Chapter 27

Pancakes for the Soul

Alex and Elliot both spent majority of the night either in the bathroom or sleeplessly dealing with stomach cramping. Kathy kept her promise and went to her apartment, unwilling to deal with Elliot's antics that night. Olivia however, nursed Alex the best she could. She kept her stocked up on Tums, Pepto Bismol, water, and Ginger Ale.

Alex finally was able to sleep longer than a couple hours at a time, but was rather grumpy when she awoke the next morning to another wave of cramping. Noticing Olivia wasn't next to her any longer, she groaned as she got up to go to the bathroom.

"How do you feel, tiger?" Olivia yelled to the couch, where Elliot laid wrapped in a blanket with a cool washcloth on his forehead.

"Like ass," Elliot groaned, his stomach making audible gurgling sounds. "Ugh. Never again."

Casey stirred from her slumber on the other end of the sectional, sitting up and stretching. "What time is it?"

"11:25," Olivia answered, whipping up some pancakes. "You hungry?"

"Starving," Casey growled, getting up to go to the bathroom, stretching on her way.

"Ugh. Please, don't talk about food," Elliot grumbled, his stomach still upset.

Amanda and Johnny came out of his room shortly after, enticed by the smell of the pancakes.

"Mmm, that smells good, Liv," Amanda said, taking a seat at the island.

"Thanks, I'm making pancakes for everyone."

"Such a housewife," Johnny teased, sitting next to Amanda.

Olivia turned and gave him a death glare. "I'll spit in yours."

As Casey came out of the bathroom, Kathy walked through the front door and Alex moseyed her way pathetically down the stairs – her hair disheveled as her arms were folded across her chest; her skin pale and clammy.

"Well, don't you look great this morning?" Casey teased, Alex immediately shooting her an icy glare.

"Shut up, Casey." Alex's tone was cold.

Olivia flipped a pancake and turned to smile at Alex before walking over to give her a hug and kiss, which Alex weakly returned. "You feeling okay, babe?"

"No." Alex closed her eyes, her stomach gurgling, arms still folded.

"Come sit down," Olivia softly said, leading Alex to sit down at the island. She gave her cheek a slight kiss before returning to the pancakes. "You want any breakfast, Al?"

"God, no," Alex groaned, leaning her head in her hands, her elbows pressed against the counter.

"You sure? It might make you feel better," Olivia tried.

"Liv… no." Alex's tone was less than amused.

Olivia sighed before Kathy came over to pull out another skillet and help Olivia with the pancakes. "You making anything else?"

"Nope, just pancakes."

"Can we please stop talking about food?" Elliot groaned from the couch before shooting up and running to the bathroom.

Kathy snorted and shook her head. "I told him to stop last night and look where it got him. Stubborn ass."

"Don't worry, I've got my own stubborn ass too," Olivia chortled, setting the first tray of pancakes on the counter. Shooting her eyes over to Alex, she was met with a death glare. Her smile immediately weakened as she walked over to Alex, rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry, honey. Anything I can get you?" Olivia carefully whispered.

Alex just shook her head, her stomach groaning louder as she thickly swallowed. "Nope. I'll uh… be right back." Alex got up from the island and ran upstairs.

"You know… I don't think I've ever seen her get sick from eating too much," Casey said, grabbing some pancakes on her plate.

"Yeah I'm… worried about her," Olivia said, leaning against the counter with a spatula in her hand, pancakes sizzling on the skillets.

"She'll be alright in a few hours I'm sure. Just so you know," Casey took a big bite of pancakes. "She's a bitch when she doesn't feel good. So have fun with that."

Olivia chuckled and smiled at Casey, turning to flip another pancake. "I think I can manage."

"No, seriously. She's got the bite of a snake when she's not feeling good."

Olivia only nodded as she began to prep more pancake batter.

Elliot came out of the bathroom and plopped back down on the couch.

"How you feeling, big man?" Kathy teased, arms folded as she looked down at Elliot.

"Wonderful."

Kathy scoffed. "Next time you two have a pissing match, make sure you cut it off before you both get sick like this. I'm sure as hell not going to baby you every time you wanna be the big macho man, Elliot Peter."

Elliot groaned. "Can you just… shhh."

Alex made her way back downstairs and plopped back in the seat, resting her head in her arms on the counter. She soon felt a hand rubbing her back, lifting her head as Olivia laid down the Tums, Pepto Bismol, and a Ginger Ale in front of her.

Olivia then leaned down to kiss her forehead. "For your tummy, babe."

Alex felt so icky. She hated feeling icky. To be honest, it made her miserable. And when she was miserable, she wasn't the funnest person to be around. But Olivia showing her comfort like this? Offering her breakfast, giving her medicine, holding her through the night, rubbing her back and stomach, and keeping a cool composure? Alex couldn't help but soften what would normally be unintentional attitude and catty remarks. She smiled at Olivia as she grabbed some Tums from the bottle.

"Thank you, Olivia. Honestly."

Olivia smiled and bent down to kiss Alex softly. "Anything for you, Alex."

"Elliot! I'm not dealing with it today. Keep it up, and you'll see." Olivia and Alex were so lost in their own moment, they didn't realize that Elliot and Kathy had picked up in their arguing.

"Kathy, please. For fucks sake I just don't feel good, can you stop nagging me?"

Olivia closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she flipped a pancake. This is going to end badly.

"What did you just say to me? Oh, you pig-headed prick. I'm outta here." Kathy made her way to the kitchen to give Olivia a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "You text me, okay?"

"Kath –"

"Save it!" Kathy growled, angrily shutting the door as she left the townhouse.

Elliot sighed as he got up from the couch to go to his bedroom.

"Just let her cool down, El," Olivia said sadly, flipping more pancakes. This wasn't the first time Elliot and Kathy had an argument, and it surely wasn't going to be the last.

"Shut up, Olivia." Elliot sulked upstairs to his room.

Olivia sighed. "Time to keep my mouth shut, I guess," she mumbled to herself, flipping the last of the pancakes.

Alex grabbed her phone from her pocket. Her mom had finally texted back about the photo from last night.

Mrs. Cabot: Aww, honey! What a great looking group! Who are all those people?

Alex: Olivia, me, Casey, Trevor, Johnny, Amanda, Kathy, and Elliot (:

Mrs. Cabot: Wow! Are they all your friends? I finally see this Trevor now – he definitely is cute!

Alex: Yes (: and I know, he and Casey are getting along great.

Mrs. Cabot: And this Olivia? You two decided to go as prisoners?

Alex: Yup! Running joke – since she is in criminal justice and I'm going for pre-law, we thought it would be funny.

Alex didn't ever like to lie to her mother, but now was not the time to admit she had a girlfriend and come out to her parents.

Mrs. Cabot: Funny indeed dear. Glad you had a fun evening. We love you!


The Previous Evening

"Huh," Mrs. Cabot pondered, looking at her phone intently over her glasses, pinching the screen to zoom in on the picture in front of her.

"What is it, dear?" William Cabot asked.

"Lexie sent me a picture. Her and Casey and some of their friends are out for Halloween."

"Oh that's nice! May I see?" William asked, rising from his chair to walk into the kitchen, peering over his wife's shoulder as she brought the phone up closer to his face.

"Well, don't they look great? Casey makes a good Wendy. And Alex is… a prisoner?" William Cabot immediately started laughing. "Always the irony with that girl." He retreated to grab a beer out of the fridge.

"Uh huh…" Mrs. Cabot said, her head resting in her chin as she kept surveying the screen, focusing on Alex and Olivia.

"What, dear?" William took a swig of his beer, leaning against the fridge.

"I can't help but feel like… I know these costumes." Mrs. Cabot pondered for a moment before getting up and turning on the television to Netflix. Scrolling through the shows, she found what she was looking for: Orange is the New Black. She had her arms folded as she read the synopsis of the show, before giving a quick Google search, carefully reading the results:

"… Chapman was convicted of transporting a suitcase full of drug money for her girlfriend Alex Vause…"

Mrs. Cabot then quickly looked up Alex Vause. Yup – she knew it. This girl standing next to Alex was dressed up as Alex Vause. The wheels started clicking and turning in her head before William snapped her out of her trance.

"Sweetheart, what is it?" William asked.

"Oh, uh… nothing, dear. I just figured out that Alex's costume is from that popular Netflix show." Mrs. Cabot smiled, trying to ward off her husband from prying further into it.

"Oh! Well, should we give it a watch?"

"Heavens no!" Mrs. Cabot answered too quickly, frantically clearing her throat and trying to recover. "It's too young for us, dear. Too vulgar."

William gave a smile and lifted his beer as he made his way back to his chair.

Is this girl Alex's… girlfriend? Is my daughter gay? No, I don't think so… they're just costumes, Rosemary. Alex would've told you if she was… gay. Right?


Alex: I love you both too (:

Olivia was now sitting next to Alex, eating her pancakes. She looked over at Alex as she sat her phone down on the counter. "You good?" Olivia asked, her mouth full.

Alex gave a weak chuckle and nodded, leaning her head against Olivia's shoulder. "Yeah, I'm okay. Lied to my mom though."

Olivia sat her fork down and raised an eyebrow. "What about?'

Alex sighed. "She asked about our costumes and I told her it was a running joke and not from Orange is the New Black. I don't want her trying to connect any dots."

"Ahh," Olivia said, nodding in understanding. "No biggie. It's not a bad lie, Alex."

"Wait," Casey chimed in. "Your mom asked about whose costumes?"

"Me and Olivia's."

Casey drummed her fingers on the table. "Isn't that a little… odd, Lex?"

Alex folded her arms. "Why would it be odd?"

"Did she ask about anyone else's costumes, or just you and Olivia's?"

Alex ran her tongue across her teeth, deep in thought. "Just ours."

"Uh huh…" Casey continued. "I think she's suspicious, Lex."

Olivia stopped eating and was watching Casey intently.

"I mean, think about it. You sent her a picture of all of us. 8 people. And the only other person she asks about is your girlfriend?" Casey continued.

Alex felt her stomach tighten again. It was either due to the lingering chicken wing discomfort from the previous night's activities, or the fact that her mom was getting suspicious, but she had a strong inclination that it was the second one.

"She's got a point," Amanda added.

"Does she watch Netflix?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah," Alex answered softly.

"She's probably seen it then," Johnny added.

"No way. She doesn't watch anything considered vulgar or risque. I think it's fine," Alex concluded, not really believing the words herself.

"Hmm…" Casey added, chewing on her lip deep in thought. "We'll see, Alex."