Piper woke up late the next morning, the taste of stale vomit lingered in her mouth from the night before. There were the few seconds of bliss before the crushing reality of what she'd done crashed down on her, it felt like she couldn't breathe. All she could do was picture Alex's face, she wanted to see her, to tell her she was sorry, to tell her she didn't mean it, she didn't mean anything. She held back a sob as she curled up into a ball under the duvet, before flinching as her knuckles scraped across the fabric. I'm such a fucking idiot, she cursed herself, what had happened to her last night? She wasn't like this, she wasn't angry and manic and jealous and she wasn't fucking crazy. Or maybe she was, she just didn't know anymore.

Bracing herself, she reached for her phone, trying to work out if she'd sent any texts after she got home last night, hell, she didn't even remember getting home last night.

Larry (1)

I guess it's over then. Thanks a lot, Piper, what a great fucking party.

Polly (4)

Are you alive?

I'm still pissed at you by the way

Text me back bitch, I'm worrying about you

Piper!

Her breath hitched in her throat as she read the last name, dreading what the text would contain;

Alex (1)

She waited a minute before opening it, trying to prepare herself for what it could say.

We need to talk.

She let out a sigh of relief, she wanted to talk! This was better than ignoring her at least, but then the familiar panic started to set in. She didn't know if she was ready to talk to Alex about what was going on with them, she didn't know if she was ready to talk to anyone, but then she figured that last night pretty much threw ready out of the window. She needed to talk to Alex or she was just going to lose her, and that was something she really couldn't bear.

I'm coming over, now.

Sending the message she threw her phone down on the bed, not bothering to wait for a reply. She felt like death but somehow had retained that reckless fire, it was all or nothing now and the thought of fighting her way into a second chance with this girl was enough to motivate her to put on some clothes and leave the house. She felt as though she radiated determination, no Alex wasn't an option. A life without her is unthinkable, and there was no way she was going to let that happen.

As she turned onto Alex's street, Piper noticed a figure by the steps leading up to her door. Tall and slender, cigarette in one hand and phone in the other, she suspected that she was holding it just for something to do with her hands rather than because she actually intended to use it. A lump formed in Piper's throat, keeping up this determined, defiant aura was definitely going to be more difficult than she thought. It actually became increasingly difficult the closer she got to the figure, she noticed that she still had the remnants of last night's eyeliner scattered along her eyelids, marvelled at the way she still managed to look so damn sexy in sweat pants and an old shirt. Although, her sleepless nights had become plain on her face. She had that unbreakable cold exterior thing going on again, making Piper feel so nervous that she almost turned and ran.

"Alex..." She looked into the other girl's eyes, trying to find something, anything that suggested that the girl was happy to see her, that she wanted her to be here. There was just a faint flicker, the faux-cool was well practiced, her emotions had become easy to hide, but that flicker was enough to convince Piper that this was all worthwhile. Hell, all she needed to do was look at Alex to know it was worthwhile. It was undeniable that the air became electric when the two of them were together, they had something different, something that was impossible to give up.

"Don't fucking do that Piper, don't think that you can just look at me with those big Bambi eyes of yours and it'll all go away." She stubbed out her cigarette, moving closer to the blonde. "I'm so fucking pissed at you, you seem to think that you're like this fucking golden girl or something, that you can do no wrong, well what about my fucking feelings Piper? What about me? Do you like not care at all because that's sure as hell what it's been feeling like lately."

This had been what Piper was expecting, the anger, the accusations, but it still stung, even though she knew she deserved it. She could feel her temper rising.

"You honestly think I think of myself like that? How could you say I don't care - of course I care, you're a pretty big part of my fucking life Alex, or at least you were before you decided to ignore me for, like, months!"

She regretted the words as soon as she'd spoken, she knew it was her fault, she knew everything was her fault, but sometimes it was just really hard not to give in to her own anger, she was getting caught up in the moment. Alex just stared at her, obviously wondering how she could be so fucking selfish. Well, y'know what, fuck her.

"I mean yeah, I stormed out on you, but that was one time! And you had just kissed me for Christ's sake, I was terrified!" She had taken a step towards the taller woman, the tension between them was building as their anger grew.

"You were terrified? Oh give me a break" Alex rolled her eyes, "You enjoyed that kiss as much as I did, you felt something there and I'm pretty damn sure you still feel it now. We have something Piper, so don't try all your straight girl bullshit on me, you were certainly singing a different tune last night."

Piper's frustration was building at this, she clenched her fists, ignoring the shooting pain that ran up her arm from her knuckles. She couldn't believe that Alex was trying to tell her how she felt, and the fact that she had it all down to a tee made it all the more frustrating. How could she argue against this girl and her fucking Jedi mind tricks?

"Fuck you." She took another step towards Alex, the two were mere inches apart now. "Fuck you and your fucking stupid cocky bullshit!" She was really losing the argument now, and she knew it. Piper ran her tensed fingers through her hair, taking a minute to make an attempt at thinking before completely ignoring herself and prodding her extended index finger into Alex's chest, forcing her back against the wall.

"You just do this to people all the time, you read them and you try and get inside their heads and I have no idea how but it just works, okay? You are so god damn frustrating it makes my entire body ache, and it's even worse because you know you're doing it, oh, you know exactly what you're doing."

Throughout this exchange Piper had somehow managed to end up gripping the collar of Alex's shirt with white knuckles. They were standing so close now that they could practically taste each other's breath, and the heat of the exchange was driving them both insane. Piper bit down hard on her bottom lip as she felt Alex's hands tighten around her waist.

"Tell me it's not true then." Alex urged, there was fire in her eyes as she looked down at the blonde, the look she was receiving was pretty much pure desire. Piper had to hold back a shiver as the dark haired girl moved one of her hands to the small of her back, sliding under her shirt until she was touching skin. "Tell me you don't feel anything right now."

It was impossible not to let on how much this was driving her insane, there were a hell of a lot of butterflies in her stomach and it was taking all of her willpower not to just close the couple of centimetres gap between them and kiss her. Her anger had most definitely been forgotten by this point, and although she wanted to try and play the game, she knew Alex had already won.

"Fuck you, Vause." She mumbled, somehow her other hand had found its way into Alex's hair and was pulling her forward. She could feel the other girl's smirk against her lips before she forced them open into another passionate kiss. She had no idea how everything that had been going on had been forgotten, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't over yet, that there would still be things to answer for later. However, in that moment, she really didn't care.