Infatuation- Chapter 1
"Piper sweetheart, we really need to get going".
Bill Chapman had appeared at the door of Piper's bedroom. His face was flushed red and beads of sweat were visible on his forehead. He stooped down to pick up the last remaining box in the room, with a deep breath he heaved the box into his arms and slowly made his way out of the room.
Piper was now alone in her childhood bedroom. She looked around the now empty room. The pale pink walls and wooden floor felt cold and unfamiliar. Piper wasn't sad to be leaving her family home, she wasn't even sad to be leaving her family for the first time in her life - Piper Chapman was scared.
She was scared of change.
Piper's life here was far from perfect, a change should do her good right?
Piper took one last look around the room and made her way outside. She reached the car just as Bill managed to cram the last box into the back. He sighed triumphantly and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. Looking up he caught his daughter's eye, "Alright then sweetheart, are you ready to go?"
Piper nodded back at her father and climbed into the car. She put her seatbelt on and plugged her phone into the USB port in the car. She flicked through her carefully created road trip playlist whilst Bill did his final checks of the car. Bill gave his daughter a reassuring smile and started the car. Piper gazed out of the window as they backed out of the driveway- excitement, hope and a slight twinge of anxiety fluttered in the pit of her stomach. Her anxiety soon disappeared when Justin Bieber's 'Sorry' filled the car, Bill sighed in disappointment at her choice of song before proceeding to wiggle in his seat and shout out the words at full volume. Piper threw her head back with laughter, by the time the song was finished her cheeks were aching. The journey continued in a similar fashion, Piper and Bill sung their hearts out to every song that came on- they'd just finished their rendition of 'Footloose' when Bill suggested that they stop for a milkshake.
"So, are you excited for your new adventure?" Bill asked before taking a sip of his banana milkshake. They were sat opposite each other in a booth of a small 50's style diner. The diner was fairly quiet, the other diners also looked like they were on their way to college- nervous teenagers stopping for one final reassuring chat with their parents.
"Urm, I guess so" Piper replied, she looked down at her hands- she didn't want her father to know how scared she actually was.
"College is a big change sweetheart, it's perfectly normal to feel anxious but you'll do great. You always do", Bill smiled at his only daughter with admiration before taking another sip of his milkshake, this time purposely letting the whipped cream rest on his upper lip leaving him with a whipped cream moustache. He raised his eyebrow at Piper and stuck out his tongue to make her laugh. She smiled a genuine smile back at him. Piper really did love her father- he always knew exactly what to do to cheer her up.
Piper slept for the rest of the journey.
The evening before she had struggled to get to sleep in the shell that once was her room. She had spent most of the night looking through her high school year book- she looked over the pages at the glossy faces of strangers that stared back at her. High school had been a difficult time for Piper, she was painfully shy and so struggled to make friends. This only made Piper more nervous for college, who would want to be friends with someone like her?
"Piper… Piper, sweetheart. We're here."
Piper woke up with a start. She opened her eyes and squinted at the evening sun. She peered out of the window and saw the beautiful campus of Litchfield University staring back at her. The campus had captured Piper's heart when she had first visited with her father the previous year. It looked particularly stunning in the fading sunlight. Piper took a deep breath and opened the car door. She could hear music playing in the distance and immediately felt excitement surge through her body.
With the help of some friendly sophomores Piper and Bill managed to unload the car in record time. They were stood in the middle of Piper's new room, the awkward silence that enveloped them was due to the immediate realisation that it was time for Bill to leave. Piper felt the tears fall down her cheeks before she even realised that she felt sad, her father had always been her security blanket and now she was going to be without him for the first time in her life. Bill pulled Piper into a deep hug, "Good luck kiddo, show them how great you are".
A/N- Hey guys, I'm so new to this and just started randomly writing today so please be patient with me. I don't know if this is even something that you will all like. I have a few ideas for where this story will go so if you like what you see in the first two chapters please let me know and I'll be sure to carry on. I'm also open to suggestions on plot ideas etc.