A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I didn't want this chapter to be so long but as I started writing I couldn't stop. I tried to give more information and I don't know if I did at least ok, so let me know if it was ok or not right? And also let me know if there's something missing, any details that you guys want ok?
Chapter 2: The past meeting the Present for lunch
"beep beep beep" That was the sound of Emily's alarm clock that she had programmed to go off at 7 a.m. But she was already up and all dressed, she had many things to do and today she was going to have lunch with Spencer. She was almost finishing her make up when Jessica entered her room.
"I'm leaving for work, do you want to go and grab something before going to your classes?" She asked, Jessica was the type of girl that anyone would misjudge by the appearance, she was thin, tall and had these amazing blue eyes and that type of hair like from the Chinese people, so straight that not even a pony tail would last and sher tried. She had this serious posture, among the three that lived together, she was the last one, and Emily saw her for the first time she thought that Jessica remembered her of Kate, Hanna's father's step daughter except that once you meet Jessica you see that she's very nice and totally unaware of her beauty, Emily and Alicia would always have a great time watching men drooling over her not being noticed, she never noticed those things and would always complain that nobody looked at her, she could be such a drama queen when she wanted.
"Let me guess, we're out of coffee?" Emily said
"You're so smart" Jessica confirmed Emily's thought.
"Ok, I go with you, just let me get my thing for class and I'm done" She said. A couple of minutes later they were almost leaving the apartment when a hysterical Alicia opened her bedroom door. Funny image to see, she had these brown eyes that every time she got nervous it looked like they were about to pop out of her face, she had a problem with her body as well, of course the problems were in her mind, she had a great body, neither fat nor thin and she was the shortest of the girls but not too short.
"Careful not to break the door Al" Jessica tried to light up her mood, it was a very hard thing to do, especially in the morning, Alicia was always stressed. Last month she and her hair cut very short because she didn't want to get stressed with her hair anymore, and it was a beautiful long straight hair, needless to say that she regretted this as soon as she got home that day telling Emily and Jessica that they should never let her do that again.
"Why didn't any of you wake me up?" Said a pretty upset and anger Alicia
"You usually ask for that the night before and you didn't say anything last night" Said Emily
"I agree on that, but if you want we can wait for you to grab a cup of coffee with us" She said carefully looking at Emily to see what she thought and hoping that Alicia would drop the subject
"Great idea, do you want to go?" Emily added
"Okay, I'll take a shower and get dressed really fast and we're off"
"We'll be here" Said Jessica sitting on the couch and turning the TV on "Wanna bet that her fast will be one hour?"
"45 minutes, who loses pays for the coffee, deal?"
"Deal"
"So Emily, how's Clara?"
"She's great, she's just got her first big role in a play, the first meeting was yesterday"
"That's awesome! Send her congratulations for me will you?"
"Sure…" She was caught by surprise when she saw a picture of Hanna on the magazine by Jessica's side "Can I see that please?" She pointed to the magazine
"Sure, I bought it yesterday to see what was happening in the famous world, you know, to talk to the clients at the cafeteria, they talk a lot about this things and I'm always lost"
"right" She said not really interested, she opened on the right page, there was a picture of Hanna and Marcus, the names were below the picture, and apparently Hannah was studying to become an actress just like Clara was, and she was in a very successful play, according to the article. So that's what happened to Hanna, Emily was very happy for her friend, she should've imagined that Hanna would follow something like that considering all the drama she used to make back in high school. Apparently Emily took a while in her thought because Jessica was snapping her finger on her face.
"Heeeeey, are going with us?" She said already up and with Alicia by her side.
"Right, ok" She said standing up "I got lost in my thought, I guess"
"You guess? I'm sure" Jessica said making one of her funny faces that always made Emily laugh. "By the way, Coffee is on you, look at the watch"
"Damn it" She said when she looked at her watch and saw that Alicia did take one hour to get ready, and that because she was late
"What girls? Are you late because of me?" A confused Alicia entered the conversation
"Nothing" Both said, causing them to laugh
"Did anyone tell you girls are crazy?" Said Alicia heading to the door "Are going or not?"
"Right behind you" Emily said following her path and Jessica behind her.
After the coffee Jessica stayed at the cafeteria, Alicia went to her class and Emily went to hers, she was already late thanks to Alicia. Arriving there she quickly saw one of her classmates and joined him.
"Did I miss much?" She asked to Lucas, he was a football player that at first approached Emily interested in her as more than a friend, acting like a jerk at the beginning since every time he tried something she would push him away, but she had to admit that he was a nice guy, eventually she told him that she was gay. He didn't expect that but understood, they became good friends after that. At the time Emily didn't know Clara so Lucas would always help her with the undesired guys at parties, not that she couldn't do it herself but it was a lot easier with him. He was pretty handsome and confident, more than needed actually.
"What do you think?" He asked with a very bored face
"Good, did he ask for the papers?"
"He just said to live them on his table when the class ends"
"Okay then"
"So, what are you plans for lunch?"
"I'm meeting a friend at Hazel's"
"I'm going there too, the football team is going to meet there, is Clara going?"
"No, she's busy. When is your next game?" They kept doing these small questions until the class was over. It was one of the worst classes she had. At the end of their classes Emily still had an hour before the time she was supposed to meet Spencer and she had to talk to a professor.
"Thank God it's over" Lucas said standing up "Do you want a ride to Hazel's?"
"No thanks, I have my car here and I have to look for Professor Simons"
"Okay see you in our analysis class tomorrow right? Try not to be late, these classes are very boring without company" He said leaving Emily behind laughing at his commentaries.
After talking to her teacher, Emily decided to sit on one of the thousand benches around campus and read for a while, but there was at least one person in each and she couldn't help but notice that one of them was the girl from the library. There she was, sitting reading like Emily was about to and she definitely made this scene a very beautiful one to watch, the girl had this long hair that was in such a rhythm with the wind that it almost sounded like a picture. Emily went on her direction, not sure why though.
"Can I sit here?" She asked politely
"Sure, I have to go anyway" The girl didn't even look up
"Fair enough" Emily couldn't help but laugh at the answer the girl gave her, her commentary must've gotten the girl's attentions because she automatically looked up, showing an amazing pair of brown eyes, for a second that sounded like a year Emily got lost in them. "Are you sure it's not my fault?" Emily asked coming to reality
"Why would it be?"The girl looked a little puzzled, Emily felt a little said that she didn't remember her
"The library?" Emily tried to push her memory
"Oh right" She laughed when she finally understood the irony of the scene "No, definitely no, I do need to go" She said standing up and leaving "Nice seeing you again though"
"Sure" She said sitting. Emily tried to read but she wasn't able to, the girl wouldn't leave her mind, why? Was it because she was beautiful, not to say perfect, she loved Clara, maybe because she looked familiar, that's it. She dueled over this and almost lost track of time, she had now five minutes to arrive at Hazel's, and is Spencer didn't change she hated waiting. Emily ran to her car and when she arrived there she was relieved that Spencer hadn't arrived. Right when she entered she saw the football team and waved at them, but didn't talk to them, she went directly to an empty table to wait for Spencer. It had passed about fifteen minutes when Emily saw her high school friend entering the place, she waved so Spencer could see her. Spencer hadn't changed at all, same appearance and style.
"Oh my God! Three years can look like more than ten, tell me how that's possible" Said Spencer hugging Emily.
"I don't know but I agree" Emily answered hugging Spencer stronger than before.
"Do you still have the same car?" Spencer asked making Emily frown
"Yep, why?"
"There is a weird girl looking very intensively at it at the parking lot"
"Weird how?"
"I don't know, she was short and had these colorful clothes on, too much information on one person if you ask me, and she also is red-haired which adds to the colors on her clothes, she remembered me of those cartoon characters you know?" She asked Emily who was trying to picture the image
"I'm not sure…" She believed that there was a great chance of the girl being Clara, but what would she be doing there without calling her? Her thoughts were interrupted by Clara who was entering the room searching for Emily but stopped once she realized that Emily had company, and it was someone that she had never seen before, she calmed down and walked on their direction. By the look on Spencer's face Emily could tell that Clara was the girl she was talking about, she had no fault, she didn't know Clara neither did Clara know her.
Once Emily got into college she decided to live a life away from everything related to the past and that included everyone besides family, of course, she had done a pretty good job becoming a new person, every time someone asked her about something from high school or from that time, she would find a way around the question without actually answering it. In the beginning she felt it was necessary to do it, to avoid the pain and then the months went by and people stopped asking about it, Clara would rise a question about it once in a while and Emily answered in the most vague way possible.
When she agreed to have lunch with Spencer she didn't consider Clara, they hadn't spoken after she went to her meeting and now Emily wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Clara had no idea about any of the girls and Spencer clearly had no idea about Clara.
"Hi babe" Said Clara approaching them. She gave Emily a quick kiss before turning to Spencer making it very obvious to know that she wanted information about the girl sitting with her girlfriend.
"Honey, this is Spencer an Old friend of mine, from high school" She said pointing to Spencer "Spencer, this is my girlfriend Clara" The look Spencer had at this point, was hilarious, at least for Emily that understood the situation. You could tell that Spencer was ashamed and confused and beneath it all Emily could see that she was thinking how could she date a "weird" girl like Clara, Spencer's opinion on Clara were very clear and Emily didn't care. The first time she met her she also thought that Clara was a strange girl but eventually she turned out to be a very good company and later sounded natural for them to go out and start dating.
For Emily this relationship wasn't about 'I can't live without you' or 'Is she thinking about me?' it was something natural, easy and good. Clara made her feel great and that was exactly what she was looking for.
"Why don't you join us for lunch?" Asked Emily "I didn't know you were coming today"
"I was going to surprise you and on my way to your apartment I saw your car here, I'd love to join you if there's no problem" She added looking at Spencer
"Not that I know" Spencer said as fast as she could, if she could disappear that would be a great time for it.
"Okay them, did you order already?"
"No, Spencer had just arrived, not even 10 minutes before you"
"Great, I'm going to the bathroom, can you order for me?" She made that puppy face that Emily loved, that girl was awesome with expressions, no wonder she wanted to be an actress.
"The usual?"
"Always, be right back"
"I have no idea where to hide, I am so sorry Em" Spencer said like she was letting all the air inside her out. All Emily could do was laugh, it wasn't every day that you could see Spencer like this.
"Don't worry, I thought the same thing when I met her, but she's great, you'll see"
"I bet she is" Spencer was still in shock "and she has quite a presence"
"Yeah, it comes with the profession, she wants to be an actress"
"Can I get your orders?" The waiter approached. They ordered and continued talking about Clara, until the moment she arrived.
"So Clara, tell me about Emily in these past few years"
"She's great" She looked at Emily and saw the she was already getting red. "But I cannot tall for all these years, we've been together for less than a year and she doesn't really talk about the past, even if the past was yesterday"
"Not that much!" Emily complained "I'm just not into certain memories" she was sure Spencer would understand her right away
"Are you still swimming Em?" Emily froze on that one, if there was something she missed from her old life, it was the swimming
"Swimming?" Clara asked in a surprised tone
"I used to swim on our school team" Emily tried not make a big deal out of it
"She was THE swimmer" Spencer didn't see Emily's expression asking her to drop the subject
"Is that so?" Clara looked at Emily for an answer
"But I stopped as soon as I graduated"
"Why?" both Spencer and Clara asked
"come on guys, I don't want to talk about it" she tried
"Why didn't you tell me?" Clara forced
"It wasn't a part of my life when we met, there was no reason to bring that up" It wasn't a total lie. Clara didn't like it though.
"Here's your food" Emily couldn't thank enough for the interruption. She didn't know how to take this conversation and tell everything new to Spencer without talking about everything old, and she didn't want to get into many details about that. Right now everything was simple, the only complications were her math problems for the finals.
Lunch went on with light topics such as, majors (there was a great debate on wether Emily hated or not Math back in high school), jobs and so on
"So, you don't swim anymore, you're studying something that you didn't like in high school…"
"I liked it, I didn't love it, but I liked it" She interrupted
"Whatever, and you're used to going to parties. Did I miss anything?" Spence was having a hard time believing everything.
"You make it sound wrong"
"Not wrong, just unexpected"
"That's because you didn't see her dancing or trying to dance" Clara added
"That's hard to imagine" said Spencer trying to picture it
"Ok, are we done talking about me?"
"Never" Said Clara "I only came for….." She was interrupted by Spencer's cell
"Sorry girls, but I have to get this" She said leaving the table
"lunch, I have to be back soon" She finished "By the way, did you do all that on high school?" She said now that Spencer was away
"it's not much, will you come this weekend?"
"you, a swimmer? I had no clue, looks like you changed a lot"
"It happens right?"
"Sure" Clara wasn't sure what to think, why didn't Emily tell her those things? It wasn't anything important, apparently. "I call at night?
"Make sure to do it" She said kissing Clara, they paid everything and met Spencer outside.
"Nice meeting you Spencer, but I have to go"
"Nice meeting you too Clara, bye"
"Okay, Why does it look like she doesn't know anything about you that matters?"
"She knows about me now, that's what matters"
"Do actually believe that?"
"Sure I do, Why not?"
"She doesn't ask about your ex-girlfriends?"
"She does and I answer as briefly as possible"
"Where did you get this engineer thing?"
"I don't know Spencer, I did the first thing that came to my mind, I didn't want to think"
"That is so not you"
"You don't know me now" that sounded colder than it was supposed to
"I can see that, do you think you have room for me and the girls in this 'now'?"
"Sure, as long as you don't question my decisions. I was really lost back then"
"Okay, I'll be quiet, but you have to stop pushing us away"
"Looks like we both have promises to keep" and Spencer nodded. They talked a little more and then said their goodbyes, they decided to meet at least one a month.
On her way to the library, where Emily always was in the afternoons, she decided to stop for a cup of coffee near the library. She had a lot to think about, she entered the cafeteria and sit on one of the tables when a girl asked to join her
"Okay, that's a little repetitive don't you think?" The girl said, and Emily looked up and smiled
"well, I'm still waiting for my coffee, but if you want you can sit here"
"not leaving? That's new" both laughed
"Will you find strange if I told you that you look very familiar to me?"
"I was wondering how long would it take for you to remember me"
"remember you? So I do know you" That explained something
"I'm Paige we used to swim on the same team"
"Paige? Oh My God, how did I not remember you?" Right she was a really good swimmer, one of the best on the team "Why didn't you say something before?"
"Well, the first time you were on a rush and then I was so…"
"So you study here too?"
"Yeah, I got a scholarship for swimming; I was surprised when I found out that you weren't swimming anymore"
"Yeah I decided to stop" How many time would she answer this question? She was starting to doubt herself
"That's a shame, you look good though"
"You too Paige" More than good Emily thought. Paige was so different, confident. She didn't talk much in high school if Emily remembered right. Maybe Emily didn't pay much attention to her because she was way more beautiful than she remembered. A group of guys next to them were talking about a party on campus this weekend, and Emily couldn't help but ask "Are you going?"
"Not into parties, but my friends are pretty excited about this one"
"Now and then I go to a party, not a big fan but I enjoy them"
"So you're going to this one?"
"Probably, but I still have to talk to my girlfriend" Right, she had a girlfriend that she just had lunch with
"Right, well maybe we'll bump into each other there, I'm coffee is ready, I gotta go. Bye Emily"
"Bye Paige" What the hell was she thinking, she had a bunch of finals next week, of course she wasn't going to this party, why didn't she say so?
The day went on without much happening, Emily finished her studies and went home to eat and watch TV with the girls, they weren't really close friends but they got along just fine. Before Sleeping Emily talked to Clara on the phone, things on her play were insane, apparently they were going to start rehearsing next week, which meant that she wasn't going to visit Emily for a while. Emily didn't even tell her about the party, she wasn't going anyway, but the idea of meeting Paige there sounded almost tempting, there was something new about her, and Emily wanted to find out what it was.
