Title: Take me to the riot
Summary: (From a tumblr prompt) Emily gets into drugs after Maya's murder but she's with Paige who stays with her when everyone else has written her off as a lost cause.
A/N: Based loosely on the song 'Take me to the riot' by Stars.
"Are you busy later?" Emily asked, idly staring up at Paige's ceiling from her position on her back on the bed.
"No, why?" Paige answered hopefully. "Do you want to hang out?"
"I can't." Emily answered regretfully. "I have stuff to do tonight."
Getting bored of staring at the patterns that weren't really there on the ceiling she rolled onto her stomach and reached down to feel for something on the floor. Finally grasping the small metallic tin she it up to the bed.
Paige frowned as she watched Emily open the tin to pull out what looked like a cigarrete and a lighter. She knew exactly what it was though, having watched Emily smoke on more than several occasions.
"Emily." She said disapprovingly as she watched Emily spark up.
"Relax." Emily breathed before she lifted the joint to her lips and took a long hit from it. "It's not a big deal. Do you want a blowback?"
"No!" Paige had no idea what that was but it obviously had something to do with drugs and she didn't want to have any part in that.
"Suit yourself." Emily said before blowing out a perfect ring of smoke.
Paige fell into defeated silence and turned onto her side. Emily had fallen into drugs after Maya had passed away, apparently unable to face the situation. Her friends had all but abandoned her because of the habit, leaving Paige as her only real friend. A couple of minutes passed before Paige felt Emily press against her back and the acrid smell of weed caused her to scrunch her nose up.
"Paige?" Emily asked in the tone she always used when she wanted something Paige was reluctant to give. "Could you do me a favour?"
"What?" Paige asked hoarsely, too focused on not allowing the ache in her chest to overpower her to offer anything more.
"I'm kind of broke." Emily murmured into Paige's ear. "Can I lend some money, please?"
Paige stiffened for a moment before she scoffed in disbelief and pulled away from Emily to get off the bed.
"What?" Emily frowned as if the reaction confused her.
"I'm not giving you money." Paige said determinedly even as her voice shook with every word. "You're only going to go out and get wasted."
"No, I'm not!" Emily exclaimed defiantly as she sat up on the bed to meet Paige's gaze. "I'm going to Spencer's."
Paige almost flinched at the earnest look in Emily's eyes when she replied. Lying was getting easier for Emily in correlation with the worsening of the drug abuse and it pained Paige to watch the transformation. "Don't lie to me Em. Spencer doesn't…" she trailed off, unwilling to rub in the fact that Spencer, Hanna and Aria had been avoiding Emily for months. "You're not going to be with Spencer. I'm not stupid."
"I didn't say you were stupid." Emily frowned. "If I tell you where I'm really going you're just going to worry."
"Where are you going?" Paige demanded to know, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I'm going out with a couple of friends."
"Which friends? The same 'friends' who left you lying in a bar a couple of weeks ago?" Paige asked in disgust. "You have a strange definition of friends Emily."
"You know what? It doesn't matter." Emily said irritably as she got off the bed and began to stalk towards the door. "I'll get the money some other way."
"Emily." Just as Emily was about brush past her Paige caught her elbow, effectively bringing her to a stop. "Wait." Paige paused for a moment, cursing what she was about to do but she really had no other choice. Emily would find a way to get the money whether or not it was Paige who gave it to her. "I'll give you the money if you take your cell phone with you this time."
"Okay." Emily nodded quickly, a smile tugging at her lips.
Paige nodded silently and when she was pulled into a deep kiss she did nothing to push Emily away. The empty look in Emily's eyes was painful to look at but when they were kissing it felt no different than before Emily had started to take the drugs. Paige returned the kiss passionately, allowing herself to be tugged back to her bed.
XXX
Paige was restlessly tossing and turning in bed, going out of her mind with worry for her girlfriend when her phone vibrated on the nightstand. She quickly rolled over and reached out to grab it. Caller ID informed her that it was Emily and she quickly answered the call.
"Em?"
"Is this Paige?" a male voice Paige didn't recognise asked over a heavy din of music.
"Yeah, that's me." Paige said anxiously. "Why do you have Emily's phone?"
"She's drunk." The guy answered loudly, struggling to be heard over the loud music. "I asked her who to call to come and get her and she told me to phone you so…"
"Right." Paige said, already throwing the covers back to clamber of out bed. Holding the phone in one hand she struggled out of her pyjama's and picked her jeans up from the floor. "Where are you?"
"The dog and parrot, have you heard of it?"
"Yeah, I know where it is." Paige answered as she tugged on her jeans with one hand, almost tripping herself up in the process. "Will you stay with her until I get there?"
"Sure." The guy assured her. "Hurry up though. She's really hammered."
"I'll be right there." Paige said before quickly hanging up the phone. Grabbing a ratty pair of converse and a hoodie, she walked briskly out of the room already dialling the number of a local cab company.
XXX
When Paige got to the dive bar and hauled herself out of the cab she'd ordered, she immediately spotted Emily sitting on the back of a pickup truck, draped over some guy. After instructing the driver to wait for them Paige quickly rushed over to Emily in concern.
"Paaaaaige!" Emily exclaimed when she spotted Paige approaching. Pulling away from the guy she hopped off the truck and stumbled into Paige's waiting arms, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Where've ya been?"
Paige had to force herself not to recoil at the scent of alcohol on Emily's breath and sight of the glazed look in her eyes but she was quickly distracted by something else. She secured one arm around Emily's waist to make sure she didn't fall and moved her free hand to Emily's chin, lightly tilting her head up so that she could examine the small cut on her lip. "What happened?"
Paige's fingers traced over Emily's bottom lip and she turned her head to the side, pressing a light kiss to them. Paige's breath caught in her throat but she quickly dropped her hand and focused on the conversation at hand. "Em?"
"Some bitch hit me." Emily answered with a drunken grin. "She's worse than me though."
"She got into fight with another girl." The guy who had stayed with Emily elaborated. "It was pretty brutal."
Paige frowned at Emily's uncharacteristic violence but addressed the guy standing behind Emily. "Thanks for waiting with her."
The guy shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "I'd keep an eye on her if I were you. She was taking some dodgy looking e's a couple of hours ago."
"Thanks." Paige repeated with a nod before she started to lead Emily back towards the cab.
"Where are we going?" Emily sighed, resting her head on Paige's shoulder.
"Home." Paige answered simply, torn between concern and annoyance. She noticed Emily tense and knowingly continued as she pulled the back door of the cab open. "My place."
"'Kay." Emily muttered, allowing Paige to help her into the taxi. Paige gripped the seatbelt and leaning past Emily, pulled it over her chest to click it securely into place. She shut the door carefully, mindful of the headache Emily may or may not have been sporting before jogging around to the other side.
XXX
"Ow." Emily frowned as Paige deposited her rather roughly onto the bed.
"Sorry." Paige muttered as she wearily bent down to pull off Emily's shoes.
Emily leaned up on her elbows to watch Paige's actions. "Are you trying to get me naked or something?"
"Not tonight."
"Are you mad at me?" Emily asked in a wounded tone of voice.
Paige shook her head as she pulled Emily's other shoe off and dropped it on the ground. She stood up purposefully avoiding looking at Emily's hurt expression. "You should go to sleep before the comedown starts."
"Paige…"
"What Emily?" Paige answered, finally looking up to meet Emily's eyes. She cursed herself for doing so when the sharp ache in her chest only intensified.
"You are mad at me." Emily said, her bottom lip trembling ever so slightly.
"I'm not mad at you." Paige lied, running a frustrated hand through her hair. "I'm just tired."
"I'm not stupid Paige."
"Well you could have fooled me." Paige snapped, though she immediately regretted it afterwards.
"You think I'm stupid?" Emily asked in a wounded tone of voice.
Paige sat on the bed next to Emily with a sigh. "We shouldn't talk about this right now. Just go to sleep, okay Em? We'll talk tomorrow."
"No, I want to talk now." Emily objected, struggling to sit herself up. Her head spun however and she eventually gave up. "Why are you mad at me?"
"Why did you tell that guy to call me tonight?" Paige asked without answering the question.
"Because I knew you'd come for me." Emily said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah," Paige scoffed with a shake of her head, "Because unlike your friends I haven't written you off."
"They haven't…"
"They have." Paige interrupted firmly, forcing herself not to glance back at Emily as she said it. "You know they have. And honestly, I don't blame them."
"Are you going to leave me?" Emily asked, her voice growing very small and childlike.
Paige would have laughed at the absurdity of the statement but given the circumstances the only effect it had on her was to break the floodgates. Leaning forward to brace her elbows on her knees she dropped her head into her hands and allowed the tears to come without fight.
"Paige?" Emily watched as Paige's shoulders shook with soft sobs. Emily forced herself to sit up despite her body aching in protest and moved behind Paige to embrace her tightly. "Why are you crying?"
"I can't see you like this." Paige whispered, allowing herself to lean into Emily. "I can't."
Emily's own eyes misted with tears and she hugged Paige tighter as if she was afraid to let go. "So you are leaving me?"
Paige was silent for a moment before she eventually shook her head. "You know I could never leave you. But this is getting out of control 're going to end up hurting yourself or…" Paige trailed off, shuddering at the facts and figures she'd researched in regards to Emily's habit. 200 deaths from ecstasy since 1996, 26 marijuana associated deaths per annum. "I can't watch you do that to yourself."
"I'm sorry." Emily said in a genuinely apologetic tone. "I'll try to stop."
Paige sighed and shook her head. 'I'll try to stop' was what Emily always said. Maybe she meant it at the time but it never lasted longer than a day. Paige pulled away from Emily's embrace and stood up. Brushing the tears from her cheeks she turned and offered Emily a small smile. "You should get some sleep."
Emily nodded numbly and lay down on top of the covers, though she didn't tear her gaze away from Paige. "You'll stay with me?"
Paige nodded and kicked off her shoes. She wasn't going to be able to get anymore sleep but as always she would watch over Emily during the night to make sure that the MDMA or whatever it was she'd taken didn't have any adverse effects. Paige clambered onto the bed and scooted close to Emily, wrapping an arm around her waist. Emily automatically gripped Paige's hand in front of her and threaded their fingers together.
"I hope you mean it this time." Paige whispered after a few minutes, pressing a light kiss to Emily's cheek.
Emily merely hummed in response, tired out by the drugs.
Paige fell silent and stared into the darkness, listening intently for any change in Emily's steady breathing.
THE END.