7x20

It had been a stressful day for A-Troupe. After finding out Richelle had bailed on the team to go solo, they'd had to scramble to find someone to replace her. Summer had (ironically) been their saving grace, but Piper was exhausted after a long day of cleaning the routines while simultaneously teaching Summer the choreo.

"Can you give me a ride home?" Piper asked Amy as they waited for their orders in The Next Steep that night. "Finn was supposed to, but it doesn't look like he'll be done rehearsing any time soon."

Amy nodded as she took her chai tea latte from the barista. "Yeah, of course."

"I don't see how you can drink caffeine this late at night," Piper told her as she waited for the scones she had ordered for Finn. It was well after 11:00 p.m. They had been surprised to find that The Next Steep was even still open, but judging by the way the other barista on duty was wiping down tables and putting chairs up, it seemed that the café was shutting down for the night.

Amy simply shrugged as she took a sip from her latte. "It doesn't bother me. Besides, I need the caffeine. I have to finish packing when I get home."

"You haven't done it yet?" Piper asked in disbelief. The barista slid the bag of scones across the counter, and she grabbed it before turning back to Amy as they made their way to Studio One.

"I started this morning. I just have to finish."

"I've been packed for days. I don't know how you all can leave it until the last minute. Doesn't that stress you out?"

Amy shrugged again, scrunching her nose as she answered, "Not really."

Piper shook her head in wonderment. "I made Finn pack yesterday, and it's a good thing I did because it sounds like he's planning on staying here all night."

"I'm kind of surprised he volunteered for the Resurrection round," Amy admitted, and Piper sighed.

"It makes me really nervous. I mean, I'm proud of him, but it just seems like a lot of pressure."

"But Finn can handle the pressure," Amy said before adding hesitantly, "Can't he?"

"Better than I can at least," Piper mumbled.

Amy hung back by the door when they reached Studio One. Finn and Kingston were in the middle of practicing ballroom dancing as Piper entered the rehearsal space. Neither of the boys was laughing but looked as serious as Piper had ever seen them as they waltzed around the room, and she had to admit that she was impressed by Finn's drive tonight. He was taking this Resurrection Round really seriously.

Kingston noticed Piper first and paused in his dancing, and Finn glanced over when he realized his partner had stopped moving. Piper held up the bag of scones. "I figured you'd be hungry."

The corners of Finn's lips twitched upwards, and he nodded appreciatively. "Thanks, Pipes."

She set the bag on the pouf then asked, "How's it going?"

"Good," Finn answered, but Kingston huffed at his response.

"Not good. We've still got half the list to go through, and it's almost midnight!" Kingston snapped, his hands on his hips. "We're going to be here all night."

"Can't you just do part of it tonight, and go through the rest when we get to Dancemania tomorrow?" Piper suggested, glancing at Finn, whose lips had turned into a firm line, his arms crossed.

"There won't be time," Kingston told her exasperatedly.

Piper didn't like the idea of the two of them staying up all night to work on this. As if he could read her mind, however, Finn assured her, "We'll be fine." He took a step towards her, a hand on her arm as he bent down to pull a scone out of the bag.

She sighed, frowning up at him as he devoured the scone in two bites. "Okay... Just, don't stay up too late. You have to get up early tomorrow for the flight."

"I know. I've already gotten three reminders about it." His tone was suddenly far less patient, and she clenched her jaw. Finn may not have wanted to admit it to himself, but he needed those reminders, and they both knew it.

"Good. At least they're working," Piper told him shortly. He harrumphed, looking away from her, and she rolled her eyes. "I'll see you in the morning."

She turned to leave and heard him sigh. "Thank you for the scones."

Piper hummed in response, glancing back at him. She pondered for a moment if she should kiss him goodbye, but they were both clearly agitated with each other, so she simply left him behind to continue rehearsing with Kingston.

The boys had begun discussing Irish Riverdance as Piper stepped back into the hallway. Amy was sipping on her latte and wordlessly followed her down the hall. "What's up with you two?" she asked as they went.

With a huff, Piper told her all about how Finn had been late for two of their dates this week (one of which had been his idea to make up for being so late the first time). Amy was frowning skeptically as Piper told her about all of the alarms she had since set on Finn's phone so he wouldn't be late for anything during Dancemania.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Amy questioned as they trotted down the stairs of the lobby.

"He obviously needs it," Piper grumbled, "His habit of being late is infuriating, and I don't have time to worry about that during Dancemania. It'll help me if nothing else."

"I thought he was getting better about that though. He's actually been early for every rehearsal the last couple of weeks."

He had been on time for most things since they had started dating, in fact, but his slip-ups this week, with their brunch date and then the lunch date today, had really grated on Piper's nerves. She didn't have the time to worry about Finn when she was already worried about everything else that could go wrong on Dancemania. She told Amy as much, and her best friend sighed.

After taking a long sip of her latte, Amy said, "Not to defend him, but there is a lot going on right now with Dancemania. We've all got a lot on our minds right now."

Piper sighed, unable to argue with that. Amy was probably right. It wasn't difficult to believe that Finn's forgetful side would show itself when the whole team was scrambling to be prepared for Dancemania by the time their flight left tomorrow morning.

On the ride to Piper's house, the conversation turned to Richelle. Piper was relieved to hear that Amy felt just as indignant and betrayed as she did that Richelle would abruptly abandon them less than 24 hours before they were supposed to leave for Los Angeles. She had left them all in a lurch, and while Piper had missed having Summer around, it made her nervous that Summer was only just learning the choreo a day before their flight left. It was a huge risk to add her to the numbers this close to the competition.

Not that Richelle had given them much of a choice in the matter.

Once Piper was back home, she ran through her packing checklist one last time to make sure she had everything she needed for Dancemania then took a shower and climbed into bed. Ever since they had started dating, she and Finn had been creating a habit of sending goodnight texts before falling asleep. It was close to one in the morning now, but Finn had yet to text her goodnight.

Piper really hoped he wasn't still at the studio. She wouldn't put it past him to pull an all-nighter after seeing how seriously he was taking this Resurrection Round stuff, but Finn needed to get sleep before they got to Dancemania, where everything would be fast-paced and they would be up late every night. Heeding that in mind, she texted him:

Once she had sent her goodnight text, she rolled over on her side and plugged her phone into its charger then turned off the light.

The more Piper thought about Finn in the Resurrection Round, the more anxious she felt. She had a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake, and it kept her up for the next couple of hours until she finally drifted off to sleep.

Finn never responded to her text.