Chapter 10: Secrets, Part 2
Holy shit this chapter was fun to write. Uh, fair warning? It gets a little intimate. And uh, annoying. I might have to change that rating for future chapters.
Piper
Blue had been gone for a good bit by the time I had stopped my flow of writing, and with a glance at the clock, I realize it had been about an hour or so. I straighten from my previous hunched position, lean back over my desk chair to stretch, extending my good arm and hand all the way down to my fingertips. I let out a soft moan as my spine pops, and then decided to get up to search for my friend, and to just beg her to stop cleaning my stuff. Just come to bed already.
As soon as I reach the door, I had to stop myself. The closer I got to her, the more chaotic my thought process becomes, and I feel like a jester next to his king. This small writing break gave me a time to level my head, control my emotions and think about things other than those full lips when they purse, or the way her fingertips feel gliding against my soft skin—
Calm down. I think over and over, my heartbeat already reaching my ears like it was a competitor in a track race, and I grow annoyed when I don't.
I slap myself. No really, I slapped myself. It stung, but it did help me, before I go around the house searching for a pretty girl. The first place I looked was the guest room, a gentle knock and a whisper before I intruded, but she wasn't there. It was like that pretty much everywhere I had looked, until I bounced down the stairs and looked in the kitchen. There she was, my friend, humming a song as she cleaned my scarf, not realizing anyone had come in the room.
"Good as new," she mumbles to herself, a small smile as she lifted it, flipped it over, studying patterns of dark and light green colors. "Now, I just have to dry it."
I didn't want to disturb her as she walked over to the laundry room that was attached to our kitchen, but a sudden pang of worry hit my stomach. If she put it in the dryer she could ruin it, and it made me rush around the corner to see what she was doing. "Can't dry this," she says to herself, "I need to hang it, hm," a sense of relief comes over me and I suddenly feel strange for watching her. "I'll just use a hanger, I guess."
"Talking to yourself, Blue?" She jumpstarts in the small laundry room, jolting forward and slamming her head into a wall, and I rush towards her with a laugh.
"Ah, Piper," she says while rubbing her head in embarrassment, "I uh, didn't see you there?"
I grin at her, reaching out to touch her face without a second thought, "are you alright?" It was nice that I wasn't the only flustered one now, her against the wall of the small room, me in front of her. We were closer than we usually were, bodies inches apart, me trying to salvage her pride and help her hang up my scarf.
I did not know what she had done to it, because I didn't see the concoction when she did it, but as it hung there, my mouth drops open. It did really look brand new, years of ink stains from me, grease stains from Cait stealing it, and even the blood stains from before were now gone. I pinch the damp fabric between my fingers, moving it around and just stood there in awe. It looked the same way it did when my mother gave it to me. It had been her favorite scarf, colors already faded from years of use, but it had been made well, by my own grandmother by hand.
The whole thing felt a bit silly now, how such a small thing held such meaning in my heart. It was the last thing that had survived from all those years ago besides old pictures. The only gift I ever had that wasn't expendable.
I feel Blue's hand on my shoulder, gently caressing me while I was lost in thought. When I brought my mind back to the present, I realized just how close we were in this small room, and how I accidently blocked the entrance to it.
"Piper?" She says barely above a whisper, and I lean my head back to look into her eyes, and my breath is gone. I made the mistake of doing it too close. We were in such close proximity that I could feel her body heat radiate against me, her hot breath hit my cheeks, and my weight shifts back to back on the balls of my feet.
The butterflies are back and stronger than before.
"T-thanks, Blue," I stutter in a rush, "I never thought I'd see it like this again."
"Yeah," she says sheepishly, glancing away with pink tinged cheeks, "I tried really hard."
"I, yeah, I see that," I bat my eyes at her, looking at a woman who had just managed to wiggle her way into my heart so fast and so easily, that would probably do whatever I asked. She was so kind, yet she talked about herself so poorly, it made me wonder what her past was like.
I would never pressure her to talk to me about it, and she didn't press me about mine. We were living in the present, but I just wanted to know more of her, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wanted to know how and what shaped this woman into something so inherently brilliant.
I watch her swallow when she looks at me, shrinking back into the wall to give me the space that I would need to breath freely.
"Blue?" I say softly, my good hand reaches out to tug her worn jean jacket towards me, and she lets me without a protest. "Come here."
She obeys immediately, leaning in to listen to whatever I had to say, staring at my lips as they part, and suddenly my courage surges through the roof. I give her a soft smile, bat my eyelashes at her and cup her cheek.
"I'm here," she says, "I'm here and all ears, Pipes."
I raise a brow at the nickname, and she leans in closer, forehead touching mine, my press cap desperate to stay on the tip of my skull. My heart starts to pound when our noses brush and suddenly I forget to breathe.
"Blue, I," she tilts her head to the left, and I truly feel like fainting. My eyelids close as she gets even closer and I watch her do the same. Then my blood pressure rises to dangerous levels. She shushes me before closing the gap in between us, and her lips press against mine gently.
Is this happening? Is this really happening?
Blue's lips were so soft, and they felt so good that I was soaring. I had never wanted to kiss someone so bad before in my entire life, and now it was finally happening.
She moved in a slow rhythm, like she was trying her hardest to savor the moment we were having together. I pull her closer, and I feel a strong arm wrap around my waist, pressing firmly against my lower back. Our lips arch apart simultaneously, and suddenly a feeling so strong explodes in my chest, the warmth from it almost like fireworks, lighting me up from my head to my toes, while her free hand reaches to hold the side of my face.
When her tongue presses against mine, I moan into that warm mouth, and she twirls us around just to press me up against the wall. The kiss gets more heated by the second, her fingers brush into my hair, cradling the back of my neck, pulling me to her as our tongues bruised themselves against one another. We break for a moment, our eyes locking powerfully and her name falls out of my mouth.
"Nora—"
She leans back in while cutting me off, sealing our lips again and again, our feelings bubbling up between us. We stand there in the small laundry room, my scarf dangling from a hanger to the side, me pressed up against the wall, and her arching my lips apart to taste me once again. The girl gets passionate, tugging at my lips with her teeth, just to suck. I whimper into the action and I feel one of her long legs make their way through my thighs. We were getting messy now, breathy, full of our feelings for each other, and I loved every fucking minute of it.
"Piper," she whispers, as her leg presses against my center, my abdomen tightening into a coil and becoming hot, "fuck, Piper, I," she kisses down my face as she speaks, leaving a kiss with each word against the side of my neck, taking in skin with her teeth and sucking. My eyes roll back into my head, her tongue apologizing for what were soon to be hickies, pressing the warm muscle against my neck to soothe my newly bruised skin. I lean to the side, and she pushes my dark hair back, kissing upwards, to my ear, nibbling and taking it into her mouth. I shiver, groan, and her thigh rocks me forward at just the right angle that I gasp. Hot breath billowed against my ear, and all I could do was shake, and pray that she doesn't stop. My prayer was answered when she took in the sensitive skin behind my jaw, making a trail back to my face, which was now being cradled by two large but soft hands, her leaning down to really look at me.
Those deep blue eyes shattered my soul in that moment, eyes normally so playful and full of life now dark, wanting, and dare I say sultry.
"I like you, Piper Wright," she says while I just helplessly look at her, and I'm surprised I didn't melt into a puddle right then and there. All I could mutter was an embarrassing whimper, while I just focus on that voice that was so much deeper and rougher than usual, "I like you so much that it hurts."
My mouth falls open to say something, but I just look at those full lips, and I see she catches the hint when she gives me that half smirk.
Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't—
"Piper? Are you in the kitchen?" My father calls out as we scramble backwards, to create some sense of distance between us.
I clear my throat, try to calm my flushed face, fixing my hair and clothes in a rush to portray some normalcy. When I glance at Blue, stumbling in the kitchen and doing the same, I call out to him.
"Yes, dad," I say with shaky voice and even shakier legs, "I'm sorry did we wake you?"
He walks into the kitchen, glancing at Blue cleaning up the mess she made while fixing my scarf, and then to me, pretending to hang it.
"Yes," He says slowly, trying to read the situation, "I heard a lot of racket, a few thumps. I thought someone might have broken in."
I swallow, and then give him a good fake laugh.
"Oh, that was just Blue. I scared her by accident while she cleaned my scarf," he smiles at the thought, "she hit her head and fell."
"Oh dear," he says playfully, while putting both hands on his hips and tsks, "another trip to the hospital is the last thing we need." My father strides towards me now, fully aware of how that scarf is to me in my heart, studying it as it cascades.
"Wow, she did a great job at reviving it," the comment is loose, and he glances back at her, "do you want me to check your head?"
She shakes her head too hard, and puts her hands out in front of her.
"Ah, no Mr. Wright, I'm fine, thank you." She's extra polite now, probably hypersensitive at the fact that she just practically took his daughter earlier in his laundry room. In a good way, of course.
She could take me any time of the day with a performance like that.
"Alright, you two," He says sternly, surprising me by a tone, he never uses, "Nat has school tomorrow, just like you two, and I need you up in your beds. Plural."
My spine straightens at his comment. He had caught on. Dark eyes look at me sullenly and he taps his neck a few times. I feel my entire body grow hot with embarrassment while I scramble to hide my neck in shame. I didn't realize that they would be there already. I rub my neck and look at the floor.
Jeez, Blue.
"You should hide those next time."
And with that, he left, leaving us both breathless and embarrassed.
Nora
Deacon was pissed, for the lack of a better word. Seething, maybe? At the fact that I had left him in the car to deal with the situation myself. He may have been upset, but I knew how to deal with Hancock, and I knew what he would and wouldn't be offended by. Giving D a crash course wouldn't haven't been enough of a warning.
When I slide back into the passenger side once again, he huffs loudly and dramatically. I glance at him, and hand him the note John had given me. I watch him take off his sunglasses and really read it, his lips twitching when he read something troubling, eye brows knitting in frustration.
I tried to explain what Hancock had said to be inside to the best of ability, giving him a whole synopsis on the way back to our own side of town. He was quite for a while, relaxing in his seat and replaying the information we had been discussing for at least an hour now in his head. When he opens his mouth again, I'm surprised.
"Nora," He says as he drums on his steering wheel to the beat of whatever song was playing in the background, "when were you planning to tell me that Piper is your girl now?"
I freeze into place, and he keeps talking, the atmosphere changing just like the conversation topic.
Girl?
"Do you want to stop by her place before I take you to yours? It's on the way."
"I," I was dumbfounded for a minute before I could gather my thoughts. The only other person who could have told him had to have been Piper, or someone Piper might have told. . . like Cait.
Oh jesus, I think rapidly, palms sweating, Cait is going to kill me.
"What? Who told you that?"
"I just heard from a little bird who sang," he says nonchalantly, "she played a pretty tune that had the mention of you two making out in a laundry room."
My jaw drops. And my eye twitches in irritation at the rhyme.
"And that you initiated it," he gave me a laugh, but his tone went serious. "Do you want to talk about it?"
I sigh. "Deacon, isn't it obvious?"
I watch him smirk.
"I mean yeah, but I mean, how does it make you feel? Are you guys gonna be alright now?"
"I don't know." I say coolly even though on the inside my heart twisted. "I was careless and I didn't think, and now look, she won't talk to me."
It was true. Since we were caught, she had gone rogue on me, talking only when spoken to, remaining at a suitable distance at all times. She hasn't even touched me or given me direct eye contact, even though I thought she liked it. It makes me feel like I pressured her into it, and I felt so guilty since then, that I haven't even talked or texted her since I saw her before school today.
You're an idiot. Whom of which, acted on impulse. Why did you do that? Everything was going well. You had a friend.
His lips purse in thought, and I watch his bald head glint from the sunset, drawing my attention back to the present.
"She liked it." The actor says with confidence and it makes my heart flutter in my chest, "she totally did. She's just scared out of her mind."
"She's scared out of her mind?" I say quickly, "I was the one who did it. I'm the idiot who pushed the threshold of our friendship."
He clicks his tongue. "Everything is fragile. I wouldn't worry too much. Change is mostly good."
"I think," I sigh again and lean over, "I think I really like her, you know, I even said that." I looked out the window and Deacon stays quiet, the wise boy knowing I was going to speak again.
He sighs. "What exactly happened?"
"I kissed her, her dad figured it out, we don't speak for the rest of the night, or at school."
"I mean, how did it make you realize you like her?" He says with a laugh, and nudges me with a gentle elbow from his side of the car, "dweeb."
"I," I glance away, and bite my lip, "well, the feeling I got when I kissed her, it was . . ." My body shivers when I remember my lack of restraint, the overwhelming feeling of want, the way she shook underneath my fingers, how warm she was. How she moaned into my mouth when I kissed her, I—
"I never felt that way before," I close my eyes and my teeth grit when I recall the feeling so vividly. "Ever. With anyone."
Deacon raised a brow. "Was it really that good?"
"I mean," I squint my eyes like somehow it would make me focus through this lingering high from Johns, "it could have just been lust, but it was different. It was so different. I have never felt anything when I kissed someone, I, I just," my fingertips graze my lips at the thought of her and I sigh, "I don't know. It's new. I have these feelings, and they don't go away."
D looked at me for a second before he looks back at the road.
"It's weird. I have never seen anyone like this with her. Well, besides MacCready," he cackles again when I give him a death glare at the thought of that punk trying something. "Not that it's bad, but usually Piper keeps them at bay."
"I'd keep her right next to me if I could." I mutter under my breath. Suddenly, I have the urge to see her. "Can we still go?"
"Of course." He gives me a knowing grin, like he knew I would ask him to go eventually.
He takes a right at the next street, and a few twists later, we were outside of her house. That red sports car parked in the driveway, no Audi to be found.
"Her father isn't home," he teases as he pushed me out of the car, "go ahead."
"Wait, I," he shuts the door behind me and locks it with a smile and I cross my arms, "I didn't want to leave you in the car again!"
"Have fun!" He shouts before he turns on the radio, loud enough to drown me out, but not much else. I roll my eyes before jogging up the stairs of her house, and ring the doorbell once.
The door opens a few minutes later, to a distraught Piper, who is clearly shocked to see me.
"Oh, Blue, I didn't know you were coming, uh," a woman comes from behind her, lazily draping her arms around her neck from behind, leaning into her neck, planting a kiss on the side of her neck where I had just laid marks of my own. I stiffen, but I don't say anything or betray what I really feel. Honestly, I didn't know Piper had any more friends other than the core group that we had going. This girl didn't show up at the hospital.
The woman was pretty, with her short black hair cut in a similar style as Piper's, about as tall as me, a cute smile cascading across her pale face. Her electric blue eyes lock with my own, and I try not to glare back.
"Oh, who is this, darlin'?" She hums from behind her, and Piper just locks eyes with me desperately. I knew that look. My eyes study her, her clothes askew, messy hair, flushed lips. She had been having fun previous to answering her door.
"Deacon wanted to come say hi," I say while jutting my thumb backwards towards the car making a lame excuse to suddenly pop by, and suddenly I feel empty inside, so I feign a smile, "we were at a friend's house or whatever," I was high as shit now, and honestly wasn't sure that what I was seeing was real.
The girl straightens, and gives me a sly smile as she sizes me up.
"You two been havin' fun?" She cooed at me and then gave me a wink, "you smell good."
I shrug, "my boyfriend is a smoker." I lied through my teeth, and I see Piper shift uncomfortably in the corner of my vision. My heart hurt and I wanted her to feel the same amount of pain I was feeling, regardless of how selfish I was being. I had no right to be upset, considering we weren't really together and I kissed her so suddenly. It wasn't fair of me, but I lied anyway.
But it really didn't seem like . . .
Piper was that kind of girl, right?
"Ah," the new girl says sadly, "of course a gal like you is taken."
I give her a look. And then glance at Piper, who was stiff as a board now, eyes digging into me intensely. "You have a boyfriend?"
I cross my arms. "It's recent."
Yeah, it was recent. As soon as I saw that woman kiss your neck, kind of recent.
A loud ringing drew me out of our conversation, and I groan before I dig into my back pocket, and put my phone to my ear. It was Hancock.
"Hey baby," he said smoothly on the other side, and I laughed at how well his timing was. "Why don't you come back here with me tonight? I have some stuff for you."
I glance at the other two girls, who were silent for a moment, able to hear everything he was saying.
"Hey darling," I drawl out, "I'm with D right now, but uh, if you pick me up later we can do something."
He hums, his noticeably low voice making Piper flinch. Hancock was not a bad looking guy by any means, in fact, he was handsome. His voice was just the same, if you didn't know him like I did. His voice makes my skin crawl.
"What about your new place?"
I turn around with my phone still to my ear and start to walk down the driveway, "who fucking cares?" I feel myself getting reckless again, my emotions taking a turn for the worst. "Let's just get up. I feel like getting fucked up out of my mind and having fun."
A harsh laugh comes through the speakers. "Alright, sunshine, come on. Let's have some fun."
I stomp over to the passenger door, and bang on it twice. Tears were stinging my eyes and I crawl in as soon as he unlocks it. I slam it shut and I grit my teeth.
Deacon is bewildered while turning off the loud music blasting in his car, body totally facing me in an attempt to get my attention.
"What happened, what's—" He glances at Piper's front door, and his frown deepens. "Magnolia is back, huh."
Magnolia? The girl Hancock told me about? Her crush? A flare of anger surges through me, but I suppress it.
"Magnolia?" I say hesitantly, while I fight back tears, "who cares, let's just leave."
Deacon starts the car, but before we pull out Piper runs up to us and waves us down.
"Wait," she calls out, "I need to talk to you."
I shake my head. "Just leave."
"Nora, but—"
"Just leave!" I snap, and he obeys, driving in the direction back to my group home, and the car is silent until he clears his throat.
"Magnolia is Pipers crush," he says, "she kind of just plays with her feelings, Nora, she isn't serious."
I don't look at him. I don't care. I saw what she looked like. Even if it was an assumption, Piper could have pushed her off, she could had said something. Especially in front of the girl she was locking tongues with the previous night.
You're being ridiculous, Nora. They could be friends. You're just jealous.
"So, it's current." I comment, noticing that he said is and not was. "I wish she would have just told me. Then I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have . . ." Gotten my hopes up.
I close my eyes tightly, and put my face in my hands. I was truly an idiot for kissing her with no context. The moment just seemed so right, and yet here I am, heartbroken less than a day later.
"No." He leans up in his seat, "I don't think so. I think she just came to hang out with Piper, Nora, relax," he reaches out for me, rubbing my upper back in support, "she likes you so much, I don't see why she would be with Magnolia or even try—"
"That bitch kissed her neck," I hissed angrily, teeth gnashing as I spoke, and I watch Deacon flinch, "she had her arms around her, D, Piper looked like she was fucking before she answered that door—"
"But that is just an assumption!" He says loudly, "you don't know, and even if she was . . ."
His pause said it all. He knew I wasn't her girlfriend yet.
"I'm not her girlfriend," I groan, "I know. I know. I don't know why I'm so angry. I keep telling myself to chill out. And now I'm lashing out at you," I rake a hand into my hair, and give him the most apologetic look I could muster, "I'm sorry."
"And you are doing all these things for her," he sympathizes, "I get it, you stay by her side, you save her, you clean her scarf, and with no expectations. I understand, but still, you should talk with her first. If you really care about her, if you really like her, then you should at least hear her out."
I grimaced. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to Piper, or see her. It was unavoidable, however. We had the same class schedule, and that was eight hours of a day together that I couldn't get away even if I tried. My chest feels heavy, and all I want to do is go home and crawl into bed. To be alone.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I lean up in my seat to get it.
I had a text from Piper. My heart drops.
We need to talk. The first one read, and I swallowed. Texts like that had always made me anxious from the get go, my stomach feels like it's filled with lead. She sent a quick second one.
Don't run away.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and I rub my forehead with force. This is a distraction from what I really need to be doing. I put my phone on airplane mode.
"Deacon, I need you to distract her as much as you can while I go talk to this man." My friend groans loudly in protest. "Please. I'm going to go, and I need you to distract the nosy reporter."
"You are absolutely insane if you think I'm going to let you go to a cult alone." I glare at him for his response, "at least take my friend. She has experience with this type of thing. In fact, she's a member."
A friend on the inside, I guess? I was just relieved he knew so many people and all those people had their ears to the ground for him.
"Friend?"
"Glory," he said with a grin, "I really think you two would really hit it off."
"Fine. But can you distract her?"
Deacon takes off his shades when he pulls over on the side of the road I live off of, amber eyes intensely looking at the home before looking at me.
"I'll distract her from the damn cult," he says seriously but points a finger at me, "but I won't do it for you. You still need to talk to her."
"Fine!" I say with narrowed eyes.
"Fine!" He glares back.
Tomorrow was going to be the day I speak to this Father, and see what this situation was all about. I was prepared to do whatever it takes to get the information, to keep them off Pipers back. Even if she was with the other girl now, and even if she didn't want me, she didn't deserve whatever Kellogg was planning on doing to her. That I was certain of. I was going to protect Piper, even if it means I'm going to get hurt in the process.
She is so important to me.