Piper did not like hiking.
Especially not up a mountain.
She decided this about ten minutes into the journey, when the morning breeze had died down and she was left trekking in the sweltering heat without a water bottle.
Not to mention that they were now going up a very steep incline, and her shoes had lost their grip.
Of course Finn's family (who to hear them tell it have been hiking since they could walk) took it all in their stride, chatting amicably with each other. Oscar had all but crawled up, declaring himself a hiking expert, which left her and Claire struggling behind the group.
"Why on earth did I choose sandals?" Claire complained, halting suddenly to shake a stone out of her shoe.
She wobbled precariously, and Piper stepped closer and offered her an elbow.
Claire clung onto her with relief, dislodging the surprisingly large pebble and righting herself.
"Thanks," Finn's girlfriend sighed, smiling weakly at her.
"No problem," Piper replied.
She could see why Finn liked Claire so much.
In the sunlight, her hair had a reddish tint as her curls hung loosely down her back. Her face was round and sweet, with large hazel eyes. She was beautiful. Really beautiful.
Piper felt almost embarrassed at how dishevelled she must look in comparison.
"So, what's university like?" Claire asked as they began to struggle up the mountain once more.
"It's fine," Piper shrugged, her knee twinging slightly as she forced herself to the flatter part of the trail.
"Just fine?"
"Yeah," She sighed, her lack of enthusiasm about her studies managing to follow her even to Mincol.
"In that case, I'm glad I didn't go," Claire's laugh sounded forced, as she held herself upright with the aid of a large boulder.
"So you went straight into work?" Piper queried, reaching the slightly flatter, although still uphill, path.
Up ahead, she could see the backs of her friends and their dad, and a glimpse of Oscar's carrot orange hair in front of them.
She really hoped they would stop and wait, or else she was going to be lost in the mountains with Claire.
"Kind of. I started working when I was about sixteen, at the supermarket checkout in the next town over. Now I'm working at a bar in a nightclub," Claire explained, holding a hand up to shield her eyes as she saw how far ahead her boyfriend was.
"Sixteen?" Piper blinked in surprise. She'd only started working weekends last year, and the shop at Mincol was the second job she'd ever had.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to be independent," Claire said as she quickened her pace slightly. As Claire began to overtake her, Piper caught the briefest shine of tears in her eyes.
"Oh," She eventually said, just to say something in response.
"Do you have siblings?" Claire asked, almost calling over her shoulder, any trace of unhappiness gone.
"Yeah, three," Piper replied, hurrying to catch up. Thankfully, the others had stopped and were waiting for them.
"Older or younger?"
"All older."
"Ah, so you're the baby in the family?" Claire smiled at her.
"Kind of."
"Oh, she totally was when she was little," Elodie chimed in, now within earshot of their conversation.
Piper felt the need to defend herself.
"I really wasn't!" She insisted. Maybe it came with being the youngest, but being referred to as the baby of the family by her family was bad enough. She didn't need her friends thinking the same.
"You were pretty small for seven," Finn added on, slinging an arm round Claire's shoulders.
"Ew, you're all sweaty!" His girlfriend wriggled away, but he caught onto her hand.
"Aw, you don't really mind that, do you?" He smiled, and managed to coax a smile out of her too.
"No, I suppose I don't..." Claire said contentedly, before Finn leaned forward and pecked her on the lips.
Piper focused on Elodie.
"Young love!" Jack cheered, but waved further along the path, "But it's not getting in the way of our hike! Come on, let's pick up the pace. I want to be home before next week."
Elodie and Finn simultaneously rolled their eyes and walked past Jack, with Claire still holding on to Finn's hand. Oscar had already raced ahead, and was trying to break a stone off the side of the mountain.
"You alright there?" Jack snapped Piper out of her thoughts, hanging at the back with her.
"Mhm," She replied, forcing her tired legs onwards, "Just thinking about when we were all little."
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"She's really cold!" Finn panicked, pulling James' coat tighter around Piper.
She swatted his hand away from her forehead, and forced herself to speak through her chattering teeth.
"I'm fine," The brunette insisted, her hair plastered to her forehead.
Her time in the river hadn't lasted long, as James had jumped in almost immediately after her. Finn liked to think he'd been almost as heroic, by helping to pull them both out from the river afterwards.
"Well I'm not giving her my coat," Mikey protested, sitting with crossed legs and crossed arms beside them.
"But I don't have a coat to give her!" Finn responded, pulling a small pebble out of her hair.
"I said I'm fine," Piper forced out again.
They were waiting by the river bank for James to come back with Deborah. He'd raced off to go and get help, giving Finn and Mikey strict instructions to keep her warm.
Kneeling next to her, Finn wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly.
"That's not going to help, you idiot," Mikey spat at his brother.
"Penguins do it," The blonde replied, before peering into the woods to see if James was coming back.
Piper didn't say anything, but turned into Finn and rested her head on his shoulder.
Although she felt physically fine, albeit a bit cold, she couldn't stop the tears pricking at her eyes. She didn't want Mikey to see her cry, or he'd just make fun of her.
"Whatever," Mikey said, but despite his annoyed tone he still watched Piper with a guilty expression on his face.
Finn scowled at him, and turned his attention back to his friend.
"It's okay Piper, James is coming back with your mom soon," He told her, watching the water droplets from her hair roll down the back of James' coat.
For once, Deborah's strange habit of making sure her children always had coats nearby was coming in useful. It was colder this side of the forest, without jumping into a river and getting soaked to the skin.
They seemed to wait an eternity for Deborah and James, and the longer Piper was shivering against him the more worried Finn was getting.
"Piper?" He asked, to make sure she was still 'responsive' like the doctors on television do.
"Yes?"
"Why'd you jump in the river?"
"I—"
"She fell," Mikey interrupted, climbing to his feet and sidling over to them.
Piper scowled into Finn's shoulder, intent on being the "bigger person" and ignoring him like her mother always told her to do.
"We're here!" James came bursting through the trees, running at full pelt.
Deborah arrived a few moments behind him, and Jane behind her.
"What happened?" Piper's mom pulled her out of Finn's arms and into her own, patting her over and studying her.
Several moments behind everyone else, Jack arrived with an armful of towels.
"Everyone alive?" He called out.
Jane glared at him.
"Are you hurt? Did you take in a lot of water? Did you hit your head?" Deborah continued fussing over Piper, who was trying to wriggle away.
She was seven, for goodness sake. Her mother was treating her like she was still six! In front of her friends!
"Mooom!" Managing to free herself, Piper climbed to her feet and made a weak attempt at dusting herself off. "I'm fine!"
"Oh, okay... Good," Deborah paused, and smiled briefly. Then her expression changed. "What were you even thinking going all the way over here!"
"We—" Piper began, but James interrupted.
"There was a monster in the river!" He protested, but only succeeded in making her frown deepen.
"Don't be ridiculous! You're too old for that sort of game now, and look what's happened," Deborah snapped, gesturing around her.
"It's not a game!" Finn crossed his arms, still sitting on the grass, "There was a real monster: Piper just scared it off when she fell in."
"Can't argue with that logic," Jack shrugged.
Jane turned on him.
"That logic is the reason our children keep getting into trouble," She hissed, snatching one of the towels from his arms and thrusting it at Piper.
Deborah took it and draped it over her daughter's shoulders.
Mikey stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole exchange, focused on his hands tearing up clumps of grass.
Finn narrowed his eyes at his brother.
He stayed still, scowling at him until Piper and James had been thoroughly told off and were being escorted back to their house. Finn suspected Deborah wanted to tell him and Mikey off too, but was refraining on account of his parents not seeming to care. Then again, their children hadn't gone in the river.
"Come on, boys. Elodie's back!" Jack called to them, and Mikey's face lit up.
Finn caught his brother by the arm, leaning up to whisper in his ear.
"I know you pushed Piper."
Mikey turned and grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt.
"If you tell anyone, I'll tell Mum you were the one who let the raccoon in."
With that, he let go of Finn and raced off to see Elodie, and tell her all about the monster in the river.
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"Anyway, so I show up to get him, and he's really been roughed up. You know, split lip, grazed knee. Typical playground fight," Jack explained, as they walked across flat ground much to Piper's relief.
He was narrating the story of what he called 'Finn's first fight' and Elodie called 'That time Finn got his ass beat'.
"And bearing in mind that they're only five or six, it was pretty bad for them. So I got him in the car and asked him what happened, and he was really really quiet. Then I was getting worried, so I said hey bud, you can talk to me and he still says nothing," Jack pushed his sunglasses up on his head and watched the rest of the group still ahead of them.
Finn was crouched by a patch of wild flowers, pointing at individual ones and telling Claire about them. Every time he did, he looked up at her and tried to gage her reaction.
She smiled and made a gesture that seemed to mean go on, and he continue rambling.
Elodie was trying to take a photo of a blue-feathered bird on her phone, unaware of Oscar creeping up behind her.
"So, how are you finding work?" Jack was suddenly asking her.
Piper tuned back into the conversation, mildly annoyed at herself missing the end of the story.
"It's good. It's nice working with everyone," She said, watching Elodie jump out of her skin as Oscar pounced on her.
"How's El as a boss?" He probed, and Piper paused to consider her answer.
Something about his tone told her that she should answer diplomatically.
"She's good. Keeps the place running smoothly, and she's a large part of the reason it's nice working there," Piper replied, sweeping her fingers through some tall white flowers in the valley.
"Good, good. As you know, Jack's has gone national. We've got three branches that I keep track of," Jack began to explain, and she watched him become a different person.
His spine straightened, his shoulders set themselves back, and a proud smile began to creep onto his face.
Piper hummed in agreement. She had never seen a Jack's before in her life, but if he said they were nation wide, then she'd take his word for it.
"I'm thinking of promoting her to a branch manager," He muses, adjusting his olive green cap, "But don't mention it to her. I'm telling you this as a friend, not your big boss."
Jack laughed at himself and strode off further down into the valley. Elodie fell into step with him, and Oscar began to cartwheel down the decline: much to Claire's horror.
She raced after her brother, squeaking and shouting in alarm.
Piper reached the spot where Finn stood, still trailing her fingertips through the flora.
He watched his family and his girlfriend leave, a small frown on his face. A small bunch of wildflowers were clutched loosely in his hand, in pinks and purples and blues.
"Those for Claire?" She nudged him playfully as he started walking alongside her.
"Well, they were. Turns out she has hayfever," Finn looked forlornly at the flowers in his hand.
"I think it's a sweet gesture: they're really pretty," Piper said, her mouth moving faster than her mind could.
"You want them? I'll feel bad for picking them if no one takes them," He said, pressing the bouquet into her hand before she could reply.
His fingers lingered on hers for a few moments.
Piper tore her gaze away from the delicate petals and looked up at him.
Finn was staring at her.
"Finn?"
He shook his head suddenly, blinking as if to clear his thoughts.
"We should get going, the others are waiting," Finn blurted, and dashed off.
Piper quickly dashed after him, hoping the fluttering in her stomach would soon disappear.