The house was already heaving with people by the time Nicky and Alex arrived and she found herself wondering why they were invited, Pete was on the football team and a jock through and through, not exactly the kind of guy to associate with the 'burnouts' of the school. She then felt a sudden stab of fear as she realised that the chances of Piper being here were actually quite high. She quickly swallowed this fear however, choosing anger instead, but all was concealed beneath her ice cold exterior. She had come here to have a good time with Nicky, oh and of course to get really fucking drunk, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Upon entering the party she found that Pete was clearly not one to discriminate, well, either that or his party planning had just gotten out of control. Everyone from every social group in their year appeared to be here, along with a bunch of older kids, and it really was the typical high school party - complete with red plastic cups.

They had enough experience of parties to know where the real fun was, Alex moved swiftly through the house, knowing Nicky would follow, she was heading upstairs, following the scent of weed that made a trail to one of the guest bedrooms. She made a point of not looking around, if Piper was here - she knew she was, she didn't know how she knew, she just did - then she really didn't know if she could handle that right now. However, she wondered if the blonde could sense her presence as on her way across the living room she heard her name spoken in a voice that was all too familiar, it was accompanied by a hand on her shoulder which she quickly shrugged off as she continued to walk. She had almost picked up the pace and ran upstairs, but she didn't want to lose her cool, she had no idea what it was about the blonde but she could get to her in a way that nobody else could.

"Jeez, what's going on with you two? You guys've got more drama than an episode of the L word."

Nicky had moved to walk next to her, she hadn't told her what had been going on with her and Piper but she was pretty sure she'd worked it out. The comment just earned her a look that said 'very funny'.

"Whatever Vause, rule number one: don't fall for a straight girl."

They had reached the source of the smell by this point and Alex gladly took the opportunity for a change of topic, they took a seat and waiting for the joint to come round, listening to buzz of nonsense conversation going on around them.

Piper was extremely drunk and very bored. She was bored of sitting on the sofa with Larry, she was bored of Polly's gossip and she was bored of this stupid party. She just really wanted to dance. She got up and made a beeline for the kitchen, planning on getting another cup of whatever had been left lying around, when she saw a very familiar figure heading towards the stairs. As she started to move towards her - tripping over someone's leg in the process - all she could think about was how fast her heart was beating. Everything was slightly blurry around the edges for Piper when she reached out to Alex, grabbing hold of her shoulder. She called out her name but whether or not it actually came out right she really couldn't say. She felt a familiar pricking behind her eyes when Alex just ignored her and walked away, leaving her standing looking like an idiot.

Yeah well screw you, Piper thought, her temper was starting to show. She couldn't believe that she had gone from being ecstatic due to Alex's presence to feeling like this in a matter of seconds, she couldn't believe that her best friend in the entire world, who pretty much knew her better than she knew herself, had just blew her off like they'd never met. She couldn't stop herself from noticing how good she looked though, hot but in a grunge-y way; skin tight jeans with Dr Martens boots and a faded band shirt that hung off one shoulder.

Fucking hell Piper get a grip of yourself.

She was definitely feeling the need for another drink now and continued along her path to the kitchen.

With her head swimming with images of Alex, Larry had been completely forgotten, and so had her attempts at convincing herself that she was straight. She had the sudden desire to hook up with a girl. Unfortunately, the girl she had in mind didn't seem to want to talk to her, so she set about finding a substitute.

It didn't take long for her to get to the point where she was getting cosy with some girl on the dance floor, some girl who was pretty tall and had almost the right shade of hair. Everyone wanted to experiment at parties, but she was past the point of telling herself that that was what she was doing. Half of her hoped Alex would come downstairs and see her like this, the other half was petrified of that same thing happening.

A few seconds later someone grabbed her arm and she was pulled away from the makeshift 'dance floor', and for some reason that she didn't really know the source of she started to laugh. In reality she had this ball of hurt and regret like hot lead at the pit of her stomach, and everything she intended on doing that night was in an attempt to block it out. She turned, expecting the hand that had grabbed her to be attached to Alex Vause, but instead she was facing a very furious Polly Harper. (The phrase 'if looks could kill' comes to mind).

"What do you think you're doing?" Her voice came out almost as a hiss. Piper didn't manage to give her an answer longer than "I-" before she started giving her the full blown lecture.

"You came here with Larry, remember Larry? The nice guy who's getting pretty fucking pissed at the fact that instead of paying any attention to him you're practically dry humping some girl in the middle of the room!"

"I just-"

"And it's not even supercunt, I mean, that's the really surprising part, we'd all been expecting it for quite a while and-"

"Polly." Piper was using that tone that could cut glass, she tried to form a justifiable argument in her head but her drunken thinking was too sloppy, she just needed Polly to get off her back. Jeez, sometimes she was worse than her mother.

"This is my life, I want to experiment, to try new things. I came to this stupid party to have a good time and god damnit that is what I'm going to do. I need this Polly, please just understand."

The drunken speech didn't have the effect Piper was hoping it would, Polly just narrowed her eyes. The two girls stared like this for a minute, some sort of silent stand-off, before Piper broke it off;

"Yeah well screw you anyway." She stormed back into the living room, her mind was clouded by anger and she knew she was being irrational but by this point she had gone too far to stop now. In a matter of seconds she was once again in front of the girl she had been dancing with earlier, except this time she just grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. It was rough and messy but it just felt wrong, the girl's mouth brought a bitter taste and Piper's chest contracted in a way that was far from pleasant. This was all wrong. She felt nothing, it meant nothing, there was no fire, no passion, she was just drunk and stupid. She broke away from the kiss, feeling tears prick at the back of her eyes. Her head was swimming, she didn't know if she was going to throw up or cry or both, but she sure as hell needed to get out of here.

It took her a moment to register that the two had got a few stares, she hadn't heard the catcalls either, she looked towards the exit and froze. Alex was staring back at her, she could tell from the expression on her face that she'd seen the whole thing; she just looked defeated, ready to give up. Piper couldn't stand that, she was so used to the strong Alex, the one who defended her, who she had never seen flinch at an insult or a harsh comment. This one look at the vulnerable, scared Alex was too much for her to bear. She couldn't believe that she was the reason behind that face. Quickly she rushed to the door, her face already wet with tears, she pushed past Alex and didn't stop until she felt the cool air on her skin. She just felt so helpless, so angry at herself for fucking everything up this bad. In a fit of manic rage she punched at the wall until her knuckles bled, and then collapsed, a sobbing mess against the porch. She needed to go home, there was nothing for her here now.

Alex watched as the girl she loved latched onto another woman across the room. She didn't even feel like she was looking at this from her own eyes, she felt so detached; this couldn't be happening. She had imagined scenes like this before, lying in bed at night trying not to even think of Piper at all, but she had never thought that it'd be with a woman. She could deal with her being straight, that was fine, it was out of her control, she just needed to move on. But this? Was she really naive enough to think that if Piper ever decided to be with a woman it'd be her? Fuck. She couldn't even move, couldn't look away, she just watched them kissing. Her insides felt hollow, like the months of anger and jealousy had burned them out. It was obvious that she had broken her classic aesthetic, her cool exterior was long gone, it was all she could do to stop the tears coming right then.

You have no right to feel like this

She was never yours, you shouldn't have let yourself get so attached.

She told herself, letting the words run round her head in an attempt to keep cool.

It seemed like an eternity before Piper looked up, met her gaze. She could see how drunk she was, she could see the regret in her eyes, the panic that she has practically trained herself to spot over the past couple years, but she just didn't care. She was stuck in her own head at the moment, logical thinking seemed impossible, and as far as Alex was concerned there was no excuse she could make. She watched as the blonde rushed past her and practically ran to the door, slamming it shut behind her.

She couldn't go home now, she couldn't be alone. She needed comfort, a friend, a hell of a lot of drinks.

Well, she shrugged, heading in the direction of the kitchen, one out of three isn't bad.