A/N: I'm sorry this took me so long, but I'm really struggling with inspiration for this fic. I kind of just want to get to the main plot, and this whole lead up is kind of frustrating me. I'm genuinely sorry, and I hope this makes up for it. Half term is soon, so I'll try and update more regularly. Thank you so much for your reviews, they make my day!
The animated chatter of Piper's youngest pupils filled the classroom as she left them to the final minute of their group discussion. She surveyed them quietly from the front of the classroom, arms crossed but the makings of a kind smile on her face. Piper cleared her throat, silencing the groups and began to question them on their findings on what they already knew about the mechanics of diffusion.
"Like, when you smell your favourite smell it's because the particles are spreading out across the room, from high concentration to low concentration. That's why..you can smell paint through the house." One able-minded student explained.
"The smell of paint is gross." Another boy commented from an opposing group.
"Everyone knows freshly cut grass is the best smell, like, ever!" A girl offered with an eye roll. Piper let them discuss the matter for a moment, considering how well they'd grasped the actual concept of diffusion.
"Alright, alright-" Piper began, but was cut off by a boy caught in the middle of a heated argument with one of his friends.
"Miss, what's your favourite smell?" He enquired eagerly, raising his eyebrows in question. The teacher opened her mouth to shout at him for interrupting, but he was a fairly good student, so she appeased him anyway. Piper considered her answer, smirking crookedly and laughing before pursing her lips momentarily and replying.
"I'd probably say..." She chuckles slightly. "Marzipan."
They made it through the first week, somehow. They didn't get caught making out between periods or sending flirty texts during classes when their pupils were preoccupied. If the pupils suspect anything, they don't say a word, and for the time being everyone is none the wiser to the affair going on between the two teachers.
The bell rings loud and clear on Friday afternoon, and Alex feels like a pair of shackles have finally been lifted after a week of not being to do much more than kiss Piper soundly on the lips before and after school, hidden from the prying eyes behind the locked door of whichever woman's classroom they found themselves in.
"Thank God." Alex commented as she strolled into Piper's classroom, only to find the blonde standing at the side of her classroom, scribbling angrily on a sheet of paper. "Piper?"
"This damn kid, I swear to God..." She slams the pen off the desk and braces her hands in front of her. The brunette strides over to her girlfriend, placing her strong hands on Piper's shoulders.
"What's wrong, babe?" Alex asks, peering over the blonde from her slightly taller position.
"This girl, she has so much potential and she just doesn't try!" Piper sighs despondently, leaning back slightly into Alex's embrace while the older woman runs her hands down Piper's arms. "I just..." She trails off.
"What is it?"
"I just don't want her to turn out like me." Piper's shoulders fall and Alex returns her fingers there, pressing on the tense muscles of her girlfriend.
"Pipes, you turned out fucking perfectly." Alex promises, digging her thumbs either side of the back of Piper's neck and smirking at the sharp intake of breath from her girlfriend.
"This doesn't look like fucking perfectly to me. This is so wrong, we can't-" Piper's cut off when Alex's fingers move under the collar of her shirt, kneading at the strong muscles of her shoulders before coming around to her front.
"Oh, come on, Miss Chapman." Alex husks, voice dripping with invitation. "You are a nice blonde lady, aren't you?" Two buttons are slowly unbuttoned by the brunette. "A proper young lady." Another button. Alex's fingers slip underneath the speechless girl's shirt. "Just grading a few senior papers before heading home to an evening that definitely won't include tequila and dirty dancing in a club with her girlfriend that she definitely shouldn't have." Alex gropes Piper's breast roughly over the material of her bra, lips curling into self satisfied grin at the blonde's gasp. The older girl turns her girlfriend around, trapping her against the desk.
"It's all fine."Alex takes her glasses off to look clearly into Piper wide blue eyes. "It's all good. And I will meet you at the bar for nine and everything will work out perfectly, babe. I promise." The brunette insists with a low voice and alluring smirk before drawing her fingers to Piper's neck and kissing her soundly.
It's the first time Piper has expressed any doubt about their relationship and the risks it entails, but judging by the persistent way the blonde is kissing her back, Alex has doused the fear in her mind the only way she truly knows how; with the seductive timber of her voice and irresistible touch of her fingertips that she knows already wield so much power over the younger girl.
The manner in which Alex can simply manipulate Piper any way she pleases should scare the blonde, but the adrenaline rush of having her fellow teacher touching her so intimately and whispering so huskily in her ear is already completely and utterly addictive.
"You gave her tequila, didn't you?" Polly almost gags at the state of the couple in front of her.
"Jesus fuckingggggg Christ!" Alex slurs terrifically, laughing loudly at Polly's disgust. "Pipes, what the hell do you see in this girl? She's about as much fun as a brick." Piper giggles obnoxiously loudly at Alex's joke, pressing her face against the heated skin of the brunette's neck.
"Yeah, but she's driving us home, sooooo..." Piper allows Alex to pull her along the sidewalk to Polly's car that definitely isn't as nice as hers nor the blonde's.
"Oh my fucking God!" Alex cries suddenly as Polly opens the rear door and half shoves the pair inside, ignoring their drunken antics. "You're so right!" Alex affirms delightedly to the blonde, raising her eyebrows and grinning in inebriated surprise.
"Aren't I just...fucking amazing?" Piper beams up from her position resting on Alex's shoulder as Polly pulls out into the dark street and off to Piper's house.
"Like, how did you even figure that out?" Alex's is so far gone she's forgotten what the hell she's supposed to be talking about.
"Figure what out?"
"I dunno." And with that, the pair erupt into drunken laughter, Piper half falling into Alex's lap. They're at that fantastic level of drunkenness, not enough to be throwing up or unable to stay conscious, but the stage where everything is funny and there's not a damn thing in the world that could possible bring the two down from their high.
"You know you two have to supervise your stupid dance tomorrow night?" Polly attempts to chastise the two, but they're looking at each other the sort of way where the brunette already knows they aren't hearing a word she's saying. She scoffs at the love struck gaze Alex holds as she looks down into Piper's grinning face, and immediately averts her attention when her best friend sits a little straighter and grasps the lapels of Alex's jacket, pulling her in for a messy kiss.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Polly whispers to the roof of her car when Piper starts moaning like a fucking porn star as Alex's hands slip underneath her skimpy top. God doesn't answer her.
Unsurprisingly, neither do the couple basically dry humping in the back seat of her car.
"Look, I was drunk, wasn't I?" Piper pleads with her best friend.
"Piper!" Polly shrieks, throwing Piper's eyeliner particularly hard at the blonde across the room. "She had her hand up your shirt!"
"Polly-"
"You were moaning!" Polly cringes at the memory, sitting down heavily at the foot of Piper's bed.
"Okay, okay, enough." Piper clamps her hands over her ears, squeezing one eye shut and looking at Polly in the mirror. "I'm sorry."
"You're a damn whore." Polly insists. Piper doesn't reply. She continues on with getting ready for the evening, rather ashamed of her actions the night previously. To say things had gotten a little heated had been an understatement, and she sure as hell owed Polly big time for the hell she'd had to endure for a good fifteen minutes. But, there was little she could do to appease her scarred best friend, and Piper had the rather pressing matter of supervising a homecoming dance to attend to.
Or, the rather pressing matter of spending hours upon hours of looking at Alex Vause in a dress but unable to so much as lay a hand on her.
Piper's not exactly planning on making it easy for Alex though, considering the cobalt blue dress she currently wore with a downright explicit slit up the right hand side and skin tight sleeves coming to her elbow. Her blonde hair hung in loose waves, feathered slightly at her fringe and cascading invitingly over her shoulders. Yes, she was only going to supervise and sit around all night, but she might as well look smoking hot while doing it.
"Oh, for fuck sake." Polly cried, striding over and snapping one of Piper's makeup brushes from the table.
"What?!"
"You have a massive hickey on your neck that's probably illegal to sport at a high school dance." Polly deadpans, drawing some concealer onto the brush and patting it over the mark on her best friend's neck. Piper blushes profusely but offers no excuse, unable to admit to the fact there was a hell of a lot worse hidden under the material of her dress.
"Thanks." She says sheepishly, rewarded with a glare from Polly. She finishes her makeup, grabs her clutch and car keys, and faces Polly.
"Don't do anything dumb, you stupid lesbian." Polly lets loose most of a smile, walking ahead of Piper to her front door.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Pol. Thanks, by the way." Piper grins at her best friend, closing the door to her home securely and crossing the short distance to her Audi. Polly looks back at her from her own car, opening the door and narrowing her eyes light-heartedly at the blonde.
"Let's just never ever mention it again. Like...ever."
Alex Vause had never liked homecoming. Frankly, she thought it was an opportunity for the popular to become more popular, and the outcasts to become further oppressed by the egotistical assholes who paraded around like the owned the damn school. She'd supervised them before, but never quite like this. Piper stood by her side, arms folded in utter boredom as throngs of pupils milled around them, swearing and laughing and half of them either drunk or high (frankly, neither woman had the willpower to escort out every single suspect, so they let it slide).
"You got any Vodka, or like...anything?" Alex questions the blonde with a slight inclination of her head.
"Yeah, let me just get out my half glass here, one second." Piper moves to open her clutch sarcastically, before looking up at Alex with a crooked eyebrow.
"No tequila? I'm surprised."
"Oh, like you weren't impartial to a shot of it." Piper narrows her eyes. "Or five."
"Touché." Alex is quite frankly so bored with the whole thing, that she can't even find it within herself to banter with Piper.
"I could think of about a thousand things I'd rather be doing than this right now." Piper muses out loud, more to herself than Alex. The brunette looks at her blankly momentarily before she smirks devilishly.
"Like what?" Alex wonders, her voice carrying an air of mischievousness. Piper recognises the tone; she had heard it more than once whispered to her in the dim lighting of her bedroom the night previously.
"Oh, you know, pulling my teeth out with a pair of pliers."
"My God, your dirty talk will never fail to get me going." Alex laughs despite her failed attempted at getting the blonde to flirt back, and Piper just shrugs and grins over at the brunette, looking her up and down and observing the abhorrently attractive way her red dress hugs her curves in all the right places and gathers to the left slightly under her bust. Piper eventually returns to look Alex straight in the eyes, and she doesn't miss the way the brunette's jade irises are a little darker and flare slightly behind the black frames of her glasses. Piper's resistance to Alex's flirting crumbles when she sees that look, and the blonde's voice is low and suggestive.
"Seriously though, I'd start with taking that fucking dress off you."
And that's how they entertain themselves throughout the night, whispering downright filthy things to each other but forbidden to lay so much as a finger on each other. In fact, they couldn't even stand together for too long, such was their responsibility to look after the students. But every now and then they would take a minute to themselves at the side, and Alex would perhaps spend the whole time speaking in her lowest register, getting Piper worked up into almost delirium without even touching her. Piper, to her credit, gave as good as she got, and the brunette had her eyes closed in unbearable pleasure at the things her girlfriend was promising to her.
"I swear to God, Piper, if you don't follow up on this..." Alex can't even finish her sentence, and her gaze settles on Piper's smug expression, her teeth bared in utter satisfaction.
"Of course I will. And then, I'm gonna-"She stops abruptly as one of the other teachers approaches them. Both women blush slightly at almost being caught, and the man turns to Alex immediately. Piper raises her eyebrows in surprise and is rather taken aback by his forwardness, while the brunette flashes her a sly grin before rearranging her expression into one of inquiry to the man she recognises as one of the English teachers.
"Miss Vause." He smiles down at her, taller than the brunette despite her heels.
"Mr..." She freezes, and looks at Piper for help. The blonde, already jealous at this point, just sneers and shrugs caustically. Alex tightens her jaw for a fraction of a second, but to Piper's disappointment, the older woman eventually remembers her colleague's name. "Collins."
"Oh, please, call me Lee." He insists, and Alex is already bored with his uptight manner. "Care to dance?" He asks, extending his hand. Honestly, Alex can't think of anything she'd rather do less. But she looks at Piper's furious, scorned expression, and she's struck by inspiration.
"Sure." Alex offers him a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. Piper's jaw drops in shock. Fuck her.
"Fuck you." She mouths over the man's shoulder, and watches the incredibly aggravating way the man pulls her off to the dance floor. Alex throws a flirtatious wink in the blonde's direction in reply, but is met with only a cold glare from her girlfriend. If Alex thinks making Piper jealous will turn out well for either woman, she's absolutely mistaken. But then, as if God himself was taking pity on the raging blonde, the track changed to something that there was no way in hell Alex could dance to with a damn English teacher.
Because this? This was Piper and Alex's song. This is what had lead to the hickey on Piper's neck, to the making out in Polly's car, to the four orgasms inflicted on Alex by the blonde upon returning home last night. Piper stops in her tracks as the opening beats fill the room, before an incredibly smug grin lights up her face and she does a one hundred and eighty degree turn, striding happily back the way she came. Alex, meanwhile, is not feeling so elated.
"Oh, Jesus." She groans, dropping her arms from the man's shoulders almost as quickly as they had got there.
"What?" He questions, confusion marring his expression.
"This song...it's not exactly the kind of song you dance to with someone, you know?" Alex offers awkwardly. That's a complete and utter lie, considering she'd been doing exactly that with Piper about twenty four hours ago.
Well, if you can call running her hands all over Piper's lithe body and grinding her front into the blonde's ass dancing, that is.
"Why? What is it?" The man asks, laughing nervously and scratching his head. He's not unattractive, with dark hair and brown eyes and tanned skin, but he's not exactly Piper either.
"It's um..it's called-"The brunette is cut off by the appearance of a familiar face in the thinning sea of bodies in front of her, grinning like a Cheshire cat as she moves towards the side. Piper leans against the wall and looks at Alex expectantly, but rage still flickers in her gaze. The brunette rolls her eyes and runs an agitated hand through her hair at her plan utterly backfiring, and finishes her explanation to the man before walking away as far from Piper Chapman as she possibly can, not quite ready for the inevitable backlash.
"Gotta go, um...toilet!" Alex calls over her shoulder.
"Wait!" He cries, and the Chemistry teacher halts her escape. "What's the song called?" Alex fights the urge to run, but groans under her breath and reluctantly shouts back the answer.
"It's...Milkshake. It's called Milkshake."
Alex successfully avoids her girlfriend for the next half an hour or so, busying herself with casting out most of the student body from the large hall. Piper is nowhere to be seen; unbeknownst to the brunette, she'd taken to the courtyard outside for a moment to clear her head.
While it had been slightly humorous in the end, if the song had been any other, Piper would surely be in a much more severe fit of rage than she was currently. The blonde sat down heavily at a wooden table, cursing herself for getting so riled up at what was only to be a platonic dance between two co –workers. But then, shouldn't that Monday evening that had ended up with a heated kiss in Piper's kitchen been initially platonic at the start? If Piper's being honest with herself, though, nothing between herself and Alex had ever been platonic, nor even friendly. From the moment they'd met, they'd been eyefucking each other, flirting, coming within inches of kissing, then inches of fucking, to dinner dates and burnt popcorn interrupting the eventual commencement of a relationship that was moving at such a frenetic pace that Piper and Alex were mere passengers on a breathless journey to whatever was to come next. The door to the ballroom opens, but it's not the person Piper hopes to see who emerges from the room. Instead, it's her old History teacher, a wiry old woman with all seeing grey eyes and a kind heart.
"Oh, good evening, Piper." She greets, sitting down beside the blonde and taking out a packet of cigarettes. It's terribly odd for the ex-pupil to be sitting so comfortably with someone who'd taught her only ten years ago, but she just smiles and says hello back.
"Want one?" The woman holds out the packet to Piper, who shakes her head. It doesn't seem right.
"No, thanks. I don't smoke." The blonde explains. A comfortable silence envelops them, before the woman speaks up again.
"How long have you been seeing each other, then?" she asks suddenly. And, fucking hell, does Piper's view just splinter right in front of her.
"What?!" She cries incredulously, almost leaping from her seat. Piper stares hard at the woman, her eyebrows raised in sheer disbelief.
"Oh, don't worry, dear, I won't tell. No one's noticed, don't worry."
"I'm not- who-she..." Piper's absolutely astounded, embarrassed, but most importantly she's fucking terrified.
"Hey now, settle yourself." The woman pleads, setting a comforting hand on Piper's shoulder. "I just see how she looks at you, that's all."
"Please don't say anything!" Piper begs, her voice raised an octave or two.
"Don't mind me now, Miss Chapman. I don't talk to anyone in this damn place now anyhow." The woman promises. Piper's panic levels begin to dissipate, but not before the door opens again and out steps a tired looking Alex Vause. The History teacher winks knowingly at Piper, patting the girl lightly before getting up and brushing past Alex with a smile. She returns to the room but leaves the door open, soft music filtering out into the dimly lit courtyard. Having thought about it for a while, and seeing Piper out here looking rather despondent, Alex realised it was probably a bit of a dick move to attempt to strike up a feeling of jealously in the blonde.
"Pipes-" Alex started but was cut off by Piper standing abruptly and walking over to her. "You're not gonna punch me, are you?" The brunette attempts to tease, but her girlfriend just looks absolutely crestfallen.
"Stop it." Piper mumbles, reaching Alex and hesitating slightly.
"Okay, you're not in the mood to banter." Alex surmises, kissing the blonde comfortingly on the cheek and drawing her into a warm hug. "I withdraw my bant."
"You're an asshole, you know." Piper says quietly against Alex's neck, but she kisses the skin there lightly and pulls back to look the brunette in the face.
"I know. I'm sorry, I genuinely am." Alex promises, brushing back a strand of hair from Piper's face. "I don't know why I did that."
"Neither do I." Piper narrows her eyes at her girlfriend, but she's already forgiven her. "Don't fucking do it again."
"I won't, I swear to God." Alex presses her lips to Piper's finally, and the tension built up throughout the evening evaporates into the pitch black of the night above her. The blonde however, is unusually slow to respond, and pulls back with a worrisome look. "What's wrong?"
"That woman...she knows." Piper explains, biting her lip in panic. Alex feels her own remnants of fear flash through her body, but she forces it down. "She said she wouldn't tell, but it's just...scary."
"Hey, look at me." Alex ducks her head slightly to look into Piper's eyes, grasping the younger girl's face within both of her strong hands. "No one important is going to find out, okay? Don't worry about it. We'll be careful." Alex insists. What a load of bullshit; they've been anything but careful. That's the thing, though; they're so irrevocably consumed with each other, that they are both utterly ignorant to the obvious way in which they look at each other in the staff room or touch each other lightly in the hallways. Piper believes Alex, though. She always believes her.
"I know. I'm okay." The blonde looks up at her girlfriend, at the genuine smile playing on her lips and marvels at the warmth spreading through her body due to the tight grip of Alex's hands that have moved to her hips. Piper wraps her arms around Alex's neck and kisses her properly, slowly and lovingly and just totally relaxed in the dwindling light of the courtyard. Things are as close to perfect as they're ever going to get for Piper, and she's at no odds to do anything to perturb the irrefutable stillness that absorbs them. The kiss breaks slowly, lips only centimeters from each other's, when Alex realises something.
For it's the night Alex starts living. Living for the moments alone with Piper, with nothing but the two of them and the background noise that fades to total silence when she locks eyes with the enthralling, cerulean gaze of her girlfriend. Alex can see nothing but the face of the blonde, lit up in wonder and amazement, and yet everything suddenly seems a bit more beautiful. The reason why is utterly simple, yet impossible to understand and even harder to articulate.
This is the night, under the watchful stars and pale moonlight, that Alex Vause comes to the realisation that she's inexorably and utterly in love with Piper Chapman.