Over the next three weeks, Piper turned in an equal number of essays, and Alex vowed to pour over them until she could come up with substantive comments to help the young writer reach her potential. It wasn't an easy task—her work was brilliant. Any grad school student would be lucky to have Piper's way with words.
Two weeks before Winter Break, Piper missed three classes in a row, and her teacher found out that she had the flu and was hospitalized for half a day due to lack of fluids. She wanted to send the girl a Get Well card, but she didn't know how to deliver it without suspicion, so she settled on a text.
Alex: Heard you were sick. Get well soon, kid.
Piper: I feel better, thanks.
Alex: Wouldn't want you to miss my last lecture of my teaching career.
Piper: Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Alex: By the way, graded your last three papers. As on all, but tried to give meaningful comments on each. Hard to do when you write so fucking well.
Piper: Blushing. Thank you.
Class wasn't the same without Piper in the room—no one could connect ideas the way that she could, and no one could challenge Alex in as respectful a way as the blonde could. She had a knack for debate that added value to the entire student body.
Alex tried to make up for the lack of Piper's presence in the class and in her personal life, but she fell short. She thought of Piper at every turn, whether that was listening to music or reading a book—the blonde had infiltrated her entire system.
After Piper's fourth absence, fuck it, Alex thought—she couldn't continue walking around in a fog. She just needed to see the blonde; make sure she was really ok.
Alex had never been in the dormitory, and she didn't exactly feel comfortable in a building where high school students slept. She checked in at the front desk and recognized the student on duty as Bryn Denning from her third period class. "I'm here to see Piper Chapman. I heard she was really sick."
"That's super nice of you," Bryn replied, chomping on gum. "Go ahead to her room - 316."
"Thank you." She made sure the flowers that she'd bought were invisible to anyone who might pass by.
Alex knocked on the closed door.
"Come in."
"Don't you ask who it is first?" Alex said with a grin as she entered the tiny dorm room.
"Alex! What the hell are you doing here?" Piper sat up in her bed, dropping a book onto the floor.
"Relax, kid. I checked in at the front desk. It's all good." She pulled out the bunch of flowers. "I was worried about you."
"This will look incredibly suspicious," she admitted after a long cough.
"Oh, well." She shrugged, sitting on the mattress next to the blonde's hip. "I have one more week at this place. Let them fire me."
The blonde gave her a tender smile as she accepted the flowers. "Thank you for these. I've missed you."
Alex brushed the hair off Piper's forehead, her fingertips lingering a bit longer than she intended. "I've missed you, too."
Piper reached back and put the flowers on her desk. "I'm feeling much better. The doctor said I can go to school on Monday."
Alex took Piper's hand in hers and rubbed her knuckles. "Glad to hear it. Anybody come to see you?"
"Lots of students." She looked at Alex's full lips. "I'm not contagious anymore."
The dark haired woman let out a soft laugh. "Why are you telling me that?"
"In case you wanted this to be the site of our first kiss." She shook her leg and intentionally hit Alex several times on her side.
"A first kiss implies there will be a second," the brunette replied with a cocked eyebrow.
Piper looked into Alex's eyes. "Was that ever a question?"
"No, it wasn't…it isn't." Alex brushed the blonde's cheek with the back of her hand. She watched Piper's eyelids shut.
"My head is getting fuzzy…lie down with me."
Alex sat up straighter. "I don't think so. That is the opposite of the safe thing to do."
"I'm going to lock the door, and then you're going to lay with me." She crawled over Alex slowly, making the older woman's skin prickle, and locked the door.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Alex smiled.
She looked down at her outfit: navy sweatpants, a red plaid shirt over a purple tank top, and pink fuzzy socks.
"I could take it all off," she commented while beginning to lift them hem of her tank top.
"No!" Alex barked. She stood and adjusted her glasses. "God, no. Please don't do that."
The blonde smirked as she climbed back into bed, patting the space next to her. "I want to be your little spoon."
Her brain was telling her to get the fuck out of that room, but Alex did as she was told and scooted behind her.
Piper grabbed her right hand and held it close to her chest. "I could get used to this."
Alex smiled against the blonde's ear before puckering her lips and kissing her delicately on her earlobe.
They laid like that until Piper fell asleep.
Alex gently removed herself from her position, careful not to wake Piper, and kissed the girl on the forehead. She looked at Piper in that small bed, wondering, no hoping, that would be the first of many times they'd share a bed together.