"Why didn't you tell me you had this place?" Emily asked when Paige finished putting the movie on and sank back into the back of the old couch. "If I'd known, we could have used this place to escape from everything."
"Em it's just a dingy shed." Paige chuckled to herself. "I didn't bring you here before because it's old, dirty and probably infested with bugs."
"Are you serious?" Emily asked, consciously lifting her hands from the couch.
"No." Paige answered with a shake of her head. "Yes…maybe. I cleaned it up before I brought you here and I didn't see any bugs."
"That's reassuring." Emily stated sarcastically. Nevertheless she turned her attention back to the laptop Paige had set up on the small laptop in front of them. She felt Paige shuffle close to her and smiled softly to herself. The small shed was actually quite nice, it was certainly quite cosy and it was unlikely that anyone would think to look for them in there.
"I'll fix it up." Paige said, almost as if she could hear what Emily was thinking. "It can be our own little place."
Emily sighed contentedly and lightly gripped Paige's hand. "Having our own little place sounds nice."
"Good." Paige pressed a light kiss to Emily's neck and smiled softly against her. "I'll finally have a way to get you all to myself."
"You have a way of doing that now."
"Yeah?" Paige asked curiously. "How is that?"
"Just ask." Emily tilted her head slightly and gave Paige a light kiss on the lips. "And you have me all to yourself."
Paige chuckled to herself. Deciding not to point out how inaccurate that was due to their separate responsibilities and all of the drama in their lives, especially Emily's, she settle for kissing her again. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
"I'll hold you to that." Emily murmured, her hand shifting to the back of Paige's neck. She tugged her forward and kissed her more firmly than before. She hummed softly as Paige's tongue slipped past her lips. She welcomes the exploration of Paige's tongue and shifting slightly so that she was half standing up she pushed lightly against Paige's shoulder, urging her back on the couch. Taking the hint Paige managed to maneuver herself so that she was fully on the couch. Trying not to break the kiss she braced herself with one hand on the couch while her other gripped the front of Emily's shirt. She lightly tugged her back down and Emily almost tumbled onto her. They separated for a moment and Paige grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." Emily mumbled, recapturing Paige's lips as she moved to straddle her thighs. She braced herself with her hand on Paige's shoulders and once again deepened the kiss.
Paige's free hand slipped down Emily's body and lingered for a moment at her waist before it slipped lower to lightly squeeze her ass.
Emily moaned softly into the kiss at the touch and leaned forward, applying more pressure to Paige's shoulders. The extra weight caused Paige's hand to slide on the cushion and Paige fell back, breaking the kiss as her hand slipped down the side of the seat. A sharp sting shot through her hand and wrist and she cried out in pain, quickly jerking up again just as Emily leaned down to see what was going on. Her forehead collided solidly with Emily's nose, eliciting a similar cry of pain from her. The pain and surprise caused by the collision caused Emily to jerk back and she fell unceremoniously off the couch, hitting her head on the coffee table.
"Shit…" Paige cursed, ignoring the throbbing in her wrist. She managed to pull it free, not without causing a significant amount of pain before hurrying to stand up from the couch. She reached for Emily to help her stand up from the floor. "Em, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…oh." Paige stopped for a moment and stared at the blood trailing down her arm. Deciding to ignore it until she made sure Emily was okay Paige hid it from view and continued to help Emily up with her good hand.
"I'm okay." Emily said faintly, rubbing her head.
Paige took a moment to assess the damage. She noted that Emily's eyes were watering slightly from the collision and her nose and mouth were both bloody. Obviously the force of Paige's forehead hitting her had been enough to injure her nose and split her lip. Paige's gaze flicked momentarily to Emily's forehead and she noticed with some relief that it wasn't bleeding.
Emily sniffled slightly and lightly touched her nose only to pull her hand back with a wince. Realizing that Paige hadn't said anything for a couple of minutes she looked back towards her and frowned at how pale she looked. "Are you okay Paige?"
"Uh…" Paige shook her head and removed her wrist from behind her back. "I think I'm bleeding."
Emily caught sight of the gash that stretched from the base of Paige's thumb down her wrist to her lower forearm and her eyes widened in alarm. She stepped forward and grasped Paige's shaking arm, gently lifting up. "Shit Paige…"
"That's a lot of blood, right?" Paige asked faintly, her eyes fixated on the long cut.
Emily nodded emphatically. The wound was indeed bleeding profusely, so much so that she was worried that Paige had accidentally severed a vein in her wrist.
"I need something to put pressure on it." Completely forgetting about her own pain Emily looked around for something to use. Unfortunately there wasn't much she could use due to the fact that most of the services were dusty. Spotting her jacket lying on the couch Emily reached out and grabbed it.
Paige attempted to pull her arm back as Emily moved to wrap her jacket around the cut. "You're going to get blood on your jacket."
"I don't care, hold still." Emily held Paige's wrist a little tighter. She slowly wrapped her jacket around the cut, trying to make it as tight as possible without cutting off the blood flow. "We're going to the hospital."
"Okay." Paige didn't even put up an argument, something that concerned Emily even more. Feeling blood begin to drip down from her nose Emily turned her face and wiped the blood on her shoulder. She cringed slightly at the pain but did her best to ignore it and forced herself to focus on Paige. "Come on, I'll drive."
Paige nodded and numbly allowed Emily to lead her to the door.
XXX
"You need stitches but the good news is that you didn't damage any nerves or sever any veins." The doctor noted as she continued to lightly clean Paige's wound. "It might be sore for a couple of weeks but that's normal, I'll prescribe you some painkillers to deal with that. You'll need to change the bandages daily too, if the cut gets infected you should go and see your doctor."
Paige's brow furrowed as she tried to take in what the doctor was saying to her. "Bandages? So I can't swim?"
"You definitely can't swim." The doctor said with a shake of her head. "You should try to limit how much you use your arm entirely."
Paige heaved a sigh. "For how long?"
"Until the cut is fully healed."
Paige frowned down at her injured wrist, not exactly approving of the fact that she had to take time away from swimming. Glancing up she caught sight of Emily hovering nervously a few feet away from them, obviously having finished with her own examination.
"I'll be right back." The doctor said, standing up from her seat.
Paige nodded distractedly. When the doctor walked away Emily quickly made her way over.
"Are you okay?" they both spoke at the same time.
"I'm fine, nothing is broken." Emily laughed softly, her hand shifting briefly to her forehead. "Did you cut anything important?"
"No, everything is fine." Paige shook her head, "I need stitches though."
Emily took a seat on the bed next to Paige and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Do you think the doctor will let me stay?"
"I don't know." Paige sighed, her head dropping to Emily's shoulder. "My wrist hurts."
"I know." Emily pressed a kiss to the top off Paige's head. "We're going to have to replace the couch if we want to make that 'our little place'."
Paige laughed softly. "Definitely."
XXX
"This is so embarrassing." Paige mumbled as she watched Emily rip her sugar packets open for her. She glanced around the brew to make sure that nobody was watching.
Emily quickly stirred the sugar into Paige's coffee. "At least you don't have a huge bump on your head and a split lip. I look like I've been roughed up."
"Sorry." Paige apologised for what felt like the hundredth time, her gaze flicking to Emily's face. Her nose was slightly swollen and that along with the cut on her lip and the bump on her head did indeed make it look like she'd been in some kind of fight. "You look badass though."
"Shut up." Emily laughed softly, picking up Paige's cup along with her own.
Paige pulled the sleeve of the hoodie she was hearing down her arm to cover most of the bandage before she followed Emily over to a table. They both took a seat and Paige scratched idly at her arm.
"Stop that." Emily berated, lightly swatting Paige's hand away. "You'll pull the stitches out."
"It's under a bandage."
"You could still snag the stitches." Emily said with a roll of her eyes. Noticing Paige's hand moving back towards her injured wrist Emily reached out and gripped it, moving it back to the table. "Do I have to hold your hand to keep you from doing that?"
"Yes." Paige smiled brightly, lacing her fingers together with Emily's.
Emily fondly rolled her eyes. "Any excuse, huh?"
"Are we talking about you or me?" Paige teased.
"I don't know, both?" Emily guessed, unable to keep the grin from her lips. She gave Paige's hand a light squeeze. "What are we doing today?"
"I was thinking I could make a start on the shed." Paige suggested with a shrug. "I don't know about you."
Emily stared at Paige in confusion for a moment. "Are you serious? You can't start on the fridge when your wrist is…"
"I'm kidding!" Paige laughed softly at Emily's scolding tone. "I thought maybe we could watch some movies at my place…in the house this time."
Emily relaxed slightly. "That's better."
Paige grinned and moved to pick up her coffee, only to wince when her wrist was strained by the movement.
Emily quickly let go of Paige's hand and moved to take the coffee from her. "You need to be more careful."
"I keep forgetting." Paige muttered, holding her wrist close to her body as she waited for the stinging to subside. When it finally did she picked her coffee up with her good hand and took a small sip.
Emily gave Paige's hand a comforting rub, aware that her girlfriend was getting frustrated with herself.
"Hey Em!" Hanna's voice sounded suddenly and Emily looked up to see her approaching with Spencer and Aria hot on her heels. "Where have you bee…? Oh my God, what happened to your face?!"
"It's nothing." Emily said, though before she got another word out Hanna was gripping her chin lightly, turning her face to the right to inspect the damage.
"That looks like something Em." Aria contributed in concern, noting the bruise on Emily's forehead as well as her split lip and swollen nose. "Did someone hit you?"
Spencer immediately turned accusing eyes to Paige. "Did you do that?"
"Spencer!" Emily exclaimed irritably.
Spencer narrowed her eyes and took a step towards Paige, repeating her question. "Did you do that?"
"Whoa, no!" Paige held up her hands in surrender. "I didn't do it on purpose."
"Paige." Emily groaned at her girlfriends response. "You could have just said no."
"On purpose?" Hanna echoed sharply, her own gaze flicking to Paige. "So you did do it?"
"What happened to your wrist?" Aria asked as Paige's hoodie slipped down her arm to reveal the bandage on her arm and hand.
"I knew you had a temper but I never thought you would hit Emily." Spencer stated, seeing the bandage on Paige's hand only more evidence of her theory.
"Spencer slow down, we can explain." Emily reached out and grabbed Spencer's arm, tugging her back towards her. She tugged her into the chair next to her just to make sure she didn't attack Paige right there in the Brew.
"I'm waiting." Spencer said narrowing her eyes at Paige.
"So are we." Aria contributed, taking the seat on the other side of Emily. Hanna remained standing, her gaze fixed intently on Paige.
"Um…" Emily glanced at Paige for help.
"My hand went through the old couch in my shed." Paige said, forcing herself to meet Spencer's steely gaze. "That's how I cut my wrist…on an old spring I think."
"I was leaning down to help her and when she jerked back up she accidentally head-butted me in the nose and I fell off the couch." Emily explained, lightly touching her sore forehead.
"Did you go to the hospital?" Aria asked in concern, her gaze flicking between Emily and Paige. "You both could have done permanent damage."
"I'm fine, nothing was broken." Emily answered with a shrug. "Paige needed stitches though."
"It's nothing." Paige stated dismissively.
"I'm sorry I thought you hit Em." Hanna apologised regretfully.
"It's okay." Paige offered Hanna a reassuring smile. "You're protective, I get it."
"I'm sorry too I guess." Spencer stated reluctantly.
"For the record I didn't think it was you." Aria spoke up from her position next to Emily.
"Thanks Aria." Paige smiled bashfully across the table, glad that at least one of Emily's friends hadn't jumped to that conclusion.
"Hey if you fell off the couch, that must have meant you were on the couch." Hanna spoke up as she moved around the table to plop down in the seat next to Paige. "And if Paige head-butted you that means you were pretty close to her, right?"
"Yeah, so?" Emily asked apprehensively.
Hanna grinned as she watched Emily's cheeks redden. "These are totally sex injuries aren't they?"
"No!" Emily exclaimed quickly, her gaze flitting to Paige who looked equally horrified.
Spencer laughed at Emily and Paige's expressions. "You know I think you're right Hanna."
"Of course I'm right." Hanna grinned smugly. "It's so obvious."
"We're leaving." Emily announced, standing up from her seat. "We have…to do something."
Paige too stood up from her seat and walked over to Emily who grabbed her uninjured hand.
"Try not to hurt yourselves too much." Hanna teased as she watched them walk away.
"You're awful." Aria informed her despite the smile tugging at her lips.
Hanna shrugged. "They must have been really going at it, I thought old couches were tough. The couch in Spencer's cabin was old but Caleb and I…"
"Hanna!" Spencer exclaimed, covering her ears. "Please don't talk about my nana's couch like that!"
Aria couldn't help but laugh at Spencer's disturbed expression.
"Sorry." Hanna shrugged sheepishly.
THE END.