Chapter 27 – No Strings Attached

The first time they'd kissed ever since that particular rehearsal scene wasn't like anything they had done before. There was still passion but it felt more primitive than their kisses usually were. And it wasn't just the kiss. It was also everything else. Every kiss, every loss of breath, every moan... their rush in taking each other's clothes off, almost tearing them... everything felt different.

It was purely physical. It was rough. It was an 'I gotta have you now' sex. This wasn't the kind wherein they wanted to make each other feel how much they loved each other. Instead, it had morphed them into sensual animals and it left them incapable of thinking about anything else, about what this might bring or cause them.

Afterwards, they went out of the bathroom as if nothing happened. At that moment, they knew they weren't just friends anymore. Again. But they were also less than lovers. So, so much less. If there was anything in between that wasn't the usual that's 'in between,' that was them.

They went on through the rest of the night as normal as possible. After the party was over and almost everyone had left, they decided to approach each other, surprised that they both had the same thing in mind.

"Hey," it was Taylor. "I think we need to talk... about what happened..."

"I know. I was just thinking the same thing." Laura paused and looked around. It was almost morning and no one was left except them. "You wanna come to my place?" When she saw uncertainty flash through Taylor's eyes, she realized how that must have sounded to her. "We'll just talk. Nothing more."

Taylor nodded. "Okay then."

Laura and she went to the former's house on different cars. When they reached their destination, Taylor felt a different kind of sensation being in Laura's place again after months. She couldn't even bring herself to take a seat even after Laura offered her to do so.

"Is everything okay?" asked Laura who sensed the uneasiness of Taylor.

"No, yeah. Everything's fine. It just... I don't know, it feels weird being here again after a long time," she said, looking around. She noticed how nothing had changed inside. And yet everything felt totally different. It was still the same place it was the last time she was here, but after everything that had happened between her and Laura, she just couldn't bring herself to feel at home there anymore.

"I know what you mean," agreed Laura who also felt the same way towards Taylor being inside her house again. At some point in their lives, it became their home, their happy place. Laura's house, and Taylor's for that matter, somehow became a witness of everything that went on with them when they were still together and it was an important part of their relationship. "Uhm, is this making you uncomfortable? We can move some place else if you'd prefer that."

"No, it's okay. I'm okay." For a moment, none of them talked, waiting for each other to speak first, unsure what there was to talk about anyway. When Taylor saw that Laura wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, she decided to just speak and get this over with. "Uhm, so... about what happened earlier..." She noticed how Laura almost avoided her eyes when she said this. "I hope you know that... that it doesn't mean I wanna get b-back together, you know." Taylor didn't realize how hard it was gonna be for her to speak these words until now. To say the situation was awkward was an understatement.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Laura answered back, faster than she had intended to. "I know, don't worry about it... there's no... misunderstanding or anything." Laura didn't voice it out but she was actually relieved that Taylor said this. She didn't want any more complications than they'd already gone through and she was glad that what happened would not be one.

"Yeaaaah..." Taylor looked away, unsure what to say next. "It was, you know, uhm, I don't know, probably just my needs or urges or whatever you call it, getting out of my control," she said those last few words so fast she didn't know if Laura understood them.

Laura's lips suddenly curved up into a little smile, "Yeah, I know. I felt it, too." Then she shook her head. "This is awkward, huh?"

Taylor let out a breath she'd been holding ever since she came inside Laura's house. "Oh, you can't believe how glad I am that you mentioned that." They both looked at each other and started laughing. "Oh, this is crazy." At that point, Taylor had relaxed and she could see that Laura had, too. "So, we're clear? No issues, whatsoever?"

"Yes, we're clear. No issues." She was smiling as she saw Taylor started to relax.

"And we're sure that it's never going to happen again?"

Laura nodded. "Very sure."

They were just staring into each other's eyes, blue meeting green, assessing what the other might be thinking, both having the same thoughts of how they got from being friends, to more than that, to almost strangers, and now to this.

And then before they even realized it, they were both in Laura's bedroom, kissing like there's no tomorrow, taking each other's clothes off, having mindless, hot, passionate sex, without a care in the world what might happen after all this was over.

-o-o-o-

Laura and Taylor's setup, as friends with benefits, no strings attached, or whatever it was called these days, had been going on for almost two weeks now. Sometimes, at Laura's place, sometimes at Taylor's, sometimes some place else. And they did it with so much caution that no one had ever noticed what was going on with them, much to their relief.

They both knew it wasn't going to last, and there were a lot of craziness that this might bring them, but they decided not to think of anything else, to just live at the moment, because it was working for them. There were no more awkwardness and they were doing great at their work. So far, so good.

Taylor was at the set of Orange Is The New Black, for a photo shoot, and she just got out of her trailer, almost laughing at herself for having been able to convince Laura to do their 'thing' in there. It was a quick one, but it was hot, and good, oh so good, something that wasn't a surprise because Laura was always good, better than any other person she had ever done it with. And this put her in such a good mood she didn't notice that Natasha was already walking with her.

"Hey, what's up?" Natasha asked as she kept with Taylor's pace.

Taylor was surprised but hid it from Natasha. "Good. You?"

"I'm fine." She paused, noticing something different with Taylor. "Wait a minute." She looked at the blonde intently. Taylor was smiling like an idiot, something she's never seen in her face in a long time.

"What?" Taylor asked, confused at Tasha's sudden change of mood.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Her forehead was creased, trying to figure out what was different with Taylor today.

"What look?" Taylor was pretty sure she knew what Tasha was trying to get at now and she became queasy just thinking what she would say if she found out.

And then she realized. This only meant one thing. "Oh my god! You had sex!"

"What? Had se- had what?" She's dead.

"Oh Tayloface don't pull that shit on me. It's all over your face. You have that 'just-had-sex-and-it's-rough-and-I-loved-it' kind of look." This time, it was Natasha who was smiling like an idiot. She always saw Taylor as very lady-like, soft-spoken, someone who wouldn't have sex in public. This was a pleasant surprise for her.

Taylor wanted to lie about it at first, but when she realized that this was Tasha she was talking to and there was no way in hell she was getting out of this, she just decided to tell her the truth. "Fine. But will you please keep it down?" She looked around and was freaking out because someone may overhear them.

"Holy shit." This only widened the smirk that was already on Natasha's face. Then, she realized something. "Oh, wait. If you just had sex..." she said slowly, figuring out the answer to her question as she spoke, "and we're in Litchfield... holy shit you did it with one of us!" Then she backtracked. "Well, one of them," her hand motioning to everyone around them. "Who is it?"

Taylor could only shake her head as little bead of sweat started forming on her forehead. "You're crazy, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. And fuck, is it Ruby Rose?" she asked, adamant of finding out who had put Taylor in such a mood, outraged by the idea of Taylor and Ruby.

Natasha's eyes widened so much that Taylor got scared a bit. "What? NO!" For about a fraction of a second, she had imagined her doing it with Ruby but she realized how ridiculous and crazy that thought was so she shook off the thought as soon as it came to her mind. "No, it's not Ruby. Are you crazy? Yes, you are. I just said that. You're crazy."

Natasha tilted her head to the side, nodding, relieved that Taylor didn't do it with Ruby. That would be a total frenzy. "Well then good, because if it was her, and Prepon finds out—" Then she stopped with her mouth open. "Holy mother of... It's Prepon!" She almost jumped up of happiness when she said this. That was the only logical, and acceptable, answer to her question.

"Yeah?" Then came a voice from behind Taylor. It was Laura. Taylor and she planned on her walking out of the trailer few minutes after Taylor so they wouldn't get noticed.

Taylor wanted to just pop out of embarrassment. "Oh great. This is just great," she whispered to herself as she covered her face with her hands.

"What's going on?" asked Laura. She looked at Taylor looking so distraught and then Natasha who looked as if she won the lottery or something. She couldn't think of any situation that required those looks from her two friends.

"You two just had sex!" answered Natasha as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Geez, you don't know how happy I am to find out that you're back together." She was smiling so widely you would think she was the one who got back together with the person she was in-love with.

Laura almost stopped walking, with her mouth agape, unprepared for the sudden turn of events. She looked at Taylor and the blonde couldn't look back at her.

Taylor shook her head furiously, it looked as if it was gonna fall off. "First of all, we're not back together, okay? And if you could kindly turn your voice up a notch a bit, because I think there's someone outside this psychiatric ward who didn't hear you."

Natasha just laughed at this and then looked at Laura. She also looked as if she wanted to just disappear right at that moment. She was finding all of this amusing.

"You know," said the dark-haired, starting to become uncomfortable, "if I could just turn back time and not be here right now..." She also shook her head, looking behind if there was anyone there who could've heard Natasha.

"Sucks for you, we don't have the privilege of a time-machine here in Litchfield," answered Natasha with her smirk still plastered on her face.

"How did you find out, anyway?" Laura then looked at Taylor. "Did you tell her?"

"What? No! I don't kiss and tell."

"Yeah," agreed Tasha. "That sounds more like me."

Laura chuckled. "Whatever. This is crazy. I'm gonna go," she started walking away from the two, but then stopped after a few steps to look at Natasha. "And Tasho... shush!"

This elicited a laugh from Natasha. "As you wish, my friend."

Taylor shook her head, smiling. "I'm gonna go, too." She followed Laura. When she saw Natasha's smile, turn into a playful smirk, she stopped. "We're not gonna do it. Seriously, take that smirk off your face!" She walked on, hearing Natasha's laugh from behind her.

Taylor and Laura stayed at one side of the set, away from everyone. "So... We both know Natasha's not letting go of this," said Laura, with a small smile forming on her lips. No matter what had happened to her and Taylor, Natasha's reaction to everything always amused her.

"I know," agreed Taylor, chuckling. "I'm sorry I told her," she added apologetically. "I couldn't get out of it. She's like..." she paused, thinking of the right word that could describe Natasha. "I don't know what she's like."

"Are you kidding? If you hadn't told her, I would've been the one to do so. I'm just glad you're the one who's gonna have to take the blame." Laura chuckled.

"Shut up!" Taylor hit her arm playfully, joining in on Laura's laughter.

"No, but seriously, it's not a problem. I mean, it's Natasha, if we didn't tell her, she would've found out another way."

"What, like run in on us?"

They both stopped, and imagined what that would be like, in case. They looked at each other and let out a laugh at the same time, not realizing that both was enjoying each other's company, not making out or anything like that, more than they would ever admit to themselves.

A/N:

Hi you guys! Early update this time. Yey! I got a not so good news though. I won't be updating in a while. I'm leaving today and I won't bring my laptop with me. All my files are here so I won't be able to update, sorry! I don't know when I'll be back but I promise I will post two new chapters as soon as I get back. I'll miss you, people!

Sway594 & sweetlikevanillais, Hell yes indeed!

Guest who loves me again, haha. Thank you! And you got it right, they aren't really 'fixed' yet but one step at a time, yeah? =)

LJ, Hope this chapter isn't kind of 'anticlimactic' though lol

Gabi, Thank you so much! I'm glad you loved the previous chapter! Love you back *kisses*

moanzs, Thank you! And here's some Tasho for you =))

tash, yeah, I tried really hard for that lil smut, I'm not good at writing them. I'm glad you liked it!

Guest ("Finally! Great chapter") Thank you! =)

FFChik, Thank you for that review! Hope you like how I played this one out =)

ariaskj, Wow, thanks girl! I looove your review. Haha. And I also get excited every time I get reviews from you guys. Oh, the little joys of life =)

Ellen, Inhale, exhale! Haha. You're welcome! And thank you, too, girl! =)

stargatejumper10, bet you didn't see this chapter coming, eh? *peace out*

Marijn, Good to know! Yeah, far from over indeed. Haha. Oh yeah sure! But maybe that's not yet gonna happen in a while haha. Virtual hugs back at ya! Love you girl!

jo michael, Hey. How's university going? Good luck with everything, you're gonna do great! =) Hoping an amazing summer vacation for you. Haha. Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! You rock, as well! =) I'm glad you're liking this story so far, thanks again for the kind words, you're amazing!