Paige had just lifted her glass of water to take a sip when she spotted a familiar blonde enter the Grille. She quickly set her glass of water down and stood up to greet her friend with a brief hug that was gratefully accepted. In fact if anything, Amy held on for longer than Paige had expected.
"Are you okay?" Paige asked, making no move to push Amy away. It seemed like the blonde really needed the embrace. "Did something happen?"
Amy sighed softly and nodded against Paige's shoulder. She pulled away and smiled softly before she moved to sit down opposite her friend. "I'm having Karma issues. What else is new, right?" She eyed the glass of soda in front of her and glanced up at Paige with a small smile. "For me?"
Paige nodded though she was focused more on what Amy had said before she'd noticed the soda. "What's going on with Karma? Are you guys fighting again?"
"I guess you could say that." Amy took a drink of her soda, more to put off answering than anything else. "Karma knows that I'm not faking. She knows that I have feelings for her."
"You told her?" Paige asked in surprise, her attention focused solely on Amy. "How?"
"Not exactly, she guessed. And then I pretty much begged her to give me a chance. God, it was so embarrassing." Amy felt her cheeks heat up at the memory of everything she had said to Karma that night. She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and glanced down at the table. "She told me she loves me, she just doesn't love me like that."
"So you're avoiding her?" Paige guessed with a sad smile. It was exactly what she would do in the situation. She had done that as a matter of fact. On a number of occasions.
"Oh, I'm not done yet. I'm not even at the messed up part." Amy said wearily. "Karma told me that she slept with Liam and I stormed off. And I slept with Liam."
"You what?!" Paige's voice came out louder than she'd intended and Amy quickly shushed her. Paige quietened down, her voice dropping to a whisper. "You slept with Liam Booker? The guy you described as cocky, annoying and an overall asshole? Why would you do that?"
"I don't know, I guess I was just…he was mad at Karma and I was mad at Karma and we both found comfort in each other, I guess. Karma knows. She walked in on us." Amy meekly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what I was thinking, Paige. I just wanted to feel something and Liam was there. The point is I've really fucked things up with Karma and I don't know what to do."
Paige frowned and reached across the table to grasp Amy's free hand. "I'm sorry, Amy. But from what you've told me, you and Karma always find your way back to each other in the end. She probably just needs some time to process what's happened."
Amy nodded though she wasn't entirely convinced. She gripped Paige's hand and forced a smile. "Enough about me and my problems. What's going on with you and your girl?"
"Oh, we're still broken up. It's complicated." Paige replied vaguely. She couldn't really talk about what had happened with Emily, not accurately anyway, because of the A thing. "I think she has something going on with Alison."
"Alison?" Amy echoed, quirking an eyebrow. "That's the friend who came back from the dead, right?"
"Yeah." Paige sighed forlornly at the reminder. "That's her."
XXX
"So then Spencer was like 'No Hanna, you have to do your own homework. If you don't do it you're never going to learn and you'll fail any tests on it because you haven't read the book. Blah, blah, blah. So I…"
"Hanna, would you…?" Emily was barely listening to Hanna's ramblings as they entered the Grille but when she spotted Paige sitting in the corner with some other girl she stopped listening completely. She stopped walking too, coming to a standstill near the entrance. "Oh."
"What?" Hanna looked at Emily to see that she was staring at something across the room. She followed her gaze in confusion. "Hey, isn't that Paige? Who's that girl she's with?"
"I don't know." Emily admitted softly, her eyes fixed to the blonde. She'd never seen before. She certainly wasn't on the swim team. Emily didn't even recognize her as being in their grade.
"She's kind of cute." Hanna said thoughtfully, looking the blonde over. "Are they…?"
"Looks like it." Emily interrupted, not wanting to hear the words come out of Hanna's mouth. She glared at the joined hands on the table, a sickening feeling of jealousy causing her gut to churn. She knew that she had no right to feel jealous, she wasn't even with Paige anymore and Paige was entitled to move on with someone else, but the sight of Paige with someone else hurt more than she wanted to admit. She was so distracted by the clench in her chest that she didn't realize Hanna was speaking until it was too late to argue.
"…over there and introduce ourselves."
Emily heard the last part of Hanna's sentence before the blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the table. Emily tried to pull her hand away but she didn't have enough time to do so.
"Hey Paige!" Hanna chirped brightly, coming to a stop near Emily's ex.
Paige looked up along with Amy. "Oh. Hey, Hanna." Her eyes slid toward Emily, her voice softening slightly. "Emily."
"Emily?" Amy blurting out, raising an eyebrow in surprise. She noticed the surprised look Emily shot her and she shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. I've just heard a lot about you." She looked to Paige with a smirk. "You weren't kidding."
"Amy." Paige hissed, giving the blonde's hand a tight squeeze. That acted as a reminder that she was holding it and she quickly let go, pulling her hand back across the table.
"Amy." Hanna echoed thoughtfully, a soft grin tugging at her lips. "Great. Now we all know each other, do you mind if we join you guys? It's kind of busy in here."
Paige cast a sceptical glance around but chose not to point out the fact that less than half of the tables were taken up.
Hanna took a seat opposite Amy and reached over to grab Emily's hand, tugging her down into the seat next to her. She looked to Amy in curiosity. "So you guys are friends? I don't recognize you from school, are you from a different town?"
"Hanna." Emily sighed wearily, well aware of what Hanna was trying to do.
"Yeah," Amy answered with a small smile, struggling to adapt to the fact that Paige's ex-girlfriend. "We are friends. I'm not from around here, Paige and I actually met online."
Hanna made a face. "Like online dating?"
"No, not like online dating." Paige laughed softly at Hanna's question and finally managed to tear her eyes away from Emily. She felt like she'd been staring since Emily had gotten to the table and she was sure it was getting creepy. "We actually met on a forum."
"What kind of forum?"
Amy took it upon herself to provide that answer. "I was struggling with my sexuality and Paige helped me out. We talked for a while until we found out that we're only a couple of towns apart and decided to meet up."
Emily felt her stomach sink at the confirmation that Amy was in fact gay, or bisexual perhaps. She cleared her throat and slowly stood up from her seat. "I um…I actually have a thing I need to be doing. I'm sorry, I should…yeah." She barely managed a quick glance at Paige before she hurried away.
Paige half stood up from her seat, ready to go after Emily but she faltered and glanced to Hanna. "Maybe you should…?"
Hanna rolled her eyes and motioned for Paige to go on after Emily. "I'll keep your 'friend' company while you're gone."
Paige hesitated for a moment but when it became apparent that Hanna wasn't going to move she reluctantly got up and went after Emily.
"So…" Amy spoke awkwardly, trying to figure out what had just happened. The fact that she was now alone with Hanna didn't work to make her any less uncomfortable.
"So are you dating Paige?" Hanna asked bluntly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"What? No!" Amy vehemently shook her head. "No, no, no. Paige and I are just friends, there's nothing going on between us." She glanced in the direction Emily and Paige had left. "Is that what that was about? Your friend thinks that I'm dating her ex?"
Hanna hesitated for a moment before she gave a small nod. "Yeah, I guess so. Emily isn't exactly over Paige, she never is."
"Oh." Amy's eyes dropped to the table for a moment before she looked back up at Hanna. "Well if it helps at all I don't think Paige is over Emily either. But don't tell her that I said that."
Hanna smirked at Amy's worried expression. "I'll keep it to myself. So you said Paige is helping you figure out your sexuality? How exactly is she doing that?"
"Not in the way you're obviously thinking." Amy rolled her eyes in response to Hanna's mischievous tone but she could honestly say that she didn't mind it. It was nice to hear someone making light of the situation without outwardly mocking her. "I'm…" She trailed off when her phone started to ring. With a muttered apology she pulled it out of her pocket. She hesitated at the sight of Karma's picture on her screen. She wasn't even sure why Karma would be calling her after what had happened.
Hanna raised an eyebrow at Amy's hesitance. She didn't have to wait long for Amy to do something however as the other girl quickly rejected the call. "Who's Karma? Girlfriend?"
Amy almost scoffed at the suggestion. She wished. "Best friend."
"You're in love with her?"
Amy stared at Hanna in shock. "Is it that obvious?"
Hanna shrugged, laughed softly at the look on Amy's face. "No, not really. I've seen it before, with Emily. I guess I just recognize the signs. Have you told her?"
"Sort of. We were faking being lesbians so we'd be more popular." Amy answered softly. She couldn't help but smile at Hanna's confused expression. "Don't ask. The point is, she was faking and I realized that I wasn't. She eventually guessed that I'm in love with her. She doesn't love me back. So I slept with the guy she likes."
"Wow." Hanna blinked at Amy in surprise. "That's some L word shit."
Amy chuckled and nodded her head. "I guess." She took a sip of her water and glanced down when her phone began to ring again. Karma. She sighed softly, staring at the picture on her screen for a couple of seconds before she rejected the call again. "Don't judge me, I don't think screaming at each other on the phone will do either of us any good right now."
Hanna rolled her eyes. "I wasn't judging. Much."
Amy smirked and looked up at Hanna, a thought occurring to her. "I know this might seem kind of awkward, and weird now since you know I'm in love with my best friend, but do you want to go out for coffee sometime? With me, I mean? On a date?"
"Uh…"
XXX
"Emily!" Paige called after Emily as they stepped out of the Grille and Emily started toward her car. She reached out and closed her hand around Emily's, gently tugging her to a stop. "Emily, wait. What was that about? What's going on?"
"Nothing." Emily pulled her wrist away from Paige and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking away. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. You should get back to your date, I'm sorry we interrupted."
"My date?" Paige raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm not…it's not like that, Amy is my friend. That's all. There's nothing going on between us."
"Oh." Emily blushed and looked away, awkwardly tucking her thumbs into the front pockets of her jeans. "I'm sorry, I just assumed that you were on a date."
Paige stared at Emily for a long moment, wondering what she was supposed to say to that. "Well it's not. Amy is just going through something right now and I want to be there for her."
Emily nodded silently, embarrassed by her mistake. "Okay, I um…I guess I'll leave you to that. I wouldn't want to get in the way."
"You wouldn't be getting in the way, I actually think that Amy could use your advice." Paige disagreed with a shake of her head. "You know what it's like to be in love with your best friend. Though I guess it worked out better for you than it is for her." She noticed Emily wince and instantly felt bad about the accidental blow. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"No, it's fine. I guess I deserved that." Emily said uncomfortably, her thoughts drifting to Alison. She had been waiting for her friend to want her for such a long time, she wasn't sure why it felt so wrong now. "I really do have to go."
"Wait…" Paige resisted the urge to reach out and take Emily's hand. She was hurting and she could tell that Emily was too. "I really do want to be your friend if I can't have anything else, Emily. Maybe you could hang out with me and Amy sometime? I think you'd get on well with her."
"Maybe. I'll think about it." Emily took a step back, feeling her heart constricting in her chest. "Will you tell Hanna I'm waiting in the car for her?"
Paige opened her mouth, wanting to protest but ended up nodding instead. "Sure." She sighed softly and turned around, walking back into the restaurant. She walked over to the table in time to catch Amy rambling about something.
"…sorry, I shouldn't have just asked you that. I should have at least flirted first. You're probably not even interested. I'm so new at this, I'm sorry."
Paige winced and quickly stepped in to keep Amy from embarrassing herself. "Hanna, Emily is waiting for you in the car."
Hanna pouted at the fact that she wasn't even going to get to eat but she nodded and stood up. She winked at Amy. "Paige has my number."
Paige glanced between Amy and Hanna in confusion as the latter walked away. "What was that about?"
Amy covered her face with her hands. "I asked her out for coffee."
Paige couldn't help but laugh as she moved back to her seat. "Of course you did. I'm not even surprised."
"Shut up." Amy threw the slightly shredded napkin in front of her at Paige. "I need to get over Karma. What better way than to get under someone else?"
"I can actually think of a lot of better ways."
"Paige."
XXX
"What are you so happy about?" Emily asked as she watched Hanna get into the car. The blonde was grinning from ear to ear.
"Amy." Hanna answered simply as she buckled up. "She asked me out for coffee. I told you I'm attractive to gay girls."
Emily gave a short bark of laughter and shook her head. "Did you say yes? Are you even interested in girls?"
"I've been attracted to girls, I've just never tried being with one." Hanna answered casually, leaning back in her seat. "Besides, I'm single. Maybe it's time to mix things up. I told her Paige has my number. If she calls, that's great. If she doesn't, it doesn't matter."
Emily nodded silently and pulled away from the curb.
"There's nothing going on between them by the way." Hanna spoke up, watching Emily closely. She couldn't quite put her finger on Emily's mood but she could tell that her friend was upset about something. "So you don't have to worry about that."
"Yeah, I know." Emily said softly. Not wanting to talk about it, she reached out and put the radio on.
TBC (Maybe).