"If you really need to know, I'll tell you," Alex said finally, leaning back and moving from kneeling next to Piper to being sat with her feet underneath her. "You didn't have to give me an ultimatum."

"If I hadn't, would you tell me?" Piper asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked at Alex plainly. "You haven't yet."

Alex looked down. "No," she admitted. "I guess I haven't."

"I don't want to be like this," Piper said, her voice cracking. She looked away from Alex. "I just want to be with you. I want it to be easy. I want it to be like it is in the movies.

"You don't act like it," Alex said. She scraped her hair back. "I wish you could be proud to be with me." Like I am, she thought.

"I am," Piper insisted. "Is that what this is about? I knew it."

Alex sighed. "Life isn't the movies, Piper. But it isn't about that. I just wish that for your sake, you could be happy with yourself. Happy with me. What do you think will happen if your mom finds out you're gay?"

"Keep your fucking voice down!" Piper hissed. "Do you want someone to hear you?"

Alex threw her hands up in the air; as far as she was concerned, Piper had just proved her point for her. "Your parents aren't even home!"

Piper turned away from Alex. Evening light steamed in through the window. She closed her eyes as it hit her face. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why didn't you just talk to me? We could have worked through it."

Alex wished she could believe Piper when she said that, and Piper wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Her mom had grown to accept how her dad was over the years and they didn't seem too unhappy. Maybe she could have forgotten about it, in time…

"It's not like you can even be public with him," she spat out the last word. "He acts like you're some prize he's won. Why would you want that? Why would you destroy us for someone like that?"

"I already told you," Alex said, looking at Piper as if she'd wounded her, "I didn't cheat on you. I would never cheat on you."

No. She couldn't have forgotten it. It had already been like a lead weight for the few hours she'd known. It had been making it hard to breathe, hard to even think straight. Relief didn't cover the emotion Piper felt hearing those words. It felt like a millstone had been placed around her neck, and Alex finally denying it had removed it.

A sob erupted from her chest. Yet she couldn't shake that uneasy feeling that had been with her since her conversation with Nate. If she hadn't cheated on her, what was so bad that she couldn't find it in her to share it? They were supposed to rely on one another. They were supposed to be a team.

"Stop telling me what you didn't do and start telling me what you did do, then." Piper hugged herself. "You're scaring me, Alex."

She turned round to face her, her arms crossed.

Alex nodded. "I don't know what Nate's been telling you…"

Piper said nothing, and though Alex looked disappointed when she didn't fill in the blanks, she simply stared and waited.

"But it's nothing like you've been building up in your head. I just...I needed him. Not in that way," she added, heaving a sigh. "It happened the day after the night I stayed at yours. You remember I didn't meet you like I said?"

"I take it you weren't with Nicky," Piper said, pressing her lips together. She raised her eyebrows, almost challenging Alex to lie to her again.

"No," Alex admitted, looking down. "But Nicky doesn't know where I was either. I wouldn't tell her before you."

Piper nodded although she wasn't entirely convinced. She crossed her legs and leaned against her bedroom wall.

"When the lights didn't come on at home I knew I needed to do something about it. Mom couldn't come home if I couldn't even have the heating on. I didn't want her to worry about getting back to work before she was ready. She doesn't need the stress."

"Mm." Piper shrugged in agreement. "Neither do you."

"I thought if I could just start selling a little again, it would be enough. And I knew Nate used to be my best customer. Nothing crazy, just weed, a few pills here and there...just for parties, really. He'd been bugging me for weeks and I finally called him back. He wanted to meet in an alleyway, which wasn't really unusual…"

"He could have done anything to you," Piper said, her hard eyes softening. "Why did you go alone? Why would you put yourself in danger like that? I would have gone with you. You know that."

"He isn't like that," Alex insisted. "He's an asshole but he's not...you know." She shrugged, an embarrassed look crossing her features.

Piper raised her eyebrows. "You seriously think that after what he did with Nicky?"

Alex's brow creased. "What did he do with Nicky?"

"I thought you knew," Piper said, squirming.

"Knew what?"

"You'll have to ask her yourself," Piper said. "Nate mentioned something...I'm not really sure what. He called her easy. A junkie." She peeked a look at Alex, whose face flushed bright red.

"He said that?"

"Among other things," Piper said quietly. "He...he didn't do anything to you, did he?" A guilty pit formed in her stomach and she knew she would never forgive herself if that was the case.

"No," Alex said, her voice sounding far away. "He didn't do anything like that to me. But I think I've fucked up. I think I've fucked up big time. I didn't know he did anything to Nicky. I didn't know he was like that," Alex stammered.

"So what happened?" Piper asked. For the first time that day she reached out for Alex's hand and squeezed it hard. It was the answer she'd wanted, so why did she feel as if the bottom was about to drop from under her?

"He said he had an easy way for me to make money," she said after a beat, staring at their entwined hands. "Too good to be true, right? I know what you're thinking. But it was just a business deal...just a way for me to pay the fucking bills. Oh God. What have I done?" She put her head in her hands.

Piper's forehead wrinkled. "Making money doing what?"

"Dealing," Alex murmured.

Relief flooded through Piper's veins, and then she wondered what kind of world she'd gotten herself into where that was the preferable choice.

"Is that all?" she asked incredulously. "You hid that from me? You told me that on the first day we met!"

"Yeah, well, it's a little-"

"Just stop selling him stuff," Piper interrupted, shrugging her shoulders. "Then it's over. You don't wanna help him have a good time," she said with a sour expression. "Tell him to get his pills from somewhere else. It's not your problem."

"Well...that's the thing," Alex said, shaking her head. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "It's not just pills anymore."


Nicky set her school bag down on the counter as she hopped onto a stool. She helped herself to a pastry, reaching behind the glass case, and watched as Red looked through papers on a clipboard. After a moment she placed the board down and smiled at Nicky.

"How was school?"

"It was fine," Nicky said, chewing loudly. "Same as usual, I guess. Piper's house was fucking weird, though."

"You should work harder in school," Red said, one hand on her hip. "You could be a straight A student if you just applied yourself."

She constantly surprised herself at what she let slide with Nicky. Her boys would have been pulled up instantly if they'd used that kind of language - in fact, her boys would have known not to say it in the first place. Yet with Nicky she found she didn't even flinch. As long as she was sober, healthy and relatively happy, she was content. She now knew how much worse it could be, and she was happy with the status quo. She couldn't help but nag about school, though. She wanted Nicky to do well and knew that she could, if she wanted to.

Nicky rolled her eyes. This wasn't the conversation she wanted to be having right now and Red knew it.

Red sighed but relented. "What happened at Piper's?"

"Well, first off, Lorna rushed off," Nicky said, sounding almost disappointed. "She didn't have much to say. I don't know why. And then at dinner, Piper blurted out that Alex was a lesbian." Nicky snickered. "You should've seen her mom's face."

"Why would she say that?" Red asked, her brow furrowing. "I thought it was a big secret."

"How'd you know that?" Nicky asked, her nose wrinkled. "I don't think it's a secret, but I don't think Piper's exactly shouting it from the rooftops. And her mom definitely doesn't know they're together."

"Moms aren't as oblivious as teenagers think," Red said with a wry smile. "It's sad she thinks she has to hide that from her mother, though."

Nicky nodded. "Yeah. I guess it is."

"How did your mother react when you told her?" Red asked. It was only in good moods that Nicky let her in on her home life. Usually it was a throwaway comment, typically aimed at her mother and also typically derogatory.

"She wasn't happy," she admitted with a shrug. "But I didn't really worry about telling her. I knew she wouldn't kick me out or anything. She's not really like that. Besides…"

"Besides?" Red prompted. "What?"

"I knew I'd always have a home here with you even if she did."

Red swallowed hard. She blinked a couple of times to clear the tears misting in her eyes and then nodded.

"Yes," she said after a moment, when the lump had gone from her throat. "You definitely would."

"I don't think Piper's going to tell her mom," Nicky said. She picked at the last of the pastry, sending flakes fluttering to the floor. "I just get that feeling. I think maybe she wants her mom to find out somehow without having to tell her."

"Mm," Red agreed. "Did she…"

Nicky looked up as Red trailed off. "Did she what?"

"Did she mention anything about Nate Griffiths?"

Nicky squirmed in her seat. "No," she said, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "Why would she?"

Red stared at Nicky for a moment, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. "I just wondered," she said honestly. "He was talking to her the other day and I just got a bad feeling. That's all."

"Talking to her about what?"

Red held her hand up in a shrug. "I'm not sure."

"He's an asshole," Nicky said, glaring at the floor. "I hope you told her to stay away from him."

"Oh, I did," Red said, leaning against the counter. "I don't want any of my girls going near him. I told her that. I couldn't protect you and I'll never forgive myself for that, but -"

"It wasn't your fault, Red."

"I should have tried harder." Red said, swallowing hard. "I should never have let you go to that party. That was on me, not you."

Nicky shrugged. "I'm not your responsibility, Red."

Red looked up, her eyes hard. "You are now. You're my girl, and I don't let my girls get hurt. And if somehow they do, then I'll make the person that hurt them pay."


"What do you mean, not just pills?" Piper's voice was high. "Please tell me it's not what I think it is."

"It's easy for you-"

"Yeah!" Piper glared, snatching her hand away. "It is easy for me! Nicky almost died, Alex! Is that not enough to put you off?"

Alex looked away, her head in her hands. She looked near tears herself. "You don't even like Nicky."

"Did you really just say that?"

Alex closed her eyes and held up a hand in surrender. "I know," she said finally, and her voice was unusually quiet. "Don't you think I know?"

"I know you know," Piper said softly. "That's why I'm so upset."

"I'm sorry."

"You could go to prison," Piper said needlessly. "Not just juvie for this shit, Alex. You could go to prison and stay there for fucking ever."

"Yep."

"Do you have nothing else to say?" Piper almost pleaded with her. "Are you seriously done talking now?"

"I don't know what else to say, Pipes. I really don't."

Piper stood up, brushing herself off. She stared at Alex for a moment before turning on her heel to leave. "Well, I do."

"Wait, Piper-"

"Don't follow me," Piper warned. "Just stay there until I come back. Or am I the only one who's supposed to accept things blindly in this relationship?"

Alex said nothing, but she sat back down. "Please don't make things worse."

"Don't you trust me?" Piper asked.

"I don't trust him."

"Well, leave him to me."


Piper steadied herself as she stared up at the gym door. Alex hadn't wanted to give up this information - where he usually hung out - but after gentle pressure she had relented. It had seemed the only way to save her relationship, and she would have done anything to try and salvage it.

It didn't look like Piper had imagined at all. Nate showed off at school, flashing an iPhone and Rolex watches in the hallways. This looked downright dingy. She hummed about even touching the handle. Bricks were starting to crumble, being gingerly held together with ivy that snaked across the whole building. Piper looked at it warily.

With a little glance down the street and a sigh she finally yanked the door open. Fluorescent lighting assaulted her eyes as she stepped inside, a musky smell permeating her nostrils. She wrinkled her nose as she kicked some leaflets out of her way. A few broken treadmills were scattered across the large room, unused and unloved, and papers were strewn across the floor. Piper stepped over them as she surveyed the room.

Whatever this place was used for, it hadn't been a gym for quite some time. An uneasy feeling settled in Piper's stomach as she stepped through the room, the only sound being the staccato rhythmic click-clack of her heels on the tiles.

A hum of music came from a small back room, and Piper quietly slipped into it. Facing away from her, sat on a busted desk chair was Nate, his earphones in, fanning himself with a wad of money. Piper glared at his back. Then she kicked a small metal garbage can that sat in the corner of the room, sending the pail flying across the room.

Nate ripped his earphones out, whipping round to face her. He looked almost panicked until he realized it was her. The fire of her fury only rose to inferno levels when he visibly relaxed upon seeing her face. She wanted to invoke fear, to feel like her presence made a difference in a room. She certainly didn't want to be a relief to him.

"What are you doing, sneaking around?" Nate asked, leaning against the rickety desk and flicking through the dollar bills like they were a pack of cards. "You know you're always welcome here, baby."

Piper ignored the remark. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About Alex, obviously," Piper retorted, her chest flushing. "If it weren't for her I wouldn't be here." I wouldn't even spit on you if you were on fire, she thought.

Nate leaned back in his chair, groaning. "I'm tired of talking about her. You're no fun when you talk about her. She makes you too serious. I remember when you used to go to parties and have fun. Now you're like a grandma. Loosen up a little."

"This isn't some kind of date," Piper spat. "I'm here to set you straight."

Nate smirked. "Kind of rich, coming from you."

Piper's face flushed fuchsia. "You think you're untouchable," she said, her voice rising to a hysterical level. "You think you're hot shit and that it's never gonna catch up to you, but you're wrong!"

Nate licked a finger and kept counting the money, the stack of twenties looking healthier by the second. "You think?"

His cool demeanor was like gasoline to a fire to Piper's temper, and she hadn't been expecting that response. She was lost for words for a moment before she nodded. "Yes. I do!"

"Alrighty then," he said with a shrug. He nodded towards the exit. "Door's that way. I'm kind of busy, if you haven't noticed. Due a visit from your girl soon, too."

Piper balled up her fist. "She won't be coming."

He raised his eyebrows, a smirk playing on his lips. "Wouldn't count on that."

"Do you really think everyone's going to stand by and watch you destroy hundreds of lives?" Piper asked. "Is your ego really that big? Do you really not care?"

"Well, I don't see any Good Samaritans lining up round the block, so yeah, I guess so." He laughed. "Listen, baby-"

"Stop calling me that!"

Nate exhaled through his nose. "You're not gonna like it if you keep pushing me."

"Well you're not gonna like it if you don't leave Alex alone," she snapped. "I'm gonna be a massive thorn in your side, a pain in your ass, until you leave her the fuck alone."

His chair screeched against the linoleum floor as he stood up, his jaw tight as he stared at her.

Piper instinctively took a step back. He'd been leaning down against the counter when she spoke to him at work; now, drawn up to his full height, he towered over her. She tried to hide the gulp she couldn't help taking. Her sweaty palms gripped the back of the chair she was standing in front of - an armor, almost.

"Are you really that fucking stupid?" Nate hissed. "Like I have a choice anymore than she does. When you get involved in this, you're involved for keeps. Vee doesn't like to be messed around. Vause isn't going to get away that easy."

"What are you talking about?" Piper demanded. "Vee?"

The name rang a bell, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it from. She certainly didn't have time to think with him leering over her. Her heart pounded under her coat and she hoped that if her face betrayed her true feelings, that he felt guilty instead of pleased.

Nate looked to the clock, his brow creasing. "Let's just say you don't wanna find out," he said tightly. "Just go, Piper. You can't talk her way out of this. You shouldn't even try."

The door swung open with a jolt. Both teenagers flinched at the sound and Piper turned round, finally able to put a face to the whispered name.

"Vee," Nate said, scrambling to his feet. "Sorry. Piper was just leaving-"

"No, Piper should stay," Vee said easily, a sickly smile spreading across her bright red lips. "I think we ought to have a little chat." She turned to Piper and raised her eyebrows. "Don't you?"

A/N:

Thank you for reading, and thank you for the reviews on the last chapter: whenaspritemeetsaunicorn, Juliette45, Jamla, cece1212, GuestAppearance, Guest, Guest and VeraRose19. I never usually get that amount of reviews and I really appreciate it. I tried to update sooner but only managed about a week early, lol. I hope you liked this chapter regardless. I hope you guys had a happy Easter if you celebrate. Please let me know your thoughts, I love seeing your comments.

Stay safe.

- Star xo