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Chapter 10 – Heart Skipped a Beat
I wish we could've stayed cuddled up all day, but that bed was making us both sore and stiff.
My ribs are killing me, but I have to fight the pain for a while because that pain medication made me so sick earlier – so woozy and disoriented I thought I was losing my mind. After the run in with Dr. Jo I thought I was going to pass out. Apparently my nausea was obvious to everybody else in the room as well but their concern came a bit too late. Someone called for a bucket, but just as Aria grabbed one from the table across the room I very unceremoniously vomited all over Spencer's lap. It was quite a touching moment actually – she told me I was part of the family and I stained her favorite dry clean only pants with a stomach full of medication and bile. Luckily the whole group was around to see me lose my nonexistent lunch; otherwise I'd be completely mortified.
Sitting in Emily's discarded wheelchair, I ask if she'd be willing to take me outside for a bit. Fresh air would be so amazing right now – a little sunshine, maybe a nice breeze. She walks into the hall to find a nurse and hopefully get us permission for a stroll outside. I get my hopes up a little too much before I peek toward the window to notice the sun has already gone down. I can't believe it's only been a day. I can't believe how much has changed in such a short time. Just a couple days ago, Emily's best friends all thought I was responsible for making their lives a living hell. Hanna was all set to form a lynch mob and chase me out of this town – Spencer was all set to beat me into submission with a hockey stick. It's amazing how quickly things turned around; now I'm one of the family, I guess.
Emily walks back in; obviously disappointed if the look on her face is anything to go by. She bashfully makes eye contact as she walks over to me and kneels on the ground by the wheelchair. "Sorry, my love, we're not allowed to take any field trips quite yet, the doctor still has to check you out and make sure everything is starting to heal as it should." She leans up to kiss me and just before our lips make contact I very reluctantly turn my head causing her lips to make sound contact with my cheek. The look of absolute hurt on her face is bad enough, but as she leans back in and tries again to the same result, tears begin to form in her eyes and I feel like the biggest asshole on the planet.
"Em, baby, I want to kiss you every moment of every day – but right now I think what I need more than anything is an hour with a toothbrush and several very thorough showers." I kiss her forehead and hear her chuckle lightly before pulling me into a tight, but cautious hug. Without another word, she gets up and walks out of the room again, leaving me alone in the middle of the empty space.
I hear the fast paced click of shoes on hard tile and look up just in time to see Spencer come flying through the door. Her face is panicked and for a moment my heart starts to race and the panic builds within me too.
"Oh god, Paige! Are you ok? I was just body checked into a wall in the hallway. Emily ran past me so fast I didn't have time to find out what the problem was. I just assumed something was wrong with you. But you seem alright…"
"I'm fine. I swear. Wait - she body checked you and kept running? That doesn't seem like her."
"Yeah, I know. Hence my confusion. But you're feeling ok?"
"As well as can be expected. Just a little sore, you know?" Spencer nods sympathetically and moves to the uncomfortable looking chair across from me. She sits gracefully and pulls her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees. She stares at me with a look I've never seen before, after a minute it starts to freak me out. "Spencer? What's going on? And where did you go?"
"Well, I had to run home and change after your little vomit party." I feel the blush of shame burn the skin of my cheeks and neck before breaking eye contact with Spencer and looking intently down at my own bare – and slightly dirty – feet. "Normally I carry a change of clothes in my car, but I drove you here in Emily's car, remember? I guess you don't, actually. Whatever the case – Hanna, Aria, and Mrs. Fields were going back to Emily's house to get clothes and food for you guys since Emily is clearly not leaving you here alone. You both seemed like you needed a little time to regroup after Dr. Dickhead's lovely visit. I had them drop me at my house to get changed. No worries about it this time, McCullers. I'll give you a free pass since you clearly feel awful about it."
I finally look back up to see her smiling at me with a teasing look on her face. She's not mad at me for puking on her? I guess that's progress. The day before yesterday she wanted to break both my kneecaps to keep me away from Emily, and today we're joking around? I don't think I can handle this turn of events – at least not now. Where the hell did Emily go? And how could she fucking leave me here alone with Spencer Hastings?
"Paige?" I guess I spaced out for a minute, because Spencer's face has gone from teasing to concerned and is quickly changing again to reflect the nervousness her body is radiating in waves. I look at her and nod slightly, indicating that I can hear her again. "Paige, I'm so sorry. For everything." She blurts out her apology and I don't really know what to do with this information.
"What?" Did Spencer Hastings just apologize to me? For what? Did Emily tell her she had to apologize? Did I just imagine the whole thing? I slowly – attempting to be subtle – reach my good hand down to the exposed skin of my leg and pinch slightly. Nope, I'm awake. Definitely awake and ouch. "Why are you apologizing to me, you haven't done anything? I mean, you didn't do anything to me while I was sleeping, right? Cause that's kind of fucked."
Spencer laughed for a fraction of a second before becoming solemn and more serious than I've ever seen her when she wasn't threatening to beat me to death. "Paige. I thought it was you. I was so convinced it was you that I tried – I got Hanna and Aria to try – to take Emily away from you. I had no single doubt in my mind that you had been the one who was making our lives miserable, and I actually staged an intervention to get Emily to leave you. I almost called the cops to tell them to arrest you – I was prepared to make up a crime so they'd take you in on suspicion charges. There is nothing I can do to ever make up for that. But I'll start by saying how sorry I am that I ever doubted your intentions toward Emily, and by making sure you know that from now on, I'm on your side. Whatever you need, I'm your girl. Or your bro, or whatever – I don't really know how the phrasing works when "your girl" is the girl you're dating, because clearly that's not me." She looks at me with a very serious but extremely confused expression – like she's trying to decode a secret language – and I can't hold it in anymore. I laugh, long and hard, directly in her face.
I'm trying my best to rein in my laughter – not only because Spencer seems to be getting agitated with my response to her apology, but also because laughing hurts like a bitch. My whole torso is on fire. Waves of pain shoot up through my hips to my breast bone and stall between my ribs. I bring my uninjured hand up to grasp at my stomach, trying without any success whatsoever to calm my breathing and laughter long enough to take in a deep breath. I close my eyes tightly and try to focus on something long enough to ease my laughter. Think of something not funny, damnit! Umm, sore muscles – screw that, pain obviously isn't stopping this. Being locked in a closet by a deranged psychopath – definitely not funny, but also not what I want to be thinking about right now. Emily. Oh my Emily. Not funny, not at all. That beautiful smile and that amazing body – god, she's perfect. Those legs, delicious – they seem to go on forever. And her back – perfectly muscular and entirely feminine. But that smile – that's what gets me. That sexy smile, when she quirks the side of her mouth up just a bit. When she looks at me like she wants to…mmm…
"Paige!" I feel my laughter subside, but my heart rate isn't slowing. The monitor behind me is beeping quickly, too quickly for Spencer's comfort. Before she can get up and chase down a doctor in the hall, I open my eyes and ground myself by looking at my own heavily bruised legs. Well, those definitely aren't funny or sexy. My heart rate steadily slows back down to a normal rate and I look up at Spencer with a nervous smile.
"Sorry about that. I got – distracted."
"You scared me half to death – again. Please stop doing that." I almost start to laugh again at the look on her face. I feel like a scolded child.
"No need to worry about me. I'm just fine. The girl of my dreams loves me, I have three brand new friends, and I'm going to live. I'll call it a good day." I smile at the words that come out of my mouth. I hadn't really thought about it like that, but saying it out loud really made it true. Emily loves me. That alone is enough to make my day – hell, my year – the best ever. But my brush with kidnapping and bloody death also brought me a new family – a group of people who are willing to stick up for me and take me in when I need them most.
"What the hell did you do to her, Spence!? I heard the heart rate monitor going off all the way down the hall! I literally just raced the nurse down here from the station at the end of the hallway." Emily's angry form is blocking the doorway. Her ears are tinged red as she yells at Spencer and I have to make a conscious effort to keep my heart rate down. I see a nurse make her way into the room and check the machine behind me.
"You ok, sweetie?" I nod. Please don't ask why the machine was going off like that, I'm already ashamed for thinking it, no need to say it out loud. I chance a look at Emily's flushed and sexy face and my heart jumps just a bit. "Hmm. I see." The nurse, thankfully, takes a step toward me and removes the heart rate monitor from my index finger. She looks at me for a second and tilts her head slightly toward Emily. "I get it honey; you don't need it anymore anyhow. You just let me know if I can get you anything." I release the breath I didn't know I was holding and let out a groan of relief. She disconnected a few wires and turned the machine off before making her way back out the door and into the hall.
I turn back to the scene unfolding in the doorway. Emily is standing stock still staring harshly at Spencer – who is unsuccessfully trying to form words to explain what we were talking about. After opening and closing her mouth a few times, she finally stands up, walks carefully over to my chair – eyes on Emily the entire time. Once she's standing in front of me she whispers "I'm sorry, Paige. Please believe that." Spencer gives me a very tentative and quick hug before bolting toward the door.
"Spence!" I call out after her. She turns just as her legs pass the threshold. Our eyes meet and I give her a reassuring smile. "Thanks." She returns my smile with a brilliant one of her own before turning back on her heels and making her way down the hall.
Emily approaches from the doorway, looking me over to make sure I'm ok. She sits on the edge of the bed to my right and grasps my uninjured hand – bringing it to her mouth and dropping a kiss on my palm. "Are you ok, darling? I came running back when I heard the monitor going off in here. What happened?"
"Em, baby, I'm fine. Spencer apologized for thinking I was the bad guy and I just lost it, for some reason. I started laughing and couldn't stop and it hurt so badly. It's ok, everything is ok." I look deeply in her eyes and feel myself start to lose focus. I shake my head slightly "Hey! Where did you go? You just left without a word and Spencer said you body checked her in the hallway?"
"Oh, yes. I meant to apologize for that but when I got back in here I thought she hurt you so I wasn't sorry anymore. I'll tell her later." She grinned and I bring our connected hands back to my mouth and kiss her with a small laugh. "I went down to the nurses' station to see if you're allowed to shower. I know how badly you wanted to get cleaned up and I figured they'd be able to tell me what the protocol is when you're bandaged up like you are."
My hopes pick up immediately at the prospect of a shower. I haven't showered since after swim practice two days ago. Since before being tied up and shoved in that closet – and surgery – and laying in dirty sheets for an entire day. A shower sounds fantastic. "Well, what's the verdict?" I ask, a little impatiently.
Emily picks up on my urgency. She gets up off the bed and steps behind my chair, slowly wheeling me toward the bathroom. We reach the bathroom and she pushes me in and steps in behind me, closing and locking the door. I sigh when I realize a shower is in my very near future. Emily returns my sigh with one of her own before moving in front of me and leaning down again – looking me square in the eyes.
"The nurses said you can't shower yet, but you can take a bath. They also said you're going to need help washing up because you have to be extra careful around your stitches and the cast on your arm. I can go get a nurse if you'd rather, but I hoped since I clearly need to wash up as well, you'd let me help you." Emily looked away nervously as her words ran through my head. Once the shock of the idea began to wear off I finally opened my mouth and squeaked out my approval.
I bring Emily's chin back up so I can look into her beautiful eyes again. "I thought you said no looking away." She smiles at me briefly before getting up and retrieving a plastic wrapped toothbrush from the basket on the sink.
"How about we start here?" Emily hands me a toothbrush and kisses the top of my head before moving me to the sink and turning on the faucet.