When Laura and Taylor were out of the room they were locked in, Natasha immediately confessed to the crime. She knew they were gonna get mad at her, and she was right. It took Laura almost a week to forgive her, but thankfully, Taylor was a bit more forgiving so she was the one who had managed to make Laura forgive their friend for her little trick. Now, they were all back to normal.
Taylor and Laura just got from a Netflix meeting, getting ready to go home.
“Hey, Tay? Are you coming to Wiley’s party tonight?” Samira was throwing a party at her house and everyone from the Orange family was invited.
“Oh yeah! You wanna go together?”
“Oh...” Laura muttered, surprised by Taylor’s question. “Uhm, I had actually planned to go with Tasho,” she added, awkwardly. She never thought Taylor would ask her this. “But... you can just come with us.”
Taylor felt embarrassed for even asking. How could she ask such a dumb question? “Oh no, no, no. It’s okay. I’ll just go on my own. I still have to do something anyway,” she answered as casual as she could. She wanted to let Laura know that it was okay, even if she wanted to just run away from her as soon as she could.
“Are you sure?” the black-haired asked, unconvinced of Taylor’s answer.
“Yeah.” She didn’t know what else to say so she just decided to leave. Maybe that could save her from her embarrassment. “So, uh, I gotta go. I have this thing, uhm... See you tonight?”
“Yeah. See you.” Laura didn’t know if she should go hug her goodbye or not, but then decided to do so, and then regretted it the moment they let go of each other, because it was the most awkward hug ever. Sighing, she could only look at Taylor as she walked away from her.
-o-o-o-
“Come on, admit it. You have got to have felt a little something there.” It was Natasha, still trying to make Laura admit that she felt something for Taylor again because of what happened. They were already at Samira’s party.
“Yeah, I did,” agreed Laura. “I felt mad. At you.”
Tasho laughed. “What? You didn’t even know it was me.”
“Who else would do something like that other than you??” Natasha just smirked. “And please, just stop trying to make Taylor and I get back together, okay?? It’s been months! We have broken up almost as long as we’ve been together. We’ve moved on.” At that time, Laura saw Taylor talking to some of their cast mates, laughing, and for a moment she couldn’t take her eyes off of her.
“Then why are you two still fucking each other?? Huh?” That brought Laura back to Natasha. “Don’t tell me that’s just for your own pleasure because I sure know you can do that with other people. Hell, you’re Laura Prepon. And she’s Taylor Schilling. Every person in America wants to do it with you.”
“What, you want me to just do it with some random person??”
“Well, if you don’t like the idea of that, you can always do it with me.”
“God Lyonne, what has gotten into you?? Are you really that desperate to get us back together again?? That you’re actually talking about us doing it??”
“What, you don’t want a piece of this?” she asked, laughing.
Laura just laughed. “Shut it. Will you please be serious for one second? Because I am, okay? I don’t want you pulling any more stunt like that again. Taylor and I are fine now. We’re more than fine.”
“Geez, I don’t know your definition for the word fine, but I think it’s the opposite of what my own definition is. Look, okay. If you want me to stop, then I’ll stop. But you have to promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t ever do it with her again.”
“What?? Why? Why would I do that??”
“Because it’s what’s making you hold on! Hold on to the thought of the two of you. You’re not letting each other ago. By doing what you think you’re doing, you still get to be together, but without the emotional connection that you had before, which was what scared the hell out of you in the first place. But also, you’re keeping each other from truly moving on... to other people.”
“That’s not true. We’ve talked about this, it’s just physical, I mean, you know...” She couldn’t say anything and she got scared that Natasha was right. “Well, you know, you’re Natasha Lyonne. And, we also said we can date whoever we want, whenever we want to.”
“Well, have you?”
“No. But I mean, it’s not like there’s anyone out there who I’d like to date right now.”
“Not even two months after you broke up, you have gone out with three people. So don’t give me that bullshit. You can date whenever or whoever you want, you just don’t want to. Because of Taylor. And she’s doing the same thing.” Laura didn’t say a thing so she went on. “I don’t know what you’re both trying to pull here, but I care about the two of you, okay? And this, whatever you call this that you’re doing, it’s not helping. Sure, it may look as if it is now, but one day it’s gonna blow right on your faces. And who knows if you can still recover from that. So either you keep doing it, but just admit that you two still love each other, or just stop it, and let each other go, for real.”
-o-o-o-
Taylor decided to just go sit in the corner. She felt exhausted, and she wasn’t sure why because it’s not like she’s done a lot today. Just as she sat, with vodka in her hand, she saw Laura hanging with Tasho. They were laughing and they seemed like they were having fun.
And she was jealous. Laura was never that upbeat around her anymore. Whenever they were together, everything was about sex. If not, it felt like there was always a wall between them, trying to filter whatever emotion other than sexual desire for each other, get through to the other side.
And she hated it that she was jealous. Because she wasn’t supposed to be. She wanted this. She was the one who started it in the first place. When they got into this arrangement, they both knew what their limitations were and they both accepted that.
She was fine by it. She had always been fine with this set up until they were locked in that stupid bedroom. Because that’s when she had let her guard down. She started feeling again, and she hated it. This wasn’t part of the deal. And now she was screwed... fucking yet again.
-o-o-o-
“Hey, Tayloface.” It was Natasha. She noticed Laura throwing glances at Taylor but wouldn’t go near her so she just decided to do it herself.
“Hey,” responded Taylor, just passing a glance at her.
“Are you okay?” She noticed that Taylor seemed pissed.
“Yeah,” she nodded, and this time she didn’t bother looking at Natasha.
And Tasho did not fail to notice that. “Oh. You’re not okay. So I’m just gonna go.” She knew better than to push Taylor with this mood.
“No, as a matter of fact I want you to stay.”
It was obvious that Taylor was a little drunk. It was actually more than ‘little.’ “No, I’m just gonna—”
“I said stay.”
Taylor spoke these words a little more loudly than she usually spoke and Tasho was sitting beside her even before she could blink. “Ohhhhhh-kaaaaaay. You seem pissed at me or something. Is this still because of me locking you inside that room?” Usually, Natasha would joke around in this kind of situation but she knew that this was not the right time for that.
“You and Laura seem pretty tight these days,” said Taylor, ignoring Natasha’s question. “Is there something going on with you two?” she added, slurring her words.
“What??” Natasha asked, surprised. “Taylo, you do know I’m straight, right?”
“Well, one year ago, I thought I was straight.”
Tasho noticed that Taylor was just looking at one direction and she decided to take a look at who she was staring at. Unsurprisingly, it was Laura. “Look, even if I wasn’t, but I am, I wouldn’t—”
“You know what?” she cut her off, “you don’t need to answer my question. I mean, it’s okay. It’s not like we’re dating or anything. We’re just fuck buddies. That’s right, you heard me. We just fuck each other whenever we feel like it, like some fucking animals... without any kinds of emotions or what not. Because what fun is there with that??” she said, as she took another swig of her vodka.
Natasha sighed, feeling bad looking at Taylor like this. “Tay, you’re drunk. Do you want me to bring you home?”
“Nooooo. I’m not drunk. Let’s talk. Talking is fun. Not something I do with her,” she pointed at Laura, “...but we do other fun stuff, too. Not talk, but it’s still fun. The other fun stuff, like dating and stuff, she does with other people but it’s okay, because it’s part of our deal, you know.”
She was supposed to take another drink but Natasha had decided to take her glass away from her. “Hey that’s enough. I’m bringing you home.” She stood up, and helped Taylor up. It was a testament to how much she had drunk by the way she stood up.
Laura may have seen them because she suddenly made her way to them. “Hey, what’s going on??” She looked at Taylor and she looked like a mess. “Whoah, somebody had a lot to drink tonight.”
“Yeah, I’m bringing her home,” Natasha said, suddenly starting to get pissed. She didn’t realize how stubborn Taylor and Laura had become, until now. And it pissed her because she didn't want seeing them like this. Maybe it was the drinks she had, too.
“You know what, I’ll do it. I can take her home. Just stay and enjoy the party.”
“I’ll be fine, you stay,” said Natasha as she started walking with Taylor’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. Taylor, on the other hand, just kept watching Laura and Natasha talk, moving her head towards who was talking at the time. She felt like the floor was shaking under her feet.
“Tash, I can take care of her,” said Laura, unsure why Natasha wouldn’t just let her take Taylor home because she usually did.
“And I can, too. Excuse me,” she said as she walked past Laura.
“What is the matter with you??” Laura could not hold it back any longer.
Even if she was a bit drunk, Taylor still knew what was going on and she could see that things were starting to heat up between Laura and Natasha and she had to step in. “Shut it, people. No one’s going home. We all stay.” She took her arm off of Natasha’s shoulder and sat at the nearest chair.
“What is the matter with you??” said Natasha as soon as Taylor had sat. “Can’t you see how much you’re both ruining each other’s lives?? Look at you!” She motioned to Taylor. “I know this isn’t supposed to be my business. This is your lives and you can do whatever the hell you want with them, but sue me for caring for you two. Because I can’t just watch you and let you hang on to something that might destroy you in the end.”
Taylor had her head bowed, trying to stay sober and understand every word Natasha was saying. Laura, on the other hand, was looking away, every word of Natasha hitting her right in the chest. It was a good thing that they were far away from the others so none could see what was going on, because if not, Natasha would make quite a scene.
“If you want to be together, then just man up, and do so. Properly! But if you don’t wanna do that anymore, then decide whether you’d want to stay in each other’s lives just as friends or you’d prefer to just let each other go and just get out of each other’s lives for good. You guys are not stupid, so please stop acting like it.”
With that, she stormed out.
-----
A/N:
I'm beyond pissed by how much hate Taylor is getting right now. I mean, sure, a lot of us wants Laylor to be real, but some people are totally being mean to her because of all these Carrie talk. I feel really bad for her. I wish people would be more respectful.
Okay, end of rant. Lol.
So, I wanna thank Emsepoulsen for the votes! Much love from me to you
XO ❤