"Come ON, Vause could you walk any slower? Christ, the turtle I had growing up walks faster than you." Nicky said, joking around of course but with a hint of frustration.

As the two best friends walked down the sidewalk Alex stopped to look back at a group of girls that just passed by. Nicky, already way up ahead of Alex, stopped dead in her tracks and dug in her clutch for a cigarette and a lighter. Looking back at her friend she decided to take a seat on a nearby bench. 'No telling how long this will take,' Nicky thought with a sly grin.

Alex completely tuned out her best friend. 'No way….it can't be..' she thought with a puzzled look. She walked towards the group of girls who are stopped in front of a night club getting their ID's checked to go in. Anybody that knows Alex Vause knows she's not afraid to approach anybody, ever. Alex walked up to the group and right up to the familiar face.

"Hi.." Alex said with a tilted smile.

The girl standing in front of Alex looked nothing less than a supermodel. She was tall, not taller than Alex, but still tall. Long blonde hair that she had fixed in loose curls at the ends and a short black cocktail dress with dark red pumps paired with several gold bracelets. Alex looked her up and down, slowly, not hiding the fact that she was checking her out at all. She didn't care what everyone around them thought. She was happy to see this particular familiar face.

"Alex…what are you doing here?" the blonde asked. The initial shock of seeing Alex caught her by surprise but after it all registered for her she realized who was standing in front of her and smiled cheesily-reminiscing on old memories.

The blondes name was Carmen and she and Alex had a little bit of history. Nothing too serious, that wasn't Alex's thing, but they definitely meant something to each other at one point in both of their lives. They were there for each other when nobody else was. Those late night longings for human touch resulted in mornings filled with laughter and breakfast in bed, many times. They met at an event in New York City for a charity they both feel strongly about. Carmen modeled at the charity fundraiser for a local designer and Alex attended with a few of her colleagues.

Fumbling with her black rimmed glasses Alex looked up at Carmen, "I was just about to ask you the same thing?" she said questioning the blonde.

Carmen and Alex ended their 'whatever you call it' about 9 months ago and neither of them were happy with how it ended. Carmen was ready to be fully committed to Alex and Alex was just not there at that point and time in her life. She had other things to worry about back then. But now, looking at Carmen, Alex couldn't help but have a sudden rush of feelings for her. Carmen meant a lot of things to Alex and most importantly she meant comfort. It was hard for her to connect with most people on a deeper level and Carmen made that easy.

"You should have told me you were in town, I had no idea. I would love to catch up and grab dinner if you're free? When do you go back?" Alex said looking deep at the blonde, directly into her grey eyes.

"Alex…" the blonde said, grabbing Alex's wrist and walking to the corner of the street, away from the crowd of people by the entrance.

"…..I can't have dinner with you." Carmen said, knowing the impact it would have on the brunette standing in front of her.

Continuing her rejection, "…..I want to, honestly I do but I have a fiancé now and I can't get mixed up in old times."
Alex really wasn't surprised by Carmen's reaction at all. She was more surprised at the fact that she let herself get so worked up over seeing Carmen in the few minutes since she realized it was her walking down the street. She didn't realize this rush of emotions would come and so quickly, too. She missed the connection they had and it didn't hit her until this very moment.

"Oh," Alex said with the biggest fake ass half smile you've ever seen.

"….I totally get it. Don't worry about it!"

"I really am sorry, Alex. Another time and place maybe," the blonde said with a toothy smile.

Alex wasn't much for awkward situations, she had better things to do than waste her time, so she was quick to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

She went to hug Carmen and tried not to detect what perfume she had on or the shampoo she used that day but it was hard. Really fucking hard.

"Hey, you still have my number right? I want to know the next time you are in the city. Promise?" Alex whispered in her ear as she hugged Carmen goodbye. A two handed hug with both arms wrapped around Carmen, almost engulfing her.

"Promise," Carmen said as she pulled away but not before giving the brunette a quick peck on her cheek.

Alex smiled and turned around to walk back towards her friend.

'Oh SHIT!' she thought. She completely forgot about Nicky waiting for her. She knew the short, strawberry-haired best friend of hers would be really pissed right about now. Walking back up to Nicky sitting on the bench Alex began to speak but Nicky beat her to the punch…

"WOAH! Who was that?! Oh shit, please tell me you got her number Vause," Nicky said poking Alex several times in the side of her stomach jokingly.

Alex had talked about Carmen to Nicky several times. Probably more times than she should have but Nicky was the only other person she could be completely one hundred percent honest with so Nicky knew it all. Well, she knew everything Alex was willing to tell.

"Not now, ok?" Alex said as she rolled her eyes and began walking down the street. Nicky was dragging her to a concert and Alex didn't want to go at first but now after seeing Carmen, she was ready to do anything but think about her.

Catching the disappointment in Alex's voice, Nicky refuted with, "wait a minute, did my girl finally get rejected? How many times have I told you that EVENTUALLY some girl had to say no when you asked for her number! Damn my ship finally came in!" while doing a twirl on the sidewalk with her hands up in the air.

Alex was not in the mood right now. Not for this. She knew Nicky was playing around but this just wasn't the time. She wasn't going to tell Nicky who that was at first but now she felt like she had to, to get Nicky off her back so they could just go have fun and forget all about it, forget all about their problems. Isn't that why people go out anyway?

Alex stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to let Nicky catch up to her. Turning around to face her friend, Alex said "Ok I'm going to tell you who that was. I don't want any sympathy. I don't want any questions. I'm going to tell you who that was so you'll shut the fuck up and so we can go have fun and get really drunk. Ok?" Alex said looking Nicky directly in the eyes.

Not knowing what to expect next, Nicky shook her head up and down in agreement with Alex.

"That was Carmen."

Alex let that thought sink in for Nicky for a few seconds and then turned to keep walking towards the concert.

Not another word was said about Carmen the entire night.

"Who are we seeing again?" Alex asked as they walked up to the door, mainly just to cure the awkward silence that had enveloped them since she told Nicky who it was she just saw.

"Ah come on Vause, I've told you 17 times now! Leagues! I've only been telling you about them for a few months now ya selfish asshole," Nicky said shaking her head.

Alex playfully pushed Nicky then pulled her in for a friendly hug as if to say thanks for not mentioning Carmen. She was glad Nicky understood how important it was that she stuck to her request. Nicky really was the best friend she had ever had.

The bar was really packed which made Alex happy. Tons of people and tons of alcohol always made for a fun night. There was loud music, beautiful women, what more could you want? Nicky found a round bar table with 2 chairs close to the stage and quickly ran up to it to save their spots.

"You know what I like!" Nicky called to Alex who had stopped at the bar on her way to their table. Alex looked up with a smile and a wink to let Nicky know she heard her.

Alex leaned on the bar with her arms crossed waiting for a bartender to come around. This place was packed already so getting service was going to be difficult. Just looking around the bar she had already laid her eyes on a few women she'd like to approach at some point. 'This was definitely going to be a fun night' she thought with a small grin.

Nicky, growing impatient for the lack of drinks yelled out to Alex again, "Yo Vause what the hell is taking so long?!"

Alex laughed and brushed off her friend's question. She knew the answer; it was completely packed in there. Still trying to be patient but also persistent, she yelled out to one of the bartenders running around behind the bar.

"I'd like a couple drinks please buddy!" waving her money in the air like she was at a strip club.

The bartender scoffed and pointed to the crowd. Alex got exactly what he was saying but she'd been standing there for at least 5 full minutes.

"You need something to drink?" a blonde behind her asked. Alex turned to see a frazzled woman, fumbling around with her pen and order book trying to find a page that didn't already have writing on it. She dropped her pen and Alex bent down to grab it for her.

Handing it to her, Alex said "uh yeah, 4 jack and cokes please…"

The blonde bartender grabbed her pen and started writing down the order only to stop once she realized what Alex said.

"You're ordering drinks for 4 people?" the blonde bartender asked looking up at Alex.

Up until that moment Alex hadn't really looked at the woman she was talking to. 'Wow' Alex said in her head while trying to conceal her outwardly grin. She was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that not everybody appreciates. The real, soft skin, beautiful teeth, long and sexy legs type of beautiful.

The blonde bartender coughed with a grin to bring Alex back to reality.

Alex snapping back to the conversation, "yeah 4 people…" with a sly grin looking directly at the blondes perfect blue eyes.

The blonde bartender smiled along with Alex and leaned in to Alex and whispered, "we'll pretend I believe you," with another smile.

She began writing down the order and asked, "What's your name? I'll bring the drinks to you but it's so crowded in here I might not be able to find you so they'll call your name if I can't!" pointing to the stage.

"It's Alex, and you are?"

The blonde bartender wrote down 'Alex' under the order looked up and saw the brunette looking at her. It was one of those moments where the world kind of slows down just for you and just for that moment. The world slowed just so they could take it in.

The blonde bartender snapped her order book shut, put it in her apron, put her pen behind her ear and answered.

"Piper," she said with a smile, still looking directly into Alex's eyes.

"Well I hope you're able to find me Piper because I've got 3 friends that are eagerly awaiting their drinks," Alex said with a small grin.

"Thanks for taking my order. I can see you guys are really swamped tonight..." Alex said, trying to extend the conversation.

"Yeah it's usually crazy busy when we have big bands playing!"

"My friend drug me here tonight, I've actually never even heard of this band before," Alex chuckled.

"You've never heard of Leagues? So that means you either you live under a rock or have a horrible taste in music…" Piper said playfully.

They both had a small laugh.

"My favorite song of theirs is Walking Backwards, there's just something about it that I've always been drawn to, you know? You know how music just sort of hits you like that sometimes? It's like just out of nowhere you have this strong connection to this song that suddenly becomes a big part of your life," Piper said, stepping one step closer to Alex so she could hear her. It was almost full capacity and it was extremely loud in there now.

Alex nodded in agreement with her and suddenly realized she loved hearing this girl talk about whatever she is passionate about. That thought brought a smile to Alex's face.

Piper, realizing where she was and that she was on the clock, "Gosh I'm sorry I've just been talking your ear off, I'll go get your drinks and get them to you asap Alex," she said as she grabbed Alex's forearm and squeezed it slightly. It wasn't much but it was enough to get Alex's attention.

Alex walked up to the table where Nicky was sitting down and jamming along with the opening band.

"Jesus, Vause where are the drinks?!"

"Chill the fuck out, they're coming! Piper is bringing them..." Alex said, looking around for Piper as she said her name.

"Piper?" Nicky asked with a questioned look on her face.

Just then, Nicky noticed a tall blonde walking their way with a tray of drinks and quickly glanced over at Alex to see a smile widen on her face.

"Ahhhh…Piper, I'm guessing?" Nicky said to Piper as she walked up to their table with a tray full of drinks. She looked to Alex and shook her head with a smile.

"Always a blonde…" Nicky said with a grin under her breath but loud enough for Alex to hear. She kicked Nicky under the table. Hard.

"OUCH! Shit, Vause!"

"Ha ha you definitely deserved that one."

"I'm glad you were able to find us in this madhouse," Alex said playfully to Piper.

"Yeah I just looked for the tall, Bettie Page with black glasses." Piper played back. "Wasn't very difficult."

Nicky rolled her eyes at the Bettie Page comment. This wasn't the first time her tall, dark haired, exquisitely beautiful best friend had been called Bettie Page.

"Aw why'd you have to go and call her Bettie Page? Her head's going to swell up to the size of this whole bar now!" Nicky said while simultaneously grabbing the drinks off the tray and setting them on the table.

Nicky could tell that Alex was about to kick her really hard under the table again so she excused herself to go look around the bar for somebody that caught her eye earlier.

"Sit down and have a drink with me," Alex slyly said to Piper.

She has always been good at pretty much everything when it comes to getting who she wants. Alex has never had a problem with rejection, instead her problem is that too many keep calling back or keep showing up at her apartment. She learned to not give out her number as much or to go to their place instead of hers. Nicky always gave her shit about that.

Piper sat and immediately moaned at the released tension in her feet. She had been working all day and her feet were killing her.

"I'm really not supposed to be doing this but it's so busy in here they won't ever know," she said with a small laugh and took a drink of one of the jack and cokes.

"I'll tell them I asked you to! I am a paying customer after all."

Piper smiled and took another drink and slid her chair closer to Alex's so they could hear each other talk.

"I've always wondered what it felt like to sit this close to the stage and enjoy a drink…" Piper said.

"It's less about where you sit and more about who you're with in my opinion," said Alex looking directly at Piper. She saw a stray hair fall down in Pipers face so she pushed it back behind her ear then rested her hand on the back of Piper's chair.

"Who are you?" Piper asked with a small smile.

Alex laughed, "I already told you my name. What do you mean?"

"Tell me something nobody else in the world knows…." Piper flirted, leaning into Alex.

"Ohh I don't know if we're there yet, Piper," said Alex with a laugh.

Piper looked deep in Alex's eyes and this overwhelming sense of calmness and trust came over Alex. They both felt like they'd known each other for years.

"Just one thing, come on I'm about to have to go back to work and then we'll never see each other again. Live a little, Al" Piper said with a grin.

"And now we have nicknames for each other? Okay Pipes….." Alex said leaning in to Pipers ear.

"I've wanted to kiss you ever since I laid eyes on you."

Piper definitely brought this upon herself. She was flirting and laughing right along with Alex. But she wasn't prepared for that. She wasn't used to people opening up so quickly to her. She wasn't used to it at all but she liked knowing Alex trusted her enough to tell a stranger something like that.

"Really?" Piper said, grinning.

"Mhmm" Alex replied. "Now you're turn, kid." Her arm around Pipers chair tightened just a little.

Piper looked around for a second as if in deep thought trying to figure out something to say.

"Okay here it goes…." leaning into Alex a little more.

"Once, in 5th grade, I cheated on a spelling test. I mean really cheated, wrote down the words on a small square cut out of paper and everything. I didn't get caught but the whole thing scared me to death and I never did it again." Piper said, seeming to let out an extra breath and feeling refreshed.

Alex busted out laughing.

"I tell you I want to kiss you and your big secret is that you cheated on a test when you were in 5th grade? You are absolutely adorable," Alex said with hearts in her eyes.

She reached over and kissed Piper on her cheek. Piper smiled and Alex could feel it as she kissed her.

The opening band was finishing up on stage and Piper realized she better get back to work before she lost her job.

She looked at Alex with a smile, "I don't want to but I better go, I kind of need a job and would be homeless if I got fired. Although getting fired over spending time with you would almost be worth it." Piper said with a toothy smile.

Alex was having such a great time she hated to see Piper go but she understood.

"Find me after the concert and I'll give you your tip for being our bartender tonight," Alex said flirtatiously.

Before she knew it, Piper smiled at her and was gone, lost in the crowd of people lining up around the stage for the band that was about to come on.

Nicky came back to the table, just in time, with someone wrapped around her arm. 'Figures' Alex thought with a grin. Nicky was just as good at picking up girls as Alex was. She had a way of using humor as flirting that Alex hadn't really nailed down yet.

"Hi!" Alex said with a smile to Nicky and her new "friend".

"Alex this is Lorna, Lorna this is Alex," introducing the two.

"Pleasure!" Lorna said, sticking out her hand for Alex to kiss, with the thickest New Jersey accent you could imagine.

Alex didn't really realize it but her and Piper had finished off all four drinks while they talked. She was glad that Nicky not only brought a friend but brought refills and shots, too.

The three of them drank and laughed and danced and sang and partied all throughout the concert. Alex was thankful for her new friend Lorna who helped Alex with the lyrics. A new song came on and it started out with a repetitive single bass guitar note. Nicky and Lorna were off to the side giggling and wrapped up in each other. When they finally came up for air, Lorna recognized the song and grabbed Nicky's hand and ran over to Alex.

"I LOVE THIS SONG!" Lorna exclaimed, dancing around and singing with Nicky, having an absolute blast.

Alex didn't know what it was but there was something she liked about this song.

"What is this one called? I love it!" Alex asked Lorna.

"Walking Backwards," a familiar voice came out of nowhere behind Alex.

As Alex turned she realized it was Piper and she had a huge feeling of happiness fall all over her.

Piper walked directly up to Alex, put her hands on both sides of her face and stared deep into her eyes. For a few seconds they just stared at each other then all of a sudden they were kissing intensely. Not a simple or elegant kiss, this was intense and deep and hot and had the attention of everyone around them. They didn't care. They both felt a spark from the second they laid eyes on each other. Alex had her hands in Pipers hair while Piper had hers on Alex's face, still. They were so caught up in the kiss that they didn't even realize the song had ended and the next one was starting. When they stopped kissing they both were out of breath.

Trying to catch their breath and trying to stay as close to each other as possible, Alex was the first to speak, "Well, I wasn't expecting that…" Alex grinned while kissing Piper again. This time slowly and more intently.

With the concert over and the bar now closing, the two women stood still in their close embrace. Neither of them had any idea as to what it was, but something brought them together that night and they both felt it. They stood there kissing and giggling as the lights came on in the bar.

"Ughhhh I need to go help clean up…." Piper whined, definitely not wanting to leave Alex's embrace.

"Don't leave without giving me your number," Alex said pulling the blonde in for a hug.

"I have a boyfriend." Piper blurted out.

Suddenly, everything changed for both women.