Alex turned the ignition of the car off and looked up at the huge house in front of her, she checked the address in her phone for what felt like hundredth time and then tapped a message into her phone to let Piper know she had arrived. Alex watched the "sending bar" at the top of screen move painfully slow before it sent her an error message, she swore under her breath as she realised that she'd have to get out and find Piper herself. Alex opened the door of the car and climbed out nervously.
The house in front of Alex was unlike anything she had imagined. It went up at least 3 levels and was surrounded by beautiful gardens. The driveway was lined with perfectly cut hedges that led to a small water feature at the front of the property. The house and its surrounding were neat and tidy, making Alex wish she had got a hire car instead of borrowing Diane's old silver Mondeo. Alex bent her knees so her face was level with the window of the car and checked her appearance, she certainly didn't feel suitably dressed for the venue.
Alex could hear activity coming from the double garage at the side of the house, she swallowed nervously before finding the courage to walk towards the source of the noise. When she reached the garage Alex found a young guy, swearing profusely as he tapped aggressively at something on his work bench. At the sound of Alex's footsteps he straightened up slowly and turned around to face her. The young guy had floppy blonde hair that covered half of his face and smiled sweetly when he saw Alex.
"Hi, I'm Alex." Alex took a step towards the guy and extended her hand.
"Ah right, Alex… hey." The guy looked down at his hand and wiped it on his cargo shorts before shaking Alex's hand. "I'm Calvin… Cal."
Alex smiled and gestured towards the work bench, "What are you doing?"
"Ugh, I'm trying to get this stupid camera to work. I'm building a hedgehog hotel and I want to be able to see inside without scaring them away."
Alex immediately warmed to Cal-his confused expression looked remarkably similar to Piper's. "Mind if I take a look?" she asked.
"Sure."
Cal stood aside and allowed Alex to move past him. Alex approached the work bench and surveyed the various wires and monitors. After a few moments she shouted out making Cal jump.
"Ah! Here!"
Alex reached down to switch some of the wires around, she stood back triumphantly as the small monitor crackled and a clear picture from the camera emerged.
Alex turned around to look at Cal, "The red wire needed to lead into the power supply and the white and yellow have to feed into the monitor."
Cal was looking back at Alex in awe, his mouth hung slightly open in shock. "You are so much cooler than I thought you'd be."
"Thanks," Alex laughed.
The pair were so preoccupied with looking at the camera set up that they didn't hear Piper entered the garage behind them.
"I thought I heard you out here."
Alex turned to see Piper approaching them, she was wearing a pair of navy blue jeans and a white vest top that made her skin appear darker than it usual. She had a flannel shirt tied around her waist and Alex had to fight with every instinct in her body to stop herself pinning her girlfriend against the wall and kissing every inch of her exposed skin.
"Hey…" Alex breathed, well aware that she was probably doing an awful job at hiding her desire for Piper.
Thankfully Cal broke the sexual tension between the pair as he spoke excitedly to Piper; "Pipes, your girlfriend is so cool, she literally took one look at the wires and was able to fix them like that." Cal clicked his fingers at his sister.
"Stereotypical lesbian," Alex smirked in response to Piper's raised eyebrow.
"Well, I obviously have great taste in girlfriends" Piper trawled as she took a step closer to Alex. The dark haired girl looked amazing, she was wearing ripped black jeans and a simple black t-shirt but still managed to look incredibly sexy.
"Gross" Cal scoffed as he looked across at his sister practically eye fucking her girlfriend in front of him.
Piper snapped out of her trance and stuck her tongue out at Cal before turning back to Alex, "I just have a few more bits to get together, you OK to hang for a bit?"
"Sure, fancy showing me that hedgehog hotel Calvin?"
Piper cringed inwardly at the use of Cal's full name, she knew that he hated being called it and was expecting him to correct Alex immediately… but he didn't. Instead Cal nodded enthusiastically and gestured for Alex to follow him to the door at the back of the garage.
Piper hurried back into the house and pulled her possessions together as quickly as she possibly could- she couldn't wait to be alone with Alex again. She hurtled down the stairs with her bags and placed them in the driveway next to the silver car that she recognised as Diane's. Piper continued round to the back of the house where she found Alex and Cal crouched down in the flower bed. Alex was examining the wall behind the large, wooden "hedgehog hotel" and was talking to Cal passionately.
"If you drill right here you should be able to just feed the wires through to the work bench."
"Will it reach?"
"If you drill here it will definitely reach, trust me. Just make sure you cover the wires up properly though, you don't want any of your guests biting through them- or leaving you bad reviews."
"Cool, thanks Alex," Cal laughed.
Piper watched the soft scene unfolding in front of her, watching Alex teach Cal so patiently made Piper adore her even more than she thought was possible. Alex smiled at Cal sweetly before standing up and turning towards her girlfriend.
"Ready to go babe?"
Piper nodded, "You sure you'll be OK Cal?" she asked as she moved towards her brother protectively.
"Danny is picking me up soon, I'll be fine."
Piper opened her arms to her brother who rolled his eyes dramatically before accepting the hug. During the hug he whispered in Piper's ear loud enough for her to hear but too quiet to alert Alex; "I approve."
….
Alex looked across at her sleeping girlfriend, she had never seen such a picture of perfection. Alex was listening to her favourite acoustic playlist and was struggling to keep her eyes on the road- a sleeping Piper provided a much better aesthetic. Alex had one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on Piper's thigh- Piper had intertwined her fingers with Alex's and wrapped both arms around her girlfriends. Alex had lost feeling in her arm a long time ago but didn't care, she stroked Piper's fingers with her thumb and smiled as she saw the blonde's mouth twitch into an unconscious smile.
There were barely any other cars on the road, which Alex enjoyed- it felt as though her and Piper were the only people in the world. She could see a mountain range in the distance and so knew they were getting close to their location although the trees were still thick around them. They had just passed through a small village when Piper stirred.
"Oh thank god," she sighed sleepily as she opened her eyes. "I thought I dreamed that I was here with you."
Alex smiled at how adorable Piper was. "Nope, afraid not."
Piper stretched and shifted her body angle although making sure to keep hold of Alex's hand. Alex strained her arm slightly at the new found freedom groaning slightly as pins and needles started to surge to her hand.
"You know, it's funny you say about dreaming… I'm sure you were talking about me in your sleep," Alex teased.
Piper cheeks turned a dark red- She wasn't moaning in her sleep was she?!
"I'm only kidding" Alex laughed as she saw the look of worry flash across Piper's face.
"Arsehole" Piper said as she stuck her bottom lip out at Alex and pouted- a look that always worked wonders on her girlfriend. Alex smirked back at the blonde before bringing Piper's hand to her mouth and planting a soft kiss on the back of it. At the contact of Alex's lips on her skin Piper pulled in her bottom lip and smiled once more.
….
The pair arrived at the lake house late in the afternoon. The sun was low in the sky but still shone brightly, intermittently blinding the girls as it found its way through the trees. Piper had her face pressed against the window and gasped loudly when they left the tree-lined route and reached a clearing. A beautiful lake house loomed over them, in the background the peaks of mountain tops were visible above the trees.
"I've never seen anything so beautiful" Piper breathed as her eyes scanned across the scenery in front of her.
"Me neither," Alex murmured- although unbeknownst to Piper she was talking about something completely different.
Alex manoeuvred the car into a space in front of the house and turned off the engine. Before she could even take her seatbelt off Piper was out of the car and staring up in awe at the lake house. Alex smiled at how adorable her girlfriend was, she climbed out of the car and collected their bags from the truck before joining Piper at the front of the house. It was a modern looking building made mainly from stone and glass- there was laughter coming from around the back of the house and from the look of the cars parked up at the front Alex and Piper were amongst the last to arrive. Alex picked both of the bags up and carried them up the stairs leading to the front door- she discreetly swore under her breath at how heavy they were.
"Babe, let me help!" Piper whined.
Alex grimaced, "I told… you, I can… manage" she huffed as she hauled the bags up the final step.
"You're so strong" Piper teased as she kissed her girlfriend on the lips.
Alex smirked back as she opened the door with her elbow and allowed Piper to enter the house. The inside of the lake house was just as beautiful as the outside. Natural light filled the room, shining on the neutral sofas in the living room and the white surfaces of the kitchen. Grey stone adorned parts of the walls whilst the rest were painted white and decorated with colourful canvases. The back wall was made completely out of glass, they were both stood in awe at the beauty of the building when Nicky entered from one of the patio doors at the back of the room.
"There's my favourite couple!" She yelled as she ran towards them and flung her arms around them both. "Look at you being the model girlfriend." Nicky laughed as she looked at Alex who was still struggling with the bags.
"Here, give me one" Nicky continued as she reached out towards Alex. Much to Piper's dismay Alex obliged and handed Nicky one of the many bags in her hands. "I'll show you to your room if you want. Chapman, Lorna is outside helping Boo start up the BBQ- I think she may need your expertise before we all contract salmonella."
Piper laughed and kissed Alex softly on the cheek before following the noise of laughter outside. Nicky smiled at her friend before leading her down a corridor lined with windows, when they reached the end of the corridor Nicky opened the door and entered, allowing Alex to follow her in. They set their bags down onto the floor of the beautiful bedroom, the large windows revealed a breath-taking view of the lake and surrounding mountains. Alex's first thought was about how much Piper would love the room.
"Welcome to the honeymoon suite," Nicky smirked. "You'll be pleased to know that this is one of the only rooms that Lorna and I haven't had sex in."
"You're such a good friend" Alex laughed.
"That's nothing, I also made sure that you had an ensuite room with a shower- yano' just incase you get the urge again."
"Fuck off" Alex laughed, smacking her friend playfully.
….
The backyard of the lake house was stunning. The garden was covered by neatly cut grass and sloped gently towards the glistening lake. The afternoon sun shone directly onto the water causing it to glisten attractively as the gentle wind caused the water to lap up onto the beach sand surrounding its perimeter. When Alex left the house and took in the garden for the first time she thought that the lake almost looked like was a portal to another world- the way the trees cleared perfectly to frame the picture perfect scene was surreal. Alex looked around the group of people who were huddled in one group on the grass, they were all sat on sun loungers, garden chairs or random pieces of wood. As she scanned the large crowd of people Alex noticed all of the soccer team were present, some of them had brought friends or roommates- meaning that there were some people Alex had never met before. Her eyes flitted from left to right repeatedly as she sought out Piper, her eyes came to rest on the blonde who was set in a deck chair next to Lorna laughing adorably as she watched Boo "expertly" flip a burger.
Nicky smirked at Alex as she tapped her on the arm and handed her a folded up garden chair. Alex thanked her friend before following her over to the large group.
"Tough luck Boo, the flirting's gotta' stop now that Alex is here!" Lorna laughed as she spotted Alex approaching.
"Damn it!" Boo joked as she spun around from the BBQ which was billowing smoke across the garden. "I was just starting to soften her up."
Alex laughed and greeted everyone around the circle, introducing herself to those she'd never met before. She unfolded her chair between Nicky and Piper who placed a hand on Alex's leg and squeezed it gently.
"Vause! Heads up!" Poussey shouted.
Alex looked up just in time to see Poussey reaching into a bin filled with ice and hurtling a can of beer towards her. Alex caught the can of beer but not before the remaining ice on the can had sprayed all over her.
"Thanks" she laughed, wiping her now wet hand on her jeans.
"You know the rules Alex! Last one at a party has to down their first drink in one," Watson shouted.
The group collectively cheered in agreement as Alex sighed and reluctantly opened the beer and drained the contents. She tipped the last drops into her mouth and spluttered as she swallowed a pocket of air. The group laughed as a concerned yet amused Piper patted Alex on the back heavily until she regained composure.
….
"Where are you both escaping to?" I thought it was Boo I had to worry about with my girlfriend?" Alex asked jovially as Nicky and Piper stood up and collected another beer from the ice bin. Alex had been busy helping Trish and Watson attempt to fix the sound system but had clocked onto the fact that Nicky and Piper had been talking intently for the last few minutes.
"I'm going to show Piper around Vause, relax" Nicky laughed. "You worried I'll show her a better time than you."
"Impossible" Alex laughed as she watched them walk off towards the house. Alex wasn't the jealous type, but it made her slightly nervous that her girlfriend and best friend had been whispering secretively behind her back.
….
The house was like a Tardis- it was somehow so much bigger inside than it looked from the outside. Nicky proudly showed Piper every room from the endless amount of bedrooms to the indoor games room. When it felt as though they had covered every square foot of the house Nicky led Piper out through a side door and down a winding path to the lake. The small beach was only a couple of hundred of metres long but was adorned with sun loungers which the girls perched upon as they looked out across the lake- it was so vast that they couldn't see an end to it. Piper looked around and spotted a homemade rope swing hanging from a sturdy looking tree and a small boathouse that was poised perfected above the water. Trish and Alex must have fixed the sound system as heavy bass music could be heard in the distance as well as the sporadic sound of unified laughter.
"So, c'mon you can tell me now without Alex spying on us… did you tell your parents about her?"
"Not exactly," Piper replied. She ignored the look Nicky was giving her and carried on. "I know what you're thinking! I'm not ashamed of her Nicky, I made that mistake before with the whole double date thing and that definitely won't happen again! I just don't think I'm ready to bring everyone in on it yet."
"What do you mean bring everyone in?" Nicky smirked.
"Not like that! I just think that things are so good right now, I don't want to bring anyone into our relationship that might ruin it- so I'm just being careful about who I tell. Don't you ever get the feeling that things are too good to be true?"
"I think that's a pretty ridiculous saying to be honest" Nicky shrugged as she finished off her beer. "Things are supposed to be good Piper, you're allowed to be happy- this is real, you and Alex are real- anybody who looks at the two of you together can see it's painfully obvious how in love you are."
Piper's head snapped up at the mention of love.
"Oh come on Chapman… you haven't said it yet?"
Piper shook her head. "You think she loves me?"
Nicky softened her expression at the vulnerability surrounding the younger girl, "Of course silly, anyone can see it. Look, I'm not saying you need to go and shout it from the rooftops- all I'm saying is that Alex is obviously important to you right?"
Piper nodded eagerly.
"Then fuck everyone else, you should be honest with your parents and if they don't accept that then fuck them… you have a family here and a whole LGBT community ready to welcome you with open arms- you'll never be alone Piper."
Piper smiled at Nicky, her eyes shining with the threat of tears.
"Don't you get emotional on me, Chapman! Alex will kill me if she knows I made you cry," Nicky rubbed a small circle on the top of Piper's back as she wafted her hands in front of her eyes to squash the threat of tears falling down her cheeks. "Speaking of which, we've been gone for over an hour now- they'll be rumours if we're gone much longer. You good?"
Piper nodded as she stood up from the sun lounger, "Thanks Nick."
….
When they re-joined the group there was a fire raging in the pit in the centre of the circle of chairs. The air had chilled slightly as the sun had continued its descent and the slight wind blew the smoke from the fire away towards the house. It was fair to say that everyone had gotten progressively drunker in the time that Nicky and Piper had been talking. Lorna greeted her girlfriend by practically tackling her to the floor in an attempt to kiss her lips.
"They're about to add the garden to their black book" Poussey shouted as Nicky writhed around on the floor trying to get Lorna to her feet again.
"This image reminds me of a dream I had once" Boo said as she leant back in her chair to get a better view.
The girls all set about laughing, Piper couldn't help but join in as she watched Nicky plead for help on the grass. She had never seen her friend this drunk before and to see her being so uncharacteristically aggressive as she fought for her girlfriends affection was amusing to say the least. Piper eventually felt bad for Nicky and so attempted to get between her and Lorna and lift her to the ground. She almost had Nicky to her feet when Alex came running out of nowhere.
"Tag team!" She shouted as she jumped on top of Nicky, knocking her back to the floor.
The girls exploded into more laughter, Boo doubled over and had to sit down before her knees buckled underneath her and Watson jumped up and down cheering the girls on. Nicky was now pinned beneath Lorna who was still trying to kiss Nicky and Alex who looked like she was trying to either pinch or tickle her friend. Eventually, with the help of a hysterical Poussey, Piper managed to pull Nicky free and to her feet.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Nicky looked bewildered before starting to laugh when she looked down at Lorna and Alex rolling around on the floor crying with laughter. The girls stayed on the floor for a few moments before clambering unsteadily to their feet. Alex stumbled forward right into the front of Piper. As she looked down at her girlfriend she noticed that her eyes were struggling to focus. Alex stared at Piper's face for a few seconds before a wide smile spread across her face- a smile that suggested Alex had just recognised who she had stumbled into.
"Oh hi, you're my girlfriend," Alex slurred before hiccupping. "You're very… beautiful."
Piper glanced across at Nicky who was smirking at her friend whilst trying to keep Lorna from attacking her face with kisses. As Nicky gave in and allowed Lorna to kiss her cheek the brunette realised, as she went to grab Nicky's face, that she had a grass stain on her hands.
"I look like that green monster thingy" Lorna exclaimed.
"Oh my gosssh, me too!" Alex slurred as she looked at her elbows which were also stained green. "The amazing Hulk!"
"Incredible Hulk, ssilly" Lorna laughed hitting Alex playfully on the arm.
"We're hulk sisters!" Alex laughed, collapsing on the floor again with Lorna.
"Jesus they're fucked" Piper laughed.
….
A/N- Double update for you- I wanted to get to a big chapter but I just haven't had the time! Next chapter is going to be more Lakehouse and a big Nicky style party with some unexpected gatecrashers joining in! I am in work this week but I will be off the week after so plan to write loads, I'm so thankful for you guys being patient and I promise that these chapters will start to fall back in line with the story soon!