It's been a while, but, you know, life happens.
Happy reading.
It's rare that something like this happens, but my body is brought awake by the freezing temperature of the room I find myself in.
It's not ridiculously bright, but there's enough light for me to assess my surroundings. The duvet is lying across my shamelessly naked body, a pile of clothing rests at the side of the bed, and of course, I'm not in the bed alone.
Unlike me, Alex's naked body is mostly covered by the duvet. I'm momentarily jealous, but then I find just the sight of her sleeping beside me brings back all sorts of memories from what we had said and done the night before. I don't want to wake her up, but I also don't want to leave her.
I pull the duvet upwards and shiver as I feel my body attempt to regulate its temperature and deal with the goosebumps that have risen across my skin. I'm surprised I haven't woken Alex up considering my right leg is touching hers, but I quickly gather that our activities that ran into the morning have worn her out.
I consider going back to sleep, but now my mind is too filled with what's going to happen next. I'm not ashamed of what happened between us; I just hope Alex isn't either.
I manage to reach down to my clothing that is on the floor by my side of the bed and rummage for my phone. There aren't many notifications, but the most recent is from Polly.
Is it safe to come in?
The message confuses me for a moment, but I quickly gather that she assumes Alex and I had gone back up to my room after they had all gone to theirs. It's from near 10 minutes before, and I wonder whether I should reply or not. I assume Polly would have said something by now if she'd gone in and realised I hadn't returned to my room last night, so I place my now locked phone onto the nightstand.
"Friends already giving you shit?" Alex mumbles into her pillow, her voice groggy with sleep - or maybe the lack of.
"Not yet," I smile, turning onto my right side to properly look at her. "I think I may even get a few cheers," I chuckle, enjoying the sight of Alex's green eyes opening slowly.
"Sleep well?" I ask as I watch her stretch and adjust to being awake.
"I did," she replies, her voice strained as she continues to move her body, eventually lying on her side facing my way. "You?" she smirks.
"Could have slept for longer," I comment, knowing she too probably feels the same way, "but I'd like to think I have a welcomed reason for going to bed late."
"Welcomed reason, hey?" Alex repeats my wording, raising an eyebrow.
"Would you not call it that?" I ask, hoping her answer is anything but disagreement.
"I'd say more a long-awaited reason," Alex again smirks, and I feel my insides flip in ways similar just a few hours before.
"What time are your friends coming?" I ask, wondering how long we'll have together before going our separate ways.
"A few hours," Alex licks her lips. "I should really shower and get back before I'm late," she reaches up a hand, tucking a stray piece of my blonde hair behind my ear.
"And I should probably let the others know you haven't kidnapped me," I chuckle, enjoying the sight of Alex's smirk turning into a toothy smile.
Her hand slowly runs along my jaw, to my collarbone, to the top of my breast.
"Shower?"
My eyebrows flick up as I feel her fingers clench lightly.
"Race you there?" I ask, placing my hand over Alex's, running my thumb over her pale skin.
Before I even get the chance to move, Alex leaps out her side of the bed and rushes towards the door leading to the bathroom. I laugh to myself at the image of her running naked, but the thought doesn't last for long as I roll out of bed to follow her lead.
While I knew my friends would want to know all about my night, I'm glad they didn't grill me straight away. I arrived home to Polly sleeping on the sofa, and the others still asleep in their rooms. I hadn't considered the fact that they are all nursing hangovers, but it allows me to slip up to my room and spend most of the day unnoticed.
It isn't until evening time where I'm asked about what went down between Alex and I. We're all seated at a local bar that's atmosphere is far from the quiet one we expected. Most of the tables are filled with groups of people laughing as they drink throughout the evening, and I'm just grateful Polly called up to make a reservation a few days ago.
"So, Piper," Sam begins from where she's sat opposite me.
She has a wide smirk on her face that lets me know this section of the evening is going to revolve around me. I'm somewhat glad it's in public, meaning there's some things I can't say, but I'm also alarmed that I'm with my friends who won't care about whether we're in public or not to get things out of me.
"Tell us all about it," she continues, taking a sip from her wine glass.
"I'm guessing you mean about last night?" I ask, knowing that is of course what I'm being asked to talk about, but wanting to give myself some time to think through what I'm going to say.
"How was it?" Esme joins in, placing both elbows on the table to lean closer.
I run my tongue along my lower lip, thinking about what to even say, before I decide to be truthful.
"Amazing," I respond, unable to hide the smile forming on my lips. "She is," I pause, not wanting to say anything that will give my friends a pass to hold over me. "Talented."
That leads to another follow-up sessions of questions, which come to a pause when Sam goes to the bar to get our next round fo drinks.
"Looks like your talented friend is in the building," Sam says once she returns, placing our drinks on the table, but nodding her head over to a table on the other side of the room.
Turning my head to the left, my eyes fall onto a booth table hosting what looks to be 5 women. If I were to guess, the women around the table are Alex and her friends, but I can't be sure from this far away.
"It might not be her," I comment, not wanting anyone to embarrass me by going over.
The group are laughing at something a woman with a wild head of hair had just said, and as if by chance, the woman who looks like Alex from behind all but confirms it as she throws her head back laughing. I catch sight of her glasses sitting on her face - the ones I had placed over her eyes after our shower just hours ago, which alone gives off her recogniseable side profile.
I'm stunned for a moment, caught watching Alex in a natural environment that I haven't seen her in before. She looks happy - relaxed, even, and I wonder whether that feeling will wear off after playing host over Christmas.
"Still sticking with that answer?" Polly asks, and I choose not to answer - not that anyone was expecting one, as, like mine, my friends' vision is fixed on Alex's table.
I watch as my friends are all eagerly observing, not a single one of them saying a word. I think of breaking the ice with some humour before I see all of their facial expressions change unexpectedly.
For a moment, I wonder what's caught their eye, but it doesn't take long until I too find my own widening.
Alex is seated on the edge of their booth with her back facing our way. She's talking to a woman who's standing by her side, and by the looks of it, they seem to know one another. I watch Alex's friends join in with the exchange - all of them sharing a laugh, and I wonder what Alex's involvement is with this woman - it must have been something worth telling her friends about.
I try and tell myself it's an innocent conversation - they're old friends having a conversation, until the woman's hand lands on Alex's shoulder, sliding around so her finger tips are touching the back of her neck. Alex doesn't flinch or move away as the woman talks to her with direct eye contact, in fact, she smiles at whatever was being said.
I can feel my friends' eyes flickering over to check if I'm watching, and I'm glad that once something is said, it isn't aimed at me.
"That dirty bitch," Polly says to no one in particular.
I continue watching, hoping Alex does something that makes me feel as though she hasn't already forgotten about our time together. The hope doesn't last for much longer, as I watch the dark-haired woman standing by Alex's side lean down and deliver a kiss on her cheek - one that seems to be edging closely to her lips.
I feel my jaw clench as I watch the exchange. I know Alex doesn't owe me anything, but you'd think she'd at least wait 24 hours before moving onto the next person.
The woman starts to walk away but is stopped by Alex's hand reaching out to grab her wrist. I can see her saying something to the woman - no particular expression on her face, but I don't watch any further to figure out. I know my friends had seen the whole thing, and given everything I'd told them about my night with Alex, I hope they don't say anything to make matters worse.
"I'm just gonna go to-" I begin, standing from my chair to go to the bathroom and tell myself to not care about a woman I'd only met days ago.
"Piper, we can go if you want," Sam interrupts, placing a hand on top of mine.
"It's fine," I stand. "Really. I'll be right back."
I don't wait for anything else to be said, and am glad that I don't have to directly go past Alex's table to get to the bathroom.
It's thankfully empty, so I take the time to stand by the sinks, closing my eyes over as I try and pull myself together. I like Alex - that much is pretty obvious, but I'm struggling to admit that what I'm currently feeling is hurt. I've never met anyone like Alex, and after what I've just seen, I'm wondering if that's the impression she leaves on most women she meets.
I think about how I'm going to handle this. As far as I'm aware, Alex doesn't know I'm here, and she certainly doesn't know what I've seen. Yet, as much as I want to tell myself it's probably one of her close friends, I can't see that being the truth. Not after seeing how they looked at one another.
I know I said I'm fine, but at this moment, I want to go home.
I open my eyes and look at myself in the mirror. I fix a couple of strands of hair that are out of place and lick my lips. Alex Vause won't ruin my Christmas.
I manoeuvre through the bar and back to my friends. I can tell they sense that I'm uncomfortable, which is soon followed by them saying they too want to go home.
I pick up my coat from the back of my chair and start to slip my left arm into the sleeve. It's difficult to not look over in Alex's direction when I can again hear her table laughing. And in the split second I do look, her body is turnt to the side looking my way despite the woman from before now sat next to her. She delivers a light smile.
"Ready?" Polly asks.
"Yeah," I respond, immediately looking away from Alex and back over to my best friend. "Ready."
I can feel Alex's eyes following us out the door, but I don't care to look. I don't even want to look. As far as I'm concerned, I'm spending the rest of my time here not caring about Alex Vause.