"I'm not ready,"
Alex closed her eyes and sighed as she shut the trunk of Piper's car, her knuckles turning white as she clenched her hands against the metal. The pang in her chest was like nothing she's ever felt before. She could hear Piper's voice shaking, and she knew that there would be fresh tears in her girlfriends blue eyes when she turned around.
"I know, Pipes."
Alex still didn't look at her, she was focusing on her breathing, blinking away the tears in her own eyes. She wanted to turn to her, take her in her arms, but she needed to be strong. She couldn't break down in front of Piper, or she'd never leave, and Alex would not be the one to hold her back.
"Look at me,"
Alex blew a long gust of air out of her nose, turning slowly to look at her girlfriend. Piper stood a few strides away from her, her arms clutched around her body. The wind was blowing her blonde hair in a mess around her face, and her face was red from her tears.
For the billionth time since she had been with her, Alex was floored by her girlfriend's beauty.
God, she was going to miss her so much.
"Come here,"
Alex held her arms out as she leaned against Piper's fully packed trunk, her voice cracked as she spoke, and a fresh sob broke from the blondes lips as she fell into Alex's arms, gripping around her waist so tightly Alex could hardly breathe. She nuzzled her nose into the skin of the brunettes neck, inhaling deeply through her cries,
"I'm going to miss you so much," Piper whispered, sniffling again as she somehow found a way to squeeze Alex's waist tighter. Alex screwed her face up tightly, burying her face into Piper's hair, trying to breathe in enough of her scent to last the 3 weeks she would have to go without her.
"You have no idea, Pipes,"
Alex let the tears flow freely, clutching onto her girlfriend as the wind whipped around them.
Piper closed her eyes, moving a hand up from Alex's waist to rest her fingertips on Alex's neck, needing the skin-on-skin contact. She pressed her lips to the first bit of skin she could find, and swallowed thickly,
"What if you find someone else…"
Piper's voice was so small that had Alex not been pressed so tightly to her, she probably wouldn't have heard it. Even so, she couldn't believe the words that just came out of her mouth. Alex opened her mouth to speak, but Piper had already taken her brief silence as a confirmation that she had something to worry about,
"You and Nicky opening that bar, you're going to be surrounded by drunk girls every night. I've seen the way people throw themselves at you Al, I'm one of them," she allowed herself a small, humourless chuckle, "I'm not going to be around, you've got needs, I left to go to college, it's my fault that we're not going to be together every day anymore. When I'm not here, something is bound to come along…"
Alex pushed Piper away, holding her at arms length, moving her hands to cup her face.
"Piper," she started slowly, her voice low, "Piper, look at me,"
Piper sniffled and raised her blue eyes to meet the green ones she had spent the best part of high school getting lost in,
"For someone so inconceivably intelligent, you can be really, really, stupid sometimes."
Piper blinked, frowning, but leaning into Alex's touch as she began to run her thumb across her tear stained cheeks,
"There will never be anyone else. How can you even think that?"
Alex brought her face closer to Piper's, so the blonde could feel her breath as she spoke,
"We can do this, I know we can. I'm staying in New York, you're not going to be far away. I can see you every other week, and I can promise you, I will not be looking anywhere else. I won't even be thinking about anyone else. I would choose a phone call with you over a naked stranger throwing herself at me any day, you know that,"
Piper smiled slightly at Alex's words,
"I guess I'll have to find a way to make our phone calls more interesting, huh?"
Alex chuckled at Piper's attempt at humour,
"Nah, you'll just have to send me a lot of nudes," she smirked, and Piper slapped her arm lightly, whispering her name in mock horror,
"Seriously though Pipes, I'm going to miss you so much I don't even have the words to do it justice, but we can do this. You can throw yourself into your college life, and I'll be here throwing myself into making this bar work out for Nicky and I. We can see each other every other weekend, and talk on the phone every day, you have like every t-shirt I've ever owned packed away with you, just wear those when you're missing me. It'll get easier babe."
Piper raised her hand to rest on one of Alex's that still cupped her face, new tears springing into her eyes,
"I love you so much," she whispered, voice cracking again,
"I love you, too" Alex whispered back, leaning in to leave a soft kiss on Piper's lips, "which is why…" she trailed off, reluctantly letting go of Piper to lean down and retrieve something from her bag, standing up again, Alex held a small box to Piper. She watched as Piper's eyes darted down to the box, then back to Alex's face, panic rising as her brows knitted together.
Alex let out a loud laugh,
"Relax, Pipes, it's a ring with a diamond, not a diamond ring…"
Piper closed her eyes and shook her head, giggling quietly,
"It's good to know the idea of marrying me gives you a heart attack though," Alex joked weakly,
"No Al, it's not-"
Alex pressed her fingers to Piper's lips,
"I'm joking babe, we'll get there one day,"
Piper smiled, then curiously looked down at the box again.
Alex opened it up to reveal a simple silver ring, taking it out of the box and holding it out to show Piper,
"This is a promise ring, Pipes. We're too young to get married yet, we're starting to shape our lives, but we love each other, and I want you to have this so whenever you feel lonely, or scared, or worried while you're at Smith, you can look at it, and know that you have me."
She slipped the finger onto Piper's hand, right where one day a wedding ring would sit, and held the hand to her face,
"I love you, and you're going to do amazing things at Smith. I'll be here every step of the way," she pressed another kiss to Piper's lips, "plus, you're going to an all girls school, they need to know that the fine piece of blonde ass in Lit 101 is happily taken,"
Alex reached down to grip Piper's ass with both hands as her girlfriend giggled at her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders,
"Thank you, Al. It's beautiful."
Alex hugged her tighter, knowing that it was time to say goodbye.
"You better get going, kid"
Piper pulled away slightly to hold her face, eyes scanning every inch of her.
"I love you, I'll call you as soon as I get settled," she kissed her,
"I'll see you in a few weeks," she continued, kissing her again,
Alex smiled into the kiss,
"I love you too, text me so I know you're there safe and I'll talk to you tonight."
Piper slowly started walked back, hands running down to clasp Alex's, fingertips running along each other until the warmth of Alex's hands was too far away, and Piper dipped to get into her car.
Alex raised her hand to wave, but decided she needed one more kiss to last her the 3 weeks until she would feel Piper against her again, and she strode to Piper's open window, leaning down,
"I'll see you soon, baby" she whispered, and Piper had to fight back tears again as she leant forward, fingertips grazing Alex's jaw. The kiss was slow and soft, and set Piper's heart racing.
She whispered her love to her girlfriend once more, before pulling away from the curb, and watching the tall, alluring figure of the love of her life grow smaller and smaller, until she disappeared.
One Week Later…
"It's fuckin' perfect, there's no other words,"
Alex grinned as she looked to Nicky, then back up at the bar, nodding slowly,
"Only one more thing left to do now, Vause,"
Alex took a deep breath as Nicky moved to a switch box by the front door. With a flick, red neon letters spelling the word "Cali" illuminated above them, and Alex shook her head appreciatively, slinging one arm around the shoulders of her best friend,
"If we can't go to Cali yet, we bring a little bit of spring break to NYC,"
Nicky nodded, following Alex into their bar. Alex sat up on the wood in the centre of the building, looking around appreciatively.
"I hope people show up tomorrow night," she pursed her lips and frowned. It was almost perfect, all she needed were the people.
"Hey, when Nicky puts the word out it Fucking goes out, people will be here Vause, don't worry your pretty little head about it,"
Alex shook her head and rolled her eyes, about to give a smart answer when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket,
Pipes: 1 Image Attached
Alex cocked a brow in curiosity, opening the message to Piper as she took a swig of beer, but almost coughing it back up at the sight she was greeted with.
On her screen was Piper, laid on a white bed, blonde hair fanned out around her on the sheets. She was biting her lip and smiling at the camera, spare fist clenching at the material of her shirt at her chest, the skin of the top of her thigh visable from where the shirt was riding up. The pose was suggestive, and incredibly alluring; Alex felt her mouth go dry. As she swallowed thickly, she had to resist swearing as she realised the shirt Piper was wearing was one of Alex's; a faded old Zeppelin shirt that Piper had worn with nothing else many times after they had spent hours together in bed.
Before she could even find a response in her brain, she felt her phone vibrate again. Reluctantly closing the picture, her eyes scanned the message below,
Pipes: A week without you is too long when I've spent every night in nothing but one of your t-shirts x
Alex closed her eyes briefly; Piper had no idea. A week was the longest Alex had gone without sex since Piper's exams, and even then she had the blonde around for a little bit of fun here and there. She hadn't been left high and dry since before she was with Piper, and since the blonde's sex drive was as high as Alex's, it had been a very long time since she'd gone longer than a day or two without some kind of action.
Alex: You're going to be the death of me one day, kid x
She grinned, imagining Piper's flushed face at her enthusiastic response, and put her phone down, trying to concentrate on what Nicky was saying about opening night at the bar.
Her concentration quickly went out of the window when her phone buzzed again. Alex looked at Nicky to make sure she didn't have her eyes on her, then unlocked her phone and cocked her head to the side to read the new message,
Pipes: Are you at home? I've got a few things in mind that I wouldn't want anyone else seeing… x
Alex swallowed again, finishing off her beer and hopping off the table,
Alex: give me 10 minutes x
She knew she was being rude, and she didn't want Nicky to think she wasn't feeling enthusiasm towards the bar, but this was the first time Piper was suggesting long distance sex. Alex didn't know what she had planned, but she liked the direction in which it was heading too much to stick around the bar after a week of being too gallant to suggest anything dirty during her phone calls with her girlfriend. She was waiting for Piper to imitate it, and now she has, she wasn't going to miss it for anything.
"Hey Nick, something has come up, I'll call you tomorrow yeah?"
Alex collected her belongings from the table around her, stuffing them into her pockets as her best friend watched with an eyebrow cocked,
"Woah, what's got you in such a hurry, huh?"
Nicky was frowning at her, but an amused smirk was firmly on her lips. Alex scrambled for an excuse,
"I haven't called Piper y-"
Nicky started laughing loudly over Alex's words,
"Say no more, Vause. Tell her I said hi,"
Nicky winked at Alex as she turned to change some decorations on the wall, and Alex shook her head as she exited the bar, checking her phone again, she was stopped in her tracks by another photo in her inbox,
Pipes: You better hurry, or I'll get started without you… x
The image that was attached made Alex's stomach clench. It was taken from Piper's point of view. Alex could see the toned, flat length of her stomach, one of Piper's hands laid flat against the skin, her fingertips edged slightly into the top of some grey CK women's boxers that looked suspiciously like the ones Alex had lost just before Piper left for college…
She moaned quietly to herself; she needed to get home now.