"Emily!" Hanna shouted, snapping her fingers in Emily's face, to snap her out of the trance she was in. Emily kept zoning out of their conversation, and Hanna was starting to get annoyed. "What's got you so distracted?"
"Huh? Nothing!" Emily realized that the denial came too fast and too stridently. "Nothing," she repeated, her tone softer, in hopes of allaying Hanna's suspicions. "I'm just really jet-lagged, that's all. It's hard to concentrate." Hanna glared at her. "But, I'm here, now, and I'm listening."
Hanna sighed and shook her head, launching back into whatever she was talking about. Emily's eyes went back to the stranger on the other side of the beach. There was something about the girl; a certain easy charm. She looked totally comfortable with who she was – neither shy nor pretentious about her overwhelming beauty.
She didn't have the look of the typical Southern California girl. Not Emily's stereotype, at least. Her skin was rather fair; not even as dark as Emily's. But the auburn hair streaming out from her black beanie had highlights that made it appear sun-kissed. She was wearing a cocoa-toned t-shirt that stopped right at her thighs, leaving her long, milky legs mostly bare. The shirt was almost the same tone as Emily's skin, and Emily bit her lip at the thought that the the shirt, pressed against the girl's skin, gave a hint of what their bodies would look like, pressed skin to skin.
Emily was trying not to hate the half dozen or so girls who were orbiting around the girl in the beanie. Not hating them was one thing, but not envying them was another. Some set of circumstances had gotten them into the girl's sphere. Emily couldn't blame them for taking advantage. But she didn't have to like them.
The girl gave her acolytes an easy smile as she flexed her bicep, gauging its size with her other hand before waving it off as a joke. Confidently modest, Emily thought, finding yet another thing to like about the stranger.
Emily had always had a thing for confident women. The sad thing was, they also scared the hell out of her.
"Yeah," Emily heard herself saying to Hanna, "two wrongs don't make a right."
"Huh?" Hanna pulled Emily's hand from under her chin, causing Emily's head to drop for a moment. Hanna grunted in frustration and stood up, moving to the other side of the table where she took a seat next to Emily, so she could see what Emily was seeing. "Okay," she droned. "Who is she?"
"Hanna…"
"Ooh – the girl with the wool beanie and the banging bod?" Emily took a breath, about to deny what Hanna was implying, but she swallowed it, dropping her shoulders and nodding weakly. "Cute, Em!" Emily didn't reply. She just wrapped her arms around Hanna's arm and let her head fall on Hanna's shoulder. "So, go introduce yourself!" Emily lifted her head and glared at Hanna. "You want me to introduce you?" Hanna started to get up, but Emily pulled her back down. "What, Em? She's hot! And I thought you came out here because you wanted to forget…"
"Hanna," Emily whined. She did want to forget, but it was easier said than done.
But that wasn't the only reason that she didn't want Hanna to embarrass her in front of the girl. "I'm not her type," she whispered sharply.
"Em," Hanna said, rolling her eyes, "You're every girl's type." It was Emily's turn to roll her eyes. "Since when are you so insecure?"
"I'm not," Emily said shyly. "Just… you know. She's so – put together and worldly and sophisticated. She wouldn't give me two seconds. I'd just be another one of those... girls surrounding her."
"Emily, you are so much better looking than those girls."
Emily shook her head shyly.
"Well, one way to find out!"
Emily had to restrain Hanna as she tried to get up again. "Hanna," she implored her, "can we just forget about her?"
"We could," Hanna said condescendingly, "if you could unglue your eyes for two seconds."
All of a sudden, Emily gasped. The girl reached down to the hem of her t-shirt – the only clothing other than the wool beanie that Emily could see – and started pulling it over her head, revealing one-piece swimsuit underneath. It had cut-outs on the side, and, through one of them, Emily could see the bright colors of a tattoo at the girls' waist. The girl tossed the shirt onto the bench that she had been standing next to and picked up a wetsuit that she stepped into, strapping some sort of tether around her ankle. She pulled the beanie off of her head and shook her hair out, running her fingers through it a time or two. As she did, her head turned toward the table where Hanna and Emily were sitting. Emily panicked and quickly buried her face in Hanna's shoulder. Hanna gave the girl a shy wave. The girl responded with a wink and a half-smile. She jogged over to a row of surfboards that were planted in the sand, grabbed one, and picked up speed as she headed out to catch a few waves.
Emily didn't know anything about surfing, but the girl seemed to be pretty good at it. Every once in a while, when the girl did something a bit acrobatic, Emily almost thought she caught her glancing in their direction, as if to see whether or not she still had their attention.
For some reason, Emily wanted to see the girl get out of the water, and, since Hanna wasn't in any hurry to leave, Emily got her wish. When the girl finished, she jogged out of the ocean, planted her board, and collapsed onto the beach. Someone walked over and handed a towel – a guy, and Emily found herself feeling relieved that it was a guy, and not one of the fangirls who had surrounded the girl before she started hitting the waves.
The girl got up and leaned over and back, whipping her wet hair behind her. She wiped it through with the towel and then moved the towel down to her face, holding it there, as if to soak up the salty water before she opened her eyes. When she lowered the towel to her cheeks, she was staring right at Emily. Emily held her gaze for maybe half a second before she caved and looked down at her lap. By the time she dared to look up again, the girl had turned her back, and was making signs with her hands to the entourage of guys and girls around her, apparently replaying her experience out on the ocean.
The next day was Sunday, and Emily got up while Hanna was still sleeping off the night before. It wasn't really early – about 9:30, but she knew that Hanna would be out for a while. She didn't have any reason to expect that the surfer girl would be back on the beach again, but she had hope, and that was enough to get her up and dressed, and out to the same spot where she and Hanna had been sitting the day before.
She didn't see the girl, though, so she pulled the book that she had brought with her out of her bag, and convinced herself that she hadn't really come in the pathetic hope of seeing the girl again. It was a nice day, and, if she wanted to spend it at the beach, reading, nobody could blame her.
Emily was a few pages into the book when someone's shadow fell on her. "Hi, there," she heard a husky voice say. She looked up, and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Mind if I join you?"
Emily, unable to find her tongue, nodded her head and smiled, shyly, with her lips together. She took off her sunglasses.
"Your girlfriend won't mind?" Paige asked, half joking.
Emily scowled. Girlfriend? "Hanna?". Her voice came out annoyed. "She's not my girlfriend!"
The girl threw her hands up in surrender. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you..." She shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "You guys just seemed… close."
Oh shit! Emily's had wanted to make the point that she was single, but, apparently, her insistent denial had made the girl think that she was straight. And Emily didn't know how she could subtly let her know that she wasn't, without appearing too forward or desperate. "Oh, we are," she said, "Hanna and I are very close. Close friends." She tilted her head when she said that last word, hoping that the girl would pick up on the reason she wanted her to know that Hanna was just a friend.
The girl nodded. "So, are you new P.B.? I don't think I've seen you around…"
There was something... welcoming, Emily decided, about the girl, once Emily saw her up close. She a warm smile, the cutest little nose, and eyes that seemed to be smiling. It was disarming. Emily found herself feeling a bit more at ease, and opening up to the girl.
"Yeah," Emily said, nodding with a tentative smile. "I…" She sighed. "I just got out of a relationship." The girl scrunched her face empathetically. Emily shrugged. "It's okay. We decided that we were still going to be friends, but… It was just kind of hard, you know? Seeing her every day." Emily looked down at her fingers as she idly strummed the pages of her book on top of the table. Even though she wasn't looking at her visitor, she thought she picked up on the slightest change in the her body language at the mention of the word, "her." Whether or not that was Emily's imagination, she had, at least, made both of her points: 1. She liked girls; 2. Not Hanna.
"Anyway," Emily continued, sighing as she leaned her head on her shoulder, her gaze still locked on her fingers, "I just needed to get away, and Hanna said that I should come stay with her. And you can't get much farther away from Pennsylvania than San Diego, so…"
"Yeah." The girl chuckled. They sat there in silence for a moment or two, a table's-width apart from each other, but neither looking at the other. Emily began trying to figure out what the girl's name was. Something… Southern Californian, she thought – Auburn, or Ocean or Moonstone, or…
"Hey, what's your name?" Emily heard herself blurt out. It came out awkward and out of context, but Emily wasn't upset that it was out there. She forced herself to look the girl in the eye as she waited to see how she would reply.
"Paige," she answered simply.
Emily scoffed. I'm reading a book, so she says her name is Paige. "No, seriously."
The girl raised her hands, shrugging her shoulders in disbelief. "Paige," she repeated. "Why would I lie about it?"
"No, I'm just kidding," Emily lied. "I've just never met a Paige before. Paige,"Emily said, and repeated, "Paige," as if she were getting used to the name. In reality, she just liked the way that it felt on her tongue.
Paige's eyes widened with innuendo. "So, what you're saying is that I'm your first…" She took a dramatic pause, clearing her throat before she completed the sentence, "Paige?"
"Ha ha," Emily mocked, rolling her eyes.
"And what's your name? – No, wait! Don't tell me! I bet I can guess."
"Really?" Emily eyed the girl skeptically.
"Oh yeah," Paige said confidently. "I rock at this."
Emily folded her arms across her chest and sat back in her seat, daring the girl to try.
"But let's make it interesting."
"Interesting?"
"If I guess your name, you have to go on a date with me."
Emily's stomach started doing flips, and her heart was beating a mile a minute. She couldn't believe how forward Paige was. She couldn't believe how much it was turning her on.
She did her best to maintain her chill. What did she have to lose? "Fine," she challenged, shifting in her seat with a defiant smile as she threw down the challenge. "What's my name?"
"Okay," Paige said, looking up at the sky. "Let's see – your friends name is Hanna, you're from Pennsylvania."
"Uh huh." Emily smiled, still skeptical. But at least the girl had been paying attention.
"So, I'm thinking, Pennsylvania Dutch; biblical names…" She took a peek and saw Emily curl her lips ever so slightly, trying her best not to give anything away. "O...kay," Paige said, seeing through her, "Not a Bible name!" Emily rolled her eyes. "Um… I'm going to say…" Paige looked up at the sky again before dropping her head and shrugging her shoulders. The jig was up. "I… I got nothing," she confessed.
Emily quirked an eyebrow. "Really, Paige? Giving up so easily?" Emily wanted Paige to take a shot. She was actually hoping – however unlikely it seemed – that Paige would come up with her name. She would've taken the excuse to go on a date with her. "I didn't peg you for a quitter," she goaded.
"Can you, at least, give me a hint?"
"I thought you were good at this!"
"I am… usually…" Paige lied. Her voice betrayed the slightest hint of shyness, the first time that Emily had detected that from her. In reality, this was the first time Paige had tried this trick, and she hadn't bothered to think how it might end.
"Okay," Emily offered in a condescending voice, with an over-the-top sigh. "I'll give you three questions."
Paige wasted no time, rattling them off in rapid succession.
"Last name?"
"Fields."
"Oldest? Youngest?"
"Only child." Emily couldn't help chuckle. Paige didn't have a chance.
"Father's name?"
"Wayne. And my Mom's name is Pam," Emily threw that answer in, charitably. She knew that it wouldn't help.
Paige intertwined her fingers and looked up at the sky. "Come on, Paige," Emily challenged her teasingly, "Don't blow it!"
Paige tapped her fingers against each other. "Wayne… Wayne… Wayne... Way…nonna?"
"Waynonna?" Emily practically shouted. Her eyes were playfully wide. "That's your guess?"
"I don't know," Paige pleaded, grabbing Emily's hands without thinking and quickly releasing them. In that moment, Emily's breathing stopped.
She recovered quickly. "I'll give you two more guesses," she said, wanting to string it out a little longer. "You don't want to get this wrong!"
"Why not?" Paige's voice was low and a bit cocky. She leaned across the table, intruding on Emily's space a bit. "What happens if I get it wrong?"
It took everything within Emily not to recoil as Paige leaned in like that. She couldn't show any sign of weakness. But she didn't have an answer for Paige's question; she thought that losing chance at a free date with her was enough incentive for Paige not to get it wrong. Emily shook her head. "Trust me. You do not want to find out!"
Paige let out a deep sigh and thought about how best to use her two remaining guesses. All of a sudden her eyebrows quirked as her gaze shifted to something behind Emily. Before Emily could turn around and see what was going on, she felt arms wrap around her neck. "There you are, Em! I thought I might find you here!" Hanna leaned down, her head touching Emily's, and tightened her hug a little.
It wasn't unusual for Hanna to embrace Emily like that, but, this time, when it happened, Emily whipped Hanna's arms away from her body as if Hanna had leprosy. Emily thought that she had noticed the tiniest change in Paige's body language when Hanna hugged her. She worried that Paige thought she had been lying when she said that Hanna was just a friend.
"Hi," Hanna said, undeterred by Emily's chilly reaction. She reached across the table to shake Paige's hand. "My name's Hanna. And you are?"
"Paige," Emily interjected before Paige could reply. She hoped that Hanna would pick up on the irritation in her voice and make herself scarce. Instead, Hanna started to sit down, ignoring the icy glare that Emily was giving her.
Paige gave a weak smile, her eyes following this third wheel who was crashing their party. The energy had definitely changed.
Emily plastered a smile on her face. "Would you excuse us for a minute?" she asked abruptly, grabbing Hanna by the arm and pulling her off to the side. She smiled back in Paige's direction, hoping to keep her from running off, then changed her expression as she turned to ask Hanna, "What the hell are you doing?"
"What? I'm being your wingman!"
"I don't need a wingman, Hanna! I'm doing just fine!"
"Really?" Hanna's eyes were dancing.
"Yes, really! Now, if you don't mind…" she tilted her head slightly towards the table where Paige was sitting, trying not to stare or eavesdrop on the two of them too obviously.
"I don't mind!" Hanna said enthusiastically. She pulled the sun hat off of Emily's head and puffed up her hair a little. Emily cringed, peeking over at Paige, hoping that she hadn't seen the way that Hanna was fussing over her. They were still in that subtle-flirting stage, and Emily didn't want to show her hand so quickly.
Even though Paige had intended to give the two of them their privacy, it was hard for her to take her eyes away. When she saw the two of them the day before, she hoped beyond hope that they were latched onto each other only because they were sisters - sisters, admittedly, without a strong family resemblance. When she saw the girl back on the beach that morning, but, this time, alone, she knew that she wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't find out. Hanna was giving her all the information she needed.
Hanna gave Emily a bear hug that Emily quickly shrugged out of. Hanna crossed her fingers and winked at Emily, putting Emily's hat on her own head before she shoved Emily back towards the table and Paige.
Emily slunk back to the bench shyly and with her head down, realizing that Hanna had destroyed any swag she may have had.
Paige greeted her return with a huge smile. "I thought she'd never leave," she teased. Any doubt that she had that Emily was interested in her disappeared when she saw Emily push Hanna away and saw Hanna cross her fingers. Once she was sure, she wanted to make sure that Emily knew that it wasn't one-sided.
"So," Emily said, unable to hide her smile, "where were we? As I recall, you were failing miserably at guessing my name!"
Paige leaned back contemplatively. "Rumpelstiltskin?"
"Ha ha," Emily droned. "Last chance, Paige."
"Well, let's see… If it's not Rumpelstiltskin, then it can only be… Emily?"
Emily's jaw dropped. Then she remembered. "Hanna?"
Paige shrugged. "I figured it had to be either Emily or Emma."
"So, why did you waste your second guess on Rumpelstiltskin?"
"Because Emily sounds so much sexier," Paige said in a deep, raspy voice. "You're way too hot to be an Emma."
Emily rolled her eyes. "And what would you have said if my name actually was Emma?"
"That I should've known, because Emma sounds so much sexier than Emily?" Emily swatted Paige on the forearm.
"Anyway," Paige said, leaning across the table again as she drew out the word, "The point is, I won that date with you."
"Barely," Emily said, trying to keep her cool. "Actually, Hanna won it for you!" Internally, Emily was thinking, Thank you, Hanna!
"Thank you, Hanna," Paige chuckled. "Come on," she said, standing up.
Emily looked puzzled for a moment. "Now?" Paige nodded. "A breakfast date?"
"Brunch," Paige corrected. "I'll show you the place that makes the best Belgian waffles in all of San Diego!"
Emily smiled. "Well, who could say no to that?"
Paige took hold of her hand as they walked. It was an unexpected and kind of ballsy move. Emily liked it. She felt her heart flutter, and she didn't dare speak, for fear that the flutter in her voice would give away how nervous she felt. Paige didn't seem to mind the silence. She led them to a restaurant in a storefront that looked laid-back and Californian. As they approached the entrance, Paige held the door open and greeted the host by name. "Maurice!"
"Paige!"
Maurice turned his head towards Emily, and Paige supplied her name. "Emily."
"Emily," Maurice echoed, ushering them over to a small table in the corner.
"Maurice is really cool," Paige volunteered as she and Emily started looking over the menu.
"Really?" Emily said, not looking up. "Maybe he could get me a job."
"I'll put in a good word for you!" Paige was smiling a bit too enthusiastically at the hint that Emily was planning to stick around San Diego for a while.
Their conversation was natural and unforced, and they discovered that they had a few things in common. It turned out that Paige had been a swimmer in college, too. Once she learned that Emily swam, and had done some coaching in college, she offered to take her around to some of the local high school and recreational programs and introduce her to the coaches. "Unless you have your heart set on working here," she joked.
After brunch, they took a long, leisurely walk on the beach. It was clearly Paige's domain; she gave frequent nods to joggers, surfers, and beach bums as they passed them by. Seeing Paige's easy interaction with everyone, Emily brought up the topic that had been nagging her since the day before. "You're certainly... popular around here."
Paige shrugged. "That's kind of the way it is, here. Everybody knows everybody; everybody's got each other's back."
Paige hadn't picked up on the hint that Emily was trying to drop with her voice. Emily decided not to let it go. "Yeah. I noticed you seemed to have a lot of... support around you yesterday."
Paige chuckled, finally picking up on what Emily was getting at. "Oh, those girls?"
"Yes, those girls." Emily tried to keep her tone light. She and Paige were connecting, and Paige seemed to like holding her hand; still, she knew that Paige didn't owe her any explanations. But it was fair for her to want to know where she stood in relation to those girls.
Paige stopped, turning to face Emily, and put her hands on Emily's shoulders. Emily met her gaze. She didn't do it to challenge Paige, but she didn't want to flinch at what Paige was about to tell her, either. She needed to see Paige's eyes, to see whether there was truth or evasion behind them. "Those girls; girls like that, they tend to follow surfers - male and female - the way that some girls follow musicians. Some guys take advantage but..." Paige shrugged. "It's not really my thing."
"Oh." Emily turned and started walking again, grateful when Paige reached for her hand again. "I was just curious."
Paige nodded. "I know. I was curious when I saw you cuddled up with Hanna yesterday, too."
Emily rubbed Paige's shoulder. Point taken. "So, you're some kind of rock star," Emily teased, to dial things back a little.
"Oh yeah. I rock." Paige bumped elbows with Emily before laughing shyly at what she had just said.
After they walked on a little farther, Paige paused and pointed to a freestanding shack, all bamboo and straw, just off from the beach. "Want to get out of the sun for a bit?" Emily nodded, and they headed over, sitting on a pair of stools in front of the bar. Emily shook her head and smiled. "What?"
"I used to tend bar at a little place like this," she admitted.
"I bet you got hit on all the time."
"Why?" Emily teased, "Do you hit on bartenders all the time?"
Paige took both of Emily's hands, resting them in her lap. "If you were my bartender, I would be relentless."
Emily tilted her head once and took her hands away, reaching for her drink with one and her straw with the other. "You are just a big flirt, aren't you?"
"No!" Paige protested, not wanting Emily to think that she was that girl. She dipped her head and repeated, "no," a bit more softly. "I just..." She shrugged her shoulders. "I just like you."
Emily slowly moved her hands to her lap, moving her gaze along with them. Her hair fell in front of her eyes, and she tucked it out of the way. "I like you, too," she said, trying to keep her tone casual. After all, they really hadn't known each other for very long.
They finished their drinks and resumed their stroll along the beach, still holding hands. Paige coaxed Emily up to one of the lifeguarding stations, which was empty, since it was after hours. Even so, Paige had to keep convincing Emily that they wouldn't get arrested for being there. Once they got to the top, Paige sat in the back of the long lifeguard's chair, and Emily sat in front of her. Paige wrapped her arms tight around Emily's waist as they watched the sun go down over the Pacific. With the last of its rays still shimmering along the waves, the two of them found themselves kissing breathlessly, their desperate, hungry kisses fueled by the pent-up passion of their day together. It was all happening way too fast, but Emily didn't care. Paige's hands were firm against her back as Emily's hand made its way through Paige's hair. She could feel the thump of Paige's hearbeat against her chest; could smell the ocean in Paige's hair; could taste the lingering hint of citrus from their earlier Mimosas as the ridges on Paige's tongue slid across her own.
"Well, this is me" Emily dropped back against the wall next to the door to Hanna's apartment, and immediately cursed herself for putting herself in a submissive position.
Paige ran her fingers through her long, auburn hair before she leaned in to take advantage, planting her hands on Emily's hips. "Will I see you again?"
Emily, seeking to regain some leverage and even things up, reached behind Paige's neck and pulled her in forcefully for a kiss that left them both breathless. "Probably."
A/N - Somehow, one-shots seem to find me when I'm on hiatus... This one was inspired by a picture I saw on tumblr of a woman in a t-shirt and beanie.
I kind of wish I could do more with the story, but I'm not ready to write right now. But I'll throw it open - if anybody out there wants to take the story and run with it, I would love to read whatever you do with it! :)
Thanks for reading!