Chapter 10
"Man loves company - even if it is only that of a small burning candle." - George C. Lichtenberg
Emily squinted at Paige, and took a chance. "What would you have done in college?"
"What?"
"You said you wanted to be normal. So if this was a normal college afternoon, and you had just finished swim practice, what would you have done?"
"I don't know. We probably would have gone to a bar and played pool or something."
"Put your clothes on. Let's go do it."
"What? No."
"Everyone needs a break, Paige, even broody rockstars." Paige looked up from her seated position and laughed. A real laugh that gleamed against the relative darkness of the pool-lit deck and hinted at someone that Emily would very much like to get to know. "Come on," Emily taunted, "are you afraid you might have fun with me?"
Paige watched Emily as she stood there with crossed arms, her eyes sparkling and her lopsided grin mischievous. Paige needed to say no, could think of a hundred different reasons not to go, but she didn't want to. Fuck it, she finally decided as she nodded her acquiescence. Let's see what Emily Fields is really made of.
An hour later Paige was leaning over a pool table at a bar on Ramona street. A live band was playing covers in the corner of the large room, and a number of college students were saddled up to the bar or playing their own games on the other tables scattered throughout the room. Paige hadn't come here in a couple years, not since dropping out. It felt surreal to be here again, as if the years in between had been quietly and surreptitiously erased. Before she took the shot, she looked back at Emily, who was just to the side of play. She was leaning against a high wooden table, a neon light advertising a beer just above her head, her pool cue propped next to her, and she was sipping a gin and tonic. She'd be great in a black and white movie, Paige thought suddenly.
"Side pocket," Paige mentioned as she turned back to the table.
"You'll never-" thwock "-make that." Emily winced as the ball missed by a wide margin.
"You're not allowed to heckle me as I make the shot. That's a violation of house rules." Paige straightened and walked to Emily, picking her drink up off the smooth wooden surface and tipping it back, allowing the alcohol to slide through the ice and onto her tongue.
"I wasn't trying to make you miss it. I was trying to prevent you from taking it. You were set up completely wrong for that."
Paige's eyebrows shot skyward, "Wow. Give it to me gently, why don't you?"
Emily chuckled and grabbed her cue. "If you watch me, I'll show you how you should have shot it." She brushed by on her way to the pool table, and Paige could smell the clean scent of her shampoo as her long locks caressed Paige's shoulder.
Paige shook her head immediately. It wouldn't do to seduce the band's manager. Julie would probably kick me in the throat if she thought I even tried.
"Paige!" Someone yelled from a few tables over, and Emily and Paige both looked to see who had called out. A bear of a guy with a full dark beard leapt up from a seat and quickly began walking toward them.
Paige put down her drink and grinned widely at him. When he reached her, he engulfed her in his tree trunk arms and lifted her off her feet.
Emily heard a muffled "oof" before he set Paige back down, and she watched intently as the scene played out in front of her. She hadn't seen Paige be friendly with anyone except Julie and Carson, and this dynamic was especially interesting. Paige always seemed to have an invisible hands-off barrier around her, but this man either didn't notice it or ignored it. Then again, as big as he was, who could stop him from doing exactly what he wanted?
He grinned widely at Paige, "It's great to see you. It's been too long."
She looked down and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Yeah it has," she said, a half smile still lifting one side of her lips.
"Hey, we're getting a bunch of people to go down for a party by the bay tonight. You should come."
"I don't-"
"We'd love to come." Emily interrupted Paige's refusal before she could finish it. Benny looked over at Emily and then looked at Paige again with an amused expression on his face.
"Benny, this is my manager Emily Fields. Benny was the bouncer at the bar we used to play at in Palo Alto," Paige said by way of introduction. "We played there a lot."
"Best band to come out of Stanford in my opinion." He held up his huge paws. "Listen, I don't wanna intrude. Just come see us. Some people are setting it up now. Don't be late and miss the bonfire lighting."
As he walked away, Paige's smile disappeared. "We don't have to go. It'll be a bunch of fucking drunk college kids."
Emily looked directly at Paige. "I can handle them as long as you can."
"Sing with me."
Emily and Paige had watched as Benny lit the fire earlier, the behemoth first dousing the kindling with lighter fluid before pouring some in his mouth and spitting it out, igniting it with a lighter as it left his lips which in turn ignited the woodpile.
Everyone cheered and then began talking amongst themselves in intimate circles of people. Several party goers knew Paige, and Emily stood next to her, politely smiling and introducing herself at Paige's side while Paige succinctly explained what she'd been doing since they last met, humbly thanking them when they told her how much they loved the band. There was no trace of anger this evening, and Emily could swear she actually felt the heavy air that usually clung to Paige dissipate into the chatter of the party.
At the moment, there were maybe 20 people sitting on logs and other makeshift chairs around the bonfire, and Benny had pulled out his guitar and asked Paige to accompany him.
He began to play a folksy melody, and Paige put down the solo cup she had been sipping from and began to sing.
Emily watched from her perch, enchanted by the light of the flames playing across Paige's face. The fire was glowing against her skin, giving the appearance that she was burning somewhere inside, the embers heating her up just as a furnace turns cold black steel into molten and malleable and bright red metal.
Paige's rough voice fit the song and the easy mood of the night perfectly, and the lyrics of the Jack Johnson song suddenly broke through Emily's entrancement.
And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
For tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too
Too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree now
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Mmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
As the song died down, the listeners clapped and whistled, and Paige closed her eyes and remained quiet for a moment before turning and opening them to look at Emily. Her eyes shimmered in the darkness, illuminated by the bonfire that was now low and beginning to cool.
"It's time to go," Paige said softly and simply, her words the final breath that blew out the last of the flickering flames within her.