Chapter 1: Linger

Nicky sat literally on the edge of her seat in the dark movie theater, but not because the movie was good. The movie was actually quite bland, which she probably should have realized when the usher informed her that she had the theater to herself, but Nicky managed to enjoy herself anyway as the usher tongue-fucked her in the back row.

Nicky's phone rang. She glanced down to see an incoming FaceTime call from Lorna.

"Hey babe."

The girl between her legs made as if to stop but Nicky immediately tugged her by the hair back to her task.

"Nicky? Why's it so dark?"

"I'm - ahh - at the movies right now." Nicky managed to answer her with only a hint of a moan.

"What are you doing answering your phone during a movie? You're gonna get in trouble."

Nicky smirked and rode the girl's face a little faster. "It's all good. Just me and the staff here." She bit her lip and shut her eyes involuntarily when she felt a tongue run over her clit sharply. She was close.

"I don't think our connection's very good Nick. Your face looks kinda frozen or something. I'm just gonna text you."

"Sure thing babe."

As soon as they both hung up Nicky finally came, shuddering and clamping her legs around the stranger between her thighs.

Nicky phone buzzed with incoming text messages as she pulled the girl onto her lap and captured her lips. Nicky slipped her hand down the usher's pants, working her magic with one hand and trying to subtly text Lorna back over the girl's shoulder with her free hand.

Lorna had sent several pictures of herself in various dresses and a message that read: 'what 2 wear 2nite? hot date w/ hubby'.

Nicky texted back 'the red one' before dropping her phone and redirecting her full attention onto the hot young thing in her lap. She tried to ignore the feelings of jealousy when she thought about Lorna going on a date with Vinnie, especially since it had been a long time since she could remember Lorna being anything close to hers.

For the first few months that they were both in MAX, Nicky had managed to refrain from chasing after Lorna. Even if Lorna had attempted to pursue her, Nicky was confident she would hold her resolve not to get involved with her again.

Losing the baby changed everything. After, Nicky didn't have it in her to deny Lorna the comfort she needed, sexual or otherwise. The first night that Lorna had come to her, Nicky welcomed her into her bed with open arms and while there was nothing sexual about it, it was the most intimate Nicky could remember being with anyone. She had held her and cried with her, feeling Lorna's pain within her own body as well. The next day she paid Daddy off to get their cells re-assigned such that she and Lorna were roommates. For several weeks they shared one bed and Nicky comforted her platonically, until one night Lorna indicated that she wanted something more by turning her face as Nicky kissed the tears off her cheek so that her salty lips met her own instead. Nicky had pulled away at first, but after seeing the pleading look in Lorna's eyes her resolve crumbled entirely. Their transition from friends back to lovers was seamless; their bodies remembered each other well and they used each other for comfort for the rest of Nicky's sentence.

Not much changed during the day; they were both occupied during work hours with laundry and mopping. In some ways being in MAX hindered opportunities for sexual escapades. They no longer had the privilege of going to the chapel alone or the semblance of privacy in the showers that a curtain provided. At least, though, they shared a cell, and could lay with each other between the CO's rounds at night. Sometimes they just held each other, like at first, and other nights they craved raw intimacy and the physical relief that sex could provide.

They never discussed what would happen after Nicky's release date. If someone had told Nicky when she received her prison sentence that she would still be lingering around Litchfield during the year after her release, she would have said they were absolutely insane. But that was before she met Lorna Morello and the rest of her prison family. She resented that she felt such strong ties to the place that had caged her for five years, but she couldn't stay away.

Nicky visited the prison often in the year between her own release and Lorna's date, but never to visit Lorna. She drove up with Piper a couple times a month and paid visits to Alex, and to Red, and she blanched whenever she saw Vinnie's name in the visitor log-in book. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of Lorna walking behind the booths to visit with him, but Lorna didn't call and Nicky hadn't asked her to, so they both pretended there was nothing between them anymore.

Piper set her up on numerous dates, but eventually stopped because Nicky would fuck them and then never call.

"You're ruining all my friendships!" Piper accused her. Nicky apologized and informed her that she could get her own dates from then on. Piper still insisted that Nicky should call one of her conquests back and try to settle down a little. "Why didn't you call her?" Piper always wanted to know. "What was wrong with that girl?" Nothing, Nicky thought. Nothing and everything all at the same time.

She would deny this to Piper, but a large part of her still hoped that Lorna would come find her after her release. She dreamed of the day that Lorna realized her marriage to Vinnie was nothing compared to what they had shared, and this thought kept her from moving on. But Lorna's release came and went, and they only spent time together as friends and nothing more. Lorna didn't seek her out and Nicky didn't want to get burned again.

Months after Lorna's release from prison, she still wished their sham of a marriage would fall to pieces and longed for the relationship they had in prison. Nicky tried to appreciate that she had a fine piece of ass quite literally in her hands, someone that actually wanted her at least for the moment, but she had yet to date anyone seriously. She willed herself to move on and latch onto a new dream, a fantasy where her love was reciprocated.

Still, as she brought the girl to orgasm in the empty theater, she couldn't shake Lorna from her thoughts.