"Piper, over here!" Sam yelled from the table.

I grabbed Dylan's arm and pulled him to the table. Sam looked up at him and her date visibly tensed up. "Mason, I'm Piper," I turned to Dylan, "and this is my boyfriend, Dylan."

Sam looked at her plate while biting her lip. "Piper, come with me," she finally said. She stood up and grabbed my hand. Sam then led me to the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" she scolded, "I told you not to bring Dylan."

I looked away from her judging stare. "I thought you were lying. Dylan said he didn't know Mason."

Sam shook her head. "That's 'cause Dylan never met Mason. Mason doesn't like him because Dylan broke up with his sister freshman year."

I let my head fall into my hands. "Well, why didn't you say that?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. "Why did you need to make me read between the lines."

"Because I thought that for once in your life you might just listen."

I was about to comment on how stupid that comment was but all the sudden I felt dead tired. All of this fighting wasn't solving anything. The only time it's good to fight is if something comes out of it, was what my dad always said. Nothing was changing. "Let's just get through this dinner," I finally said.

Sam glared at me but followed as I walked back into the kitchen.

Dinner was going fine until after the food disappeared and we were waiting for the check. Mason turned out to have long brown hair in a ponytail and was growing a mustache. Not my kinda guy at all.

But Sam was all over him. The softball and baseball player, a match made in heaven.

"Piper, you seem like a great girl," Mason stated after Sam finished telling him the story of how the two of us met. After all this time the fact that I asked her to leave three times when we first met still makes me laugh.

"Thank you. Same for you and Sam. Perfect match," I responded with a trained smile on my face.

Mason set his glass down after taking a sip. "Well, hopefully Dylan learned his lesson about breaking up with girls like you."

I felt Dylan tense up beside me so I put my hand on his leg, trying to calm him down. He gave Mason a fake smile and said, "Trust me I'm not letting this one go for a while."

"So you just admitted that you're gonna break up with her one day?"

"What? No, I didn't mean -"

Sam cut in with, "Oh don't worry Dylan, we all know Piper's your little charity case."

"No offense," Dylan responded, "but why would I pity her?" He looked at me with his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Sam gave a mocking chuckle. "Oh, so she didn't tell you about her mom? Glad you have such a trusting relationship."

Dylan's eyes were focused on me. "What about your mom?" he asked.

I waved him off. "Nothing. It doesn't matter. I'll explain later. And Sam, you trying to sabotage my relationship only shows what a jealous bitch you are." I turned to Dylan and grabbed his hand to make him stand up. "We're leaving."

"Finally," both Mason and Dylan stated.

***

"I'm so sorry," I said as I buried my head in Dylan's shoulder. We drove to the park and were now leaning against his car. His arms were wrapped around my body as he hugged me.

"Please," he stated. I could hear him rolling his eyes. I chuckled. "The pain was also yours."

He pushed me away. "Speaking of, what was Sam talking about with your mom?"

I had completely forgotten about that and I laughed. "It's so stupid. I can't believe she tried to use that against me. My mom used to abuse me verbally. My sister and I left her at the beginning of my eighth-grade year."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked at him. He looked honestly hurt. "I didn't need to. My mom is in the past. I didn't need her drama murking up my freshman year." When I finished my speech Dylan began laughing. "What?" I said before hitting his shoulder.

"It's just that your mom's drama was replaced with Sam's drama." I raised my eyebrow, hoping it would show my confusion. "Why are you still talking to her?"

I moved to his side and leaned against my boyfriend. "I guess I just don't know how to say goodbye." I looked up at him. "There were so many good times and I don't want to believe they're over. I mean, how do you say goodbye to somebody who used to be always there for you?"

Instead of answering Dylan just wrapped his arm around me and kissed my forehead.

***

For the last hour, I'd been in my room with Alana and Kim. In place of my sleepover with Sam, they came over. We were in the middle of watching Dirty Dancing when Michelle knocked at my door. "Hey," I said while pausing the movie.

"Did you invite somebody else?" she asked.

I looked around at Kim and Alana. They both shook their heads. "Nope."

"Well, there's somebody at the door."

I sighed but got up. "Get more popcorn while you're at it," Kim stated. I stuck my tongue out at her. When I opened the front door I saw Sam standing there.

"Hey," she mumbled.

I looked at the sky, wondering why I was being punished. "What do you want?" I asked.

"To say I'm sorry. I should never have told Dylan about your mom." I stared at her, waiting for her to finish. "Say something. Anything."

I snapped, "What do you want me to say? Tell me, please. 'Cause I'm finally happy and you're just trying to ruin everything. Alana and Kim, they make me happy. And Dylan makes everything right in the world for me. So go on, tell me what I should be doing."

"I get it. I've been horrible this year."

I shook my head. "Not just this year. Last year you'd pushed me aside so quickly that I began pushing myself to the side for you. You'd cancel plans, choose other friends over me, and just plain make me feel like crap."

"I'm sorry!" she yelled, cutting me off. She then collapsed on my porch. I sat down next to her.

"You know I think you don't like my new friends because they see right through you. You're not just 'being a tomboy' you're just being a jerk."

Sam looked up from her knees. "Please, just give me a second chance."

"I've given you a billion second chances." I looked up towards the sky. "Do you remember that horoscope person I follow on Instagram?" Sam nodded. "She once posted 'the type of person who gives endless chances so if they give up on you, just know it took a lot for them to do it.' And guess what month was under there?"

"August?"

I nodded while I repeated, "August."

Sam looked at me and I saw a tear on her cheek. I had never seen her cry before. "And you're giving up on me?" I nodded as I felt a tear roll down my own cheek. I moved over and hugged her. That was all it took. She broke down into sobs.

I stood up and began to walk into the house. I paused at the door and turned to say just one word. "Goodbye."