Disclaimer: The characters of Degrassi belong to their rightful owners. Nor do I own The Devil Wear Prada or Queer as Folk.
Summary: Paige has been absent all summer for her fashion intern and when she returns she realizes a lot of things have changed… mainly her first love, Spinner.
A/N: I'm going to say this right off the bat before I get bashed for copying, the story's format (multiple stories, possible OCs, etc.) and general concept revolves around Maibe Josie's Sellie fanfics. They're wonderful so if you like this even the slight bit, go read hers (start off with Numb) because she does it a million times better than I do.
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Third step… Fourth step… Every step was a journey on its own. After sitting for 16 hours on a plane from Switzerland to Canada, Paige felt both numb and tired. For the first time, she resented the amount of clothes she had. Both of her hands were holding up luggage about 10 pounds and the taxi driver didn't stick around to help. Paige stumbled on the stairs as she tried to the reach the door and she fell right in front the door, her head banging loudly against it.
It was upsetting enough that her two best friends weren't at the door waiting for her like she had imagined. As she lie at the top of the stairs, worn out and numb, she started to remember her bon voyage party. The light bulb went off and she knew that they were all inside waiting for her to enter so they can jump up and shout "Surprise!" She almost felt embarrassed that she didn't consider the fact that her friends threw her a surprise welcome back party first.
Suddenly, the door rushed open and Ellie stood there in full flesh with over-sized football PJs and her red hair wrapped in a perfect granny-style bun. It has been 4 months since Paige saw Ellie.
Never mind the fact that she was excited to see her.
Never mind the fact that her first instinct was to stand attention and hug Ellie.
The first thing that came to Paige's mind was a makeover. Had Ellie lost her fashion sense since Paige had left to travel?
As Paige was hugging Ellie and swaying back and forth in front the doorway, Ellie seemed less than excited.
"Ahh! You're back today!?" Ellie said with a grin that shown all of her teeth.
"You forgot?" Paige was very surprised at Ellie. She was never the best when it came to acting but Ellie had put on a really convincing look.
"Nooo… of course not! I just didn't think you were coming at this time." Ellie's grin had worn out. She immediately stopped hugging Paige and ran down the stairs to collect her heavy luggage.
Paige walked into the building and looked around as if she'd never seen it before. She walked into the front room expecting shadows to pop up from the ground and "surprise" her. Instead, she got a simple sound of her own footsteps. The energy felt really weird and her spirits felt broken in a way. She noticed the furniture was rearranged. The Feng Shui arrangements she had set up long ago were no longer the way they used to be.
Ellie walked into the house, carrying her luggage with ease. "You guys… rearranged?" Paige asked, still trying to figure out in which way did things change.
Ellie nodded nervously and kept looking towards the staircase inside the house as if a ghost were appearing. She nudged her head to the left a little bit and bit her lip bottom lip. Paige, keen to Ellie's actions, ran to look towards the stairway. And there was Jesse, in Full Monty, looking down at Paige and Ellie. He walked down towards the stairs with no shame to his revealing package and touched Paige on her shoulder.
"Good to see you're back, Michalchuk." He said rather flirtatiously before flipping her long blonde locks.
Paige's jaw was dropped for much more than one reason. Shock of his existence was the lesser contribution to her expression. It has been a long time before she saw the dark brown-haired stud. He flipped his bang out of eyesight and took a step back to study Paige.
"Yeah, so I guess today is your birthday?" Paige asked sarcastically, trying her best to keep her eyes above his navel.
Jesse laughed and gave Ellie a smug wink. "No, I just think Ellie looks better in my clothes." He said as he pinched the football PJs and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Well… fortunately, we need your big…" Paige lost her train of thought at the word big. She shook her head to catch herself. "m… muscles!" Ellie looked at Paige and widened her eyes. Jesse looked at Paige with a happier expression. "Muscles to carry the bags, pervs!"
"Class-A bagboy in service!" Jesse said as he grabbed the luggage with ease and walked up the stairs. Ellie and Paige quietly admired him from the back as he walked up the stairs with both luggages retracting his muscles.
As he turned to the bedroom and left their sight, Paige rushed Ellie with not-so-impressed excitement. "You and Jesse stupidface are back together!?"
All of Ellie's teeth were visible again. She seemed to be showing them a lot lately. "…Not exactly." Paige frowned. "What?! I was needy and he was looking for random play."
"Needy? Ellie, Marco is needy. The best word I can find to explain… that is horny. And that's putting it mildly."
"Come on, Paige! You had a nonexclusive relationship with him. You know how good he is in bed." Ellie pleaded for her acceptance.
Paige rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's as good in bed as he is in a monogamous relationship," Ellie's shameful face became even fuller of shame. "But… who am I to judge?" Paige said, hoping not to upset Ellie on her first day back. "So, where's Marco?" she asked as she began walking up the stairs.
"Oh… he uhh… he went out to get some welcome back gifts."
"That's my Marco!" she sung happily before dancing up the stairs.
After she made it to the top of the stairs she waited started walking down the stairs to get her purse that Jesse might've left behind. As she made it to the bottom of the stairs she could hear Ellie whispering on the phone.
"Yeah, she's back! How come you didn't tell me it was today?" Ellie whispered softly. Paige took a peek out of the corner and Ellie was scrambling in the kitchen. "Yes, it was today." Ellie bit her nails and lowered her voice to refrain from shouting. "Okay. So I'll distract her for a long time while you get the surprise party together."
Paige, despite her love for parties, became really upset at the thought of them forgetting the day that she returns. First, Ellie loses her strength and gives into Jesse and now they can't even keep a calendar with her name marked for first of September. She kept trying to convince herself she was overreacting but she just couldn't wrap her head around the changes. Did they not miss her at all?
This never happened before. She never felt unwanted.
As she walked into her room with her head down, Jesse was laying in the bed with majority of his bottom wrapped under the covers. "You must be really tired. Do you want to me cheer you up?" he asked with his traditional smug smile and his eyes continuously peeking down at the bulge in the sheets.
"Hah! Not really." Paige laughed jokingly with her hands set on her hips.
Jesse threw the sheets off and once again revealed himself in full glory. He got out of the bed and glided toward her smoothly. He cupped her chin in his hand and made her look him in the eye. "Your loss." He bragged before kissing her softly and leaving the room, right across the hall to Ellie's room.
'Was he always this much of an ass?' she asked to herself.
Paige felt really numb at the moment but she was doubtful that Jesse was the one to have that effect on her. Not even when she had him did he make her knees that weak. She collapsed right into her bed and snuggled into her pillow.
Ellie walked into the room at that moment and started to pull on her arm. "Hey Paige, you wanna go out?"
Paige threw her head underneath the pillow and kicked her feet twice. "I think the answer to that question is kind of obvious."
"Well… do you want me to stay in her with you and you can tell me about your travels while I unpack your bag?" Ellie, with the Paige's answer already in her head, closed the door and started to unload her luggage.
"Whatevskies!" Paige said before bursting into laughter at Ellie's spunky terminology.
"So not funny." Ellie argued as she folded her clothes.
The rest of that day was a blur. Paige kept falling in and out of sleep with certain conversations. She can recall Ellie ranting about boy troubles, or lack thereof, and how she's still more fortunate than Marco, who's still playing Ring around the Rosy with Eric. Paige was convinced that the heavy panting, wall knocking and giggling was from the time Jesse joined the conversation. She can also recall Jesse flirting with her and kissing her yet again. Ellie was obviously nowhere in the room at that time.
After three or four vague interruptions, Paige was completely rested. She lifted her head slowly and looked out the window. The dusk sky was growing weaker by the minute. She looked around her room. All of her clothes were put in place and the room was completely clean. She smiled and sat back down in her bed. She was ready to walk down the stairs but she didn't want to ruin the surprise they were setting up for her downstairs.
It wasn't long after she sat down that her door began to creek. "You woke?" Marco asked before taking a peek into the door. He walked into the room with a gift bag in his hand and a bright smile.
"How you've been, Andy Sachs?!" he asked as he hugged her. Miranda has been her nickname every since she began working for Andrea, whom he decided to call Meryl Streep, rather than the more appropriate nickname, Miranda Priestly… or Dragonlady.
"I've been pretty decent, Brian Kinney." Paige named him after the Queer as Folk character as retaliation. "So I see you've been shopping around. Is there anything in that bag for little ol' me?"
Marco handed her the bag and she didn't hesitate a second to the open it. There was a plain-white cotton shirt with writing on it.
I get shit-faced drunk. How do you handle your stress?
Paige let out a loud laugh and put the shirt on quickly. She started to playfully model it in the mirror.
"Sorry about that, the busboy job pays like a fast food restaurant so I don't have the money to support your high maintenance lifestyle." Marco said, defending himself quickly.
"It's okay. I really like it. It's been a long time since I wore anything plain." Paige sat next to Marco and hugged him to show her gratefulness. "But don't you think the context is a lot more appropriate for Nash?"
Marco laughed. "Speaking of Nash, did you two catch up?"
"If by 'catch up' you mean 'caught in the act'." Paige retorted. Marco rolled his eyes at the thought. "Is Jesse still walking around in the nude?"
"Jesse was walking around in the nude… and I missed it?!"
"You know… I just don't get it. Why would Ellie get back with asshat Jesse?"
"She didn't have a strong female figure to compare herself to." He answered as he looked down to the ground. Paige felt ashamed as well.
"Come on, let's go downstairs and get a snack."
Marco and Paige walked down the stairs and into the living room. The lights were off and the room was really dim. She already had her shocked face prepared. The lights flashed on quickly and people popped from every corner and from behind the couch.
"SURPRISE!"
There were a lot of people there. She tried her best to get a good look at most of the people while keeping her shocked face but only one person kept her attention.
He had a completely shaved head and a lot of piercings in his ear. He had a husky build and a handsome, boyish face. It's been so long before she saw him but couldn't help but feel he was a different person looking in her eyes.
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A/N: Okay, so I know I said I was going to do multi-stories and original characters but I had to set up the environment before I start to get into the plot and different characters.