A/N: Thanks everybody for the reviews and thanks for those who marked this story as favorite.
and ov4arenko Trying to do what you asked I kind of divided the chapter, First part: Paige; Second part: Emily and the third I mixed them. And also ov4arenko, it'll be her to grasp it okay
hRcK1224, I'm glad you loved.
And please let me know if it's confusing or not, okay?
Chapter 4: Blind dates and a deal
'Nothing like swimming to relax' Paige thought after Emily had dropped her by her place. Of course the company wasn't expected, but nothing messes with her when she's in the water not even a very strange Emily, looking around like seeing ghosts. A small red light called her attention, it was the answering machine.
"You have one new message" She heard while putting her things on the table
Hi Paige, so I talking to a friend of mine and guess what?
She has a son that studies there too, so she said that he
Was going to a party on your campus this Sunday and
I thought that maybe you could go and meet him there
It would be really nice if you two could get along.
Anyhow I told her that you're going, and I sent him
A picture of you so he could find you. Miss you. Bye
Paige recognized her mother's voice just from the 'hi'. One more blind date, how many sons of friends can her mother find in her college? This was the fifth, just this month. She was able to escape from two of them; the third and the fourth. The first one was a disaster, the guy was a total dush, he thought that he was the best thing on the planet, only talked about himself. Paige pretended to get food poisoned just to go home, the date lasted about two hours and it looked like ten, he tried to talk to her after that and she just ignored. The second was better, intelligent, handsome and really nice, so was his boyfriend, that he introduced to her asking not to tell her mother because her mother would tell his mother and according to him a third world war could start for that. Funny thing is that they actually became good friends, Josh was a very great guy. They would meet at least once a week and they always laughed about how their mothers wanted them to be together. He would say that if he wasn't gay he would totally date her, but she wasn't sure she would date him, he was nice and all but it just didn't sound right. She told herself it was because he was gay and she couldn't picture him otherwise. After him, she was able to avoid the other two dates her mother created. This meant that she couldn't get out of this one, well she was already thinking about going to the party anyway.
"Thanks mom" Paige ironically said to the answering machine. She took a shower and prepared a quick snack while thinking about Emily, she lived with two more girls and she lived alone. She loved the silence but sometimes she would think that a company would suit well, her roommate during the first year was opposite from her, they would always fight over every little thing, from loud music to cleaning. Paige was a very organized person, she liked everything in its place. When she first moved to this house she love the fact that she could put something in place and it would still be there when she looked for it. She wasn't the popular type but because she was a part of the swimming team she had to socialize once in a while, go to parties or lunch with the team, these type of things and if it was a party she would always drag Josh along, and this is what she was going to do, she will call him to go to the party with her. She finished this thought already getting her phone. She reached the voice mail, of course, it was Saturday night after all, she just left him a message telling about the party and the blind date. After that she decided to go to bed, by the moment she closed her eyes she saw Emily's eyes and she had no idea why. But wasn't able to get them out of her mind after that. She was acting so weird at the pool, like she was lost but she couldn't be, Paige remembered that Emily was always very decided when she came out and people started talking, she didn't care, at least that's the image she passed. Paige also remembered thinking that if it was with her she wouldn't have the guts to come out, much less tolerate the rumors, she admired Emily back then, but now if it weren't by Emily's appearance she wouldn't have recognized her. It was hard for Paige to fall asleep once she started thinking about all these things, but eventually she did.
"Rise and shine" Jessica woke up Emily
"Since when you're a morning person?" Emily asked covering her face with her blanket
"Today I have plans" Jessica said taking Emily's blanket away from her causing Emily to contract
"Great, go make them come true and let me sleep"
"I'm doing it, my plan is to get you to have some fun" She said
"I'm having a lot of fun in my dreams"
"Not today, go hit the shower 'cause we're going shopping!" Might as well, Emily thought while slowly getting out of bed. "I'm making breakfast ok"
"You seriously need to get a boyfriend to occupy you" but Jessica didn't listen to her, Emily didn't understand all the fuzz Jessica was doing about it, she has plenty of fun going out with Clara or Lucas. Jessica was so going to pay for waking up her at 9 a.m. on a Sunday.
"Okay, I give up, what are the plans for today?" Emily asked arriving in the kitchen in a better mood, shower always made her feel good
"I'm glad to hear that" Jessica said giving Emily her breakfast. "It's actually very simple, we're going to the mall o find some clothes for tonight's party"
"I'm not going to that party, you see we have very different ideas of fun"
"It's going to be fun, can you just give it a try?"
"I'll make you a deal, I go to the party and if it turns out not to be fun, you clean the apartment whenever is my turn for a month" Emily said raising her hands for the deal
"Ouch! That's rough" Jessica took a second to think, "but if you do have fun there, and there's no place for lying here, you'll be my driver for a month, do we have a deal?"
"deal" and the shook hands on that.
They actually had a good time shopping and bought a couple of clothes each, had lunch at the mall and talked a lot. They had never gone out just the two of them and Emily was glad they did it, Jessica was a great company. When they were leaving Emily's cell rang
"Hi babe" Emily greeted her girlfriend
"Hey sweetie, how are things?"
"Good, I'm actually going to a party tonight" She didn't know what to expect from Clara
"You, Party, without me?" She asked, Clara wasn't the type of not letting Emily do something without her, so Emily didn't understand the comment.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, not at all. It's just weird, I usually have to force you to go to a party and you're going to one by yourself." She had a point
"Not by myself, it was Jessica, she thinks I'm going to have fun, but I think otherwise."
"If I know that's not everything" Emily didn't knew Clara knew her so well
"If I don't have fun she gets to clean the house in my place for a month" She said to Clara while looking at Jessica
"and if you have fun?"
"Then I'll be her driver for month, but won't happen 'cause these college parties suck"
"We'll see that" Jessica said loud enough for Clara to hear
"Tell the result tomorrow ok"
"Okay, and the play, how is it?"
"It's amazing really, People here are great, but it won't be long"
"What do you mean?"
"We'll only have four presentations, one per week, lasting one month in the end"
"Well it's only the first one, you'll have plenty of others, I'm sure"
"That's sweet of you, but I have to go"
"Ok, don't forget to send me the tickets ok" Emily reminded her
"Sure, I miss you here though"
"I miss you too" Emily said before telling good bye. She did miss Clara, she was her best friend. It was hard for Emily to trust someone after all the lies in her high school. When she arrived in college, everything was so new, she was lost for a while, then she starting hanging out with people from her classes but it wasn't natural to talk to them, it was like she didn't belong there, then she met Lucas that after his attempts on getting her to date him finished, became her first real friend there. After a while she met Clara, and when Clara told her that she wanted to be more than friends Emily was surprised, she didn't think of her in the way, but she didn't want to lose one of the few friends she had, so she decided to give it a try, and it worked, even though for Emily it never sounded like a complete relationship, but she didn't think about it much, it wasn't like she wasn't happy with Clara, or wanted to date anyone else.
At the apartment Emily and Jessica were getting ready for the party.
"You can even say that the party was horrible in the end, but you have to admit that our outfits are awesome." Jessica said letting Emily take a look at her to see if everything was alright
"That's true, you're amazing in this dress" Jessica was wearing a tight dark blue dress with a white jacket on and she was wearing silver sandals, not too tall, she tall enough already
"Have I told you that you're the only person I know that can make jeans look better than any dress?" Emily was wearing a pair of jeans with high heel sandals, and a gorgeous long purple blouse with a leather belt matching her sandals and her handbag.
"No you haven't, and thank you, I think we're ready to go" She taking a look around to see if she had forgotten anything.
"I think we are." With that they left the apartment.
"Let's Party!" Jessica said when they saw the house where the party was taking place.
"Sounds like you've never been to one before" Emily said laughing at her friend
"Not in ages, and this is a party organized by the football team so it will probably be awesome, maybe that friend of yours is there, what was his name? Leo..?"
"Lucas"
"That's it, he's from the football team right?"
"Yeah, he mentioned the party when they first started to prepare it, but I didn't give much attention, wasn't planning on going"
"Things change my friend" Jessica said putting her arms around Emily when they got close to the entrance. It was a big house for students to live in, but if she recorded well, Lucas once told her that the football team would live all together in the same house, he was one of the few that didn't. It was an idea from his coach or something like that.
"So… I'm gonna grab a beer, do you want one?"
"No, I'm good, just please don't get too much drunk, I don't wanna carry you home"
"Not happening" Jessica said leaving her in the middle of the party. Emily didn't quite understand if the 'not happening' was for the not drunk part or the carry part, but she had a feeling that she would discover it soon. On the other side of the house Paige was trying very hard not to be found by her mother's friend's son, but it was difficult to hide from someone that you have no idea about the appearance, she was succeeding though, she had been for half an hour now and no one came to talk to her about her mother, only her teammates talked to her. She decided to stay in a corner where she had a pretty good view from the people at the party but at the same time easy to pass by unnoticed.
Emily now decided to drink, she was on the second beer, might as well try to enjoy it, she told herself while getting the first glass of beer.
"I'm on my third beer and I'm already seeing things?" Someone asked in a very loud voice, clearly trying to be heard. Emily turned to see who was speaking and saw Lucas.
"No, Lucas you're not seeing things I'm actually here"
"Under what kind of torture?" He said hugging her
"My roommate said that I was too stressed by the finals."
"I have to agree with her on the one, so… how many more minutes until you leave?"
"What do you mean, I got here an hour ago."
"That's already a record, but you're clearly not having fun"
"I'm trying… I'm drinking, talking…"
"Party is about dance, meeting new people, hitting on girls you may never see again, well you're taken, but I'm not, you could help me out" He said looking like a kid
"Like you need any help with that, girls line up after you"
"But I don't want any of those, I'm tired of them, I want someone who doesn't want to be with me because I'm the football star" Emily laughed hard on that
"Way to go Prince Charming" they both laughed, then he turned his hair and stopped
"That girl!" He said looking to a corner on the other side of the room. Emily followed his head and didn't expect to see who she saw, it was Paige wearing a pair of black pants, a red pair of sandals matching her jacket, she was looking like she had come out of a movie. She looked amazing, and nervous. "She doesn't look strange to me though"
"That's Paige, she's in the swimming team"
"Right…" he was clearly lost in his thoughts. She couldn't blame him, the image he was looking at was quite something. "Do you know her? Maybe you could talk to her" he said still looking at her
"Go there by yourself, big guy, you can do it" or she wanted to see it, he could be really good with girls but when he wanted things to work out he would mess up everything.
From the other side Paige so this guy walking in her direction, and she thought that he was the guy her mother said, but when he was getting close to her someone called her first
"Paige?" A guy asked showing up by her side
"Yeah?" She said a little confused, she turned her head to the guy and when she turned back the first guy was gone
"Too late" a frustrated Lucas said to Emily, who quickly turned her head to look at Paige that was clearly uncomfortable talking to whoever that guy was. He was talking and gesticulating a lot while she was with her arms crossed and looking around like searching for something, when suddenly a very confident Luca appeared from behind Paige. Emily so wished to be a fly so she could hear what they were talking.
"Here's your drink" Lucas said to a very confused Paige, but she could use the distraction. "What were we talking about?" What was HE talking about was a better question in Paige's mind
"I don't remember, but…" She had no idea what to do "This is Mark" pointing to the other guy who was trying to understand what was going on "and Mark this is…"
"… Lucas" Lucas quickly said. They gave each other a cold hand shake, and all Paige knew was that she wanted to get out of there really soon. She kept looking around to see if she could find any familiar face.
"Excuse me boys, but I found a fried that I really need to talk to" She said quickly leaving her position when she saw Emily next to a counter.
"Save me" She told Emily who didn't understand a thing.
"From…." She started
"From those boys over there, please, just tell they're not coming here" Paige looked desperate.
"Two boys fighting over you and you want to get away?" Emily tried to understand, it was funny to see Paige losing control like that, she was always so serious.
"They're not fighting… just forget it" and she left. Talking to Emily was a bad idea, they weren't friends, not even close.
"Ok then" Emily said to herself since Paige had left so fast. That was very weird, if she didn't know Paige at least a little she would've thought that Paige was crazy. Anyway she took a look around and saw people dancing but she didn't want to dance, she couldn't drink any more that she already did considering she was driving. It has passed four or almost five hours since she arrived, there was no way she could stick around any longer, so she started looking for Jessica to let her know that she would be going home. The problem was: How could she find Jessica? She tried the phone of course Jessica wouldn't pick it up, she went to the back of the house to see if she were there but there was only one girl there and she wasn't Jessica. She went back and paused, thought for a second and looked at the girl again, it was Paige, was she still hiding from the boys?
Sitting outside the house Paige was looking at the starts hoping not to be found buy those guys.
"Paige?" Emily nearly made Paige have a heart attack
"Gosh, you scared me" She said after turning and realizing it was Emily
"Sorry, didn't mean to" Emily didn't know why she went over to Paige, there was nothing to talk about, but she was looking so sad, and for she felt the need to comfort her, for no reason she could think of. "So I'm guessing neither of the boys found you right?" She tried to start a conversation
"Thank God they didn't" She said, she didn't know what Emily had to do with that, but there was no reason not to answer her, at least she wasn't looking crazy like she was at the pool. "You're more…." Paige was trying to find the words
"normal?" Emily guessed, although she wasn't sure it was correct.
"That would work, yesterday at the pool you were…"
"crazy?" She guessed again, she couldn't help it, it was kind of fun
"Are you going to finish all my sentences?"
"Right, sorry, keep going"
"I wouldn't say crazy, but you're strange" She had trouble finding words
"Let's just say, it wasn't a good moment, I was much stressed and I ended up there"
"It makes sense, the pool is always a nice place to relax"
"but it felt weird because I haven't done that in a very long time"
"Maybe you were just missing it"
"Maybe" It wasn't a good topic for Emily to talk about, she didn't like talking about things she didn't understand. "I know it's none of my business but why are you trying so hard to avoid the guys, I don't know about the blond one but Lucas, the dark haired one, was pretty impressed by you." She couldn't help asking, she wanted to know.
"You know him?" Paige asked, was it only impression or Emily had something to do with that scene earlier?
"Yeah" She laughed at the surprised face Paige managed to make, "He's actually a good friend of mine, we have a couple of classes together"
"Can you tell me what he was doing there, talking to me like he knew me? 'Cause I have never talked to him in my life" She said, she was actually having a nice time talking to Emily. Back in high school Emily was very close to her three friends, it was almost impossible to see one of them without another girl from the group, Paige wanted to have a group like that but she wasn't really good with groups.
"He was going to talk to you when the blond guy appeared and he left but then I think He thought that you weren't interested in the guy so he tried a move, that's my best guess, knowing him like a I do." she believed it was possible that Lucas thought that.
"Why would he do that?" Paige honestly didn't know why a guy would do that.
"Seriously?" Emily couldn't believe Paige didn't know "Because he was into you, isn't that obvious?"
"But he doesn't know me"
"I'm not an expert in guys but I think it doesn't matter"
"Do you think so?" Right she was gay, Paige had forgotten about it at some point in this conversation. She also had a girlfriend, where was she then?
"Paige?" Emily snapped her finger in front of Paige's face
"Sorry, hum… didn't you say you have a girlfriend? Is she here?" She wasn't supposed to ask that
"Yes I do, but she's working and she doesn't live near here so…" There was no need to finish it
"That sucks" A long distance relationship between women, relationship between women "women." That last thought came louder than it should've been, Paige's thoughts were making her feel dizzy
"Paige, are you ok?" Emily started to worry, what was it about women?
"I'm fine, I think it's time for me to go home" That was the best option, for some reason she wasn't being able to control what she was saying, maybe the beer she drank earlier had a late effect on her
"How did you come here? Do you need a ride?" Emily couldn't let her go alone, not at this time
"I took a cab, I can take another"
"No way, I'll take you" Emily firmly said
"Why are you doing this?" That question wasn't supposed to be asked, she seriously needed to stop doing that.
"Doing what?" Emily didn't understand what Paige was talking about, she just offered a ride
"Being nice" Since she started, might as well finish it
"Why wouldn't I?" Emily just couldn't help it, she liked being around Paige
"We were part of the same team and we never talked for more than five minutes" It came out harder than in her head. Paige had no idea why she was saying all those things, but they were true
"Ouch! I think we just didn't have much to talk about back then" Emily tried to explain, but the truth was that she didn't know why they didn't talk back then.
"Do we have much to talk about now?" Paige was shocked by her own words "I'm sorry that came out wrong… I'm gonna go now" She turned to leave but when she did it she saw mark and turned back as fast as she could hoping he hadn't seen her.
"What about the ride now?" Emily saw that Paige turned back because of the blond guy from earlier, and she needed to end that conversation
"Where's the car?" Paige asked, already walking in the direction of the parking lot.
