professional counselor. As soon as Piper told her what had happened over FaceTime, Lauren confirmed that Finn was right about it being a panic attack.

"If it's really getting that bad, you should see a doctor, Piper. They might be able to recommend anxiety medication," Lauren told her seriously.

"But that's the first time it's happened," Piper sighed, leaning her head back against her bookshelf. She was sprawled out on her floor, too tired to crawl the small distance to her bed.

"Do you feel like it's disrupting your everyday life? Stopping you from things you otherwise wouldn't think twice about?"

Piper bit her lip, her eyes watering as she shrugged dejectedly. "I don't know," she muttered, but then she thought of all the things in the last year that she had talked herself out of because she was too afraid of what could happen or just frankly hadn't been feeling up for because of restless nerves and knew that the answer was really yes.

Lauren seemed to suspect this anyway without her needing to say it. "Think about it, okay? I'm serious. What do Mom and Dad think?"

"I haven't exactly told them," Piper mumbled, and her sister gave her an exasperated look.

"Piper, they need to know."

"You're not going to tell them, are you?"

Lauren sighed, frowning at her. "I should. Mom and Dad are there to help you. If you're having panic attacks—"

"It was one time," Piper reiterated, "What about 'client confidentiality' or whatever?"

"Sure, but you're not my client. You're my sister, and I have a moral obligation to look out for your wellbeing."