A/N: Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. My lack of updates haven't been for lack of creativity, but lack of internet access. I've been out of country most days with limited wifi access. Next week my schedule reverts to a (somewhat) normal looking thing.
Anyway.. here's the next piece of this story.
"You look like you are going to get your 5th grade school photo taken," Natalie commented, examining her friend's outfit.
Paige simply shrugged and fidgeted with her over-sized sweater. "Who cares? It's just a party."
Natalie scoffed, looking through Paige's closet for a decent outfit. "'Just a party' she says. Just a party. For teenagers in suburban Pennsylvania, a party is as close as we'll get to the Oscars. Maybe dress a little less like a 10 year old."
"I look fine," Paige protested. She was never a party person, and only agreed to go because her new friends invited her and Emily wouldn't be there. After she had convinced her oldest friend, Natalie, to come, she figured she'd have a good time. But she didn't feel like she needed to get dressed up to impress no one.
"You do look fine. If you're going to spend the afternoon cleaning the oven. All I am saying is wear a shirt that fits," Natalie argued, holding up a small tank top that Paige had gotten as a gift last Christmas but never worn.
"That doesn't fit. It's too small."
"Perfect then. This and skinny jeans, the black ones. And I'll shut up."
"Why would I wear a tank top in November?!"
"Because... your arms," Natalie said plainly. "I am sick of arguing. Put on the clothes and get ready. Your friends will be here soon to pick us up."
Paige hated being forced to wear things she was comfortable in, but relented because she hated confrontation more.
"Hair down," Natalie said, pointing to Paige's ponytail.
Paige grunted but pulled out the hair tie and shook her long brunette hair loose.
"Aw, look who's a pretty girl," Natalie said in a condescending tone that made Paige roll her eyes.
Luckily, Paige didn't have a lot of time to focus on her new look, because Hanna's car horn sounded from outside a few minutes after Paige finished getting ready.
Natalie and Paige crammed into the backseat of Hanna's car, along with Aria. Spencer was in the front seat fiddling with the radio.
"Hey guys, this is Natalie. She's an old friend and the world's pushiest human. Natalie, this is Spencer, Hanna and Aria."
Hanna was suspiciously quiet for the entire ride, which confused Paige. Hanna was the one who seemed the most excited about Paige coming out with them. But now, she wasn't her normal bubbly self.
Paige was in her own world, wondering what was wrong with Hanna, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was Natalie, who was sitting right next to her.
"Spencer? She single?"
Paige almost laughed out loud at the idea of Natalie and Spencer dating. It seemed insane. Before answering, Paige elbowed Nat in the side and simply responded "IDK."
Spencer had never mentioned a boyfriend or girlfriend, for that matter. But that didn't mean she wasn't dating someone. Mostly, her and Spencer talked about reps, heart rates, run times and the Eagles.
"Fucking helpful. Thanks. Worst Wingwoman EVER," Paige's phone lit up again and Paige had to supress her snicker.
When they got to the party, Hanna quickly disappeared muttering that she 'wanted to wait for Caleb'. The other girls made their way in, with Natalie trying to make small talk with Spencer. Paige always envied her friend's boldness. Natalie always went after what she wanted, consequences be damned. She encouraged Paige to do the same thing, but Paige never had the courage Nat had.
"Oh, look! Caleb's here!" Spencer nearly squeeked moments later, excited to introduce Paige to her date.
Paige glanced over, vaguely wondering why Spencer would be so happy to see him. As soon as she looked in the direction of the door, Paige turned back immediately. "Oh my god, shit shit."
Paige quickly ran past Spencer, Aria and Natalie to make a beeline for the kitchen.
"What the hell was that?" Aria asked, looking at Spencer with utter confusion written on her face.
Natalie's eyes followed Paige to the kitchen, then went back to the door. Clearly Paige had seen someone she didn't want to.
Then Natalie's eyes fell on Kelley.
Shit.
"Which one of you geniuses invited Paige's ex?" Natalie asked.
"Who's her ex?!" Spencer asked.
"That tiny blue-eyed bitch making her way over here with Hanna and Caleb."
"Shit," Aria and Spencer mumbled at the same time.
"Did they end on bad terms?" Aria asked, hoping that maybe it was just Paige moving away that lead to the breakup.
"I don't know. Do you consider Kelley making out with Christen at a party bad terms?"
"Shit," Spencer mumbled again.
"Hey Kell," Natalie announced with obviously fake enthusiasm once the other girl was in earshot.
"Natalie...?" Kelley asked, a little thrown by one of her classmates was at a party an hour away from home.
Natalie looked the girl up and down. Kelley had sandy-blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and she was 'cute' if you stripped away the gross stigma that she carried around with her as a huge bitch.
Spencer had broken away from the group and followed Paige to the kitchen. When she found her, Paige was practically hiding in the pantry, pretending to look for food.
"Paige? Natalie just told us.."
"I didn't realize Caleb would be bringing Kelley tonight."
Spencer stayed quiet – and tried really hard not to look guilty.
"His cousin. She's my ex-girlfriend and we didn't part on the best terms."
"So, I have something to tell you and I think you're going to find it really funny."
Paige's eyebrows shot up, waiting for Spencer to continue.
"Me and the girls wanted to do something nice for you. We all like you a lot and we wanted to sort of... hook you up... and Hanna said Caleb had a hot gay cousin and we invited her and... here we are. Man, small world."
"When am I supposed to find this funny?" Paige asked seriously.
"Now?" Spencer asked meekly.
"Spencer, I really appreciate that you guys went out of your way to try and find me a date. But I am not interested in dating right now, I hate set-ups and that girl out there- she's a toxic person."
"Yeah... Um... Natalie mentioned. ...With Christen."
Paige waved off Spencer's anger, "It's fine, really. Our relationship was basically over. And they were both drunk and it was one dumb kiss."
"Wow, ok.. so.. no chance of rekindling that."
Paige laughed a little painfully, "Absolutely no chance. I've never told anyone that... you know, about Christen. People knew, of course. I've forgiven both of them because they both apologized. And I was about to break up with Kelley anyway."
"That doesn't make it ok," Spencer said sternly, getting slightly defensive of Paige, and hating herself for bringing this gross person to the party.
"Paige! There you are! I want you to meet someone!" Both Spencer and Paige grimaced at the sound of Hanna's voice, knowing Kelley would be there with her.
"Paige!?" Sure enough, Kelley was there, looking completely shocked at her ex-girlfriend.
"Hey Kell," Paige said quietly.
Hanna looked between the two girls, clearly sensing the tension. She didn't understand if it was a bad or good thing until she met Spencer's eyes. Hanna gulped when she saw the intensity on the other girl's face.
"How have you been?" Paige asked her ex cordially, truthfully not caring about the answer.
"How have I been? Are you kidding me? Maybe if you would have answered one of my several fucking phone calls, you'd know how I was."
Paige bit her lip, stopping herself from saying something she'd regret. Instead, she looked from Hanna to Spencer. "Could you guys give us a second?"
Spencer grabbed the petite blonde's arm and they walked back towards the rest of the party. Paige could hear Spencer say "This was a huge mistake," to Hanna as they walked out.
"I'm sorry I haven't answered your calls. That was rude of me. But I didn't know what to say to you," Paige confessed, leaning against the counter.
Paige took a momet to look at her ex-girlfriend. Kelley was definitely beautiful. She was small, thin with a bright smile (that Paige doubted she'd see tonight). Kelley didn't look much like Caleb, but had his striking cheekbones that worked well on her. She also had a good fashion sense, and she was fun and funny. She and Paige dated for about 18 months, when Paige realized she was never in love with Kelley, despite trying her hardest to fall in love with her.
"You could have let me explain," Kelley said, cozying up to Paige by the counter.
"There was nothing to explain. I just wanted to move past it. We both knew our relationship wouldn't last after my move to Rosewood anyway."
"I didn't mean to..." Kelley started and stopped, thinking of the right words. "I just felt like you were slipping away. And this was the only thing I could do to keep your attention."
"Well, kissing my sister was a really fucked up way to try and get me to stay."
Paige pushed herself off the counter and walked towards the rest of the party, determined to just ask Spencer for a ride home.
She felt Kelley grab her arm and turn her around before she had the chance.
"No, Paige. No. I spent 3 months waiting for you to answer my calls. You do not get to just walk away. Christen didn't even like me, I knew it. I was trying to make you jealous and she was tryin to make that asshat shortstop guy jealous and we were both super wasted. Come on, it was one stupid mistake."
"Honestly?" Paige said, growing frustrated with this conversation. "I was happy you did it, Kelley. It made it easier to break up with you."
Emily walked into the kitchen right as Kelley slapped Paige straight across the face. Paige's hand instinctively flew to her face, feeling the sting of the powerful slap.
"Ow, Jesus!" Paige mumbled, hand still clutched to her cheek.
Emily raced over to Paige's side as Kelley stormed out of the room. "Fuck you, Paige."
"Are you ok?" Emily asked as she got to Paige.
"Yeah, totally fine," Paige played it off, but her cheek still stung.
"That girl just slapped you."
"Trust me, I noticed," Paige laughed slightly and couldn't help but notice Emily left a concerened hand on her forearm their whole conversation.
"Why did she hit you? Do you want me to have Spencer kick her ass?" Emily asked, bringing a hand to Paige's cheek to make sure Kelley didn't break the skin. Paige winced at the touch. It was her cheek that hurt, but Emily's touch that felt like fire on her skin.
"She's harmless, Emily. It's fine, really. It's a long story and involves a lot of history," after the shock of the slap, Paige realized Emily was there – she she was promised she wouldn't be. "What are you doing here, anyway? Hanna and Spencer said you had plans with Chris tonight."
Emily shrugged, pulling back slightly from Paige, but keeping her hand on Paige's forearm. A gesture that confused Paige to no end. "I don't know why they said that. Our plans for tonight involved coming here."
Paige considered this. Emily was there. Christen was there. Kelley was there. Natalie was there, and assuming Natalie had more than one beer, it would take very little to set her off. Natalie would probably end up throwing a punch at Christen or Kelley. Paige needed to get both of them out of there.
Paige moved away from Emily, intent on getting her and Natalie back to her place as soon as possbible.
"Paige, wait - where are you going?"
"Sorry... I just.."
"I wanted to talk to you about tryouts the other day. I never even got the chance to congratuate you on making the team."
Paige smiled kindly, "Thanks, Emily. Congratulations to you too. But I really need to go."
"Even if I promise not to slap you?" Emily joked. When Paige paused, Emily took this as an opening to continue their conversation. "What you said the other day... at the restaurant.. about me being captain. I just wanted to thank you. It was really nice to hear."
Paige felt a goofy smile appear on her face, happy to talk about anything else besides Kelley. "That was nothing, Emily. Besides, you must know what I said was true, deep down. I mean, you got your team to regionals two years in a row. That's huge."
"It means a lot that someone as talented as you says that, Paige. Just.. thank you."
"It was no big deal."
"It felt like a big deal to me."
Paige offered Emily a sincere smile and broke their intense eye contact when she remembered what was happening in the rest of the party. "Well, I think I am going to head out, actually."
"You're leaving already? The party just started!"
"I think when you get slapped, it's time to make a hasty exit."
"Why would that girl slap you? Do you know her?" Paige couldn't help but notice the way Emily inched closer to her during their conversation. It took everything in Paige's body to keep her from backing away. She felt the urge to keep large amounts of physical space between her and Emily.
"I used to know her," Paige answered vaguely.
Emily listened to Paige's answer and nodded, while sneaking a glance at Paige's outftit. She looked gorgeous in a form-fitting white ribbed tanktop and charcoal skinny jeans.
Emily unconsciously bit her lip and it took her a second to remember it was her turn to talk. Paige, for her part, took Emily's silence as a window to leave.
"Ok, well, I'll see you at school. Have fun at the party."
Paige didn't wait for Emily to respond. She immediately ran out of the room and started looking for Natalie.
She was able to stop her friend right as she started stalking towards Christen. "Whoa, tiger, slow down," Paige said, grabbing her friend by the arm.
"I think we have brought too much drama. We should head out," Paige said.
"No way, Paige. I just want to have a little chat with Christen."
"With your fists, probably?"
Natalie snorted, "You know me too well. I am doing this for your honor."
"And I appreciate that," Paige said, looking through her purse for her cellphone. "But my honor is fine. And I don't feel like starting a brawl at the home of someone I don't know."
"Oh, you don't know who's house this is?"
Paige shook her head, "No. I heard someone from the baseball team. I am ordering us an Uber," she said as she fiddled with her phone.
"It's that shortstop that Christen dated. So I bet it's a total coincidence that Chris is here with your dream girl."
Paige's head looked up from her phone, immediately. "Are you serious?"
"Yep."
"That's none of my business. None of yours either."
"So you aren't just a little curious about whether or not Emily is being used to make Johnny Baseball jealous?"
"Emily is a big girl. She can handle herself. And Christen isn't that evil."
"Christen isn't that evil? Seriously. She kissed her step-sister's girlfriend at a party."
"She apologized for that. They were just drunk."
"No. Paige. You don't get too be that forgiving. She's a bitch."
"Whatever. None of this is my problem. I tried to date Emily but she didn't like me. She did like Chris. End of story. With those two and Kelley here, I want to leave. The Uber will be here in 5 minutes. We should go outside."
Across the party, Emily stood off to the sideline watching Paige and Natalie in a pretty heated conversation. It didn't look like they were fighting, but maybe arguing. She wished she could hear what they were saying.
Soon, Christen saddled up to her side and offered Emily a beer.
"I saw Paige get slapped in the kitchen," Emily told her girlfirend in a rather non-sequeter. She wanted to get to the bottom of what happened.
Christen looked surprised, her eyes scanning the room for Paige. "By Natalie?" She motioned towards to girl Paige was talking to.
"No, a different girl. Her," Emily said, discretely pointing to Kelley, the girl she had seen slap Paige.
Christen's eyes almost bugged out of her head. Why was Kelley here? More importantly, why was Kelley slapping Paige?
"Do you know who that is?" Emily asked.
"Yeah," Christen said, choking slightly on her drink, coughing a little. "Paige's ex, Kelley."
"Oh." Emily processed this, looking at Kelley in a whole new way, wondering if this was the type of girl Paige wanted to date, "Why would she slap Paige?"
Christen closed her eyes slowly, and took a deep breath. She needed to come up with a lie fast. "I don't know. I wasn't there."
"Yeah, but you must know some of their history."
"Um, maybe because Paige cheated on her?" Christen grimaced at her own words, but it was the only solution that made sense which kept her out of the story.
"What?!" Emily asked, completely shocked at the words that had left Christen's mouth. "You said they broke up because Paige's ex was just too into Paige."
Christen couldn't go back on her lie now. "I just wanted to protect Paige. I know you guys are friends. But yeah, cheated on her with that girl.." she said, pointing at Natalie.
"But Paige said they were just friends..?" Emily trailed off. Her mind racing to put together all these pieces.
"Friends with benefits, I guess? Paige and I don't talk about our personal lives with one another too much."
"I can't believe this," Emily felt sick to her stomach. This was not the Paige she had gotten to know over the last few months.
The two were startled as the front door of the party burst open, and the entire baseball team trampled in, waving their trophy in the air.
Before Emily had time to react, Christen had grabbed her and started kissing her intensely. Emily thought it felt forced and a little confusing.
Emily didn't see Paige and Natalie slip out the front door.