Piper took the highway, again not the fastest way to get from Alex's to her's but she loved the speed and she knew Alex did, too.
The ravenhaired girl had the window on her side wide open, her arm outstretched to feel the wind that passed them between her fingers, Piper knew exactly how that felt, when you could feel the force of an invisible thing pushing against your palm and you were close to forgetting if you were the one moving, or the air. She had loved this feeling ever since she was a small child, sitting in her father's Porsche.
„Gosh, Pipes, I love that car,"
Yeah, so what about the girl who owns that car?
Piper couldn't suppress this thought though she at least managed to keep her mouth shut, she had put Alex under enough pressure lately with this whole coming out thing and she didn't want to push her to anymore things that she weren't ready to.
Feeling Alex's hand on her's on the gear stick was enough right now to make her satisfied.
Piper parked her car on the front side of the house, it was kind of strange bringing a girl home, yet she had subconsciencely dreamed about this for a long time, bringing home a person she loved. And her mother knew about it, her family knew about her girlfriend and about her eating disorder. There were almost no secrets anymore and yet her life was still not completey crushed. Who would have thought that?
They were still holding hands as Piper put the key in the lock to open the front door. She expected Cal to stand behind it, waiting impatiently for Piper to come home, expected him to yell her name and jump into her arms. And she was right, Cal was already sitting on the stairs in the hall while her mother was making noises in the kitchen. But instead of yelling 'Piper' Cal jumped up running towards them.
"Alex!" he wrapped his short arms around Alex's legs looking up to her in pure joy.
„Hey munchkin, I'm here too." Piper pouted playfully, kneeling down besides her brother to give him a kiss on the top of his blonde hair.
„Piper, you're home? Oh, hello." Her mother had just stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel, and her eyes were sticking on Alex immediately. Piper was kind of amazed that her leather jacket wearing girlfriend drew more attention by her mother than herself, who was sill wearing a black band shirt and even less typical for her the black sweatpants.
„Hey, I'm Alex." Alex peeled the little boy from her legs and went to shake Carol's hand. „I'm Piper's..."
„Girlfriend" Carol finished the sentence for her, trying to attempt a smile, that almost went smoothly.
„Yeah." Alex stated, kind of awkwardly.
They stood in front of each other, as if they were waiting for something and after a few seconds Piper couldn't stand watching it anymore.
„Hey mum, sorry I had no idea you had to work today."
Her mother had worked rather irregularly these past days and a lot less than she had used to.
Piper was actually surprised by how much her mother was trying to be nice even when she kind of surprised her with this encounter.
"Ehm I... I cooked something for the two... The three of you." Carol grabbed her jacket from the hook, she was already wearing her shoes and she looked like she was already on the run. "Thanks mum." Piper loved how much her mother was trying, even though you could see how much this 'my daughter has a girlfriend'-thing was still kind of uncomfortable for her and she really struggled with herself. She was trying and that meant the world to Piper.
She had wanted to ask her mother how the AA meeting had been, but she didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable in front of Alex. But Piper made a note in her head to ask her tonight when Alex was gone, or at least tomorrow.
"Be nice." Carol stroked Cal over his blonde hair before she left them standing in the hall with an awkward wave goodbye.
"So that's your mum." Alex had a look on her face that Piper couldn't quite classify, and her little damaged heart already assumed it was contempt.
„What?" Piper asked, her voice sounding a little pissed, she should be less distrustful, but that was just what she had learned to be.
„Nothing." Alex shrugged her shoulders before she turned her attention to the little blonde boy who was already getting impatient. She grabbed him under his armspits, tickleing him until he squeaked and then she playfully chased him into the kitchen.
Piper stood there, not sure what had just happened.
She followed the two of them.
„What was that?" She asked, watching Alex and her brother in a tickle wrestling on the floor.
„What" Alex gasped between two laughters, she was playing weak so Cal could win over her, he sat on her stomach, straddling her and attacked her armpits. And Alex laughed her ass off, even though she wasn't even tickleish there.
„Not every mum can be as cool and young as yours." Piper knew she sounded ridiculous, but she felt like she had to come to her mother's defense.
„What?" Alex repeated, grabbing Cal now at his wrists and pulled him upwards as she stood up from the floor. The blonde boy looked somewhat disappointed.
„I didn't thought that your mum was not cool or anything nor did I imply that in any way." Alex had crossed her arms in front of her chest, she looked really offended. „Why would you think that of me? You should really know me better Pipes."
„Sorry" Piper sighed, Alex was right, she was nobody who pigeonholed people and put labels on them like 'cool' or 'not cool'. Piper was the person who should know that best, because in her world she was deep in the 'not cool pool' watching the cool kids like Alex from the cheap seats, but Alex was with her, she had overstepped those stupid label rules, not caring for them.
Alex shrugged her shoulders, but then she smiled again. „Come on, let's eat, I'm starving."
„You ate 5 toasts like 2 and a half hours ago, how can you possibly be hungry again?" Piper laughed and it felt like the chains around her heart exploded and she could finally breathe free again and she actually felt a little hungry herself after she hadn't eaten anything since those fries the evening before.
Sitting around the kitchen island, eating Mac n Cheese, Piper's childhood favourite, and watching Cal and Alex play who could finish their plate faster, Piper realized this was it. This was what she wanted, Alex's family knew, her family knew and she could finally be who she was.
„Okay Cal stopp!" Piper half laughed, half scolded, or tried to. „You're gonna choke on your food."
Cal stared at her, hesitating to stuff the last few pieces in his mouth, he was taking his sister's advices rather seriously, that was when Alex swallowed her last portion of noodles, rising her arms in victory.
„I won, little bean." She pinched Cal's small baby nose, who immediately made an angry face.
„Pipeeeeeeer, you let her win."
Grinning, Piper bent forward and whispered, loud enough so Alex could here her.
„Yeah but now she's gonna get fat and you won't."
Cal screamed in joy, nearly falling of his chair, laughing. He pointed his finger at Alex and grinned cocky.
Alex grabbed his pointing finger, playfully growling at him before she pretended to bite him into his little finger.
Cal squeaked again, jumping off his chair, he ran towards the glassdoor that lead to the garden. Alex smiled at Piper and then followed the little boy, reaching him before he reached the door. She grabbed him under his arms and threw him over her shoulder, so that his head was now hanging behind her back while she held him at the ankles.
„Can we go outside?" Cal asked, still hanging upside down.
„Where do you wanna go?" Piper had stood up from her seat and walked up towards the two.
Alex put the little boy back to the floor again and instead wrapped her arms around Piper's neck. „Well, I have an idea. Let me take you somewhere." She wiggled her eyebrows, promising, and Cal was already jumping back and forth, so there was no real chance to say no anymore.
„I am not gonna do that!" Piper crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking at Alex in disbelief.
„Come on Pipes, it's fuuuun." Alex held Piper's hands, looking at her even cuter than Cal who stood next to Alex going all puppy-eyed.
„It's dumb and it looks totally ridiculous." Piper sighed, not able to resist the begging any longer. „Fine. But I really hate you two."
Alex and Cal hihh fived each other and dragged Piper down the hill towards the pond, each of them pulling at one of her hands.
Piper regretted her decision the second the bubble around her was inflated in total and she was supposed to roll herself into the water.
She had let herself get talked into walking over water in an enormous plastic bubble. And not only did this look absolutely dumb, she was also barely able to stay on her feet long enough to even try and roll her bubble forward. Which was pretty obviously not the point of this stupid activity. The point was more like to look as stupid as possible.
Cal and Al were fighting the same struggle in their own bubbles. While Alex was a little bit better in actually walking a few steps and rolling her bubble a few metres forward, Cal didn't stopp laughing for long enough to even try and stand up.
Piper hadn't seen him having this much fun ever.
Trying to stand up in her bubble, she actually kind of felt weightless. She looked over to Alex who was trying to roll her bubble over to Piper's, but she never managed to do more than three steps in a row before she fell down again, laughing her ass off.
It felt like sitting in a hamster wheel that swam on water.
„I hate you for doing this to me." She growled through the plastic towards her hamster girlfriend who was frustratingly better in this whole thing than her.
„Oh come on Pipes, admit it you love it and you love me." Alex teased and she was really lucky that there were two layers of plastic between the two of them right now because otherwise Piper would have killed her.
„You're just jealous of my skills, kid." Alex went on with the tease, getting Piper at her ambitions.
„You will regret that!"
Piper threw her whole weight against the bubblewall to get closer to Alex's hamster wheel, who just squeaked like she had learned from Cal and tried moving in the other direction, it was literally the slowest hunt the world had ever seen while Cal just sat at the ground of his bubble, watching the two of them chase each other over the pond, shaking with laughter.
After a solid ten minutes Piper's legs were tired, this was way more exhausting than she had thought. And breaking into laughter evey five seconds wasn't helping.
„Okay I'm done. I will make you pay later." Piper let herself fall on her back, letting herself float on the water.
„I take that as a promise." Alex yelled over to her. „Now come on lets hunt down that little boy over there, he's looking way too relaxed."
Cal was already squeaking again, trying to move his bubble away from Alex.
„I'm done. You can take it up with him on your own, I'm sure."
While Alex and Cal started chasing each other over the pond, Piper just stayed lying on her back, staring into the blue sky. This day was perfect and she never wanted it to end, there was nothing she would change about her life right now and that was a first.
Piper was sure she would never forget the bright smile on Cal's face when he was looking on the burger on his plate when they grabbed some food on the ride home.
This day had been perfect to him, too. He had needed such a day, and he surely deserved to have so much more of those kind of days.
Seeing him so happy reminded Piper of when she was little, when all she needed was someone to hold her hand, someone who she knew she could rely on and someone who laughed with her like there was no tomorrow.
She had had someone like that when she was Cal's age, she had had her big brother, and two parents who weren't tired of life back then and she had had Rory.
Cal had friends who laughed and played with him, but he had missed someone to rely on for such a long time, sure he had her, but that was not enough. And Piper found herself praying that this new Carol who actually took some time for her son wouldn't disappear all too fast.
Being here with her brother and her girlfriend after a day like this made her feel whole, she felt like she was being in one piece again and she caught herself in the thought that this could be her future. She, Alex and a little kid, maybe someday it would be their kid who would be covered in ketchup from ear to ear while sitting between them in pure satisfaction.
It almost made her forget about the insults she had heard only hours ago. Almost.
Here I have for you another Vauseman chapter :)
I thought everyone deserved a little bit of happiness (for now ;))
I hope you liked the chapter and I would love if you told me whether there are specific chapters or scenes or moments you would like to read again in Alex's POV so I can try to put them in my one shot collection after finishing this story.
XXX