Chapter 2: Where You Are Is Where I Want to Be.

Once Alex loaded the last of all two boxes of her things into the car, Paige pulled the trunk shut. She gave Alex a quick squeeze on the arm, accompanied by an eee!-we're-moving-in-together-today!!! kind of look, then scuttled around the car and hopped in. Alex, though, leaned against the back of the car and took a deep breath, looking once more at the building she used to call home. This was it. She was leaving her mother, the only person who had been there through her whole life, whether sober or not. Was she supposed to be sad? She wasn't sure. She didn't feel sad. In fact, she felt liberated. No longer would she have to endure her mother's loser boyfriends, her poor choices, her drunken slurred rants, or her pathetic naivety. She was free of all that. It didn't even bother her that she didn't feel sad either. She was pulled from her thoughts by Paige's cheerful voice.

"Alex, hon, you coming?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

She made her way to the passenger's seat and climbed in, buckled the seatbelt and smiled nervously at Paige.

"All set?"

"Yep, let's go."

Paige started the car and turned out of the parking lot. Alex loved to watch Paige drive. Her concentration face was just about the most adorable thing ever. When looking both ways before turning out into traffic, Paige always pulled her bottom lip over her top lip and her eyes always widened slightly. There were so many little things that Alex loved about Paige. She also loved the way Paige frequently turned the wrong directional on, then said 'woops!' and switched it.

Now heading towards the house, Paige began talking feverishly.

"Now, Alex, as you know, all roommates have some basic ground rules. So umm, I might have to kick you out if you don't follow mine. I'll try to be lenient though, you know, the first couple of weeks 'cause I guess I kind of like you. But after that, overstep your boundaries and it's off with your head, missy. Okay, well maybe not off with your head, but you know. Some feasible type of punishment will suffice..."

Alex laughed to herself, and looked out the window. Paige continued to ramble on and on. Alex could totally tell that Paige was nervous. When she was nervous, she overused the expression "you know", she spoke rapidly, and she tended to say something outrageous, then would double back and mellow it down a bit. Oh, Alex knew Paige inside out and back again.

"...I get the first shower in the morning, Ellie always gets the last one at night, but Marco has to take Ellie's hair out of the drain, 'cause you know, I will never do it, I mean, I guess if I really had to, I would but...whatever. So maybe you could take your shower after me, or maybe, you know, sometimes we could, you know, well, okay I'm not going to spell it out for you but you know what I mean..." Alex mentally kicked herself for zoning out to think about Paige's nervous habits. She wondered if Paige had implied other activities they could do together while she was zoned.

"...and there's four bedrooms so you can have your own bedroom if you'd like, but I was thinking that, well I was kind of hoping that, you and I could, you know, share a room? I mean, if you're not comfortable with that then, by all means, Dylan's old bedroom has a nice view and..."

Alex lovingly grazed Paige's thigh with the back of her hand, silencing the garrulous girl at once. As the car pulled to a stop at a red light, Paige looked at Alex. Alex looked her directly in the eye and said "Paige, I would like nothing more than to share a room with you."

Paige grinned from ear to ear, looking fully satisfied. She looked straight ahead again, paused for a quick second, then started talking again faster, if it was even possible, than before.

"...take the right side of the bed, because for some reason I always roll to the left and I tend to fall off the bed, you know, it's a nasty habit of mine. I've done it ever since I can remember, you know, and I always get bruises on my knees and when people ask me, I have to say 'I fell out of my bed!' and then they think I'm crazy..."

"Paigggeyyy. You are crazy." Alex, still staring out the window, rolled her eyes in utter amusement.

"Oh, my gosh, Alex, I am so so sorry. I ramble when I'm nervous. I mean - " Paige's head shot over to see if Alex had noticed what she said. She didn't want Alex to know she was nervous.

Alex, without even turning away from the window, smirked. "Relax, kid. You didn't need to say it. I could tell from a mile away." Paige pulled her chin back slightly. She liked it when Alex called her 'kid'.

"Alex, it's not that I'm nervous, it's just that I don't know, I mean, I'm excited, but at the same time, well, I don't know, okay, I guess I'm just the teensiest bit nervous."

Alex turned away from the window as Paige pulled the car to a stop. "Well, what are you nervous about?" Neither one moved from the car. Paige turned to face Alex. She opened her mouth to say something, then froze, trying to keep her thoughts from reaching her vocal cords. "Say what you want, Paige."

Paige hesitated, then proceeded at light speed. "I guess I'm just nervous that you won't feel at home with me. That you won't feel safe. And what if you leave? And what if we get sick of each other? And what if you don't like living with me and find that you just absolutely can't stand me and hate everything about me? And what if we start fighting over the stupidest things, like who left the cap off the toothpaste or who didn't take out the garbage or who didn't vacuum the living room or who...I don't know Alex, I'm just nervous about it all." Paige bit her lip and looked down, awaiting Alex's reply.

Alex chuckled inside. That was what she was worried about? It seemed so juvenile. Like she could ever grow weary of Paige, the one thing that she woke up for in the morning. 'Oh, Paigey', she thought, 'you're too cute for words'. She reached over and pressed a single finger to the underside of Paige's chin and raised her head up.

"Look at me. I don't have anywhere else to go." Paige forced her chin downward, unhappy with the response she had gotten. 'I have nowhere else to go?' Paige thought. 'How lame was that?' Alex once again lifted Paige's eyes to meet her own.

"I'm not finished. I don't have anywhere else to go," she repeated, "and even if did have somewhere else to go, I would still be here with you. Because even the best place in the world isn't a quarter as good as wherever you are. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could make me leave." Tears formed at the corners of Paige's eyes. Alex continued, addressing each of Paige's concerns in the order they were expressed, "I won't get sick of you Paige. I couldn't get sick of you even if you tried to make me sick of you. It wouldn't work. And as of right now, I love absolutely everything about you, even the fact that you're a horrible tease. And if we fight over stupid things," she lowered her voice and grinned, "we can make up over stupid things too."

Paige took Alex's hand in hers. They sat there, content to just be in each other's presence. Alex laced her fingers between Paige's and wiped a glistening tear from her cheek. Paige leaned her head against Alex's shoulder.

"Paige."

"Yeah, hon?"

"This? This is perfect."

Paige snuggled closer to Alex.