Chapter 2
Freedom.
Her toes point and curl around the uneven concrete slab that sits in the doorway of the brick building she's been forced to call home for the last year and a half; that is, until today. The brick building where she was starved out for being ungrateful, where she was attacked and sexually assaulted, where she'd built an impromptu rotating windmill for a hole of children's mini golf . The home where she was forced to confront the realization of who she really was, when she thought she was someone entirely different. The home where she was forced into solitary confinement on several occasions for behavior deemed inappropriate. The home where she came face to face with the woman who turned her life upside down in the best and worst ways.
Her stomach churns as she tries to keep down whatever she'd managed to eat for her last breakfast, the chaotic last breakfast amidst the good-bye's and well wishes. She feels the burn in her chest, and the constriction in her throat, as her cheeks become warm, her eyes start to sting. She subtly shakes her head at the absurdity of her tears. She should be overwhelmed with joy to be released, and while she is relieved by this, she's also terrified. She's never lived alone before, and now she's expected to find somewhere to live in a short frame of time, secure a job and report to someone who's keeping tabs on her status as a "free woman." She turns around to look up at the window, she scans the faces that wait for her to get into the car that's waiting for her and pull away, but the one face she seeks isn't there. How she longs for Alex to get out with her right now, because Alex would know what to do; where to start. Alex has already done this. She was trying to make a life on the outside...
but you took that away from her. It's your fault that you're not leaving this place and going to whatever apartment Alex had secured for herself. It's your own fault that you're now without a home, a stray, a wanderer.
She squeezes her eyes shut, and her salty tears slip down her cheeks. She feels an open palmed hand touch her back and rub in a circular motion,
"it's okay sis. It's gonna be okay."
She nods habitually, the expected response for whenever someone utters that encouraging phrase. "But is it?"
"What did Celeste tell you? Life is made in the mistakes right?"
She looks at him but doesn't react.
"Don't you feel like a different person now?"
She stares at him through glassy eyes and snickers, "very much so."
"You're stronger than most people out here. You're a fighter Pipette."
She smiles at his nickname.
"I know it's freaking you out that you don't have everything aligned, but you will. You already know you can handle it, and you'll be okay. You'll stay with us until you figure things out. It'll be fun."
She sucks in hard, sniffing back the contents of her nose. She thought about what she and Alex promised each other; that they wouldn't wallow in what used to be. She'd get her shit together and find them an apartment that didn't look like "a fucking shithole," and even if she couldn't nail down a place of Kardashian status, she'd would work with what she had. She'd get them a new start.
"Thanks Cal."
She makes her way to the car that got her to and from college, when she sees her sister in law sitting behind the wheel. She grabs the handle to the rear passenger door, and lifts it up, opening the door, the door to her contingent release: that is, a release as long as she complies with parole. This is not a release where she has to fear that this car will turn into a pumpkin at the 48 hour mark. This time, the time restraint is up to her and she vows to do whatever she can to not screw it up. She climbs in, shuts the door and leans her head back on the head rest.
Her sister in law leans over the passenger seat to open the door for her husband. She turns to look in the back and reclines the seat a foot or two, "you okay?"
"Mmmhmm," the blonde replies "just...struggling to accept the freedom thing."
"You know," she adjusts her bottom so can turn more fully to the backseat, "it's like that bumper sticker says," she says gesturing toward Piper's door, "no one is free when others are oppressed."
Piper sticks her head out the window, and there it was clear as day, plastered to the side of the car.
"It makes sense to struggle with being out, when you're leaving behind so many people you know that don't belong in there. People who will eventually get out and be forced to start anew." Her sister in law turns back around, and pats her brother on the thigh. "Right? I mean who's really free? We're all still slaves to society in one way or another, having whatever rights we do have threatened and regulated by a system that's not prepared for any opposition."
Piper folds her lips inward to hold back the sob that was itching to escape from within her.
Neri looks through the rear view mirror, and feels responsible for the impending tears. She turns back around again, "no, no, I just meant that if you're anxious, you're not alone. There's still a bigger fight to be had, and you... we're on your side. We'll help in any way we can."
She forces a sad smile, "thanks for coming to get me." She leans forward a bit and rests her hand on her sister in law's shoulder, "and thank you for letting me stay with you."
"No need for thanks, I'll finally get a chance to really know you." She pulls her seat back into an upright position. "I want to know how someone that was raised by your mother ended up in a federal penitentiary." Without missing a beat she continues, "there's some fruit and vegetables in the cooler by your feet. I remember you talking about eating produce that didn't crunch. It's one of the only things I know you like so..."
The blonde's eyes light up, she leans from her waist to open the top of the cooler and moves her hand around, smiling but her lips tremble at the luxury of having options. She pulls out a container of cucumbers, and lifts the lid of another container which turns out to be hummus.
She uses the cucumber slice to scoop up an excessive amount of the smashed chick pea puree and hums with satisfaction.
"Better?," the welder asks.
"Much."
In her brother's trailer, she awakens on the couch that folds out into a bed, and is stationed across from the kitchen table. She hears the crunch of earth outside, so she leans up and looks through the blinds to see Neri setting up a space outdoors for breakfast. She pulls the sheet off her legs, and opens up the creeping side door.
"Oh good you're awake," the auburn haired woman greets and walks up to the trailer.
"Good morning," Piper greets her and holds the door open for her.
"More like good afternoon," she says as Piper watches her fold up the couch-bed. Piper looks at her curiously, and then looks around the house for a clock.
"It's just barely passed noon," Neri answers the unspoken question. "We didn't want to wake you up, figured you could use the sleep. But we're starving, so scoot over so I can get under here. She crouches down and starts withdrawing some pots and pans.
"I'm sorry, you should've just woken me up, I don't want to intrude...," she's cut off,
"Nonsense! You're not intruding, starting tomorrow we'll just cook around you and you'll get up when you hear the racket," she laughs.
"Where's my brother?," she asks with her head tilting, she automatically starts rinsing the strawberries that are set on the counter from the fridge.
"He went to return some phone calls. There's shoddy service out here, so sometimes you only know you missed a call when the voicemail alert goes off. "
The blonde nods.
"See that tree there?," she says pointing about 500 feet into the distance, " if you walk to there and take a right there's a trail that leads to a highway. You don't have to walk that far but you'll get reliable reception from there."
"I don't have a phone, so..."
"One day at a time," she reminds her.
She nods, "so what're you making?"
"I was thinking some French toast, and I can make a nice jam but I need some different berries. You wanna be in charge of that?"
Without giving Piper a chance to answer, she pulls her outside and points her toward one of their bushes, "from this side to this side, these are all ours. We trade with neighbors but don't just go picking randomly, just stick to ours. Blueberries, boysenberries, gooseberries," she says pointing out each bush. She hands Piper a colander and gets back to work. Piper steps out and over toward the bushes, grateful to have a purpose.
Around a quarter to four, she asks Cal to borrow his cell phone and walks down to the far tree before following the path off to the right. She walks until she sees the full reception icon and takes a seat on the ground. She thinks about her old home with Larry and the comforts it provided. She thinks of Polly and wonders if she remembered she got out yesterday. She thinks of her parents and their pleas for her to come live with them until she figured out what she was going to do with her life. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken offense to such a statement when she had no sure plan of employment or permanent residence, but the statement was made with derogatory undertones as if their daughter was a lost case. What she needed was support, not further judgement. Her thoughts are interrupted when the phone rings with a 315 area code, she quickly accepts the call, "Alex?!"
"An inmate from Litchfield Federal Prison is attempting to contact you. To accept this call, please press 1."
"Alex?," she asks again after the prompt completes.
"Hey Pipes," she answers melancholically.
"Alex, what's wrong?"
"Did you forget where I am?," she asks with slight irritation.
"Ninety six days, and I'll be there in five."
"Knowing I'll see you in five is the only thing that's keeping me from strangling myself with this telephone wire."
"Just focus on the five then."
"So how is it? What did you eat today?"
"Well I woke up about 4 hours ago, and had a very late breakfast..."
"You woke up passed noon?"
"I know right? And I'm still tired, go figure."
The brunette chuckles, "okay so already jealous. And you ate what? Let me live vicariously through you."
"Well my brother's wife made French toast and get this, she trades her own jam for maple syrup with their neighbor and she didn't have enough fruit to make a jam so I picked a bunch of berries from their bushes."
"You've barely been gone a day and you're messing with other bushes, Laura Ingalls Wilder?"
"I have been."
"Well at least they got some. I'm about to become very well acquainted with my hand," she says monotonously.
"Or you could talk to Red about getting your hands on a zucchini?"
"There will be no vegetables going up my bagingo. My hand works just fine thank you."
"Good so stop complaining. So, I was thinking after I talk to you I'm going to see if Polly's willing to give Popi another chance. I don't want to spend every day wondering what I'm going to do for income so I might as well just get that out of the way, that way if she's done with me, I can start looking elsewhere."
"You sound nervous."
"I am," she sighs, "and I want to meet Finn."
"Mmmhmm," the brunette says waiting for her to continue, "what's the problem?"
"What if he doesn't take to me? I'm supposed to be his godmother. I don't even know what he likes, or if that status still stands. I don't know if she's still in touch with...certain people. I wish we'd spoken more before I got out."
"Pipes don't do this to yourself. Molly can be an asshole, but ultimately she wants what's good for you. And she apologized about hooking up with that dickhead... I think she was feeling lonely in an extremely vulnerable state and had a lapse in judgement. I don't think she's malicious."
"Are you defending her?"
"I'm trying to empathize."
"Well we know where empathy gets us."
"Give her a call and let me know tomorrow how it went."
"Okay but I can only talk for a minute, as soon as I get my hands on some money we can talk until they rip the phone out of your hand, but until then we gotta keep it brief. I don't want to rack up Cal's bill, they're already housing and feeding me for free."
"I get it," she says trying not to show her disappointment. "So you're saying you're pretty much gonna take any job if the savonnier gives you the cold shoulder? Because I don't know how long I can handle 60 second conversations Pipes."
"Yes," she runs her hand through her hair. "I'll figure it out."
"I know you will."
"Think of me later alright?"
"I think of you all day Piper."
"No, I mean, when your hand gets to do the things that I want to do to you."
Alex guffaws into the phone, "absolutely."
They say their goodbyes and Piper searches through Cal's contacts until she finds the desired number.
The petite brunette looks at her phone and sees the familiar name pop up, "Cal? How are you? Is everything alright?"
"Polly."
"Pi...Piper?," she asks confusedly.
"Is this a bad time? Because I can call back."
"No, it's... Piper, how are you? You're out." She can hear her sharply inhale, "you got out yesterday. Fuck, I'm so sorry, I lose track of the days and..."
"Polly it's fine, your world doesn't revolve around me."
"I knew what day you were getting out, I truly did, I didn't pay attention to what day it was." The phone remains silent on Piper's end.
"So you're home? Are you with your parents? "
"No, I couldn't... I'm staying with Cal."
"In the woods?"
"Yes in the woods."
"Jesus Piper, you could've called me."
"I know but this is fine. I'm getting a chance to spend some time with them. I hardly know Neri and she's married to my brother. She's been more than hospitable."
"Do they even have running water?"
"Yes they have running water. They don't live in a tent Polly. And it's hot water too so it's already a step up from what I'm used to, okay?"
"Okay, I'm sorry."
She hears the voice of a toddler babbling in the background, her heart aches at the sound of his voice.
"I'd really like to...meet Finn as well," she chokes out.
"Pipes?"
"Yeah."
"You can come by and see him whenever you want."
"I just didn't know... I don't know where things stand between us, I didn't want to presume anything."
"Presume anything?," she sighs. "Piper, you're still my best fucking friend. Friends go through shit, but they get through shit too and regardless of whatever state we're in, that's our issue, it's got nothing to do with you and him."
"I feel like I've already let him down."
"Well the good thing about being one is he won't remember this whole past year, so he won't judge you for it."
"I missed his first birthday."
"You did. But he doesn't know that, and he never has to if you don't want him to know. It's not like you wouldn't have been there if you could've been."
"Alright," the blonde says through choked back tears.
"Not to be insensitive but the pity party has got to stop. You're out. You make the best of your time now, you don't wallow in things you missed out on."
"You sound like Alex."
Piper digs her toe in the dirt path at Polly's delayed reply. "Have you spoken to Supercunt today?"
"Yeah, just before I called you."
"Are you still planning on making things work once she's out?"
"That's the plan. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing or how I'm going to do it but I am."
"When can I see you?," the brunette finally asks.
"When are you free? I kind of have a whole lot of nothing going on at the moment."
Cal starts walking up the path in the distance, he gives her a thumbs up to ask if she's okay, to which she flashes a thumbs up in response. She waves him over.
"Well, I also have very busy days of cleaning my apartment and watching marathons of Peppa Pig so...?"
"Is tomorrow too soon? I'd really like to talk and make up for lost time."
"Tomorrow's fine. I like to take him to the park on Wednesdays. You know the playground near third street?"
"Third Street Playground?," she laughs, "I do." She asks her brother if she can borrow his car tomorrow at a whisper to which he waves his hand around with a nod of his head.
They finalize their plans and Piper ends the call. She turns to her brother and asks, "have you heard of Peppa Pig?"
The following morning, Piper makes sure she is up with the sun. She showers, makes breakfast for her hosts and leaves it beside a note of gratitude. She stops at a toy store on the way to Brooklyn and parks the car by the third street entrance of Prospect Park.
She follows the path from the sidewalk into the park until she reaches the playground. She sees her friend pushing her son on the swing, her voice is high, maternal. Piper steps into the gate and walks closer until Finn yells out,
"Peppa!," and tries to look around Polly.
She turns around to see Piper, fully pivoting to give her friend a warm hug, "it's so good to see you," she nods pulling away. "Finn this is..."
"Peppa!," he chirps again, wiggling his legs to get out of the swing. She lifts him from the bucket seat and holds him close. "This is Pi-per," she emphasizes the syllables, but all he can focus on is the plush Peppa Pig in this blonde woman's arms.
Piper extends the stuffed animal, "I heard you liked Peppa Pig Finn." He takes it again and says "Peppa."
"Finn can you say Pi-per?," his mother asks looking at him properly. "Pe-ppa."
"No Pi-per. This is Peppa, this is Piper," she points to each respectively. "Peppa," he says pointing to Piper, and leans toward her.
Her arms extend to receive him, her eyes are wide in shock, as Polly lets him go to her. "How about Pippy? Can you call me Pippy?"
"Pippy," he says obviously. He wiggles down but takes Piper's hand as she's now his new best friend, gifting him with his newest Peppa and pulls her toward the jungle gym. Relieved, she trots along with him, picks him up and jogs up the stairs. She sits him on her lap at the top of the slide and slides down with him numerous times until Polly insists they take a break and go over to a bench. She whips out a small sandwich, some pieces of cheese and a juice box and douses his hands in antibacterial soap.
"So?," Polly asks prodding Piper with her elbow, "any big plans?"
"Yeah, that whole figuring out how to start my life over thing. But with the added bonus of being relatively broke, unemployed and on probation, because life would just be so boring otherwise."
"Have you thought about how you're going to work any of that out?"
"Polly I...," she furrows her eyebrows, "I want our business back."
Her friend leans her back into the bench and crosses her arms shaking her head defensively. "Pol, we were so close to really launching into other retailers and I know I screwed it up...
"Twice," she nods her head. "You screwed it up twice."
"I know that, but the reasons I screwed it up are behind me now."
"Piper starting up again would come with expenses..."
"Investments," Piper changes her choice of word with a shrug of her shoulder.
"Call it what you want but it's going to cost money, money that you don't have, and that we already lost once before."
"Polly, I need this. I have three months to build something stable and get a place of my own, so that when Alex gets out, we have a place to call home. Not to mention my probation officer expects me to find work, as if it'll be so easy disclosing what I've been doing during my hiatus for the past year and a half."
"Piper things are different now. I have to think about my finances on a bigger scale. I can't take the same chances I did before Finn, and I can't know that something isn't going to pop up in your life again, and you're going to leave me behind to pick up the pieces." She frowns at the frank nature of her own words but she's been waiting to get that off of her chest for some time.
Piper blinks and rubs a hand over Finn's head, he looks up at the touch and pushes himself up and takes off toward the jungle gym.
"Finn come here," Polly starts to get up, when Piper tells her she'll get him.
Piper follows him as he climbs up the stairs one by one, alternating unsteady feet. Piper keeps her hands close to his waist to catch him if he stumbles but he makes it to the top sits by the slide and pats the slide next to his for Piper to sit. Polly abandons their belongings and snaps a few pictures of the repeated journey from the stairs and slide, following his lead until he goes back to his lunch.
Piper sits on the ground this time, she leans back on her hands and looks at Polly.
"I didn't mean to ever screw you over, and I wouldn't make a choice to jeopardize the kind of life you've built for yourselves. I have everything riding on the possibility of starting over with you, my focus will be behind it 100% because without it, nothing else I need will be able to happen."
Polly takes a big breath in, and exhales. "Things are still a bit rocky with Pete, but I'd need to discuss it with him. I'll think about it alright?"
"Thank you," she replies grateful that she'll at least consider a partnership again. "I miss working with you. And I was thinking, we could start off small- make a small supply of products, and make sales Tupperware party style, that way, supply wise, we know exactly what we need."
"I still have some things leftover... where are we going to find clients though? Do you have a bunch of friends from prison just lining up for artisanal bath products?"
The blonde chooses to ignore the snarky remark. "The camp where my brother lives, everything they make or trade with one another is authentic. I can bring some back with me and see if there's any demand. And if there is we can start off small again."
The brunette sighs, "I hate you, you know that?"
"Eeeeeeee," the blonde squeals and engulfs the brunette in a hug. They stay at the park for a bit and talk about Piper's upcoming visit with her probation officer on Friday and her Saturday visitation with Alex. They walk back to Polly's apartment, where the screen of Polly's laptop lights up her face. Her hands rest atop the keyboard, she rubs them back and forth while she waits for the login screen and begins searching for apartment prices. She finds very few that are just over a thousand a month and makes that her goal.
Polly glances over her shoulder as she writes down the prices and square footage for a few so she can review them with Alex when the brunette barks, "those are all on the other side of the park!"
"And?"
"And these buildings are notorious for letting anyone live within them."
"Anyone like who? People with a record? I can't just live anywhere. These will do for now, I just won't stay out past ten."
"And you'll perpetually be coming over here to visit because Piper I just can't..."
"Look," she says and covers her mouth before she goes off, "look at this as my further motivation to move up and out. I can't rely on anyone anymore for things that I need to be held accountable for. I'll be fine."
"You think Supercunt is going to go for this? I vaguely remember her living in a schmancy gargantuan loft with a view."
"Yeah well, she doesn't have much of a choice now does she? At least we're by the park and a few subway stops from downtown Manhattan. It'll be fine," she says trying to convince herself but the reality was, the fact that the application for the majority of these apartments didn't ask for a previous history of convicted crimes meant that the safety of her potential new digs was most likely compromised. She reminds herself it'll be temporary, that anywhere on her own, meant self-sufficiency and that was enough to keep her focused.
She returns to her brother's site after dark, she unpacks a car's worth of personal belongings that Polly had stored at her place along with a large box containing some leftover products. She had Neri sort through and select what she wanted first before sorting products by size and scent. She inquires about their neighbor's receptivity to bath products and Neri agrees to take her around the following day. She sells all but some of Popi's old line of products, but defeat is strewn across her face as no one seemed to be remotely interested at the concept of hosting a party for her to sell more. She continues helping out her brother and sister in law in any way that she can for the next several days, when her brother suggests reaching out to their mother to get more clients.
"Yeah, because that'll go over well. Recruiting the McSnootington's to support her ex-con of a daughter. No thanks."
"It's not like she'd advertise that. Carol may go out of her way to remind you of your incarceration with every other breath, but the upkeep of her appearance outranks that, she'd keep her trap shut.
"I don't want to need her assistance."
"It's business. It's like she's a liaison between you and probable clientele."
"I really don't think so. I'll figure something else out."
"You have a good idea. You need to swallow your pride and ask her if she'll host you so you can open up greater doors."
With the nudge from her brother, she thinks it through overnight, battling between her ego and her need to secure something stable for herself and Alex. While her mother was thrilled at the idea of her and Polly reuniting to give Popi another chance, she'd still managed to find ways to spread her disdain over her daughter's motivations. Piper continued to sweep them under the rug for the sake of her business and about two weeks later, she found herself in her mother's living room amongst the neighborhood's bourgeois housewives. She'd not only received orders from each of her mother's recruits but reserved enough dates for future events from the same group of women. As Piper finished packing up her supplies, Carol convinced her to stay a bit longer, whether it was just for tea or coffee or to stay overnight if she was too tired to drive back. She agreed to tea, urging her mother to sit while she removed the whistling kettle from the burner and poured the hot liquid.
"Thank you for helping me kick off the relaunch to Popi," she sucked up her pride and fed the smug woman's esteem.
"I hardly did much."
"You called them all, had all this food catered, found a way to dart all lines of questioning regarding my whereabouts. You did plenty."
"I just want to see you succeed Piper."
"And I will. I won't stop until I do."
"Well I hardly see how, with your long term plans."
"Can we just end the day on a pleasant note? Please?," the younger blonde pleads.
"I'm simply wondering how you intend on supporting yourself and this woman, who will also have no form of employment, by selling soaps from people's living rooms."
"It's a temporary start, just to get myself back to where I was before. I'm not planning on doing it this way forever."
"You need to find someone who's already established Piper, instead of trying to catch black smoke."
"Alex is not black smoke!," she barks. "She is a person. She is my girlfriend, and that isn't going to change, so you can either accept that and help me or you can keep saying the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different outcome."
"I don't want you to struggle," she says truly concerned.
"Sometimes people need to struggle to appreciate what they have."
"You could have so much more if you just let the idea of her..."
"Mom!," she shouts and slams her palms onto the table. "I can't... I just can't do this. This is why I'm staying with Cal. I would rather share fifteen feet of space with two other individuals in the middle of nowhere, than be badgered by someone who supposedly wants me to be happy but only if I fulfill their notions of what that means. Thank you again for the chance to make sales in your house, if you come around you know where to find me." She walks out of the kitchen, lifts her box and walks out of the house leaving her mother at the kitchen table.
After half a dozen parties, when she's managed to save enough, she spends a few days at Polly's apartment. Their mornings are spent meeting with Amelia, a lawyer well versed in small businesses while evenings are spent visiting roughly ten apartments daily that are listed for rent. She's discouraged by the appearances of most of these units when she sees them in person until she finds a small one bedroom, that's walking distance from the train, with waxed hardwood floors and lots of natural light. It's in a less than desirable neighborhood, but it's got four walls, heat's included, and she can call it her own.
Two weeks later she moves in what few belongings she hasn't sold for extra cash and she partitions her earnings into different categories: Popi reinvestments, rent, groceries, bills, apartment furnishings and Alex; a budget to visit Alex, money for her commissary, things around the apartment that she thought the other woman would appreciate and the like.
The morning of Alex's release she sets fresh flowers in a second hand vase on the end table, re-fluffs the couch pillows and heads out to borrow Polly's car.
She drives through the rain northbound on the highway toward Litchfield, only this time she eyeballs the front seat knowing soon that the seat won't just hold a souvlaki platter but also her girlfriend, who will be consuming said souvlaki platter.
She folds down her umbrella and steps into the lobby of the prison, when she hears the familiar voice,
"Chapman, right on time." She's seen Wanda Bell week after week when she came for visitation, and she appreciated on the days where she was assigned to the visitation room, the extra few seconds she allowed to let a hug linger, or the turned gaze she'd provided to allow for a kiss goodbye. She lets her know she's there to pick up Alex as if she hasn't reminded her of the countdown every single week. She speaks into the radio clipped into her shoulder so another C.O. can escort Alex through the release process and tells Piper to have a seat.
It seemed like an absolute eternity before she heard, C.O. Bell order "Vause, step around to this side so you can sign these forms."
She shoots up and shuffles towards the door as Alex steps out, in her prison release clothes, with a bag and large manila envelope of her belongings that were confiscated during in- processing. Like magnets, their bodies slam together, arms embrace and hold on tight. Piper runs her hand over the back of her girlfriend's head when Bell's voice interrupts, "I don't mean to disrupt the magic here, but unless you sign these forms, you're not going anywhere." With Piper still holding on, she wiggles her arm out and signs all of the required documents.
"I hope to never see either of you ever again. You take care. Next!," she shouts and waits for the next inmate to be escorted down the hall.
"Ready?," Piper asks her taking the plastic bag with Alex's scant belongings.
"Fuck yes, get me out of here!"
"Nice wheels," she comments as Piper beeps open the doors of her getaway car.
"It's Polly's," she quickly clarifies as she climbs into the black SUV and passes Alex her food.
The brunette peels back the opening of the brown paper bag confirming that her nose hadn't deceived her. "You're the best!," she exclaims, withdrawing the cup of tzatziki sauce and pouring it over the lamb.
"Please don't spill anything anywhere on this car."
"I'll do my best," she says around a mouthful of food.
Piper hits the CD button on the dashboard and Yaz's "Only You," starts to play.
"Is this...?!," the brunette's smile widens.
"It is," Piper says, backing out of of the parking spot and shifts the car into drive. Alex leans over the console to kiss the blonde and nuzzles up against her. They pull out of the gates, and the brunette never looks back.
Instead, she exhales, "good music sounds... so fucking good."
"That's quite the epiphany Alex."
"So we're like normal people now?," she asks brushing Piper's hair behind her ear.
"Hardly."
After the brunette finishes ravaging her food, she rests a hand on Piper's inner thigh and looks out the window. Her hand strokes lightly causing the blonde's eyes to peer down. She notes proximity of the pale hand in relation to her crotch, and bets the brunette is completely oblivious to what she's doing to her.
"Al, should I pull over?"
"What?," she looks around the outside of the car, as if someone is following them, "what for?" Piper covers the brunette's hand with her own and squeezes.
She releases of a sigh of relief, "Pipes, I'm trying to get your friends and family to not hate me this time. Let me at least try to keep that going for a full twenty four hours."
Upon arrival at their apartment, Piper takes Alex by the hand and walks her around on a short tour of their home as there isn't a lot of square footage to cover.
"I know it isn't much but it took so long to organize those parties and to save up enough. I blew through a good chunk of my savings between getting supplies and meetings with Amelia to review our contracts, I needed to make sure I had enough rent money saved to keep me going for a few months in case Popi didnt work out and..."
The brunette leans down a touch, capturing the blonde's words mid-sentence into her own mouth. She kisses her softly, her right hand strokes the blonde's hair back, her forehead presses against that of the blonde before she pulls away. "It's perfect," she says looking into her girlfriend's blue eyes.
"It's not perfect. You deserve a home where you can hiccup in another room and I can't hear it because there's too much space between us."
"Touché kid. But right now, I don't want that much space between us anyway. And this wall," she says smacking the painted cement, "is the warmest color orange I've ever seen. It feels comfortable, and happy, and...the complete opposite of that fucking oatmeal cinder block. And there's curtains Pipes, as in curtains that aren't translucent, curtains that are not thrift store bed sheets."
Her girlfriend makes a face of disgust.
"Yeah, that's what I had before okay? These are thick. I can walk around here naked and I don't have to go out of my way to make sure a towel is covering up my naughty bits."
"Yeah well feel free to flash those naughty bits as much as you want. In fact," she says getting into a reclined position on their couch, "I wouldn't mind seeing those naughty bits-right-now."
The blonde starts at her collar and begins unbuttoning her own shirt while the brunette moans and sits atop her lap. The brunette starts unbuttoning the shirt from the bottom and works her way up, until their hands meet and the shirt is completely open. She pushes back the material of the shirt and slides her hand under Piper's black bra.
"It's nice to see a contrast in color against your skin," she says as she pecks the blonde, appreciating the non-prison issued unsupportive white bra she'd become accustomed to. "Thanks for dressing up for the occasion."
Piper chuckles, "no problem. I may have spent a good ten minutes this morning deciding which one to wear. I'm glad you like."
"You uh, mind if I shower first? I'm slightly paranoid that I look and smell like I've been in prison."
"You smell like you," Piper reassures her.
The brunette leans back on Piper's knees, her hands relax behind the blonde's neck. She looks around and takes it all in, her new apartment... her furnished apartment... her furnished apartment with a vase of fresh flowers on the end table, the end table that has tiny feminine boxes indicating she lives with Piper Elizabeth Chapman. The floor has a plush area rug, the coffee table is adorned with a short stack of books and scented candles. It's small but it's homey, it's lived in, and it's theirs.
She leans in and lets her nose rest against Piper's for a moment, she inhales and exhales relieved to be out. She feels the wetness accumulate in her eyes, she sniffs in as she lets a small smile show through before she closes her eyes and allows herself to soak in the blonde's soft lips against her own. "Shit," she says wiping her nose with her sleeve.
"I know," Piper replies, understanding her girlfriend's feelings, "but didn't I tell you it's not hot when your snot drips into my mouth like that?"
"Still no?"
"No," she shakes her head slightly, "but you can still stay. If you do it again though, I'm not so sure."
"Can I tell you how fucking good it feels to kiss you, to have you underneath me while I kiss you, and all the while doing so on this soft couch? Not having to look over my shoulder? That is freeing."
"It is. Know what else is freeing?"
"What's that?"
"Stripping off this pair of gorgeous prison issued jeans, and sitting on my face."
The brunette laughs, "well let's just get to the point," she says and stands up to unbutton her jeans.
"I'm kidding," Piper says, "about the sitting on my face. Not about getting these off." She unbuttons the brunette's jeans when she remembers, "oh, I got you something," she says standing up, taking the brunette's hand and bringing her back to their bedroom.
She pulls out the top drawer and withdraws a dark purple spaghetti strapped negligee. The brunette feels the fabric for a moment and takes the gift from Piper.
"I just thought it would help you feel like yourself."
"So this is a completely unselfish gesture and has nothing to do with you liking me in silky next- to-nothing's?"
"Completely unselfish," she says coming up onto her toes to look directly into the brunette's green eyes.
The dark haired woman retreats to the bathroom for a minute to rid herself of her magenta pull over sweatshirt and blue jeans and slips into clothing of the non-polyester blend variety. She couldn't help regale at how human she felt just by putting on different clothes. She felt sexy for the first time in years, and was able to see herself properly in a mirror that was not distressed with etched-in profanities.
Piper sits on the edge of the bed, her blouse and pants discarded to the floor and yells toward the open bedroom door, "hurry up in there. If I thought you'd take forever I'd have saved that for another day."
Piper hears the door open and the light turn off from down the hall. A few seconds later Alex struts in, with that familiar confident air. She walks over to the bed and mounts her girlfriends lap, resuming her previous position.
"Better?," she asks Piper.
"How do you feel?"
She pulls her lips inward, and raises an eyebrow. She concludes, "beautiful."
"You don't need this," she picks up the hem of the negligee, "to be beautiful. But I'm glad that's how you feel because you are...without a doubt... the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on."
The brunette rolls her eyes, before lowering the blonde onto the bed. The blonde lifts her hips, and Alex wastes no time removing the girl's underwear and tossing it aside. The blonde's lips press against her own, her hand slides up the blonde's toned torso, and cups her breast beneath her bra. She kneads it with firm but gentle fervor and scratches her nails down the other woman's side with her opposite hand.
"Tell me what you want," the brunette whispers into the woman below her's ear.
The blonde takes the opportunity to show and not tell, and runs her hands up the backs of brunette's bare legs. She doesn't stop until the base of her girlfriend's ass fills her hands, while the brunette's breath catches at a hitch, she feels her body respond to the intimate touch.
Piper caresses her flesh purposefully, as if she'd thought about what that ass would feel like in the palms of her hands for months. She pulls the brunette down, so her weight presses up against her, so that there's no space at all between them. Her finger traces the crease below her ass, and drags toward her girlfriend's opening, and takes note of the slick moisture at her fingertips. At the touch, the brunette comes up to her elbows and weaves her hands behind the blonde's back to remove her bra. Her gaze holds that of her girlfriend's as she lays the bra an arm's length away. She hovers on her elbows, her chin tucks to her chest as she takes in the completely nude form of her girlfriend for the first time in years. So many times, they discarded whatever clothing was necessary to sneak in a quickie before the guards came around. To disrobe completely, left too much opportunity to get caught, so they never took the chance. After the silence had become somewhat uncomfortably long, Piper breaks it,
"I'm starting to feel like a piece of meat."
The brunette turns her head up to Piper's face, "if I'd equate you with a food I've be fantasizing about, you should feel like a Cinnabon. Definitely not meat." She blinks slowly, her head tucks back down to briefly glance over the body beneath her before she lowers herself atop it. She nestles her head in the crook on Piper's neck and just breathes her in.
They lay quietly for a few moments, relishing in the familiarity of uninhibitedly lying in bed together, wrapped in each other's arms. Piper runs her finger tips along the brunette's back, but Alex remains still. "Babe, is everything okay?," she asks with her chin resting atop the brunettes head.
The brunette swallows at the break in silence, having been lost in the comfort that her girlfriend provides. She lifts her head a little, "yeah," she smirks a little, "I'm just taking you in."
"Can you take me in another way?"
"You know it's not all about fucking."
The blonde's eyed widen in shock and amusement to hear those words escape the sultry brunette.
"We didn't only fuck before either. I'll take it any way you'll give it to me. I'm not particularly picky."
The brunette rolls off of her girlfriend and onto her side, "I meant, there are other things besides having sex that...," she takes a moment and sighs, "I can't help but just look at you."
"That's almost as girly as the time you told me you wanted to love fuck."
The brunette chuckles, but hides her face into the sheets of the bed. She tilts her head to side to speak, "is that so bad?," she asks at a muffle.
Piper leans into her, so close that their foreheads are almost touching, and whispers, "no."
"I love you," Alex tells her and resumes her position, with her elbows pressed into the mattress just above her girlfriend's shoulders.
She caresses Piper's cheek, letting her hand linger there as she sinks down, and deeply kisses her. Her tongue moves slowly, curling, the tip teasing the blonde's before sucking on it gently. Small nibbles of the blonde's lip are made, as Alex's body slinks lower down her destined path. She mindfully heaves the blonde's right breast upward, lightly pinching the nipple between her thumb and index finger. It instantly hardens, recognizing those particular fingers. Her opposite hand repeats the gesture on Piper's left breast, she moves lower, planting kisses between her sternum, then lower between her ribs, she nips teasingly at the side of the blonde's rib cage, knowing how sensitive the area was. A high pitched yelp escapes the blonde's mouth, having had one of her most ticklish places provoked. Alex's hands press down more firmly on her girlfriend's breasts, keeping the blonde in place as she spazzes sideways at the feeling of the older woman's mouth on her rib cage. The brunette once again nips the blonde's side, causing the younger woman to grab a fistful of onyx hair, with widened eyes as if she was about to go into fight mode.
The brunette acknowledges the hair tug, and peers up at the blonde with her signature manipulative smirk. She plants a kiss on the same spot, her hands continue to caress the perky mounds above her, as her mouth begins to concentrate on the patch of skin just below the blonde's belly button. Her teeth lightly drag over the space, her hands slide down the girl's torso until they encircle her waist. Piper's hips involuntarily rise at the contact of the brunette's chin so close to grazing her hairline. The blonde bends her knees with ache, the brunette moves lower, her arms wraps around the blonde's thighs' her hands rest upon her sharp hipbones. She licks just once before hearing the moan come from the head of the bed, the blonde feels her body respond, moistening the sheets below her. The brunette laps with more pressure, then encircles the blonde's clit with the tip of her tongue when she feels Piper's leg turning inward, letting her know she's highly aroused and about to cum. She stops and feels a hand atop her head pushing lower for a minute, before she feels the blonde place her hands on her shoulders and pull her up. The brunette straddles the blonde's right thigh, while Piper pulls the brunette's body against her own. The brunette looks into the lust driven blue eyes below her, eyes that are saying "fuck me," but the blonde won't ask because she knows Alex is on another plane. The brunette wriggles her arm behind the blonde's neck, embracing her, while her palm slides down Piper's sweaty torso, over her mound and between her legs. Her fingers part her folds, and slide into her girlfriend's slick center. The blonde releases a staggered exhale, she opens her legs wider. Alex reads her every move, she pushes her fingers a little bit deeper until they can't go back anymore. She works her mouth along the pulse point on Piper's neck as the blonde wraps her arms and legs around her back, clutching to her desperately as she feels Alex's fingers start to pump in and out. Piper's hips move with her in rhythm, well synched, and perhaps if it hadn't been so long since she'd been fully undressed, on a bed with her girlfriend pressed against her, she's have had the ability to hang on longer. Small moans are released with every other thrust, her head tips back as the brunette continues to slide her fingers at a deliberately slow pace.
"I love you Alex," she manages to get out before her voice gets trapped in her throat as her body contracts and releases her love with her lover's digits still inside her.
The brunette softly withdraws and leans down, resting her head in the crook of the blonde's neck, wavering a hand over both breasts before choosing one to caress as the blonde comes down.
Piper hugs her with one arm, and rakes the dark hair back with the other. They lie against each other, quietly, hands explore with endearing strokes.
"I'm so happy that you're home."
The brunette answers with scattered kisses over the blonde's shoulder. "I love that I don't have to race, that I'm not on some kind of clock," she mutters against the blonde's skin. "I'm not going to take this time for granted."
"You can have me whenever you want, wherever you want, any time, every day."
The brunette readjusts some, and bounces her hip on the mattress, "this bed is really comfortable."
"You always said the average person spends seven hours a day in bed, that you should invest in good quality mattress and bedding.
"Well I intend on spending far more than the average seven in this bed."
"Oh really?"
"Yes," she says at a purr.
Piper adjusts her position and starts tending to her girlfriend's needs, determined to give their bed above average usage.
