Chapter 1 - Piper
I drop my gaze to the floor as four pairs of eyes focus on me. I shouldn’t have said anything; I know how my friends are, but I’ve been dealing with this alone for the last few days and I can’t take it anymore. Dating has never been my speciality. In fact, Ian might be the first guy I’ve actually dated besides Eugene Frogbottom, the boy my mother forced me to attend prom with. Her reasoning was that if he’d summoned the courage to ask, I could at least say yes. Thankfully, Eugene wasn’t much of a dancer and we spent the night discussing theories of physics, so it wasn’t that bad but still. I have limited experience and no idea what to do in this situation. Which is why I’m asking and hoping they don’t go crazy about this like they seem to about everything else.
“What do you mean you think he’s going to break up with you?” Belle asks. “He’s been so sweet. He sent you those secret admirer gifts before Christmas -”
“The ones you thought were for you,” Charlie interrupts with a laugh.
Belle frowns at her and then quickly rubs the wrinkles out of her forehead. Though not obsessed with her looks, she believes frowning too much will create wrinkles, so she always rubs them out right after. “Regardless, it was sweet and you guys have been spending so much time together since then.”
I think back to the red rose, the note, the little mirror, and the charm bracelet he gave me for Christmas. It was sweet which was why I’d agreed to go out with him, and things had been going well - at least I thought they were going well - until he started canceling meetups. “Except that I haven’t heard from in days. He canceled our last date and he’s not answering my calls. He barely even responds to texts.” I pull up our recent conversation on my phone and hand it to Belle.
Belle scans the screen and then her lips press together as she hands the phone to Katie. She obviously thinks it’s something as well.
Katie, ever the voice of reason, leans forward, her brown hair framing her face. "Piper," she says firmly as she passes the phone on, "you're reading too much into this. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."
"Yeah, maybe he's just taking some space to figure things out," Hannah offers sympathetically, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. “Or maybe he’s working on some big paper. You know how you get when you’re working on a project.”
I do, but the only problem is that Ian hasn’t mentioned working on a paper or a project, and I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t tell me.
“Or,” Belle says, grinning widely and clapping her hands together, “maybe he's planning a surprise for you! You never know with guys like Ian." Her bubbly laughter is infectious, bringing a faint smile to my lips despite my worry.
When the phone reaches Charlie though, the mood shifts once again. "If you want, I can go have a little chat with him. You know, man-to-man… or, woman-to-man. Whatever." Her grin is slightly wolfish, belying the threat behind her words and her athletic frame tenses, as if ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.. "I'll teach him not to mess with you, Piper."
My eyes widen at the suggestion, the humor of the situation momentarily easing my anxiety. "Thank you, Charlie, but I don't think that's necessary. I don't want anyone to get hurt. I just… I need to know what's going on." I can’t help but chuckle at the mental image of my tomboyish friend, dressed in workout gear and ready to take on whatever challenge she faced.
"Okay," Charlie concedes with a shrug. "But if you change your mind, you know where to find me."
"Alright," Katie declares, taking charge. "Let's come up with a plan. We'll find out why Ian's been distant, and we'll do it together, but first ice cream."
Charlie takes charge of scooping out the ice cream, probably so that none of us get too much. She’s the only one of us who really works out much, so she’s always trying to make changes to our diets to help us. Usually, it’s a little annoying, but tonight I’m okay with letting her take control. I’m okay with letting them all take control.
Ice cream in hand, we each take a seat around the table and ponder the best way to figure out why Ian is acting the way he is.
“You know you could just ask him,” Hannah volunteers as she takes a bite of her ice cream.
Belle shakes her head vehemently. “No she can’t. That’s a huge red flag to come off as clingy.”
The other girls nod and silence falls again until Belle’s eyes light up. “I know. Why don’t we become detectives and follow him?”
“Yeah, that worked so well for you last time,” Charlie says, rolling her eyes and referencing the time back in December when Belle thought she witnessed a murder and hired a bodyguard to protect her. Of course, that bodyguard ended up being Jaxon, whom she’s dating now, but still.
“Okay, but I was working on my own then. We would be so much better as a team. And I’ve learned a lot since then.”
Katie scoffs and lifts an eyebrow at Belle. “Like what?”
“Like…” Belle pauses and it’s clear she is thinking hard about how to answer this question. “Not jumping to conclusions for one.”
“I”m sure the guy you pushed in the fountain appreciates that,” Katie says with a chuckle.
“And not being so obvious.”
“Like hiding under tables?” Charlie asks.
“Exactly. Come on, we could be like real-life Nancy Drews or The Hardy Boys though in our case it would be Hardy girls. Was there ever a series about girl detectives? If not, we should write one. I would totally read that.”
“You’re getting off track, Belle,” Hannah says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway,” Belle says, waving a hand dismissively. "We'll be stealthy, cunning, and charming – no one will suspect a thing."
I bite my lip as I mull the idea over. It sounds crazy, but maybe with all of us pitching in, it won’t be as awkward as it sounds. I glance at Katie, Hannah, and Charlie. They don’t seem quite as sold on the idea, which is understandable, but I know they’ll help me if I ask. "Alright, let's do it. Let's become detectives."
"Yay!" Belle cheers, pumping her fist in the air. The rest of the girls exchange glances, but it’s hard not to be infected by Belle’s enthusiasm.
"Well, if we’re going to be detectives,” Hannah says, pointing her spoon at each of us, “then we need code names, and they should be based on our detective personas."
"Ooh, I'll be the Femme Fatal!" Belle coos, batting her eyelashes dramatically. "Men will fall at my feet, divulging their deepest secrets."
“First of all, it’s Femme Fatale, not fatal,” I say, rolling my eyes, “and you already have a man. Or did you forget about Jaxon.”
Belle shakes her head. “Of course not, but you have to admit that I’d be the one men would spill their secrets to.”
"Only if they wanted them blasted all over social media," Hannah teases, rolling her eyes affectionately. “But you’re right. Femme Fatale has Bond girl vibes and I could definitely see you as one of those. I think I'll be the Profiler – I can observe people and analyze their behavior."
"Nice choice," Charlie says. Hannah is definitely the most observant of us and she is always trying to analyze our behavior. "If we're going with movie tropes, then I'm definitely the Ninja – stealthy, silent, and deadly."
"Deadly?" Katie raises an eyebrow. "Are we planning to watch Ian or assassinate him?"
"Depends on what we find," Charlie replies with a wink.
Though I know she’s kidding, there’s a small part of me that wonders if Charlie would try to hurt Ian if he was doing something to hurt me. After all, this is twice now, she’s offered. Before I can say anything though, Katie speaks up.
"In that case, I'll be the Hacker – cracking codes and digging up digital dirt."
"Do you even know how to hack?" I ask skeptically. Katie works for a marketing firm, but I’m not sure her computer skills would classify as hackworthy. In fact, I would probably be the best at that.
"Details, details," Katie replies breezily, waving me off. “Okay, if you don’t like that one then how about the Master of Disguise, able to blend into any situation. Maybe Marlene would even let me borrow some of her costumes, though that might make me more conspicuous.”
Marlene runs a shop downtown called Picture Perfect. Katie met her a few weeks ago when she was working on an ap for her company that would advertise local businesses. We still chuckle when we think back to how stiff Derek was when they first started dating and how she managed to get him in a costume and pose for a picture.
So, all my friends have their names picked out, but what should I call myself? I’m the nerdy, studious one, but neither of those sound like detective names. I eat my last spoon of ice cream as I think about what else I could call myself. “What about the Archivist - gathering intel and connecting the dots."
"That’s perfect,” Belle says. “Now that we have our personas. Let's plan our mission and find out what Ian's been up to."
Katie glances down at her watch. “Can it be a power brainstorming session? I have a date with Derek tonight.”
“A date? But we made you dinner,” Charlie says.
Katie shrugs. “Sorry, but I didn’t know he was going to come waltzing back into my life today and he’ll be leaving town soon for his acting thing. I have to take him up on his offer.”
"We can do a power brainstorming session, Katie,” Belle says, shooting a pointed look at Charlie. “No one wants to stand in the way of love. In fact, I think we should name our plan Operation Love Recon!"
"Operation Love Recon?" Charlie snorts, shaking her head but grinning nonetheless. "You would come up with a name like that, Belle."
"Well, I think it's catchy!" she defends, puffing out her chest with mock indignation. “It would make a great hashtag too.”
"No hashtags,” Katie mutters under her breath. “The last thing we need to do is blow this thing up and get arrested for stalking."
“Agreed,” Hannah says. “We need a plan to make sure we don't get caught spying on Ian."
"Right." Katie’s eyes narrow in concentration. "We should divide and conquer. That way, if one of us gets spotted, the others can still keep an eye on him."
"Good idea," Belle agrees, twirling a blonde curl around her finger. "We could also try to blend in with the crowd or pretend we're busy doing something else. Like I could easily be mistaken for a lost tourist with my camera and oversized sunglasses."
“You might need more of a disguise than that,” I say, thinking about her social media followers. “Of all of us, you’re the most likely to get recognized.”
"She could lurk in the shadows like me,” Charlie says, flexing her muscles playfully. "Of course that would require her to be quiet which might not be possible.”
“Hey, I can be quiet,” Belle says and tosses a napkin at Charlie. “You’re not always the strong silent type yourself.”
"Let's not get too carried away," I interject, sensing Charlie's eagerness. "We just want to find out what's going on, not start a fight."
"Right," Hannah says soothingly, placing a calming hand on Charlie's arm. "But it's nice to know we have someone on our side who isn't afraid to stand up for us."
"Alright then," Katie says decisively, standing from the table and returning with a notepad and pen. "Let's assign roles and come up with a game plan. Belle, you can put your tourist act to good use by snapping photos of Ian from afar."
"Got it!" Belle chirps, already imagining herself in her new role.
"Charlie, you'll be our eyes and ears on the ground. Stick close to him, but not too close."
"Understood," Charlie nods, her determination evident in her furrowed brow.
"Piper, you’ll be our communications expert. Continue to reach out to him, but let us know any and all replies. Try and act like nothing’s wrong. We don’t want him getting suspicious.”
I nod though I fear I may have the hardest job.
“Hannah and I will team up as backup, ready to jump in if necessary," Katie declares, tapping the pen to the paper as if in exclamation.
"Sounds like a solid plan," Hannah agrees, “Except as The Profiler, shouldn’t I be watching Ian’s actions closer? You know in order to analyze them?”
“Fine,” Katie says, sighing. “You can be closer and I will remain in the back with Belle. Now, let's put Operation Love Recon into action!"
"You used it,” Belle says with a giggle. "I knew my creativity would come in handy one day. This is going to be so much fun."
"Fun" wasn't exactly the word that came to my mind, but I was a little excited at the prospect. This felt very similar to a puzzle and I loved working on those, and if it helped me figure out what was going on with Ian, it would be worth it.
"Here's to uncovering the truth!" Hannah says, raising her spoon as if to toast.
We all clink spoons with her and then Katie disappears from the table to prepare for her date. Charlie heads for the stove to finish making dinner for the rest of us and Belle disappears to her room, either to call Jaxon or post something online.
I check my phone one more time, just to make sure Ian hasn’t responded and then I head to the living room to work on my paper. It’s been fun thinking about something else for the last few minutes, but reality can only be paused for so long. This paper has to be finished and without Ian’s help, it’s probably going to take me a lot longer. I can only hope Operation Love Recon works and rights my sinking ship soon. What could go wrong, right?
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