“My man.” Nichols threw an arm around Alex’s neck, straining to meet her height. “How was Vegas, huh? Any gamblin’?” She shot a glance back towards Lorna. “Any ladies?” 

“I heard that, Nicky.” Lorna said, not looking up from her magazine. 

“No you didn’t.” She shot back, winking at Alex. 

“Gambling, no. Ladies, no. Getting my ass chewed out by a bunch of old dudes telling me about finances and how to cut back costs by using only a certain brand of embalming fluids and not allowing my employees lunch breaks? Yes. Plenty of that.” Alex nudged Nicky off of her. 

“Bummer.” Nicky said simply, placing her hands on her hips. “Speaking of unpaid lunch breaks. You guys wanna go out? It’s about that time.” 

“I could go for lunch.” Lorna agreed. 

“Sounds good to me.” Alex shrugged, looking at Piper. “You coming with?” 

“Oh uh, I was actually gonna stop at home. See my fiance.” Piper made up an excuse in an attempt to be able to go home and change out of her soiled blouse. 

“Oh come on. I’ll pay. It’s the least I can do after accidentally locking you in that scary ass cooler.” Alex offered. 

“Come on Pipes…It’s happy hour.” Nicky did a shimmy, her curls bouncing as she did. 

“Well…” She smiled.

“Piper, come on!” Lorna pushed. 

“Fine. Fine, I’ll go.” She laughed. 

“Let’s roll!” Nicky nodded towards the door. 

“Shouldn’t we grab Mrs. Jefferson and Poussey?” Piper asked. 

“Poussey and Taystee never come along.” Nichols waved it away. 

“Taystee?” 

“Oh, right. Mrs.Jefferson.” Nichols chuckled. “Yeah, Mrs.Jefferson doesn’t do lunch, and Poussey doesn’t do anything without Mrs.Jefferson.” 

The women found a small Italian place down the street from the funeral home. Alex and Nichols sat next to each other while Piper slid into a booth with Lorna across the table from the other two women. While Alex and Nichols spoke Piper looked at Lorna as she studied the menu. 

“So, you and Nichols?” She asked. 

“What about us?” Lorna answered, not looking up from her menu.

“Are you guys together?” 

“No.” Lorna set her menu down onto the table and folded her hands. “Why do you ask that?” 

“Oh well I was just-” 

“So! Piper!” Alex said, interrupting their conversation, much to Piper’s delight. “What do you think of the funeral home?”