Since that afternoon in the shed, Alex often had the feeling that her life was playing out in front of her eyes, regardless of any input that she might want to give. It was almost as if everyone else was following a script, that they knew the plot, while she was sitting helpless in the audience. Seconds after Piper had opened her eyes and said her name, she had that feeling once again.
An angry alarmed filled the air, wailing like a crying child, demanding attention. Suddenly, the room was a hive of activity. The door flew open and ugly, sinister looking machines were wheeled into the room, trailing wires thrashing as they moved.
"Maam? Maam?" You're going to have to move away from the bed I'm afraid." A large, kindly looking woman was pushing against her chair, jostling her way into the space between her sitting body and the metal frame of Piper's bed. As she pushed her chair back along the floor, Alex had no idea what was happening. The legs of her chair moved too easily; the smooth linoleum was a black, frozen lake. Alex gripped the sides of the chair for security, more to stop herself emotionally freefalling through the situation than to prevent a slip on the 'ice'. Piper was ok. She'd spoken and she'd looked at her for one second, maybe two. And then everything had changed again. The scene was over and everyone had read the stage directions except her. They all knew what to say, where to stand and what was happening in the next scene.
A man wearing a white coat had joined the throng around Piper's bed. They had turned Piper's head away from her now, clamped an oxygen mask around her mouth and pumped more drugs through her veins. The large nurse was adjusting a monitor as the doctor watched the screen, intently making notes and flitting his eyes from patient to clipboard. Alex knew they were helping, but it all seemed to intrusive, so brutal. Piper lay, like a broken doll, with her floppy arms at her side and her face staring up at the ceiling. She had closed her eyes, hidden the blue.
After what seemed like an hour, the alarm stopped and the nurse fell back, taking the nod from the doctor as her cue to leave. Now, he averted his gaze, skirted the hospital bed and came to stand by Alex, who still sat, bewildered, in the brown plastic chair.
"Piper appears to be stable now. She suffered an attack of tachycardia, an unusually rapid heartbeat. She'll be fine now, but the drugs are strong. She will probably have to sleep them off."
Nodding, Alex digested the news. Hearing the phrase 'sleep it off' she almost wanted to laugh, remembering several occasions when her blonde girlfriend had drunk far more than her fair share of tequila. Sleep it off? Yeah… she thought, inwardly, as she shot a look at Piper. Piper's always been pretty good at that.
"Babe, you're going to have to….." Alex fumbled with her keys, guiding her free hand quickly to the door of her apartment.
With Piper draped drunkenly over her shoulder, she released the key from the lock, nudging the door open with her body. After an entire evening drinking margaritas, the blonde was decidedly worse for ware.
"Piper, you're going to have to walk. I've dragged you the whole way back from the bar." Alex huffed as she tried to steady herself and her sleepy load.
"But I'm so tired Al." The blonde stumbled forwards, resting her back against the kitchen work surface as she kicked off her shoes. Dimly illuminated by a lone lamp left blazing in the adjacent room, the women eyed each other appreciatively in the dusky artificial light. Piper was the only person that Alex could think of who would still look completely gorgeous at 2am, with smudged make up and a crumpled cocktail dress. Grinning, the brunette moved closer and kissed her girlfriend softly on the lips, feeling her bambi eyed gaze on her own skin. Quickly, the kiss deepened.
"You know what the best remedy is for being tired?" Alex asked between kisses, breathlessly. Hungrily searching out her mouth again, Piper insisted on staying inches away from her lips. Drawing back for a second, she paused and playfully bit her lip in mock consideration.
"Umm…let's see…sleep it off?"
"Actually not what I had in mind," Alex chuckled, raising Piper's arms above her head before she gathered handfuls of black cotton and lifted the dress gently from her slender frame.
Behind them, the dress fell silently to the floor.
