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

I want to get this chapter up sooner, but it was like pulling teeth. Writer's block is real.

Happy Pride Month!

Enjoy.

The sudden cool breeze from the freezer caused a formation of goosebumps to rise along Piper's bare arm as she opened the door and reached for a carton of almond milk.

She allowed the door to close hard behind her as she placed the carton of milk into her cart and began to walk down the aisle. The blonde, once again found herself at the grocery store.

She really was becoming one of those cliche housewives.

It was a couple of days later since Polly's baby shower. She'd yet to talk to her best friend or anyone really other than Larry. She'd been trying to keep a low profile and be the good wife everyone thought she was. Hence staying away from her neighbour, just for a few days that was.

But this was the suburbs. You couldn't go too far without running into at least someone you knew. And that's what happened to Piper as she moved down the dairy aisle of the grocery store towards the freezer section.

"Alex," she exclaimed as she saw the familiar dark hair.

Alex immediately looked up and over at Piper from across the aisle. She couldn't help but beam. "Pipes," she called back as she moved towards where Piper stood in front of the section of frozen pizzas.

"You're grocery shopping again," stated the brunette in a matter-of-fact tone.

Piper looked down at her cart which was pretty much empty except for the carton of almond milk and some vegetables. She hadn't planned on coming out grocery shopping. She was just picking up random things currently. The blonde shrugged her shoulders before meeting Alex's eye again. "Just needed a few things," she muttered.

There was a slight awkward tension between the two women as they continued to look at one another. It seemed like they'd yet to figure out how to act in public around each other. Especially when they ran into each other unexpectedly like this. They both stood there staring at each other listening to Selena Gomez as she sang about how she couldn't keep her hands to herself.

"I haven't seen you in a couple of days," observed Alex as she pushed her glasses on top of her head.

"I thought you might be busy," stated Piper flately.

"Busy?" Alex corked an eyebrow, an amused little smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah, with that little girlfriend of yours."

"Girlfriend?!"

"Oh let's not play games here Alex. I met her. She's cute...a little young, but cute." She mused.

Alex's eyes filled with utter delight as she noted Piper's slight tone of jealousy in her voice. She should be annoyed by this behaviour, but she wasn't. The blonde was sexy when jealous, she thought.

"Where is she by the way? At school?" Piper was trying to jest Alex.

Alex let out a raspy chuckle at Piper's statement. She knew she was trying to arouse some sort of response from her, but she wasn't going to let Piper have that satisfaction. "She's back in the City," she stated bluntly as she put on her glasses back on.

"Oh."

The brunette continued to smirk in response to Piper who was now looking embarrassed under her gaze. "Yeah, she went back on Sunday."

"You didn't want her to stay? To keep you company…" Piper's voice was softer, almost in a whisper as she asked out of curiosity. Alex and her girlfriend seemed happy together from what she witnessed. She was surprised to hear that Alex hadn't wanted her to stay.

Alex shrugged her shoulders looking away briefly from Piper before moving closer. She uncrossed her arms and pushed her glasses on top of her head. "I rather have you keep me company…" She spoke in a low throaty voice. Her eyes were dark as they pierced into Pipers.

Piper squared back her shoulders as she tilted her head slightly to the side, appearing at Alex. She'd tried to remain cool and calm around Alex. Not letting her demeanor get to her. However, she was finding herself falling once again under her spell. There was just something about her that she found so inevitable.

They stayed like this for a second longer, their face's mere inches apart from kissing when the noise of a cart approaching pulled them away.

"Piper! Alex!" screeched Lorna as she approached them, pushing a cart full of groceries. "What a pleasant surprise this is!"

Alex immediately took a step back from Piper and put her glasses back onto her face. This fucking town she thought. She couldn't get a fucking moment alone without being interrupted by someone.

"Hi Lorna," greeted Piper cheerfully towards the much smaller woman.

"Hi Morello," huffed Alex with annoyance.

"How's your day going?" continued on Piper in a forced chipper voice. She was trying to mask what Lorna might have or not seen.

"Oh my day's goin' well," chattered Lorna happily. "Christopher's comin' home in a few days."

"Oh. That's great to hear Lorna," Piper nodded her head in enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it is. I wasn't expectin' him, but he called this mornin' tellin' me. I got so excited, I just ran straight out of the house and came here! I'm goin' to cook up all his favourite meals!" Lorna merrily chatted on.

Piper hadn't known Lorna for long, however she always loved to see how upbeat the small woman was. Especially when it came to talking about her fiance. She was going to make a great wife, she thought bitterly to herself. She figured that Lorna would never cheat on Christopher.

"But enough about me. How's everythin' with you?" asked Lorna, her eyes crinkling up at Piper.

"Everything's good. I'm finally starting to remember where everything is in town." Piper

"And you Alex?" asked Lorna, turning towards the other woman.

"Everythin's fine," replied Alex with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Same as always."

"That's good. How's your mom doin'?" inquired Lorna.

"She's fine," replied Alex briefly. She didn't like Lorna asking about her mom. The two women weren't close. They only knew each other really because of Nicky.

Lorna continued to chat away for a few moments longer with the two of them before excusing herself. She could talk for hours, but she needed to get home and start preparing for Christopher.

"And then there were two…" whispered Piper as she moved towards Alex.

"I should get going too. I promised Nicky I would grab a drink with her."

"Oh, ok. Well I guess I'll see you later."

"Hey," spoke Alex as she grabbed Piper by the wrist, preventing her from leaving.

Piper looked up at Alex with a perplexed look on her face.

"I'm not letting you get off that easy," stated Alex matter-of-factly. She didn't like this current situation of theirs where they would go a few days without seeing one another. She didn't want to have to wait again to be with her. She wanted to make a solid plan on when they could see each other next.

"Al," began Piper.

"Can I call you later?" inquired Alex, cutting the blonde off.

"Why don't you come over?"

"Come over?" Alex was taken back by this. This was the first time that Piper was hinting at where they met. She'd always assumed that Piper's house was off-limits.

"Yeah...Didn't I mention that Larry's out of town for the next couple of days. He has to go back into the city to do something for his parents."

"You could've fuckin' led with that?!"

Piper just grinned wickedly in response to this.

The apartment complex was a low rise. It only contained six floors which had four apartments or so on each level. It was in the downtown area of town or as Alex thought of it, the crappier area of town.

Everything was old and not in the good cute kinda way that you could find in the City. It was the falling part, smelt like mildew, depressing kind. But no matter how many times over the years that Alex had told Nicky about moving out; the woman had stayed. Nicky had a fondness for the crumbling brownstone building. Plus the rent was super cheap. Staying here, she paid less for way more than she would get in the City. Her apartment was the size of like two New York apartments put together.

Even though Nicky's voice dripped of New York, she stayed in the small town. Her accent was like a British one, it would never fade away. She'd had the same deep raspy New York accent since her mother had divorced her dad and thought it was best that Nicky grow up away from the troubles of the City at the age of 13. They've of course moved into the richer part of town. But that didn't stop Nicky from befriending Alex Vause in her patchy thrift store clothes and knock-off sneakers.

"Yo Vause," spoke Nicky as she opened the door and grinned.

"Nichols," chuckled Alex back.

She didn't remember when they had first started calling each other by their last names, but it had stuck. Just like Big Boo's nickname had stuck with her all these years after.

"Come in, come in." Nicky held open the door for Alex to past through into the apartment.

Alex walked past Nicky and made her way into the main living area of the apartment, making herself immediately comfortable on the couch. When Alex had first moved out of her mother's house, her and Nicky had shared this very apartment for almost a year before Alex had made the leap to the City.

The brunette kicked up her feet onto the coffee table and grinned from ear-to-ear as she took in the place. Nicky hadn't changed much of it over the years except for some of the art work on the walls. It was still pretty much how Alex had left it. This was both comforting and a little sad for her to see. Alex liked to think she'd evolved since her time living here. Not that it was a bad thing not to have. She just felt like she was a different person now and then she'd been ten years ago.

Nicky, who was more of an old soul, just seemed to grow more and more comfortable with herself as the years had gone on. When Alex had first met Nicky she'd been this little scrawny Jewish New Yorker with this big wild hair and personality. Alex, at the time who had yet to grow into her confidence had been in awe of this exotic creature. Everyone at their school was the same, but Nicky. Despite their stature difference, they became fast friends. They did everything together from stealing candy from the corner store, to sneaking out to parties in the next town over, having a mutual fondness for girls and trying drugs. The drug thing had stuck more with Nicky than it had with Alex. Alex had been a terrible junkie. She would rather get drunk than get high. She liked to feel her emotions, rather than numb herself and stray.

Nicky had been in and out of rehab over the years. But right now she was clean. Alex knew that she did it more for Red than anyone else. Nicky's real mom had skipped town over a decade ago with one of her numerous boyfriends.

"Here," spoke Nicky coming into the room and holding out a glass of something for Alex to take.

"What is it?" asked Alex as she took the glass and stared into the dark liquid of it.

"Rum and Coke."

The two friends cheers and touch glasses before taking a swing of their drinks. Nicky sat down off to Alex's right hand side in an old pink velvet armchair that once belonged to her grandmother.

"So...tell me what's new?" asked Nicky as she lowered her glass onto the armrest of the chair and grinned sheepishly over at Alex.

Alex couldn't help but huff slightly at this question. This was the second time today that she'd been asked what was new. However, unlike Lorna who had asked out of politeness, Nicky she knew was asking more about her and Piper than anything else. The brunette debated on what to tell her friend. Alex had never had a problem before telling Nicky about her sexual conquests. However, there was something about Piper that she wanted to keep to herself. It wasn't because Piper was married or anything like that. Nicky, she knew could care less about that. However, Piper was different to her. She wasn't just some girl she could add to a list of sexual conquests. She was special to her.

"See Chapman lately?" Nicky wagged her eyebrows suggestively at Alex. She was going to get something off of her, even if it took all night. She was determined to break Alex.

"I saw Morello earlier," stated Alex, ignoring the question. She wasn't going to give Nicky the satisfaction of breaking her, not yet that was. She had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Nicky frowned at the mention of her ex-lover's name. She hadn't expected for Alex to bring her up. This wasn't about her on and off again relationship with Morello. This was supposed to be about Alex coming clean about her sleeping with the tall blonde who lived across the street.

"Oh yah?" Replied Nicky, nonchalantly. She tried to remain cool as she shifted in her seat and took a sip from her drink.

"Yeah. at the grocery store."

"And how is Morello?" asked Nicky bluntly, although she already knew the answer. Despite Lorna's rejection of her, Nicky still kept on being her friend. She didn't want to give her up completely.

"She's good. Christopher seems to be back in town or goin' to be," Alex tried to recall what Lorna had told Piper. She knew she was being a little shit disturber by bringing up Christopher. She knew that he was a sore subject for Nicky. However, she was just giving Nicky a taste of her own medicine. "Have you ever met this mystery fiance? I've never."

"Once. Not formally. From a distance," stated Nicky, recalling her one-time seeing the famous Christopher in the flesh. That had been a number of months ago, though. Which was odd, especially in a town this small. You usually saw the same faces everyday, even if they worked out of town. Nicky had her suspicions that the guy didn't really exist or at least not anymore in Lorna's life. However, she wasn't going to tell Alex all this. She didn't want to go airing Lorna's dirty laundry around, even if it was just to her best friend.

The two women sat in silence for a second longer, the only sounds coming from the ice in their glasses before Nicky once again tried to crack Alex.

"So really," started Nicky as she finished off her drink and placed the empty glass onto the coffee table. "What's up with you and Chapman?" She leaned forward, her forearms resting on her knees as she studied Alex.

"Nothin'."

"Come on Vause. You're goin' to have to lie better than that."

"Seriously. There is nothin'. We're just friends."

"Who are fucking," added Nicky.

"No!"

"Come on. I saw your two get pretty cosy that night at Boo's and the other day at the movies. You looked alot more than fuckin' friends." spoke Nicky with a smirk.

"We're just friends," repeated Alex stubbornly.

"Now don't do anything crazy while I'm gone," joked Larry towards Piper.

Piper, who was seated on the bottom step of the staircase just smiled and shook her head at Larry's lame joke. However, he wasn't that far from the truth, she thought. Inviting over the sexy tall neighbour who was also your mistress was kinda crazy. But it was the kind of crazy that made her body pulse with adrenaline. Alex was her addiction and she wanted more. She wasn't going to let this opportunity of Larry going out of town to go unwasted.

"I won't."

"Like don't go throwing a rager and serving alcohol to all the underage kids in town."

"Larry," she cried, rolling her eyes. "Would you just leave? Amy is going to freak if you're even a minute late."

Amy was Larry's mother and her mother's in law. She was your typical Jewish mom who doted on her son any chance she could get. She'd been so worried when they'd announced that they were moving out of the City and to the Suburbs. Amy who had grown up in New York and raised her son there too could not seem to fathom why they wouldn't want to do the same. But Larry had wanted to get out from under his parent's thumb. His parents had even helped pay for their rent.

"Ok. Ok. I'm going." Larry smiled as he swung his laptop bag over his shoulder and reached for the handle of the small suitcase by the door.

Piper rose to her feet and followed him to the door. "Say hi to your parents for me," she spoke.

"Yes, of course, Pipes." Larry then leaned forwards and kissed Piper tenderly on the lips. "Remember, no parties or inviting your hot sexy lover over!"

Piper knew he was joking, but a part of her froze. She stared deadpanned at her husband, trying to read his facial expression. Did he know something? However, all thoughts of doubt quickly went out the window as Larry smiled at Piper.

"I love you. Be good," he whispered before once again kissing her.

"I love you too," murmured back Piper as Larry quickly then pulled away from their embrace and left the house.

Piper moved towards the open door and waved goodbye to Larry as he swiftly got into the car and drove away.

She watched as the car disappeared down the road before closing the front door. She brought a hand up to her lips and briefly touched them before jumping into cleaning mode.

The house was already fairly clean. However, she wanted to make it extra clean and presentable for her houseguest tonight. Taking the stairs two at a time, Piper made her way into the bedroom. She didn't want anything to smell or remind her of Larry. She didn't want to feel any shame or guilt tonight. She stood there for a second looking at the neatly made bed before reaching out and pulling hard on the end of the duvet. She pulled on it, half expecting it to come neatly undone like that magic trick where someone removes a tablecloth in one fluid motion but the dinnerware remain intact on top of the table. However, the duvet only moved a few inches, there were too many pillows weighing it down.

Letting out a sigh, Piper pulled harder a second time. She bent down further, twisting the edge of the duvet like a rope in her hands. She felt like she was playing a game of tug-of-war as she continued to pull until the duvet came off, along with the pillows that fell on either side of the bed. She dropped the duvet and kicked it to the side of the room before tackling the sheets.

After changing the sheets and remaking the bed, Piper began to remove any other traces of Larry from the bedroom. She tidied up his side of the bed, putting any object that belonged to him away into the draw of the end table. She knew she might be overdoing it, but she just wanted everything to go smoothly and perfect tonight.

Piper knew that she was walking a fine line for inviting Alex over. It was one thing to go over to her house and hook up on the couch or fool around in the back of a car. But it was another thing altogether to be inviting her over to her house which she shared with her husband and having sex in their bed. She knew that after tonight, it would change everything. That she couldn't dismiss what she was doing with Alex anymore. That it would make everything more real and present. It was like all those kisses and hooks ups had led to this very moment, where Piper held open the door wide for Alex, inviting her fully into her life. After they'd first almost kissed in the park it had cracked something open deep inside of her that she hadn't been aware of. That she needed to fulfill some secret wish she'd been harboring. Alex had opened her world to thrilling new possibilities.

After leaving the grocery store, Piper had made a quick trip to the liquor store where she'd bought a couple bottles of wine. She didn't know if Alex drank wine, she'd only ever seen her drink beer and whiskey, but wine was classy. She wanted tonight to be classy and grown up. The blonde knew she was probably overthinking everything currently. But she was nervous and excited all at the same time. She couldn't help herself. She just wanted to impress Alex and make this feel like it was a date of sorts and not just about sex.

The rain sprinkled down in a strange light mist as Alex left Nicky's place. She cursed herself for deciding to walk here instead of taking the car, but parking was the pits at the building. She also cursed for not bringing an umbrella, but it hadn't rained all summer until now. So the need to bring one hadn't occurred to her.

Alex kept her head down in this strange mist as she began to walk down the sidewalk. She was going to be a sticky wet mess by the time she got to Piper's place. It felt a little strange thinking that she was going to be stepping into Piper's house tonight. They had already been sleeping together for over a month now, but only in the backs of cars and darkened movie theatres. Of course, there had been Alex's house. But going to Piper's house seemed like a big move. This was the part in the plot where something goes wrong. Where the unexpectedly husband comes home to find his wife in bed with someone else. It was the classic affair outbreak. Maybe she'd read too many books which involved affairs.

However, Piper had said that Larry was going out of town for a couple of days, not one night. Alex had nothing to lose. Plus, it wasn't like she planned on spending all her time there. It was going to be one night.

As she continued to walk down the street out of what the town classified as "downtown", a rare but nervous bubble panged in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't nervous about getting caught. She was more nervous about seeing Piper's house, being surrounded by her things. Going over to someone else's place was always a big deal in some way in the start of any relationship be it friendship, dating or whatever. It always seemed to feel weird to be in an unknown environment at first. Alex liked to be surrounded by her things and cluster. That was why she was always the first one to insinuate, the first one to invite someone over to her place. It gave her more control and confidence (Not that she needed more) being at home.

She hadn't always been comfortable inviting people over, though. Growing up, she'd used to hate having friends over at her house, not that there had been many. But she had been embarrassed by the old worn furniture and things scattered throughout the house that had been her grandmother's. Her mother, despite working her ass off never could afford to redecorate the place.

But all those insecurities of the old house didn't matter. Nicky and Boo who she met in middle school hadn't cared about the old ratty house. They in fact loved it. The Vause household was a much different and relaxing environment then their own.

Alex, who had been working since sixteen, had earned enough money to move out and eventually out of town had been ecstatic with her first real apartment in the City. And once she'd started to work for the pharmaceutical company she was working for now, despite not having a college degree, and making more money than her mother ever had bought her first place where she was living now still, her beloved loft.

Oh she couldn't fucking wait to be back there. She missed her home. She would love to bring Piper there one day, she couldn't help, but think. How she craved to throw her down and tie her up to the four poster California bed… Her nerves quickly turned to excitement at the sudden sexy though assaulting her mind. She bet that Piper wouldn't mind being tied up. She always seemed to be down for anything sexual or at least she thought so.

Sexual fancies and thoughts continued to fill her mind as she made her way through the rest of town, past the high school and eventually ending up back on her street. Alex debated if she should go home and change first, but thought against it. There was no point. She had a feeling that it didn't matter what she was wearing. They wouldn't be staying on much longer the moment she stepped through that doorway.

The brunette stood at the edge of Piper's driveway looking at the shiny clean exterior of it. Alex didn't remember how the house had looked before that contracting guy had renovated it and a few other homes in the neighbourhood and sold them for twice what they had originally been up for. She figured the same would happen to her mother's house. It seemed to be an ongoing trend around here. There was nothing really wrong with the old houses, but people wanted shiny new things here. They liked modern fixes with the old time charm and all that.

Alex shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans as she shifted her eyes briefly over to Healy's. She didn't trust the guy and after seeing him the other night with Piper's husband, she had a stronger feeling of dislike for the man. She half expected to see him sitting on his throne looking out onto the street like she'd seen him do numerous times. However, the chair on Healy's porch was empty. It looked like the old man was at work or something. Alex, who didn't really care, didn't give it too much thought on his whereabouts. She was just glad to see he wasn't here to spy and report back to the husband.

She adjusted her glasses which had begun to slip down her nose due to sweat and made her way towards the front door.

Alex debated about knocking or ringing the doorbell. She decided on the first, considering that's how Piper always seemed to do.

Her knuckles barely touched the surface of the wood, before the door was being pulled open.

Piper smiled shyly at her.

"Hi."

"Hi."

The two of them continued to look at each other for a moment longer before Piper was taking a small step back and holding open the door further allowing for Alex to come inside the house.

"You can take off your shoes or leave them on. It's up to you," rambled on Piper nervously as she closed the front door.

"I'll take them off," stated Alex as she bent down and began to undo the laces of her black combat boots. "I walked here from Nicky's," she began to explain. "It started to rain. I don't want to trace mud throughout your house."

"Whatever," Mumbled Piper, nonchalantly or tired to at least. She was trying to keep her nerves at bay. She just couldn't get over the fact that Alex was here in the flesh in her home. It felt like inviting a new friend over for a playdate.

After Alex successfully removed her boots, Piper ushered her into the living room. Unlike when she'd been at Nicky's, Alex sat ridged on the couch. Her eyes briefly taking in their surroundings as Piper busied herself with opening a bottle of wine.

"You're okay with wine?" asked Piper from where she stood at the makeshift bar, which was a small two door cabinet that they kept their alcohol on. Piper one day wanted to get a proper vintage bar cart, but for now this would do. The house still needed a whole lot of decorating. They'd done much to it since they moved in, other than painting some of the walls.

"Yeah. Wine's good." Alex smiled at Piper as she rubbed her hands nervously along her thighs.

"It's pinot grigio," explained Piper as she finished filling up two glasses and handed one to Alex. "I figured white would be safer."

"Save the red wine hangover." added Alex.

"Exactly!" spoke Piper with a grin.

"Well…" Alex coked an eyebrow as a small smirk spread across her face as she looked at Piper.

"To tonight," Piper spoke breathlessly holding up her glass.

"To tonight, kid!" echoed back Alex.

Piper smiled radiantly at Alex as they continued to made eye contact and clinked glasses.

Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you would like.

Julie