Chapter one
Paige had just settled on the couch with a bowl of warm popcorn on her lap and a movie ready to play when her doorbell rang. Her brow furrowed and she glanced at the clock. It was only 7pm but she hadn't expected any visitors. The doorbell was pressed again, twice in rapid succession and Paige sighed forlornly, setting her bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. Her parents weren't home so it was obviously up to her to answer the door.
Grabbing a piece of popcorn from the bowl on the table Paige started towards the door, tossing the popcorn into her mouth as she went. She opened the front door slowly without taking the chain off, just to be safe.
"Spencer?" Paige stated in surprise when she found none other than Spencer Hastings standing on her doorstep. It was still fairly bright out so it wasn't hard to see that Spencer was upset about something. The usually together, in control girl had her arms wrapped around herself and her cheeks were stained with tears. Paige quickly closed the door and unhooked the small chain before opening it again.
"Paige…hey." Spencer tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks but to no avail. "Do you know where Emily is?"
"No, she isn't here." Paige answered with a shake of her head. "I haven't spoken to her since school. Has something happened?"
Spencer shook her head, the movement causing unshed tears to fall. "No, I-I just need to see her. She's not at her house and she's not answering her phone and I don't know where she is and she never ignores my calls even when she's mad at me and I figured she would be here but she…"
"Spencer…Spencer…Spencer!" Paige tried to interrupt, finally resorting to raising her voice slightly. Spencer fell silent, biting her bottom lip. "Just slow down for a minute , okay? What happened?"
"It doesn't matter, I'm sorry I bothered you." Spencer responded in a broken tone of voice.
"Spencer, wait." Paige reached out and gently grasped Spencer's wrist, effectively keeping her from walking away. "Come inside. Let me get you a drink."
"I can't, I should be getting back. I have to…" Spencer's voice broke and she trailed off.
"Come on." Paige said gently. She stepped outside and reached out to grasp Spencer's other arm, gently tugging her back to the house. She noticed Spencer's car parked in the driveway out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't entirely sure how Spencer had managed to drive there in the state she was in but she was adamant that she wasn't going to let Spencer take the same risk by driving herself home.
Paige moved backwards, leading Spencer into the house. She closed the door, relieved that Spencer wasn't resisting the light tug and led her towards the living room. She helped Spencer sit on the couch and stood there awkwardly for a moment before she gestured towards the kitchen.
"I'll get you a glass of water, I'll be right back." She didn't wait for a response from Spencer, aware that she wouldn't give one, instead walking briskly towards the kitchen. She poured a glass of water as quickly as she could, not wanting Spencer to run off while she was in the kitchen. Paige walked back into the living room with the glass of water in her hand only to falter at the sight of the usually fiery Spencer Hastings sobbing softly into her hands.
Exhaling slowly Paige approached and set the glass of water on the table. She carefully took a seat close to Spencer and hesitated for a moment before moving her hand to Spencer's back. She was surprised when Spencer lifted her head from her hands and turned into Paige, burying her face in her neck.
"Oh…" Paige didn't move for a moment, caught completely off guard, but eventually she curled her arms around Spencer's back and hugged her tightly. She lightly rubbed her hand up and down Spencer's back, waiting for her to calm down. It felt like hours before Spencer's crying softened, gradually fading into soft hiccups and occasional whimpers. Paige didn't say anything, merely continuing to hold onto Spencer, ignoring the fact that her neck and shirt were soaked with Spencer's tears.
Finally Paige felt Spencer begin to pull away and she loosened her hold, allowing Spencer to lean back. She watched in concern as Spencer wiped at her blotchy cheeks with the back of her hand.
"Here." Paige leaned forward and reached past Spencer to grab the box of tissues from the table.
"Thanks." Spencer's voice was slightly hoarse as she took the tissues from Paige. She plucked one out of the box and wiped at her teary eyes. When she was done she lowered her hand and glanced up at Paige. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Paige shook her head, dismissing Spencer's apology completely. "You didn't do anything wrong."
Spencer sighed heavily and opened her mouth to speak only to promptly shut it again. She looked to the glass of water on the coffee table before glancing back at Paige. Paige nodded silently in response to the unasked question and Spencer picked the glass of water up, taking a long drink to soothe her aching throat.
"Did you get into a fight with Emily?" Paige asked gently, not wanting to seem intrusive but curious as to what was going on.
"No…yes." Spencer shook her head, trying to focus. "I've really messed things up with her. With Hanna and Aria too…I've pushed them away, taken everything out on them, acted out. They probably hate me right now."
"Spencer…" Paige tentatively reached out and placed her hand on Spencer's arm, wanting to comfort her in any way she could. "I can't speak for Hanna and Aria because I don't know them all that well but I know that Emily could never hate you. She loves you and that won't change because of whatever happened between the two of you."
"You think so?" Spencer asked in a small voice.
Paige nodded, completely sure of what she was saying. "I know it. Emily might need some time to cool off but she forgives easily, especially when it comes to her friends. I'm sure you know that."
Spencer nodded meekly, her gaze dropping to Paige's hand on her arm. "Thank you…for this. You didn't have to do this after the way I've treated you in the past."
"Of course I did, Emily would never have forgiven me if I'd let you leave like that." Paige joked, trying to lighten the mood. "I have to stay on her good side."
Spencer managed a small smile, merely a tiny upturn of her lips really but Paige took that as a good sign.
"Still, I'm sorry for ruining your plans." Spencer said, a guilty tone seeping into her voice.
"My plans?" Paige echoed in confusion.
Spencer nodded towards the TV where the title menu of the movie Paige had planned to watch was still displayed.
Paige shook her head. It seemed that nothing escaped Spencer's attention even when she was upset. "It's okay, I've seen that movie a million times anyway. I would have just ended up crying into my popcorn like always."
Spencer chuckled despite herself at the sight and Paige had to struggle to supress a proud grin. Who'd have thought that she'd be able to make Spencer Hastings feel better? Her grin quickly faded however when Spencer grimaced, her hand moving to her stomach.
"Are you okay?" Paige asked in alarm.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Spencer answered, though she looked anything but. "I um…I haven't exactly been taking care of myself lately."
Paige frowned, taking in Spencer's appearance. It was hard to tell because her cheeks were flushed but Spencer did seem paler than usual and she had faint purple circles under her eyes, suggesting that she hadn't been sleeping. "When was the last time you ate?"
"I don't know, a week or so ago." Spencer answered honestly. She hadn't had much of an appetite lately, merely picking at her food.
"A week?" Paige looked horrified by the answer, "I'll make you something."
"Paige you don't have to look after me, I can…"
"I'll make you something." Paige repeated firmly. Her eyes locked with Spencer's and she silently challenged her to argue. Eventually Spencer nodded, much to Paige's surprise. Deciding to push her luck a bit Paige continued in what she hoped was a casual voice. "You can stay here tonight if you want, you can take my bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
Spencer shook her head immediately. "I don't want to impose."
"You're not," Paige said reassuringly. "Besides, it'll make me feel better. At least I'll know you're not driving around like…" she trailed off, unwilling to point out the fact that Spencer looked like she was going to pass out from exhaustion at any second.
"Okay." Spencer agreed softly, "Thanks, I didn't really want to go home anyway."
Paige merely nodded before standing up. "What do you like? I'm not great at cooking but I'm sure I can make something that won't poison you."
Spencer internally cringed at the badly worded statement. Her expression must have betrayed how she felt because Paige looked instantly regretful.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It's fine." Spencer's voice came out slightly choked with emotion. She coughed in an attempt to conceal it. "Don't worry about it."
"Spencer…" Paige sat back down on the couch next to Spencer. "I don't know what's going on or what happened to you but I want to help if you'll let me. I just want you to know that I'm here."
Spencer nodded silently but didn't say anything. Taking that as a sign that Spencer didn't want to talk about it just yet Paige stood back up and walked into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder.
"I can make toast, eggs…within reason. Or we have cereal, um…"
All went silent for a moment before Paige popped her head around the door. "I could order out?"
"You don't have to do that, eggs will be fine." Spencer said standing up from the couch. Eager to distract herself from the turmoil of emotions she was going through she walked towards the kitchen. "I'll help."
XXX
Emily started to turn into Paige's driveway without really paying attention. As a consequence she had to slam on her breaks to keep from driving right into the back of the car in Paige's driveway.
"What the…?" She leaned forward to look out of the windscreen and found that the parking space was occupied by a car that definitely didn't belong to Mr McCullers. He was usually out by 9am on a Saturday morning, leaving the spot free for Emily to use. Frowning to herself Emily reversed back out of the driveway and parked on the street. She unlatched her seatbelt before reaching out to pick up the paper bag and the cup holder on the passenger seat. She usually didn't meet up with Paige until lunchtime but she wanted to surprise her.
Getting out of the car Emily gently kicked the door of her Toyota closed behind her before starting up the path towards the house. The car in her usual spot caught her attention as she walked by and she frowned at how familiar it looked. She quickly shook it off however when she reached the door. She rang the doorbell and waited patiently, adjusting the cup holder in her hands. She only had to wait a few seconds before the door was pulled open to reveal Paige standing there.
"Emily!" Paige looked beyond surprised to see Emily. "What are you doing here? It's only…"
"Just past nine, I wanted to surprise you." Emily said, leaning forward to give Paige a light kiss. "I brought you coffee…and your favourite."
"Bear claws?" Paige asked as Emily handed the bag to her. She peeked inside only to find that it was indeed full of her favourite pastry. "Thanks Em, you're the best."
"I know." Emily grinned at her. "Now are you going to let me in or what?"
"Let you in?"
"Are you going to let me into your house?" Emily repeated slowly, slightly amused by Paige's slowness.
"Um…"
"Paige?" Emily asked expectantly, "What's going on? Whose car is that in your driveway?"
"Whose car?" Paige echoed nervously.
"Are you going to repeat everything I say?" Emily shook her head, confused by her girlfriend's odd behaviour. "The car in your driveway, whose is it?"
"Uh…"
"Paige, where do you keep your coffee? I can't find it."
Paige winced as the voice sounded from behind her.
Emily stepped closer at the sound of the familiar voice and looked past Paige, only to see Spencer walk out of the kitchen.
"I can only find deca…Emily!" Spencer stated in surprise. "Um…hi."
Emily was silent as she took in the sight of her barely clothed friend. Spencer was wearing a blue t-shirt with the Sharks swim team logo on the front and a pair of shorts Emily vaguely recognized as belonging to Paige. She'd obviously stayed the night.
"Em, this isn't what it looks like." Paige said nervously as she watched Emily's facial expression. It was clear that she was putting two and two together and she was about to come up with five.
Emily swallowed heavily against the lump in her throat. It all made sense now, at least in terms of Spencer's behaviour…the way she'd been avoiding her, how upset she'd been lately, the reason she'd broken up with Toby. It all made perfect sense.
"Emily…" Spencer stepped forward until she was hovering right behind Paige.
Emily shook her head and thrust the cup holder towards Paige who scrambled to grab it before Emily let go. Without another word Emily turned on her heel and headed back towards her car, tears burning her eyes.
"Emily…" Paige barely managed not to spill coffee on herself as she handed the cups over to Spencer. She hurried out of the house after Emily, ignoring the fact that she was in pyjamas and she was barefoot. "Emily! Wait, I can explain."
"You don't have to explain Paige, I'm not stupid!" Emily stated without turning around. "Spencer is at your house at 9am, practically naked, it's not like you would have had a girly sleepover with her, is it?"
Paige opened her mouth to tell Emily that's almost exactly what it was but Emily was already getting into her car.
"Emily…" Paige stepped forward but Emily locked the car doors and quickly started the car. She pulled away before Paige could make another plea, leaving her standing alone on the sidewalk.
"Shit…"
TBC