7

Dinner with Diane Vause felt more natural then Piper expected and she felt ridiculous for allowing herself to be so nervous around her. If the woman judged her for just graduating from an institution that cost her over $150,000 and was now waiting tables, she hid it well. While there was some physical resemblance between the two, Piper couldn't help but notice all of the similar facial expressions and satirical banter Alex and her mother shared. The three of them took a cab back to their apartment and it took 20 minutes of arguing and insistence that her mother sleep in their bedroom and she and Piper would take the guest.

"Our bed is more comfortable, it's softer, more broken in. The guest is hardly used, please!"

"I'm the guest! That's who it's supposed to be for. The girl hasn't slept in her own bed in 3 days, for God's sakes!" Her mother finally raised both her hands in the air and retreated to Alex and Piper's bedroom.

"You think I'm persistent? That woman has the head of a bull, fought her whole life for everything. She's only backing down so she doesn't make more of a scene in front of you, I'm sure of it." Piper and Alex stripped the linens off of the bed in the guest room and draped fresh new sheets tucking the corners under the mattress. The three padded out into the living room, chatted for a while when Alex went to the kitchen to make them hot chocolate.

Diane leaned into Piper and whispered, "thank you for makin my daughter so happy. She walks around like she's this tough badass but she's really just a tall sweetheart. I haven't seen this light in her," she paused, "well, ever."

Piper crossed her arms over her chest, and brought one hand up to her mouth amused that she'd apparently been the only person to have had this affect on Alex.

Alex walked in carefully managing all three mugs and sensed that she just walked into some potentially uncomfortable conversation. "What did you say to her?" she asked worriedly seeing Piper's hand over her mouth, masking the grin she couldn't see. "I walked away for 2 minutes," she placed the mugs down on the coffee table.

Diane turned her neck toward her daughter, "why don't you mind your business? Where's the marshmallows?"

Piper's grin now spread passed her mouth and she let out a laugh. Alex let her abdominal muscles relax and she got up to search for some marshmallows. She came back and handed her mother the bag with two outstretched arms, half bowing, "your majesty." Her mother took the bag and playfully whacked her over the head with the bag, "punk." The three finished vegging out and went off to their respective bedrooms.

"What did my mom say to you?," she leaned into Piper resting her weight on both of her hands. "Why don't you mind your business?" she shoved Alex and hit the light.

Morning came and after Diane's insistence, they brought her to the train station instead of taking the long car ride back upstate. Piper and Alex got back home and exchanged the finer details of their time apart. They talked about New Year's Eve, toyed with the idea of going out to celebrate at various parties but opted to stay in and bring in the New Year in the comfort of their living room. They went through 3⁄4 of a bottle of champagne that Piper had purchased earlier that day. Slightly tipsy, she poured them each another glass, and remembered something else she bought. She rummaged through the plastic bag and pulled out some cardboard hats, and glasses that said 2004 on them. She placed a hat on her head, and a hat on Alex's head and fixed the elastic band under her chin. She hooked Alex's glasses into her cleavage and placed the New Year's glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Are you fucking serious?," the brunette asked not amused. Piper laughed and took a picture.

"I look like Elton John and I can't see," she removed the glasses from her face, and slipped her own back on. She tilted the hat slightly to the side of her head cockily and walked into the kitchen. She dug out a bunch of grapes from the crisper and handed 12 over to Piper.

"What are these for?," she asked.

"Your night's rations," came a snarky reply. Piper made a foolish face.

"I spent the last Año Nuevo in Spain, and they have a tradition where you eat a grape with each chime of a bell at midnight. Some say it's supposed to lead to a year of prosperity, others say it wards of evil. I was told to make 12 wishes."

"Did your wishes from last year come true?," Piper asked eyeing the grapes.

"Fuck if I remember, I was pretty messed up mixing some party favors with cava and sangria. Oh, I definitely have a bottle of cava here somewhere." Alex danced over to the many bottles of liquor displayed behind in the glass door in the nook between her kitchen and the sunken living room.

"Party favors?"

"Yeah some X at one point in the night, poppers later, shit stinks but I blacked out at the end, good stories," she sips her champagne while continuing to pull bottles, reading the labels and putting them back until she finds it, "ah ha, cava. I got this one in Barcelona, ever been?"

"No," Piper softly replied. She told Alex she'd gone on a Mediterranean cruise with her parents and Cal as a teenager to celebrate her high school graduation but Spain was not part of their itinerary. Piper was grateful that the glasses hid her eyes as her view hardened, she felt uneasy at Alex's casual admission of drug use. Alex picked up on her tension and squeezed her knee making her leg jerk, "hey, I've never done the hard stuff, watched that junk screw up too many people and I only use the others when I'm chilling with people that I trust, no worries." She caressed Piper's head.

"You've never used anything with me." Piper had smoked weed socially at parties or after long nights out with friends but never had an interest in anything else. Until now. Her eyes stayed narrowed. She questioned the enigmatic nature that radiated off of Alex's body. How could one person make her feel so safe at the same cause the disconcerting worry that she felt in the pit of her stomach?

"You've never asked. Later, if you want sometime."

"I've smoked pot before you know?" She suddenly felt it was of paramount importance to disclose that she wasn't a prude and she had some experience in the dark underworld of altered consciousness that Alex seemed to be all too comfortable with.

Alex tried to repress her chortle, the blonde was so fucking cute. She pulled her onto her lap and massaged her shoulders. "What are you going to wish for?," she asked as she kissed her neck.

Piper shifted her weight on Alex's lap and nudged her, "if I tell you it won't come true."

"Or if you tell me, maybe I'll make it come true."

"Well I guess you'll just have to see." She skimmed Alex's skin under her dress. "I'm not a patient person." She gently pawed at the elastic under Piper's chin. "Poor you."

"Yeah, poor fucking me."

They got each other off in a tension filled quickie, Piper's back was against the seat of the couch, her head half hanging off the side. Her arms were stretched over her head, her legs still wrapped around Alex's torso. She eyed the upside down bottle of cava and pulled herself upright.

"Are we going to open that?"

Alex reclined back and told her to "go ahead." Piper played with the wire caging around the top and struggled to open the bottle.

"It's broken," she looked at her hands , and slurred, "I'm broken."

"You're both beautifully perfect, hand it to me." Alex gently twisted at the cork for a while before popping it open. She inhaled the aroma released within, Piper copied and they drank straight from the bottle. Dick Clark began the count down, they each held a fistful of grapes, Piper sat on Alex's lap, "3...2...1, Happy New Year!," they shouted. They kissed just after the ball completed it's descent, and ate their grapes wishing on each one. Piper grabbed a pot and zig zagged up and down the corridor outside their apartment door hitting it with a wooden spoon. Alex stood in the hall cackling and yelling "woooo," while pumping her fist in the air as if she was quickly hitting a boxing ball. They scampered back into their apartment after 20 minutes of parading when they heard a neighbor yell a few profanities from down the hall. Alex pulled Piper against her chest and kissed her long and hard and the last thing Piper remembered was the explosion of fireworks that flickered in her eyes.