Spring Forward
Spring was in the air, and after a brutal winter, everyone was smiling as they hustled down Houston Street. Everyone except for Piper. She'd never had allergies as a child, but after being released from prison and moving back to the city, the pollen count had sent her to the doctor every March. Allegra, Claritin, Zyrtec and Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride didn't help, but ginger tea and acupuncture seemed to make the first three weeks of spring manageable.
"You're late," Piper greeted her friend with mock indignation over the rim of her Wayfarers.
"Now you know how it feels." Polly handed her a large bag and hoisted the other over her shoulder. "We had a meeting at The Spence School with Finn that ran late."
"He's four," Piper commented indignantly as they made their way down the steps.
"Kindergarten next year. We're actually starting this process late, which I blame entirely on my husband and his lack of pedigree." Polly glanced at her watch. "Speaking of, I hope this doesn't take long; Pete can't pick up Finn this afternoon, which means I have to be back by three."
Piper whipped her head around and glared. "We've had this meeting on the books for weeks."
"Life happens." Polly shrugged. "I've got three hours. We can get this done in three hours."
"Each batch takes three hours, so we can make two or three each day."
Polly punched numbers into her calculator. "Two, sure, but not three."
"We're going to make it work this time." Piper ladled the hot soap mixture into a plastic mold. "I promise."
"I'm not the one who needs this, Piper." She glanced up. "If it were up to me, we'd be at a spa, getting pedicures right now."
"I can't afford pedicures. Hell, I can't afford rent, hence the soap thing."
"I'm just saying, it's more work than I have time for now that we have Finn." Polly placed the mold into a chilling apparatus. "But I made a commitment to you, and I intend to keep it—two days a week—that's all."
"I know, two days a week. Got it."
During their ride to the Upper West Side, they ended up on the Subway with one of Polly's old friends, and Piper took the time to return a few e-mails from her phone. When the Subway stopped, Polly and her friend were still deep in conversation as Piper began to make her way to the staircase. Her attention was suddenly drawn to a nicely dressed woman walking at a brisk pace towards the Subway.
Tall.
Long black hair.
Glasses.
She told herself that it wasn't Alex; it never was. Piper saw women like that all the time—twice a day, in fact. Still, her palms began to sweat and her pulse raced at the mere possibility.
The last time she'd seen Alex was at Litchfield more than four years ago, and things had ended badly. By the time she'd been released from solitary, Alex had been transferred. Piper heard later that Alex had put in the request.
When she got out of prison, Piper searched for Alex on the internet every week for two years, and nothing surfaced other than the drug charges and prison sentence. She wrote a total of six letters to Alex, but the last two were returned to sender. As far as she knew, Alex was still in prison. If she'd managed to get out, Lord knows where she was.
The dreams that Piper had about Alex always involved running like they were being chased. There was the rare intimate dream, but as soon as Alex leaned in to kiss her, Piper always woke up. Four years later, she still had dreams involving Alex, but they were less frequent. She finally earned enough money to see a therapist, and she'd had three visits thus far. She figured her therapy sessions were the reason for her recent hyper-awareness of anyone resembling Alex Vause.
Piper couldn't stop herself from taking a few steps forward on the Subway platform, just to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her, but she was still too far away to make out any details. "Polly, I'll be right back."
"I'm wrapping up," Polly said as she hugged her acquaintance and told her something about the pending meeting.
The tall, dark haired woman stepped onto the Subway car, the doors shut, and she turned around.
Ten feet away on a train that slowly picked up speed stood Alex Vause as plain as day.
Piper whispered her name, more to herself in a state of disbelief than to anyone else around. It was as if she was slowly waking from one of her dreams, and by the time Alex's name left her lips, the Subway was gone.
"Who was that?" Polly asked as she caught up with her friend.
Piper knew the disdain Polly had for her ex-lover, so she shook her head and mumbled, "Nobody." She felt queasy and knew that she must've looked pale as the blood ran from her head to her heart. For a moment, she thought about bracing herself against the brick wall, but she took three deep breaths and followed Polly up the stairs.
Sitting in a candlelit room in the back of Lyla's Bath & Body was downright painful. Inside of an hour ago, Piper was pumped for this meeting, ready to sell their soaps and lotions to the 20th store in Manhattan, but all that changed when she saw Alex. She couldn't wait to get out of there and do what, she didn't know. She just couldn't stand the thought of Alex on a Subway in New York, while she was in an armchair in the back of an overpriced boutique.
Piper had many questions that she played over and over in her mind if she ever ran into Alex. Her therapist told her that journaling would be good for her—she should record her feelings and the questions she had for her ex. When was she was released? Why did she request to be transferred? Did she go back to moving large amounts of heroin for a different cartel? Was she in a relationship?
"We'll be in touch."
The scraping of a chair on the concrete floor startled Piper.
"We're looking forward to it," Polly replied and shook Lyla's hand.
Piper extended her hand. "It was nice meeting you."
After exchanging pleasantries and exiting the store, Polly glared at her companion. "What the fuck was that?"
"What?"
"I thought the deal was you'd make the sell, Piper. You always close with that touching bullshit story." She picked up the pace. "You hardly said three words!"
"I was distracted." Her mind reeled back to the situation and realized that she'd been no help whatsoever. "Shit. I'm sorry, Polly. Do you think we should go back?"
"No, I do not." She turned the corner. "It's done. We'll be lucky to even get a call back."
Polly didn't say a word to Piper until they got on the Subway back to the West Village. "Are you feeling ok?"
"I might've taken too much allergy medicine this morning." This was her out. Piper didn't plan to tell her that she'd seen Alex earlier, and she needed a handy excuse for her behavior. "I'm groggy."
Polly sighed, and then hugged her before exiting at her stop. "Let's talk in the morning."
Piper nodded and rode the Subway in silence for three more stops. She walked past a new wine bar that had just opened and thought for a moment about going inside, but changed her mind in favor of jumping on her computer at home to see if she could dig up any information about Alex. Damn that woman, she thought, for surfacing at a totally unexpected time.
The door to her studio apartment was unlocked, and when she walked in, she was greeted by the one person she didn't want to see.
"Surprise!"
"Shit, Carter, you scared me." She threw her purse on a chair. "You know I don't like it when you come over unannounced."
"I was in the neighborhood and figured I'd pop in." He kissed her on the cheek. "I tried calling, and I texted you twice."
She'd met Carter six months ago at a cricket match that Pete drug her to. They hit it off immediately and went on several double dates with her closest friends. Carter was a Brit who came to the US for college and never returned to his hometown of Manchester. He worked in finance and traveled often, which suited Piper just fine. He could be a bit overbearing and wanted to take their relationship to the next level, but she wanted a casual relationship. However, he took her to fancy parties and fine dinners, which she always appreciated. It reminded her slightly of her extravagant lifestyle many years ago, but the emotional connection was a mere blip on the radar.
Piper dug her phone out of her pocket, and sure enough, she had one missed call and two texts from Carter. "Polly and I were on the Upper West Side for a meeting with a boutique."
"How did it go?" He took her hand and walked towards the sofa.
"Not well." Piper sat at the opposite end of the sofa and removed her hand from his. "Don't change the subject, Carter. I don't like it when you 'pop in' when I'm away."
"Sorry, I thought you might want to know that I got a promotion today." He said with a hint of hurt.
"I'm happy for you. You deserve it." Piper grabbed his hand and squeezed it. She let it go and rubbed her face. "My allergies are acting up. I'm sorry; I'm just not feeling good. Let me make it up to you—dinner Friday night on me."
Carter smiled. "I'll take you up on that."
"I'll call you later." Piper stood and pulled him towards the entryway. "I'm going to take a hot bath, swig some Benadryl and go to sleep."
He kissed her on the top of her head. "Feel better."
When the door closed, she pressed her back against it and let her chin sag to her chest and took several deep breaths. She pushed herself away from the door and fired up her laptop, hoping that there was something—anything—about Alex Vause since the last time she'd checked a week ago.
"How long are you going to be on your computer?" Piper stretched out on the king sized bed.
"Another hour or so, why?" Alex didn't look up from the keyboard.
"I just thought you might want to take a break or, you know, be done for the night." She flipped on her side.
Alex peered over her shoulder. "Holy shit, Piper."
Piper had spent the day shopping in Brussels and found a long, transparent, black negligee that left nothing to the imagination. She'd pulled off the tags with her teeth and slipped into it as soon as she returned to the Ritz.
Alex was exactly where she'd left her three hours earlier—typing feverishly on her laptop at the desk next to the window.
"You like?" Piper asked as she ran a hand down her thigh.
"I fucking love." Alex closed her laptop and sauntered towards her lover.
Despite the fact that Poppy turned a profit at the beginning of last year, Piper still had to wait tables to make ends meet. Her father's insistence that she meet with a financial advisor finally got the best of her last Christmas, so she took his advice. According to the advisor, Piper would most likely have to work at the restaurant for another year before Poppy really took off and she could be more financially stable.
She'd waited tables at Balthazar in SoHo since she'd moved back to the city, so she was able to set her schedule to accommodate the work she needed to do for Poppy. Piper almost always worked Saturday nights, which was when she garnered her biggest tips, sometimes bringing home upwards of $500 in cash. Still, she did not enjoy living paycheck to paycheck and couldn't wait until she could focus exclusively on her business rather than serving duck confit and dry martinis to wealthy customers.
Piper picked up the Friday lunch shift so that she could treat Carter to a nice dinner that evening. She knew that, on paper, he was a catch, but she'd been down that road before. Larry looked good on paper. She'd loved him, but she admitted much later that she was never in love with him. When that relationship ended, Piper learned a great deal about herself, and promised not to fall into the same pattern once she was a free woman, yet she found herself heading in exactly the same direction with Carter.
Sex with Carter was…decent. Even after being out of prison for four years, she still craved being touched, and she figured that was a big reason why she was with him. At first, it was difficult for Piper not to compare sex with Carter to sex with Alex; she knew that was unfair. Although Piper considered herself a wordsmith, she never could find the right words to describe sex with Alex, so she gave up trying long ago.
"That was…" Piper panted.
Alex covered her with an oversized beach towel. "Yes?"
"Unreal," she finished.
"We're on one of the most pristine black sand beaches in the world, I just made you come three times, and all you can come up with is, 'that was unreal'?" Alex smirked.
"Stupendous?" Piper tried again.
Alex kissed her squarely on the mouth. "Better."
"Extraordinary? Breathtaking?" Piper giggled as Alex traced her fingertips up her ribcage.
She pulled away from Alex's touch and looked her in the eye. "I don't know if I'll ever have words to describe how you make me feel."
"You never have to tell me." Alex smiled proudly at her lover. "Just show me."
Piper hustled home after work to shower and change before taking Carter to Souths on Church Street. She'd been craving blackened catfish for weeks. The pouring rain didn't deter her from wearing a new spring dress that she'd scored for $15 at a second hand store in Chelsea. It was still a little chilly for strapless, but her great-grandmother's pink pashmina would keep her warm enough.
On any given night, she'd walk the five blocks to Souths, but with the pouring rain, she decided to take a taxi and leave her umbrella at home. She gave the cabbie her destination, dabbed some gloss on her lips and sat back to watch the city fly by. She could tell the tourists from the locals simply by the way they walked. She smiled at an older couple, struggling to keep their umbrella upright while looking at a map and pointing at various buildings.
Passing by the older couple with her head down was a tall, dark haired woman who immediately caught Piper's eye. Just like three days before, Piper's heart raced, thinking that it could be her. She put her hand on the window and squinted to see the figure walking briskly in the rain. The cab jolted forward, screeching through a yellow light and leaving the dark haired woman behind.
"Turn around." Piper craned her neck, and as she did so, the woman looked up. She was convinced that it was Alex. "I said, TURN AROUND!"
The taxi driver explained that they were making good time and that the restaurant was a couple of blocks away, but Piper heard none of it.
"I need to get out!" She tugged on the door handle, but it didn't budge. "Let me out of here!" She banged on the partition.
"Are you crazy, lady?" The cabbie drove half a block before sharply pulling over.
"I need to get out of this cab right now," Piper explained as calmly as she could while digging in her wristlet for the cab fare. She'd lost nearly five minutes. She shoved several dollar bills through the small opening in the plastic partition and heard the doors unlock.
Piper bolted down Franklin, scanning the crowd for the woman who she was convinced was Alex Vause. She stormed into a cheese shop, a bakery and then a boutique, looking around for a few seconds and then departing in a flash when no one resembled her ex-lover. "Excuse me," she asked a doorman. "Did a tall woman with long, black hair and glasses just come in here?"
"No, ma'am. Sorry."
Frustrated but undeterred, she entered Aire Spa and tried to keep her voice down as she asked the woman at the front desk the same question. She got the same answer.
By the time she'd searched the small area where she'd spotted Alex, she looked down at her dress, and it was soaking wet. She caught her reflection in a glass door and noticed that her hair was even wetter than her outfit. Piper didn't know whether to scream or cry; she stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk and the rain, scanning the crowd.
After minutes past, Piper sat next to a homeless man on a bench, lost in a daze. She didn't care about the rain—her dress, hair and makeup were soaked beyond repair by that point. The shrill of her mobile phone startled her, but she didn't answer it. She didn't even look at the phone. She knew it was Carter.
Piper was uncertain how much time had passed when her phone made a pinging sound, notifying her of a text. She knew she should at least let Carter know that she was ok. She typed a short message as she stood, and then walked in the direction of her apartment. "I can't make it tonight. Please forgive me."
When Piper made it inside her tiny studio, she crumbled to the ground, holding her head in her hands and cried. She tried to convince herself that she just wanted to talk to Alex even for five minutes—to get some answers and know that she was doing well; tell Alex that she didn't want to be back in the web of her fucked up life. If she could just see her, face-to-face, she could tell her that.
Trouble was, Piper could never fool herself into thinking that it would be a quick encounter.
"Where in the hell have you been?" Piper screamed as soon as the hotel door shut.
"Sorry, I had no idea the meeting would take so long." Alex removed her raincoat and flung it onto a chair.
"I've been sitting here, waiting for you for five FUCKING hours!" She put her hands on her hips.
"I thought you'd go out and explore like you always do." Alex kicked off her heels, seemingly underestimating Piper's anger.
"You asked me to wait for you. You told me that it would take a couple of hours." Piper tried keeping her voice down. "No one in this whole fucking city speaks English, and my Russian is a little sloppy these days."
"I'm sorry, Piper, I really am." Alex sat on the bed and put her glasses on top of her head. "I'm exhausted. Let me make it up to you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Piper raised her eyebrows. "I haven't eaten in like 12 hours, Alex!"
"Calm down." She reached for the room service menu, picked up the phone and ordered steak and a bottle of wine, using her limited but impressive Russian vocabulary. "Dinner will be up in 30 minutes. Come here and let me rub your cute, little pacing feet."
Piper huffed, but complied. "I hate it when you forget that I'm waiting for you."
"I can't always control when I get out of these meetings, Piper, but I never forget that you're waiting for me." Alex pushed Piper's hair off her neck and placed tiny kisses below her ear. "Believe me, I want to get back to you…to this…as fast as humanly possible."
End Part 1