The next day was Saturday and Emily didn't have any plans for the weekend so she decided that now would be a good time to do some homework.
Emily was trying her best to concentrate but every few minutes her mind would drift to thinking about Paige. She remembered the feeling of complete contempt as Paige's head rested against her shoulder the previous day. It had taken all of Emily's will power not to brush the hair out of Paige's face or to stoke the hand that had accidently fallen next to her thigh. Paige had been in a deep sleep for the entire bus ride home, which had taken a lot longer than expected because of traffic. For once Emily was thankful for traffic. She hadn't been able to fall asleep herself because her heart had been beating so fast that she was having trouble breathing.
Emily was brought out of this trance by the beep of her phone. It was a message from Paige.
Hey. I don't suppose you're free to help me with math homework? Don't worry if you're busy. P
I'm not busy. Do you want to come here? Em
See you in 20? P
Perfect. Em
Emily looked around her room, which still had a few boxes thrown in the corner and decided she should at least try and make it look a little more presentable. She had just enough time to move some boxes out of the way before she heard a knock at the door.
Emily opened the door to see a smiling Paige, book bag in hand.
"Hey. Thanks for helping me, I guess I was a little distracted in class this week and I don't remember a single thing anyone said. Should I say 'hi' to your mom?" Paige seemed a little on edge.
"My mom is out running some errands, she should be back soon. Wanna head upstairs?" Emily said pointing in the direction of her bedroom.
Paige decided she needed to shake off the tension before she got even more nervous about being alone in Emily's house, "Wow. We haven't even been on a first date and you're inviting me up to your room."
At first Emily was taken aback, but after a few seconds managed to find a response, "What can I say, your charm is just too strong for me to resist."
"Understandable." Paige nodded in response.
When they reached Emily's room, Paige put her books on the desk and opened them up to the pages she was struggling with.
"But you have the answers already?" Emily looked confused.
"Ha, yeah! I copied the answers from someone else; I just need to figure out how you get the answer!"
Emily spent about ten minutes effortlessly demonstrating to Paige how the problems worked.
"Alright, I think I've got it. I should try and do some on my own. Do you mind if I stay here, in case I get stuck again?" Paige asked.
"Stay as long as you want, do you want to sit at the desk?" Emily meant this whole heartedly. She wanted Paige to stay for as long as possible and couldn't imagine being sad if she ended up never leaving.
"I hate sitting at desks, makes me think I'm in school, can I just sit here?" Paige motioned to the window seat.
Emily decided it was probably best to get on with some of her own homework whilst Paige was doing hers. They studied in silence for several minutes before Emily glancing over to see that Paige had a confused look on her face. Emily slowly stood up before sitting next to Paige on the window seat and asking, "What's up?"
"I don't get it. I've done everything like you showed me but somehow the answers don't match up."
"Maybe some of the answers are wrong, let me look" Emily said.
Paige's math book was resting on her bent legs and Emily gently moved her hand out of the way so that she could see. Emily took a few minutes before saying, "The answers you have are right, you forgot to factor in these numbers here." Emily reached her hand between Paige's arms to point to the numbers. Paige couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of Emily next to her. Their arms were tangled together and Paige couldn't stop herself from looking at Emily.
Emily sensing that Paige wasn't looking at the math book anymore lifted her head to look deep into Paige's eyes.
"Do…you…erm…get it now?" Was all Emily could force herself to say. Paige nodded and immediately missed the contact as Emily stood up and walked over to her desk.
'Shit, shit, shit. I just messed everything up' was all that Paige could think in that moment, but she was pleasantly surprised when Emily returned just a moment later and sat back down next to her.
Emily had freaked out a little. She had been looking deep into Paige's eyes and all she had wanted to do was lean in and kiss her, but she bottled it. She'd stood up to get the book that they were supposed to read for English and immediately felt stupid. In a split second decision Emily decided that the best thing she could do was to go and sit back down next to Paige. So that's what she did. This time though she sat with her back against the wall, so that she was looking in Paige's direction.
Emily was trying her best to concentrate on the reading, but over the top of her book she could see Paige, who looked so cute when she was concentrating. Every now and then she would look confused again for a second, then shake her head and continue.
They carried on sitting like this for around thirty minutes before they heard someone come in through the front door and a moment later Emily's mom walked past before saying, "Oh, hello Paige. I didn't know you would be here."
Paige sat up straight before saying, "Yeah. Emily kindly offered to help me with my math homework. She's amazing at it."
This made Emily blush a little, "I'm not that good."
Pam looked at her daughter proudly before saying, "Paige, would you like to stay for dinner?"
"I would love to, but I promised my mom that I would have dinner with her as my dad is working tonight."
"Ah, no problem. Maybe some other time. What about Wednesday?" Pam looked at Paige hopefully. Emily noticed this and it made her happy that her mom seemed to like Paige and wanted to get to know her.
Paige smiled brightly and said, "Wednesday is perfect, my parents both work late in the week so I usually just eat on my own."
"See you on Wednesday then Paige!" Pam said before leaving Emily and Paige alone again.
Paige looked over at the clock in Emily's room and realized that she had been there for longer than she had told her mom she would be. "Opps. I really better get going, my mom probably already has dinner made. See you on Monday at school?"
Emily smiled sadly and walked Paige to the door. She wanted Paige to stay forever. She couldn't believe that after only a few weeks she had become so totally attached to someone. Being around Paige was just so comfortable. Not wanting to say goodbye so soon Emily said, "Do you mind if I walk with you, I haven't had any fresh air all day?"
Paige smiled and Emily quickly shouted to her mom that she would be back in fifteen minutes.
They walked slowly down the street in the direction of Paige's house. They chatted a little about the plans for the following weekends camping trip and a few other things. When there were a few moments of silence Emily found herself staring at Paige as they walked. She just couldn't help it.
Paige could see Emily looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She was becoming more and more convinced that Emily might be into her. They had definitely shared a moment earlier, she was almost positive that Emily was about to kiss her before she stood up. She just needed to give Emily time. Paige was willing to wait as long as it took. Emily was worth it.
Paige and Emily continued their usual routine, until it got to Wednesday. Instead of saying goodbye to each other at their usual spot, they continued the walk to Emily's house. When they got there Emily's mom wasn't home yet so they decided to sit in the living room and watch some TV to relax. Despite there being a huge sofa and two other armchairs, they ended up sitting so close to each other that Paige could feel the heat radiating from Emily.
Paige was willing to wait as long as it took for Emily to be comfortable enough to possibly, if her instincts and what Jamie had said were correct, tell her that she might be gay. But, Paige was also curious to find out more about Emily. She started off by asking Emily innocent questions about her friends and teammates at her previous school? Who were her best friends? That sort of thing. So far Emily hadn´t really revealing much. Emily had mentioned a few boys names but none of the specifically enough to give Paige the impression that they had been her boyfriend. Eventually she got tired of dancing around the subject and just went for it. "So, did you leave anyone special behind crying and broken-hearted?" This made Emily let out a small chuckle, "Nope".
"Seriously? Someone as beautiful as you must have had some admirers" Paige blushed a little at the fact that she had basically admitted that she thought Emily was beautiful.
"I don't know. I went on a few, what I suppose you would call 'dates', with some of my guy friends. But nothing ever came of them. I just liked them as friends." It was Emily' turn to blush this time, had she made it too obvious? Now Paige was looking deep into her eyes with a questioning look, almost willing Emily to tell her more. They sat like this for what seemed like forever before Pam returned from work.
"Hi girls. Good day at school?"
They exchanged pleasantries and Pam told them that dinner would be ready in thirty minutes. After Pam had left the room Emily simply stared at the television, her heart beating faster than it ever had before. All she could think was 'Paige knows, she knows I'm gay. She knows something that no-one else in the whole world knows'.
By the time dinner was ready Emily had calmed down a little as she tried to forget any worries she was having. She simply tried to enjoy the moment instead. Paige was so charming and eloquent in the way that she spoke at the dinner table. She answered any questions that Emily's mom asked her and politely asked questions in return.
After dinner Paige offered to help clear up, but being a proud hostess, Pam wouldn't let her and Paige announced that it was time for her to leave. It was getting late and Emily offered to walk with her part of the way again.
They walked silently until out of nowhere Emily said, "You know, don't you?"
Paige suspected what Emily might be talking about, but she couldn't quite be 100% sure, so she just quietly said, "Know what?"
"Are you going to make me tell you?" Emily was visibly scared.
"Emily" Paige started before looking deep into Emily's eyes, "I would never make you tell me anything."
By this point they had reached 'their spot'. They stood frozen for what seemed like an eternity before Emily whispered so quietly that Paige could barely hear it, "See you tomorrow, Paige."
Then she was gone, and Paige was left standing there, unable to move. Had Emily been about to tell her?
"I like Paige. She's definitely a keeper." Pam smiled at her daughter.
Emily smiled back but wondered if her mom would still like Paige if she knew the feelings that Emily had for her. Feelings that friends didn't have for each other. Feelings that made Emily want to kiss Paige every time she saw her.
Emily said goodnight and headed upstairs. Paige definitely knew. Emily had wanted to tell her so badly but for some reason the words wouldn't come out. She took out her phone and typed,
I'm not good with words. X
Emily sat staring at her phone for a full twenty minutes. Nothing. She decided that watching the phone wasn't going to make Paige text back so she got ready for bed.
When she returned from brushing her teeth she checked her phone and finally saw a new message from Paige.
I understand. When you're ready, remember actions can speak louder than words. X
