6x09

"Look guys, I just want to be left alone right now, okay?"

Henry kept his back to them all as he sat hunched over on the floor of Studio A. Finn sighed, lifting an arm to scratch at the back of his neck as he shared a solemn look with Noah. They'd spent all day helping Henry plan the perfect promposal for Amy, only for her to reveal she was already going with another guy.

Finn didn't like to think negatively about other people, but he thought that was a real jerk move of Amy. How could she lead Henry on by going to the effort of planning an entire prom for him and then turn around and ask another guy, and another guy from another studio at that?

She clearly didn't deserve Henry, but that didn't stop his friend from feeling heartbroken anyway.

Summer slowly moved to sit next to Henry on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and giving him a gentle smile. "Your promposal was really great, Henry. I know I would love it if someone planned something like that for me."

Henry was quiet for a moment then slowly shook his head. "She didn't even bother waiting for me," he mumbled.

"If she really wanted to go with you, she would have," Summer told him, "But it's her loss, not yours."

Henry sighed and fell back onto the floor, his head falling at Finn's and Noah's feet as he stared dejectedly up at the ceiling. "What's so great about Ty? He's a stupid acro dancer with stupid hair. He's so stupid."

"Your hair is way cooler," Finn was quick to assure him.

"Yeah, man, and I bet he didn't even have a promposal for Amy. He pales in comparison to you," Noah added.

Even with the assurance of his friends, however, Henry's lips quivered, and his dark eyes appeared shinier than usual. "But it still didn't matter in the end," he said in a pitiful voice.

Summer met Finn's eye, a deep frown on her face. Finn had noticed her hanging around a lot with Amy over the last few weeks, and he couldn't help wondering what she thought about all of this. Amy was so friendly and bubbly and had a personality that could draw anyone in. It surprised him that she would do something so low to Henry, given everything that he knew about her. Was Summer as surprised as he was?

"You know, when I'm sad, I like to do something fun to take my mind off it," Summer said, turning her gaze back to the dejected boy in front of her. "There's an old horror movie playing at that old theater downtown tonight. I was going to check it out. Do you want to come with me?"

Henry sniffed and lifted his head to look at her. "Is that the theater with all you can eat popcorn?" Summer nodded, and his head flopped back against the floor again as he told her, "Okay."

Noah gave an appreciative nod to Summer then nudged Finn and gestured toward the door. "Come on. Summer's got this," he muttered.

Finn followed Noah's lead out of Studio A. Neither of them spoke until they had stepped into the hall. Simultaneously, they both let out a deep breath, and Noah ran his hands through his hair. "Man, this day did not end the way I thought it would."

Finn shook his head grimly. "Definitely not." He paused then noted, "I thought Amy and Henry were really close." He'd been at the studio long enough by now to pick up on which members of A-Troupe tended to stick together the most, and if Amy wasn't with Piper or Summer, she was usually with Henry.

"They are. Or were," Noah answered with a frown. "Honestly though, Henry's never mentioned feelings for Amy before. Must've caught them both by surprise."

"Why would she go to the effort of planning a whole prom for Henry and then decide to go with another guy?" Finn asked, finally voicing the question that had been running through his mind since the moment Amy had turned down Henry's promposal.

"Beats me," Noah sighed. Trying to put a more positive spin on the situation, however, he pointed at Finn meaningfully as he said, "But hey, it's still gonna be a fun night. We're not going to let the relationship drama ruin this for everyone else."

"Oh, definitely not. I live for dance parties, and this is gonna be the best one yet for sure!"

Noah chuckled and fist-bumped Finn on the arm. "I like the attitude, Finny boy. Keep it up."

They reached the end of the hall, and Noah told him, "I've got to go run some ideas for Regionals by Emily and Michelle before they leave for the night. I'll see you later, man."

"See ya."

As Noah walked away, Finn set off in the opposite direction and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was the middle of the afternoon, and Emily and Michelle had given the dancers the day off so they could make preparations for prom. Not ready to go home just yet, Finn decided to head for Shakes and Ladders instead to see if any of his teammates were there.

Sure enough, Piper sat at one of the tables off to the side, her back to him as he entered the juice bar. She had disappeared after Henry stormed off to Studio A. He had assumed that she must have stayed back with Amy, but that assumption proved false as Amy was nowhere to be found.

Without a second thought, Finn slipped into the empty seat next to Piper and ran a hand over his hair. "Well, that was awkward," he stated with a sigh. He was referring to the obvious promposal disaster, but he didn't think he needed to clarify for her to know that.

Indeed, she muttered, "Tell me about it," in response.

There was a full smoothie sitting in front of her, but Piper didn't seem in any hurry to drink it as she twirled her straw around in it. Finn glanced at her, noting the way her lips were pursed. For a moment, it crossed his mind that she surely must have known that Amy was going to prom with Ty since they were best friends and probably told each other everything.

But wait. If that was the case, why would she have agreed to help Henry with his promposal instead of warning him that Amy was already going with someone else? There was no way Piper could have known.

"How's Henry?" Piper asked after a moment, finally turning her gaze to meet Finn's.

He shrugged one shoulder. "Okay. Summer's keeping him company tonight – you know, to keep his mind off everything."

Piper simply nodded to show she'd heard him and went back to twirling her straw around in her untouched smoothie. She was strangely quiet to the point that Finn couldn't help wondering what was running through her mind that had her so downcast. He'd only known her a few weeks, but this was starting to become a recurring theme.

When she spoke again, her voice was softer than he'd ever heard it. "I wanted to come with you guys, but I figured it might be awkward considering..."

"Considering?" Finn questioned when she trailed off.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side like it should be obvious. "I'm Amy's best friend, and she's probably not his favorite person right now."

"Oh. Yeah, no, she's definitely not his favorite person right now. Far from it."

"Right," Piper muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. She gripped her smoothie with both hands, but she still didn't take a drink from it. The briefest look of bitterness seemed to flash through her eyes, and her lips formed a thin line. "Did you know I didn't even know anything was going on between them? Amy never said anything. I had to find out from Summer."

Shaking her head and scoffing, she finally took a sip of her smoothie.

Finn raised his eyebrows at that in surprise. He let out a low whistle and told her, "That's tough."

"I mean, she has been really busy this year. Her mom keeps putting all this pressure on her, and she's been prioritizing dance more, so we haven't talked as much recently," Piper continued as if she was trying to defend Amy to him. Or maybe she was defending Amy to herself. Regardless, the effort was futile. Finn liked Amy, but she was hurting his friends right now, and that wasn't okay with him.

"I just wish she would've told me," Piper admitted, returning to swirling her straw around in her smoothie. She glanced at him, brown eyes flashing guiltily like she had just told him something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be dropping all of this on you."

Finn simply shrugged at that, completely unbothered by her talking about Amy. Piper could talk to him about something as mundane as the weather, and he would cherish every second of it just because she was talking to him.

Leaning toward her as if they were conspiring over something top secret, Finn told her seriously, "It's okay to be mad at her, you know."

"I know," she said defensively, stubbornly glaring at her smoothie like it had just offended her. After a moment, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed the way his eyebrows were raised skeptically. Her dark eyes narrowed even more at him, and she snapped, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you think I don't have a backbone or something."

The corners of Finn's lips had turned up in amusement, but now that she seemed agitated with him, his smile faded as quickly as it had formed. "Hey, you were the first one to stand up to Miss Angela. I know you have a backbone, Piper," he assured her.

Piper's lips were pursed, and she was pointedly staring in the opposite direction from him. "Not that it's any of your business, but I have been mad at Amy – multiple times. I just..." She paused, her resolve seeming to dissolve as quickly as it had hardened. "I can't deal with that right now, okay?"

"No, that makes sense," he told her quickly, trying to smooth over the obvious blunder he had just made and kicking himself internally. This conversation had been going so well.

She glanced at him again, and he could practically see the moment she consciously relaxed the tension in her shoulders as she slumped back against her chair. Trying to get the conversation back on track, he asked slowly, "So... You really didn't know about Amy and Henry until today?"

She shook her head. "Not until I realized that's who Henry's promposal was for."

Finn waited a moment then told her, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know until today either."

She looked at him for a moment, and he waited with bated breath to see how she would react. He was trying to cheer her up, but clearly he hadn't been doing a good job of that thus far. After a moment, however, the corners of her lips twitched, and she shook her head, turning away from him as if trying to hide her smile.

It was enough for him, however, and he smiled too.

"I think prom is dumb," Piper admitted after a moment. "All of this drama over a stupid dance."

Finn gaped at her in shock. Was she actually serious? "What do you mean? Prom's supposed to be the best night of your life! It's like a rite of passage. People fall in love at prom, Pipes. In love."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Both of my sisters' proms were so lame, my brother didn't even bother going to his."

"What? He really didn't go?"

"Nope. Well, to be fair, he and his girlfriend were broken up at the time, and they were getting ready for Nationals, so..." Piper shrugged, looking at him as she stated matter-of-factly, "Prom is lame, and we should be focusing on Regionals right now, not that."

"It's just one night, and it's the weekend. We weren't supposed to have rehearsal anyway," Finn pointed out.

"But we're missing rehearsal today," Piper countered, holding up a finger as if to better emphasize her point.

It was his turn to roll his eyes. He crossed his arms on top of the table as he asked as casually as possible, "So you're not going?" He felt a twinge of disappointment just at the thought. Even though she had turned down his invitation to prom, he had still hoped that she would go. Prom would be the perfect excuse to hang out with her outside of rehearsals. Maybe he would catch her at the snack table, and he'd make a few funny jokes, and she'd laugh, and then they'd share a dance on the dance floor. (And there was also the fact that she would probably be dressed up and prettier than all of the other girls there, but Finn was trying not to focus on that.)

"Emily told me I should go, so I guess I will," Piper told him, sounding less than enthusiastic. "But I don't even have anything to wear..." This thought seemed to horrify her more than anything else, and Finn quirked an eyebrow. That was a problem that was probably beyond his help.

She slumped over the table, her chin falling against her fist. "I guess I could just go in my pajamas."

"Your... pajamas?"

Finn's eyebrows had shot up, and she shrugged. "Emily said I could."

"Well, in that case, maybe I'll go in my pajamas too," he said. It would certainly be easier than renting a tux.

Piper laughed at that to his surprise, and the sound sent a warm feeling straight to his heart. He grinned and chuckled with her as her phone suddenly lit up on the table. She read the notification then pushed back in her seat, grabbing her phone and her smoothie. "My brother's done rehearsing with his band. I better go."

"Oh, okay. See ya," Finn told her as she stood. She waved goodbye, leaving him alone at the table.

Once she was gone, Finn moved to the counter to order a juice. While he waited for it, he marveled over the fact that Piper had just opened up to him for the second time this week. The first had been a few days before when they had been paired together for a duet, and she had admitted to feeling a lot of pressure ever since Miss Angela had made the whole team do planks because she couldn't do acro.

Ever since that first conversation, it felt like something had shifted between the two of them. Piper didn't grimace every time she saw him, and Finn had stopped asking her out because he didn't want her to feel any more pressure than she already was. (And there was also the fact that she had asked him to leave it alone, so he was leaving it alone.)

Maybe Piper was finally warming up to him. He had clearly started to do something right with her. If only he knew what it was.