AN: Hey guys! I'm gunna have another school days update within the next hour or so after posting this one, and I've not given up on Coven either, but I watched One Day last night and couldn't help but imagine it being told with Piper and Alex, so here's what I came up with.
July 14th, 1988
"Just drink it, Piper," Polly slurred as she pushed the brown bag covered bottle into her hands, "we've graduated, you can finally get your head out of the library and into finding yourself a man to celebrate with.. or woman… whatever,"
Piper rolled her eyes but smiled a little, taking the bottle and giving herself a deep swig of it. The alcohol burned on the way down her throat, but it felt good, it felt like freedom. She heard Polly cheer as she took her hand, dragging her down the steps to the courtyard of their university, and Piper giggled as her graduation cap fell, her robes billowing behind her.
The courtyard was packed with post-graduation students beginning their celebrations, the air filled with a dull, drunken roar. Piper stopped when they reached the fountain, a large banner reading University of Edinburgh Class of '88 was strewn messily across the top, and Piper smiled ruefully, realising that she had actually done it; she had graduated. Grinning, she turned to Polly, who had seated herself on the floor and was taking off her boots,
"Pol, what are you-"
"Swimming," Polly slurred, "I've always wanted to get into the fountain,"
Piper was about to open her mouth to warn her against that idea when a loud, Australian accent interrupted her,
"Yes! Let's get in the fucking fountain!"
Both of their heads snapped up to the sound, landing on the unmistakeable figure of Pete bounding towards them. Instantly, she looked back down at Polly, rolling her eyes at the smitten smile she flashed him. Polly had always had a thing for him, even if she would never admit that her affections went deeper than a sexual interest, it was more than obvious. When Pete reached them, he held out a hand to pull Polly up, stumbling drunkenly with her towards the water where he tried to raise his leg to climb over, but tumbled forward and dragged not only himself, but Polly in with him.
Piper giggled as her best friend sat up and spluttered water from her face, before grabbing Pete by the cheeks and planting a sloppy kiss on his lips. As they fell back into the water, Polly tumbling on top of him, Piper's attention was captured by a raspy, but by no means sober, voice ringing out from behind them,
"Pete! Pete what are you-"
Piper turned to the source of the noise, already knowing who the voice belonged to. Alex Vause was stumbling behind her, chuckling drunkenly at the sight she was met with in the fountain. She doubled over when she reached Piper, and the blonde couldn't help the ghost of a smile on her own lips at the contagious sound, but made sure to wipe it off instantly when Alex stood up again, shaking her head once more at Pete before running a hand through her hair,
"Make it quick, Aussie. We've got a fucking party to go to,"
She chuckled softly once more before taking a deep breath, turning her head to the side and freezing when her eyes met Piper's, seemingly only just noticing her presence. She continued to stare at her for a few seconds, and Piper awkwardly darted her eyes from the green ones of Alex to the fountain as she waited for her to say something,
"I know you," was what she chose, her deep voice slightly slurred from her alcohol,
"We had a few seminars together last semester," she muttered, unable to hide the flair of disappointment that ran through her at Alex not remembering her name,
"You had a house party at the start of this year, didn't you?"
Piper hummed in confirmation as flashbacks of that disastrous party hit her, that was the first time she had ever spoken to Alex and it didn't go well for the brunette,
"I did, that was the first time we met actually,"
Alex jutted out a lip thoughtfully, before grinning cheekily down at Piper,
"I'm afraid I can't really remember, but I hope I was charming,"
"Oh very," Piper said sarcastically, eyes widening as she looked up at Alex, who cocked an eyebrow flirtatiously,
"Oh really?"
The low, almost sexy tone of Alex's voice made Piper's stomach clench, but she ignored it to continue with her story. Whilst the tall brunette might be hot, Piper most certainly wasn't a fan of her asshole attitude right now,
"No," she deadpanned, meeting her eyes again, "You had one too many drinks, called me Julie and spilt red wine all down my dress,"
"Oh," Alex muttered, eyebrows furrowing in thought as though she was trying to remember, "well I'm sorry about that,"
The sincere surprise and regret in Alex's tone almost made Piper smile, almost.
She watched as Alex straightened her graduation cap before adjusting the glasses on her face, she huffed determinedly, raising her head to look at Piper,
"So if you're not Julie, you are…"
"Piper," she giggled despite herself, "Piper Chapman,"
"Piper Chapman," Alex repeated, smiling at her, and Piper ducked her head as she felt her face flush from the intense gaze. Both of their heads snapped up again at a shriek from Polly, who was being carried away over the shoulder of Pete,
"Looks like we've been ditched," Alex chuckled, and Piper smiled at her, also laughing lightly at the scene before her, "let me walk you home,"
Alex bumped her shoulder against Piper's playfully, smirking down at her, and Piper nodded, smiling cheekily at Alex as she began to walk towards the exit of the university. Something in Alex's voice made her think that walking her home wasn't all she had in mind, and Piper found herself strangely thrilled by it.
By the time they reached her place, Alex had swung an arm around her shoulder, her natural charm beginning to break through Piper's initially frosty front, and once they reached the door, Piper turned to look at her, and Alex linked her fingers through hers,
"So this is me," the blonde muttered, and Alex grinned as they shared a silent conversation with their eyes. She found herself mesmerised by the blueness, and had to shake her head to rid it of the tenderness she rarely felt running through her mind. Slowly, she moved one hand up to rest on Piper's cheek, smiling softly at the way her eyes fluttered closed at the contact, once again pushing away the tender feeling that ran through her. She had known this girl for all of 10 minutes, why was her heart fluttering the way it was? She moved forward anyway, pressing her lips lightly against Piper's, who moved her hands to clasp around the back of her neck to keep her in place. They kissed slowly, tongues sliding against each other's languidly as they both got lost in the sensation. Eventually, Piper pulled back to pull in a shaky breath, resting her forehead against Alex's,
"Do you want to come in?" Piper asked, trying to sound desperately seductive, but achieving more desperately desperate. Nevertheless, Alex smiled widely at her, her eyes lighting up as she pecked Piper's lips again,
"I would," she murmured, and Piper smiled shyly as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, turning to unlock her door and pull Alex over the threshold.
As soon as the door closed behind them, it felt as though all of Piper's caution was left outside with it. She pounced on Alex, covering the brunettes lips with her own and wrapping her legs around her waist. Alex caught her, but fell back on the bed with a delighted chuckle, rolling them over so she was above Piper.
Piper felt Alex's warm hand on her calf that was still wrapped around her waist as their kiss broke so she could take in air. As Alex dropped wet kisses down her neck, she felt the hand begin to rise, skimming smoothly towards her thighs and the hem of her dress,
"Wait," Piper breathed, and Alex stopped instantly, moving her head from Piper's neck to look at her,
"What is it?" She asked, and Piper bit her lip, not wanting to admit that her fear of her talents in bed were hindering her, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind,
"I need to shave my legs!"
Alex smiled with amusement but frowned, shaking her head,
"I don't care about that," she chuckled, and Piper pushed her shoulders off her lightly,
"I do, I'll be two minutes," she lied, rolling out from under Alex and closing the door, hearing a confused huff from the girl behind her.
As she stared at herself in the mirror, she ran her hands across her face, trying to tame her blonde hair into looking less rampant. She paused, resting her hands on the sink and met her own eyes,
"Get it together," she whispered to herself, and then let her head drop forward to rest against the glass.
She wasn't sure where this blast of nervousness had come from. Alex was hot, and more than that despite her initial impression, she was actually rather charming. She was witty, and smart, and just from their 15 minute walk home she could tell that she had a personality that complimented her own quite well, so what was stopping her? Piper sighed as she accepted that it was the spontaneity of it all that was holding her back, she wanted to have sex with Alex, she had no doubts that the girl would know what she was doing, and she'd had plenty of drunken hook ups before, but this time Piper was dead-sober, and she couldn't bring herself to be so intimate with someone she'd only had her first conversation with an hour ago.
She took her dress off, replacing it with the oversized shirt that was slung over the washing basket, and took a deep breath.
Upon returning to the room, she found Alex laid in her bed. Her graduation robe was off, and she was wearing a shirt that was unbuttoned halfway and skin tight denim jeans. Her tall frame was sprawled over Piper's single bed, one leg bent the same way an arm was behind her head. She was holding a book in her hands, and Piper flushed as she realised it was a Harry Potter book, caught red handed reading the series again for the billionth time. Piper chewed her lip, she didn't want Alex to leave, but she had made up her mind that they weren't going to sleep together, or at least, not tonight.
"Harry Potter?," Alex chuckled without looking up from the book, "and what number read is it of this one? It's falling apart-"
As she teased her, Alex looked up, smile dying on her face as she took in Piper's apprehensive expression. The blonde felt something tighten in her stomach at the lightning fast look of appreciation she received when Alex's green eyes raked over her body in just a shirt, before it changed into genuine concern at Piper's expression,
"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked softly, putting the book on the bedside table and sitting up as Piper felt the sting of tears hit her eyes. She coughed, face hot from embarrassment at crying over something so small,
"I'm sorry," she laughed awkwardly, wiping her eyes, "I just- I don't do this very often- and – and when I do I tend to be drunk enough to have the confidence to do it… and I- I'm not drunk now and I want to- I want to so badly but I- I cant bring myself to and… I've brought you all the way here and, every time I go to bed with someone it ends in me laughing or crying and it would have been nice to go for something in between,"
"Hey," Alex interrupted her, a smile still on her face, "take a breath Piper, you're gunna pass out."
Piper took a deep breath, before clearing her throat and rubbing her eyes with a hand,
"I bet you think I'm crazy," she huffed out, and Alex chuckled as Piper moved her hand to look at her,
"I think it's crazy that you're standing there in nothing but a shirt when I'm over here with a blanket, come here,"
Alex laid down and opened up the covers, and Piper stared at her for a second before crawling up the bed. She felt herself smile as Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into her side, and she snuggled her face into her neck, breathing in deeply.
"It's fine, okay?" Alex said, squeezing the top of Piper's arm affectionately, "maybe we can just be friends?"
Piper smiled into Alex's skin at the girl's efforts to maintain some kind of relationship with her, even if it's not the kind she originally wanted,
"Friends," she confirmed, and Alex smiled as she relaxed, raising her arm to look at her watch,
"It's St Swithun's day," she commented as the hand had passed the midnight mark,
"What?" Piper mumbled against her skin, and Alex chuckled again,
"The 15th July, St Swithun's Day,"
"How do you know that?" Piper giggled, and Alex smiled,
"He was buried in Winchester Cathedral, which is where I went to school,"
Piper giggled again,
"Well la dee da," she teased, and Alex laughed, shaking her arm a little playfully,
"La dee da," she agreed, "there's a poem you know,"
Alex coughed dramatically, making Piper giggle again as she raised a hand to punctuate each of her words with a wrist flick and prepared her best over exaggerated British accent,,
"If on Saint Swithun's day it doth rain, something, something, something… remain,"
"Alex, that's beautiful," Piper teased, and Alex laughed again,
"Fuck off," she murmured affectionately, turning to spoon Piper instead,
"Alex?" Piper asked after a few minutes,
"Piper?" Alex returned sleepily, snuggling her face into blonde hair,
"If it's not raining tomorrow, do you want to spend the day together? You and I?"
"Mhm," Alex hummed happily, squeezing Piper tighter round her waist as the blonde fell into a pleasant sleep, a smile still playing on her lips.
AN: There's your first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and get where I'm trying to go, each chapter will be a year on on St Swithun's Day and their lives by that point. Some chapters will be M but it'll take a while, let me know what you think!
Laura xo