It starts with 2 engineering students. These two students are not your typical students. They were two girls surrounded in a sea of boys. Their names were Alex and Piper. Piper was a little older than Alex and had entered college after taking a few years for self-discovery. What she had discovered was that despite living under a very conservative roof for her entire childhood, she was gay – very gay. She fell someone between Ellen DeGeneres and Ellen Page on the Kenzie Scale and she had no shame in it. This was one of the first things that actually attracted Alex to Piper. See, Alex was just as gay. She had known her entire life, but no one else knew, not even her roommate, Lorna. Alex was an introvert and did not devolve personal information to just anyone. Her mother, Diane, was the closest person to her and not even Diane knew.
At school, Alex would attend study groups that she knew Piper would be at so that she could gather more information at Piper and get as close to her as she could. She knew that she and Piper had to be in each other's lives somehow, she just didn't know the extent yet. She would settle for friends for now because there was a slight problem – and by slight it was actually pretty big. Piper was engaged.
Piper and Alex were the same year in school pursing the same major so coincidentally their schedules lined up for the most part. The first time Alex laid eyes on Piper, she was in the center of a big study group. Piper was so confident in the way she spoke. Alex was instantly drawn to her. Her friend was one of the members in Piper's group, but Alex still hesitated before approaching. You only get one chance to make a first impression and she wanted hers to be good. She walked with as much confidence as she could muster and approached the group.
"Hey, how far have you guys gotten?" Alex spoke with the confidence she didn't feel.
"Hey, Alex! Guys, this is Alex. She's in our class too." Alex's friend introduced her. Piper looked up and their eyes met. Cue the cheesy music and slow-mo camera, a connection between the two was made. Piper immediately wanted to know more about Alex.
"Hey, Alex. We are now trying to make the walls in our dungeons." Piper said, making straight eye contact with Alex.
"That's great. I can't stay, but if you guys get that figured out, let me know. Right now my player can walk through my walls." Alex responded with a half smile.
That half smile won over Piper right then. Piper was smitten with this brunette beauty.
"Piper! What are you doing!? This girl is no way available either not single or not gay. Plus you are taken. Best case you're going to get is single." Piper attempted to correct her thinking as quickly as she could. The intrigue stayed however despite her best efforts. She had to know more about Alex.
With the massive program that the class had to work on, Piper's study group met many more times within the next month. Alex would catch wind of when they would meet and make it a point to be around. But the Library basement?! Why did it have to be the library basement? Alex hated the library and had made it a point to avoid the Library as much as she could up until this point in her degree. However with Piper's study groups going there, she was willing to overcome her aversion to the place and get comfortable. As long as Piper was around, Alex would have gone to the end of the world.
Night after long and drawn out night, the group would meet. Piper was the first to show up and the last to leave. Alex would come, but would sit near the edge and just work on her program. Piper was caught up in this gorgeous brunette that kept to herself. The split second eye contact allowed a connection to form between them and Piper knew it.
"What are you doing? You already have a girlfriend." Piper scolded herself. "Get your eyes back on your computer screen and stop thinking about her."
The truth be told, Piper wasn't happy at home. She wouldn't tell anyone this. She acted like she was an open book for everyone to read, but honestly, she was very closed off the everyone. She was a self-proclaimed introverted extrovert. Piper was a "people-person who hated people."
Throughout the semester, Alex and Piper barely spoke. Each was intimidated by the other. Piper assumed Alex was straight and Alex assumed Piper was happy at home. Their friendship grew however, as classmates. Strangely, despite their mild and intermittent communication, they considered each other a good friend and trusted each other completely. Piper knew that she couldn't Alex in the eyes. Since the first time their eyes met she was drawn in and knew that if she looked her in the eyes again, she would be sucked in for good. Alex had hidden her sexuality her entire life and was able to continue to do so, but to hid it from this girl who she trusted completely was different. She wanted to welcome her into her bubble of safety, still she was afraid. Alex couldn't make eye contact either. Once she did, she knew that her walls would collapse into a heap of rubble.
As it would go, the next semesters lined up again and Alex and Piper had more classes together. Generally speaking though, Alex and Piper hung out with different crowds, but keeping an eye on the other. If Alex found out that Piper would be hanging out in the commons area in between classes, she would take the long way around just to make an appearance. Same went for Piper. When she found out that Alex had a class that was next door to hers, she would arrive early, hang around in the hallway and leave early, again hanging around, hoping to just get a glance of the sexy beast named Alex. Something about Alex had Piper spellbound. Sure she was gorgeous and smart, but would it really mean ending the comfortable relationship that she currently had, uprooting her mundane life, for a girl that was probably straight? Little did Piper know, but Alex was feeling the same thing.
Those quick passes in the hall or in the commons area were not accidental for either party involved. When Alex and Piper had classes together, they would casually walk with each other to their next class, even if one had to walk out of their way without the other knowing. This cat and mouse game continued for a year and a half.
Everything would change in their senior year though. Maybe the stars aligned, or the cosmos was in sync... or maybe their schedules just happened to coincide conventionally because it was the senior year as computer engineers and you can only take so many classes then. Whatever the reason, the two found themselves in several classes together. Now was the time for one to act or lose what they might have forever to graduation. Everything seemed to bringing them together perfectly. Almost as if everything about this was inevitable.