Winter Roses
It had been another in a series of consecutive bland days. The leaves had still crunched beneath her feet as she walked briskly to work after the every day bus ride. She and her best friend still made their usual greetings to one another, then set about getting their small shop in running fashion before opening time. The conversation was lukewarm as always, neither woman having much interesting to say, as both were at seemingly slow points in their lives.
The customers that came into the store went about like they did every other day; come in, drink coffee, read, buy nicknacks and novels, have deep conversations with their friends or strangers. Not in any particular order. Time still went quickly for the young woman and before long, she left the quaint little shop, walked the short distance to the bus stop -crunching leaves all the while- and went home. Nothing special. Nothing different.
The young blonde entered her apartment building and smiled softly at the few people she passed by on her walk to the elevator. Upon seeing that there was already a large group of people waiting to use the lift, she decided that the stairs, though tiring, would be the best bet. So, the tall girl turned on her heel and made her way to the rarely used stairwell. Living on the 7th floor was only ever anoying when she had to climb roughly 70 feet to get there. The blonde didn't think to slow down her usual powerwalk into something a bit more suitable for rounding corners, until she'd already done it. She collided into something soft and firm at the same time.
"Hey! Watch where the fuck you're going!" An angry voice shouted as the blonde stumbled backwards, nearly falling down onto her bottom. And she would have, had a strong hand not gripped her by the forearm and pulled her into a standing position. Grey green eyes studied her own from behind thick black frames in a way that made the blonde feel like she was something under a microscope. It was uncomfortable and she shied away from it, focusing her own deep blue eyes instead on something else.
The hand still holding onto her forearm was what her gaze decided to land on. The skin was smooth and pale, unblimished save for a tribal band tattoo wrapped just above the wrist. She could tell the hand was strong by the secure grip it still had on her. Long, slender fingers, the nails short and painted black. Her blue eyes traveled up from the fingers, past the hand itself and on up the arm. It was bare until about midway up, where a red and black checkered flannel overshirt was rolled up at the elbow. Her eyes continued to take in the arm of the stranger until she reached the shoulder. Long black hair that curled slightly at the ends rested there. She could see the black t-shirt beneath the overshirt and pale skin exposed where the neck of the shirt had been cut purposefully. A simple, yet elegant silver chain hung around the long, slender neck and was weighed down beneath the neckline of her shirt by a charm of sorts that the blonde couldn't see.
"Are you okay, kid?" The voice spoke again, this time not angry, but instead a bit confused if not also slightly amused. Her voice was unlike any the blonde young woman had ever heard before. She was sure she'd remember a voice like that if she'd ever heard one before. It had a low timbre, not exactly deep, but husky and sensual without trying.
The blonde's head snapped up at the question and once again her eyes met the grey-green of the stranger. They were beautiful eyes, lined simply in winged black eyeliner and complimented by thin, perfectly arched brows. Without her consent, blue eyes searched again on their own accord, taking in the straight nose, and stopping on the full, dark lips she hadn't even noticed before. As she watched, a lopsided smirk formed on said lips. She felt her own cheeks begin to heat up as she was certain she was now the color of the stranger's shirt.
"I-I'm fine." The blonde stammered, ducking her head again and trying to move around the woman who'd managed to embarrass her so easily. However, the other woman didn't release her arm.
Their eyes met again and the stranger let go of her arm. "What's your name?"
"Piper." The blonde managed to mumble, somehow unable to look away from those beautiful eyes this time. "Who are you?"
"My name is Alex." The taller of the two said, her smirk still present. "I just moved in upstairs."
Piper swallowed the lump that formed at Alex's statement. Her heart, for some strange reason, did some sort of fluttery thing it hadn't ever done before. "That's cool. I live on the 7th floor with my cat Phoebe." She inwardly cursed herself for volunteering that information when Alex hadn't asked. She'd probably made herself look like an idiot. An idiot with a cat named Phoebe.
Alex chuckled and the sound released a swarm of deranged butterflies directly into Piper's bellly. "You're cute, kid. Maybe I'll see you around, yeah?"
The blonde's eyes widened and she found herself staring blankly at the attractive woman for a few horribly long seconds before she snapped out of her apparent stupor and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be.. cool. Yeah."
Damn it. Piper cursed herself again. Smooth.
Alex chuckled again and looked down, trying to hide how her usual confident smirk had transformed into a wide, toothy smile. She hadn't ever seen anybody as cute as this Piper girl. She was just a little bit shorter than Alex, had a thin frame, long wavy blonde hair and her teeth were perfect. Now if only Alex could get her to smile, she'd be happy.
"Yeah? Well then.. Could I buy you a coffee sometime?" Alex asked, hoping she was right and that the young blonde was in fact, interested.
Piper couldn't stop the giant megawatt smile that took over her face, no matter how hard she tried. "That'd be great," she managed to say even if she found it impossible to meet Alex's eyes now.
Alex gave herself a mental high-five and tried to tone down her own smile, but couldn't. She didn't know what it was about this girl she had literally only just met, but she knew she wanted to find out. Alex had never been one to date, but coffee wasn't a date, was it?
"Okay, cool.. I'll uh.." Crap. What would she do? Alex felt around her pockets, coming up empty in her search for a pen.
Piper found herself chuckling softly at how suddenly Alex had gone from cool and confident to just as scatter brained as she had been. The black haired woman looked up at her at the sound and when their eyes met they both released an awkward laugh.
"I live in 713. I'm there basically all the time. Well, except for when I'm at work. Then I'm at work." Piper said, mentally face-palming at her wonderful way with words. "So, yeah. Uh.. you can come by and knock and if I dont answer just like.. leave a note?"
Alex fiddled with her glasses, pushing them up the bridge of her nose in a nervous gesture, nodding. "Yeah. Maybe I'll actually have a pen and paper then."
Piper smiled, "Maybe."
Alex shook her head, laughing at her own awkwardness. "I'm usually not this forward, but I'm actually on my way to get coffee now.. So, would you maybe want to go with me to save us both the trouble of trying to contact one another later on? I bet the coffee place even has a pen I could borrow."
The blue eyed young woman's cheeks were begenning to hurt from how wide she was smiling. "That'd be fine. I just need to put my things up in my apartment first. Do you want to go ahead and go and have me meet you there or-"
"I'll wait here. I mean.. I'd rather not sit there looking like a lost puppy waiting on you to show up." Alex rolled her eyes at her own statement. "Not that you'd take forever to get there or anything. I just mean-"
"Alex. It's okay. You can come up to mine if you want and then we'll walk there together. Would that be better?" Piper offered, her confidence level rising as she watched Alex's earlier confidence seem to get jumbled up with nerves.
The taller woman ran a hand through her hair and nodded as she remembered something, "Yeah. Going back up stairs would be a lot better, actually."
Piper quirked a brow at her in question.
Alex's eyes went wide at how her own statement must have sounded. "No! No, that's not what I meant. Although, I do find you attractive and certainly wouldn't be caught dead complaining if that's what were to occur there. God. Fuck it, that's not what I meant to say, either.. I just mean that I forgot my wallet at my own place and it's like.. Right beside yours."
A moment of incredibly awkward silence passed in which Alex wished the floor would swallow her up. For the blonde, she just couldn't get over how adorable the tall brunette was being in the moment, even if it was completely on accident. She was sure that Alex wasn't generally the type of person that liked being considered 'adorable'. Piper took in the rockstar look of the woman. Her long dark hair, black t-shirt beneath the red and black overshirt, grey skinny jeans that looked like they were painted on. Tattered old combat boots. The black nail polish, perfect eyeliner, and a black beanie she hadn't noticed before. All of those things paired with the earlier confidence, smirk and arched eyebrow made Alex seem like someone who was used to getting exactly what she wanted. Now, however, the young woman who seemed to be just a few years older than Piper, was blushing like a school girl and studying the floor like it had suddenly become the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen.
Piper couldn't stand it anymore. She took hold of the wrist closest to her and pulled Alex's hand out from the shirt pocket. Ignoring that it was sweaty, she tugged on the hand until Alex finally looked up at her, still slightly pink. She motioned with her head for Alex to come with her and began the walk up the stairs once again, this time at a slower pace. She never thought to let go of the hand she held in her own, and Alex never bothered to, either. So, they walked and in hand up to the 7th floor.
"You go get whatever you need and I'll drop my backpack off. Meet out here in 5 minutes?" Piper suggested, still having yet to release Alex's hand.
Alex, having finally recovered from her newly aquired pink coloring, chuckled and smiled once again, something she found very easy in Piper's presence. "Yeah. I can do that."
"Five minutes." Piper said again in a joking tone, her megawat smile making another apearance.
"You have to let go of my hand first, though." Alex smirked, arching a single brow at the blonde.
Piper looked down at their joined hands and let out a nervous laugh. "Right."
The blonde released her hold on Alex's hand and met her eyes once again before shaking her head at herself and pointing towards her apartment door. Alex gave her a warm smile in return and they both chuckled before walking away from one another. Piper entered her apartment a few seconds before Alex entered her own and closed the door behind her. She dropped her backpack in it's usual spot by the door and then leaned against the wall. After a full minute of absolutely nothing, she decided to go check her makeup and use the restroom. Phoebe meowed at her relentlessly all the way from the livingroom to the bathroom. Piper knew she'd have to feed and water her before she left.
On the other side of the wall, Alex was still leant against her door, trying to figure out how she'd managed to turn into a little girl with a giant crush so easily. So fucking quickly. She sighed, ran a hand through her hair again and then set about to find her stupid fucking wallet. After finding it on her bedside table where it usually was, she went to the bathroom and checked her eyeliner. She was looked just like she had 10 minutes earlier when she'd left her home the first time.
Alex shoved her wallet in her back pocket, no easy feat considering how tight the jeans were, but once it was in place, she made her way out of the apartment, side stepping and dodging boxes all the while. Once back outside in the hallway, she fidgeted with her glasses before deciding to check her phone while she waited for the cute blonde to come back out.
She had no missed calls and no texts. That wasn't unusual. Alex had been on her own for a while now. Her best and only friend had been sentenced to 3 years in prison a year ago and since then, things had only gone from bad to worse. Alex sighed. She had been in the city her whole life, but only 2 days ago moved into this apartment. So far all she'd managed to do nothing but put her twin mattress in the floor of her new room and put her bedside table where it always went. Her clothes were still in garbage bags and all her books were still in boxes. The few kitchen suplies she had were in the kitchen, but were also still in the single box she'd packed them in. It was kind of depressing, really. Alex thought of her photo albums and sighed. They, at least, held happy memories. A frown found its way onto her face, a facial expression that had become common for the tall woman.
Piper had been stood outside for a few moments now, and Alex had yet to notice her presence. The other woman was frowning to herself and the look made Piper feel sad. Earlier, Alex had been either smirking or full on smiling but this.. This worn out frown that she saw now seemed like it was something that Alex did often. Maybe it was the way Alex was staring at the floor, eyes moving back and forth as she thought deeply to herself. The tall woman checked her phone and sighed, shoving it back into her pocket.
"Shit, you scared me." Alex said a moment later when she finally looked up from the same spot on the floor she'd been staring at for a while now. "How long have you been standing there?"
Piper decided not to let Alex know that she'd seen her so lost in thougt. "I just walked out, actually."
Alex smiled again and Piper was relieved to see it replace the frown. "Did you tell Phoebe about me?"
The blonde grinned, "Yes, actually."
"Ah. And her reaction?" Alex teased, offering the slightly shorter woman her hand. She figured since they'd already held hands once, that it wouldn't be weird to offer again. She smiled when Piper laced her fingers through her own and decided that she liked the way their hands seemed to fit so well together.
"She meowed. A lot." Piper said, allowing Alex to lead her past the elevator and down the stairs they'd been walking up only moments before. She wasn't sure why, but she felt very comfortable in Alex's presence. Like it was normal, like she'd known the woman much longer than maybe 20 minutes. Piper knew for sure that she'd like to know the brunette better; figure out why she'd looked so very sad a few minutes earlier. Maybe going for coffee would turn into something more. Piper didn't want to fool herself; nobody had said the word date. But, maybe if things went well they might decide to go on one. If Alex was as single as Piper was, that is.
"Meowing is a good thing. Hopefully." Alex said, smiling at the blonde girl beside her. She took in the slender form of Piper, liking how good Piper looked in the tight cream colored sweater and nicely fitting jeans. Usually, Alex went for a type a little rougher around the edges, not kind, funny, obviously priveliged young women like this one. Piper was her oposite in just about every way, but for some unknown reason, Alex didn't give a fuck. Truthfully, she thought a change of pace might be good for her. She wanted to see how coffee went and if it went as well as she hoped, she inteded on asking Piper on an actual date. The only problem with that was that Alex had never been on a date before.
"Yes, I think so. So, Alex, what do you do?"
Alex lifted her brows. "Wow, right to the chase with you, huh? Havent even reached the coffee shop yet."
Piper simply looked at her expectantly.
"I actually dont have a job at the moment." Alex admitted, knowing that it probably wouldn't do her any favors to keep that bit of information to herself. "But, I have some money saved up from my.. last job."
Before Piper could ask what her last job had been, Alex asked her what it was that she did for a living. "My best friend Polly and I own a little used bookshop on the other side of Brooklyn. We make soap that we sell in there and we have coffee and pastries."
Alex was impressed, "Wow. That's really cool. Maybe I'll come by and see you in action sometime."
"That'd be great. Where are we going, exactly?" Piper asked once they finally made it out into the hustle and bustle of the streets. They were imediatly hit by a strong gust of wind and Piper automatically turned into Alex, sheilding herself from the bitter cold. Alex, for her part, had reacted just as quickly as Piper had, her arms wrapping around the smaller blonde while bits and pieces of trash blew about and cold, tiny droplets of water pelted her.
When the wind died down, Piper was the first to realize what had just happened. She lifted her head away from where it'd been hidden in Alex's warm neck and looked at the other woman. Alex blinked at her, their faces so close that they nearly had to go cross eyed to see one another properly. Piper was nearly overcome with a desire to kiss the sof lips before her and then scolded herself for staring at them. They hadn't even been aquainted for an hour yet!
Alex swallowed and loosened her arms from around Piper's waist, freeing the blonde from her hold. Piper smiled, her cheeks a little pink. They laced their fingers once again and Alex began to lead Piper across the street, dodging people right and left. She simply wanted to get out of the cold. Alex fucking hated the cold.
"When did it get so cold out here? It wasn't this cold on the way home." Piper grumbled. "You never told me where we're going."
"Red's." Alex answered. She'd been going there for years. Red's was owned by Red, who was the older Russian lady that was her best friend Nicky's mother figure. Ever since her own mother had passed away, Red had treated Alex like a daughter as well, always speaking her mind and sometimes even popping Alex on the back of the head if she was being especially reckless.
"Oh. I've never been there before." Piper mused, glad that the shop wasn't very far away. They were almost there, actually.
Alex slowed them to a stop outside the bright red door that had "RED'S" painted on it in shiny gold. She hadn't been here in a several months. Maybe Red wouldn't give her a hard time since she had a girl with her. Hopefully. She opened the door for Piper and followed her inside.
The were assaulted with the smell of Red's famous Russian sweets and soft music playing in the background. Aside from the soft conversations of the patrons, it was just like it always was. Except it was missing the loud laughter of Alex's best friend. That simple fact made it feel wrong, but Alex knew that Piper didn't know that. So, she smiled and led Piper to the front counter, where there was a cashier that Alex didn't recognize. Where was Morello?
"Welcome to Red's. What can I get for you?" The young girl questioned, her attitude not exactly what Alex was used to from her experience at the little shop. The young woman was pretty, dispite the very unfortunate neck tattoo and terrible corn rows in her naturally blonde hair. Her red name tag said 'Tricia' in white capital letters.
Piper ordered a french vanilla coffee while Alex ordered hers black. Tricia sighed, "I gotta ask if you guys want a slice of pie or something."
"Apple for me. Piper?" Alex looked to her companion.
"The same for me, please." She smiled at the cashier.
"A'ight. Go sit somewhere. I'll bring it to you." Tricia said, turning to get their orders together.
As soon as they were sat down at a boot in the far back, Piper looked at Alex with wide eyes. "Wow. She seems really excited to work here."
Alex laughed softly. "Red always has quite the crew around here."
"So Red is the owner, I'm guessing, since this place is named after him?"
"Red's a she." Alex corrected, taking her glasses of to clean off the specks of moisture they'd gathered on the journey to the coffee shop. She put them back on and smiled softly at the blonde. Suddenly, she felt a blow to the back of her head and yelped in surprise.
"I don't hear from you or see you in months and then you just show up and dont even come to say hello?" A thick Russian accent questioned from behind her. Alex looked at Piper, who was wide eyed and seemingly frozen aside from her eyes, that went back and forth from Alex to who she knew was Red standing behind her.
"Hello, Red." Alex grumbled, which earned her another smack to the back of her head. She winced and rubbed the spot that had been hit twice now. Red never learned to ease the force of her slaps, they were always hard and you were lucky if it wasn't the back of her hand because her studded rings hurt much worse.
"Fix your glasses." Red said, noticing that two smacks in a row had all but knocked them from Alex's face.
Alex clenched her jaw in frustration and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose before removing her beanie that had become too loose for her liking. She prepared herself for what she knew was coming next.
"And put your hat on right. It's never all the way on. Always just barely hanging. I'll never understand you kids." Red griped. She watched as Alex did as told, knowing the young woman was only doing what she was told because she didn't want to be griped at any more in front of the pretty girl she'd brought with her.
Piper watched the two women in silence, looking away only when Alex had been knocked on the back of the head the second time, and then again when she'd had to fix her glasses. She was embarrassed for Alex, who appeared to be holding it together only for her bennifit. Piper was certain if she hadn't been there, Alex would have said something to Red, but hadn't wanted to be hit again in front of her.
"Where have you been, Alex? You haven't come around for 10 months. Almost a year! No word to anybody. Just moved out of your mother's house and nobody knew where you were. You didn't answer anybody's calls or texts." Red motioned her hands around wildly, before motioning for Piper to scoot over. The blonde quickly did as instructed, afraid of having the red headed Russian angry with her, as well.
Red sat down beside Piper and leant on the table of the small booth, eyeing Alex sternly. She pointed a finger at her, "You can't just run off, Vause."
"Nobody has called me, Red. Nobody has texted me. The only person who has talked to me is Nicky and that's only through letters." Alex said in a low voice, almost too soft to hear.
"What do you mean? I texted you and called you myself after we didn't hear from you for a month!" Red said, astonished.
"Yes, I am aware. But nobody tried after that.. Look. I'm sorry I never responded. I'm sorry I haven't come by in a while. But, I'm here now, right? Doesn't that count as something? Can we please not air all of my dirty laundry in front of her?" Alex nodded towards Piper, who looked increasingly uncomfortable. Fuck. She'd already blown it and they hadn't even had their fucking stupid coffee yet.
Red looked over at the pretty blonde Alex had brought with her and then narrowed her eyes at the raven haired girl. "Fine. But you will come by tomorrow morning and we will talk. Understand?"
Alex sighed, thanking whatever diety may exist for the tiny break. "Yes. Tomorrow morning. I'll be here."
Red didn't say another word, just got up and walked away to her office in the back where the kitchen was. Piper was pressed into the wall beside her, twiddling with her thumbs nervously. Alex rubbed her temples and flinched when two plates were all but dropped carelessly onto the table before two cups of coffee were sat down next. Tricia looked Alex up and down while sucking her teeth before walking off.
"If you wanna leave you can. I'd get it." Alex mumbled, picking at her pie with the fork she'd just unrolled from it's napkin.
Piper looked up and saw the beaten look on Alex's face, how that frown she'd seen earlier was back firmly in place. Alex met her eyes briefly and Piper could see the frustration and something that looked a lot like grief in them. She unrolled her own fork and shrugged, "Everyone's got dirty laudry, Alex. If it'll make you feel better, I'll tell you some of mine."
A small, weary smile tugged at Alex's lips. "Yeah?"
Piper nodded, "Yup."
Alex gave the blonde a greatful smile. "You don't have to tell me anything. Just give me a chance to prove that I'm not a complete mess."
The blue eyed girl took a sip of her coffee and sighed happily at the taste. "This coffee is deliscious." She dabbed at her mouth with the napkin, "Let's make a deal, okay?"
Alex rose a brow at her in suspicion, waiting to hear what it was that the blonde had to say. She was glad that Piper didn't seem to have been scared off, yet. Yet, being the key word. Of course, they could leave today and never see one another again. Piper could just be trying to let her down easy. Which was something that had never happened to Alex before. In fact, she'd never been on the recieving end when it came to endings of any sort. Romantically, at least..
"I won't hold anything that Red said against you because I don't have any clue what happened or why she was so.. Upset. But, if you happen to hear anything about me in a negative light, you have to do the same thing. Let's give each other a chance to explain anything if we have questions." Piper said, hoping she wasn't sounding too forward. After all, even if she did feel like she and Alex had some sort of weird, newly aquired connection, they hadn't known one another very long at all.
The brunette gave Piper a smile that nearly broke her heart. It was equal parts thankful and disbelieving, like the green eyed woman wasn't used to being given a chance once people knew anything about her. Sure, Piper was both curious and nervous about what she'd heard, but she didn't feel like it should justify kicking the beautiful woman to the kerb. Especially when she didn't even know what it was that Red was so angry about aside from Alex's apparent yet brief disappearance.
"Deal." Alex said in her low voice, before taking a bite of the best apple pie she'd ever had.
"I do have a question, though." Piper said before taking her own bite.
Alex froze and hesitantly met beautiful blue eyes. "Anything, kid."
"Are you single?" Piper blushed at how abrupt it came out.
Alex smirked, visably relieved that the question hadn't been as serious as she'd feared it could be. She quirked a brow at Piper, intent on lightening the mood and teasing the blushing blonde a little. "I might be. It really just depends on who's asking."
Piper chuckled quietly and rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know. Just a nerdy blonde girl with a cat named after her favorite Friends character."
Alex couldn't contain her laughter. "Do I know this blonde?"
"Not very well. But she finds you very interesting. And attractive." Piper said, deciding Alex would have known that already by how much she'd been blushing around her.
The green eyed woman looked down at her table, biting her lips to try and contain what she knew would be an alarmingly large and probably lopsided smile. When she felt like she had her face under control, the brunette looked up at the adorable blonde again. Piper had her head slightly tilted towards her, a hopeful look on her face. "You're really fucking cute."
Piper blushed, yet again. "You keep saying that."
"Tell that blonde girl that I am, in fact, single. So, if she's interested, I'd like to take her on an actual date. One that does not include angry Russian women that like to hit me. Or rude cashiers with awful neck tattoos." Alex said, watching as Piper's megawat smile made yet another appearance. The dimple in her right cheek was just the cherry on top. God, she was beautiful.
"Ask me yourself, silly." Piper said in a quiet, awed voice, her eyes searching Alex's face.
Alex smirked. "Wanna go on a date with me? Like.. to the park or.. Fuck, maybe somewhere indoors so we don't freeze our tits off. I've never been on a date before. Tell me where you want to go and I'll take care of the rest. Please?"
Piper laughed at how Alex's smirk had transformed into a nervous, pleading smile. "Do you like to read, Alex?"
Green eyes lit up, "I love to read."
"So, let's eat somewhere and then we can go to a bookstore or the library or someplace else where there are a buncha dusty old books." Piper offered, her eyes never leaving Alex's.
"Is that a yes, then? You'll go on a date with me? I never heard you say 'yes'." Alex joked, unable to contain her smile this go-round.
"Of course, Alex. Yes. I'll go on a date with you."
Piper chuckled when Alex shook both fists in the air and let out a tiny 'Woo!' Maybe she wasn't the nerdiest one at the table. Alex blushed and looked down, "I was trying to make you laugh.."
"Well, it worked." Piper stated, taking another drink of her coffee, which had now cooled off quite a bit.
For a few comfortable moments, they ate and sipped their lukewarm drinks in silene, smiling at one another every once in a while. A reminder that the moment was certainly real and that it was all really happening. The day had gone like any other for the most part. And then the blonde had run right into Alex as she rounded that corner. Piper was glad she had decided against the lift.
AN: This is the first story I have had the balls to publish, so please review and let me know what you think.