A'/N: Unreal reaction to the first chapter, did not expect that! Thank you all so much! I'm pretty excited about this story, and although I'm still ironing out the details I kind of have an idea of what's going to happen. Another A/N at the bottom. :)
Alex Vause didn't often regret following a pretty girl to her car, but as the pairing walked briskly out into the crisp New York air, the brunette felt an unusual feeling of anxiety work its way through her bones. For a start, how was she going to explain the fact that she didn't even drive a Mercedes?! If Piper's squared-shoulder power walk and scowling expression was anything to go by, the blonde was already royally pissed off at something, and the fact Alex wasn't even the person she was looking for would probably not go down well. Why, then, did Alex bother coming out here? To fuck with Piper, would probably be her first answer.
Only, this was a first time experience for the brunette; usually when it came to women the whole 'with' thing didn't happen. She usually only wanted to fuck them, literally, not to tease or flirt or get under their skin. Why, then, was Piper so different?
The question tormented her for a few tense, silent minutes before she was forced to come to an answer, facing a rather expensive looking Audi and a striking black Mercedes with Piper fidgeting awkwardly beside her. Alex whistled low through her teeth for a moment before speaking.
"Damn, girl...this is your car?" Alex raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the slightly smaller blonde. She looked up at her in amazement, wondering why Alex wasn't going batshit over the scrape, but entertained the older girl anyway.
"Yeah, it's mine." She patted the matte hood affectionately before drawing in a shaky breath. "Look, Alex...I'm really sorry about your car. It was a complete accident and I'll pay whatever you need to get it fixed up." Alarmingly to Piper, Alex was laughing fairly hard at this point. "What?" The tall brunette shook her head, unable to speak through her laughter, raven locks catching delightfully in the breeze.
"I'm sorry, but this whole situation just screams really trashy porno." Alex gasped for breath, laughter racking her body as Piper stood blushing profusely, blue eyes widening like a deer caught in headlights.
"What?!" She half squealed, arms outstretched in a position of complete and utter confusion. The infuriating brunette continued to chuckle impossibly harder at the poor girl's embarrassment. Alex had a damn good point, however; two women walk into a boardroom in skirts and heels, undressing each other with their eyes and flirting all day long, before the dumb blonde ruins a car and has to 'repay' the other girl. Rather disappointingly however, the ice princess in front of Alex seemed about as interested in sex right now as the leaf floating down to land softly on the roof of her Audi.
"Nothing, nothing..." Alex fought to regain her composure, touching the frame of her glasses with her index knuckle before flattening her shirt and attempting to explain herself. "Yeah...this isn't my car, kid." Piper's head snapped up immediately, glaring at the woman in front of her.
"It's not your what?" She seethed, stepping closer to Alex. The brunette raised her hands skyward in protest.
"The Aston's mine." Alex nodded to a sleek, grey car over Piper's shoulder. She turned for a split second, glancing at the vehicle before returning her vindictive gaze to Alex.
"Then why the fuck did you say it was?!" Now, Alex wasn't trying to be an asshole, she really wasn't, but the flush in Piper's defined cheekbones and the low timbre of her voice really wasn't helping the brunette here. She bit her lip lightly, attempting to rein in her libido and tried to formulate a reply that wouldn't add fuel to an already roaring fire.
"I just...funny?" Alex nervously offers; she can't really think of a justifiable reason, so she'll just go with funny. Because that won't piss her off. Unsurprisingly, Piper was actually so incensed by this whole debacle she couldn't even begin to reply to Alex, so she stood stock still. Her fists clenched and she glared at the aggravatingly attractive, maddening brunette with stormy blue eyes. "It's just an accident, Piper, they'll be out here soon and they'll understand. I'm sorry." Alex stepped closer to the enraged girl, taking her glasses off and tucking them into the front of her shirt. It was a simple, absent minded gesture, but Piper's eyes followed the trail of Alex's hand of their own accord, leading to a rather awkward situation to say the least. The brunette dropped her hand, smirking as the smaller girl's eyes lingered obviously at her cleavage before moving back up to her face. She expected the blonde to blush, but instead a smug grin made its way onto her features. Alex herself didn't back down, a cocky smile on her face as she regarded the blonde curiously, raising her eyebrows slightly. For someone with a girlfriend, she was enjoying Piper's close proximity far too damn much in all honesty.
But, for someone with an actual perception of sex appeal, beauty, charm, and just general attractiveness, Alex wasn't enjoying Piper quite as much as she'd like to be. Nowhere near enough in fact; for the only thing stopping Alex from grabbing the blonde by the hips and kissing her hard was the fact they were in a fucking school car park. Quite frankly, the matter of a girlfriend was the furthest thing from her mind. Finally, Piper spoke up, her voice thick.
"Fine, but you're keeping me company." She smirked winningly up at the taller girl whose jade irises glinted with an unnameable emotion.
"Be careful what you wish for, Miss Chapman." Alex's voice inadvertently came out huskier than she'd intended, not wanting to be too forward, but low and suggestive it was, and, fucking hell, Alex could practically see Piper's blue eyes darken right in front of her. The smirk was wiped clean off her face, replaced with an instinctive lip bite at Alex's tone, not really helping the brunette's dwindling restraint. Alex stepped away first, not trusting herself, turning and walking back up the kerb to a little stone bench underneath a tree just in front of the cars. Piper pursed her lips in a smug grin at her retreating form before following and taking a seat to Alex's right, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing her ankles. Alex texted Nicky informing her of the situation, before pocketing her phone and leaning back, slipping her glasses back on and sitting in a similar style to the blonde.
"So, girlfriend, huh?" Piper nudged her playfully. Alex groaned without opening her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"It's complicated." She admitted.
"Sounds it." Piper replied, not really wanting to enquire further to a girl she hardly even knew. Well, she wanted to, of course, but it would probably be a little ill conceived.
"I mean, she's not exactly marriage material to say the least. She's a little...clingy, is all." Alex elaborated further, opening her right eye to observe the blonde staring up at her. Usually, she would make a smart comment telling a girl to stop staring, but she rather enjoyed how Piper's inquisitive irises observed her, so she proceeded to close her eye again and sigh contentedly.
"You shouldn't be with someone out of fear." Piper offered quietly. Alex's brow crinkled slightly before she nodded her agreement.
"I know, kid." She affirmed softly with a smile. Although her eyes were closed, she would put good money on Piper smiling too. And, sure enough, Piper sat on the bench beside the girl she'd only met that morning, and she looks at her carefully, the soft curve of her lips and crinkle at her eyes. No, Alex couldn't see it, no one could see it, but Piper smiled right along with her, wide and happy and strangely content underneath the broken sunlight filtering through the trees. She smiles, and it's fucking beautiful.
And so it goes, from lustful encounters in a boardroom, to forgetfulness of a lover's name, to car door scrapes and smiles on stone benches. This is how it starts, how Piper and Alex come to be, and it's the beginning of everything.
Piper goes home that night, to her big old empty house bought with money from her grandparents' will, but suddenly she doesn't feel so lonely. There's work to be done tomorrow, an early morning run to pace herself around the new track, but she has a delightful excitement accompanying her to bed, that soothes her to a dreamless sleep and invites her out of bed at six the following morning. It's a little unnerving; Alex is her rival, not to mention otherwise engaged (though for how long remains to be seen). But Piper's never been one to back down from a challenge or deny herself the pleasures of a beautiful woman, girlfriend or no girlfriend.
A little across town, Alex goes through a similar series of thoughts. She doesn't live with Sylvie (thank God) and she invents an excuse to get out of seeing her, simply so she could crack open a bottle of red all on her lonesome and try to collect herself. Piper was hot, incredibly so, and she was smart, charming, witty, and most importantly steadfast against most of Alex's flirting. The problem remained that she was a colleague, a rival. But there's a mutual attraction there, and there's not a damn thing either of them can do about it.
So, on the second morning, whilst Alex sets up a practical for her first period seniors, she not exactly by chance happens to notice the blonde running around the track below and directly in front of their classrooms. She's pretty far away, but the brunette still observes the fluid movement of Piper running, her bronzed, toned legs in her tight shorts, and the halfway between adorable and fucking sexy as hell way she drinks from her water bottle when she's done, wetting her face and neck to cool off before slipping a towel around her shoulders and padding off towards the shower rooms, spikes in hand. Eventually, she disappears, and Alex's comes to her senses again, noticing how damn hard she'd been gripping the table whilst watching her counterpart. Running around in full view of the classroom she knows fine rightly Alex is in, in those skin tight shorts and pouring fucking water over herself? That's just playing dirty, Alex thinks. And if there's one thing she won't be beaten at, it's her own game.
It begins during third period. About halfway through the class, whilst Piper is explaining balanced symbol equations to a particularly confused blonde girl in the corner of her class, she's interrupted by the presence of someone poking their head around the storeroom door. Alex grins slyly as Piper finishes her equation on the whiteboard whilst looking her up and down before setting the pen down. The brunette strides confidently in, slipping behind the desk, sheet in hand.
"Good morning, Miss Chapman." She greets, despite the fact they'd spent all break time bantering back and forth, including the admission that Alex had gone to Princeton (paid for by the invisible man she calls Father), to which Piper had concluded there was a 'touch of the Holden Caulfields about her'.
"Miss Vause. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Piper replies, trying to keep her cool. It's really fucking difficult, though, because Alex has a brilliantly white lab coat on, unbuttoned and fitted tightly around her figure, only coming to halfway down her thigh. A grey dress resides underneath it, obviously longer than the coat but still short enough to expose her stunning, bare legs. Of course, Piper had seen her in the dress, but the addition of the lab coat had her trying desperately to get her mind as far from the gutter as possible. Whatever fantasies her mind would inevitably dream out about the gorgeous brunette in front of her would have to wait; there was the small matter of a class regarding the pair curiously.
"I accidentally printed out a spare syllabus, so you can have it." She gestures grandly to the stapled papers in her hands. Piper smiled wryly at the crafty brunette; of course it wasn't a fucking accident. No, Alex knew exactly what she was doing.
"How gallant of you." The blonde narrowed her eyes at Alex but grinned crookedly despite herself. She's good, I'll give her that. Piper thought dryly as the brunette's smirk widened and she ran a hand through her hair. Fucker. Alex made no attempt to leave the room, however. She inspected the equation on the board with pursed lips, Piper and the class deathly silent. Suddenly, the older girl breaks into a wide, triumphant grin.
"Interesting way of balancing your chlorides, Miss Chapman." Alex announces loudly. She winks at the blonde, hidden from the view of the class before striding out of the room, lab coat flourishing behind her. Piper gapes at the space where Alex had stood for a moment, before scoffing and turning back to her equation.
"Motherfucker." Piper curses silently under her breath, blushing at her glaring mistake and ripping the cap off her whiteboard pen. Fucking Alex Vause and her stupid lab coat and incredible figure for making Piper write what looks like nothing but an illegible squiggle at the end of her equation where a two should be. Hushed laughter comes from her class as she wipes angrily at the mistake before correcting it, pen striking the whiteboard much harder than needs be, producing a toe curling high pitched noise that causes the class to groan in complaint.
"Settle down!" Piper commands sharply, and the pupils immediately fall silent. Her temper bubbles for the remainder of the period, but underneath her anger she can't help but be a little proud of the fact she already has Alex making up excuses to come visit her, even in the middle of class. It's kind of cute, actually. And it's only been about twenty four hours, and it definitely shouldn't be happening, but neither of them is at any particular means to put a stop to it.
The small matter of peer-assessment looms large on Friday, followed by the science department going out for a few drinks after the day's work is done. Throughout the week, ever since that third period class, Piper and Alex have been finding any sort of excuse to pay a visit to each other's classrooms, whether it be for a bottle of hydrochloric acid or even a pen. It's a never-ending battle to one up each other, a ceaseless crusade that ends with the visitor making a smart comment about the classroom owner's academic ability before turning on her heel and walking smugly out. It's very much light hearted teasing, though; they don't really know anything about each other save for what's on their CVs and the fact Alex has a girlfriend who she very much couldn't give a damn about when she's around the blonde. Friday, however, will be a different story. Fifth and sixth periods will be spent with Piper seated at the back of Alex's classroom 'assessing' her teaching abilities (i.e. doing everything she can to cause an upstart) while nine and ten are much the same only with the roles reversed. Thirty seconds of flirting is bearable, but seventy minutes flat of each other's company was a totally different ball game. Quite frankly, Piper just wants to get into that bar at the end of the day and nurse a margarita or four, to escape the growing tensions between Alex and herself that she has no choice to endure because of the interminably irritating fact that Alex has a psychopathic girlfriend.
Piper had offered to cover the first two periods of junior PE that Friday morning, so she found herself in the middle of the wide, open sports hall of the school, in her usual sports attire of tight black shorts and a turquoise Adidas top that fitted her snugly. Her blonde hair was swept into a high ponytail and she tied the laces of her free runs quickly whilst the class stretched and warmed up, a quiet chatter filling the room. It wouldn't be her first choice to cover, but it would certainly get a good word in to the Dean for her Head of Chemistry application coming up in a few months, so Piper had no qualms about setting up a circuit for the students and sorting them out into groups. She stood with her back to the glass viewing gallery above, setting out cones and dragging benches into place with the help of a few pupils. The group stood in a line facing her, all females, some tall and obviously athletic, others shorter and clearly less comfortable in their ill fitting clothes. Piper stood in the middle, thinking about how to approach the rather mixed bunch. Before she could, however, a student she didn't recognise called out loudly.
"Hi, Miss Vause!" The girl shouted brightly, waving vehemently to a spot above Piper on the viewing gallery.
Fuck no.
The blonde groaned quietly before turning to her guest.
"Jennifer." Alex called down from the gallery with a slight wave, a Styrofoam cup between her hands. "Good morning, Miss Chapman." Piper could practically hear the smugness dripping from her voice.
"Miss Vause, what a surprise." She said dryly, crossing her arms and mouthing 'Fuck you' at the flirtatious brunette whilst shaking her head. "Care to join us?"
"Oh, no thanks, I'll stick to...what was it you said? Learning the difference between my ions and my atoms?" She teased lightly, referring to Piper's comment from yesterday during one of her visits to Alex's room.
"Good idea." Piper confirmed with a solemn nod before breaking out into a wide grin. Alex shook her head whilst chuckling before waving again and stepping back out of view, presumably back to her class. The blonde turned back to her own class with a shrug as they laughed at the rather odd interaction between the two well-liked teachers. They were demanding, sharp and not to be crossed, but if you followed their rules, Piper and Alex were generally fair and approachable, not to mention very damn good at their jobs. A few hushed whispers ran through the hierarchy of students about the unusual amount of time they spent together, but it was nothing serious.
Not yet, anyway.
Alex's class worked in absolute silence at their sheets, allowing the brunette to sneak down to the back of the class to her 'assessor', as in Piper Chapman, the woman who'd sat for forty minutes doing nothing but chewing on the end of her pen and staring at Alex like she just wanted to rip her clothes off.
Which, granted, wasn't a totally incorrect interpretation of her intense gaze. In fact, it was utterly correct.
"How am I doing, then?" Alex inquired in a whisper as Piper stood from her chair and turned her back to the class along with the brunette. The pair stood facing the wall, leaning forward slightly on a wooden tabletop with a cupboard underneath it.
"Nothing special." Piper replied. Obviously, Alex had been faultless, and Piper had enjoyed listening to her raspy tones far too much to be acceptable.
"Oh, I'm sure." Alex whispered sarcastically, leaning a hell of a lot closer to the blonde than she needed to. "You going to the bar?"
"Yeah, I guess. Are you?" Piper looked sideways at Alex who fiddled with her thumbnail nervously before grimacing and looking back at her.
"Yeah, but Nicky told Sylvie about it and now she's coming." The brunette frowned at the notion, and Piper felt a sinking feeling in her stomach for some odd reason. Why could she possibly be upset at her colleague going out with her girlfriend?
Except, it was so much more than that; it would simply remind Piper of why she wasn't the girl on Alex's arm or the one who got to go home with her at the end of the night. It was obvious that there was far too much attraction and chemistry between them for Piper and Alex to ever be 'just colleagues' or even friends, and the blonde was understandably dismayed that she was powerless to control the situation. Piper Chapman fucking hated not being in control.
"Lucky you." Piper eventually answered in a slightly more venomous tone than she'd meant to use.
"Lucky me." Alex agreed sarcastically in a hushed voice. Piper wants to ask how the hell Alex is going to sort this all out, but they're in the middle of classroom and she's quite frankly sick of worrying about it, so she offers a half sympathetic smile to her counterpart before turning back to the class. Alex stays still for a moment longer before retreating back to her desk at the front. Piper sighs heavily, rubbing her temple; it's only sixth period, yet she's already fucking tired of today.
"See you all tomorrow. Do not forget that homework." Piper reminds her class as they filter through the door once final bell rings. She sighs heavily when the door closes, turning her attention to the brunette sitting perched on top of the desk between two fume cupboards at the back. "Not like you to be so well behaved." Piper offers, walking over as Alex slips off the desk and stands in front of her.
"I'm trying out this new thing where I don't act like an asshole all the time." She lies, smiling crookedly.
"I don't like it." Piper confirms. She has to physically stop herself from just hugging Alex or something ridiculous like that; it's been a long day, and she could sure as hell do with a hug. She stifles a yawn, but not before the brunette notices.
"Are you alright?" Alex inquires seriously, ducking her head to look up at Piper, touching her shoulder lightly. Piper smiles tiredly at Alex's concerned tone and the warmth spreading from her touch.
"All good. Long week. Need alcohol." She explains with a laugh. Alex straightens up, clearing her throat oddly before nodding.
"Agreed." She hovers slightly, seriously considering staying with Piper before thinking better of it. "I'll see you there?"
"Sure thing." Piper nods with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "And Sylvie." She tries to add with a wink, but again it doesn't come out as lightly as she would like it to.
"Fuck Sylvie." Alex growls under her breath. It's two quiet, simple words that slip from her mouth before she can register the enormity of what she's just said. Implying that she couldn't give a damn about her girlfriend to a girl she's been obviously flirting with for the whole week is just downright unfair on Piper. Because Alex is all talk right now, and unless Piper sees a little bite to her bark, there's no way in hell she's getting involved with the brunette, no matter how attractive she may be. Alex would love nothing more than to ditch her girlfriend, but it's never quite that simple. Even if she did, the fact remains that relationships between teachers in the school are absolutely forbidden, nonexistent; they just don't happen. Period. Added to the fact the Dean has a weird lesbian phobia and fixation with the gay agenda to take over the world, Alex and Piper as a couple would just be a disaster waiting to happen. Piper smiles sadly as Alex looks at her apologetically.
"I'm sure you will." The blonde replies quietly, looking up at Alex with those heartbreaking baby blues, filled with a thousand unattainable emotions that Alex would love nothing more than to figure out.
"Piper...I-" Alex tries to apologise, to explain herself, but there's nothing she can really do. The ball is well and truly in her court now.
"I'll see you there." Piper interrupts, her tone filled with finality. She turns, walking back to the front of her room to collect her bag, pissed off with just about everything. Pissed off with the Sylvie girl for existing, pissed off with Alex for flirting with her whilst involved with another woman, but mostly pissed off with herself for enjoying the flirting, for flirting back, for getting herself so worked up for something that won't happen, that can't happen. Piper's never been afraid of much, but God knows she's fucking terrified of whatever the hell is going on here. But, tragically, trouble is her only friend, and it looks like he is well and truly back again in the form of the irresistibly attractive Alex Vause.
"Oh God, I know that look." Nicky says ominously from the passenger side of the car.
"What look?" Alex asks irritably.
"The 'I've fucked up and now I need to drink so much alcohol that it will make my decisions for me' look." The shorter girl explains to her friend. Alex rolls her eyes, but accepts that it's sort of true. She's going to at least try to get absolutely fucking hammered, because she simply doesn't know any other way to deal with this.
"Nicky, we're hardly going clubbing here. It's like, ten people." Alex reminds her. "Plus Sylvie." She adds with a grimace.
"Yeah, but that means more alcohol, right?"
"Right." Alex nods along anyway, feeling unusually downtrodden for a Friday afternoon.
"What's up, Stretch?" Nicky notices her best friend's demeanour immediately.
"Piper." Is all Alex has to say, before the bushy haired girl nods in solemn understanding.
"Ah...Piper. You like her." It's not even a question.
"Sort of." Alex isn't really sure how she feels about her, but she rather wishes she could have free reign over her feelings rather than being pulled along by compulsory ties to Sylvie. It would be nice to at least have the option of going home with Piper at the end of the night, even if it didn't happen. She sighs, drumming her fingers off the dashboard and checking the time. It's only about four in the afternoon, and she reckons she'll be being dragged out of the bar by someone by six o'clock
It's just been that sort of a week for Alex Vause, the draining kind with far too many difficult decisions to make, and one too many enchanting blonde Chemistry teachers slowly dismantling everything she's ever known.
A/N: So, what's going to go down at the bar? Is it too soon for anything to happen between Piper and Alex? Let me know your thoughts; give me ideas in reviews, PMs, tweets, whatever. Love you all.