Bora Bora Bora

5: Oh friends and neighbours

Lorna's POV

"Yes," I say. "I will marry you, Nicky Nichols."

The words sound so delicious in my mouth. IwillmarryyouNickyNichols marrymarrymarry youyouyouNicky marryyouNicky. I'm giggling histerically.

"Fuck yeah, you will!" She presses her lips to mine, so hard I feel our teeth bumping together. "I'm quite a catch."

I take the lipstick from her hand and climb down a few steps. I take her left hand and draw her ring.

"You are," I fiddle with a strand of her goldish auburn hair, twisting it around my finger. I'm still crying, but these are a different kind of tears. I throw my hands around her neck and kiss her. She kisses me back, our tongues chasing each other in the choreographed dance we've been rehearsing for years. We break apart panting.

"My fiancès' hot," she grins.

"Wait, so how are we going to do this?" I ask, "can we really get married here?"

"You just sit tight, kid," Nicky pats my thigh, "I'll go tell Red and we'll take care of everything. By tonight. I don't want to spend another day without being legally allowed to annoy you for the rest of our lives."

"Oh no, no way I can sit tight! I gotta fix my hair and all" I pat down my messy curls, that are usually quite neat but have gone wild during all the death-threatening and crying and proposing and kissing "...and we have to tell everybody, we can't have a wedding with no guests."

"'Course not, kid. Everyone'll be there."

"Okay, good...oh and ask the methheads too, will ya? Pennsatucky and Leanne and all...I know they're bit crazy but I don't want them to feel left out."

She kisses me again. "Too good for this place."

I blush, and my fiancé shoots up from the stairs. "Gotta go find Red! Trust me, my love! Not even your wildest dreams could you be a match for the wedding I'm gonna give you!"

She rans down the hall. I sit in the stairs, bewildered. She loves me. She's loved me since the very first day. And I've loved her too, longer than she knew, longer than I've realized, and definitely longer than anyone else has ever loved me. The day I've had dreamed of my entire childhood (hell, my entire life) is finally here...and it's nothing like I expected it to be.

Thank God for that.

2 years earlier

It'd been four weeks since I arrived at Litchfield. I still hadn't stopped crying. They all say it's normal to cry at first, but I'm afraid I'm past the normal point. Is it normal to break down every time the lights go out? Is it normal to be afraid of the dark at the age of 28?

I asked Nicky this question last Sunday, when we were sitting in the empty church, binging on candy she'd gotten from commissary. She put her Snickers bar down, looking so serious I'm pretty sure her hazel eyes turned a whole shade darker. She thought about for a long while.

"Well, if you ask me, kid," she said "I'd say it makes a lot more sense to be afraid to be afraid of the dark at 28 than it does to be afraid of the dark at 8. What scares us about darkness isn't the actual dark, it's the fact that when it turns dark, we're on our own. It's the loneliness that it contains. And what the fuck do you know about loneliness when you're 6?"

She sure knew how to find new ways not to feel alone. I'd seen her in the bathroom. I'd seen what she does with those girls. I knew there are tons.

What I didn't know is when did I start imagining myself as one of them.

Right now she was sitting across from me at breakfast, bragging to Big Boo about the action she's gonna get today.

"I'm telling you, man, this morning I came back from the lady's-and others- room and I found a note that says: meet me at the chapel before service-come alone."

Big Boo didn't look impressed. Nicky put her hands up in the air "Dude, that's textbook booty-call!"

"It's also textbook murder date," Alex, who was sitting next to me, pointed out.

Nicky narrowed her eyes and pointed an accusing yellow plastic fork at her "You resentful pussy eater. You just don't wanna admit I'm the new stud round here."

"Shut your face, Nichols," Big Boo said.

"Look, I'm sorry man, I really am," Nicky put her hand on her shoulder, "It was never my intention to dethrone anyone, it just happened! And who I am to deny a girl her God-given right to booty call?"

" I hope Vause's right," Boo slapped her hand away from her shoulder, "and someone is waiting to kill you."

"Whatever. Jeaulous bitches, that's what you are. Jealous cause I'm gonna get laid."

"Or slaughtered," Alex shrugged.

"Most probably slaughtered," Boo agreed.

I sank into my seat, praying that this conversation would be over soon. I stuffed a big spoonful of porridge into my mouth, just in case someone decided to bring me into it.

"UUUUH, maybe it's a CO tryin' to get in your panties!" Boo slapped her hands on the table, making our cups spill. "What if it's Healy?!"

Alex looked up at the ceiling, clasping her hands "Oh please Jesus, let it be Healy!"

Right on cue, Sister Ingalls walked over to our table with her breakfast tray and sat down next to Boo.

"Good morning!" She closed her eyes and intertwined her hands, silently saying Grace before saying starting to eat. I felt guilty. I hadn't said Grace a single time since I got here. But I thought that if God wanted to judge me on the things I was doing here (the things I was gonna do), skipping Grace wouldn't be his first pick.

"What were you girls talking about?" she asked.

"Why, I'm so glad you asked, my good woman," Nicky smiled her crooked smile, "because oh Sister, oh friends and neighbors, there's a certain lady in Litchfield that's gonna be taking her meals standing for the next 2 to 3 days."

Sister Ingalls nodded and said something along the lines of "that's nice, sweety."

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go avoid all hairbrushes," Nicky said, picking up her tray, "nobody would guess how much effort it takes to pull off this look," she ran a hand through her spiky gingerish hair, winked at me, and walked away.

"How you holding up, sweetpea?"
Sister Ingalls reached across the table and caressed my hand.

I tried smiling for her. "Some days are better than others."

"Well, I hope today's gonna be one of those better days. You never know what a new day may bring."

And indeed, I didn't. But a small part of me, a part I didn't know existed, a part I never knew could be so powerful and seemed to be growing more powerful with every passing second, couldn't wait to find out.

Alex and Big Boo got carried away seeing who could keep hot tea in their mouths the longest without laughing and spitting it out. I decided to wait until breakfast was over, so none of them would get suspicious. When the hot-tea contest was over and most of the tables were cleared, I walked out, as smooth as can be, and headed for the chapel.

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CHAN CHAN CHAN!! Is that nichorello smut I see in the horizon?