** Hi everyone. I'm back faster than I thought. I've got a new, rather short story. So far it's four chapters, and I guess that'll be it. It's been something that's been on my mind a couple times and I had fun writing this little story. Here is the first chapter, hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1: Spare Room
Piper sat in a café drinking her vanilla flavoured latte while enjoying the first free afternoon she had in quite some time. Most of her time she spent either working, studying for her evening classes, taking her evening classes or visiting Alex. When she moved to Ohio it took her a couple weeks to find a new place to live. Eventually after looking at umpteen apartments, she found the one she was now living at. It was a bit bigger and also more expensive than she had planned and calculated, so she had to control her other expenses. But then it was also big enough to fit two people, so Alex could move in as soon as she came out. Also, Piper really liked the apartment. It had a nice and very new bathroom, with separate bathtub and shower, and a balcony where she had started to grow different plants including some vegetables.
Ever since she moved here, she and Alex had been in a quite good place. Piper was confident as never before that she'd do anything to eventually have Alex by her side and she felt like Alex needed the reassurance she got through the move. Piper had shown her that she wouldn't just run away and leave when things got more difficult, instead she had taken up that challenge and changed her life by moving from New York to Ohio to be close to her and still able to visit. Tomorrow she'd visit her wife. She still got a bit excited when she called Alex her wife, in thoughts as well as when she talked to someone. For her visit tomorrow she had a proposition she wanted to talk to Alex about, which could solve or relax her precarious financial situation, but she wasn't sure what Alex would think about it and Piper wouldn't do it, if Alex wasn't okay with it.
"Hi, Pipes." Alex smiled widely as soon as she sat down at the seat opposite of Piper in the visitation room.
"Hi, Al." Piper mirrored her smile and held her hand onto the barrier so Alex could shortly take it, only to be reprimanded by the guard on duty a second later. Both rolled their eyes and chuckled. It always depended on the guard on duty, if they said something when they sought this tiny bit of physical interaction that was possible. Other guards were more tolerant and looked the other way, today one of the stricter ones was on duty.
"How was your week?" Alex asked.
"Quite busy. The next paper for my law class was due and I spent most of the weekend finishing it. I hope I'll pass, it wasn't the easiest topic to write about. Work has been quite normal, I'm getting used to the procedures so I am a little faster than when I started, which makes it easier. Altogether it didn't leave much time for much else, really." Piper told her. "How about you? Have you gotten a work assignment?"
"I'm sure you'll pass. You've always been a fast learner. Yes, my counselor told me yesterday. Surprise, I'm back doing laundry." Alex replied with a slight smirk.
"Familiar work, I see. Everything else is okay? Do you still have enough in your commissary?" Piper wanted to know.
"Yeah, everything is fine here. Well, as fine as it can be." Alex assured her. "I'm trying to keep to myself, except the old litchfield girls I'm not looking for any other contact. I found a couple books in the library that I found interesting enough to read."
"Great. Let me know if you want me to send you any. I recently found this book that I thought you'd like." Piper offered.
"I'll let you know when I'm through with the books in the library." Alex replied.
"I brought some more pictures of the apartment." Piper said excitedly. "I am finally done decorating and got all the furniture and everything." she got the pictures out of her coat.
"So this is the very new and nice bathroom." Piper held up the first picture. "And the living room, I found this table runner that fits really well with the chair seats and the colour of the couch."
"I can see that. It looks amazing together, Pipes. Wait is that my drawer?" Alex asked, looking closer at the pictures of the living room.
"Yeah, I got it moved from the storage room, I thought it'd fit perfectly in here. And I want it to be our apartment, so I wanted to find some space for your things too." Piper explained.
"I like that. And it really fits well. It looks amazing, Pipes. You've really got an eye for this." Alex was amazed, it looked really comfy and a place she'd love to live at. Not that she cared, she'd live anywhere as long as she lived there with Piper. Piper showed her the rest of the apartment which looked nicely decorated too. "It looks great. I can't wait to move in there. In three years." Alex added, knowing very well, that she didn't get out that soon.
"Me neither. I also have a proposition. As the apartment is a bit bigger and a bit more expensive than I had planned, I thought it might be helpful if I could find a roommate. We do have a spare room which is big enough for someone to live in. With the rent, the classes, food, the car and putting money in your commissary my budget is pretty tight. Renting out that room could really help and give me some financial freedom." Piper explained, waiting anxiously for Alex's response.
"Pipes, you don't have to put money in my commissary, I've got a work assignment now and I'm earning something. Not much, but I'll be okay." Alex replied.
"I'm not discussing that again. I want you to be able to call me whenever you want and need and not be dependent on the bit you make with your work assignment. It's not up for discussion. If you don't like the idea and don't want me to do it, I won't. I'll manage it, maybe I can work more hours or figure out something else. It'll be okay. Renting out the spare room would help relax the situation a little, but I understand if you don't feel comfortable with this." Piper said. "I'll leave the decision with you."
"I don't know, Piper. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable knowing some stranger is living with you, but I understand that it'd help financially. I wish I could do something to contribute, so you wouldn't be in this situation." Alex replied. She was a bit torn, she didn't want Piper to have a stressful week and work more than she already did, but knowing there was a person she didn't know living with her wife didn't feel right either.
"You don't have to decide right now. Take the time you need and let me know when you made your decision. Until then I'll be fine." Piper tried to calm her. "It was just an idea but I can think of something else, if you don't like it."
"Okay, Pipes. I will think about it." Alex said and stayed silent for a bit. After a short time thinking she had some questions to help her with her decision. "How do you want to find a roommate?"
"Well I thought I'd put an ad online and then see who replies. Maybe make a small questionnaire to get a bit of a feeling who the applying person is. I don't want just anybody to move in there. I thought I'd see how many write back and then narrow it down by different criterias. And see who I might get along with. I know it's not a way to be one hundred percent sure that you don't by chance pick someone completely crazy, but I think I've got a bit of insight into human nature and won't hopefully completely misjudge." Piper explained her thoughts.
"Your compass, whom to trust and whom not hasn't always been the best, Pipes." Alex argued.
"Visitation ends in five minutes." the guard announced loudly.
"Gosh, time goes by too fast. And I know. How would you feel if I told you about all applicants who made it into the closer choice and you helped me pick one?" Piper suggested.
"I'd actually feel a bit better about this. But this isn't a yes yet. Let me think about it, okay?" Alex said.
"Of course. Any time you need. I want you to be okay with this." Piper took Alex's hand that she'd snuck onto the barrier between them and pushed it gently to reassure her.
"Two minutes." the guard changed position, not noticing the contact this time.
"The visitation times are always too short." Alex complained.
"Yeah. I agree. Oh" Pipers head perked up. "I almost forgot. Well you can have all the pictures I brought, if you want. But I have another one, a little surprise."
"What is it?" Alex looked at her curiously. Piper handed her the picture and her eyes went wide. "Goodness, Pipes. I don't know if I want to hang this picture on my cell wall for everyone to see."
"You don't have to. You could keep it in one of your books and look at it whenever you feel like it." Piper said almost blushing. She had thought about it for a while but eventually decided to do it. She had taken a really sexy picture for Alex, not a nude but quite close. It showed enough to get some sultry thoughts. Piper had taken quite some time to find the right lighting and place and clothing that showed a bit more but not too much. It had taken her a couple hours until everything had been the way she wanted it to.
"Well, thank you. I guess I'll be busy the next few days." Alex smirked. "I am lucky my cellmate sleeps like a rock once she falls asleep."
Piper laughed. "Well I wish I could be there, but I guess my picture has to be enough for now."
"Inmates, time is over, say your goodbyes." the guard announced.
"I love you, Pipes. Thanks for the pictures. I promise I will think about the roommate thing and let you know." Alex held her hand out and Piper instinctively took it and held it as long as she could.
"I love you too. See you soon. Call me!" she replied as Alex and the other inmates were led out of the room. She always hated that moment, the seconds after Alex left the visitation room always made her feel so empty and a little bit heart-broken. All she wanted to do was to take her home and show her the whole apartment in real and not in pictures and to just start their life together without the limitation of visitations and phone calls.
The rest of her week was pretty uneventful. Friday afternoon she just got home when her phone rang.
"Hello." she answered.
"An inmate from Columbus penitentiary is trying to contact you…" she heard the automatic voice and answered yes. She knew the whole speech all too well already.
"Hi, Alex." she greeted her wife happily.
"Hey. You seem joyful." Alex noticed.
"Always happy to hear your voice." Piper replied.
"Same." Alex gave back. "Pipes, I thought about your proposition from wednesday. I'd like to get a say in the decision as you explained, but I think I'm okay with renting out the spare room, as long as the roommate knows it's only until I'm out. I don't want a roommate when we both finally live together."
"Yes, of course. I don't want that either. I'll make that as clear as I can that as soon as you're out they'll have to find a new place." Piper assured her. "Thank you for agreeing though. It'll really help a lot with taking some stress from me."
"I don't want you to work more than you already do, Pipes. And I don't want you to feel stressed all the time. You need some time to relax. So this is one of the few things I can do for you from in here." Alex reasoned.
"But you let me know as soon as something bothers you, okay? I don't want anything to burden our relationship. I'm happy we're in this good place right now, where we can talk to each other openly like that. I wouldn't want anything to ruin that." Piper asked.
"I will, I promise." Alex replied. "Sorry Pipes, I'll have to go already, there is a line and I need to use the bathroom. Talk to you soon. I love you."
"I love you too." Piper hurried before the line went dead. She was relieved that Alex agreed to rent out the spare room. Now she could put an ad online and write the questionnaire where she'd hopefully get to know a few important things about her possible roommates already. She googled for other similar ads and questionnaires she could take as an example to write her own.
She used her free weekend to video call her brother, Goodall had grown quite a bit recently and Piper loved to see her niece whenever she could. What she had said to Alex in that phone call was still true, so far she didn't have any plans of becoming a mother or to ever have children, but she wanted to be a good aunt. Danny and his family lived too far away and visited quite rarely to really develop a closer relationship to his children, but she wanted to try her best with Goodall and siblings if she were to have any.
She had put the ad online as soon as she had finished writing it and the questionnaire. Sunday morning she checked her email to see that she'd gotten a couple responses already. She'd written in the ad that she'd take all applicants into consideration that had sent her a mail with the answered questionnaire by monday evening so she didn't read them yet, she wanted to check them as soon as she had the full list of applicants who had mailed her within the time frame. Monday morning she intended to mail Tom from her general law class, who had done an internship with a law firm specialising in right of residence topics. By chance they had talked about that during a break and he offered to help if she had any questions on that topic. She wanted to find out what she had to pay attention to when looking for a roommate and making a contract and the agreements she might need to do with her landlord.
Sunday afternoon she got a coffee from the nearby coffee shop and went to the park to read her book. She barely found time to read anything other than the law books she needed for her evening classes. So she enjoyed it even more, that she finally had the whole afternoon to read and/ or do anything she wanted to. For a while she just sat there, enjoying the sun and she skimmed the park and watched what was going on. For a second she thought she saw a somewhat familiar face but the person that popped into her head couldn't be here in the park with her. That person had passed away years ago. It was just somebody with quite an astonishing similarity. Also she'd only met that person a couple times and that was more than a decade ago, the picture she had in her mind wasn't very sharp anymore, time had blurred it quite a bit.
On the way home she picked up something for dinner and ate it while she turned on a movie she had wanted to watch for a bit already. Monday morning before she went to work she contacted Tom, hoping he'd answer the email soon. And indeed half an hour later she had a response. He didn't really answer the questions but rather said he'd explain over a coffee, if she wanted it to. Piper wasn't sure if she should accept, she was not completely sure what the motivation behind it was. Did he really just think it'd be easier to explain and ask upcoming questions immediately or did he want to drink a coffee with her because he was interested? Eventually Piper decided to agree and make clear she was only there for help with her questions. As she had some time this afternoon she offered to meet at the cafe close to her workplace. Luckily it fit for Tom too, so they'd meet there and Piper would hopefully get her questions answered.
"Hi, Piper." he greeted her when she arrived at the cafe.
"Hi, thanks for helping me. I guess I won't take much of your time, I only have a few questions." Piper replied, trying to make sure she was only there for answers.
"Sure. I just thought it might be better to talk in person, if any other questions pop up." Tom said. "Should we order first?" Piper agreed and they both ordered.
"So you're planning to rent out a room in your apartment, if I got that right?" Tom asked as an introduction.
"Yeah. The apartment is a bit bigger than I had planned and therefore a bit more expensive. So I thought finding someone as a roommate, at least temporarily, could help." Piper explained. "I am quite happy my wife agreed to it, so now I put an ad online to find a roommate."
"Your wife? You're married? Then why are you living alone? I hope you don't mind me asking." Tom was surprised.
"Yes, indeed." Piper confirmed and told him about being out of prison and that Alex was still there and that her transfer made her move here. It had taken a while but now Piper was okay with telling people that she'd done time. To be true to herself she had to be true to her past, about all of it. As expected Tom had some questions once she'd told him about prison, but they were the questions that she got every time she told someone: What did she do? How long had she been in prison? And then usually one or two questions about either her family or some cliche, that people wanted to know if it's true.
"That's quite a story. No boring life, huh?" Tom said.
"No." Piper agreed. "Really hasn't been so far, though I am completely ready for it to be."
"So, to your questions…" Tom resumed the reason they had met. They talked for about an hour and Piper was glad she could ask some more questions she hadn't thought about beforehand.
"Thanks for meeting me and answering my questions." Piper replied and got up.
"No problem. Just email me if there should be anything else. I'll mail you the sublease agreement later." Tom said as they walked out.
"Thank you very much. I'll see you in class on Thursday." Piper was relieved to have the information she needed to be safe everything went right and she wouldn't get in trouble when for example something in the sublease was wrong.
"See you on Thursday." Tom said and got in the uber he had called to pick him up.
Piper went home and started taking a look at the applicants. Some of the applications she threw out right away, because they fell through the criteria she had set up for herself to consider the applicant. When she was done and the time frame she had said was over that left 5 applicants that sounded like they could fit as her roommate. Her next step was to take them to her visitation with Alex on Wednesday to see what she'd say. She had uploaded a few pictures of the room and some of the apartment and offered a viewing, if the applicants were interested and made it into the closer choice. She had narrowed it down to five applicants, three asked to see the room first, but the other two had written that they'd gotten a good impression that they were interested even without a viewing. But she wanted to wait with sending invitations for a viewing until she had talked to Alex.
Wednesday she brought the filled out questionnaires to her visitation. Alex was quite curious who had applied but said two of them didn't feel right and she'd rather not invite them. That narrowed the list down to three. One of them had said she was okay without a viewing, but Piper decided to send invitations to all three of them. If she turned the opportunity down it was okay too. And indeed, the two who'd said they'd like to see the room agreed to come for a viewing on Saturday. The third person said she'd have to turn it down since she stayed with friends a bit further away and couldn't manage to come into the city and view it first.
"Hey Piper, have you found someone for your room?" Tom asked her on a short break during class that Thursday.
"I've narrowed the list down to five people, Alex vetoed two of them so I'm down to three, two will come to view the room on Saturday. The other person says she can make it but is still interested. So I'm waiting for what Saturday brings." Piper replied.
"Cool. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you find someone nice, that you get along with." Tom replied as they sat back down to resume to the rest of class.
When Saturday came around one of the people who'd come to visit canceled, saying he found something else and wouldn't come to the viewing. The second viewer came but pretty soon noted that it wasn't quite what she had been looking for. So that only left the one applicant who couldn't come to a viewing. Piper was okay with that. From what she had read in the answers to her questionnaire the lady seemed nice. Joanne Valois was a 65-year-old who had been thrown out of her apartment shortly before, obviously the landlord had needed the apartment and was officially allowed to ask someone to move out with a certain notice period. Since that notice she hadn't found a new place and currently stayed with friends but was still looking for a new place to stay. Piper decided to write her an email, offering her the room.