Crave
Chapter 1
Piper fidgeted anxiously from foot to foot as she stared into the open door of graduate office 408. A handful of papers were clutched in a tight grasp held at her hip; her backpack dangled precariously off of one shoulder. There was still time to turn around and pretend like she was never there, considering the two occupants of the office had yet to notice the nervous-looking blonde who stood uncomfortably in their doorway. Piper mentally weighed the pros and cons of leaving, before wincing slightly to herself and taking a determined step forward.
She cleared her throat softly to announce her presence and said, "I'm looking for Alex Vause?" Piper's nerves made the statement sound more like a question, her voice taking on a higher register on her Introduction to Psychology TA's last name.
The office was set up so that each of the four walls of the room had a desk against it. Currently only two of the desks were in use, and both occupants were seated at the desks with their backs facing the doorway. Neither girl turned to look at Piper. The wild-haired one sitting at the desk to the right of the door had earbuds in and was bopping her head slightly to the beat as she focused intently on bright screen of her laptop. The dark haired girl at the desk directly across from the door, the girl Piper knew to be her TA, also didn't look away from whatever she was currently working on, but said, "What's your name?" She sounded completely disinterested.
Piper took a few tentative steps into the room toward her TA. She spoke as confidently as she could make her voice. She was under the impression that her TA appreciated assertiveness. "Piper. Piper Chapman. I'm in Dr. Healy's Introduction to Psychology class. I was hoping we could go over a few concepts that are giving me some trouble. I didn't do as well as I would have liked on the first exam."
Alex finally swiveled her desk chair around to acknowledge Piper's existence. Her smirk was immediate as she took in the blonde's timid stance, and Piper felt her cheeks warm as the older girl sized her up. She may have been able to make herself sound confident, but she knew she looked anything but. The blonde kept her eyes trained on the floor, wishing she would have turned around and left when she had the chance. Was maintaining her 4.0 GPA really worth interacting with the intimidating psychology teaching assistant?
As Alex's eyes swept over her body, Piper thought back to the first day of class, the only day Alex had been in attendance, and how Dr. Healy had had the TA introduce herself. Alex had been wearing tight black pants with a loose fitting back shirt that day, her rose tattoo peeking out from under the short sleeves of her top, faded blue streaks in her jet black hair. She was taller than Piper, and as she stood to introduce herself, she pushed her thick-framed secretary-esque glasses onto the top of her head. Piper took notice of her black winged eyeliner and striking green eyes. This girl exuded cool and Piper felt a strange fluttering in her belly as she watched her.
The dark haired girl had faced the class and said calmly, "My name is Alex. I'll be your TA for this class. If you have any questions about the content covered by Dr. Healy in this course or your grades, my office hours and email address are listed on your syllabus." Her eyes flickered around to the many faces in the room. When her eyes landed on Piper, a slow smirk formed on her lips in tandem with an eyebrow raise. It was a look that a predator gives its prey seconds before the pounce. Piper had averted her gaze immediately.
Standing here in the graduate student office, Piper found herself once again on the receiving end of that same look.
Alex gestured to an empty chair and said, "Take a seat, kid. What concepts are you struggling with?" Just like that, she was all business.
Piper pulled the chair closer to Alex's desk. She began to shuffle through her papers nervously. "I brought my exam as well as the major concepts worksheet. I thought we could go over a few of the concepts I got wrong?"
The younger girl placed her exam on the corner of Alex's desk and continued to flip through the papers attempting to locate the worksheet. Alex drew the exam closer to her.
Just as Piper located the major concepts sheet, Alex snorted out a laugh. Piper looked up quickly into Alex's eyes and said, "What?"
"You got a B+ on this exam!" Alex exclaimed, with a raspy laugh. The darker haired girl looked at Piper with an incredulous smile and teasing gleam in her eyes. Piper's stomach flipped unpleasantly.
"Yes." Piper replied, confused and hesitant.
"That's a good grade, Piper. I'd say you have a pretty good grasp on the unit," Alex said. Piper thought she sounded almost condescending, as if Piper was wasting her time.
Piper felt herself growing defensive at Alex's dismissal and said, "But I expected to make an A."
Alex laughed and shook her head slightly, "Of course you did. All you freshman have no idea what to expect when you get to college. You have to learn that you really need to put forth an effort to achieve the As that were basically handed to you in high school."
Piper was offended. "First of all, I'm not a freshman! I'm a senior." She watched as Alex's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and Piper was unsure if the surprise stemmed from her outburst or the information she had revealed. "And secondly, I know that! That's why I came to you for help! I realize a B+ is not a bad grade, but I have worked very hard to maintain my 4.0 average and I'd really hate to let that slip for a course I'm not even required to take for my major! So can we please just go over positive and negative reinforcement and punishment? Please?!" Her voice had risen considerably throughout her tirade and her face had reddened with anger and annoyance.
Alex just looked amused, a hint of a smile playing at her lips and calmly replied, "Okay."
Alex spent the next 20 minutes explaining the concepts to Piper, and the blonde eventually calmed down enough to pay attention to what the TA was saying. She left the office with a much better understanding of the concepts she had struggled with and the realization that Alex was actually a pretty good teacher when she wanted to be.
She paused just outside the office to rearrange the papers in her backpack and couldn't help but overhear a voice that must have belonged to the other girl in the office say, "Who was that?"
"A student in Healy's Intro to Psych class." Alex replied.
"She's cute. You should hit that." The wild-haired girl replied suggestively.
Piper felt the heat rush to her cheeks immediately. She turned and bolted as fast as she could down the hallway, not wanting to wait to hear her TA's reply.
…
Alex glanced at her watch for the 8th time in the last hour. The blonde was late. Well, could someone even be late if there were no scheduled plans in the first place? Regardless, the younger girl had made it a point to show up to each of Alex's designated office hours since the first time she had come by two weeks ago, so it seemed strange for her not to show up today.
Alex sighed, accepting the fact that she wasn't going to see Piper today and tried to stifle down her disappointment. Typically, she hated when students came to her office hours (luckily it didn't happen often), but for some reason it was different with Piper. Piper was smart and actually cared about what she was learning. Alex looked forward to the brief visits; she felt proud when she explained a difficult concept in a way that made sense to the younger girl. She got way more enjoyment than she probably should have from teasing the blonde, and similarly took pleasure in watching the girl's temper flare when Alex would push just the right button.
She shook her head and berated herself for feeling this way towards a student. She stood up from her desk, made sure her wallet was tucked into her bag, and exited the office. She was struggling to lock up when she heard soft footsteps behind her.
"Hey." Piper's voice. She sounded uncertain.
Alex looked over her shoulder and shot the blonde a smirk. "You're late."
Piper frowned and looked at her watch. "Don't you have office hours for another thirty minutes?"
Alex shrugged and said, "Technically." She finished locking up and turned toward Piper. "I was just going to grab some coffee. Want to come?"
Alex noticed the faint blush tinge Piper's cheeks. She gave Alex a shy smile and replied, "Sure." She hesitated, then gestured toward the door. "But don't you have to be available if anyone else shows up?"
Piper jumped slightly, but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as Alex let out a real laugh. She couldn't help noticing how much she liked the sound of it. "You're like the only one who ever shows up, Miss Overachiever," Alex teased.
"Seriously?" Piper sounded surprised as she began to follow Alex down the hallway and out of the building.
They walked in step next to one another as Alex nodded. She replied with a light smile, "No offense, Piper, but an intro level course doesn't exactly contain difficult material and most students are content with receiving Cs or Bs in the course. Not everyone strives for your level of perfection."
"Maybe they should," Piper replied simply.
Alex shook her head. "It's not necessary, though. Why kill yourself by putting in maximum time and effort to achieve the best, when all that matters is that piece of paper you get at the end of four years. Cs get degrees and degrees get you hired. Employers don't care if you got As in every class you took as an undergrad."
Piper shook her head and said with a slight chuckle, "I don't kill myself over schoolwork; I enjoy working hard and then seeing it pay off. I don't do it because I think higher grades will get me a better job. I do it for myself." Piper paused and looked at Alex out of the corner of her eye. They had reached the small coffee shop on campus and made their way to the back of the line. She continued, "All of this seems kind of funny coming from a graduate student. I mean, you must have worked hard to get where you are. Studying in a PhD program is no small deal." She smiled up at Alex as she extended the compliment.
Alex seemed to ponder for a second on her response. She said with a small smile, "You have no idea, Pipes."
…
Piper sat cross-legged on her bed, psychology text book opened in front of her and pages of notes strewn all over the comforter. She was reading over the notes she and Alex had gone over earlier that day in an attempt to solidify the confusing concepts into her memory. As she read, the voice in her head sounded deep and raspy, as if Alex herself was reading the notes to Piper and they were back in her office studying together. She found that remembering Alex's voice explaining the topics actually helped her remember certain aspects of the concepts she was studying; there was something about the older girl's voice as she spoke the words that made it easier to access in Piper's mind.
She found her thoughts drifting from the material to her TA. Alex was so intriguing. She came off as intimidating and maybe even a bit standoffish, but really she had only been open and friendly toward Piper. Piper found herself desperate to learn more about the older, mysterious girl.
Piper knew it was Alex's job as her TA, but she couldn't help feeling special when Alex would give the blonde her undivided attention during her office hours to go over the material Piper struggled with. Admittedly, Piper found herself pretending to find certain concepts difficult, just so that she'd have an excuse to stop by and see Alex three times a week. As Alex had said, the course was introductory level and the material wasn't too difficult.
Piper was startled out of her thoughts when her bed suddenly dipped. Polly was currently shuffling all of Piper's notes into a stack. She set the stack onto the open textbook, closing them into it to mark Piper's place.
"Okay, what gives?" Polly said, using her foot to nudge the book to the edge of the bed as she situated herself against Piper's headboard, legs stretching out in front of her.
Piper looked at her best friend confused. She adjusted herself so that her back leaned against the wall, her knees brushing against Polly's calves and said, "What?" She was still a little thrown by the sudden appearance of her roommate.
Polly laughed. "I've been standing in your doorway saying your name for the past five minutes. You were totally zoned out."
Piper blushed. She fibbed, "I was just studying."
Polly knocked her legs into Piper's knees and said with a knowing smile, "Bullshit! I saw the look on your face; you were daydreaming! Spill. Who is he?"
Piper was suddenly shy. She looked down at her lap where she was fiddling with her fingers and said, "It's nothing. I think I have, like, a girl-crush or something on my psych TA."
Piper heard Polly's intake of breath, and looked up to meet her widened eyes. "Girl-crush? Or crush-crush?"
Piper's cheeks reddened further. She gave in, knowing it would be pointless to lie. "Crush-crush," she said with a nervous smile. She had only recently come to the understanding that she was attracted to both men and women equally, and newer still was opening up about it to her best friend. Luckily, Polly had been nothing but supportive of Piper, which did make it easier to discuss with her despite the newness of it all.
"Oh my god, Pipe! Tell me all about her! Are you gonna make a move?" Polly asked excitedly. She had been badgering Piper a lot lately about her current lack of a love (*cough* sex) life. Polly had been dating her current boyfriend Pete for a few months now, and sometimes Piper tagged along as their third-wheel, but Piper knew Polly really wanted to be able to double-date.
"Probably not!" Piper screeched. "She's my TA! She probably just sees me as some dumb annoying student. I go to all of her office hours, Pol. I'm like some lame-o low-key stalker." Polly laughed at Piper's admission, and Piper joined along.
"Oh my god, Piper!" Polly said in disbelief through her laughter.
Piper smacked her friend's leg. "I can't help it. It's like I need to see her. She's, like, super confident and really smart; and she has this badass, tough girl vibe. It's hot."
Polly smiled wide, teasing. "Sounds like you have it bad. What do you guys talk about? Do you flirt?"
Piper kind of scrunched up her face a bit and frowned slightly. "Well, we mostly just talk about content from the class. She explains some of the tougher material to me."
Polly frowned at the blonde with a look of teasing disappointment in her eyes. "Piper! You need to take it to the next level, my friend. She'll never know you're interested in her for anything other than help in class if that's all you ever talk about!"
Piper buried her head in her hands. She groaned and said, "I know. You're right, Pol."
Polly patted Piper's leg encouragingly. "Soooooo, how much more studying do you have?" When Piper looked up at her to shrug, Polly's grin became devious. "I was thinking we should order a pizza and watch movies all night! I need a break from studying."
Piper smiled, realizing she wouldn't get much more done either, even if she tried. "That sounds amazing. You wanna find something good on Netflix while I order the pizza?"
As Piper dialed their favorite pizza place (she wasn't even embarrassed that she had the number saved into her contacts), she promised herself that she would step it up with Alex this week and get to know her TA on a more personal level.
A/N: Please let me know what you guys think! I know some of you weren't too fond of Piper in Fall Girl, so I hope you'll enjoy her characterization more in this fic! I think she's more similar to how I wrote her in After the Storm.
Please consider leaving a review! I love to hear what you guys think and any ideas you'd like me to try to incorporate into my fics! I have most of this outline pretty well thought-out, but am open to adding things in that people want to see!
Also, any negative reviews that do not have some form of constructive critique will be deleted, as I feel they are unnecessary and unhelpful.
Love you all!
-HM :)