Author's note: Okay, I'm sorry that it has been so long, but I kind of lost motivation with this story and then I lost the account where I was writing. But I got a new writing programme and my motivation is back :)

Enjoy!

"We're here", Cal announced to Piper who was reading next to her.

Piper glanced out of the bus window. She recognized her old hometown and sighed. Here we go.

They got off the bus at the next stop and looked around. It had been a while since either of them had been there. In fact, it was a year ago, when they were at their parents funeral.

"Do you want to eat something first or just go get the flowers?" Cal asked.

"I would like to just get over with this, so..."

"Of course. The flower shop is just around the corner."

They started walking and got there in a couple of minutes.

Cal looked so lost in the shop, trying to decide what kind of flowers should you take to a grave.

Piper rolled her eyes and pointed at the white orchids. "White orchids stand for beauty and elegance. I think they fit our parents.

Cal smiled and didn't even bother to ask how Piper knew that. He had accustomed to Piper's weird knowledge. He picked a bunch of them and went to pay.

"Wait", Piper said suddenly and Cal stopped to look at her.

Piper went to get a bunch of red begonias. "For grandma", She said quietly. Piper felt bad for not visiting at grandma's grave for a long time.

"What do they stand for?" Cal asked.

"Oh, if I remember correctly, they symbolize justice and peace between people but also can be a warning about future misfortunes or challenges. But that's not why I picked them. They were grandma's favorite", Piper explained smiling sadly.

Cal nodded in understanding.

After buying the flowers, the pair started to walk towards a cemetery. They reached their destination after about fifteen minutes.

"Here lies loved Carol Chapman and Bill Chapman. Rest in Peace."

Yup. There wasn't much creativity in the Chapman's family.

Cal squatted down and put the orchids to the ground in front of the stone. "You picked well."

Piper shrugged. She would rather pick flowers for the mother's day, not for their parent's death's anniversary. But things were how they were. She couldn't change it.

They were both quiet when they sink in their memories.

After a while, Cal spoke again. "Our family was never perfect. Mom and dad were always busy, they fought, they drank... But you know..."

"It was still our family", Piper finished quietly.

"Yeah."

"Do you need some privacy to say something to them?" Piper asked.

"Nope, not really. You?"

"Nope. All I have to say it's fuck you for leaving us, but I don't need privacy to tell them that", Piper joked.

Cal chuckled at her sister's dark humor. "Ready to continue then?"

"Yeah, sure", Piper said. She had had a special connection with Celeste, she had been Piper's best friend. Sadly she had died just after Piper's problems started with Polly.

They walked a short distance to Celeste's grave. There was also their grandpa's grave but he had died when they were both young, so they didn't really remember him.

Cal stayed behind because he knew that Piper wanted privacy with Celeste.

Piper sat down and lowered the flowers. "You know, I blamed you for a long time, for leaving me when I needed you the most. But I think I'm doing better now. I have even two friends", Piper chuckled.

Piper told her grandma all the latest news about her life, Diane, Alex and school. She felt kind of weird talking to a stone but somehow she felt lighter after talking so freely. She gave goodbyes and promised to visit soon again before standing up.

Cal figured that Piper was done and came to say a couple of things too. Piper looked around and saw a familiar girl walking near. Her eyes widened as she grabbed Cal's hand. "Fuck, Cal. Polly is here."

"What?" Cal asked confused as she looked around.

"Polly is here!" Piper whisper-shouted. "We need to go."

Cal spotted Piper's former best friend and they started walking towards opposite direction.

"Piper?"

Shit, she had spotted them. They stopped and turned around slowly.

"Piper! It is you. I was hoping to see you here today", Polly said happily.

"Polly", Piper acknowledged rather rudely.

"I've tried to call you."

"Oh, so you were the random number I blocked", Piper smiled sarcastically.

Polly furrowed her eyebrows. "If you had answered you would have known that it was me."

"It's better I didn't. I'm doing well now. Finally. I don't need you to mess it up again", Piper said her voice quiet as she stared at Polly intensively.

"But I was young Piper. I wasn't thinking", Polly tried to defend herself.

"Oh, but you were. You were thinking very hard how to turn everyone against me", Piper said becoming angry.

"I'm sorry. I really am. About Celeste and your parents too", Polly offered.

"Just stop. I'm better without you", Piper said shortly.

Cal also sent an angry glare towards Polly before started walking away with Piper.

"You okay?" Cal asked worriedly once they were out of Polly's hearing distance.

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Cal. My life is going well at the moment. I've put this behind. I've started a new life", Piper said even if she really wasn't sure that she could ever put her old life behind.

Cal nodded. "It's good sis. I'm glad that you have someone in Litchfield."

"Me too", Piper said quietly.

"So, what do you say if we go to get some hot chocolate before you leave?" Cal asked.

"Hell yes", Piper laughed. They used to always go drink hot chocolate when they were younger.

Alex had gotten a new student to tutor. It was a boy this time and he was continually trying to hit on her. Poor thing didn't get that Alex didn't swing that way.

Alex had been studying with him at a cafe and was now walking home. She however stopped when she saw a familiar girl going into a liquor store. It really wasn't her business, but she wanted to make sure that Piper wasn't going to be in some kind of trouble.

After a while, Piper came out with a bottle that looked like whiskey.

"Piper", Alex called out as she started walking towards her.

Piper turned around when she recognized the familiar voice. "Alex, hey", Piper smiled and didn't make a move to hide the bottle.

Alex quirked her eyebrow and as she looked at the bottle. It was whiskey like she had guessed. Four Roses to be exact. "You aren't trying to get into a trouble, are you?"

"Me? Of course not. Not my style", Piper chuckled.

Alex shook her head smiling. "I should take it away from you."

"You are under drinking age too", Piper pointed out. "But seriously, I had a shitty day and it's only one bottle."

"Wanna talk about it?" Alex asked kindly.

"Not really."

Alex hesitated a little. "Do you want some company then?"

Piper looked at her suspiciously. "Are you trying to steal my booze?"

Alex chuckled. "Maybe a glass or two."

Piper was surprised. Alex wanted to drink with her?

"I'm not a saint Piper. I've drunk before", Alex said as she saw Piper's surprise.

"Well, sure... If you want", Piper said with raised eyebrows. She wasn't accustomed to accepting company.

"Cool. I'll just quickly let my mom know", Alex said as she got her phone.

"If Diane is going to come and take my alcohol again, I won't recommend you books ever again", Piper threatened.

At that, Alex laughed. "She won't. I promise."

Piper went quiet as she pondered Alex's words. It had been a while since someone had asked her to trust them. And usually, she didn't. But something about Alex made Piper to trust her. Just something about Vause's family put her at ease.

"Ready to go?" Alex asked and startled Piper out of her thoughts.

"Yeah", Piper responded and started walking to her apartment.

It wasn't a long distance and they got there about in five minutes. They stepped into a hallway and Alex looked for an elevator.

"What, no elevator?" Alex asked.

"Nope. Can you manage to a third floor?" Piper grinned.

Alex raised her eyebrow. "You do remember that I used to play basketball?"

"Yeah. Used. A year ago", Piper chuckled.

"I'll manage", Alex stated smirking before started to climb the stairs.

Piper followed her and when they reached Piper's floor, she got keys and opened her door. "Welcome to my humble home."

Alex immediately spotted two big bookcases full of books. She took in the rest of the place and smiled a little. "It's nice."

Piper laughed a little. She was having a throwback to Diane's visit. They had said the exact same thing with the exactly same cautiously curious look.

"What's funny?" Alex asked.

"Nothing. I'll just go to pour us glasses of this", Piper responded as she lifted the bottle.

"May I?" Alex asked as she nodded towards the bookshelves.

"Be my guest", Piper said as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Soon she came back with two glasses of whiskey and ice cubes in them. She saw Alex exploring her book collection and felt a little vulnerable with someone studying her books. Alex if somebody knew how much you could figure out about the person by her taste in books.

"What do you think?" Piper asked.

Alex turned to look at her. "I'm impressed. Have you read all these?"

Piper nodded as she gave Alex the other glass. "I've sold the ones I didn't like that much but I haven't been able to abandon these."

"I've got to say. I like your collection. Maybe I could borrow a few? I've tried to found East of Eden for example, but it's not found in the most of places nowadays."

Piper smiled. "I know. I got it from my grandma. She always knew what kind of books to get for me. And sure, you can borrow them, as long as you return them back."

"Of course", Alex said happily.

They talked about literature and other random things. Piper had had a couple of glasses already but Alex stayed sober.

"How was it today, in Hartford?" Alex asked carefully.

Piper stared at her glass for a while and Alex was afraid that she crossed a line.

"It was tough. It was the anniversary of our parent's death. So..." Piper trailed off. She decided to continue for some reason. Probably because of the whiskey. "Also I walked into my former best friend who was the reason why I moved here."

Alex raised her eyebrows curiously. "What happened between you?"

"I don't know. Things... and stuff... Basically she didn't accept my attraction towards girls and started spreading rumors and shit..." Piper said as she drank the rest of her glass and poured another.

Alex was surprised. Of course she had suspected that Piper was gay or at least bi but it was weird to hear her talking so openly about it. "Well, she didn't deserve you if she didn't accept you the way you are."

Piper gave Alex a faint smile.

Alex wanted to ask about the rumors but decided to let Piper tell herself when she was ready. "So, you're gay?" Alex asked but kicked herself in her mind right after.

Piper laughed. "Yeah. You trying to hit on me?"

"No, no. I just... That came out a little weird. I was just curious", Alex explained.

"Sure", Piper smirked. She didn't have to ask if Alex was gay or not. She knew that Alex was, after all, she had been almost Alex's stalker.

"Okay. This went pretty awkward", Alex chuckled a little uncomfortable. "What happened today then with...?"

Piper sipped her drink. "Polly. She said that she hed been trying to reach out for me. I basically told her to fuck off."

Alex smiled a little. That sounded like Piper. "Well, you had all the rights to do that."

Piper smiled a little and drank the rest of her whiskey. She was going to pour herself another one before Alex stopped her. "Wait. It's already past ten. I should go home and you should go to sleep. It's a school morning tomorrow."

"Shit, I completely forgot", Piper groaned.

Alex chuckled and went to put the whiskey in the kitchen. As she came back she saw Piper standing up and sway a little before she reached a balance.

"See you tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"Yup, see you", Piper said as she started walking towards her room.

"Try not to be too hangover", Alex quipped laughing before left.

Piper smiled as she slumped on her bed without even bothering to change her clothes.

Piper woke up to her alarm ringing. She groaned and shut the alarm. She already felt a headache forming, so she went to get few painkillers. She gulped a glass of water with them and went to shower.

In the shower her thoughts started to fly. She started to think about people she had cared for.

Her grandma - dead.

Her parents - dead.

Polly - turned into a bitch.

Cal was alive but lived away.

Diane was around, but she was Piper's boss.

Alex was also around... For now, Piper realized. She was going to go into a college soon.

Piper needed to take a little distance and not get attached to Alex. She was going to leave soon. Like everyone else.

Everyone who Piper had cared for always left. For intentionally or not, they always left, Piper thought bitterly. She really needed to watch herself around Alex.

Diane and Alex was drinking coffee in the book shop and talking about Alex's new tutoring gig.

"So, what did you do with Piper yesterday?" Diane changed the subject.

Alex was quiet for a while as she wondered if she should tell the truth or not. Well, her mom saw always trough her lies anyways. "Well... We drank whiskey."

"You did what?!" Diane exclaimed.

"I saw her buying a bottle and offered some company", Alex explained.

Diane furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you think it was a good idea?"

"Of course not! But it wasn't like I could have stopped her, and it's better that she had some company. She even opened up to me little", Alex told.

Diane was quiet for a while. If her daughter was the person Piper trusted enough to open up, she would happily accept. "Just be careful with her."

"I will", Alex promised.

After a while, Piper came in. She didn't seem to be too hangover, Alex noticed.

Piper nodded her greeting before disappeared into the backroom.

"I need to talk with her. I'll come back soon", Diane said before followed Piper.

Piper was taking the East of Eden from her bag. Even if she was taking distance from Alex, it was about literature. Everyone should be able to read East of Eden.

She looked up to see Diane coming in.

"Piper, hey. I needed to talk with you about something", Diane said.

Piper tensed a little as she wondered if Diane knew what they had been doing with Alex and was now mad. "Yes?"

"I'm taking a small vacation next week and wondered if you could take the charge for a while?"

Piper relaxed, either Diane didn't know or then she wasn't mad. "Do you even have any other options than me? I mean I'm your only employee", Piper grinned.

"I guess you are", Diane laughed. "But seriously, Alex could take the charge, but she has the new tutoring gig that takes her time..."

"Of course. It's no trouble", Piper said kind of proud that Diane trusted her enough to leave her shop to Piper's hands.

"Thank you Piper. There isn't anything unusual and you know how all things work so, you should be fine. And you can always call me if there's some problem. Alex promised to keep you company when she has free time."

Piper nodded. "I'm assuming that I can't skip school?"

Diane laughed. "No. I'll write the new opening hours to match your school days."

"Damn", Piper groaned over dramatically.

"You don't need to open up on Sunday. You work six days at row but it'll show in your salary then", Diane said. "Also, when do you want your vacation? Summer break starts soon."

"I don't care just put it somewhere."

"Okay then, how does beginning of July sound? Three weeks."

"Three?" Piper exclaimed. "Shit, I'm going to die to boredom."

Diane rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You deserve it, you haven't taken any extra day offs or anything so you get three weeks."

"But I like working here", Piper defended.

"I'm happy that you do. But you can't be living in your workplace. You need a social life too."

Piper's eyes went colder. "No, I don't. Books are better company than people", and with that Piper marched out of the room with East of Eden in her hands.

Diane sighed, Piper was so moody. You can never know when she is going to turn distant again.

Alex was texting with the boy, Nick, who she was tutoring. Nick had told that he would have geography exam on Friday and he needed some tutoring.

Alex was a little irritated since she knew that Nick probably was just going ogle her instead of studying but she agreed. It was her job after all.

She looked up from her phone to see Piper march out of the backroom with an annoyed expression. Alex just hoped that her mom hadn't accused Piper about anything. Though, it really wasn't her mother's style.

Piper walked in front of her and it took a while from Alex to realize that Piper was offering something to her.

"Really?" Alex asked surprised as she saw the book in Piper's hand.

"Yeah. Just return it", Piper said.

Alex took the book. "Of course. Thank you."

Piper nodded and went to sort the books. It was something she did when she was bored. She organized books by the author, genre or alphabetical order. Diane didn't mind since she never remembered the order anyways. Piper however always wrote up the order to Diane in case that someone was looking for something specific and Piper wasn't there.

"What happened?" Alex asked quietly when her mother came back.

Diane made a face. "I said that she couldn't work all the time and that she needed a social life too. She told me that books were better company than people."

"Didn't you just tell me to be careful?" Alex smiled. It was a little thing but Piper if somebody took it badly.

"Yeah. The same applies me apparently."

Than you for reading, please review and tell me what you thought! I'll try to update soon again :)

-Iina