Chapter 11
Hours had passed since Paige had entered the room. It was now after midnight and neither girl was remotely tired. Paige knew it was time for her to leave, but she didn't want to leave the other girl. Despite her best efforts she really enjoyed being around Alex. Alex actually got her and that was rare. No one ever got her. She had fought so hard to keep everyone at arms length, but Alex effortlessly had torn the entire wall down.
She wasn't sure what she wanted with the brunette. She smiled at herself as she watched Alex watching the television so intently. She was in her own world. Paige only understand one thing that was going on between herself and Alex. She knew she couldn't sugar coat things. She needed the girl and that was something she wasn't used to. She wasn't used to needing anyone or anything. After Dylan passed away four years prior, she had learned to solely depend on herself.
The two sat relatively close to one another. The only thing keeping them from touching was the small pillow between them. The two were too wrapped up in either their thoughts or the television to notice they were no longer alone. Rachel and Steph had entered the room without turning on the lights initially. Rachel had planned on grabbing her belongings and exiting as quickly as possible.
"Oh my gosh that part was so funny. I know I wasn't supposed to laugh, but it was funny." Steph said smiling from ear to ear remembering the part.
"You're so..." Rachel began to respond but was caught off guard by the visitor in her room. "What the hell are you doing in here?" Rachel said immediately looking at Paige. Alex instantly sensed the blonde's discomfort. They had made so much progress and she didn't want to see the girl retreat.
Paige quickly got off the bed and hastily made her way to the door. "Look I enjoyed watching this with you. I am just going to go before anything gets started." Paige said before she tried to slip out of the room. She gripped the handle tightly waiting for Rachel to let her have it.
Rachel let out a venomous chuckle. "Walk away Paige, that's what you're good at!"
"Rachel lay off of her." Alex said surprising herself.
"No Alex, this is between us." Rachel angrily stated pointing between herself and Paige. "I thought I warned you about her."
"She's old enough to make up her own mind about people." Paige said calmly as she released the handle turning to look Alex directly in the eye.
"I wonder if you'd say that if she knew the truth, huh?" Rachel raised an eyebrow as she smirked evilly at the other blonde.
"Gable..." Paige said with a death glare.
"You guys as much as I'd love to hear about all this again... I'm going to uhhh... I'm going to go do something." Steph said before she walked out of the room.
"Bye Billy." Alex called after her as the other girls eyed her curiously.
"See you later Canada." She said before fully exiting the room.
"What's wrong Paige? You're suddenly not so tough are you?" Rachel asked the other blonde girl as she taunted her.
Alex's anger was boiling over. She hated to see the two girls like this, but enough was a enough. "Rachel just let it go. Both of you, for that matter. I've had enough of this shit!" Alex said raising her voice. They both turned to look at her with wide eyes.
"She has really gotten to you hasn't she?" Rachel asked sadly.
"Nobody has gotten to me, but you two need to get over whatever happened in the past."
"I can't..." Rachel replied as she fought back the tears.
"I'm gonna go. I'll see you tomorrow in class." Paige said as she tried not to look at Rachel. The tone of her voice was enough convection that she felt some sort of guilt.
"Rach... I am sorry." Alex said walking towards the girl and tried to comfort her.
"Don't." She said knocking Alex's arm away from her.
"Don't don't me." She said pulling the girl into a big hug. She felt the other girl give into her embrace and let her held her. Finally they sat down on Alex's bed still maintaining the embrace. She decided it would be best to wait for the other girl to open up to her. Rachel rested on the girls shoulder and cried. Alex wanted to take the girls pain away, because she was obviously going through something. She didn't know how to deal with any of this and she didn't want to push the girl either.
Thirty minutes had passed and neither of the girls had said one word.
"I am sorry for being like this Alex." Rach said finally raising her head.
"It's fine. That's what I am here for Rach."
"Well thank you."
"No problem." Alex stated grinning broadly.
Rach slowly began to fiddle with her thumbs as she dropped her head nervously. "So... I am sure you're wondering what the hell happened back there aren't you?"
"Meh... I was thinking something along those lines." Alex sensed Rach's inner turmoil and quickly tried ease things. "But you know, you really don't have to tell me. I'm just glad you're alright."
Rach nodded her head sadly. "I know I don't have to tell you, but you deserve to know." She took a deep breath. "Paige and I have a past..."
"I kind of picked up on that." Alex said with a slight giggle.
"Do you want to hear this or not?" The blonde sarcastically asked. She looked at the other girl who was now acting as if she was zipping her lips.
"Alright our freshman year she and I were inseparable. She was my best friend and I was hers." She studied the other girl's expression before continuing. "Anyway one day we were both out by the fountain and she simply asked to kiss me. I don't know what had come over her, but I realized in that moment that I had always wanted her to kiss me. So I let her kiss me. Shortly after that we both realized we were..." She hesitated before continuing, knowing that she had yet to come out to her roommate. "We were uh... gay."
She was relieved to find that the other girl wasn't at all uncomfortable. "You know I kinda already knew..." Alex said reassuringly as Rachel looked up at Alex expectantly. "Yeah you remember at that Party several weeks back?" Rachel bit her bottom lip and tried to remember the party. "You know the one that you were dancing all over uhh... shoot... what's her name?"
Rachel instantly turned red. "You mean Kimberly? You saw that?" Alex nodded her head chuckling at the girl's sudden embarrassment. Rachel's mood suddenly changed back to serious as she continued with her story. "Anyway after Paige kissed me... we dated for several months. Then we finally had our first time and we stopped speaking right after that. She left school for several weeks after her brother's... uh... yeah it's not my place to say anything. Let's just say her family had a rough time and she came back to school only to end up sleeping with this girl named Tracy. After that 'Paige the Whore' was formed and I lost the girl that I loved."
Alex remained silent for several seconds. She found herself slightly overwhelmed. She had known the girl's had a history, but she'd have never guessed they were intimate with one another. She finally spoke up wrapping her thoughts around everything. "Does all of this have anything to do with her mysterious walks to the graveyard?"
"You knew?" She asked almost angrily. She didn't know exactly why she was angry but she couldn't contain herself.
Alex shook her head sadly. "No... She didn't tell me anything. I just found her alone at the graveyard several weeks ago."
"Oh ok." She said finally getting off the bed. "You know she isn't going to be easy right?"
"But I thought you just said...wait...What's that supposed to mean?" Alex asked hostilely without thinking. She didn't want to get in the girls pants if that's what Rach was implying.
"It means just that. The girl is difficult as hell and extremely guarded." The brunette simply nodded before looking down at her feet. "I don't know what your intentions are with her and I will probably never admit this again, but I am glad she has you. She needs someone. She has no one."
