Chapter Thirty-six
Piper was sat on the steps, she had drank waaay too much this morning and needed to stop the world from spinning for a few minutes. She pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the happenings in the prison. The crying lady was on the phone as usual, crying.
The odd CO would stroll past now and then, other than that it was a pretty quiet day in the Litch. In the field of litches…she thought, bemused, an emotional state which was pretty easy to achieve when drunk.
That's when she saw Morello sprint past her in a state of sheer panic, followed by Boo, Red, Bursett and Pennsatucky. Piper drew herself to her feet, in an almost zombie-ish but partly curious state, she followed the rushing women. They rounded the corner and stopped in the laundry room, there on the ground was Nicky-her body twitching, foam seeping from her mouth. Two COs and a medic were swarming all over her, taking pulses, doing mouth to mouth, shit. Nicky had overdosed?
Piper felt a tinge of anguish pierce her drunken heart, 'there's no way Nicky falls off the rails and nobody knows about it…' She said, mostly under her breath. When she didn't get a response, she said it louder again and added, 'somebody had to know! They had to!' As the medic and Cos wheeled Nicky out of the prison, Red fought back tears, 'somebody get Chapman out of here.' She ordered, and the inmates were on Piper like a flock, ushering her away from the scene. That's when Piper's eyes locked with Alex's in the crowd. She was stood back from the crowd, as if she was afraid of being noticed. From the way she was looking at Piper, Piper could tell Alex had known. As Piper's eyes widened at the realisation, Alex shook her head pleadingly, Piper's mouth fell open.
How could Alex let this happen?!
'What the fuck is wrong with her?!' Piper exclaimed, referring to Alex, the inmates replied with, 'Can't you tell Chiquita, she overdosed. Chased the rabbit right down the hole…' They thought she was talking about Nicky.
'No, no, no, no….' Piper muttered, disbelief moving over her. Not Nicky. God, not Nicky…please don't be dead…please don't be dead…
If Alex knew what Nicky was doing, why didn't she stop it? Piper started to feel something other than nausea, she started to feel anger. And that anger began climbing over her and evolving into rage. She shoved the inmates off her, 'I'm fine. I'm fine…get off've me…' She declared in her best impression of a tough inmate, then headed in pursuit of Alex. She returned to laundry room but Alex was nowhere to be seen. Rose however was.
'Hey blondie,' she said with a flirtatious smile that was slightly intimidating. Piper grinned at her remembering their kiss, 'Not now…but you tasted nice.' She let out a drunken hiccup and composed herself, 'but I-I have to go…because…for Nicky.' She concluded. Unaware of how little sense she was making.
Piper scoped out the corridor then landed on the bathroom, she headed inside.
'Alex!' She declared the name as if it were an order. She heard sniffling from behind a closed cubicle door.
'Alex?' Piper asked loudly, pressing her ear against the door. 'Is that you?' She hiccupped again.
There was another sniff. Alex was a silent crier, Piper remembered that about her. She was all tough and stuff, Piper recalled.
'Are you drunk?' Alex's voice asked through the door, Piper noticed how shaky it was. She was definitely crying on the other side of that door and Piper wanted to kick down the door and punch her in the face.
'What the fuck have you done?' Piper demanded.
'She seemed fine…like she was in control…' Alex trailed off, Piper heard a gentle sobbing. Piper lowered herself to the ground, she really did not want to sit on the dirty floor but she had little choice, and the world was still spinning. If Alex was upset, Piper needed to stay put, even if the world was spinning all over the place, she decided.
'You're a fucking idiot.' Piper said sincerely.
'Fuck off Piper.' Alex's voice said but without any attitude, instead it was filled with hurt and anguish.
'Do you think she's dead?'
Piper thought long and hard for a moment, though most of her pause consisted of a long drunken blankness, then she said, 'She did have that heart scar thing…'
'Fuhck.' Piper heard Alex slide down against the door. Piper glanced down, she saw Alex's hand beneath the cubicle door. She missed touching that hand.
'Piper…What if she's dead?'
'I don't know.' Piper confessed, 'But Red will kill you. Shit!' Piper exclaimed suddenly, 'what if she goes all Russian mafia and kills me to get to you?' Then Piper paused, 'oh wait, no, it's ok. You don't give a shit about me anymore so we're fine. Whew!' She rambled, sincerely and deliriously.
Alex frowned on the other side of the door, Piper was pretty drunk but Alex would deal with that some other time, right now she was terrified. Terrified that her poor-judgement had cost Nicky her life. If it had, Alex didn't think she'd be able to live with herself…Of all the ways she saw her sentence at Litchfield play out, not once had she envisioned it with Nicky being dead for fuck's sake.
Another sob climbed up her throat, tears dripped to the floor. Sadness and guilt combined with fear, felt a lot like a dagger wedged in her heart, and every now and then it would twist alittle with Piper's drunk words.
'No…I'll be okay…' Piper's voice said, she was caught up in her own thoughts, as usual-only this time the thoughts were drunk. 'Red'll go straight after you…I'm out the picture now.'
'Piper, shut up.' Alex said softly. Piper obliged.
'Want me to hold your hand?' Piper's voice was low now, solemn. As if the idea of Nicky actually being dead from an overdose had just weighed down on her.
'No…' Alex replied sniffing back another sob. She felt a warm hand slide over hers and hold it. It was Piper's. The two sat in silence for a beat. Alex pressed her face against the door, unaware Piper was leaning against the door on the other side too. Unbeknownst to them, the two were somehow horridly in sync, that was just the way fate worked. Alex heard footsteps and suddenly, Piper snatched her hand away from Alex.
'Oh, hi Red…Alex feels bad about what happened to Nicky-'
'Vause…!' the thick Russian accent cried, 'Get out here!'
'Oh…crap.' Alex heard Piper say in realisation of how she had once again fucked up Alex's life.
'I'm gonna kill you!' Red shouted, pounding against the door. Alex had nowhere to run.