During the month when Alex was away, Piper spent an inordinate amount of time at work, but in her spare time, she read two of the books that her neighbor had recommended. Although she didn't particularly subscribe to There Exists an X's message of challenging what we consider commonplace, she got a glimpse of the way Alex viewed the world.
From reading the two books, Piper determined that Alex liked to question everything. She wasn't satisfied with the status quo and hated the idea of normalcy. Piper figured that her neighbor liked to find unexpected meaning in everyday things. Of course, the blonde admitted to herself, she could be totally off the mark, but figuring out what made the tattooed woman tick was like solving a puzzle.
The blonde tried discussing the two philosophy books with her boyfriend, but Larry wasn't interested in the subject. He'd change the topic to the latest episode of The Simpsons or the most recent Michael Bay blockbuster film. Piper didn't usually mind discussing pop culture with her boyfriend, but for a reason she blamed entirely on her new neighbor, it irritated her that month.
After a satisfying three-mile jog, Piper stopped in front of her apartment to stretch. It was just before dusk and the air was cooler than it had been even an hour earlier on that warm September day. As she was about to climb the steps, she noticed a woman in jeans and a black t-shirt, peeking into Alex's apartment window. "Hi, can I help you?"
The woman didn't turn around. "No."
"Do you know Alex?" Piper enquired.
She tried several different keys in the lock before replying, "She's my girlfriend. What's it to you?"
Piper remembered helping her neighbor change the lock and tensed up at the thought of Alex's ex-girlfriend trying to break in.
She took a few steps back. "Well, your keys don't seem to work, so maybe you should just leave."
"Don't fucking tell me what to do, bitch!" The woman jumped off the stoop and shoved Piper.
"Whoa!" Piper put her hands up in surrender. "Look, I'm not trying to cause any trouble. I think it would be best if both of us walked away."
"You want more of this?" She shoved the blonde again, this time with more force. "Stay out of my fucking business!"
Just then, a Lincoln towncar pulled up and Piper was relieved to see Alex step out of the back.
"What the fuck?" The dark haired woman dropped her bags and ran to Piper's side. "Sylvie, are you nuts?" She turned to Piper. "Are you ok? Did she hurt you?"
The blonde was too stunned to speak; she simply shook her head.
"Call 9-1-1," Alex ordered.
When Piper made no move to follow instructions, the brunette yelled, "Piper, you need to call the police. Now."
The apparent trespasser took a swing at Alex, and the brunette captured her wrists and shoved her against a wall. "You need to calm down, Sylvie."
"The hell I do! You fucking changed the locks?" she struggled against Alex.
"Jorge, get over here," Alex called to the chauffeur. "Help me hold this woman."
The linebacker-looking man assisted Alex as they pinned Sylvie to the ground. Piper ended the call to the police and stood a few feet back, stunned at what she was witnessing.
"You are not my girlfriend, Sylvie," the dark haired woman said in a calm voice. "Which means that you have no right to enter my apartment."
"Is this the blonde you told Rachel about?" Sylvie glanced at a very frightened Piper. "I will fucking kill you!"
Piper put her hands over her mouth and nearly began to panic.
"If you so much as lay a finger on her, I will make your life a living hell," Alex whispered louder than she probably hoped. "Do not fuck with me, Sylvie."
A motorcycle police officer arrived on the scene and raced to where Jorge and Alex held Sylvie. She said something into her walkie talkie before commenting on the scene in front of her. "What do we have here?"
Alex explained the situation evenly, and by the time she was finished, the officer had Sylvie in handcuffs. She issued the Miranda rights and waited for a backup car to whisk Sylvie away. Alex had a few more words with the officer and dismissed Jorge. When all of them left the scene, Piper's fear got the best of her and she crumbled to the steps leading to her apartment.
"I am so sorry, Piper." The brunette sat next to her and rubbed her arm. "You sure she didn't hurt you?"
She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "She pushed me a couple of times, but she didn't hurt me."
"Let me take you inside." Alex stood and held out her hand.
She didn't accept it; she glared at the taller woman. "I don't want you anywhere near me."
"Please, Piper," the dark haired woman pleaded.
"Stay the fuck away from me," the blonde interrupted with a defensive hand in Alex's face. "I'm warning you, Alex, do not come to my apartment. You are not welcome here," she stated in a shaky voice.
With that Piper went inside, slamming the door behind her.
It took another two weeks for Piper to feel safe when she entered her apartment. She never told Larry about the incident for fear that he'd get his attorney father involved and have Alex evicted before she returned from her next trip. She didn't know exactly why that would be such a bad thing, after all, she'd warned her neighbor to stay far away. Why not make it a non-option?
Piper saw the dark haired woman two or three times over the next couple of months, either smoking on her stoop or returning from God-only-knows-where with arms full of luggage. The blonde ignored her neighbor's wave or occasional, hello, and had no intention of letting her back into her life even as a sort of book exchange companion.
For the briefest moment, she'd felt like she was back in college, discussing literature and philosophy with her classmates. She harkened back to a time in her life when knowledge and debate got her up in the morning. Alex was the first person in years who could possibly be her intellectual equal, but her safety trumped her desire to converse, and Piper was in a funk at the loss of opportunity.
After a recent run in with the brunette, Piper only became more perturbed at the mere sight of her, what with her short, black and gold cocktail dress and her wavy, jet black hair. Piper convinced herself that it was annoying how beautiful the woman was, and she vowed to avert her eyes the next time she saw her.
It wasn't until the leaves had turned shades of orange and the sun set at 5 p.m. in early November when she was confronted with her neighbor again; this time with nowhere to hide.
"What, you're not going to run inside?" The brunette asked as she inserted her key into the lock with a sidelong gaze at Piper, who was sitting on her own steps, head in her hands.
"I'm locked out." She didn't look up, but she noticed the tall woman's black, heeled boots and the hem of her expensive-looking jeans.
"Huh. That sucks. I'd invite you in, but I know what your response to that would be."
"No, thank you," she replied anyway.
"Well, that's an improvement," the dark haired woman said as she opened her door. "I appreciate your civility."
"Fuck off, Alex."
"That's more like it." Piper could sense the smirk on the brunette's face, but she didn't look up to confirm it.
"Always a pleasure chatting with you," Alex said with mock sincerity. She walked inside and closed the door behind her.
Piper chastised herself for even speaking to her neighbor, but she was even more pissed at herself for sneaking a glance at her stunning figure. If those jeans weren't specifically made for Alex, she'd be surprised. The leather jacket just added fuel to the fire.
She stood and began to pace on the sidewalk, damning herself for leaving her phone and keys inside. On every third pass in front of her neighbor's apartment, she looked up, half hoping to see her outline in the curtained windows.
The sun had set and Piper began getting cold in her sparse workout outfit. She had a choice to make: walk three blocks to the liquor store and ask to borrow their phone to call Larry, or sheepishly knock on her neighbor's door and ask to wait inside her warm apartment for her boyfriend to arrive. Although it crossed her mind to ask a different neighbor to let her in, that option wasn't one that she pursued.
She took a deep breath before rapping on her neighbor's door. When she didn't answer, Piper knocked again.
"Who is it?" Alex called from inside.
"It's Piper," she responded self-consciously. "It's really cold out here."
She heard two locks being undone, and the door opened only a sliver. Their eyes met through the small crack. "Can I please come in?"
Alex, who'd changed into black yoga pants and a red sweatshirt, opened the door all the way.
The blonde crossed over the threshold, blowing on her frigid hands. "If I even see a hint of a smirk on your face…"
"What? You're going to leave?" Alex interrupted with an even bigger smirk than the blonde had imagined.
Piper had only been inside her apartment the day Alex moved in when it was unfurnished, save for the record player, but it was almost exactly as she pictured it—walls lined with books, primitive artwork in exquisite gold frames hanging in open spaces, an African quilt draped over the plum-colored couch, and soft music playing in the background.
"Larry should've been home by now," she announced, stepping into the living room. "Can I borrow your phone?"
Alex handed her iPhone over without saying a word. She walked into the kitchen as Piper dialed her boyfriend's number. She explained the situation to Larry, who promised to be home in an hour at the latest.
The brunette walked back into the living room after Piper hung up, offering her a mug of hot orange blossom tea. "I'm assuming Larry is coming to your rescue?"
The blonde nodded, ignoring her neighbor's insinuation that she needed rescuing. "He'll be home in an hour."
"Do you want to sit down, or are you afraid that might be too courteous of me?" Alex tucked a leg under her thigh as she sat on the sofa.
"What happened that day scared the shit out of me," the blonde admitted, standing a few feet away.
"My ex-girlfriend is psychotic, but she's harmless for the most part," Alex admitted. "Besides, she's locked up for the next few months."
"It's the 'for the most part' that frightens me." Piper blew on the steaming liquid before taking a sip, which immediately warmed her insides.
"I really am sorry that you got caught in the middle of that fucked up situation, Piper," the dark haired woman said with a serious expression. "I don't normally date crazy people."
She guardedly sat at the opposite end of the sofa, ensuring a virtual sea was between them. "What kind of people do you normally date?"
"Hot women who like existentialism and avant-garde literature." Alex grinned.
The blonde tried to hide her blush behind the cup of tea. She figured that Alex had a way with women and could probably score any woman she wanted merely by bantering and using her suggestive eyebrows to punctuate a point. Piper took little stock in her neighbor's flirtations, thinking that Alex was just naturally uninhibited, though she'd be lying if she admitted that statement didn't excite her a little. She decided that a change of subject was crucial. "What's this music?"
The brunette took a sip from her own mug. "Dev Hynes. He's this British guy who writes and composes his own music."
"It's got a sort of world vibe." Piper listened to the beat a little closer as Alex used a remote control to turn up the volume. "Reminds me of The Chemical Brothers."
"His arrangements and vocals appeared in some of their songs," she said with a small smile. "I wouldn't peg you as the type to like this kind of music."
"I love all kinds of music," the blonde admitted, taking another sip of tea. "I took an Intro to World Music class in college. This song reminds me why I liked it so much."
The dark haired woman stood and pulled out a crate of records. She flipped through them rapidly until she pulled out the one she presumably had been searching for. "Have you heard of Yeasayer?"
Piper shook her head, leaning closer to the brunette to get a good look at the album cover. Alex smelled like chamomile and mint, and for a split second, Piper wanted to bury her head in her neighbor's thick, wavy hair. "No, I haven't."
Alex turned her head slightly and looked down at Piper. The blonde could feel her stare, but refused to look up, not trusting herself completely with the mysterious neighbor. She could feel her pulse quicken in her neck. Fortunately, she was saved when Alex stood and walked over to the turntable, placing the disc onto the surface and lining up the needle on the record.
She sat back down, a little closer to Piper than the blonde was comfortable with, and they listened to the song, Tightrope, in silence until it was over. Piper enjoyed the beat, but she found herself more conscious of her neighbor's hand that rested two inches from her leg than the music itself. She wondered if the wave of heat she felt radiated from the warm tea or her proximity to Alex.
The dark haired woman stood to turn the album over and played a different song. "You might be able to tell that they were heavily influenced by Paul Simon."
Piper thanked God that she recovered from the brunette's dangerous closeness and hoped she'd remain in her corner as if this was some sort of boxing match. "I wouldn't call it world music so much as experimental rock."
"True." Alex smiled from her position next to the record player. "More tea?"
The blonde nodded. "If you're having some."
She took the proffered mug from Piper's hand, and their fingertips touched. The blonde reacted as if she was just electrically shocked. She pulled her hand away, which caused the mug to fall on the floor. Thankfully, there was only a sip of tea left.
"I'm so sorry!" Piper blushed and immediately knelt on the floor to clean up the mess. She reached for a napkin on the coffee table and dabbed at the wet rug.
"It's ok." The dark haired woman smiled and put her hand around Piper's wrist, stopping her movement. "It's just a little tea. No big deal."
The blonde once again withdrew at Alex's touch and brushed her hair out of her face. She swallowed hard and stood, leaving Alex on the ground to pick up the mug and the wet napkin.
"I can be clumsy sometimes," she tried, taking a step away from the scene.
"Is that what happened?" Alex asked with a knowing expression and stepped into the blonde's personal space. "You were clumsy?"
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Piper jumped and stood ramrod straight as if she was guilty of something. She was thankful for the disturbance, knowing full well that Alex could read her mind, which meant that her neighbor knew exactly why she dropped the mug in the first place.
The brunette calmly placed the wet napkin inside the mug and set it on the coffee table before opening the door. She was greeted by her male neighbor who stuck out his hand to shake hers. "Alex, nice to see you again. I heard my keyless girlfriend was here."
She shook his hand and stepped aside.
"We were just listening to music and drinking tea," Piper quickly announced as if she needed an explanation.
He hugged her. "Sorry I'm late. Poker was not my friend tonight."
"You play poker?" Alex's eyebrows shot up.
He nodded. "Once a month—we rotate hosting duties."
She folded her arms. "Do they allow girls?"
"I've never asked." Larry shrugged. "You play?"
It was Alex's turn to shrug. "I've been known to play a little five card stud and Texas Hold'em."
He turned to Piper as if asking permission, and she shrugged. "I'll let you know the next time we play."
As they were about to leave, the blonde turned to the other woman. "Thank you for letting me stay here."
"No problem." She smirked and lowered her voice. "You're hard to resist."
Piper was thankful that her boyfriend had already descended the steps and was out of earshot. She felt her cheeks turn warm, yet she followed Larry and watched Alex shut the door.
