9
"Okay, it's your turn."
Alex furrowed her eyebrows deep in thought before asking, "What's your favorite movie?"
Piper held her hand out and wiggled her fingers. Alex raised her eyebrows but said nothing as she handed her beer bottle to the blonde.
"Do musicals count?" Piper asked. She tilted the bottle back and took a long swig.
"Depends," Alex shrugged.
"On?"
"What musical it was."
"Moulin Rouge."
"You're kidding me?" Alex turned her head to look at Piper and raised an eyebrow. "Out of all the classics you had to choose from—Grease, Hairspray—you picked the corniest one?"
"It is not corny," Piper said defensive of the film. Although, her retort was more like a squeak. "Sorry," Piper covered her mouth and hiccupped.
"I think you've had enough," Alex said reaching for the bottle. Piper pulled it close to her chest and wiggled her index finger just a few inches from Alex's face.
"It's never enough."
After they left the bar Alex had driven to the nearest gas station. She'd instructed Piper to wait while she went inside. When she came back, the attendant was accompanying her. Between the two of them they had several cases of beer, bottles of wine, snacks, and other consumables. Piper lifted her eyebrows in question.
"How many people are you planning on inviting?" Piper asked after the things had been placed in the trunk and Alex had taken her spot in the driver's side.
"I didn't know what you're preference was so I just kind of—"
"Bought the entire store? Trying to impress me?"
"I—no…well—I…" Alex stammered.
"I'm joking, relax. I am honored that you would take my choices into consideration. Although I will admit that nothing beats a cheap heavily massed produced bear," Piper said.
"Agreed," Alex answered a bit more relaxed.
"Anyways, where are we going?"
"Somewhere we can actually sit and talk," Alex said.
"Your place?"
Alex's cheeks reddened. When she answered, she avoided looking at Piper. "I'm still crashing at Nicky's at the moment."
"Then what do you have in mind?"
"Are you an outdoors person, Piper?" Alex asked.
"I like fresh air as much as the next person. Why?"
"I know a place that's sure to be empty."
And so Alex drove up the small hill to the clear landing where she had encountered Piper a couple of weeks earlier. With the blonde's help, they'd taken the stuff out of the trunk and carried it over the rail. After placing a towel on the floor so they could sit, they popped open a bottle of wine and sat with their backs leaning the rail guard, passing the bottle back and forth.
At first the conversation had been dry as they didn't know what to talk about, but as they moved from the wine to the beer, they found themselves easing into each other's company. No doubt the alcohol taking effect. They went from talking about the company and pleasantries to more friendly matters. To get to know each other better, Piper had suggested they play a game.
"I get to ask a question—which you must answer with the absolute truth—then it'll be your turn to ask and for me to answer."
"What if I decline to answer," Alex asked.
"Then you don't," Piper had simply said.
Except Alex found herself answering all of Piper's questions. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Piper didn't dwell into personal matters and kept her questions focused on Alex's persona and not her personal life; questions such as what color was Alex's favorite, or what her morning routine was like.
Without realizing, Alex found herself anxiously waiting for her turn to ask the blonde questions and would answer Piper's own in short but accurate responses to speed up the process. So far she had learned that Piper's favorite color was purple, she was a night shower person, and she loved carbs but avoided them, among an array of other interesting Piper Chapman facts.
From their exchange, Alex had discovered that Piper was easy to befriend under the right circumstances. Circumstances that the blonde automatically made assumptions of based on her reading of others' demeanors. Alex thought that in a way this was a defense mechanism of Piper's. She judged others based on their actions and kept those she saw as potential harm-doers at bay. The downside was that she could easily misjudge someone having a bad day. All in all, it was amusing to see how trusting the blonde turned out to be with a couple of beers.
While Piper downed them like there was no tomorrow, Alex mad sure to hold back. Piper noticed and made an attempt to get the brunette to drink more.
"Don't be a sourpuss," Piper said while opening another beer for Alex who still had half a bottle left.
"I'm not."
"Then drink some more," Piper pushed the bottle towards Alex.
"Someone has to drive later on, Piper."
Logic seemed to cross the blonde's eyes. She nodded, her hand still holding the bottle coming to rest on her lap. Something in the way Piper's face had fallen made something in Alex's chest constrict. She didn't want to be that person. Not that there was anything wrong with abstaining from drinking, but she had been the one to ask Piper out for drinks. She didn't want to disappoint. Not now. She held her hand out and Piper more than willingly handed over the bottle and watched with a small smile as the brunette chugged the entire bottle in one go.
An hour later, they were both somewhere between buzzed and drunk. As a safety precaution they'd gone behind the rail. Now, their game of ask and answer had turned into a small war. The reason: Moulin Rouge.
"There is nothing special about the movie," Alex argued.
"It's different," Piper held her ground.
"In what sense?"
"The ending. Unlike typical romance movies where the hero ends up with 'love of his or her life', Christian doesn't end with Satine. It's a tragedy meant to depict the real life world. You don't always get what you want. No matter how much you want it."
Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. Never before would she have thought that she would be in a situation like this. It's not that she thought the film was absolute garbage, but she didn't see the moral lesson behind it that Piper tried so heartedly to explain. To her, it was just another movie meant for hopeless romantics.
"You have to look at the overall picture. Not just the ending," she said. "He does get the girl. Just not on his terms."
"Meaning?" Piper asked. She popped a chip into her mouth and held the bag out for Alex. Alex shook her head.
"Meaning it's another chick flick."
Piper rolled the bag of chips and set it on the side then she grabbed another bottle. She handed to Alex who used her keys to open it then gave it back to Piper.
"What I fail to see is how you think he gets the girl," Piper said. By now, her words were beginning to slur. "…when in fact, he doesn't. After Titanic, this has to be the second best ending to a film about two star-crossed lovers ending in death for one of them."
"Oh, don't even compare the two. They have a similar concept—an impossible love—but Rose chooses Jack before they find out their doomed because she truly loves him. Satine on the other hand picks Christian after she finds out she's dying. She was selfish."
Piper stopped to think. "Selfish enough to give up her happiness for the man she loved? So the Duke wouldn't kill him?"
"She could have run away when Christian offered they do so," Alex said. "She didn't."
"Because the Duke was a powerful man who would have found them wherever they went."
"Because one man has eyes on every corner of the world? Admit it: Christian and Satine have nothing on Jack and Rose. "
"Jack fell in love with Rose during a span of three days. It's not like their love was any better. At least the events in Moulin Rouge transpired over a longer course of time."
Alex held her hand in front of her. "Whoa! Take it easy. Now you're just talking nonsense."
"Since when are you an experienced movie critic?" Piper asked annoyingly. Alex found it cute how the blonde's eyes rolled to the side while at the same time she let out a huff of air.
"I never said I was," Alex shrugged and smirked.
"Whatever," Piper took another drink. "My turn. Do you want a family?"
Alex was a bit taken by surprise. She pursed her lips and bit the inside of her cheek.
"You don't have to answer," Piper said.
"It's not that I don't want to answer. Just that the thought never crossed my mind before."
Piper nodded. "I can always ask another question."
"No, its fine. I guess I do at some point. Just not…right now?"
"Why not?"
"Isn't it one question at a time? You have to wait for your next turn."
"Fine. Ask away."
"Do you want a family?"
"Yes I do," Piper quickly answered. "My turn. Why don't you want a family right now?"
Alex scratched at her neck. She turned away from Piper. From the corner of her eyes she could see the blonde staring intently at her.
"I guess because my main focus right now is the company. I would like to have a family but it's not a priority at the moment. That's not to say it would be nice coming home to a partner and maybe a kid or two, but I just don't need the distraction right now."
"Oh."
Alex shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. She thought her brain was playing cruel tricks on her because there was no way she had seen disappointment cross Piper's feature at her answer. Absolutely zero chance and yet…
"What about you?" Alex asked.
"I guess it would be nice to come home to a husband and children. Maybe a dog or a cat."
"Yeah that would be nice," Alex said not failing to notice that the blonde had said husband.
An awkward silence fell between them as they both processed the information they'd learn about one another. After a few minutes Piper turned her head to stare at Alex's car.
"I wish your car had a radio."
"Yeah me too, but when they placed the scanner they had to remove a few features. The radio had to go."
"Couldn't they have configured something better? It is the twenty-first century and I'm more than sure it could be done."
"There wasn't enough space for both a scanner and radio," Alex smiled, "and to be honest I don't think my mom knew what she was doing. Much less the 'technicians' she got the service from."
"Why didn't she have it fixed?"
Alex crossed her legs in front of her. "As a lesson."
"What lesson could she possibly learn from a wrongly wired scanner?"
"If you have the money to get something done right, don't go for the cheaper option just to save a few bucks. I don't blame her. She was always used to opting for cheaper services due to the scarcity of money around the house, trying to squeeze the most out of every penny to make ends meet.
"The car was her big first purchase—" Alex gestured to the car behind them—"so I think it made her kind of iffy about splurging. At first she felt guilty about having what many don't so she tried to cut back. In the end she realized she was fortunate than most and it made no sense to keep the money locked in a safe."
Piper nodded. She didn't personally know Diane Vause but from what she heard, she knew the latter to be quite generous. She had funded several foundations to help young children attend school as well as feeding the homeless. Many thought she did it to save herself from paying taxes, but even then those savings were passed on to the same organizations. She was an extraordinary woman, Piper thought. Perhaps Alex was too…
Piper smiled remembering something. "You know during my last year at uni I had to give a presentation on entrepreneurship and the best way to approach it. Our professor gave us the whole semester to come up with ideas as to how we would fund our business and expand by modeling our concept after successful entrepreneurs. As you may very well have guessed, many researched the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Some even had the opportunity to shadow the guy who found Facebook for a day through an internship."
"Who did you model your project after?" Alex asked curiously.
"I'm no feminazi but I will admit I was rather irritated at the lack of female representation when we presented our outline. Of course I had chosen Bill Gates myself, but by the end of class I switched my entire concept," Piper chuckled. "I wrote a paper on your mom."
Alex's mouth opened somewhat in surprise. She studied Piper with the same curiosity she would study a snake with two heads. She opened her mouth ready to say something but shut it just as fast. After all, she was thinking too far ahead of herself. She wasn't the reason why Piper had elected Alex's mother–they hadn't even met then.
"Is that so?" She asked instead.
"Yes."
"Why my mother?"
"I found her amusing."
"In what way?"
"Well," Piper began, "she had the whole western hemisphere watching her every move. I don't think any woman before her has had that type of scrutiny on them. Besides, when she allied herself with Kubra I think that took the whole world by surprise. No one saw that coming."
"Yeah, no kidding." Alex chimed in. "So what did you end up getting as a grade?"
"A high c"
"A c?"
"Let's just say the teacher wasn't fond of my comparison between her and Bill Gates. Mind you, he revered Bill Gates. Almost everyone who mentioned or praised Gates earned at least a B."
"Bastard."
"It doesn't matter. I passed the class with an A minus."
"Impressive."
Piper mimicked bowing. As she did so, she tipped and Alex reached out to help steady her.
"I'm getting sleepy," Piper yawned.
Alex nodded in agreement. "We should head home." She pulled her cell out intending to call Nicky or an Uber only to find it dead. "Damn. My battery's dead."
Piper reached into her bag. "I left my house with a full charge."
"What?" Alex asked when Piper only stared at the screen.
"I don't remember my password…"
"You have to be kidding me…"
Just then a small breeze lifted the hairs on their arms. Not too far, lighting flashed across the sky. Alex looked up.
"You have to be kidding me," Alex said. A small droplet of water landed on her arm.
"What are we going to do?"
Alex stood and began to gather their things. Piper followed.
"While I would love to go home to the comfort of my bed, I know better than to drive drunk. You're in no better shape than me," Alex said. She walked to the trunk, opened it, and they both began to thrown the empty bottles inside, making sure to empty any that still had liquid in them so they wouldn't spill.
"We could walk home?" Piper suggested.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Someone might be able to give us a ride home."
"Piper, we're two drunk women and it's close to midnight. While I'm more than sure there are people of good faith out there, I don't want to risk it."
"What do you suggest we do?"
#
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lorna asked. She and Nicky were in the latter's small office. Nicky was sitting opposite Lorna, a glass of red wine in her left hand.
"Of course it will, darling. It worked for you, didn't it?"
"It worked because you knew how to make it work…"
"Well let's just hope Alex's knows what to do with it," Nicky held her hand out and Lorna passed her two sheets of paper. Nicky smiled at the two reservation confirmation numbers.
#
Alex's head hurt some. She could feel the world spinning without even opening her eyes. For a moment, she almost had the urge to go back to sleep, but the sunlight burning into her close eyelids prevented her from doing so. She pressed them together one last time then slowly opened them. Immediately, the blinding light made her turn her head.
She groaned when her body screamed with the aches and ticks all over. A sign and reminder that she had slept in her car. There was a different kind of pain in her right arm. No, not a pain, it was a numbing sensation. She opened her eyes and smiled down at deep-sleeping Piper, whose head was against Alex's arm.
A/N: I had a little time to write so here you go. Happy Holidays. May 2019 bring the best of news. (: