Infatuation- Chapter 7
"So you've finally learnt how to pick up your phone then? I was beginning to forget I had a daughter!"
Piper had been avoiding a phone call with her mother since she got to college a month ago, she was instantly reminded of why when she picked up the phone to the woman's screeching voice.
"Hi Mom."
"So no apology for the lack of communication then? Honestly Piper you would think it was a crime to speak to your mother every once in a while. You haven't been gallivanting with any of the wrong type have you Piper darling? I know how easily led you can be".
Piper fiddled with her hair impatiently, remembering exactly why she had been ignoring her mom's calls for so long.
"Piper! Are you listening to me? It really is important that you network at college like we've talked about. I was speaking to Danny last week and he agreed with me, college is a great opportunity to meet business contacts. Professors will know everything about the banking industry Piper, if you get in with the right group of academics your success will have no limit."
Piper sank down on the edge of her bed and remembered what it was that Alex's mom had said about success; Happiness is the route to success. The blonde exhaled sadly, if only her own mother had the same view on life as Alex's mom. Carol hadn't even asked her how college was going, if she'd settled in alright, made friends- all her mother was concerned with was how much pride Piper was going to bring to the Chapman name.
After promising that she would 'try harder' to try and fit into the 'correct academic crowd' Piper hung up the phone feeling deflated and worthless. Her mother always managed to make her feel like a huge disappointment, she left Piper feeling small and vulnerable.
…
Piper was curled in a tight ball on her bed when Polly entered.
"Piper?" Polly gently touched her friend's shoulder. Piper jumped slightly at her touch, swiftly wiping her eyes and nose on the back of her hand. She spun around to face Polly who had now sat down next to Piper on the bed. Piper's eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks were stained with tears.
"Oh my god, Piper what's wrong?!"
"It's nothing" Piper lied. "I'm just missing home, that's all". It was so much easier to lie to Polly, she would probably think that Piper was being silly for crying over her mother's harsh words.
"Aww, Piper. It's okay" Polly rubbed the blondes shoulder reassuring. "Everyone gets days like this, the key is to keep busy. "
Piper nodded and sat up on the bed, wiping the final tears off her cheeks. She looked at Polly reassuringly and realised that her friend was wearing a lot of make-up. She was wearing fake eyelashes that made her brown eyes pop, her lips were a bright red colour and her hair was tightly pulled back and tied with a big bow.
"Polly! You made the team?!" Piper exclaimed.
"That's what I came to tell you! Brooke and I are heading down to the basketball game tonight to meet the rest of the team and get introduced to the crowd, you HAVE to come!"
"That's great Polly, but I don't know if I'm up for it tonight" Piper replied shaking her head.
"Oh come on Piper. Those hot guys are coming with us- the Australian guy, Pete, was definitely checking me out during the whole of cheer trials earlier", Polly jumped up of the bed and waltzed around the room. "Oh and his friend, Larry, is super sweet- I told him that you were single and that I'd introduce you guys tonight."
Piper sprang up off the bed, "You did WHAT?"
"Relax Piper, he's so nice and hot too. It'll be good for you to meet a nice guy."
"Polly, I am not going to meet this Larry guy- not tonight at least! I'm not in the mood to mingle- no matter how hot he is."
"Fine. But don't think I've forgotten about this, I'll plan a double date for us soon!"
Piper rolled her eyes but before she had a chance to reply Polly was already out of the room and shouting down the corridor that she hoped to see Piper at the game.
Piper lay back onto her bed and grabbed her phone, there was only one person she wanted to talk to right now. She dialled Alex's number.
"Hey kid, wassup?"
Piper smiled down the phone and was shocked by the tears of relief that she felt upon hearing Alex's voice.
"Al..." Piper's voice broke off.
"Pipes? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Alex sounded panicked, the genuine concern in her voice made Piper's heart swell.
"Yeah everything's fine, I've just had a shitty evening that's all. I just wanted to hear your voice"
Alex laughed. "Well I'm glad I could be of service. What are you doing?"
"Nothing, just laying on my bed"
"Well now my imagination's going wild" Alex laughed and Piper could just picture the smirk on her face.
"Why don't you come out with us tonight?" Alex asked.
"Who's us?"
"The usual suspects; Me, Nicky and Poussey are going to watch the game- our friend Boo is playing"
"Oh, I don't know- I don't want to intrude"
"Don't be silly you wouldn't be intruding! Nick, can we take a detour to Piper's to pick her up?"
Piper heard Nicky's voice in the background, "Sure, I was going to ask you the same thing about Lorna."
"Awesome, that's that then", Alex confirmed.
"Okay, so I'll see you soon I guess"
"Yes you will, and you can tell me all about your shitty evening and I will do my very best to turn it around for you"
Piper smiled, "I'd like that".
"Me too"
…
"There she is!" Nicky ran past Piper and swept Lorna into her arms.
"Nice to see you too Nicky" Piper laughed before making her way towards Alex. Alex smiled at Piper before putting her arm around the blonde's shoulders, pulling her closer to Alex's body. She planted a soft kiss on the top of Piper's head.
"You alright kid?" she murmured into Piper's hair discreetly.
Piper nodded in response and looked up into Alex's green eyes- "I am now."
Poussey walked into the hallway to the two couples embracing, "Ah shit, no-one told me this was some double date type shit tonight."
Nicky laughed, "It is and you and your right hand complete the equation, now come on lets go"
Poussey shook her head "That was harsh man", she shoved Nicky playfully before leading the way out into the night.
Lorna and Poussey skipped hand in hand ahead of the group followed by a disgruntled Nicky. Piper and Alex fell to the back of the group, laughing at the other girls. Alex kept looking down at Piper as though checking that she was still okay, she didn't want to push Piper into telling her what was wrong- instead she chose to intertwine her fingers with Piper's and give her hand a reassuring squeeze. Piper squeezed back and smiled up at Alex.
"Hey, love birds- don't you agree that I look better with Lorna than Nicky does? I think it's the height similarities personally" Poussey shouted over her shoulder.
"Who cares about height when you're named after female genitalia" Nicky retorted.
"It's POUSSEY, accent a droite- bitch!"
"Yeah whatever you say" Nicky laughed, Alex and Piper had caught up with the group now as the discussion changed to what the worse name in the world would be.
"I know someone called Potato Chip" Lorna chirped.
The group set about laughing, "I think that's probably a nickname babe" Nicky laughed before putting her arm around Lorna sweetly.
When they reached the small sports arena it was bustling with people.
"Yo, AV- nice to see you" a tall, dark guy with a hat on put his fist out to Alex who tapped it with her fist in return.
"Who was that?" Lorna laughed.
"No idea," Alex replied- seemingly not fazed by the fact that a stranger knew who she was.
As they walked into the arena, the majority of people they passed shouted out their greetings to Alex, Nicky and Poussey.
"Hey, Capt. Hope you're ready for the season to start next week"- someone else yelled to Alex.
Piper was no longer holding onto Alex's hand but just by her being beside Alex she was also subject to friendly smiles and greetings from fellow students. The girls filed through the entrance to the main sports hall, making their way to take their seats. A large blonde man wearing a neon security jacket was guiding newcomers into available seats, he smiled widely when he saw the girls approaching.
"Hey O'Neill- how's it hanging big guy?" Nicky asked as she gently tapped the man's stomach.
"You got space down the front for five of us Sammy?" Alex asked.
The security guy stepped onto his tiptoes to peer at the seats on the edge of the court. He looked back around and scanned the girl's faces as if judging their eligibility to have the privilege of court side seats.
"Sure thing" he smiled. "But I expect the favour returned at the next soccer game"
He summoned over a young sheepish looking guy and instructed him to show the girls to the "best seats in the house". The group thanked O'Neill before following the young guy to their courtside seats.
"This is amazing," Piper said to Lorna who sat down next to her as the other girls went to get snacks. The band who were playing at the soccer game on the first night of college were performing in the middle of the court as both teams warmed up around them.
"Lorna! Piper!" Polly was running towards them wearing a white uniform that showed more skin than it covered. "You guys got courtside seats, what the fuck?!"
"I know, how awesome!" Lorna echoed. "You look great".
"I know, I'm so excited. But really, how did you manage to get these seats?" Polly asked in disbelief.
"They're with celebrities that's why" Nicky smirked as she slotted herself between Piper and Lorna. "Isn't that right Vause?"
Alex handed Piper a drink that smelt roughly like paint stripper, "Exactly right", Alex replied before raising her cup and downing the contents.
"You guys realise you're not allowed alcohol in here right?! Where did you get that?" Polly enquired.
"Relax Holly, last I remember you weren't reserved when it came to alcohol"
The group laughed as Polly huffed and went back to parading around the edge of the court.
"Where did you get this?" Piper asked curiously.
"I know a guy" Alex smirked.
"Of course you do" Piper laughed.
…
By the end of the first quarter Piper's cheeks were aching from laughing so much, Nicky had spent the whole game so far orchestrating chants from the crowd and initiating a huge arena wide Mexican wave- much to the girl's amusement. Thanks to her efforts Nicky had the crowd jumping, creating an amazing atmosphere inside of the arena.
Alex made her way back over to the group with a tray of cups full of the strong liqueur, she was greeted with cheers from the girl's as they each grabbed a drink from the tray. Alex held her cup up and everyone else mirrored the action "to friendship", she looked across at Piper and raised her eyebrow before downing the contents. Piper didn't know whether it was the alcohol but something about Alex tonight was setting her alight inside, she could hardly concentrate on the game with Alex next to her.
"She can't her eyes off you y'know?" Nicky whispered to Alex.
"Who Piper?!"
"Yes dummy! She's been practically drooling over you all evening"
Alex tried hard to fight back a smile.
"What's happening to us Vause?" Nicky laughed, "We're turning soft"
…
When the game finished Alex and Nicky's friend Big Boo joined the group in the stands, "What's this some sort of dyke parade?" she asked.
"Something like that" Alex laughed, "Boo, this is Piper. Piper, this is Boo".
"So you're the one who's tamed Vause then?" Boo smiled, "Well if it all goes tits up you know where to find me" Boo winked at Piper and then gave a thumbs up in approval to Alex.
Alex moved towards Piper and put her arm round her shoulders pulling her close, "In your dreams Boo".
"True," Boo replied. "There's a huge party going down at one of the frat houses, you guys in?"
"You don't even need to ask Boo you know we're there" Nicky stated, high fiving Boo.
"You okay with that Pipes?" Alex asked Piper who nodded eagerly in response.
"That sounds great!" Piper replied.
…
Piper and Lorna had head back to their block to freshen up slightly before setting out for the frat party- Nicky, Alex, Poussey and Boo were already at the party waiting for them.
"You know, it's crazy to think that I was upset a few hours ago" Piper stated.
"And now we're on our way to a frat party!" Lorna slurred, linking her arm with Piper's.
"Exactly," Piper agreed. Her head felt light with the effects of alcohol, herself and Lorna giggled and staggered slightly as they made their way down the street.
"I don't know what's going on with you and Alex, Piper. But if you ever need to talk about any of it- I would be happy to listen" Lorna presented sweetly.
Piper lay her head on Lorna's shoulder as they walked- "You're the best" Piper said.
…
When they reached the frat party the girl's grabbed hold of each other excitedly.
There was beer pong game set up in the front yard that had attracted a small crowd of people. Looking up Piper realised that the windows of the top floor of the house were open and that students were actually attempting to get the ping pong ball in the cups of beer from out of the windows. She laughed and pointed this out to Lorna, "I won't need three guesses to figure out who's idea that was" Lorna replied. Sure enough Nicky was one of the people hanging out of the window. Lorna shook her head before laughing.
Making their way inside of the party Piper saw a group of people dancing in a huge group. Her and Lorna grabbed a cup of punch and joined the makeshift dance floor. They grabbed each other's hand and started to bounce up and down to the beat of the music. The bass was pounding in Piper's ears, reverberating through her body. She downed the contents of her cups and continued to dance when Boo and Poussey joined them. Lorna and Piper squealed in excitement when 'Mr Brightside' came on, Boo and Poussey rolled their eyes but soon joined in shouting the lyrics.
…
"These parties will never get old man" Nicky slurred.
"Cheers to that" Alex replied, lifting up the bottle of tequila in her hand and taking a swig before passing it to her friend.
Nicky drank for a few seconds before lowering the bottled and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "C'mon, let's go find our girls."
…
Alex saw Piper as soon as she entered the room, one of her hands was holding Lorna's and the other one was in the air- her body was swaying sexily to the beat of the music. Alex stopped and inhaled, Piper never ceased to take her breath away.
Nicky looked across at Alex and smirked before winking at her. The bushy haired girl walked across to the pair dancing and grabbed Lorna's other hand pulling her around into an embrace. Following Nicky's lead Alex walked confidently up to Piper and grasped her hand before walking through the crowd and outside into the backyard. Alex led Piper away from the small groups of people gathered outside and around the side of the building.
"Al... are you okay?"
Before Piper could investigate this strange behaviour further Alex had turned around and pinned Piper against the outside wall of the house. Piper's hands intertwined themselves into Alex's hair as she pulled her face closer. Alex reciprocated by pressing her body against Piper's before their lips crashed together. Alex's hands grabbed Piper's face as she tried to get her body as close to Piper's as physically possible. Piper let out a soft moan at the contact on her body which was quickly absorbed by Alex's mouth. Alex's stomach flipped and desire filled her at the sounds that Piper was making. Alex ran her tongue along Piper's bottom lip before biting it softly. Piper let out another moan slightly louder now before capturing Alex's lips again, their tongues fighting for dominance in the kiss.
This kiss was completely different to the one they had shared on this first date, this was a kiss filled with pure passion and desire.
They pulled away simultaneously in order to catch their breath. Alex looked down at Piper whose eyes were partially closed, her cheeks were glowing red and her soft lips were slightly swollen. Alex ran her forefinger slowly over Piper's lips before planting a soft kiss on them. "You look so beautiful" she whispered.
A/N- First of all I apologise for how long it's taken me to update this- I've had a crazy week at work. I have so many ideas about where I want this story to go and I'm so excited to continue! Secondly, thank you for your amazing support, I love reading all of your comments/reviews they spur me on/motivate me to write even more. Please let me know if you have any ideas for the story etc. Thanks- C.