[Author's note: I wasn't planning to update so quickly, so thank user Nicky Morello. So without further a do, here's chapter 7. And as always, leave a review/fave/follow, y'all are the best! Enjoy! X]
New York, May 14, 2023
"Move! Fucking move, people!" Nicky yelled, pushing the useless bystanders away.
"Lorna!"
Nicky fell down her knees next to Lorna, cradling the woman she had once been able to call hers, cupping the face she loves so very much.
"Lorna, can you hear me? Open your eyes. Lorna!"
Bright lights blinded the Italian girl, she didn't know where she was.
She walked aimlessly in a white empty area that had nothing but a mirror. She made her way to the mirror, and saw her reflection wearing a white dress that suited her perfectly, only making her red lips pop more.
She smirked to herself, she knew she looked good. The bright room got less bright and Lorna could now see where she was. She was in front of a bathroom mirror she knew oh so well. She was back in Litchfield.
Out of the corner of her eyes, in the mirror reflection she could see Nicky leaving a bathroom stall with one of the Spanish girls while sporting a lazy grin which meant they had sex for sure.
After checking out the Spanish girl's ass one last time, Nicky turned around and washed her hands, completely ignoring Lorna.
"Nicky-"
"Don't. Okay? I am not a fucking jacket that you can hang in your closet and wear it whenever you want to." Nicky angrily washed her hands, her gaze only directed at her hands.
Lorna couldn't look at Nicky anymore, she felt like crying. She looked back at her reflection, noticing small dark red spots on her perfectly white dress.
"Is that bl-blood?" Lorna thought out loud, her voice not sounding louder than a soft broken whisper.
"It's wine, you klutz."
"Don't you remember what happened? Open your eyes." Nicky said, stepping closer to the short woman.
Lorna suddenly had an intense head ache, she felt like her head might actually explode. The place between her eyebrow and her hairline was throbbing. She suddenly remembers picking out the dress with Piper to go to a party or something. Piper, you wine drinking klutz, you spilled it on me. Lorna remembers clearly now.
"Open your eyes, Lorna." Nicky repeated, cupping Lorna's face now, in the filthy bathroom they spent so much time in.
"Lorna, please."
The raspy voiced woman held the younger woman close to her body. She could feel Lorna's heart beat and that was all the comfort she needed. She studied the Italian girl's face closely, the perfectly arched eye brows, the Bambi like eye lashes, the cute ears she had used to tuck her hair behind as a calming trick, the full red lips that entertained her with sweet nothings and hurried pecks. Nicky smiled to herself, the woman that held her heart the minute she laid her eyes on her, was now in her arms, looking peaceful but very still. Too still for Nicky's liking, which made her uncomfortable because she knows that even in Lorna's sleep, the girl is a restless sleeper, so she is never this still.
"Open your eyes, you are scaring me, Lorna." Nicky said, a single tear leaving her hazel eyes after being held back for too long.
As the tear dropped on Lorna's cheek, the shorter woman furrowed her brows and slowly tried to open her eyes.
The first thing Lorna saw were two very sad looking brown orbs that she knew all too well, followed by a few freckles and a lot of hair.
"Hey, you." Nicky softly said, giving her signature smirk to hide her worried state.
"Hi.." Lorna smiled back, then tried to sit up but failing miserably.
"Whoa..calm down. You shouldn't be moving at all. Lemme carry you." Nicky said as she used both of her arms to scoop the girl into her arms and then stood up, noticing the amount of bystanders decreasing, probably because the worst scenario didn't happen. Sensation seeking fucks.
"Oh great, you also on carry duty?" Alex said, with a very drunk and asleep Piper in her arms.
"You really don't have to-" Lorna tried but was shushed by Nicky almost immediately.
"None of you two are in the position to drive right now, so stay at our place tonight, until you are both fit again, no funny business." Nicky laughed, gaining an eye roll from Lorna.
When they got in the car with Nicky driving, Lorna in the passenger seat and Alex and Piper in the backseat, with Alex holding the blonde and helping her whenever she needed to vomit into a plastic bag.
"Ehm can you speed up a lil, Nichols. We are running out of plastic bags here." Alex said, while sporting a disgusted face.
The look on Alex's face was incredibly funny to the women sitting in the front seats. Nicky felt her heart strings tug when she heard Lorna's giggle. God how I have missed that sound. It reminded Nicky of the good ol' days when her and Lorna would hold hands and run and giggle down the hallways of Litchfield, carefully avoiding CO's or nosy fellow inmates, stealing pecks and sneaking into utility closets.
She couldn't believe the woman she had no trouble dying for was actually sitting next to her, looking out the window, probably not knowing what to do with the silence that ruled the car ride so far, either.
Nicky wanted to touch Lorna so badly, not even in the I-Wanna-Make-You-Cum kinda way, well maybe that too, but mostly just in a Dear-God-Please-Be-Actually-Real-This-Time-Instead-Of-Another-Cruel-Dream-Again kinda way. She wanted to drag her nails slightly over her arm and to feel her goose bumps against hers just like they used to do when they explored each others body in the cold chapel.
The memories, her presence, the strong smell of vomit all became a little too real for Nicky, so as always she looked for distraction. She turned the radio on, the radio station started playing 'All Of Me' and Nicky got lost in the lyrics, she couldn't believe how perfect the song described everything she felt for the girl sitting next to still looked out of the window, not moving, and Nicky silently wished the song had the same effect on Lorna as it had on Nicky.
*What's going on in that beautiful mind..* If only I knew. Nicky thought.
When Nicky parked the car in their street, she saw Alex carrying Piper out of the car. Nicky always thought they made an excellent couple, Piper has the rare ability to bring out the softie in Vause.
"Aw, fuck." She could hear Lorna swear on the opposite site of the car, she fell down on her knees on the sidewalk. Nicky rushed to her side, helping her stand up.
Lorna had slightly tried to push Nicky away. "I am fine, honestly. I am just a little bit dizzy still, that's all."
"Lorna, let me help you. Stop fighting me woman, you can't even stand properly." Nicky softly chuckled, giving the shorter woman a warm smile.
"O-okay, sure. Thank you." Lorna said in a genuine tone, as she allowed herself to be carried to the apartment by the woman that she hurt so many times.
A few stairs later and a lot of complaints from the neighbors about Piper's drunk singing skills, they stepped into their apartment.
Nicky as well as Alex both put down their girls on their comfortable living room sofa.
"You feel like throwing up again, Piper?" Alex asked the blonde in a worried tone. To which Piper nodded hard, trying to keep it all in until they got to a bathroom. "Fuck, kid." Alex said as she quickly lifted the blonde from the sofa and got her to the bathroom.
In the meanwhile Nicky disappeared in the kitchen and Lorna studied the apartment, while dealing with a killer headache, not moving from the sofa.
"So, we are out of ice blocks but I found a packet of frozen peas if that's okay." Nicky said as she walked in the living room, holding a the packet.
"That's fine, Nicky. Honestly, thanks. For everything." Lorna said, accepting the frozen peas that Nicky handed her and putting it against the source of her pain, which made Nicky laugh.
"Ha ha ha, very funny. Gosh, I probably look ridiculous right now." Lorna said, failing to hide her smile.
"Ridiculously beautiful." Nicky said, which resulted in an uncomfortable silence. Lorna probably looked everywhere in the room except at the woman that was now lighting a cigarette.
She looks so good, so happy and healthy. Lorna thought but her thoughts were interrupted by Nicky.
"Lorna.." Nicky began, but hesitated. Fuck it, if I don't ask for answers now I might never get them.
"Hmm.." Lorna encouraged as she put the frozen peas down, looking into Nicky's eyes, knowing that she is struggling to finish her sentence.
"Why did you never visit me after you got out?" Lorna internally winced, a pang of guilt from her past hitting her like a ton of bricks.
"Or you know..respond to my many many letters." Nicky said as her hand that held her cigarette started to slightly shake involuntarily. She could feel herself getting emotional and she did everything in her power to hide the hurt behind her words.
"Or even something as simple as answering the phone, I used all my calls on you, and you did not even have the audacity to answer them. Not once." Nicky said, more hurt than angry.
Lorna thought about reaching out or hugging the girl, but she wasn't sure if it would make things better or worse so instead she just sat and looked at the woman who was now lighting her second cigarette. She
started to shift uncomfortably in her seat and thought about the times she had to resist picking up her phone or replying to Nicky's letters. She thought that in time it would be easier to resist, it never did.
"You can't even answer me right now, I guess I don't deserve to be replied to or hear the truth." Nicky said in a bitter tone.
"Fuck you, Nichols. You know that's not the case." Lorna said, fresh tears stinging her eyes.
"Then what is it, you were a shitty girlfriend, but you were an even shittier friend after things ended between us." Nicky accused.
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I didn't want to see you or talk to you or write to you because it hurt too much?" Lorna said, standing up, supporting her weight with her hand placed on top of the sofa.
"Oh that's funny because you said something totally different in the one letter you did send me." When Nicky saw the confused look on Lorna's face, she was hurt, possibly even more hurt than when she read the letter she got from the girl in front of her. Are you serious, Lorna? Don't you even remember sending me the letter that nearly killed me? Do I mean that little to you? Nicky thought as she clenched her jaw to keep her from crying.
"What are you talking about, Nicky? What letter? I never send you a letter." Lorna said, desperately trying to convince the older woman. A part of her confused and another part of her scared, what if she blocked that out of her memory? What if she is still a psycho?
"What is going on here? Can you quit the yelling before the neighbors hear us?" Alex said, looking sternly at the women in the living room.
"I put Piper in my bed and that's where you will be sleeping too, Lorna. You and Piper in my room and me and Nicky in hers, lemme show you where it's at. I just gave Piper my pajamas, but because you are shorter, Nicky here will be giving you a pair of pajamas," Alex said, guiding Lorna to her room as she gave Nicky a Pull-Yourself-Together glare.
"Can you believe all of this is actually happening?" Lorna said to Piper while undressing herself, because she is sure that by now Nicky probably forgot about giving her things to wear.
"What do you want to do when we go home tomorrow? Do you still want to see them?"
"Absolutely not, it's too much." Lorna said, in her bra and undies, thinking about the conversation she just had with Nicky. What letter was she talking about?
"I don't wear pajamas but here are shorts and an old t shirt you can use-" Nicky said walking in on the women, stopping when she saw the sight of a half naked Lorna Fucking Morello.
Piper laughed out loud, oh how she has missed the typical moments between these two.
Lorna walked towards Nicky, arms crossed over her chest in a self conscious way.
"Thanks, Nichols. Gimme dat." Lorna said, while trying to grab the clothes that Nicky was now holding tight to, her gaze not leaving Lorna's chest.
When Nicky finally did let go, the shorter girl nearly fell backwards.
"Okay, thanks Nichols. You can leave now." Lorna said wearing the shirt.
"Yeah okay, well good night. Today has been quite an adventure, don't let the bed bugs bite and all that shit." Nicky said, still standing there.
"Good night, Nicky." Lorna said, turning around. She wants to see my ass, that fucking pig. Lorna smiled to herself, relieved that at least some things will never change.
Nicky gave one last half smile and closed the bedroom door. Nice ass.
"Jesus Nicky how do you sleep here." Alex said, shifting uncomfortably in Nicky's bed.
"I just lie down and close my eyes, what else am I supposed to do."
"Clean your fucking bed, are those bread crumbs?" Alex said, regretting the bedroom choice she has made.
"Yeah well sometimes I like a grilled cheese sandwich when I'm on my laptop, that is ketchup by the way and not period blood." Nicky said pointing to a red stain near Alex.
"Dammit, Nicky. And what's this? A cross word puzzle?" Alex said pulling out a little book beneath her before throwing it off the bed.
"I like to keep my brains stimulated, sue me."
"And what is-Oh god this better not be what I think it is." Alex silently prayed she was wrong but when she felt the tiny device vibrate, she sighed an stood up.
"What? I like to keep other things stimulated too." Nicky said shruggling, laughing at her friend's response.
"I am sleeping on the sofa." Alex said, grabbing a spare blanket and pillow and stepped into the living room. On her way to the living room, she heard a voice she knew too well talking, whispering actually.
"Yeah, I will be home tomorrow. Love you too, baby. So much." Piper said into her phone not aware that Alex was outside of the bathroom, her heart breaking once again.
When Piper walked in the living room, she didn't expect Alex to be sat on the sofa with a blanket and a pillow.
"Hey" Piper greeted, snapping Alex out of her thoughts.
"Hey kid." Alex said, giving a half smile.
"Nicky kicked you out or what?" Piper asked, sitting next to Alex.
"I left her room myself, to prevent me from catching weird diseases. She is a pig. Her room is violating all health codes." Alex ranted but then turned her attention to the blonde sitting next to her whose hair was in a messy bun, and who was wearing Alex's faded Nirvana shirt and shorts. Fuck, she looks beautiful.
"So what happened to you? Did Lorna kick you out?" Alex asked.
"Kicking me out? No. Kicking me? Yes. She is such a restless sleeper, I am sure I am gonna wake up tomorrow with mysterious bruises." Piper sighed.
"Well we don't want that now do we?" Alex said, leaning in to kiss the girl but stopped herself thinking about the phone conversation she had with her partner in the bathroom. She loves someone else.
So instead Alex leaned in to kiss her cheek and pulled away quickly.
"I really don't want you to wake up with bruises." Alex said, suggesting something else.
"And I don't want you to catch weird diseases." Piper said, playing along.
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Piper asked, chuckling.
"Yup, you have to do me the honor of being my little spoon again, tonight." Alex said, lying down with her back firmly against the sofa, to make enough space in the front for a certain Piper Chapman.
Piper laid in front of her, feeling Alex's protective strong arms sneaking from behind surrounding her waist.
They both closed their eyes and fell asleep peacefully in minutes.
Lorna woke up in the middle of the night with a dry throat and a full bladder.
She sat up on Alex's bed and noticed Piper wasn't next to her.
"Pipes?" Lorna asked in the dark with no reply back.
She got up and made her way to the bathroom, checking the living room first to find a sleeping Piper in Alex's arms. The image made her smile, and she continued to walk to the bathroom.
She walked in, turned the lights on and dropped her shorts, and sat on the cold toilet. After she got used to the cold she felt her body relax and released herself.
"When the lights out, it's less dangerous.." Lorna heard a sudden singing voice, a voice she knew very well and when she saw the amount of hair walking in the bathroom, her expectations were confirmed.
"Nicky! What the fuck?" Lorna said, covering her frontal area.
"Why so shy, Morello? You used to shit in front of me, you remember that?" Nicky said with a sleep filled voice, filling a cup with water and drinking it slowly.
"Yeah that used to be the case, and I am not shitting, I am peeing. So could you please turn around or leave the bathroom?" Lorna said, annoyed. She could have sworn Nicky always walked in on the worst times, or probably in her mind the best times.
"Yeah yeah." Nicky said turning around, hearing Lorna pee. Even her pee sounds cute.
After wiping and flushing Lorna washed her hands. "I can't sleep. I wanna sit down in the living room and watch some TV but Alex and Piper are asleep on the sofa."
"What?" Vause, how do you do it?
"I don't even know why Piper left the bed in the first place!" Lorna said, thinking hard.
"Well probably because she didn't want her head to be karate chopped. You are a restless sleeper, kid. Its like you keep having dreams about winning a break dance competition or something. Yeah..remember the first time we slept together..." Gaining a look from Lorna. "No...I mean literally sleep next to each other. Yeah you don't realize it but while you were you know, bustin your moves for this dream break dance competition, you kept waving your arms from side to side, I got repeatedly slapped!" Lorna laughed out loud.
"Well, I am glad you find it humorous, you always had a sick sense of humor." Nicky said chuckling."But hey, I have got a Netflix account so if you want we could watch a movie on my laptop in my room." Nicky said, relieved that she just changed her sheets and cleaned her room the past half hour.
"Right, but no romantic ones or horror ones." Lorna said, eyeing Nicky suspiciously.
"That is fine, we can watch a comedy." Nicky said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Okay, yeah that sounds good." Lorna said, but her voice was overpowered by the noises her stomach was making.
"Oh god, the beast is awake!" Nicky said, almost forgetting about the fact that this tiny woman in front of her can eat like a starved out army of soldiers.
Lorna buried her face in her hands, she forgot about eating. She didn't have time to eat and was planning go attack the buffet at the wedding rehearsal which obviously didn't happen.
"Come on, Morello. I can make a rocking mac and cheese dish. Your fave." Nicky said winking at the tiny woman, putting an arm around her and guiding her to the kitchen.
When they finally sat on Nicky's bed, the bed was filled with all kinds of snacks. From chips to chocolate to mac and cheese and soda.
"I can't imagine the last time I had junk food." Lorna said leaning against Nicky while she was starting up "White Chicks", throwing a few M&Ms in her mouth.
"Well welcome to my life, kid." Nicky said, her gaze still focused on the screen.
"How do you even stay in such good shape with the amount of crap you put into your body? Not that I was checking you out.." Nicky just smirked, amusement written all over face.
"Well I work out a lot, a different work out buddy every night, you know me." Nicky said, chuckling and turning to face the screen again.
"Yeah...I do." Lorna said with a distracted look on her face, Nicky didn't want to ask her about it.
When the Lionsgate tune filled Nicky's room, she adjusted the way she sat, so she was comfortable.
"I can't see, your hair is in the way." Lorna said, trying to tuck some hair behind Nicky's ear.
"Thats my trick, kid. Jesus, come here." Nicky said, welcoming Lorna to sit in front of her, when Lorna did just that, Nicky relaxed her chin on the woman's shoulder. She could feel Lorna's body relax, and she kissed Lorna's neck quickly which earned a friendly smile from Lorna, then rested her chin again on the Italian girl's shoulder.
They don't remember who slept first or which part they were at of the movie, but they do know that Lorna slept peacefully,because the bowls of snacks weren't knocked over in the morning. Lorna never slept restlessly whenever she slept with Nicky's protective arms around her.