They both walked in nervous silence towards the bar. Each stealing looks at each other while they thought the other wasn't looking. Both of them felt something that was like first date jitters. Both were nervous to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. They felt like they were strangers. Which is ironic because at some point both of them used to know each other better than anyone. They were one. They had a love like no other. If you saw them together in public, you could just tell that they were in love. You could see the sparks from a mile away. But if you saw them today you would think that they're strangers.

They stayed in that awkward yet comfortable silence in their entire walk to the bar.

They arrived at a small bar in downtown Manhattan. It was just a small nook in the wall compared to all of the other buildings but it was nice and cozy. It was a bar that the two sometimes frequented when they were still together. It's a nice bar that's not too loud and you can talk and relax.

Alex walked up and opened the door for Piper.

"Ladies first" she said with a smirk.

"Chivalry. I like it."

Piper smiled and walked through the door. She immediately made her way over to the table that they always sat at when they came here. Alex just followed her with a smirk on her face.

They finally sat down and ordered their drinks. When the waiter finally walked away Piper broke the silence.

"Aw this place hasn't changed a bit!" She said while looking around the room," I don't even remember the last time we were here."

She went silent and then looked over to Alex. They locked eyes for a few moments until Alex broke it and looked down at her hands.

"I do," she said solemnly with a slow nod of her head, "It was right before we left for Paris."

"Oh, right" Piper said in almost a whisper.

They sat in silence for a few more moments, both thinking back to the last time they were at this bar.

It was late at night and their plane was leaving the next morning so they just wanted to relax. They were good for the first 20 minutes until Alex started getting calls again making sure that everything for the trip was set. She took multiple calls within a span of 2 hours. She always took them outside so Piper was constantly left alone at the table. At one point, one of Alex's calls lasted over 30 minutes, so Piper got up and walked to the bar to sit. Tired of being alone and just looking for somebody to talk to. When she approached the bar, she saw a handsome man sitting in a business suit. He was probably 25 ish. Right around Piper's age. So she sat down next to him.

He looked over to her and smiled a dazzling smile. She smiled back at him.

"Hey there" he said.

"Hey" she replied

"What's your name, pretty lady?"

She smiled at him. Very rarely did Alex call her beautiful or pretty anymore. She used to say it constantly. But now a days she only says it during sex.

"Piper" she said with a smile

"Ah Piper, well you're very beautiful. I'm James. Can I buy you a drink?"

She continued to smile at James.

"Sure"

He ordered them a round of drinks and then tipped the bartender. He then turned to look at Piper.

"So what's a pretty girl like you doing out alone? Are you alone?"

Piper knew that she should have told him that she was with Alex. That she wasn't alone. That she had a girlfriend who was right outside of the bar on the phone. But right now, not only did she feel physically alone, she felt emotionally alone. She felt like Alex didn't even care about her anymore. She felt like Alex isn't even fully invested in this relationship anymore. She felt like Alex doesn't even love her anymore. So yeah, I guess you could say she was alone.

"Yes, but I'm not alone anymore am I?" She said and gave him a thousand watt smile.

They talked and laughed for a while. James was a structural engineer. He worked at one of the most renowned companies in New York. He was a nice NYU college grad. The type of guy that Piper's mother would've wanted her to be with. If Piper wasn't with Alex, she probably would've gave him a shot. But she is with Alex. She still loves Alex. Alex the illegal drug importer. Alex the woman. The type of person that Piper's mother always warned her against.

They continued to talk some more. Every once in a while Piper would look over her should for Alex. Her phone call was taking forever. Piper's been used to this though. Alex could be on the phone for anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 hours. Her phone got more of Alex's attention than Piper did. So she eventually gave up looking for Alex.

She hadn't noticed how close she was sitting to James. She unknowingly moved closer to him throughout the night. She also noticed how he had his arm wrapped around the back of her chair. If anyone saw them, they would've though they were a couple. For a split second she was scared that Alex might walk in to see them like this. It's not like she was planning on kissing James or anything like that. She's not the cheating type. She honestly just wanted somebody to talk to.

She looked back over to James.

"I should probably get going. It's getting late."

"Ok. Can I walk you home? I don't want anything happening to you. You never know with New York."

She smiled at him. He really was a nice guy. She looked back around the bar. Alex still wasn't back.

Piper was still considering the offer when she heard her voice.

"Piper" Alex said in a stern voice.

Piper instinctually moved away from James. Almost feeling like she did something wrong when she really didn't.

"Oh hi," She looked over to James who still had his hand around the back of Piper's chair.

"Uhm Alex, this is James. James this is Alex."

James stood up to shake Alex's hand. Alex just stared at him with her arms crossed. She was pissed.

He let his hand drop and looked over to Piper but Piper's eyes were trained on Alex.

"Uhm are you a friend of Piper?"

Alex looked at him incredulously .

"A friend? I'm her girlfriend."

James turned to look at Piper, perplexed.

"I thought you said you were alone?"

Piper looked back and forth between them. She knew that this looked bad. But she honestly was just looking for somebody to talk to.

"Uhm well Alex wasn't here" Piper offered.

"I was right outside" Alex replied. Still extremely pissed. From what she saw when she walked in was Piper practically leaning into James with his arm wrapped around her. She felt 2 emotions when she saw this. Fear and anger. She felt fear from the fact that it was possible that Piper might cheat on her or leave her. She knew she was being a shitty girlfriend lately. She knew that Piper was unhappy. But work was so demanding lately that she couldn't do anything to fix it.

She felt anger at the fact that Piper would even be hanging out with this guy. She felt anger at the fact that it was possible that Piper was even thinking about cheating.

So instead of showing a vulnerable emotion like fear, she went with the one that she was best at expressing. Anger.

"Well you were gone for like forever. I was bored and didn't know what else to do." Piper said, defending herself.

Alex looked over at James. She had to admit that he was handsome. That just spiked both of her emotions tenfold.

"We're you going to fuck him?' Alex asked both out of fear and out of anger.

All eyes were trained on Piper now.

"What?! I—I no. Alex."

By the time that Piper finished with her sentence Alex was already storming out of the bar. She dropped some bills on their table.

Piper quickly thanked James and apologized to him before hurrying after Alex.

"Alex!" Piper yelled out to Alex who was quickly widening the distance between them. Alex never turned back around. She just kept on walking back to their apartment. Piper had no choice but to follow.

They didn't sleep in the same bed that night. When they got up, no words were spoken between them. They drove to the airport but they didn't hold hands over the center console. They boarded the plane but Piper didn't rest her head on Alex's should like she usually does. They're plane took off and neither knew that it would be the last flight that they would take together.

"Would you have fucked that guy?" Alex asked, breaking the silence.

"What? No. I told you that that night."

"But you were flirting with him"

"No I wasn't we were just talking."

"It looked like you guys were doing more than talki—"

"Alex we're not bringing this up again"

"Fine" Alex said with a huff.

She thought about that night a lot when Piper left. It made her realize that she had lost Piper even before she walked out of that hotel room. She was just too oblivious to realize it.

"Okay" Piper said timidly, not sure where to take this conversation, "So how have you been?"

Alex looked back at Piper. They locked eyes for a few moments before Alex spoke up.

"You want the truth?"

Piper hesitated. "Uhm uh yeah I guess so"

Alex inhaled a breath.

"Okay. Well lets just start after you left. I been like shit. I'm not blaming you or anything so don't take this the wrong way. I'm just telling you truthfully how I've been over the last 8 years. So after my mom died and you left, I was a mess. I lost the only 2 people who loved me and who I loved. I slacked on the job. I uh—I started using"

Piper gasped. She was sure that Alex would never do heroin. She hated the drug. She saw what it did to people. She saw how it destroyed lives.

"What?! Alex! What—How—Why?"

"It was the only thing that helped me forget" Alex said with a shrug

"Alex" Piper practically whispered.

Alex adjusted her glasses uncomfortably before she continued.

"Kubra never found out that I was using. I don't think. But after a while my work load slimmed down more and more until it was non existent. I took the hint. I'm surprised Kubra didn't kill me. He probably figured that I would do it myself. I guess he was right"

"What?" Piper almost yelled

"I uhm I kinda died. Well I did die. I don't remember anything from the night. All I remember is all of the stuff that Nicky told me. They found me on a bathroom floor. Rushed me to the hospital. They had to revive me. After that I stopped using of course. When you come that close to dying you learn that all of the problems that you think are unfixable really are fixable. You learn that your life still means something. So I picked up my life again. I used whatever money I had left to invest in the store. I hired people that were struggling. I just wanted to help people before they got like me."

This was all a shock to Piper. She didn't know what to say. She just kept imagining Alex laying on the floor. Dead. She couldn't imagine what a world would look like without Alex.

"Alex, I'm so sorry."

"What are you so sorry about? I told you that it's not your fault."

"But if I would've stayed I—"

"Kid, stop. It's not your fault. I made stupid decisions. It's my fault."

Piper just nodded her head, not sure what else to do.

"So how have you been?" Alex asked awkwardly after a long silence.

"Uhm well after I left I was a mess too. I practically drank 2 years of m life away. I lived on Polly's couch for a while. I didn't know where else to go. I can't tell you how many times I thought about calling you up and going back to you. It was practically my only thought for years. I was at rock bottom when I met Larry. He helped me. He picked me up and helped me stand again. And then he proposed last year, so here we are." Piper said with a small shake of her head. Disbelieving of how their lives turned out.

"I guess we both found our lifesavers, huh?"

Piper smirked at Alex.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess we did."

They talked for a long time after that. They talked about everything under the moon. They missed each other so much throughout the years. They were making up for lost time. By the time the night was over, they were in a good place. They both felt like they knew each other again. And for now, that was enough.

I'm sorry for the times that I left you home

I was on the road and you were alone

I'm sorry for the times I had to go

I'm sorry for the fact that I did not know

That you were sitting home just wishing we could go back to when it was just you and me

I'm sorry for all of the times I would neglect

I'm sorry for all of the times I would disrespect

I'm sorry for the wrong things that I've done

I'm sorry for the fact that I'm not aware

That you can't sleep at night when I'm not there

Sorry for the things that I did not say

Like how you are the best thing in my world

And how proud I am to call you my girl

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this took a while. I've been really busy with school. And I just took a trip up to New York a few days ago aND GUESS WHAT. IM STILL FREAKING OUT OMFG BUT I MET LAURA AND TAYLOR

AHHHHHHHHHHHH I KNOW RIGHT

SO I DECIDED TO GO CHECK OUT THE PLAY THAT TAYLOR WAS IN AND LAURA WAS THERE AND I JUST AHH IT WAS PERFECT. I STILL DON'T BELIEVE IT THOUGH BUT YEAH

THEY WERE BOTH REALLY TALL (or im just short who knows) AND THEY WERE SO NICE AND UGH IM LIKE STILL CRYING IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER

I would give you my Instagram account but sorry not happening. My pictures are on fan accounts though so you can probably check them out

BUT YEAH SO TAYLOR AND LAURA WERE TOGETHER. LAYLOR IS REAL. I REPEAT LAYLOR IS REAL

oK sorry im just really excited and I wanted to share the news with you guys.

Not sure if I like this chapter but whatever

Ok bye

Please follow/ fav/ review

PS: IM LITERALLY SITTING AT MY COMPUTER CRYING THINKING BACK TO MEETING BOTH OF THEM OK SORRY BUT IM REALLY EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE RIGHT NOW

Put the blame on me- Akon (I took some parts out because they just didn't really fit the story)

IMPORTANT ISH- ok its not that important but if you guys go searching for my pictures on IG (You can find a lot of the pictures on laurapreponsarmy) please don't go to my personal. I didn't put it in there for a reason. Im just not comfortable with people going onto my personal. I'm sure you guys understand. Im going on private for a little bit so if you guys like reallllly want to follow me then just request it. lol ok bye