As soon as I left The Dot I headed straight for Ellie's house. I had to tell her the news in person. News this important simply could not be conveyed over the phone. In no time at all I was knocking on Ellie's door.
"It's open!" I heard her yell from the living room. I burst through the door and ran into the living room almost out of breath. Ellie looked up at me from the couch. Craig was sitting next to her. I hope I didn't interrupt anything. Oh well.
"Uhm. Alex. What's up? You like you just saw a ghost." Ellie said, looking at me with concern filled eyes.
"Well, figuratively speaking…I did." I replied. Wow. English class really paid off.
"Be your pardon?" Craig spoke up.
"Paige is back." I blurted out. Both Ellie and Craig were silent for a second before Ellie spoke up.
"I'm sorry. What?" She said, tilting her head to one side.
"Paige? She's back. I just bumped into her at The Dot." I repeated.
"Wow." Was all Ellie said. I didn't blame her. I was pretty speechless myself. Craig immediately looked shifty. He was hiding something. I could sense it.
"Craig?" I asked gently, my voice taking on a hint of warning.
"Alex." He replied, not meeting my eye.
"Did you know about this?" I asked.
"Uhm. Maybe?" He replied, getting a nervous look about him.
"YOU WHAT?" Ellie yelled, jumping off the couch.
"You knew and you didn't tell me?" I asked.
"Well, I promised her I wouldn't!" He countered, getting all defensive.
"Well, why did she not want people to know?" Ellie asked what I was thinking.
"Because she didn't want to make a big deal out of it." He said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. Then it hit me. "She didn't want me to know she was back."
"That's not it." Ellie immediately said, but then paused when she noticed Craig was concentrating on the floor. "Is it?" she asked in a small voice.
"She has her reasons." He replied.
"Cut the cryptic bullshit!" I shot back, not caring that I was losing my temper…and fast. Craig seemed to realize this and quickly relented. Remind me not to tell him a secret.
"Look, I promised her I wouldn't say anything to anybody about her being back. She's in town to visit her parents for break. That's it. She didn't really want to see any of her friends except for Marco. She wouldn't tell me why. I accidentally bumped into her. Marco knows the information. I don't. You wanna know why she didn't want you or anyone to know? You talk to him." He replied.
"I'm sorry Craig." I said softly.
"It's ok." He replied.
"I still don't get it." Ellie spoke up after a minute.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Craig said, looking at me.
"Talk to Marco" I replied.
"No, talk to Paige." He corrected.
"But you said Marco knew." Ellie protested.
"Well, he does but…" Craig trailed off as I interrupted him.
"But it has something to do with me. Which means I need to talk to Paige personally. Not go through someone else," I said.
"But she said she didn't really want to see any of her friends." Ellie said, obviously trying to talk me out of doing something I knew I was going to regret.
"Yeah. But it's Paige." Craig countered.
"Which means there's more to it." I said.
I was going to have to face her.
And by face her I mean face the woman whose heart I broke. The woman whom I still loved. The woman who probably didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I was going to have to face heartbreak, rejection, and a life without love.
Well.
Shit.