Chapter 11

Emily's POV

After admitting her feelings to Paige, her fellow swimmer stood there speechless for a bit as she processed what had just happened. It may have just been thirty seconds, but it seemed like thirty hours to Emily. She could hear her heart pounding and her hands were getting sweaty. Finally, Paige seemed to snap out of her daze and her eyes found Emily's before they traveled down to look at her lips. What did that mean? Did Paige feel the same?

"E-Emily," Paige stammered,"are you being serious or just kidding?"

Emily was confused. Why would Paige think she would joke about having feelings for her? "I'm being completely serious, but you don't have to feel pressured to like me back if you don't. I'm totally cool with being friends." As the words came out of Emily's mouth, she knew it was a complete lie. If Paige friend zoned her, it would definitely not be cool and it would take a little to get over her. Even though Emily hadn't realized that she had feelings for Paige until a couple of weeks ago, she could tell that she had been attracted to her way before.

Paige's rude behavior was probably what had gotten in the way of Emily's recognition of Paige's beauty. Maybe when they were tolerating each other as roommates, Emily had been in denial. Then Emily noticed that Paige had been talking while she was consumed by her thoughts. "...so yeah." Paige finished, blushing.

Emily was sure her face was blank as she looked at Paige, not knowing what Paige had just told her. "Uh, what?"

Paige gave her a half smile, gazing at Emily with an affectionate look in her eyes. "I said that I like you back."

Emily's eyes widened, hope filling her. "R-really?" Paige nodded in confirmation. Suddenly a thought hit Emily like Paige had hit Hanna. "Fuck, what about Wes?" Paige's eyes immediately darkened with guilt and worry. "Don't tell me you actually care about that dickhead," Emily said, exasperated.

Paige cocked an eyebrow, a smirk beginning to form. "Don't tell me you're jealous," she teased.

Emily straightened, affronted. "No, I'm not jealous. I just know that he's a man whore and not worth your time," she muttered.

"If you got to know him, you'd find out that he's actually pretty nice," Paige defended.

Emily sighed before saying, "Ok, so what are you going to tell him?"

"That I don't want to date him anymore."

"And you think he won't ask why?"

"I'll tell him it's because I want to date you," Paige paused uncertainly, "do you want to date me?"

Emily laughed lightly at the question. "Of course I want to date you. I wouldn't have told you how I feel about you if I didn't want to date you."

Paige looked relieved. "Oh good. Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question," she agreed ruefully.

"Well, we better get this over with," Emily motioned over to where Samara and Wes were still standing awkwardly.

"That was officially the worst thing I had to do this week," Paige grumbled as they walked over to Emily's car. Emily looked back once more to see Wes slumping to his car, dragging his feet.

"Yeah, I could tell that he had actually developed some feelings for you," Emily commented casually as she got into the driver's seat. Paige plopped down next to her as Emily turned the key.

"Ha, are you jealous?" Paige repeated her earlier question.

Emily snorted in amusement. "Nah, you're not into dudes...are you?"

Paige tilted her head, thinking. "You know, now that I think about it...nope, not that into dudes."

Emily couldn't keep a smile off her face and Paige chuckled. "Oh please, I see that grin," she said playfully.

They sat in silence for a while before Paige broke the silence. "So, when did you realize that you had a crush on me?"

Emily frowned slightly, racking her brain to remember. "I think it was when I woke you up from your dream where you were thrashing around in bed and you said you were dreaming about me running away from you after you tried apologizing," Emily laughed at the memory, but Paige didn't join in. Emily glanced over at her to see Paige's face had turned bright red. "Are you good?" Emily queried, moving her gaze back to the road.

"Um, yeah." Paige's voice cracked.

"If you say so," Emily said hesitantly, wondering if she should press more into the subject, but decided that Paige looked too embarrassed. "Anyway," Emily stated, trying to change the subject,"when did you realize you liked me?"

There was a slight pause before Paige answered the question. "It was way before my weird dream. I'm almost positive that it was when you were telling me about...about the slashing of your tires," her roommate said quietly and Emily could hear the regret. Emily just nodded and inclining her head towards her teammate to show that there were no hard feelings. The rest of the car ride was silent, but it was comfortable silence.

When they got back to the dorm, Paige announced that she wanted to take a shower and just to think. Emily readily agreed since she had wanted to call Hanna and tell her what had happened. Hanna was bound to tell Aria and Spencer anyway. When Paige stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, Emily immediately picked up her phone and clicked on Hanna's name, holding the phone to her ear.

"Hey bitch!" Hanna greeted cheerfully and Emily laughed at the greeting.

"Hey Han, how are you doing in New York?" Emily questioned.

"Eh, it's fine. New York is amazing, but NYU is too schooly. How's Harvard?"

"It's pretty good," Emily paused, wondering how to break it to Hanna that she and Paige might be prepared to date. "So, my new roommate's pretty cool."

"Really? Who is it?" Hanna's voice echoed loudly in excitement. Emily held the phone away from her, ears ringing. Once she put the phone back to her ear, she heard Hanna's quieter, "Oops, sorry."

"It's Paige McCullers," Emily winced, waiting for Hanna's loud tone again.

"WHAT?" Yup, there it was. "Are you guys, like, super awkward?" Hanna asked in sympathy.

Emily licked her lips nervously before saying, "Actually, we're kinda friends."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, she's not so bad if you get to know her and we aren't fighting for the captain's spot anymore," Emily responded.

There was complete silence and Emily could tell that her blonde friend was searching for something to say. "Well, that's good," Hanna finally said.

"Yeah, we might even start dating." Emily cringed at the delivery of the news. What was she doing?

"WHAT? ARE YOU FORGETTING THAT SHE CALLED ME A 'BIMBO'?" Hanna shouted at Emily.

"I remember that, but I know she's changed. She was just jealous because she had a feeling that I would become team captain," Emily quickly defended her.

"Are you sure that she actually likes you back? She's the kind of person to play with someone's heart because of boredom," Hanna warned, concern clear in her voice.

"I'm sure that she does," Emily answered, but her heart felt a little heavier as she thought about it. Was Paige actually into her, or just pretending?

"Are you sure that you like her?" Hanna questioned.

Emily thought about the times where her heartbeat would rapidly increase when around Paige and how she felt heat rising to her face when they locked eyes. "Yes, I know that I like her."

Hanna sighed, "I trust you Em, but you have to promise me to be careful around her. No matter how much she tells you she likes you or loves you or any of that shit. She might just be gaining your love and trust to break you. Revenge for taking away her chance to become captain..." Hanna kept talking on and on, but Emily found it hard to focus on the words. There was a buzz in her ears and she sat on her bed silently, lost in her thoughts. "Emily?" Hanna asked, shaking her from her stupor.

"What?"

"If she breaks your heart, I'll drive over to Massachusetts to do what I should've done before," Hanna growled darkly.

Emily blinked. "What should you have done before?"

She could practically feel Hanna's smirk. "Stick my foot up her ass." Emily vaguely remembered Hanna saying that on the phone when Paige was harassing Emily before.

Emily smiled at her friend's loyalty. "Ok Hanna," Suddenly the shower stopped running. "Shit, Paige's done with the shower." Emily whispered.

"Are you going to go join her?" Hanna asked slyly.

"What? No! I thought you were going to stick your foot up her ass," Emily replied in a low voice, casting nervous looks at the bathroom door.

"Well, that's if she breaks your heart. From what you've told me, she hasn't yet. Who knows, maybe she is actually into you. All I'm saying is to be careful because she might not be telling the whole truth."

"Ok, bye." Emily said, hanging up and Paige opened the door.

"Hi," Paige smiled, running her hands through her damp hair. "Who were you talking to?"

"Hanna."

Paige's smile turned into a worried look before quickly plastering a hasty smile back on. "Oh, that's cool. How is she?" Paige asked, hesitant.

"She's doing pretty well."

Paige nodded, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly before launching herself on her bed, pulling out her phone. Emily sat, silently gazing at Paige, wondering how much Paige was telling the truth. After all, Paige only confessed to liking her after Emily admitted it first. Was Paige really trying to break her heart?