Chapter 2
The girls said their goodbyes to the group and began their walk to the car, holding hands all the way to the car. Emily couldn't stop looking over to Paige, she had a smug, almost smirk on her face and she just couldn't help but wonder what her girlfriend had planned.
"Just what are you smiling on about?" Emily said, bumping Paige's shoulder playfully.
"I told you, you're just going to have to wait until we get there to find out. I'm not telling!" Paige said, nudging Emily back.
As the girls reached the car, Paige ran over to the passenger side door to open it for Emily. Emily smiled that smile only Paige knows, her head tilted slightly to the right, her teeth gleaming and a smile so big her dimples show.
"Your chariot, malady!" Paige says, bowing as she opens the door, helping Emily into the car.
"Why thank you!" Emily laughs as she curtseys, getting into the passenger seat.
Paige runs around and gets into the car to start it; she fumbles with her keys for a moment until she finds the right one to start the ignition. Before she takes it out of park, she suddenly remembers something.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" She says, reaching in the back seat she takes out a bandana, "You have to keep this on until we get there, it's a surprise."
Emily looks at Paige suspiciously, 'Really?'
"Em, just trust me… Please?" Paige said, smiling as she gave Emily the cloth.
"Alright, I trust you, but you'll need to help me put it on." Emily turned her body so Paige could put the bandana on.
Paige took the small plaid cloth in hand; she took a second and just admired her girlfriend. Both of them were still in their prom clothes, Emily's dress was backless and in that moment she felt the full effect of the situation. Paige looked at Emily's back, the light bounced off her smooth skin and long wavy hair, admiring every curve and muscle that was visible through the dress.
"Paige?" Em looked over her shoulder, Paige cleared her throat, she knew she was caught staring.
"Sorry." Paige put the bandana around Emily's eyes and tied it at the back, being careful not to catch any hair in the knot.
"So how long am I going to have to keep this thing on?" Emily said, turning her head towards Paige who was now waving her hand in front of her face, just making sure she really couldn't see anything.
"Well from here it should take only about 20 minutes, you sure you can't see anything?" Paige said, just making sure the surprise wouldn't be ruined before they even got there.
"Paige, if I were any blinder I'd have sunglasses and a walking stick, I can't see a thing." Emily says, assuring Paige.
"Alright, alright, just making sure! I guess we're ready to go, oh and one more thing…" Emily hears a clicking noise and all of a sudden "So What" by P!nk starts playing.
"I just thought we'd take a little trip down memory lane on the way" Paige says, she looks over to Emily who's already smiling.
"Our first date..." Emily says smiling, suddenly she remembers something, "You know after that date I went home and listened to it over and over and practiced singing it?"
"You didn't!" Paige said, laughing as she drove off.
"I did! And my mom got so sick of it she hid my iPod for a week!" They started cracking up; it was like no time had separated them. They were right back where they started.
The girls talked and talked until the car fell silent, Paige knew she had to clear the air between them and bring up something she should've from the beginning.
"I'm sorry, Emily" Paige said, grasping Emily's hand. Emily turned her head towards Paige, curling her lips.
"We don't have to talk about it, Paige. It wasn't your fault."
"I shouldn't have left you Em; I should've fought harder to stay. When you told me Alison was in jail at the airport… Somehow, I knew it wasn't her doing all of this, Alison was a terrible person but she loves you. I should've known it would've gotten worse. I should've known you would try to contact me. I couldn't come to terms with the fact it was over, I thought if we didn't officially end it, it wouldn't be over between us." Even through the bandana, Emily could tell Paige was holding back tears.
"It was never over between us, Paige." Emily took her hand and wiped away the tear from Paige's face, suddenly the road became uneven and bumpy.
"Um… Paige, did we miss a turn?" Emily said, a bit of concern lingered in her voice as she tried to keep balance on her seat.
"No, we're almost there actually." Paige said, Emily could hear her laughing as she answered.
Suddenly the car stopped moving, Paige put it in park and turned to Emily who was visibly concerned at this point.
"Alright, I'm going to come around to your side of the car, don't take off the blindfold yet." Emily nodded in compliance as Paige exited the car, and circled around to her side.
Emily felt a small gust of wind as the passenger door opened; she could hear the faint sound of water hitting the shore in small ripples. Paige leaned down and took Emily's hand, helping her out of the car and positioning her in just the right spot.
"Okay, on the count of three I will take your blindfold off, alright?" Paige said, keeping both of her hands on Emily's shoulders.
Emily could feel her heart jumping out of her chest, every second felt like an eternity, she could feel Paige's breath on the back of her neck as she got closer. Paige edged closer behind Emily, putting her hands on the end of the bandana, ready for the countdown to begin. Finally, she whispered into Emily's ear… In-between counts, Emily could hear the sound of her heart beating faster and faster in her ears.
"One…" thump thump "Two…" thump thump "Three…"
The blindfold came off and all she could see was white, her eyes took a second to adjust and she realized exactly where she was, Paige's lake house. Paige had decorated the exterior in white Christmas lights, since the lake house was miles away from any city lights the only backdrop they had was the clear night sky. The lake mirrored the night sky and the cabin, you didn't know where the cabin lights started and where the stars stopped, they blended into each other. She was speechless, Emily had never seen something so beautiful in her life, no one had ever done anything like this for her before. Noticing Emily hadn't said a thing, Paige started to get nervous…
"Well… What do you think? I came up here last night and started putting the lights up, I just thought it might look nice because they would look like the stars and I mean if you don't like it I could take-"
Emily turned around with tears in her eyes and while Paige was in mid-sentence, she kissed her. It wasn't just a kiss, it was much more than that, this was a vow from one girl to the other, a vow that they promised to cherish for as long as they both lived. Emily's lips tasted of strawberries and the words of Emily Dickenson, powerful, soft, and sweet, while Paige's lips had the lingering words of Jane Austen and coconut cupcakes. Neither of them wanted to pull away first, their tongues playfully dancing around each other, every moment they had spent apart melted away and what was left was this kiss, this moment, this place.
Emily pulled away first, her eyes still closed for a moment while she savored the kiss, as she opened her eyes she noticed that Paige's eyes were still closed. Paige stood there for a second, her arms slowly moving down from Emily's arm to her hands, finally she slowly opened her eyes. Emily was standing in front of the cabin, the lights behind her outlined her body in a halo of light and in that moment, Paige had never seen anything more beautiful in her life.
"Woah."
That's all Paige could say. What she was feeling for Emily surpassed anything mere words could express, and that's all she could say.
Emily laughed and kissed her once more, just a peck. Finally, Paige snapped out of it, smiling at Em who was sheepishly smiling at what she caused.
"We should probably head inside" Paige said laughing, at this point she was blushing so hard her entire face looked flushed.
"Sounds good to me, do you want to lead the way?" Em replied, letting Paige lead the way in.
Paige took Emily's hand and led her into the lake house, the inside was covered in candles and the fireplace lit up the whole room. Looking around the room, Emily noticed a bucket on the kitchen counter with a bottle of champagne sticking out and walked over to examine.
"Where in the world did you get this?" She said, the champagne bottle was obviously on the more expensive side and Paige couldn't exactly walk in and buy it.
"Someone helped me out with it actually, why don't you read the card?" Paige said, smiling.
Emily looked at the card, it read 'To Emily and Paige, I have never been so proud of you girls. Congratulations to my two favorite girls in the world, Love Pam and Wayne'
"My parents? Seriously?" Emily said, giggling.
Paige got two champagne flutes out of the cupboard and walked over, smiling.
"When I called your mom and told her my plan, she insisted on being a part of it, and she told me 'If my girls are going to have a drink on prom night they won't be drinking out of a box of wine, not if I have anything to say about it.'"
The girls laughed, "I can believe that" Emily said, holding up her glass as Paige poured some in each flute. They raised their glasses for a toast.
"To graduation, and to us." Paige said, clinking their drinks together.
"Yes, to us" Emily agreed and clinked glasses.
They each took a few sips and moved over to the couch in front of the fireplace, Paige sat on the farther corner of the couch and leaned back, putting her feet up on the table. Emily sat next to Paige; she put her champagne down on the table and proceeded to lie down on the couch so that her head was on Paige's lap. The girls talked and laughed for hours, they told stories and filled each other in on what happened the past few months, the good and bad. Emily looked into Paige's eyes as Paige ran her fingers through Emily's long brown hair, the fireplace was the only source of light, their shadows danced on the walls of the cabin that painted their own story.
As it got later, Paige got up and put the stereo system, "Glitter in the Air" by P!nk starts playing as Emily sits up on the sofa. Paige walks over to Em, offering her hand as she gets up, the two girls stand and face each other looking deeply into one another's eyes. Emily drapes both of her hands over her girlfriend's strong shoulders; Paige takes Emily's waist and pulls her in closely as the two start swaying back and forth to the music. The flames from the fireplace flickered as the two danced, their shadows moving from one side of the room to the other as if following the couple.
Emily looked into Paige's eyes and pulled in closely so her chin was on Paige's shoulder, suddenly Paige started singing softly into Emily's ear as the song progressed.
"Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight? Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?"
Emily pulled back a little to look at her girlfriend smiling back at her, finally the last line of the song came and Paige mouthed the last word.
"Tonight."
She smiled, her eyes moved from Paige's expressive brown eyes to her soft pink lips. Emily smiled and moved both of her hands, one to push a stray lock of hair out of Paige's eyes, the other to cup her cheek. Paige moved her own hand and put it over Emily's, the two smiled at each other and finally they kissed, it was as if their lips were made for each other- each perfectly matching every movement the other made. It was soft yet passionate, Paige brought Emily's body in closer so they were touching, their kissing intensified and suddenly Paige moved from Emily's lips to her neck, kissing her jawbone down to her clavicle, not missing an inch. Emily stretched out her neck to give Paige room to work, closing her eyes and enjoying every moment, suddenly Paige stopped.
"W-why did you stop?!" Emily said concerned, Paige merely smiled and kissed her lips once more.
"I almost forgot I have something for you." She went over to the bedroom; Emily fixed her hair and lipstick just to make sure she looked perfect when Paige came back.
A minute or so passed, Emily stood in the living room as she heard Paige rummaging through drawer after drawer trying to find something. Finally, Paige emerged from the bedroom, she was obviously hiding something behind her and judging by the goofy smile she had on, she couldn't wait to give it to her. As Paige approached Emily, she became more and more nervous, Emily took notice and raised one eyebrow in skepticism; she had never seen Paige this nervous before.
"So, this is for you." Paige said, taking out a small wrapped box.
Emily's eyes widened, the box was approximately five or six inches long and one inch wide, wrapped in a pretty silver wrapping paper topped off with a red silk bow. She put one hand over her mouth as Paige handed her the present, she took a second before she started to unwrap the present. Starting with the bow she slowly unwrapped the small gift, every second that passed gave Paige more and more anxiety, the butterflies in her stomach felt more like a colony of bees. Finally, the wrapping paper came off revealing a small jewelry box; Emily opened it revealing a silver necklace with a key at the end. Emily held the necklace up, looking confused at the gift.
"Where does this key go to?" Emily asked, obviously confused.
Paige took the necklace and motioned for Emily to turn around so that she could put it on her, she followed along and the necklace fit perfectly around her beautiful neck. Emily looked down and took the key in hand, suddenly she noticed the small engraving on the key, 'E.F.+P.M.'
"This key," Paige says, taking the key in hand and bringing it up so Em could see, "-this key belongs to our apartment in California."
"Oh my god… Oh my god, Paige… Are you serious?" Emily says, tearing up.
"Will you move in with me, Emily?"
"YES! YES! A MILLION TIMES YES!" Emily jumps up and down, wrapping her arms around Paige as she kisses her.
"You, me, Donuts and Diners." Paige says, smiling and kissing her girlfriend.
"Wait, what does my mom think of it?" Emily says, looking concerned.
"I asked for her permission yesterday, she said she'll help us with the moving truck as soon as you graduate" Paige replied, smiling and holding Emily.
"I really love you, Paige."
"I love you too, Emily. I really do."
The two kissed, smiling all through the night as they looked at their future, the needed to look no further than in each other's eyes to see what the future may hold for the two of them. Whatever life handed to them, they would deal with it together, they would never be alone for as long as they had each other.
They made love throughout the night, the dying embers of the fire warmed the two as they slept in each other's arms on the couch, only covered by the old quilt they shared. Paige woke up first, Emily had slept with the key around her neck and nothing else, she smiled and kissed her girlfriends cheek. This is what pure happiness felt like, this is what she was going to wake up to every morning for the rest of her life, this is who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Seeing that the sun had not come up yet, Paige nudged Emily awake with a kiss, she whispered into her ear that she had to show her something special. Reluctantly Emily woke up, she wrapped her naked body in the quilt and met Paige outside on the dock. Paige was waiting in a sunbathing chair on the dock and since it was still dark out she had taken a candle to guide her way. As she heard Emily walking up, Paige motioned for her to sit on her lap, the two wrapped their bodies in the quilt as Emily leaned back into Paige's shoulder. They sipped their steaming coffee as they watched the sunrise over the lake, the sky was painted with pink and orange clouds, the fog covered the lake in a small mist. Nothing was ever so beautiful.
"Is it everything you hoped it would be?" Paige asked Emily
"It was unexpected, I'll say that." Emily said, smiling while she kissed Paige.
"Unexpected is good, just look at us."
"I love you."
"I love you too, Em"
The End.