"I can't believe it's her," Hanna thought as she slowly moved around the yearbook room, toward Emily.
Emily. Wow, she was amazing, but in a different way. She said lots with words, but what intrigued Hanna was what she said with her eyes and hands. Hanna reasoned that her infatuation with Emily was completely normal-she was just Emily, right? But she was so much more. She and Hanna understood each other in a way that the other girls didn't. They had a connection somehow. It confused Hanna as much as Emily intrigued her. Which is a great deal. But Hanna didn't care. As long as her and Emily were friends, she didn't mind the confusing feelings inside her.
"Hey Em…why aren't you at swim practice? Is everything alright?" Hanna said as she slowly approached Emily. Emily was busy taking in the room and didn't hear what Hanna had said. Piles upon piles of pictures, rolls of tape, baskets of scissors, and tablet computers were strewn haphazardly around the room. Emily had never stepped foot inside the yearbook room before-honestly, she had trouble finding it in the first place.
"Hey Han, sorry, what did you say?" Emily said after she realized she was accidently ignoring her friend.
"I just asked why you weren't at swim practice, that's all." Hanna said as she smiled, watching Emily take in the room in awe.
"Hanna, you know I can't practice. I hurt my shoulder, remember now?" Emily said as she pointed to her injured arm.
"Well you've been going to practice every day, so I just figured coach was having you swim anyway…" Hanna reasoned, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah, Coach told me I could leave early and I was waiting for my mom and saw your car, so I decided to drop by." Emily said as Hanna led her back to the table she was working at. Emily had never seen this side of Hanna; the concentration the blonde put into the yearbook as she poured over the pictures she had and tried to fit them into the layout.
"Oh, dealing with the senior page?" Emily said, trying ever so gently to pry Hanna's eyes off the page and back to her. Hanna looked up, smiling. She liked having Emily there, watching her work. She nodded, and then turned back to what she was doing.
That's when Hanna realized that Emily was watching her work. Standing at her workstation. That happened to have it's own pile of pictures of them. Hanna had picked all those pictures out of the main photo pile and kept them at her station, so that she was the only one that could use them. She didn't want any bad pictures of her and Em in the book. Besides, if the pictures weren't used, she could keep them. So she kept them at her workstation, which was rarely visited by the other yearbook staff. Except now, the worse possible situation had befallen her. Sure, it would be kinda weird if someone from the staff discovered her stash, but that she could easily cover that up with a lie. But now Emily, the very reason she picked out the pictures, was standing right next to the pile. Hanna's eyes flashed from Emily to the pile.
"Em!" Hanna screeched, causing Emily to jump, "Can you go over and get me that tape? Mine ran out. I'm almost ready to leave- tell your mom I'll take you home, she doesn't need to come all the way here." Hanna said as she gave Emily a half-smile. Emily went to get the tape and to call her mom, and Hanna began to pick up her things. She hid the stack of pictures underneath some papers and stood up with their bags hug over her shoulder.
"Han…I thought you needed tape. Why did you send me for the tape if you didn't actually need it?" Emily questioned after seeing Hanna standing with their things.
"For tomorrow! I will need tape tomorrow when I come back, remember?" Hanna teased. Emily rolled her eyes and set the tape down on the table.
"Come on now!" Hanna grinned as she held their book bags.
"Hanna, let me have my bag. It's heavy and I can carry it."
"Emily Fields, I'm pretty sure I can carry two backpacks. Even if yours seems to contain every textbook known to man inside." Hanna joked as Emily grabbed for her bag and Hanna held it out of her reach.
"Fine," Emily said as she placed her hands on Hanna's hips, guiding her though the tables aligned in tight rows.
When they got to the door Emily hoped in front of Hanna, opening the door for her. As they walked down the hall towards the back parking lot where Hanna had parked, they heard someone yell "Emily!"
They both turned, Emily's face lighting up instantly while Hanna's face darkened in reaction to whom they saw; Paige.
It's not that Hanna has a problem with Paige, because she didn't. Paige is a good person and she is on the swim team with Emily. But the bigger problem was that Paige liked Emily. Romantically. Which was not okay. The possibility of Emily liking her back made her blood boil. It didn't upset her that Emily liked girls; it upset Hanna because Emily and Paige didn't work together. Emily always acted nervous around Paige, and Hanna knew that it was just nerves because Emily liked Paige or whatever, but Hanna thought it should be effortless. Less about constantly trying to live up to the expectations the other person had and more about just being yourself.
Emily and Paige had begun talking while Hanna was lost in thought. Hanna cleared her throat and said, "Hey Paige, it's good to see you." Hanna turned to Emily and said, "I really hate to interrupt but we've got to go, I have to pick up something at the store for my mom."
After hearing this, Paige said, "Well I could always take Emily home you know, if you have to go Hanna." Hanna gulped. Paige was great and all, but she was making it very difficult not to get angry with her. She knew Paige was sincere, but if Hanna had a say Hanna was taking Emily home, not Paige.
Emily smiled at Paige and thanked her for the offer, saying, "That's alright Paige, I need to go with Hanna though. She needs my help at the store. I'll see you tomorrow?" Emily asked as she smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. Paige nodded and they bid their farewells as they went their separate ways.
When Hanna and Emily had left the school parking lot Hanna broke the comfortable silence that had settled on the car and asked, "So you like Paige?" watching for Emily's reaction.
"She's sweet," Emily beamed, "and we both swim, so that's one of the many thing's we have in common. I'm not sure I could see us together though. She's not unexpected. I want unexpected and effortless. That's how Maya was and I loved that about her." She said as she watched the trees go by. Upon hearing Emily's confession, Hanna reached over for Emily's hand. Before she could though, she heard her phone vibrate in her pocket.
She pulled out her phone with the other hand, taking both hands off the steering wheel. The text she received read, "I bet you'll never forget that confession, right? Let's test that. –A" Hanna looked at the text, confused. Emily screamed next to her and Hanna looked up just in time to notice a car careening towards them. She jumped over the middle glove compartment, shielding Emily. The last thing Hanna saw was Emily's deep brown eyes staring deeply into hers, looking for anything to hold onto as the cars made impact.