At some point during the morning Emily's head had migrated to Paige's lap, along with a thick furry cushion. By the early afternoon they were still curled up under the blanket watching movies; neither of them willing to comment on the fact that Emily was lying between Paige's legs while the other girl's fingers gently ran through her hair. Emily had almost fallen asleep again when there was a sharp knock on the front door. It was quickly followed by another one. Emily reluctantly sat up to let Paige answer the door, already missing the warmth of her body pressed against her.
Paige was less than happy at having to get up for the door and her mood took a turn for the worst as she opened the front door to find Spencer Hastings standing on her porch. She'd known Spencer from playing Field Hockey and there was no love lost between them. Spencer stared her down like a lioness waiting to pounce, though Paige wouldn't give her the satisfaction of showing fear. "Hastings? What do you want?"
"Emily." Spencer replied, cutting out any pretence of pleasantries. "She's not at Hanna's and she's not answering her phone, so I presume she's still here; or have you smothered her and buried her in the backyard?"
Paige felt a flash of red hot anger as she realised Emily must have told her friends what had gone on between them in the pool. Did that mean they knew everything that had gone on? Had Emily told them that she was…that she liked Emily? She kept her temper in check and her face neutral as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared right back at the taller girl. "Don't you think that's in poor taste? Given what happened to your last BFF?" The cheap shot hit the right spot and Spencer's jaw tightened.
"Can I speak to Emily, please?" She ground the last the word out as though she'd had to force it through clenched teeth and Paige took it as a win as she stepped aside to let the other girl in.
"She's in the lounge."
"Who was at the door?" Emily called over her shoulder as she heard the front door close and footsteps approaching her.
"Me." Spencer snapped and the other girl sat bolt upright on the couch, as though her friend had caught her in some sort of compromising position. "You weren't answering your phone, so I had no choice but to come over. We've had an interesting text from-" She stopped as Paige followed her in to the room, her hands shoved in to the pockets of her sweats as she leant casually against the doorframe. "Could we have a minute, please?"
"Sure, I'll just leave my own living room." Paige's tone was as dry as firewood as she looked between the other two girls. She liked Emily, but she wasn't her girlfriend; she wasn't sure what she was to the other girl, but she sure as hell wasn't under any obligation to put up with her friends.
"No, Paige. We'll go." Emily shot Spencer a sour look as she pushed the blanket away and got to her feet. "I'll just get my stuff." She trudged up the stairs, praying that her friend could behave for the few minutes she would be alone with Paige. Luckily Spencer decided to take the best course of action and remove herself from the situation.
"Tell Emily I'll be in the car."
Paige sneered at her turned back as she went to fetch Emily's clothes out of the laundry room. She found Emily upstairs in her room, on her hands and knees looking under her bed. She sat up triumphantly with her phone in her hand and then blushed as she realised the other girl had been watching her. She brushed her hair behind her ear as she pocketed the phone. "It must have dropped on the floor when you got the blanket…" An awkward silence fell over them as Emily got to her feet and picked up her backpack. Neither girl was sure what to say to the other. They were once again in unchartered waters; unsure of exactly what was going on between them.
"Do your friends know about me? About us?" She asked, easily reading the guilt on Emily's face. She felt an overwhelming unease growing in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't even admit out loud to herself that she was gay; she couldn't have Emily's friends laughing at her over her confusion and her crush on the dark haired beauty.
"They knew you were giving me a hard time when I went back to swimming. That's it." Emily shrugged, unable to meet the other girl's scrutinizing gaze. "I didn't tell them about the other stuff." Paige was pretty sure she was being honest with her. Emily wasn't all that good of a liar. Her emotions played out all too clearly across her face; unlike Paige who had an almost impassive poker face, which came in quite useful considering the lie she was living every day.
"I got your clothes out of the driver." Paige held up the pile of clothes as though just remembering she had them, finding a good excuse to change the conversation and avoid any more awkward questions.
"Thanks." Emily reached for the pile and their hands grazed. Their eyes locked and Emily felt herself leaning in at the same time as Paige-
Honk! Honk!
They jumped a foot apart as Spencer slammed her hand down on the horn. Emily rolled her eyes, almost letting out a groan of frustration as she took her clothes from the other girl. She was about to go change in the bathroom when Spencer started with the horn again. "Go. I'll get the sweats back off you at Monday's practise." Paige sighed as she stepped aside to let her go. Emily walked up to her and pressed her lips to her cheek before pulling away and biting her lip.
"I'll text you later or something."
Paige nodded, not trusting her own voice as Emily stuffed her clothes in to her backpack. They were both silent as they made their way down the stairs and it was only as Emily reached for the door that Paige spoke up. "Wait-" She caught hold of the other girl's wrist just as Emily turned around to face her. Their lips ended up crushed together as Paige pushed her back against the closed door. Outside, Spencer's car horn was blaring again, but neither girl noticed as their lips carried on moving and Paige's hands found Emily's hair, becoming tangled in the thick locks. When they finally pulled apart they were both breathless and Emily's chest was heaving.
"I…I have to go. I think Spencer's about to blow a fuse… I'll call you."
Emily fumbled with the door handle and made it out on to the porch before anything else could happen between them. Paige stood by the door and gave a half-hearted wave as Emily climbed in to the car. By the time she had her seatbelt on Paige's door was shut. She glared at Spencer as she opened her mouth to say something. "Don't, Spence! Just…don't." She slumped down in her seat and stared out the window, needing just a few more minutes before being thrown back in to reality.
Her best friend made it a whole five minutes before speaking, but eventually the silence grew too much and Spencer had to break it. "Did you read the text from A?" Emily pulled out her phone and read the message that had been sent an hour earlier. She had to scroll down the dozen others sent from Spencer and the girls before she found it.
'Seems like Emily's battery is running a little flat. She might want to try the brakes. –A."
"So A's threatening me again. What's new?" Emily huffed. She was getting pretty sick of A targeting her.
"A messed with your car Emily! You could have been killed! We need to meet with Hanna and Aria and check all of our cars-"
"And?" The other girl snapped, losing her temper and taking it out on her friend. "And what Spence? We play A's little games and we try and figure out who it is who's plaguing our lives and we don't get anywhere! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of putting my life on hold because of A!" She was aware Spencer was staring at her in shock. Emily was usually the quiet one; the people pleaser who went along with what the other girls said. She sat with her arms on the steering wheel and squinted back up at Paige's house.
"You're right. We've all been putting our lives on hold and recently A has been targeting you the most… I'll go meet up with Aria and Hanna, you go enjoy your weekend. You deserve it."
"No. Spence I-"
"I mean it Emily. When I walked in on you before, you had the biggest smile on your face. I feel like I haven't seen you smile since Maya left. I don't like McCullers, but if she makes you happy and you want to date her-"
"I don't know if I do." Emily admitted with a sigh as she ran her hands through her hair, brushing it away from her face. "We click and we have loads of stuff in common, but she isn't ready to come out and I can't live like that…"
"Jesus Emily! It's not like you've got to marry her! Just go with the flow!"
The dark haired girl managed a lopsided smile at her childhood friend. "Since when have you ever gone with the flow?"
"How about when I kissed my sister's boyfriend? Twice." Spencer shot back with a grin of her own. "Take a chance Em…or at the very least take the weekend."
"Thanks." Emily scooted over in her seat and hugged her friend before climbing back out of the car. She waited for Spencer to drive off before she trudged through the snow and climbed the steps to Paige's porch. She hesitated before knocking, considering just turning around and walking away; but Spencer was right. Paige made her happy. She couldn't explain it, the other girl was something of a firework and sometimes she could go off without warning, but somehow she made Emily smile without really trying. She wrapped on the door without any more hesitation.
Paige appeared after a few moments, looking grumpy as she opened the door. She lost her frown as she spotted Emily, but she still didn't look happy. She looked around the empty street for Spencer's car. "Did you forget something?"
"Yeah, I did." Emily stepped in close and captured her lips. The other girl was still for a second and Emily feared she'd made a mistake in coming back, but then Paige's lips started eagerly moving and she pulled her inside, slamming the door shut behind them. Emily let out a giggle as Paige started walking backwards, leading them back towards the lounge and almost walking in to a table with a vase of flowers sitting on top of it. She got her bearings back and managed to guide them over to the couch without their lips breaking apart. The back of her legs hit the couch and she dropped down, pulling Emily with her so that she had to climb on to her lap to keep kissing her.
"So, did Spencer let you go, or did you jump out the car at a stop sign?" Paige teased with a playful smirk as their lips finally managed to part for five seconds.
"I know you and Spence don't get along, but she's one of my best friends and she worries about me." Emily sighed as she shifted so that she was sitting beside the other girl on the couch. "Besides, it was Spencer's idea for me to come back here."
"Really? Remind me to send her a fruit basket." Paige grinned as she leant in for another kiss and Emily happily complied. They picked up where they had left off as Paige pulled the blanket back over them and they went back to shutting out the rest of the world. It was easy for them to be together when they were alone, but Emily knew they would need to talk about thing at some point.
Surprisingly, it was Paige who brought it up first. With Emily lying in front of her on the couch and her arms wrapped around her waist, Paige pressed a soft kiss to her neck before mumbling, "What do we do now?" She didn't have to elaborate for Emily to know what she was talking about. Sighing she turned over to face her and buried her face against her chest. Paige stroked her hair back away from her face, patiently waiting for an answer. She wasn't ready to announce her sexuality to the world; but she wasn't ready to lose Emily again. She'd been weak the first time she'd given up on them. And then again the second time when she'd walked away and let that perky blonde Samara take Emily from her; she wouldn't make that mistake again. She'd fight for her. Fight for them.
"The whole world doesn't need to know we're together." Emily started slowly, as though carefully thinking over her words. "But you can't just ignore me at school and worry what people are going to think if we're out in public together. We're on the same swim team, people aren't going to think it's weird that we hang out- What?" She frowned as she realised Paige was biting back a grin.
"So we're together?"
Emily's own lips curled in to a smile as she took in the delight on the other girl's face. She was looking at Emily like she had just given her the most precious gift in the world. "If you want to be?" Emily blushed.
"Hmm, let me think about that…" Paige laughed before leaning in to kiss her. She turned serious as she pulled away, staring Emily in the eye. "I should have fought harder for you. I was just scared. I still am, but you're right. We can go out in public without people making assumptions. I'm still not ready to come out to my parents or the team or other people…but maybe your friends knowing wouldn't be so bad. I guess Spencer pretty much already figured it out…I know it's not much but-" She was willing to take the first step and meet Emily halfway. The other girl was willing to hide their relationship, so the least Paige could do was allow her to be honest with the people closest to her. Apparently she'd said the right thing because Emily's face lit up as she leant in for another kiss.
"It's enough."
They spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on the couch, until Paige started glancing at the clock on the fireplace every five minutes. Emily figured her dad was due home, so she made an excuse to leave; avoiding any more awkwardness for one day. She sent Hanna a quick text asking if she could pick her up. She'd been over at Spencer's so it didn't take her long to turn up outside Paige's house. The other girl wasn't letting Emily go without a fight though; her arms were still wrapped around Emily's waist as she tried to pull on her jacket. "Do you really have to go?"
"I really do. I need to sort my car and call my mom. We could hang out tomorrow?"
"It's a date." Paige smiled as she leant in for a goodbye kiss. She was already planning their day as she opened the door to let Emily out. "I'll see you tomorrow." They shared another quick kiss behind the door before Emily left to climb in to Hanna's car. She was grinning from ear to ear as she pulled on her seatbelt.
Hanna scrutinised her with a barely concealed smirk as she slipped the car in to gear and pulled away from the curb. "Someone's happy."
"Yeah…I am." Emily nodded, grinning at the blonde as she brushed her hair back from her face. Hanna's smile wavered for a second as she considered what she was about to say the other girl.
"You know I love you Em, we all do; and we all want you to be happy-"
"Good." Emily interrupted, her own smile disappearing completely as she realised one of her so-called friends was once again lecturing her over her love life. "Because Paige makes me happy. I know what Spencer thinks of her, but she's wrong, just like I was wrong about Caleb being Sketchy-"
"Caleb is totally sketchy." Hanna retorted with a grin as they stopped for a red light. She reached over and placed her hand over Emily's, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "But I get it…and in my opinion, if Paige McCullers can put a smile like that on your face, then she's pretty damn good for you."
"Thanks Han." It was nice to have at least one of her friends on her side; although she guessed Spencer was slowly warming to Paige. She'd just have to try to get them all to spend some time together; though she was looking forward to spending her Sunday alone with Paige.
