Once Hanna found out that Paige knew about Ashley, she started cozying up to Paige. There was a part of her that wanted to make sure that Paige was okay. She knew how Paige felt about Emily, and how difficult it must have been on her. On a level that Hanna wasn't really aware of, though, she was doing it for Emily. Hanna knew Emily better than anyone else did - better, in some ways, than even Emily did - and she was convinced that Emily was meant to be with Paige. Even though she wouldn't do anything out of line and overtly push them together, subconsciously, pushing them together was precisely her goal. So, she stayed close to Paige, hoping for subtle opportunities to make the case that it was still okay for her to have feelings for Emily; that there was still hope, if she hung in there and rode out the storm.

But what was, perhaps, the greatest reason for Hanna's friendship with Paige eluded her entirely. Hanna desperately needed a best friend, and, with Emily out of the picture because of their feud, she went after Paige.

The irony wasn't lost on Emily. She didn't know whether it felt more like a slap in the face or a knife in the back for Hanna to do the very thing that Hanna was pissed off at her for doing: Go after a substitute, when the real thing wasn't available. Whatever it was, it hurt like hell to have lost both of her best friends because of her relationship with Ashley.

Paige was skeptical when Hanna first showed up at her door, with a confident smile and a peace offering. The last interaction the two of them had had was anything but peaceful. Paige's ears were still reverberating from the yelling she'd endured.

"Well?" she said, not trying to hide how annoyed she was.

"I come bearing gifts," Hanna announced cheerfully, opening the lid on a bowl of a pasty, rough gooey substance. "It's hummus," Hanna explained. "I made it myself! I did my research, and you can't deny that the lesbians love it!"

It took Paige a moment to figure it out. "Are you sure your research wasn't about Lebanese?"

"Oh, whatever! Look, the point is, I'm here, I brought you food, and are you going to let me in?"

Paige came to understand that Hanna was as honest as a little child when it came to her feelings. When she was angry, as she was the last time they'd seen each other, she didn't hide it. And when she was over it and wanted to be friends again, she just assumed everyone would be on-board with that fact

Paige rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she echoed, tumbling back into her apartment with a nod indicating that Hanna could follow.

Paige didn't quite know what to make of her new friend. Hanna was a handful. It was a good thing, Paige thought, that swimming was over for the season, because Hanna needed a lot of attention. It took up a lot of Paige's time.

Over time, Hanna learned how to tone things down a little, to accommodate Paige's sensibility. But Hanna wasn't the only one who made some adjustments for their friendship. There was no denying that Hanna's influence had a positive effect on Paige. She helped get Paige out of her post-Emily funk; out of her room; out of her comfort zone; out of her shell.


"It's not the first time," Hanna said casually, applying the polish that she had somehow persuaded Paige to allow her to decorate her nails with. They were sitting across from each other on Paige's bed, and Paige was wondering how she had allowed herself to get talked into it. But, in reality, she knew. Hanna had just worn her down, as usual. Paige put up a noble fight, but she and Hanna both knew that Hanna would be able to outlast her resistance.

"No?" Paige didn't know what Hanna was talking about, but she'd learned to let Hanna go with it, and, eventually, she would be able to pick up on where she was going.

"No. It's not the first time that an Ashley has come between me and Em."

"Uh huh."

Hanna let go of the polish and Paige's hand in frustration, as if Paige should've known what she was talking about. "My Mom - hello? Ashley Marin?" She tapped the heel of her palm against Paige's forehead, as if to jumpstart Paige's brain.

"Oh, yeah, your mom." Paige had no idea that her mom's name was Ashley, but going with the flow was faster than trying to argue with Hanna.

Hanna resumed her art project on Paige's nails. "Well, yeah. When Emily first came out, my Mom tried to keep me from hanging out with her. But it wasn't the gay thing, though." Hanna gave Paige an accusing stare, as if Paige were judging her mother to be a homophobe.

"No, of course not," Paige agreed.

"No. It was Maya. She didn't think that Maya was a good influence." Hanna shrugged. "Turns out she was right."

"So, Emily's dating someone with the same name as your mother." Paige threw it back into Hanna's court, to let Hanna carry the load of the conversation.

"I know, weird, right?" Hanna sounded enthusiastic that Paige found it weird, too. "Too bad your mom's name isn't Ashley!"

"Yeah," Paige chuckled. She wasn't really listening, so she didn't get what Hanna was implying. It didn't take her long to catch up. "Wait, what?"

Hanna squeezed the wrist that she was holding to keep Paige's fingers in place and shot her a knowing smile.


It wasn't long before Paige began truly enjoying her friendship with Hanna. And that was a problem. The closer they became, the harder it was for Paige to fight the nagging feeling that she was, somehow, cheating on Emily - and, even worse, that she was cheating on Emily with Emily's best friend. It seemed a bit fucked up. She would never do that with a girlfriend; date Ashley, for example, if Emily broke up with her. Paige knew that it wasn't the same thing, but, still, it didn't sit right.

Paige made the first move, with a simple text: "miss you," plus a sad face. Soon, they were smiling as they texted back and forth, and, by the time it was over, Paige had invited Emily for dinner. She included Ashley in the invitation, of course. She wanted to keep everything on the up and up. And, with her new self-confidence, the result of her time spent with Hanna, she wasn't bothered by the prospect of playing the role of lonely spinster to Emily and Ashley's happy couple. She really did want to get to know Ashley. She wanted to get to know every aspect of her friend's life. But Emily declined - or, rather, deferred. - the offer to include Ashley. There would be plenty of time for Paige to get to know her. Emily wanted Paige to herself for the evening. They had a lot of catching up to do.


"Why does it feel as if I'm releasing you back into the arms of your ex?" Ashley asked sadly.

Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Well, in order to do that, you'd actually have to release me, she thought. Ashley had a tight grip around Emily's waist, being not just emotionally but physically clingy.

"Ash, it's not like that. It was never like that. Paige and I were never anything more than friends." For the thousandth time.

Emily started to wonder how much of her separation from Paige had been Ashley's doing; whether, if she had been dating someone a little less insecure, that person wouldn't have pulled her away from Paige. It was never anything overt on Ashley's part, but, looking back on their time together, Emily started to realize how Ashley had slowly, subtly, built walls to fence her in. She suddenly felt constricted. She wriggled out of Ashley's grip, still holding onto her hands. "Really. Paige wants to meet you. I just thought that I owed it to her to spend some one-on-one time together again. You can understand that, right, Ashley?" Emily said it in such a way that Ashley would have to make a choice – either loosen the reins or put her cards on the table and explicitly forbid Emily from seeing Paige. Emily was tired of the games Ashley was playing, trying to make it seem that pulling away from Paige was Emily's idea and not hers.

Ashley gave her a kiss. "I trust you," she said, but her tone and her kiss said something different. The kiss felt desperate, as if Ashley were trying to show Emily that she had something worth coming back for.

Hanna poked her head up as Ashley and Emily filed out of Emily's room and passed her on the couch. "Headed out?"

"Yeah."

Emily didn't feel the need to tell Hanna that she was meeting Paige - without her plus-one. Part of her wondered whether Paige had told her. It wouldn't have surprised Emily to find out that Paige had told Hanna, and Hanna didn't mention it. Such was the nature of their relationship, once Ashley entered the mix: A little more than roommates. A little less than friends.


Being with Paige again was like a breath of fresh air. In fact, it felt a lot like taking several large gasps of fresh air, right after being liberated from a small, poorly ventilated room.

And, in a matter of minutes, Emily found herself gasping for air literally; pounding her hand on the table, begging Paige to stop making her laugh so much. "I'm going to wet my pants," she exclaimed, too elated to care who might overhear. She had forgotten about Paige's dry sense of humor, and about how much fun they used to have, doing nothing special and just laughing together.

But there was something different about Paige. She was more self-assured and confident. It didn't take long for Emily to trace that back to Hanna. Paige, herself, acknowledged Hanna's influence. In a moment of self-awareness that caught Emily off guard, she found herself wondering how differently she, herself might have turned out if she hadn't had Hanna's influence on her life during her formative years. Perhaps she would have turned out more like Paige; always too afraid to risk her heart for a shot at happiness.

And, thus, in what was, perhaps, the biggest surprise to came out of the dinner, Emily realized that she would have to mend fences with Hanna.


Emily knocked on Hanna's door and pushed it open slowly, shyly poking her head in. "Hanna?"

Hanna laid her phone on the bedside table and sat up, cross-legged, with her hands in the lap of her bright red pajamas. "Hey, Em," she said, with a welcoming smile.

"Hey," Emily replied, only slightly gushing. She was surprised by Hanna's enthusiastic reaction. She hadn't seen it in a long time. But, Emily had made the first move, and Hanna respected that.

"What's up?"

"Aren't you going to ask me how dinner went?"

Hanna took a deep breath. There were only two reasons she could think of that Emily would want to talk to her about the dinner, given their recent history. The first was Ashley had proposed, but it seemed too soon for that. (Emily was twisting her intertwined fingers nervously, but, still, Hanna didn't see a ring.). The second was that they had broken up. Hanna steeled herself so as not to seem too happy when Emily announced that they were over. "How did dinner go?" she obliged.

"Hanna!" Emily's wide smile had Hanna confused. "She really didn't tell you?" Hanna shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. Emily took two quick steps over to the bed and sat next to Hanna, mirroring her posture. "I had dinner with Paige!"

"You did?" Hanna's voice was high-pitched, and she hugged Emily. "So, how'd it go?" repeated, now eager for the answer.

"It was..." Emily sighed. She wouldn't have been able to get the smile off of her face if she tried. She was back with Paige and back with Hanna. "Great," she answered.

"Great," Hanna echoed with a shriek. She hugged Emily from the side again, pressing her cheek against Emily's. "That's - ha - that's great, Em."

"Yeah, it was pretty great." Emily laughed at the only adjective they seemed to be able to come up with. She stayed in Hanna's embrace, with her head on Hanna's shoulder, for the twenty minutes or so that it took her to recap the evening. When, with a sigh, she finally lifted her head up, she rubbed the soft sleeve of Hanna's pajamas. "I've missed this," she said.

Hanna squeezed Emily's shoulder. "I have, too."

"I'm sorry that I shut you out. I'm sorry that I shut Paige out. God - I can't believe how much I've missed out on."

"It's okay," Hanna assured her, hugging her again.

"I could see your influence in Paige," Emily asserted, nodding her head. She's definitely been..." Emily's face crinkled and she twisted her hands in the air in front of her as she looked for the word. "Hannafied," she concluded after some thought.

Hanna laughed for a couple of seconds, then stiffened up, pointing her finger at Emily. "You're not going to steal her back from me, are you?"

Emily bit her lip shyly and nodded her head. "I'm going to try," she said softly.

Hanna sighed melodramatically. "Fine," she said, pulling Emily close again. "As long as I get you back."

"I'm back," Emily whispered, repeating definitively, "I'm back." With a soft, contented, "Mmmmm," Emily let herself melt into Hanna's embrace.

Without loosening her hold, Hanna whispered, "You're wishing I was Paige, right now, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Hanna!"