Glancing down I fiddled with the hem of my blouse in an attempt to calm down. Breathe Piper. This will go ok. Everything is ok. I jumped when a loud bang rang throughout the apartment followed quickly by a string of muffled curses from the obviously excited Polly.

Sighing, I braced my shoulders and made my way out into the chaos that was my kitchen. Crouching on the floor, almost entirely emerged in a bottom cabinet was my overly enthused roommate.

Images of last night ran through my mind as I listened to the muttering wafting out from under the counter. We had been drinking wine on the couch last night when I casually mentioned I had invited the person I was seeing over for dinner.

"YOU WHAT? OH MY GOD PIPER! What are we going to do? We have to go to the store, let me grab my cookbook. What are we going to make? I can't believe you're telling me this now. I have zero time to prepare! What is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean? You're making pasta… You already have everything why are we going to the store?"

"Piper this is a big deal you asshole. When was the last time you brought someone over? When was the last time you liked someone as much as you do this guy? We can't serve him pasta; well at least we can't serve him the type of pasta we normally eat. You have to impress, Piper. So tell me, which of these two would they like better? Seafood piccata or smoked salmon tortellini with Bechamel sauce? Oh! Or maybe we should skip pasta altogether! Maybe a chicken or a –"

"Dear Lord, calm down! Just make whatever. As long as it doesn't give us all food poisoning there won't be a problem. But listen to me Polly I swear to God if you embarrass me I will kick your ass into next week. Do you understand me?! There will be no stories about our spring break, no pictures will be shown, and if you value your life at all you will refrain from even thinking about the video you have of us drunk karaoking."

A sickeningly sweet smile flitted across Polly's face as she slowly sipped from her glass of wine. "Whatever you say Piper." With that she hopped off the couch and ran to her room to change. An hour later she was walking back into the apartment carrying bags full of groceries and a wicked attitude. Without even pausing on her way to the kitchen she began to toss instructions over her shoulder on different things she needed me to clean.

To make a long story short, we didn't get to bed until very late. But I had to give it to her, our apartment looked better than it ever had.

Now we had half an hour until Alex was due to arrive and Polly was frantically putting the final touches on what she deemed was "the best meal she'd ever made." After plating the picatta she added a garnish or two and began to set the table. "Piper grab the bread out of the oven, will you?" Shaking my head I did her bidding while admiring her work. Damn I should definitely learn how to cook. The aromas hanging heavy in the air made my mouth water and I knew without a doubt I owed her big time.

As we set the table I chewed my lip while trying to figure out how to phrase my next statement in a way that would lead to little or preferably no outburst from my roommate. "Hey Pol, I uh… there's something I forgot to mention about Alex. You see-" A knock on the door interrupted me as Polly whirled to face the door.

"He's early! Crap, Piper hurry up! Go put you perfume on you skank, I'll get the door."

"Uh, Polly I –"

"There's no time! Go!" With that she shoved me towards my room and began to make her way to the door. Shit. I ran to my room and spritzed on my perfume, freezing when I heard her open the door.

"Hi you must be Al… you're a girl…" Oh God. I cringed as I ran a hand slowly down my face. So much for a good evening.

"Hi Holly, you're a girl too! Wow, what a world we live in." Glancing over, she saw me lingering in the doorway and gave me a wink. "Hey Pipes. I know I'm a few minutes early but traffic was surprisingly great. I brought some wine by the way." Walking over she grabbed me by the waist and placed a kiss to my temple. Looking down at my flustered and embarrassed face she chuckled. "So what's for dinner?"

Polly was still standing with one hand on the door gaping at us as she attempted to process what had just happened. Finally she shook her head and motioned towards the table. "Uh seafood piccata. There's a bucket of ice for the wine at the table too, thanks."

As Alex walked past, dragging me behind her with one hand, Polly shot me a look that let me know she would definitely be killing me in my sleep tonight. As we all took our seats I nervously glanced over at Alex who had a smirk firmly in place the entire time.

"So Holly, what do you do for a living? Are you a student like Piper?"

"It's Polly actually and yeah, I'm studying public relations. Piper and I make soaps in our free time and I'll occasionally sell those but it's not really a full time position."

Alex raised an eyebrow and turned towards me. "You make soap?"

"Yeah, it was kind of just a hobby but then Polly thought we could make some money out of it so we go to this big craft show each month and sell it all then. It's a lot easier than selling drugs ya know?" I chuckled and Alex gave a wry smile. "I'm sure it is."

"So Alex what do you do?" Immediately my head snapped up from gazing at my plate and focused intently on that gorgeous face beside me. Yes Alex what is it that you do?

Cocking her head to the side, she picked up her glass of wine and slowly brought it to her lips. "I sell art," she said before taking a sip. What the fuck? Art? Well that would explain all the pieces in her apartment.

"Art... like you're an artist or…"

There was that infuriating smirk again. "No, I find art. Then I convince the artist to sell it to me or to let me act as their agent. Then I sell it again for triple the price to collectors across the globe."

"Oh wow. That's actually really cool. Damn Piper why didn't you tell me that?"

"I umm, I didn't know. That's amazing Alex. So that's why you travel so much?"

"Yeah, well… that and I just really fucking love to travel." She glanced over, took one look at the extremely impressed look on my face and rolled her eyes. "So Piper hasn't told me much about you, why is that? Are you like super boring or something?"

"ALEX!"

"What? You haven't! She seems normal to me. Not at all what I was expecting. So what's her flaw? Is she boring? Thinks she's your mom even though you're the same age? Oh God do you have like a really embarrassing Beanie Baby collection or something?" Her eyes danced as she waited for Polly to respond.

I braced myself for the explosion I knew would occur at any moment. Instead a miracle occurred. Across the table Polly completely lost it. She began laughing so hard her face turned red and she clumsily reached out for her wine. "I'll have you know my Beanie Babies are superb bitch." She's… she's laughing? What is happening?

"I'm sure they are Holly. They win first prize at the nerd convention every year don't they?"

"But of course. Though if you think that's embarrassing I'd hate to see what your thoughts are on this lovely video I have of Piper drunk Karaoking at Molly's Tavern last year. Talk about a hot mess."

Groaning I rose from my chair and took mine and Alex's plate into the kitchen. "I hate you both. I just want that to be abundantly clear."

Both women let out sadistic chuckles behind me as they began clearing up the rest of the table. Suddenly two arms circled around my waist as Alex pulled me flush against her body. "How ever will I make it up to you I wonder?"

Rolling my eyes I leaned in for a brief kiss before shoving her towards the living room. "You're an ass, " I muttered. A deep laugh escaped her chest as she motioned towards Polly. "In that case I definitely want to see that video."

Polly threw her a thumbs up and ran towards her room to grab her laptop. As I watched the two of them settle on the couch I couldn't help but smile.

This is going to work.

Hey guys I am so sorry for the delayed update. My job and school literally suck away every ounce of free time I have but we are approaching a break soon so I should be more consistent in the future. Let me know what you guys think! I love and cherish your reviews.