Travelin' Soldier (OITNB)

Chapter 11

When Piper arrived home from yet another uneventful day at the diner, minus the very exciting fact that she had received another letter from her favourite soldier– okay the only soldier she knew but still –, she heard shouting. This wasn't all that surprising, considering both of Piper's parents were home. Piper considered going in to the kitchen, where the shouting match was taking place, or just going upstairs to her room. After thinking about it Piper thought that it might be better to stay away from her parents when they were fighting like this, again, so she moved towards the wooden stairs of their townhouse. The stairs had always creaked, but now, Piper felt as if they had never made more noise. Hoping her parents wouldn't hear her, she hurried up the stairs towards the third floor, where her room was located.

After shutting the door behind her Piper let herself flop on her white twin bed in the middle of her mint green painted room. Staring at the ceiling Piper let her head wander to Alex. She felt such a strong connection with the raven-haired girl, even though they had only met once, and after that it had just been Alex writing to her. Piper wished she could write back, to let Alex know she was still interested, but she didn't have an address to write to, so that wasn't an option. The more she thought about it, the more Piper started to hate the fact that she couldn't share the sorrow of missing Alex with anyone. Alex had no one left besides her, no one to hope for her save return. The loss of Alex was hard, even if it was temporary, but no one would understand because no one had met her. It made Piper sad to think that if they hadn't met, Alex would've been in war somewhere, knowing no one was waiting for her to get back.

Piper was suddenly disturbed from her thoughts as her little brother Cal barrelled into her room.

''They're fighting again, and your room is most soundproof, so I'm camping out here.'' Cal looked at Piper properly for the first time since entering her room. ''You look like shit. Do something about it.'' With that, Cal turned to sit at Piper's desk with his laptop, watching some kind of TV-show on it.

Piper chuckled and turned towards her private bathroom.

''I'm going to take a shower!'' Piper shouted over the noise of her parents and Cal's show.

''Sure thing, sis.'' Cal responded while Piper was gathering her stuff to leave.

Once in the bathroom Piper turned on the shower to full heat, and let herself be engulfed by the burning hot water. Showering made her feel a little better. Ever since she was little, Piper had loved getting clean. She loved baths and showers, you could even go as far to say that it was her happy place. Piper absently thought that anywhere with Alex was her happy place now, too. Alex. She really missed her, if only there was a way for the two of them to see each other soon, for them not to have to wait for when Alex was returning from war. The last few weeks she had even considered joining the army in order to see Alex, but later decided against it, feeling like that might not be the best way to reunite. So instead, she just waited in hopes of the time Alex and she had to spent apart went by quickly.