Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment/favourite or followed the story so far! I hope the update adds a little more substance after setting the scene with the first chapter. There'll be a lot more interaction between the main characters now that I've managed to advance the plot a little.
As ever, any and all constructive criticism is most gratefully received. Thank you in advance for reading!
She turns up at Polly's apartment the next day slightly before they need to start work, as per their Thursday tradition.
"Sure, come on in." Polly's mild greeting is the same every morning. It's her attempt at a sarcastic response to Piper's habit of walking straight in without knocking, but the whole thing is something of a routine now, warm and completely in jest.
"I come bearing gifts." Piper holds out a paper cup, fresh from her Starbucks trip, and Polly accepts it without further complaint.
Over the course of the last year, Polly's apartment had gradually been turned into their base of operations. It wasn't ideal, but until they really got the business going, it was the best they had. Polly's kitchen had become something of a research lab as they tried out different product ideas (though Piper's role in this tended to be more of an auxiliary one), and the spare room had gradually been transformed into an office. They'd managed to cram two desks into the room; although it was mainly Piper's job to manage the administrative side of things, it was too much to do alone and there were days when neither woman left the 'office'. They would forgo making soap testers and samples, and work on setting up meetings and securing a business loan instead.
The work is demanding, and almost endless, and often it feels like their only time out consists of their respective Wednesday evening activities and the time they spend the next morning discussing them. Polly tells Piper about the events of her date night with Pete, and Piper fills Polly in on any gossip about the members of the yoga group.
This particular Thursday morning is no different; Piper listens patiently to Polly's run-down of her date, blowing on her coffee as Polly offloads her worries about the progression of her relationship.
"…And it's just hard because it's been quite a while now but, because we only see each other a couple times a week, I don't really know what stage we're at, you know?"
"Well, have you slept with him yet?"
Polly stiffens slightly, frowning. "Piper."
"So. That's a 'no' then." Piper works hard to suppress a smile at her friend's expression, waiting for her to cave.
Sure enough, Polly eventually gives in. "Yes. It is a no. Maybe he's just really not that into me. God. I don't know. I don't want to talk about this anymore, let's change the subject. Did I miss anything at yoga?"
"You say that like you still go occasionally."
"Shut up. Who knows, maybe I'll start again, it might help me deal with my relationship stress."
Piper raises her eyebrows slightly at this, her expression knowing and slightly smug. It's clear that Polly likes Pete a lot and Piper could tell that she really wasn't that stressed at all about it.
"Shut up. I'll need to be up to date on all the goings on if I'm gonna come back, so get talking."
In truth, there's very little to say. Flaca had gone surprisingly quiet about her current bust-up with her friend Maritza and Daya too had seemed a little cagey when anyone asked about the guy she'd gone on a few dates with, so the only remaining development was the news about the AA group needing to use the hall too.
"Wow. Because having them there won't be distracting at all." Polly remarks afterwards and Piper laughs, nodding her agreement. "Did you get any impression of what the thing with Lorna was all about?" she asks, in reference to Piper's recounting of the flustered way in which Morello had reacted to one of the AA members's taunting.
"Nope, no idea. They clearly knew each other though. Maybe I'll find out as time goes on. Or you will, if you're so keen on coming back," Piper replies teasingly, well aware that Polly has no intention of giving up on date night any time soon. And clearly, the news about the class sharing a hall with a mutual aid group has given Polly the out she needs.
"Well I'm not coming back if there's gonna be an audience. Especially not when at least three of them sound totally pervy and weird," she pauses, clearly expecting something from Piper. When Piper doesn't speak she goes on, incredulous, "come on, you're not gonna keep going are you? Them being there defeats the point of the class."
"I don't know. Maybe." Piper is being deliberately vague and she knows Polly can see through the façade. She fully intends on going back, although she is keen not to let on that it's at least partly because her mind has barely drifted from the woman that had drawn her gaze back in the sports hall last night.
"What's that look?" Polly narrows her eyes suspiciously, staring intently at Piper's expression.
"What look?"
"I don't know, you just have a look."
Piper casts around for an appropriate response, one that doesn't involve letting Polly know that's she's semi-preoccupied by a woman – apparently a woman in some form of recovery – that she's only shared a couple of glances with. Even Piper isn't quite sure what's pulling her towards this strange woman, only that she'd been confused by her somehow, thrown out of orbit a little.
"Well, they certainly livened things up a bit, I just think they seem interesting, that's all."
"I really don't think a lively atmosphere is what you want out of yoga, Piper."
"You know what I meant."
Polly shrugs, draining the last of her coffee. "I don't know Pipe. From what you just said, they all kind of sound like assholes to me."
"I don't want to bring this party atmosphere down or anything, but doesn't the whole yoga class being here kind of fuck up the part where this is meant to be anonymous?"
As she stretches her arms out into Warrior pose, Piper can't help but think that this is actually a fair point. Or, it would be, if the AA didn't seem to have pretty lax rules on anonymity anyway. Before anyone has time to make a constructive suggestion, however, Piper hears Flaca sigh impatiently from behind her. An unfortunate coincidence had meant that Maritza, Flaca's estranged friend, had recently joined the recovery group.
"Why do you even care? Everyone in the neighbourhood already knows every damn part your business anyway."
As had become their customary routine, Sophia turns her head to share an amused, mock-scandalised look with Piper.
It's week three in the two groups's unfortunate experiment in sharing a space and by now it's widely accepted that moments of drama will inevitably break out with relative ease.
Lorna and the woman from the first week had so far avoided any interaction but, in the second week, Janae had let out a laugh at a detail in an AA member's story, and Cindy had immediately come over to angrily ask what was so funny. Jones had calmed things down, but the mood between the two groups had been stormy for the rest of the session.
Jones's attempts at keeping Flaca and Maritza from arguing were less successful, however, and they were yet to have a session when the two didn't snipe at each other on at least one occasion. Not that anyone else really knew what the source of their disagreement actually was, and (though no one wanted to admit it) it was increasingly intriguing to listen to it all play out.
Suddenly, Jones's voice cuts through the tense silence, and the poor woman seems to sound more and more harassed with every week that goes by.
"Remember to try and clear your minds ladies, work on banishing all external influences."
"Yeah that's right, keep your nose out of shit that doesn't concern you." Maritza doesn't seem ready to let things drop and Piper, knowing that Flaca possesses quite the temper, suspects a full-on fight might break out when the AA's convener, who the other members all call Miss Rosa, interrupts, asking loudly,
"Does anyone actually want to share today?"
The members of the yoga class had quickly learnt that 'sharing' could mean just about anything. The AA group seemed to welcome anyone in any form of recovery, not just those suffering with alcoholism, and the acronym had turned out to be more of generic moniker than anything else. Substance abuse did seem to be a common theme all-round, however.
A blissful moment of silence fills the hall as no one immediately offers to speak, and Piper wonders if this might be the week that she finally finds out a little more about the tall woman with the glasses.
Though Piper always has her back to the AA meetings, she's relatively certain that the woman still hasn't shared yet, and the strange pull Piper feels towards her has only grown more frustrating given that, save for a few lingering glances, the two have barely acknowledged each other since that first session. It's funny, but Piper actually feels disappointed by this. She'd thought that there was something between her and the woman, but she hasn't made a move on Piper, hasn't even tried to talk to her. And for her part, Piper is hardly about to make the first move either. The whole liking men and women deal isn't exactly something new to her, she's been aware of it for a while, but she's never actually hit on a woman, wouldn't even know where to begin.
There's also something especially annoying to Piper in the fact that she still doesn't even know this woman's name. Since she hasn't stood up to speak, there's been little to no opportunity for Piper to glean any information at all about the woman, even something vague. Piper thinks perhaps knowing something about her might help her to deal with this strange crush she seems to be developing, as she suspects it's rooted at least slightly in the mystery of it all. But being able to at least name the person might give Piper a degree of control in all of this.
And, after all, the woman clearly has a complicated past. A past she clearly doesn't want to talk about yet, if at all. Maybe she accidentally killed someone. Maybe she's gone all Breaking Bad or something. Maybe she's done time in prison.
Piper would like to think that the idea of dating a convicted felon would be a complete turn off, but as she uses Jones's command to change pose to chance a quick glance at the back of the woman's head, Piper wonders about the strength of that particular conviction.
The rest of the session is close to passing without a hitch, and most of the yoga class have already collected their belongings and are on their way out of the room when another argument eventually breaks out.
Piper had hung back to talk with Lorna and behind them the AA meeting starts drawing to a close, when the woman with the wild, unkempt hair from a few weeks ago says loudly and pointedly,
"…though I guess drugs aren't the only source of delusion out there," from her spot at the lectern, and Lorna suddenly clams up halfway through telling Piper about her plans for the weekend. For a moment, Morello looks as though she might let the comment slide, but eventually she flashes an icy glare over her shoulder.
"Stop talking about things you don't understand." Her response is quiet and slow and Piper is surprised that Lorna manages to sound quite so dangerous.
Sensing trouble, Miss Rosa quickly closes the AA session, and chatter fills the hall again.
However, somewhat unfortunately, Piper only just has time to ask Lorna if she's okay before the woman from AA rounds on them both.
"You think I don't understand what's going on?" she ignores Piper completely, stepping between her and Lorna.
"I know that you don't." Lorna steps away and makes to gather up her things and leave.
"Well I know that you'd rather play make-believe than face up to what's really in front of you!"
"Oh that's rich Nichols, that's real rich." Lorna's eyes look unnaturally bright as she bends to roll up her yoga mat, and Piper feels concern bubble up in her stomach for the other woman. In fact, she's half tempted to wait and make sure Morello is alright, when a quiet voice from behind her startles her.
"I wouldn't worry about it."
Piper turns quickly, and feels her heart jump to her throat. Staring back at her is the woman Piper has been snatching glances at for three weeks. Behind her glasses, she's flicking her gaze between Piper and the unfolding argument a few feet away and there's a ghost of a smile on her face. Piper catches herself thinking that the woman is even more striking up close, and it takes her a moment before she realises that she should probably say something.
The woman's smile deepens into something closer to a smirk as she watches Piper cast around for something to say, but she makes no move to help the conversation along.
"Oh. So…do you know what's going on with them then?" As soon as the words are out of her mouth Piper winces internally at her tone. She sounds like she's prying, and while she is quite fascinated by this strange situation, she doesn't want to come across as being interested only in the gossip side of it all.
"Shit. Sorry. I just mean…are they both…okay?" Piper manages to stammer out an amendment, just as they both hear:
"Hey Morello, you know what? Fuck you. Fuck you and your stupid fake boyfriend."
Piper winces again, this time for real.
"Never mind. They just answered my question for me."
This earns a genuine laugh from the woman in front of her, low and smooth and indulgent. The sound seems to echo through Piper, and she has the strange, absurd desire to hear the woman laugh again and again.
"Nicky and Lorna just aren't seeing eye-to-eye at the moment," she supplies vaguely. "It's nothing to worry about. In fact, this is their standard, run-of-the-mill break up fight. They've been on and off for ages. They'll be on again before the end of the month, just you wait."
Piper can't quite hide her scepticism at this. "Really? Because they seem pretty angry with each other."
The woman gives a slight shake of her head, clearly still somewhat amused. "Oh I've known Nicky for years and she and Lorna have been doing this dance for a while. Honestly, just trust me. Or bet me. Whichever floats your boat." She follows this with a confident, closed-mouth smile.
"What, are you gonna start a sweepstake or something?" Piper asks in her best teasing tone. The woman laughs again, and it seems to hit Piper somewhere in the pit of her stomach.
"Well, I was thinking more just you and me, since you clearly have so little faith in my divination skills," she retorts, affecting a tone of mock hurt.
"So you're just going to try and take money off an innocent bystander now, huh?" Piper puts as much emphasis on the 'innocent' as she dares.
"Hm, probably shouldn't, not when you put it like that. It seems a little clinical. Impersonal almost, don't you think? How about we bet drinks instead?" she leans in conspiratorially, drops her voice lower. "If I win, you buy me a drink but if they're still fighting by the end of the month, I'll get the first round in."
Slowly and deliberately, Piper draws back, placing her hands on her hips with as much authority as she can muster.
"Oh? And what makes you think there might be a second round?" For just a moment, Piper thinks she finally has the upper hand in this conversation, finally feels like she isn't a step behind this woman when, without missing a beat, the reply comes, bold and suggestive.
"I saw you looking at me the other week."
Piper splutters, suddenly way, way out of her depth. Flustered, she grasps about for an appropriate response. "Well. You only saw that because…well. You were looking back at me."
"Oh. You got me. Nice one." There's a pause, and though the argument still is raging on somewhere behind Piper, it suddenly feels distant, like it's in a whole other room. Or a whole other universe. This time, the other woman fills the lull between them. "So. Is that a yes? Is it a bet?" She's got her arms crossed, everything in her body language making it seem as though she's completely disinterested in the impending response, but Piper senses something more intense in her question, something that feels almost urgent.
And so, Piper deliberately pauses, pretending to consider it. She pauses as though saying 'no' is actually an option, as though every covert glance over her shoulder over the past three weeks has been accidental. As though occasionally catching this woman staring back hasn't sent a thrill of excitement through her.
Eventually, Piper speaks. "Okay fine. It's a bet." The other woman smirks, and Piper makes one last-ditch attempt to claw back some semblance of control in all of this. "But only because I've never seen two people less likely to get back together in my life, and I like to win things." This earns causes the woman to quirk an eyebrow in question and Piper grins across at her, half-sheepish. "I'm competitive, what can I say?"
"Oh I see. Can't resist a chance to gloat, huh?" Somehow, she say that like it's pure suggestion, lips moving around the words as though she's somehow managed to turn the art of speech into some kind of caress.
"Who are you?" Piper tries to make the question into a challenge, but deep down she knows she never had any chance of succeeding.
"My name is Alex."
As it turns out, Piper has been completely wrong this whole time.
Once she is able to put a name to the face she's been thinking about for close to a month, she finds herself absolutely, completely, one hundred percent screwed.