Unfinished

"Who's this?" A teasing voice remarked as he opened the door to the shop.

The woman was propped up against the counter, a bemused look on her face and a lollipop in her hand.

Finn waved Piper inside, and turned to address the woman.

"This is Piper," He explained, as Piper took in her surroundings.

The shop had a sort of hand-crafted quality to it, which to her seemed an odd way to put it, yet the only thing that seemed to fit. The shelves and counter were polished wood, items placed carefully on each one with brown paper labels tied to them.

There was a display of ceramic ornaments by the door: animals and people alike, vibrant and shining. Piper studied them, her eyes lingering on a little dark haired boy kicking a football.

"Those are mine," The woman announced proudly, eyes gleaming wickedly, "But I'm afraid you don't get a discount for sleeping with my brother."

Piper started, eyes wide and her jaw dropping open.

Finn went bright red.

"Elodie." He managed to choke out, his expression a mixture of pure panic and embarrassment.

"What? You told me you were bringing her in today!"

"She's here for the interview."

A very uncomfortable silence settled on the room.

Piper looked at the ground, jamming her hands tightly into her pockets. Her chest felt tight, and her mind tripped over itself in an attempt to formulate a response.

At that moment, the bell chimed at the door, and a pretty chestnut haired girl strolled in.

Finn turned to the newcomer, overwhelming grateful for the interruption as he greeted her with a kiss on the cheek before slinging his arm around her shoulders.

"Elodie, you know Clare, from high school? She's my girlfriend," He smiled, but Elodie kept glancing at Piper, who was desperately wishing the ground would open up and swallow her.

"Nice to see you again!" Claire beamed, disentangled herself from Finn, and looked quizzically across at the girl in the corner. "Who are you?"

"This is Piper, she's here for an interview," Elodie leapt in, tilting her head at Piper with an attempted smile.

"Hi," The sound came out quieter than she'd meant it to. She cursed herself, suddenly feeling even more awkward than before.

Claire narrowed her eyes slightly at Piper, opening her mouth as if to ask another question.

Elodie came to the rescue, inviting Piper to join her in the office.

As they both left Finn and Claire in the storefront, Piper felt Claire's eyes burning into her back.

━━━━━⋅⋅⋅ˏˋ • ˊˎ⋅⋅⋅━━━━━

"Finn, who's your friend?" Elodie leant against the door frame, eyeing up the little girl who had a Wonder Woman figurine clasped in her hand.

"This is Piper! Piper, this is Elodie, my sister!" Finn explained, before returning to the fortress they'd made out Lego.