There has been quite the rumble about this story amongst readers. If you'd like to read my detailed response to "constructive" reviews, please visit my tumblr page, which is under saintsavory. For those of you who don't care about reviews and are enjoying this story for what it's worth, thank you. Please enjoy Chapter 6.
Alex showed up for her Saturday shift at Salvatore's, but it wasn't her turn to borrow a car that evening. At least she made decent tips and enjoyed the company of the two other guys working with her that night.
She reflected on her confrontation with Larry earlier that day and wondered if he'd informed Piper about their conversation. Alex figured he'd tattle on her right away, but she hoped the blonde stood her ground. She didn't care if Piper was upset with her for antagonizing Larry—he wasn't the right…person for her.
A frequent diner drove up in her black Jaguar XJ, jostling Alex from her reverie. She'd met her three times before and wondered if the raven haired woman had hit on her in those other meetings. The woman had introduced herself as Liza Pope and tipped very well. She had to be in her early 60s, and while Alex liked her women older, she didn't like them that much older. She knew she'd need to tread carefully so as not to encourage Ms. Pope's flirtations, but just enough to generate big tips.
"Good evening, Ms. Pope," Alex greeted, opening the car door.
The woman was always impeccably dressed, and that night was no different.
She stepped out. "Alex, I'm glad you're here."
"I'll always take good care of your car," she tried.
"I've been watching you." She hooked her Louis Vuitton purse over one shoulder. "The way you carry yourself."
The brunette bit the inside of her cheek, nervous about where this was headed but allowed Liza to proceed.
"Though it's hard to tell with that uniform," she looked her up and down. "I think you have an attractive body."
"Thank you." Alex blushed and was about to excuse herself, but before she could say any more, Liza jumped in again.
She reached into her purse. "Here's my card. I'm interested in talking with you in the near future, so please ring my assistant and we'll set something up."
"Ok, thanks." Alex took the card and shoved it into her back pocket without looking at it. "Have a nice dinner."
The brunette got behind the wheel and drove to the back parking lot before pulling out the business card and examining it. "Elite Model Management, Milan & Manhattan," she read. What the fuck? So Liza hadn't been flirting at all—she was in talent acquisition working out of the Manhattan office.
Alex smiled, threw her head back, and then read the card again. Very interesting.
By the time every guest left Salvatore's, it was 11:45 p.m. Brandon had successfully borrowed an Audi convertible and returned it safely with two minutes to spare. He gave Alex a fist bump and once again thanked her for such a great idea.
He dropped her off at the Chapman house in his beat up Honda hatchback, but the brunette didn't complain about at least having a free ride. She'd ridden the bus several times, and it had taken twice as long to get home.
"Thanks, Brandon. See you bright and early for brunch tomorrow." She shut the door and walked up the driveway, noticing that Bill and her mom's cars were there, but Piper's BMW was not.
The brunette walked inside, and proceeded directly to the bathroom to take a shower. After a work shift, she smelled sweaty and a little like Italian meatballs even though she spent very little time inside of the restaurant. The shower felt amazing, and she stayed under the spray five minutes longer than usual.
She changed into comfortable cotton shorts and a white tank top over a black one, and went to the kitchen for something to nibble on. The staff got to eat a free meal every shift, but it was usually something simple like soup, salad or, if she was lucky, an Italian sub with melted mozzarella. That night, it was a cup of Minestrone and two breadsticks, which she'd eaten at 5 p.m.
She opened the refrigerator to see if there was any deli meat to make a sandwich. As she pulled out the package of roasted turkey breast, she heard a key in the door. Alex peeked around the corner and saw a stumbling blonde.
"Hello, Alex," she slurred with a mischievous grin. Piper was wearing petite, white shorts and a thin, pale green shirt.
The brunette smirked. "Are you drunk?"
"I wouldn't know," she slurred again. "I've never been drunk."
"Well, the first rule is, you have to keep your voice down," she whispered. Alex put her hand on the girl's back, escorting her into the kitchen. "The second is that you should eat something and have a glass of water before you go to sleep so you don't wake up with a hangover."
Piper hiccupped and quickly covered her mouth.
Alex wondered how the girl could be that fucking adorable by having the hiccups. She pulled the mayonnaise & mustard from the fridge. "How'd you go from having your first beer with me last night to getting drunk today?"
She looked up at the brunette with puppy-dog eyes. "I had a bad day."
Alex grabbed the loaf of 12 grain bread. "Wanna tell me about it?"
She averted her eyes. "I broke up with Larry."
The brunette paused for a moment, thinking of how to proceed. "Should I be sorry to hear that?" Alex finally asked even though she wasn't.
Piper shrugged and looked back at her companion. "You had something to do with that."
"He squealed like a rutting pig, didn't he?" She huffed.
The blonde hiccupped again. "Why'd you threaten him like that?"
She spread the condiments on two slices of bread. "Because you deserve to be treated better."
Piper's expression was as if she didn't know how to take that—like Alex's statement was a branch she couldn't reach high atop a tree.
The brunette stopped what she was doing and filled a glass with water. She slid it on the granite towards Piper. "Larry's a pussy."
A grin slowly registered on her face. "I thought you liked pussy."
That caused Alex to smirk. "Touché."
The blonde giggled, and Alex admired the way the muscles in her neck moved.
She finished making two sandwiches and sat at the kitchen counter next to Piper as they both devoured the food. Piper informed her about the way she broke up with Larry, and Alex was proud of her bold move.
When they were done eating, the older girl washed the dishes. "Feeling any better?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm still intoxicated." She stood and stretched, giving Alex a view of her toned stomach. "Maybe we should have a drink?"
"Not tonight." She shook her head. "I have to work the brunch shift at Salvatore's tomorrow, which means I have to be there at 6 a.m."
"Alex?" Piper called in a timid voice as if not having paid attention to the brunette's explanation.
She put the condiments and turkey back into the refrigerator. "Hmm?"
"I think I want to kiss a girl."
Alex froze and flexed her jaw. That was not what she was expecting. Silence filled the air, but sirens went off in her head.
Piper stepped closer, looking one part innocent and another part anxious. The blonde set her glass of water on the counter and lowered her hand, knuckles skimming Alex's arm.
Alex fiddled with the fringe of a kitchen towel, unsure if Piper was suggesting that they kiss or if any girl would do. "Do you want me to point out the semi-closeted lesbians at school on Monday?"
"No," she replied in a raspy voice as she tugged at the hem of Alex's shirt.
The brunette ran a hand through her thick, black hair and closed her eyes. She was absolutely willing and in fact, eager, to be Piper's first girl kiss, but this wasn't how she wanted it to happen. "Not like this," she whispered.
Piper ran her fingers around the edge of Alex's shirt until it reached her hip, pulling slightly at the fabric. "Not like what?"
It took all of her strength to remove the girl's fingertips from her tank top. "Not when you're drunk."
She pouted. "Are you scared that I'll regret it in the morning?"
"Yeah," the brunette answered honestly. "I am."
She tilted her head and looked downright delectable. "But you said you thought I was attractive."
"You are very attractive, Piper." Alex balled her fists to keep from reaching out and grabbing Piper by the neck and pulling her in for a scorching kiss. "And if you want to talk about this when you're sober..." she trailed off.
The blonde sighed and lowered her head.
"Come here." Alex pulled her into a tight hug. "You are beautiful, Piper. Anyone would be lucky to kiss you."
"You mean that?" She mumbled against the brunette's chest.
Alex pulled back and brushed the blonde's hair out of her face. "I do."
Piper looked up at her again. "Alex?"
"Hmm?" Her fingertips lingered on the girl's cheek a second more than they probably should have.
"I think I'm gonna throw up." She ran to the sink and hurled.
Alex squeezed her eyes shut, mumbled fuck, and then proceeded to help the girl puke the alcohol out of her system. "You're going to be fine, babe. Get it all out. It's ok." She held her hair back with one hand and rubbed Piper's back with the other.
"Oh, my God." She straightened, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I hate throwing up." Tears slowly fell down her cheeks.
"I don't know anyone who enjoys it," Alex chuckled. She tore a few paper towels off the roll, wet them with cool water and wiped the blonde's face. "You know what the solution is?"
Piper leaned into her touch. "Hmm?"
"Don't drink so much." She grinned.
Piper pushed her chest and pouted. "Thanks for the tip, asshole."
"Let's get you cleaned up and into bed." She flushed the vomit down the drain, and then took Piper by the hand as they proceeded to the bathroom.
"Here's a towel and some face soap. I'll go get something for you to wear." Alex walked down the hallway and considered digging in Piper's drawers for clothes, but she didn't want to be chastised later for going through her things. Instead, she grabbed one of her own Sex Pistols t-shirts and a pair of gray, cotton shorts. She knocked on the bathroom door. "You ok?"
"Yeah."
"I'm going to leave some clothes out here for you." She set the clothes on the carpet. "Think you can get to bed ok?"
"Yeah. Thank you."
Alex turned to walk away, but not before hearing Piper ask, "Did you call me, babe?"
She decided against affirming Piper's question and grinned, not at all surprised that the drunk girl had picked up on her term of endearment.
Alex left her bedroom door open so she could hear when the blonde finished in the bathroom. Once she felt it was safe to do so, she padded down the hallway and peeked inside Piper's room. The blonde was sound asleep and snoring. Alex smiled.
Piper awoke the next morning with saliva crusted on her chin and a slight headache. She sat up, rubbing a hand over her face as she pieced together what had happened the night before. She remembered drinking shots of Fireball dropped into hard cider with Polly and a couple of other friends, and then she recalled coming home and chatting with Alex in the kitchen.
She'd told Alex that she wanted to kiss a girl. Fuck.
Piper flopped back in bed and pulled the sheets over her head. She had no idea how alcohol would affect her, and clearly it acted as a truth serum. The one thing she hadn't said was that she wanted to kiss Alex—at least she'd been somewhat careful with her confession.
Alex was smart though—too smart to not understand what she'd insinuated. Piper wondered how she should proceed: pretend that she didn't remember their conversation or apologize to her for being so brazen.
Someone knocked on her door, and she hoped it wasn't Alex—she wasn't ready to face her just yet. "Who is it?"
"Your father," Bill announced.
She pulled the sheets from over her head and rested them across her chest. "Come in."
"I was worried about you." He didn't step inside. "It's almost 10 o'clock, and you're usually up on weekends by this time."
She was shocked at the time. "I'm fine; just a little tired."
"Diane made waffles if you want one." He turned to leave.
"Thanks." Piper sat up again and sighed. She had a ton of homework to do, and she needed to come up with a plan to confront Alex.
It was going to be a long day.
Alex finished the brunch shift at Salvatore's and walked away with $65 in tips, which was a lucrative day. She needed some new clothes and didn't want to ask her mom for the money, so she took the bus to the thrift store just outside of Greenwich that had just as nice of clothing as some department stores. Alex was astounded by the amount of money in the town and wished she had just a quarter of their wealth.
She purchased a couple of nice dresses that she'd feel comfortable wearing to an interview, and maybe she was putting the cart before the horse, but she was hoping that Liza Pope wanted to meet with her in the near future to talk about a job. Alex certainly didn't consider herself the model type and wondered if Ms. Pope was considering her for an administrative position. Either way, it was a potential lead on a job that wasn't parking cars.
The brunette spent the rest of the day with Nicky, smoking and drinking, and not thinking about Piper.
Or the way her eyes looked stormy and hungry last night.
Or the way her lips formed the perfect pout.
Or the sliver of skin she'd revealed when stretching.
No, Alex didn't think about any of those things.
She wasn't nervous about talking to Piper about the events of the previous night and figured it would be slightly awkward for a moment, but they'd move right past it. If Piper didn't bring it up, she wouldn't press the issue unless the blonde pulled another stunt like she had the night before. If Alex was a betting woman, she'd put her money on something similar happening in the not so distant future. The question was, who would make the next move?