Emily was leaning against her Corolla in the school parking lot, waiting for Paige. She smiled as she looked over and saw Spencer slow her car down beside her. Spencer rolled down her window as Hanna leaned over the center console and Aria rolled down the rear passenger window.

"What did we say Em? Go home and get some rest" said Spencer.

"Calm down, I'm waiting for someone"

"Ooooh, whooo?" asked Hanna with a teasing smile.

Emily rolled her eyes looked across the parking lot, spotting Paige making her way over. Her three friends followed her gaze, and all three quickly looked back at Emily, mimicking the teasing smile Hanna had had just moments ago.

"Hot date?" asked Aria.

"Ok, you guys can leave now" said Emily with a smile.

"Have fun...but you know, not too much" said Hanna with a wink.

Spencer pulled away as Paige made her way to Emily, a shy smile on her face as she reached the other girl. The two exchanged smiles and got into the car. Once they were buckled in and on their way Emily glanced at Paige.

"So, what do you want for dinner? We can order whatever" she said, running her hands nervously over her steering wheel.

"Whatever sounds good"

Emily shook her head with a smile as she pulled into her driveway. The two girls grabbed their bags and made their way into the house and up to Emily's room. As Emily started emptying her gym bag into her laundry basket, she looked back and watched as Paige inspected her room for the first time. The red head ran her fingers over the numerous ribbons and trophies that sat on Emily's desk, stopping to look at the pictures that covered it. Emily felt oddly relieved that she had tossed the pictures of her and Maya into a box and put it away for a day where she'd be able to deal with looking at them. Paige picked up the same picture that Maya had when she had first been in the room, the one of her, Ali and the others on a bright summer's day.

"I know Ali was your friend, but she kind of scared me" said Paige absent-mindedly.

"You? You were scared of Ali?" asked Emily with a tone of disbelief.

She found it hard to believe that someone like Paige would be scared of Ali. She could almost see Paige and Ali being friends. Paige simply shrugged and put the picture down before turning to Emily and leaning slightly on the desk.

"Want to get some homework out of the way?" she asked.

Emily nodded and started unloading the books from her bag. Within minutes the two girls were facing each other at opposite ends of the bed, their books opened in front of them.

"I don't know about you, but I'm way too hungry to focus" sighed Emily.

Paige looked up and laughed softly. The brunette looked so frustrated with her head in one hand and the other rapidly tapping a pencil against a textbook.

"We should've ordered when we left the school" said Paige.

Emily nodded in agreement and motioned for Paige to follow her. The pair headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Emily was hoping her mother had left something appetizing in the fridge so they wouldn't have to wait an hour for something to be delivered. She scanned the contents of the fridge quickly, taking a mental note of the possibilities.

"Alright, let's just take a little bit of everything" said Emily as she started pulling out dishes from the fridge.

Once everything was warmed up and the plates and cutlery were out, the girls sat at the island in the kitchen to enjoy their dinner. There was some pasta, salad, stir-fry, a little bit of everything. For the most part the girls ate in silence, only occasionally chancing glances at one another. When they were finished and the kitchen was cleaned up, the girls headed back upstairs.

"Thanks, it was good" said Paige, taking her seat on the bed.

"No problem, I'm pretty handy with a microwave"

Silence encircled the girls as they spent the next hour or so working on their homework.

"Ok, it's too quiet" said Emily, stretching her arms above her head as she got off the bed, her shirt riding up slightly.

She glanced over at Paige in time to see the red head staring and then avert her eyes. Emily bit her lip to hide the smile that was threatening to appear and quickly turned around to plug her iPod into her speakers. She grabbed the remote as she made her way over to the bed, pushing away her books and flopping down on her back across from Paige. The girl looked up and raised an eye brow.

"What? I'm done" said Emily fiddling with the remote.

Paige simply continued to write out her answers to an English assignment Mr. Fitz had given to all the classes, only losing focus when The Fray's You Found Me started filling the room.

"Is it bugging you? I can turn it off if you want" said Emily, turning her head to the side.

"No" said Paige, softer than even she had expected.

"I love this song" sighed Emily, closing her eyes.

Paige tried to turn her attention back to her homework, but it just wasn't working. With a sigh she closed her books and started putting them on the floor, she had finished everything that was due the next day at least. Emily opened one eye and looked Paige, who was still leaning against the head board.

"You can lay down you know, I don't bite" she said in a teasing tone.

Although, Emily immediately wish she'd chosen a different phrase, as images started making their way into her brain, causing her to blush lightly. The two girls shuffled around until they were both lying side by side on the bed.

"How do you do it?" asked Paige suddenly.

"Do what exactly?"

"Be so comfortable with yourself"

"It takes time, and I'm still not completely happy with where I am, I'm still not the most outgoing person"

"You make it look so easy"

"Didn't we already cover this topic a few days ago?" asked Emily, turning to look at Paige.

"I'm not saying you have it easy, I'm saying you make it LOOK easy"

"Having good people around helps, I mean sure my mom's starting to warm up to this whole thing, but Aria, Spencer and Hanna had my back long before she did" said Emily

Paige simply nodded. Emily smiled; she could practically see the gears turning inside Paige's head. Paige looked at Emily with questioning look.

"What are you looking at?"

"You, you're thinking too hard" teased Emily.

Paige simply scoffed at the remark.

"Excuse me, did you just scoff at me?" said Emily, leaning on one arm.

"Maybe" said Paige, looking up at the ceiling and smiling

"Don't expect me to be nice to you anymore McCullers"

"Back at you Fields"

Both girls turned their heads to the sound of Emily's phone going off on the table beside Paige.

"Can you pass that?"

"Nope"

Emily let out a breath and pushed herself up, leaning over Paige in an attempt to get the phone and read the message. Emily stopped mid- reach at the sound of the red head's breath hitching. Emily looked down and bit her lip, something she'd been doing a lot lately.

"Sorry" she whispered.

Neither girl made an effort to move from their current position and just remained that way for a few moments before Emily slowly lowered her lips to Paige. Not used to taking the lead, but also not used having to be so tentative in a situation like this Emily stopped.

"Just say...if you want me to stop" whispered Emily, her lips almost touching Paige's.

Paige took the initiative and lifted her head the rest of the way between their lips. Their lips remained pressed together for a few moments before they slowly pulled away. Despite how tame the lip lock was, both girls could feel their hearts in their throats. Cautiously, Emily shifted to move from the slightly awkward position she was in until her legs were on either side of Paige's hips. She leaned forward once more, her hair forming a curtain around the two girls and her eyes not leaving Paige's. Both girls closed their eyes as their lips connected once again. Carefully, Emily kissed Paige's top lip, then her bottom, not wanting to go too fast. Emily pulled back a bit, just enough so she could talk.

"Is this ok?" she asked.

"Yeah..." breathed Paige.

"But what?" asked Emily, sitting up a little more.

"Don't laugh"

"I wouldn't laugh at you"

"I've never...well, when I kissed you in your car...that was sort of my first kiss...ever"

"Could've fooled me" said Emily with a smile.

She leaned down and placed one more kiss on the other girl's lips before pulling back and going back to laying beside her on the bed. While her whole body was humming from what had just transpired and the tingling in her lips made her want to kiss Paige over and over again, she didn't want to push her too far too soon.