"Okay... What do we need to talk about?" Paige scrunches her eyebrows together, confused about what the problem is. Emily's expression is completely blank. She looks Paige directly in the eye. "We have to stop seeing each other. Whatever this is or was going to be, it has to stop." With that Emily turns around and leaves a shocked Paige behind. "Bu- why? Em?" Her arms hang loosely by her sides as she watches Emily disappear into the hallway.
Shaking her head to snap out of her shock she clenches her fists. Whatever happened, she was not going to let it get between them. She lost her once and she is determined to never lat it happen again. Just in time, the bell rings. Defeated, Paige decides she is going to find Emily after classes.
The last class ends and it is pouring outside. Hurrying to her car, Emily ignores everyone and everything. Not because of the rain, she just doesn't want to run into Paige. She had to gather all of her strength to tell her she should stay away. If she was going to run into her now, she wouldn't be able to keep this act up.
Opening the door, she slumps into her car, shuts the door, starts the motor and pulls out of her parking spot. When she drives away, she looks back through the mirror. Right where her car was second ago stands a completely soaked Paige, staring at the back of Emily's car, her shoulders hanging down. Emily presses down the gas pedal as hard as she can to get away from this. The guilt. The pain on Paige's face.
At home, Emily walks straight up into her room, climbs into her bed and curls into a ball. She shuts her eyes and allows herself to feel everything. She is sad and scared, but most of all angry that she has to make sacrifices all the time. Why is she, who is 'big on happy endings' as Allison said it, the one who has to let go of everyone she loves? Everyone who has ever meant something to her? The need to scream wells up in her and she clutches at her pillow in an attempt to ignore it.
She hears the door bell ring and although she knows her mother isn't at home, she doesn't move.
Whoever is at the door doesn't give up easily and keeps on pushing the button. Still not moving, Emily just clutches her pillow harder. Her phone lights up when she receives a text, just when the door bell stops ringing. Slowly moving her arm to pick up her phone, she is still fighting the urge to scream. The text is from Paige. 'Open the door Em.'
The ringing of the door bell starts again. Emily swallows hard. She wants to tell Paige everything, but she knows it will hurt them both. She gets another text 'Em, I know you're home. Open the door. Please!' Seconds later another one arrives 'I'll wait outside til you open the damn door.'
Reluctantly, Emily sits up, thinking that maybe it's better to tell Paige to go away in person instead of ignoring her. She gathers all her strength to push through and gets up from the bed. Halfway down the stairs, she hears Paige banging on the door.
"Em, please open the door!" She reaches the door, placing her hand on the handle, taking one deep breath to open it. "Emily, I don't know what the hell happened, but I won't let it come between us." Her eyes brim with tears as she breathes deeply through her nose. Her hand pushes the handle down and as soon as the door opens a crack, Paige pushes her way in. She is dripping, her nose is red and her fingers already a light shade of blue.
"Finally. Emily, what happened?" Startled, Emily can't find the words to say something. She just stands there with her mouth open. "Remember when I said I wish I had fought harder for you? Well, I will do it now. I don't know where this was going, we were going, but I don't care. I just want you in my life, whatever way. Do you understand that, Em?" Trying to swallow her feelings, Emily closes her dry mouth. She wants to say something, but nothing comes out. "Em? Did you even listen?" Paige is starting to sound angry, desperate for an answer. "Emily, please talk to me!"
"You'll get hurt." Paige's face changes from desperate to confused. "Who is going to hurt me? You? Because you are hurting me right now." Emily looks at the floor, trying to avoid Paige's gaze. "No, you won't get hurt by me, you'll get hurt because of me." Furrowing her brows, she ducks her head to look into Emily's face. "Why? Who is going to hurt me because of you?"
Emily lifts her head and stares at Paige. "I can't tell you, it will only make it more dangerous for you. You only need to know that what happened to Maya was because she was with me. I don't want anything happening to you. So, this is the only solution; we stop hanging out, nobody gets hurt." She knows it's a lie, because it certainly hurts her. She just hopes Paige doesn't look through the lie. "No Em, this isn't a solution. We will both get hurt. You know that. I don't know what to do about this... situation, but I won't walk away from you. Not again."
There's a long pause, while Emily tries to fight back the tears. "Did you tell the police?" She shakes her head "No, this... person, they have something on me and my friends that would get us into more trouble than any lawyer could get us out of." Paige nods absentmindedly, thinking about what she just heard.
"Okay, you know what? I don't want to know what they know about you or what you did. I don't care about that. I care about you." Emily bites her lip and slings her arms around herself. "That doesn't change the fact that someone wants to hurt you, Paige. Please, you are making this harder than it already is. I care about you, too, that's why I'm trying to keep you away from me."
Paige takes a step towards her and puts a hand on Emily's cheek, her thumb stroking along the cheekbone. "If we are going to get hurt either way, we should take the one where we have each other. I want you, Em." Biting her lip, tears slowly rolling down her face, she leans her forehead against Paige's. "I want you, too. Are you sure about this?" She feels Paige nodding. "Yeah, you're worth it." Sliding her arms around Paige's waist, she hugs her tight and buries her face in a still damp neck, feeling little drops of rain fall from the other girl's hair onto hers. Paige hugs her back and presses a soft kiss to Emily's temple.
They stand there, listening to the others breathing and the rain outside, holding each other tightly.
Somehow they are going to figure everything out, together, but they are both sure it can wait for a day.