Chapter Thirty
Nicky entered the dining hall, the inmates were queuing up for their meals. Red still wasn't out of hospital and it was starting to worry her. She spotted Morello, Alex and Piper sat at a table. She strolled over to them and sat with them.
"Where you been today?" Morello asked.
"Laundry..." Nicky answered, doing her best to seem casual. Nobody but Boo knew about the heroin. Alex studied her, Nicky raised an eyebrow at Alex.
"Long time Vause."
"Not long enough." Alex replied with a look. Piper looked from Nicky to Alex, she didn't like the idea of Nicky and Alex hooking up. It made her uncomfortable. As far as she could tell her and Alex were fine. But Nicky and Alex shared a love for substance abuse, and had also shared beds from what Nicky had told her a few weeks ago.
"How you settling back in to the Litch?"
"It's been fine. Pennsatucky has new teeth which is ... interesting."
Nicky gave Alex a dirty grin, "would you?" Alex looked at her blankly, Nickly wiggled her eyebrows. Alex looked disgusted, "With pennsatucky? No way. Never. Not in a million years." Alex laughed, a mild air of disbelief on her face. Nicky shrugged, "she's cute...sort of. Like if you squint when you look at her...then she's sorta cute."
"How long you got this time?" Nicky asked.
"A year and a half...for violating my parole." She glanced down at her food, Nicky noticed the way Piper shifted uncomfortably. Piper felt Nicky's eyes on her, she glanced at Nicky who held her gaze. Suddenly, Nicky's eyes widened with realisation, Piper gave her a pleading look. Nicky scoffed then shook her head.
"What?" Alex asked, Morello and Alex glanced from Nicky to Piper.
"This place is unbelievable... fuckin' insane." Nicky said, her eyes firmly on Piper's. Piper squirmed. Nicky shook her head and stood from the table.
"I'm takin' a walk."
"No word on Red?" Alex asked.
Nicky studied the mysterious brunette, "Naw, they aren't too fussed about filling me in...But thanks for asking."
With that Nicky walked away, Alex turned to Morello.
"Is she okay?"
"I can't tell. She seems abit different but I don't know what it is. Keeps disappearing for hours at a time."
As Alex absorbed Morello's words, she watched Nicky who stopped in the doorway and glanced back at Alex. Their eyes locked for a moment, Alex knew that look. She knew it well. Nicky was using again.
"So, what else is new?"
"Oh, did you hear about Vee?"
"Who's Vee...And why is Red rolling with the elderly?" Alex enquired.
"I'll be right back..." Piper said. Alex glanced at her, "you okay?"
Piper nodded, "yeah, yeah. I'm just gonna check on Daya..."
Alex nodded, she couldn't help but frown. Piper had always been a bad liar.
Morello turned to Alex, "it's good to have you back, Vause. Congrats on getting back to the Litch."
"Thanks, I haven't been congratulated on fucking up my life before." Morello laughed.
"How's Christopher?"
"Oh, uhm... we don't talk about him." Morello answered, shifting her gaze to her food.
Piper walked up on Nicky in the laundry room, Nicky looked startled to see her.
"Don't say anything. Please. Don't tell her. We're so happy, Nicky. Like we're in prison and it sucks, but we're so fucking happy together. Don't mess that up."
"You...are an awful person." Nicky slurred. Piper frowned at her, "are you high?"
"Nope. I'm fine. Alex will kill you, when she finds out. You understand that...right?" Nicky twitched as she spoke. Piper studied her.
"That's my problem. Nicky please don't ruin this for me."
"I didn't ruin anything. You did it...I'm just an innocent bystander, snatch sister."
Piper flinched, "is it that bad?"
Nicky laughed incredulously.
"Is there anything worse? 'My sexy ex is free, I know, I'll screw her over so she gets sent back to prison so we can have sex in chapels and store rooms.' Of course it's that bad. Jesus, Chapman, you're a fucking monster."
"Nicky, she'll never forgive me if she finds out..."
"Then don't let her find out. Look, I like Alex. A lot. If she asks me, I'll tell her. But...I doubt it'll come up."
Piper sighed a breath of relief.
"Thanks Nicky, I owe you one."
"Hey, what's going on?" Alex's voice made the women turn to the door. Alex leant against the door frame, "Since when is Nicky Bursett, Piper?"
"It's been known to happen. We're both black..." Nicky quipped with a shrug.
"Piper what's going on? Something feels off lately, you seem...shifty."
Piper scoffed, "I seem shifty? That's rich coming from you..."
Nicky's eyes widened as she awkwardly headed for the door, "I'm gonna let you two work out your who-screwed-who-over dynamic alone..."
Alex frowned as Nicky left.
"What's she talking about?"
Piper's heart was in knots. She gazed at Alex, she wished she had the balls to be straight up.
"Alex, I love you. I fucking love you, and I'm glad you're back. And I don't think that's selfish. If anything it just reinforces how much I love you..."
Alex gave Piper a puzzled look, "Are you okay?"
Piper's soft blue eyes seemed moist, were those tears?
"Piper what's wrong?"
Piper felt sick as Alex gave her a worried look. All she could think was this was the person she had lied to. The person she had fucked over so she could have somebody on the inside. She was terrified of losing Alex, Alex was all she had in this world. But she wouldn't be able to lie to Vause forever.
"Hey, come here, hey..." Alex prompted softly. Piper suddenly noticed the tears streaming down her own cheeks. Alex must have thought she was crazy. But rather than call her on it, Alex simply pulled Piper into a comforting embrace. Piper shut her eyes and hugged Alex tightly. She buried her face in Alex's shoulder as she cried silently.
"Hey, it's okay. It's gonna be alright. We'll get out of here someday, right?" Alex assured her. Piper nodded sadly.
That night Alex lay awake, she stared at the ceiling. She hated this place, but at least she was safe here. She was such a fuck up. She couldn't believe she had gotten herself back inside. She sighed, Piper had been insistent Alex join her again tonight, but if Alex was being entirely honest, some thing felt off. Piper wasn't her usual self, and things were tense.
She paused, could she hear footsteps? She glanced around, everyone was asleep. That was when she saw Nicky creeping past the CO bubble and into the corridor. Alex sat up in her bed, curiosity always did get the better of her.
Nicky moaned as the drugs took over, she lay flat on the ground in the laundry room, by the vent in which she stashed Vee's heroin. Or what was left of it. Nicky ought to have hated herself, but she didn't. Nothing mattered because nothing felt as good or as real as the high she was on. She wished the high could last. She blinked slowly, the colours of the laundry room seemed to ripple faintly, a tall brunette stepped into her line of sight.
"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" The voice was thick and consistent, like liquor. Nicky sat up, groggy and blissful. She did her best to calm Alex's anger.
"Vause...It's not how it looks..."
Before Nicky could finish her sentence, Alex had taken her by her collar and pulled her up to her feet.
"Nicky, this will kill you. Red will kill you."
"Red's probably dead already for all we know."
"Nicky, you can't expect me to stand by and let you do this to yourself."
Nicky scoffed, bemused, "I love it when you pretend to be all holier than thou. I'm surprised you busted me when you can't even see what's right in front of you."
"What?" Alex frowned. Nicky shrugged.
"Doesn't matter."
Alex pulled the heroin out of the vent, Nicky's eyes widened in alarm. Alex stalked out of the laundry room with the heroin in her hands.
"Wait, Vause! Hey! What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm flushing it—"
"No-no please! Alex-!"
Nicky grabbed her by the arm, but Alex was stronger. She shrugged Nicky off and kept marching towards the bathroom.
"Wait...wait...I'll do anything...what do you want? Wanna know what's really on Chapman's mind?"
Alex slowed down, she looked at Nicky. Nicky sighed, "just gimme the stuff back and I'll do you a solid..."
"Forget about it."
Alex went to pour it down the toilets, Nicky grabbed her arm, "okay-okay! Just half...Gimme half of it. Once it's all gone, it's gone. Don't just rip it away from me like that...Please." The desperation in Nicky's voice, partnered with what secrets she was offering to share were enough to get Alex's attention.
"Talk, and I'll think about it."
"Sure you wanna know?"
Alex studied her, "Spill."