Do not own Orange Is the New Black or any of the characters.

Thanks to everyone for all the lovely support you continue to give this story!

Thanks fig-aruna for everything! :)

Enjoy!


Piper couldn't believe that it'd been a whole week since she had last been in the drawing class.

So much had happened in just seven days... Not only had she gotten a waitressing job at a bar, but she had also met the storm that is Alex Vause. The brunette had been a mere stranger to her just a week ago, but now they were friends...well, something. Something crazy and confusing and, now, embarrassingly complicated. She didn't really know anything about Alex, just that she had been raised by her mom in a small town in New Jersey and that she had gotten her bartending job at Coyote through Nicky, whom she had met randomly on the subway one day four years ago.

The blonde nervously chewed on her bottom lip as she took a seat on one of the drawing horse benches. Unlike last time, most of them were empty. Piper had made sure to be early this week for class and not late. She dropped her bag heavily onto the floor causing a loud thudding sound.

Other students began to filter into the room slowly as she pulled out her drawing supplies and pad of paper. She didn't really pay much attention to them though; there was only one person she really cared about seeing, and they hadn't arrived yet. She could feel the butterflies begin to flutter in her stomach, but she tried to ignore the nerves she was felt building.

So what if she was going to see Alex? What was the big deal? So she had practically almost thrown up on her and ran away without an explanation. That was nothing to be nervous about, right?

Piper found herself chewing her bottom lip once more as she heard the classroom door open and that beautiful raspy voice... She didn't dare to look over in her direction, though. What if she saw her staring? She couldn't risk it, she thought as she stared pointedly at the fresh piece of paper clipped to her board. She could hear Alex talking to Jones but couldn't make out what they were saying. She could just hear the laughter in that voice, it was like fucking music.

The blonde could feel her pulse pick up as Jones stepped into the middle of the room and addressed the class. Piper was barely listening as the lanky instructor began to explain how the class would go that night. All her attention had focused on Alex who was taking her position on the stage. The brunette had her back towards Piper as she stepped onto the raised platform and slowly disrobed. Her hair was pinned up tonight, she noted. She had never seen Alex's long hair up before. Last class and at the bar, it had always been down in long loose curls.

Piper couldn't help but think that she had beautiful hair. It was a dark raven colour that reminded her of Snow White or some other fairy tale princess, and the dip dye affect at the ends was almost mesmerizing.

Piper had always wanted to colour her hair a different shade than her natural blonde but had never had the guts to do so, not even when she was in middle school and all her friends were using coloured chalk or jello powder to dye the ends of their hair in different shades and hues. Besides, her mother would have never let her, it was unfathomable. The only colour she was ever allowed to dye her hair was in the ash blonde family.

Like last time, Piper found herself in a trance as she sat there looking at Alex while everyone else around her began to draw. The room filled with the sounds of pencils and charcoal sticks brushing against paper. She nervously fiddled with her own piece of willow charcoal in her hand but made no attempt to draw. Her eyes were fixated on the sight before her.

She could feel something other than nerves surface in her stomach, but she tried not to think about them too much.

This wasn't the time to get turned on...

She continued to sit there in the cool air-conditioned room, watching as Alex switched poses. She was in awe at how gracefully Alex moved her long legs and arms like a dancer. She wondered if the brunette had taken dance classes before as the woman arched her back in a long stretch with her arms above her head and right leg extended out in front of her in a point.

Alex had her eyes closed shut, so Piper couldn't make out what she was thinking, or if she had even seen her for that matter.

She felt irrationally pissed off at this, that Alex hadn't even fucking acknowledged her yet. At the same time, she knew she had no right to be really upset by this, especially after what she'd done last night... But still, she couldn't help but feel unnerved by everything.

Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes briefly and tried not to let her confused anger show. This wasn't some high school class where her crush was ignoring her. Alex was working at the moment.

Of course she was going to ignore her.

As Piper's blue eyes fluttered back open, she noticed that Alex had changed her pose again, this time her green eyes were open and staring straight at her. This sent a jolt of something suddenly through the blonde's body. She never remembered experiencing something quite like she did whenever Alex caught her eye. It was like a shock to the system.

There was something so powerful about those sharply curious green eyes of hers.

The two women held each other's gaze for a second before a small smirk appeared on Alex's face as though the brunette knew what kind of power she held over her.

Alex then winked at Piper before turning her head and showing the blonde her profile.

Piper felt her cheeks flush but tried not to let it bother her too much as she once again picked up her piece of charcoal, which she had seemed to have dropped. She fingered the light willow stick her hand before she drawing her attention back onto Alex.

It was only then that she finally began to draw the sinuous beauty that was Alex's body.

She drew quickly knowing she only had two or three minutes before the pose was changed again. She had always hated these quick poses that were done at the beginning of figurative classes. They were supposed to be warm-ups, to promote quick outlines of the figure and nothing detailed.

Piper, however, would rather focus on the details.

She did find it familiarly comforting how she had to barely think though during these quick poses though. It was just her eyes and hand doing all the work, leaving charcoal trails of what she saw. Her hand moved quickly across the surface of the page, the piece of charcoal never fully leaving the paper as she hollowed out the rough shape of Alex's full figure.

The pose was done, and another one was just about to begin.

She bit down hard on her lip in concentration as she once again began to lose herself in the drawing process. The pose was longer this time, about ten minutes. Still not as long as Piper would have liked, but it still allowed her enough time to go draw out some detail in her strokes. She studied Alex's form for a moment taking in its primal shapes before shifting her hand across the paper. She drew out a large rectangle for the torso and an oval to represent the head. She'd learned at Smith to deconstruct the human body into shapes, almost like they had done in the art movement of Cubism, before slowly smoothing out the edges, rounding corners and eventually adding light and darkness. She had struggled with this process at first when it had first been taught to her but after it being repeatedly drilled into her head by her instructor at the time, she had mastered it by the end of the semester.

Her eyes and hand worked together as she guided the charcoal along the page of the pad. Her movements were light and gentle as the charcoal stroked the paper, stroking the page like she would a cat, petting its fur softly and gently.

There was to be no harsh lines; not yet that was.

Alex was seated in a chair for this pose. The long plane of her body faced head Piper while the brunette's head was turned to the side, away from her. Piper didn't mind this. She knew her drawing wouldn't come out as good if Alex had been staring straight at her, forcing her to look into her eyes.

This way, the blonde was able to admire and draw Alex's body, openly. Once satisfied with the shapes and proportions she had drawn, she began to define the lines more, bringing to life those luxurious curves of Alex's body out onto the page. She started with the broadness of Alex's shoulders. Not like a football player's, but they were broad and slender-looking through Piper's eyes.

She then moved down to Alex's chest.

She once again felt something stir below the belt as she stared at the beauty that was Alex's luscious breasts. Never before had she been so in love with a pair of boobs than she was at this moment with Alex's. She took her time here, wanting to bring the beauty of what she was seeing exactly onto the page. Her wrist curved slightly as she rounded out the shape of each willowy mound on the page. She smudged the charcoal line slightly with her ring finger along the base, adding the slight shadow underneath them.

She admired her work for a second before continuing to add detail to the rest of the drawing, almost in a trance.


It was the end of class, and everyone had already left. The blonde had taken her time putting away her supplies into her messenger bag. She had wanted to wait for Alex, so she was taking her sweet ass time.

She knew that Alex hadn't left yet because the door to the changing room was closed.

A few moments passed as she closed her bag and finally stood up from her seat. The room was silent as she let out a deep breath. Alex was still in the changing room. The blonde couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by this. She had planned on leaving the same moment that Alex did. She didn't want to appear like she had been lingering on purpose, but at the same time, she wanted to talk to her and apologize for last night.

Piper nervously licked her lips and played with the end of her braid as she slowly began to walk to the classroom door. She guessed she would just leave and talk to Alex tomorrow at work.

However, it seemed like luck was on her side finally because as she opened the door to leave, Alex emerged from the changing room.

Alex was just as shocked as Piper was to see her. The brunette had thought that Piper had left a while ago with everyone else.

Neither woman said a word as Piper stood in the doorway of the room, holding the door open as Alex approached her.

"Hey," stated Alex as she met the blonde's eye and nodded her head in greeting.

"Hey," Piper replied casually as Alex walked past her and into the hallway.

The blonde was trying to play it cool around Alex. She didn't want her to think she was some lovesick teenager or something. She wanted Alex to see that she could play this cat and mouse game too. Especially after the embarrassment she had made of herself last night. If this thing with Alex was going to work, she needed to calm the fuck down.

Piper watched Alex steadily as the door closed behind her. Alex was standing a foot away from her in the hallway, looking like she was waiting for her, but it was hard to tell as Alex wasn't looking at her but down at her phone. The blonde couldn't help but swear slightly in her head at this. Alex wasn't ignoring her per se, but she couldn't help but feel like she was. She was both frustrated at herself for thinking this and pissed that Alex wasn't even acknowledging her.

Piper wanted and had expected Alex to flirt with her like she normally would. Panic began to set in at this. Maybe Alex was mad at her for last night and that she realized what a pathetic loser the blonde really was. And now she didn't want to have anything to do with her. She chewed on her bottom lip as her mind went into overdrive on what to do to make Alex talk to her.

However, as Piper pondered all this, Alex looked up from her phone and over at her. The two women once again locked eyes with each other.

"What's up?" asked the blonde as nonchalantly as she could. She was trying to act as cool as possible, not wanting her nervousness to show.

Alex couldn't help but cock an eyebrow in amusement at this. She was extremely amused by Piper's attempt at aloofness at the moment.

"Nothin' much," murmured Alex in reply as she reached up and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. She was trying to suppress the smirk on her lips, but was failing to do so. Piper was just so fucking cute to her at the moment. There was a smudge of charcoal on the bridge of her nose and cheek. She looked like a child who had just come in from playing in the dirt. She had her long blonde hair pulled back into a French braid.

How Alex would love to pull on the tail of the braid with her teeth as her hands worked the folds of Piper's cunt from behind... God, where the hell did that thought come from? She was immediately turned on as the image of her taking Piper continued to linger in her mind.

Alex had promised herself earlier before coming to the class that she wouldn't flirt or do anything around the blonde. She still felt bad about how things had ended between them last night and didn't want to make Piper feel uncomfortable again. So from this point on she was going to hold back and wait until...well, if Piper made the first move.

"Cool," whispered Piper in reply. But she was feeling anything but cool at the moment. Her entire body was drenched in a nervous sweat, but she was trying not to let it show. The last thing she wanted was for Alex to think she was a fucking baby or something.

"Cool," echoed Alex in reply.

Neither had any idea where this conversation was going. But at the same time, they didn't want it to end, despite the awkwardness.

They stared at each other for a moment before being to walk down the hallway together and out of the building.

The air was stale-smelling as they stepped out into the cool summer night.

"Can I walk you home?" asked Alex nervously as she and Piper stood awkwardly on the sidewalk. She once again reached out and adjusted her glasses, fidgeting with them. It was a nervous habit of hers that she didn't even realize she was doing half of the time.

Piper looked at Alex for a moment before down casting her eyes onto the chipped orange nail polish of her toes. She was due for a pedicure, she thought for a second before thinking over what Alex had just asked her. She didn't know how to reply to this. A part of her didn't want Alex to think she needed her to hold her hand and walk her home like a toddler, but at the same time, the company would be nice.

Not being able to decide really what she wanted, she just shrugged her shoulders in response.

"If you want to..."

Alex frowned at this.

This was not the answer she had wanted to hear come out of the blonde's mouth. She wasn't used to this sort of rejection that Piper seemed to be giving. Her green eyes continued to search Piper's face for a second, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but the blonde was wearing an unreadable mask on her face. She couldn't make out anything from her expression at the moment. Alex's frown deepened even further at these thoughts. Piper had always seemed like an open book to her, but since last night, things had changed between them, and this worried her. She hadn't wanted to scare Piper off like she clearly had now.

"Well, I am going in the same direction as you...for a bit that is...so I might as well walk with you..." said Alex slowly as she once again adjusted her glasses and looked down the street. If Piper wanted to act cool and casual towards her, she could too, she thought.

"Okay...cool," murmured Piper in reply as she adjusted the strap of her messenger bag on her shoulder.

"Cool," replied Alex.

The two women stared at each other for a second before beginning to walk down the sidewalk together.

Both were quiet for some time as the sounds of the night consumed them. They had yet to discuss what had happened between them last night with the kiss or kisses.

Alex wasn't sure how to bring it up. Piper already knew that she liked her, and she herself kinda knew that the blonde felt the same way about her. However, she was not blind to that fact that there was some hesitation on her part. Alex didn't get nervous about many things, but she couldn't deny the tension of anxiety in her chest as she walked down the street with Piper.

In the end, Piper was the first one to break. She couldn't take the tension between them any longer. She needed to know what Alex was thinking, even if that meant that she had to possibly fall on her ass while attempting to discuss what had happened last night. They couldn't sweep it underneath the rug and pretend that nothing had happened. Last night had not been so drunken kiss with a random stranger. Feelings had been confessed, and it had seemed like the start of something...

But then, like everything fucking else, she had gone and fucked it royally up but puking and running away.

"So, I just wanted to say that I was sorry," Piper began as she glanced nervously at Alex. "For what had happened last night...I never meant to do that...I just..I dunno I was drunk and... kinda forgot what my limit is...you know?"A nervous giggle escaped from the blonde's throat at this. What the fuck was she doing?! she thought exasperatedly. She had no idea where she was going with all this. She sounded like a rambling drunken mess now and was barely able to even look at Alex. Her blue eyes stared straight ahead at the street lights in the distance as she continued to talk.

"I don't function very well when I'm drunk. And last night was a perfect example of that..."

Alex shoved her hands into the front pocket of her jeans as she continued to walk alongside Piper. She didn't say a word as she listened to Piper talk. She didn't know what to make of all that she was saying. She didn't know if Piper meant she never meant to kiss her...that she had only pretended to like her because she had been drunk? That what she was really saying was that what had happened between them had been the cliché of drunken straight girl kissing another girl just for the thrill of it?

A hard line formed on her face at this. She hated how upset she felt at this moment. She knew that Piper was different, but she had thought for sure her feeling for her had been genuine. That she really did like her more than just a friend. She couldn't help but feel like her sixteen-year-old self again and the first time she had ever been rejected by someone she thought had shared her feelings. She had clearly judged Piper wrong.

The blonde was just another fucking straight girl.

"Are you mad?" asked Piper as they stopped at a street corner and waited for the light to change. She nervously looked up at Alex, who had a blank expression on her face.

Alex just glared at Piper before shaking her head vigorously from side-to-side in reply. "No," she stated coldly.

"You seem mad," stated Piper in a low voice as she continued to study the brunette's face.

"It's fine. I'm not mad. It's okay...I understand what had happened last night had been a mistake...we all do stupid things we're drunk...no hard feelings, kid." Alex's voice was distant but still friendly towards the blonde. Yes, she was pissed off, but she didn't want Piper to know that. Despite everything, she still hoped to remain friends with the blonde. Plus, it would make things at work a whole lot easier if they remained on good terms. The bar already had enough going on with the Big Boo-Mercy-Tricia triangle going on.

"Oh!" mumbled Piper in surprise. That wasn't what she'd expected Alex to say. She didn't know what Alex meant by everything being a mistake... A mistake that she had kissed her? A mistake for saying that she liked her when she didn't really? That she had been drunk too? She was suddenly very confused on everything.

Neither spoke another word for a moment as they watched as the light changed, indicating that it was safe to cross the street. However, as Piper stepped off of the sidewalk and onto the street, Alex decided to change her mind. She suddenly didn't want to walk Piper home. The blonde only had another two blocks to go before she got to her apartment. She knew that she would be fine on her own for the remainder of the walk.

Piper looked over her shoulder as she noticed Alex was still standing on the curve of the sidewalk.

"I'm going this way," indicated Alex as she pointed to the right of her, down another street.

The blonde stopped walking and stood in the middle of the street looking at Alex in utter confusion.

"Wait! What?" she called out to the brunette. "I thought you were walking me home..." her voice trailed off as she once again looked on at Alex. She debated about continuing to cross the street or approaching Alex again. She decided on the latter as she retraced her steps back to the curve, where Alex still lingered.

"You said it fucking didn't matter if I walked you home or not," stated Alex coldly as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the blonde. She couldn't help but feel a little annoyed about the sudden mixed signals she was getting from Piper. One minute she was telling her that everything had been a drunken mistake, which was fine, but the next she was acting all clingy and wondering why she wasn't giving her attention.

"Well...I just said that because I didn't want you to think I was a baby or something," stated Piper truthfully.

"Okay," started Alex slowly as she uncrossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. There was a look of confusion plastered on her face at what Piper was getting at. It was getting harder and harder for her to read the blonde every passing second.

"That's why I ran off last night," confessed Piper as she tried yet again for Alex to understand her. "After the kiss...after...everything...I was embarrassed and scared. You have so much more experience in...the lady department then I do. I felt like a complete idiot last night and...couldn't handle what you thought of me afterwards...I practically puked on you."

Alex was trying to keep her composure but couldn't help but smirk slightly at what Piper had just said about puking on her.

"And you probably laughed about it with Nicky after...just like you are laughing about it now..." Piper didn't know why she was even trying to make Alex understand her. It was a pointless discussion. Alex was way way out of her league. She didn't know why she was even trying anymore. She had clearly already blown whatever chance she might have ever had with the brunette.

"I'm just going to go..." Piper then once again made attempt to cross the street. Alex clearly didn't want her around. "See ya tomorrow."

The blonde didn't bother to look over her shoulder as she ran across the rest of the street as the walking sign began to count down. She could feel tears burning her eyes, but she blinked them rapidly away. She wasn't going to allow herself to get upset over this. So she had fucked up and had missed her change with Alex. Big, fucking deal... She couldn't get upset over something that hadn't been really hers in the first place.

Alex stood there, watching as Piper left. Her heart raced as an uneasy feeling settled over her. What the fuck had just happened?! Piper had thought that she had made fun of her behind her back? That she had thought that her puking what fucking hilarious or something? Both of them had clearly gotten their wires crossed, and majorly. Alex had thought that Piper had been trying to let her down gently, that last night had been a mistake. the whole thing. That she didn't really like her...at least not in a romantic way. But now she wasn't fucking sure if that's what Piper had been trying to tell her all along?

"Fuck!" swore Alex underneath her breath at this realization. This time, it was her who had fucked up royally. Piper had only tried to be honest with Alex, and she had fucked up by being too caught up in embarrassing pains of the past instead of listening to her properly. Now Piper thought she'd been laughing at her for puking... When that had been the last thing she had done! She hadn't talked to Nicky since last night at all. Nicky had no clue about what had gone down between the two of them on the balcony last night at Daya's.

"Fuck!" she swore again as Piper disappeared suddenly from her sight. She needed to go after her, she thought. She needed to head to her place and make everything right between them, she thought.

She nervously bounced on the balls of her feet slightly as she yet again waited for the light to change.


Piper was just pulling out her key and about to open the door when she heard someone call out her name. She immediately turned her head to see Alex come running towards her.

"What the..?" murmured the blonde as she turned her attention away from the door and met Alex's eye.

"Piper," stated Alex as she came to a sudden standstill in front of her and tried to catch her breath. She had run the whole two blocks here. Shit, she hadn't run like that since high school P.E.

Piper didn't say anything as she continued to study Alex, who was slightly bent over, clenching her chest as she tried to drag air into her lungs. The blonde was a little taken aback that Alex had run after her like she had clearly just done. As fucking gorgeous as she was, Piper had never taken the brunette for the physical activity type.

"Piper," stated Alex again as she lifted her head and straightened her back, her breathing still slightly laboured as she looked at the blonde. "I'm sorry."

"What? Sorry for what?"

"I thought... I thought that earlier you had been trying to let me down...that you didn't like me like that...but I think I was wrong...?" Her green eye pierced into Piper's, trying to read her expression. She hoped that she had been wrong. That Piper indeed still liked her.

"You thought I was trying to let you down!?" Piper couldn't help but been amused by this. "I thought you were trying to let me down... I thought I had screwed things up immediately with you when I ran away from you last night!"

A sense of relief washed over Alex at hearing this.

"I thought I had screwed things up after kissing you like I had. I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable or anything like that.." Alex's voice was low as she took a step closer to the blonde. She wanted to once again make her feelings clear and known to Piper. That she liked her and wanted to be with her, however impulsive her feelings might be right now.

Piper was quiet for a moment as she chewed nervously on her bottom lip and studied Alex's face. God, she was beautiful, she thought as she continued to take in the older woman appearance

"It's just that I have no idea what I am doing about this..." she gestured with her hands to the space between her and Alex. "I have no fucking idea what to do about you!"

"Me?"

"I like you," Piper's voice was softer now as she once again confessed her feelings to Alex.

"I thought we already established this," replied Alex with a slight smile on her face. "I like you too, kid."

"But I...I..I...don't know what to do about that..." Her shyness had once again become front and centre as she gestured to the space between her and Alex.

She assumed that Alex could tell that she was straight or had never been with a woman... Well, truth be told, Piper didn't know how to describe her sexuality. Up until this point, she had been only interested in men but had never really gotten the opportunity to be with anyone of the same sex. She had dated her first boyfriend, Larry all through out high school. He was supposed to be the one she was going to marry, or at least Polly did, who thought that Larry was the only person out there for her.

Larry had been a good boyfriend and such, but he wasn't what she wanted. Piper wasn't exactly sure what she wanted, but she did have a good idea on what she didn't want. And at the moment, she didn't want the husband and the white fence like Polly and all her other old high school friends wanted.

Piper wanted a life... her own life.

And that's what she was trying to figure out now.

"That's fine," whispered Alex as she took a small step towards the blonde, "I don't really know what to do about this either..."

Piper's blue eyes widened slightly at hearing this from Alex's mouth.

"Look, I like you, kid, and you like me..." Alex pushed her glasses up on top of her head as she laid it all out on the table. "I had fun last night, and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in anyway...I tend to get carried away...when I like someone..."

"You didn't make me feel uncomfortable," whispered Piper in response to this. "I should be the one apologizing here...I was the one who practically puked on you and then ran away like a child."

"Is that how you think I see you?" asked Alex in a soft voice towards Piper. "As a child?"

Piper felt her cheeks flush red at this. She down casted her eyes for a second before slowly looking back up at Alex.

"A little..." murmured Piper.

"I see you as anything but..." Alex's voice soft and raspy as she took a step further towards Piper and inched her head slightly towards hers. "I'm attracted to you... I don't fucking care whether you are straight or bi or...whatever..."

"Whatever..." echoed Piper as she felt Alex's hands on her waist and the warmth of her breath against her cheek.

They stared deeply at each other for a second before their lips touched. Piper felt her messenger bag slip from her shoulder and drop to the sidewalk, but she didn't care as the softness of Alex's mouth pressed into hers. Piper immediately wrapped her arms around Alex's neck as she kissed her back.

She didn't have any trouble kissing Alex this time around. She was fully confident in what she was doing as she roughly began to part open the brunette's lips and began to explore the warm depths of her mouth.


Thanks for reading and please don't forget to review! :)

Julie