It was dark and it was raining. Piper Chapman was wet through. She had only meant to pop out for a coffee but the storm had arrived out of nowhere and now here she was soaked and holding an Americano that she'd forgotten to add oat milk to.
This was just how shit went down sometimes and her day had already begun badly. She'd burnt her sourdough toast and her room mate Polly had bought the peanut butter that contained palm oil.
Piper had tried to explain to her the issues with deforestation, but Polly was still looking a little green from last night's post work drinks.
"I get it pipes, species being destroyed, blah blah blah. Maybe you should focus on getting laid and loosening up a bit?" She'd said before face planting on the dining table.
"Well if you think the Pygmy elephant doesn't matter," piper mumbled under her breath, but Polly just began groaning and asking where the Advil was.
Piper threw the packet at her and left for work.
Piper worked at an upmarket handmade cosmetics store. It was like Lush except it was better and the manager had allowed her to stock a small amount of her own soaps.
This week she had made a cacao and lotus blossom hand soap. It was one of her favourites and the stock had been selling well so far. Her boss Cynthia had commented on the sales.
"Keep going like this and you'll own the business soon," she'd said.
Piper wasn't sure she wanted to own a corporation. Her real dream was to go travelling, explore the world and maybe Maine. But her republican parents expected her to carve out a solid career and then marry a man with a good job and a trust fund.
Her mother had already secured the country club for her wedding.
But Piper wasn't even sure it was a man she wanted. She'd had some experimentations at Smith and girls were softer, tasted better and gave far better head than men. But she didn't want to label herself. Labels were for soaps, not people. They were an oppressive tool of the patriarchy and Piper Chapman didn't want to be a pawn in that game.
She was still in this train of thought as she left the stoop of the coffee shop, not paying attention to her surroundings when she went slamming into another body. And oh, what a body it was. So distracting she almost didn't notice the contents of her cup or bag scattered on the sidewalk.
"Fuck!" The dark haired stranger said. She'd clearly been caught in the torrential downpour too, he dark hair hung in waves around her face, green eyes sparkling in the grey.
"Did you spill any of that on yourself?" She continued. "You just stepped out in front of me and I didn't see you."
She proceeded to pick up the contents of Piper's bag, including her Dior star fuscia lipstick and her battered copy of The Bell Jar.
"Have you finished this?" The stranger said holding up the book, not seeming to care that both she and the paperback were getting wetter.
"Nearly," Piper said. "It's just so dark and thought provoking. It's often regarded as a roman รก clef."
Piper prided herself on her knowledge of all things - especially literary.
The stranger quirked an eyebrow. piper wasn't sure if this meant she was impressed. She hoped that she was. Although she had only just met her, it seemed very important that this stranger was wowed by her.
"Quite the box of facts aren't we kid?" The stranger chuckled. It was deep and raspy and made Piper feel like she needed to sit down.
"Let me buy you another cup of Joe as an apology," the woman said.
It would make Piper late back from her lunch break, but she could make an excuse to Cynthia, she wouldn't mind she was sure.
"What do you want to drink?" The dark haired woman said. "No wait, let me guess, something non dairy? Oat milk matcha latte?"
Piper hated matcha, it reminded her of lawn clippings in drink form.
"She shook her head, I'm afraid not Ms. Cocky, try again?"
The barista didn't look impressed with the guessing game and tried to hurry them along.
They settled on regular iced oat milk lattes and took a seat by the window. It was raining more heavily now and Piper was glad to be inside.
The dark haired woman reached over for the sugar pot and brushed the blonde's hand. Electric pulses ripped through Piper, she wasn't sure what had come over her. She wasn't this person, going weak at the knees at the first hot woman that gave her attention. But for some reason the pull of this woman seemed so different and she couldn't explain it.
"Excuse my manners, first I go crashing into you and then I don't even tell you my name. I'm Alex, Alex Vause."
She extended her hand, Piper took it and held it for longer than she needed to, before realizing the silence was because she hadn't introduced herself.
"Oh shoot, I'm sorry, I'm Piper, Piper Chapman. I work over at pear tree cosmetics."
Why had she added this? Her mind hissed at her. Now she'd look like she was desperate for Alex to come and visit her at the store.
"Good to know," Alex said grinning, "maybe I can swing by sometime, for soap...and stuff..." She quirked an eyebrow again and Piper could feel her stomach doing a backflip.
Polly would have told her to get a grip of herself, but it was proving hard in the company of Alex.
Alex said she worked in imports and exports and the expensive leather jacket she was wearing suggested that she earned a lot of money doing it too.
"Listen, I've gotta go now kid, business meeting and shit, but hopefully I'll see you around? I mean, I always need soap."
And then she was gone. Piper stared down at her drink, she wouldn't forget this coffee.