You are my life

Well shit

(Piper's POV)

After Zelda had shown me everything Alex was investing in, I was impressed with Alex. Not only had she made a wise investment but she was putting her rivalry with Zelda aside.
I wanted to show her how pleased I was with her.
If only I could find her.
She told me she was going out for air so I went out the back to try and find her and there in the darkness, beside the firework testers, appears a small, circular, orange glow that only lasted a few seconds.
That glow was all too familiar.
I narrow my eyes and approach it, my hair blowing in the breeze.
I could smell the smoke and I knew it was Alex.
I hated when she used to smoke and now she was smoking again?
Great.
She knew I hated it before.
I wanted to see if she'd own up to it.
Call it a little test if you will.
We are properly engaged to be married now after all.

"Al? Are you smoking again?" I ask her as I approach her, confused with a challenging frown on my face.
Alex turns around and guiltily chuckles,
"What? No."
I narrow my eyes at her.
She wasn't going to own up and frankly, I was disappointed that she chose to lie to me again. Really disappointed.
"Alex." I say in a warning tone.
"What?" She asks defensively but I could tell it was veiled with guilt.
I begin to approach her and she backs away. As if she wasn't obviously guilty enough.
"Are you sure you don't want to amend your prior statement? Because I'm sure I just saw a small orange glow and smoke coming from your general direction." I ask her, the lawyer in me coming out.
Alex shrugs,
"It was probably a spark from the firework testers they're setting off behind me. Don't get all lawyery with me Pipes. I don't care how sexy it is."
I let her think I'd bought it and approach her again.
This time, she lets me.
"Hmm come here you, you look beautiful." I tell her, humming.
The statement was true though.
She looked amazing.
She's my Alex.
She always does.
So I lean in for a kiss which she smiles at and does the same.
"As do you, my love." She purrs.
She kisses me and immediately I can taste the smoke.
Alex tries to deepen it with her tongue but I just couldn't.
Nope.
I break it immediately because all I could taste was her booze and cigarettes.
And suddenly I was 23 again.

"I knew it." I grit.
"What?" She asks.
At this point I was sticking my tongue out in disgust trying to rid myself of the taste.
"I can literally taste the smoke, ugh." I say frowning, still trying to rid myself of the taste.
"I will never understand how you can stand the taste of those things." I tell her.
Then I continue indignantly,
"You ARE smoking again!" I exclaim, not hiding the hurt in my voice at yet another lie from Alex.
"Okay, yes, but I can explain!" She starts defensively and desperately.
I didn't let her continue.
I was beginning to storm off, glaring over my shoulder at her in hurt rage.
"Have fun trying! Your explanation will probably just be another lie!" I yell at her over my shoulder as I continue to storm off back to the party, drying my tears as they crept down my cheek.
I didn't want her or anyone else to know that I was crying and that she'd once again hurt me.
When will she ever learn that the truth hurts less?
"You didn't have problems kissing me when I smoked before!" She shouts back.
"Guess I learned how to lie from the best then didn't I?!" I retort once I'd gotten to the door.
From behind me I could hear Alex groan in frustration, sigh and from the corner of my eye, I saw her roll her eyes.
Then she pulls out a replacement cigarette and lights up again.
I glare in her direction as she continues to smoke, oblivious to the daggers I was shooting her.
To be fair, she thought I'd gone back into the party.
Dabbing my eyes, I run for the nearest bathroom to fix my tear-stained makeup.