„Your brother let me in. Cute boy." Alex stated, staring at her own knees. While she hadn't been able to stop staring at Piper earlier, she now avoided even looking in her direction.
„Listen, I'm sorry for crashing in like this. I should have knocked. I didn't expect to find you..."
she coughed, blushing, preferring not to end her sentence.
Piper didn't know where to look at, her face was burning from the heat of her rushing blood. She was so ashamed, Alex had seen her naked. And although a part of her had dreamed of being naked in a room with the most beautiful girl in the world, in that dream she hadn't felt that humiliated and also she hadn't been naked alone.
She leaned against her drawer, her life was getting worse from day to day.
„Where is Cal?" she asked rather herself than Alex, but Alex pointed her finger towards the door and Piper went outside for second to make sure he was ok.
Cal was sitting in the middle of his room, looking like a lost puppy and Piper's heart nearly broke seeing him like this.
„Cal" she sat down behind her brother, wrapping her arms around him „I'm so sorry, baby. I've been a crappy sister the past hours, huh?"
In less than an hour she had yelled at him, had Polly taken him to bed and had thrown him deadly glances as if any of this was his fault, and all this while the little boy had no parents around, caring for him at the moment.
Sometimes she really wished Danny were here and not in Europe.
„Caly, can you forgive me?" Cal nodded slowly, still looking as devastated as before.
„We will go visit mum later, ok baby?" Cal nodded again, he was rarely ever this silent, but at least he started playing with his toys again, not very enthusiastic, but still.
Piper pecked him a kiss on the top of his head, before leaving his room again, letting his door open.
She walked back to her room, feeling even more miserable.
Leaning back against her drawer again, Piper crossed her arms.
"Alex, why are you here?" she kind of started to get angry at her, she had come here without being invited, had invaded her privacy and didn't even bother to explain herself. Piper glanced at Alex, not avoiding her eyes anymore.
Alex threw a glance back before nodding towards Piper's nightstand where her phone was lying on top.
"You wrote that you wouldn't come to tutoring!" she said, as if that would explain anything. But it didn't and Piper's mood wasn't lightening up by any of it.
Yesterday Alex's presence had made her feel blessed but now she just felt uncomfortable with her and the fact that she had seen her naked was just one factor.
Alex sat on the edge of the footend of Piper's bed, crossed legged, leaning back on her arms and Piper realized she knew this image, but in her dreams seeing Alex on her bed had felt better.
She had felt so much closeness to this girl and now they were so distant, after all they still barely knew each other.
"Piper? Is it because of Nicky?" The tenderness of that nickname shot sharply through Piper's body, it felt like a slap across her face and she had to close her eyes from the pain.
Alex was Nichols sister, Alex called her Nicky and Alex surely loved her sister no matter what, and it felt like knives in Piper's chest. She fought the tears back that dwelled in her eyes, not wanting Alex to see her cry.
She felt the old desperation, the pain she had felt the second Rory had left her room and her life.
Suddenly there was a hand grabbing for her's, at first her left hand then also the right and she just wanted to drown in those hands, she wanted to be a fool, open her eyes and kiss the girl she wanted to kiss, without thinking about the consequences, she wanted to feel her lips, wanted to sink in her arms.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw Alex face so close to her's that for a second she thought Alex would kiss her.
But Alex didn't, she just looked at her, holding her hands and all the closeness flamed up in Piper again.
„Pipes." Alex whispered and suddenly there was another nickname, one for her, one that felt new although she had heard it a billion times, from Pol, from Cal, from Rory.
But this time it was Alex who said it and it nearly killed Piper. She desired that girl so much and it was eating her up from the inside.
Alex looked her in the eye „Pipes? Is it because of Nicky? I mean I know you two don't like each other!"
And just like that, just this single sentence and the closeness was gone, she pulled her hands out of Alex's and pushed past her to get a few steps away from her, sitting down on her bed exactly where Akex had been sitting a few seconds before, nearly snorting „Don't like each other? You're kidding right?"
That was like the understatement of the year and it felt like Alex was trying to defend her sister. Defend her although she had seen her insulting Piper, humiliating her, destroying her stuff and even beating her up.
Just then Piper realized again, that she hadn't only been falling for te best friend of her bully or rather the sister of her bully, but for someone that had watched her being treated like shit and never had done anything about it. She had watched and that was nearly as bad as if she was doing it herself
„I think it's better if you go now." she muttered under her breath, she wanted Alex to go and at the same time she wanted her to wrap her arms around her and hold her. Her sadness drowned in her empty heart.
„Pipes." Alex turned around to her, looking more than overwhelmed with the situation, but Piper couldn't feel pity for her, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, Alex did the exact same thing and Piper felt that they were about to get in a huge fight.
„Listen, Piper, I know this is fucked up but..."
„Piper?" The dark voice of Piper's father sounded through the house, a sound Piper hadn't heard in what felt like ages. But now she was kind of relieved, she hadn't liked how the conversation with Alex had been developing and so she was grateful for every distraction, even a distraction by her father.
She heard her father coming up the stairs, but she didn't want Alex to see him, didn't want her to hear anything about her fucked up family.
She threw her an apologizing look, before leaving her room, meeting her father halfway up the stairs and pulled him back down into the kitchen.
She closed the door behind her, answering her dad's questioning look with an „I'm not alone."
She crossed her arms, leaning against the kitchen counter, she was angry and sad at the same time, a feeling that started to get familiar.
She kind of wished for her dad to hug her, to be a dad, the kind of dad he had been when Piper had still been small and at the same time she wanted to slap him across his stupid, cheating face.
„Piper? Would you please tell me what this is all about? I've tried to call you!" His voice was angry and Piper instantly lost her wish for a hug, now she just wanted to slap him.
„Yeah, dad. I know you did, but after not seeing or hearing from you in a whole week I thought it couldn't be that urgent!" she hissed at him.
For a second she thought he would slap her, but he didn't.
„Don't you dare talk to me like that!"
Piper was about to answer something naughty about how she had forgotten how to talk to him in all the time he hadn't called or been home but then she just realized how incredibly tired she was, not only her body but also her mind, she felt exhausted and all she wanted was to lie down in her bed and sleep.
„Look Dad, just take Cal and drive to the hospital with him. Mum's there, she can tell you what happened. Please Dad, just do it." she turned around, not waiting for an answer, instead she just walked back to first floor, where Alex was still standing in the middle of her room like Piper had never left.
But Piper didn't have the strength to argue with anybody any furher, she just closed her bedroomdoor behind her and lied down on her bed.
„You ok?" Alex asked as Piper felt her weight pressing down the matress the moment she sat down beside her, then she felt Alex's hand stroking up and down her arm. The tears started rolling down Piper's face, all the arguing, all the emptyness, all the desperation she had felt these day weighed down on her and left her as a nervous wreck.
The tender touch of the raven haired girl felt better than she wanted it to feel. It was scaring her that Alex had so much power over her, that she could make her feel on top of the world and down in the dumps.
„Pipes?" Alex raspy, sexy voice was right next to her ear as she leaned down to her. „Pipes what's wrong?"
But Piper couldn't speak, she just wanted to drown in Alex's arms and that was what she did.
She cuddled up against Alex, who wrapped her arms around her, nearly naturally, like they had done this a million times before. Piper was way to tired to think about what that meant now, she just focused on the sound of Alex breathing, she holed up in her scent and it made her feel home immediately.
When she woke up she was still lying in Alex's arms, she obviously had fallen asleep eventually and it had been her first good sleep in a long time, but now she felt embarrassed and vulnerable. Alex had not only seen her naked but also asleep now. It was kind of a one-sided intimacy that creeped the shit out of her.
She slid away from Alex, although a part of her wanted to stay exactly where she was.
„Sorry" she mumbled, not able to look Alex in the eye „You missed school because of me"
Alex just chuckled „Who cares? It's fucking friday that is nearly the same as weekend, kid."
Piper had to laugh a little at that comment.
It was amazing how that girl could make her laugh, no matter what shitty situation she was in at the moment. They were so different; while Piper already had a bad conscience because she didn't go to school after her dad had arrived to watch out for Cal, Alex didn't even mind skipping school without a decent excuse.
„Is my dad gone?" Piper hugged her own legs, her tipical position for awkward situations.
„Yeah, they left shortly after you fell asleep." Alex seemed to feel the awkwardness of the sitaution as well and she stood up from Piper's bed, putting on her combat boots again, she must have taken them off while Piper had been asleep.
„So what about tutoring now? You come on Monday?"
Piper nodded and Alex turned around to leave, escaping the awkwardness that seemed to be even worse than after the naked-bathroom-scene.
When Alex was already down half the stairs, Piper ran after her, she couldn't stand Alex leaving already. She outran Alex at the end of the stairs, grabbing for her hand to make her turn around.
The girl in the sexy leatherjacket stared at her with those green, alluring eyes and Piper realized she had never considered those leaterjackts sexy, but Alex was god damn hot in them.
„Let me drive you home, ok?"
Alex nodded and Piper ran up to her room again to collect her carkeys and her jacket.
When she was next to Alex again she just took her hand like it was the most natural thing to do and pulled her after her into the garage.
It was strange having Alex sit next to her in her Mustang. It should feel more like an intrusion into her privacy but it felt rather comfortable.
She backed out of the garage, while Alex typed her adress into her GPS.
„You can just tell me where you live, you know?" Piper laughed.
„Yeah, but then you might forget where I live." Alex joked and Piper turned red as always, was Alex really just flirting with her?
„I wouldn't" she whispered, while she headed for the highway, that was actually a detour, but she wanted to brag a little with her car and a Mustang just wasn't that cool in the town.
The smirk on Alex's face boosted Piper's confidence and for a second she thought 'Fuck it. Fuck Nichols. Fuck the consequences.' Alex had come around to look after her, she had stared at her while she had been naked, she had held her hands and had held her in her arms. She did care about her, there was no other explanation.
Thank god Piper was driving right now or else she wouldn't have known what she might have done to Alex.
She turned on the radio. When she reached for the volume control to turn up the sound, her fingertips met Alex's black nailed, leather braceletted hand and the electricity shot through her body like a familiar wave.
But instead of pulling her hand away like she had done back then in the bathroom - was that really only three days ago? - she held on to it.
They sat next to each other in the car, floating on the melody of the music, holding hands, and Piper had butterflies in her stomach. She could have stayed like this for ever, music, her car, the highway and Alex's hand.
„Fuck." Alex stated, admiring the car just like Piper had wanted her to „Why do you never drive this car to school, kiddo?"
„Cause your sister would probably blow it." It came out of Piper's mouth all naturally and she felt Alex's eyes piercing her, probably to find out if she was going to start a fight again.
But Piper's voice was lacking any blame, instead she was just smiling.
„Probably." Alex grinned.
So I really hope this chapter isn't full of mistakes (or fuller than the others...) because it's like half past 12 in the night and I'm nearly falling asleep at my computer, so sorry for any dumb things I just wrote ;)
Also thanks for all of your mind-blowing, flattering, super nice and cool reviews XXX