Shit. That was the first thought Piper had as she leaned against her front door, her heart thudding like galloping horses. Why had she done that? She didn't even like the girl...did she? Piper peeked out of the net curtain that covered the window and watched as Alex stood, and then, after a tiny pause, walked away.

A thousand thoughts ran through her head. She could tell anyone! Everyone's gonna know, and then what? And although all of those thoughts unsettled her, there was one that upset her the most. The thought that she couldn't shake, no matter how hard she tried to banish it from her head. When can I see her again?

Piper groaned as she slammed her bedroom door behind her. Polly's voice rang in her ears. What's she doing here? She gritted her teeth as she wondered why she'd let Polly speak to her like that. It wasn't like she had been there for her when she was blackout drunk.

And yet, when her mom called up the stairs asking, "Who was at the door, Piper?" she couldn't bring herself to explain to her mom any more than she'd explained to Polly.

"A cold caller," Piper muttered.

"What were they selling?" Mrs Chapman called up. Piper rolled her eyes - like her mother would ever buy anything from anyone selling at the front door anyway.

"Drugs," Piper called back softly, a smirk playing on her lips as she wondered what her mom would really think of Alex. Hell, she didn't even know what she really thought of Alex. Not yet, anyway.

"What was that, darling?" Mrs Chapman replied.

Piper huffed. "Rugs, mom! They were selling rugs."


Nicky raised her eyebrows as she swung the door open to Alex standing on her doorstep. She took one look at her and smirked. "You look like the cat that got the cream," she remarked. "Or should I say pussy."

"Cat is fine," Alex said, wrinkling her nose. She shot Nicky a roll of her eyes as they made their way up to her bedroom, but if Nicky caught it, she didn't react.

"Wasn't the word I was replacing, but okay," Nicky said, laughing. "You're smooth, Vause, I'll give you that."

Alex sighed. "Nothing happened, not really," she admitted. "I mean, she kissed me, but it was only a peck." She ignored the taste of Piper's lip gloss, still present on her lips and burned into her memory, and shrugged.

"You struck out," Nicky concluded, opening the door to her bedroom. Lorna sat on the bed, a sheet pulled up over her otherwise nude body. Upon seeing Alex, she scrabbled at the sheet, pulling it around her more tightly and glaring at Nicky.

"You said you'd get rid of whoever it was!" Lorna hissed. Then, turning her attention to Alex, she smiled, her cheeks burning. Lorna could never stay mad for long. "Hi, honey, hope your date went well!"

So they've been talking about me, the taller girl thought. "Oh, it wasn't a date…" Alex trailed off as Nicky slid down on the bed next to Lorna, smirking.

"You know I can't turn my girl away," Nicky said, looking as though butter wouldn't melt. "Besides, she's seen it all before. You don't remember skinny dipping at the lake last summer?"

Lorna's already pink cheeks tinged a deeper beetroot and she tucked the sheet under her armpits to keep it up. "Listen, I was pretty drunk," Lorna explained. "You shouldn't have let me! A turtle bit me in a very uncomfortable place," she complained, wincing at the thought of it. Nicky looked at her with a grin on her face, running her foot along Lorna's hairless, bare leg.

"Stopped you?" Nicky laughed. "I jumped in after you."

Alex watched the two girls joke back and forth. Despite Lorna telling Nicky off, she could tell that there was a real bond between the two. Not just lust, love. It made her stomach twist as she listened to them. She'd never had anything like it; even with Sylvie, it was just a bit of fun. Neither of them had really taken it seriously. And Sylvie was off her face for most of the relationship, anyway.

It was something she'd always wanted, but had never managed to get. Nicky leaned against Lorna, and Lorna's manicured hands began to rake through Nicky's mane of hair. Before anything else started, Alex cleared her throat.

"I'm gonna leave you two to it," she said. Lorna looked up in surprise, and then checked her phone.

"Oh, don't do that, sweetie. I have to get going now anyways," she giggled. "Christopher has booked us a table at the new restaurant that opened in town. It's Italian! He knows me so well."

If she noticed Nicky stiffen, she didn't react. Indeed she seemed oblivious to the roll of Nicky's eyes and the way she leaned away from the brunette. Alex glanced at her in sympathy, but Nicky looked away. "You'd better get going then," Nicky replied flatly. Her whole demeanor changed, and Alex's heart ached for her best friend. Rejection was always hard - mixed messages, though, were even harder to navigate.

Lorna pecked her on the cheek, brushing away blonde hair from Nicky's eyes. She was too busy pulling on her jeans to notice Nicky's glassy eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay, honey?"

"Sure," Nicky said, nodding. "See ya tomorrow, doll." Again, Lorna didn't notice the way her voice caught in her throat. But Alex did, and she crossed her arms as Lorna passed her, not returning the gesture when the small Italian gently squeezed her arm.

The door slammed behind Lorna, and Alex glanced at Nicky. Nicky didn't say anything, but stared at Alex wordlessly.

"Can I sit?" Alex asked.

Nicky shrugged. "Since when do you ask?"

Both girls sat with their shoulders touching, and Alex pushed her glasses up her forehead to rest on her head. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Nicky lied, glancing out of her window and watching Lorna hailing a cab to go on her date. The blonde lit a cigarette, despite Marka's and the rental agreement rules, and inhaled deeply.

"What about...you know," Alex said vaguely. Nicky glanced over at her. "Lorna's boyfriend."

Nicky took another drag from her cigarette, tipping the ash into a trinket dish Marka had given her for her thirteenth birthday. "He's not even her boyfriend," she said dismissively. "He's just some poor moron that she's obsessed with."

Alex raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Whilst she didn't know if Nicky was telling the truth, she couldn't be sure she wasn't, either. Lorna went to the school on the other side of town and Christopher was some boy in her English class. Alex had heard all of this, and had wondered what the fuck Lorna thought she was doing to Nicky, but the blonde seemed to take it in her stride. On the surface, at least.

"Straight girls, eh?" Nicky said, rolling the cigarette in between her fingers. "They'll fuck you up, I'm telling you." Nicky looked up at Alex, who was looking down at her worriedly. She waved a hand in the air. "Eh, but I'm sure your straight girl is fine. What went wrong, anyway?"

"She kissed me," Alex said, and Nicky quirked an eyebrow up. "And then she slammed the door in my face."

"Ah man. Fuck her, you know? Don't worry about it, Al."

Alex nodded, but bit on her thumbnail. She might not worry about it, but she would spend a hell of a lot of time thinking about it. "Don't give me any ideas," Alex smirked.

Nicky blew out another cloud of smoke and laughed. "There's the Vause I know."


Piper worked up the nerve to knock on Alex's door. The scrunched up piece of paper in her hand showed this as her address. She'd found it hours earlier, she was ashamed to admit, by scrolling through Alex's Instagram and finding a photo of her house. To her embarrassment, it wasn't even location tagged. Actually finding the address had been a feat on its own.

But now, even after those hours of will I, won't I she was beginning to cave. She wasn't sure what was scarier; the inside of Alex's house, or more specifically, the occupants of it, or the neighborhood in which she lived. Piper was used to manicured lawns and doorbells that chimed Fur Elise. She wasn't used to junkies hovering in alleyways and screeching urban foxes. She hopped foot to foot and whispered to herself. "Just do it, Piper...knock on the damn door.."

She rubbed her wrist anxiously, pleased that her scarlet trench coat covered her newest Pandora necklace, but worried nonetheless. After a few more minutes of contemplating - and a close encounter with a homeless man - Piper quickly rapped on the door.

A raven haired woman answered, clad in only a robe that looked like silk but was most likely polyester, and raised her eyebrows. "What are you, a girl scout?" She looked around Piper, trying to see if anyone was with her. "We don't want any cookies."

Piper stumbled on her words, wondering if she was serious. "What? No, I'm not a girl scout," she stammered. She grappled with the piece of paper in her hand, where she'd scrawled Alex's address - or what she thought was Alex's address. She stood up a little straighter, hoping to not show how small she felt. "I thought Alex lived here, Alex Vause."

"What's it to you?" The woman replied. Then, betraying any doubt she'd planted in Piper's mind, she turned and called, "Alex! There's someone at the door for you. God knows what for."

"I'm...I'm just a friend," Piper said. She hoped she hadn't got Alex in trouble - truthfully, she'd lost track of time and the glow of the moon told her it was far later than what was polite.

Alex ran down the stairs. Piper eyed the creaking staircase, wondering if it was safe to walk down, let alone run down. She was dressed only in her pajamas, a pair of shorts and a mismatched tank top. Nothing like Piper's matching, floral pajamas that her mom had bought her from Barney's. But on her, somehow, it worked.

"Piper?" Alex said, squinting without her glasses. Her hair fell down her shoulders in wet waves, and her face was bare. Piper still thought she looked beautiful, and felt self conscious in her full face of makeup. "What are you doing here?" Before Piper had the chance to answer, Alex glanced at her mom. "I've got this, mom," she murmured. "It's just a friend from school."

"Sorry to disturb you, Mrs Vause," Piper said, offering the still irritated looking woman a smile. Her smile always won over adults.

"There's nothing Mrs about me," she snapped back. Piper's smile faltered. Almost always. "I'll leave you two to it. Alex, invite her in. You know that guy's been hanging around lately. Close the damn door, okay?"

Despite her sharp tongue, Alex smiled easily at her mother and Piper got the impression that the two were close. She never had that with her mom. The blonde watched as Not-Mrs Vause walked away, swallowing hard.

"Sure, mom. Piper...come on in," she said, not quite knowing what to make of the unexpected visitor. She bit her lip. The living room was in a state - as always, Alex thought bitterly, remembering Piper's perfect home - and her bedroom was a tiny box room with barely space for a bed. But it was private and clean, and it was Alex's safe space. She gestured for Piper to follow and opened up her bedroom door. "It's not like your house here," Alex said bluntly. "But you can sit down, if you want to."

To Alex's surprise, Piper sat down on the bed immediately. She didn't even appear to look at the sheets with much detail before throwing herself down. "I like the decor."

"Thanks," Alex said warily. "I painted it myself."

"It's lovely," Piper said genuinely. And then she faced Alex head on as she sat down next to her. "But I'm not here to talk color schemes."

"Oh?" Alex said, almost mockingly. She wasn't sure what to make of the unannounced visit, and her guard was up.

"Your proposition," Piper said. "Is it still on the table?"

Alex uncrossed her arms. She was surprised Piper even remembered any of that night, let alone daring to believe she was considering it. Half of her wanted to jump at the chance to spend more time with her - but it had been a pipe dream. Something she'd never dreamed of getting Piper involved in, not really. It wasn't a game for the weak, and Alex had been burned before. She hesitated. Drugs were a hard business.

"Well?" Piper prompted.

Alex pushed her hair back. "Okay," she said finally. Even if she just kept her around for kicks, and didn't give her any real responsibility, they'd be spending time together….Alex wanted to kick herself for wanting that, but she desperately did. "Yeah," she said. "Okay. Meet me by the lockers on Monday."

"And Alex?" Piper said. Alex's tummy did a flip when she said her name, but she forced herself to keep a straight face.

"Yeah?"

"This is strictly business. Deal?"

"Deal."

Alex held her hand out, and Piper shook it for the briefest of moments. And though Piper looked like an angel, Alex couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just made a deal with the devil. A beautiful, enchanting devil.


A/N:

Hi lovelies! I hope you enjoyed.
Please let me know what you thought. Thoughts, ideas, constructive criticism, questions, I want to hear it all!
It really inspires me to write the next chapter.
Thank you for all the lovely responses so far.

Hope you're all well.

- Star xo