The Hate Between Us (Percabeth&Solangelo)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: New Year's Eve Party

Piper POV:

Look in the mirror, tell me what do you see?

I see a self-assured girl with beautiful, short hair that's choppy against her defined features. It makes her look mature. She has pretty, multi-coloured eyes that she got from her mother, gods rest her soul. Her mother was beautiful too. Shel always tells her that she's the most beautiful girl in the world – but Piper knows she is wrong, because that prize belongs to Shel.

I see a girl who's doing great in school, even though she finds the classes tedious at times. She's got plans to make it on Wall Street one day, to make it in this world regardless of what she already had, or what she was expected to become. She has amazing friends and an amazing girlfriend. Shel's perfect – she's all she thinks about. She knows she's the one.

I see a girl who doesn't know exactly who she is, but that's okay. She mostly knows herself, mostly knows what she wants, and that's all anyone can really hope for, isn't it? At least she's got Shel, and the memories of her loving mother still remain, and she's got ambition. She's confident and proud – as she should be.

I am Piper McLean.

"You're doing it again," Shel whispered, coming up behind me and naturally placing a hand around my waist.

"Doing what?" I asked, absent-mindedly kissing her cheek. Shel giggled and moved to stand in front of me. With two hands, she traced my forehead with delicate fingers. I realised she was touching my frown.

"You're worrying about the party – you always make this cute face when you're concerned."

"No I do not," I denied. She laughed again and took a step closer so that I could feel her breath on my cheek.

"Oh, sure you do. Look... You're eyebrows go in like this," she traced along my eyebrows and her fingers met above my nose. "And your nose scrunches up like this," her right finger moved down the bridge of my nose. I kept my eyes on her, only noticing her smile. My skin tingled under her touch. "And you bite your lips... right here," she breathed, tapping her thumb against my bottom lip. The pupils dilated in her warm brown eyes. "But it's okay, I think I know how to make the frown disappear."

Her thumb slowly traced down my chin, resting under my jaw so that she could tilt my face up ever so slightly to meet hers. I smiled against her lips as she kissed me softly, ever so softly, making it feel like I was melting into her body. I felt breathless against her lips – her soft, rosy, full lips that I had spent so many months staring at, wanting to kiss, imagining how they'd taste. Well, for all my imagination, I had never thought it could be this perfect. Where everything else just wasted away, and it was only us that remained, so happy and passionate and-

"-YUCK! GROSS! Get a room!" Leo yelled, making gagging noises. I stepped away from Shel angrily, searched my room, found a pillow on my bed and launched it at him.

"Leo, this is my room! Get out!" I shouted. "What are you even doing here?"

"Silena wants to know if there's any more wine, Frank needs to know if there's a bucket anywhere because he might throw up, Sadie wants to ask how you'd feel about playing dodgeball in the living room but with flaming knives instead of balls – that might have been my idea, I don't actually remember – and... honestly?" He blushed and opened my door even more, to reveal Calypso standing awkwardly behind it. "Donkey Face and I were looking for a room to go in, privately, and we didn't realise this was your room soooo my bad!"

"Donkey Face?" Calypso exclaimed, just as Shel exclaimed "Flaming Dodgeball? Hell yeah!"

Leo smiled over at Shel and then, with his blush deepening even more, he looked at Calypso and winked. "Yeah, I, um, thought it was a cute nickname I could try out?"