Guest Thank you. Yes, it's a pretty big step. Not neccessarily a pleasant one, but one that needed to happen.
Nyxxyn No, once it's said it's out there. They can't really take it back. I'm sure Emily will have one of those moment. And, even without one, I think she's catching on to the fact Paige is in it for the long haul.
Guest Thank you. My goal each week is always Tuesday, but sometimes my schedule doesn't work out that way (as evidenced by this update.) I don't know how much longer I'll be writing it, probably not as long as the start of 7B, but who knows.
Guest Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, that's exactly what this story was about. Well, more Emily than Paige, but falling in love again. And now that I've got that done, I can start revealing their past and building up their present.
Guest Mocha ice cream for everyone.
Ale Aww, that's so cute. And, I'm flattered that you like the story that much. Thank you for telling me that. It made my day. :)
Sulven- I've toyed with that idea, but I worried that it would feel dishonest. That it would come across like a breach of Emily's trust. She is relying on Paige to fill in all these gaps for her only to find Paige was hiding something so vital from her. But, for dramatic effect it would be so much fun to play with. I'm still undecided on whether or not I want to go that route. Or maybe just use a smaller element of it.
Guest Thank you.
Chapter 29
"I'm having a really good time tonight," Emily said softly. "I'm glad we decided to come out tonight." She glanced around the bustling ice cream parlor, taking in the ever shifting line of patrons, parents with little kids exclaiming excitedly over the treat they were waiting for, groups of teenagers chatting and taking selfies, young couples holding hands and leaning in close. It was all a little overwhelming, the heat and the volume of so many people packed into such a tight space. But the mood in the air was jovial and Emily found it contagious. She turned her attention back to Paige, who was seated across from her, quietly enjoying her ice cream. Paige paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth and offered a soft smile, which only grew bigger as Emily reached across the table and laced their fingers together. Emily's heart stuttered a beat, and then resumed, though at a more rapid pace. Paige gave her hand a light squeeze before switching the direction of her spoon.
"Want a bite?"
Emily leaned forward on reflex, opening her mouth to receive the cool treat before it even registered what she was doing, and in such a public place. By that point the rich coffee flavor was on her tastebuds and she couldn't bring herself to care. She let it melt on her tongue, a small moan issuing from her throat.
"That's pretty good," she said, then held up her cone in invitation. Paige leaned forward across the table and swiped her tongue out, taking a broad lick. Emily couldn't help but watch the way Paige's tongue swirled around the cone, her body heating in a flush at the action. Images of other places Paige's tongue could swirl combined with muscle memory of how it felt against her skin made her head buzz. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of such thoughts.
"Not bad," Paige murmured, licking her lips as she sat back in her seat. "Mine's still better."
"Liar."
"You know, you plan a pretty good date." Paige changed the subject instead of responding to Emily's accusation. "For an amateur."
"Amateur?" Emily scoffed.
"Well, it's true, isn't it? Seeing as how you don't remember any of our other dates, technically, this is the first one you planned."
Emily shrugged, she would grant Paige that. "You're still going to have to work pretty hard to top it, next date night."
"How do you figure?"
"Come on, declarations of love from your amnesic girlfriend? That's pretty epic."
"The way I see it, since this is your show, you're the one who's going to have to top it next time."
"You think so?" Emily narrowed her eyes and glared at Paige from across the table.
"I know so." Paige's eyes narrowed as well and she leaned forward, bringing their faces closer together as they squared off. This close, Emily could see the darker flecks of brown and green in her eyes and the spattering of freckles barely visible across the bridge of her nose. Her lips were only inches away, soft and plump and inviting. It was making it hard to concentrate on their little showdown, when all she could think about was closing the distance between them and sampling the mix of coffee and chocolate she knew they would taste of, from their earlier ice cream exchange.
On impulse she surged forward, pressing her lips against Paige's. Paige let out a soft murmur of surprise, but didn't hesitate to respond, sliding her tongue subtly against Emily's bottom lip. They pulled back slowly, both of them breathing heavily. Paige blinked at her, looking dazed. Emily licked her lip, feeling dazed. Their gazes locked, and held. The moment was broken by the table between them shifting suddenly, the surface beneath their joined hands shaking. They both jumped, startled by the sudden motion and glanced up.
"Sorry," a kid of about ten muttered sheepishly as he pushed himself off the edge of the table and then surged forward, giving his companion a shove. The two of them jostling each other as they moved forward in line, until their father turned and fixed them with a glare.
"Want to get out of here?" Paige said.
Emily glanced around and noticed the place was even busier than before. The line was practically out the door. All of booths and the seats along the counter will now full, with several people hovering along the peripheral, waiting for a seat to free up. She spotted several people eyeing the two of them. For a split second her instinct was to pull her hand from Paige's grasp and put some distance between them. But when their gazes flicked over Emily and Paige and on to the next booth, on to the next couple or group, she realized they were just hoping for someone to vacate their seat.
She was enjoying herself too much to leave, but knew it would be impolite to stay. Her cone was almost gone, and Paige's ice cream was melting in it's cup. Reluctantly she nodded and slid her way gingerly out of the booth. Paige hovered at her side, one hand on her elbow, the other at her waist as she steaded her balance and reached for her crutches. She picked her way carefully around the edge of the table towards the door. Before she had even reached it, a group of teens had taken over the booth.
"This is a really cool place," Emily said, nodding her thanks as Paige held the door open for her. "Do we come here often?"
"Not really," Paige said with a shrug as they stepped out into the night and made their way slowly down the street to the car. "A couple times a year, maybe. It's kind of out of the way."
Emily was a little disappointed, she had thought that maybe this place was special to them in some way. "How did we find it then?" She was curious how they came across it. It was half an hour from home, and in the opposite direction of leading just about anwyhere. It's not like they would have stumbled across heading to or from Philly or anything like that.
"After a swim meet. Against the local high school. It was one of the first meets of the season, sophmore year. And, it was brutal. We got our asses handed to us. I think, actually, you were the only one from Rosewood who won a race."
"Really?" Emily couldn't help but preen a little at that. Paige noticed and chuckled, so Emily elbowed her lightly.
"Yeah. Hundred meter freestyle." That had always been Emily's strongest stroke back in her rec-swimming days. It was still a bit of a trip hearing how she'd excelled at the sport through. "A couple of the seniors took the jv girls out for ice cream after the meet. Team bonding and commiseration and all that."
"That was nice of them."
"Yeah. Most of the older girls couldn't be bothered to give us lowly freshman and sophmores the time of day. But there were a few who were really encouraging and helpful, y'know?"
Emily could only imagine, but she nodded.
"It was actually a tradition that you and I kept up, when we were seniors. We'd take the jv's out for ice cream or dinner or something after a meet, good or bad."
"Yeah? That was nice of us."
"We were good team captains."
"Captains?" Emily could barely imagine being on a team, let alone leading one.
"Yeah. We vied for the position junior year, and then shared the position senior year."
"Who won junior year?"
"Well, I did, obviously."
"Yeah, obviously." Emily snorted and this time it was Paige who elbowed her. "Fine. Sorry. On with your story."
"Right. Okay. So, we came here after the meet, about twelve of us in total, and crammed into a couple of booths. I ended up squished against the wall with you beside me. There was literally no room between us. I couldn't move without brushing up against you. And vice versa. I swear I spent the entire time blushing and apologizing. It was probably the most I had spoken to you in ages." Paige let out a soft chuckle. "Neither of us said much else to each other. You were busy talking with the rest of the girls on the team. You were friendly and popular and they loved you. And I was busy...being awkward. The other girls on the team...they didn't dislike me, but I wouldn't exactly call us friends."
Emily didn't know what say. Paige didn't seem to be waiting for a response though.
"It was a pretty terrible afternoon all around. I knew my dad was going to go ballistic over my times and I was sore from the meet and I felt out of place squished into that little booth. I don't think I even enjoyed my ice cream. And then it was time to go, and suddenly all I wanted was another few minutes with you next to me. We got split up, heading back to school. You got into one of the other cars. But once we got dropped off, it was just the two of us. You were waiting for your mom and I wasn't ready to go home and face my dad. We sat on the steps outside the school and watched the sun set. I wracked my brain the entire time for something to say to you, anything at all. Then all of a sudden you turned to me and told me that you were sorry I lost, but that you thought I had swam really well."
"And then you kissed me." Emily finished the memory for her, it coming back in pieces. The coldness of the cement seeping through the fabric of her warm-up, making the back of her legs go numb. The ache in her shoulders and back from a hard day of swimming. The awkwardness of sitting in silence next to a withdrawn and fidgety Paige McCullers.
She turned, staring at Paige's profile in the waning light, trying to figure out when the cheerful, goofy girl from freshman year had turned into this sullen, silent creature who seemed perpetually annoyed by her presence yet constantly sought her out. She watched Paige's jaw work, her gaze on some far point in the distance, on something Emily wasn't sure was even there. She opened her mouth to ask her what had happened, but what came out was condolences and a compliment.
Paige had been a powerhouse in the pool. She always was. And Emily could see how much it was eating away at her, not having won the way she was accustomed to. Paige turned slowly and blinked at her, it seemingly taking a moment for the words to register.
Then all of a sudden she had surged forward and was kissing Emily. It was sloppy and rough. For the first few seconds, Emily had been too stunned to respond. The action so unprecedented that she was at a loss for what to do. When she did finally regain her wits and began to kiss Paige back, the other girl pulled back. She stood abruptly and paced away, clearly intending to take off without a word. But a few steps away she stopped and glanced around, taking in the deserted parking lot and the darkness that was settling in.
One of the seniors had offered to wait with Emily, but she had been anxious to get home. She had been talking the ear off anyone who would listen about her plans with her boyfriend that night. Emily had assured her she would be fine on her own, but the other girl, Sherry, had insisted that she couldn't wait alone. Paige had, suprisingly, offered to stay. She hadn't exactly sounded thrilled at the prospect, the tone of her voice more resolved than eager to help.
Now, she was clearly torn between the desire to flee and the promise she had made.
"You can go, if you want to," Emily had whispered, confused by the kiss, confused by Paige's reaction to it, and most notably, confused by the way her lips tingled and her stomach fluttered at the memory of it.
She had never really thought of Paige McCullers like that before. Sure, she was pretty. Beautiful, really. Especially when she smiled, an occurance which was much too rare these days. But when she smiled, her whole face light up and it was imposible not to smile too. Athletics had kept her fit, her shoulders and arms densely muscled, without being bulky. Her stomach was flat and her legs were toned. Emily had certainly noticed that she filled out a pair of jeans quite well. And, her swim-suit. And her field-hockey skirt. And those hideous shorts they wore in gym class..
Okay. So maybe Emily had noticed Paige in more than just a casual, team-mates sort of way. But, she had never really considered anything might happen between them.
But now it was all she could think about. Paige's lips had been soft, despite the harshness of the kiss. And they had tasted faintly of the mint-chip ice cream she had eaten. When Emily licked her lips the mint lingered, tingling slightly.
She knew she would be replaying that moment over and over again in her head tonight as she lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come.
Paige stilled at the sound of her voice then slowly turned. "No," she said softly, shoveing her hands in her pockets, her shoulders hunching up at tthe action. "No, I'll stay." She didn't come any closer though, she remained several steps away.
Emily fidgeted in place, debating whether to sit or stay. She eyed Paige, who was shifting restlessly in place. The energy radiating off her like that of a caged animal. Before she could decide on the best course of action, headlights washed over them, blinding Emily for a moment. She blinked to clear her vision, and once she had, she realized it was her mother, come to pick her up.
"You should let us give you a ride home." Emily turned to address Paige, only to find herself speaking to her back. Paige was already half-way down the block, fleeing from the moment now that her obligation to watch out for Emily was fullfilled.
"Yeah, and then I ran away," Paige said with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Wait, did you...did you remember that...or are you filling in the blanks?"
"I remembered."
Paige stopped so quickly that Emily overshot her by a couple steps before she managed to halt her own momentum and swing around. Before she had completed the motion, she felt herself being swept up into a hug, her feet leaving the ground as Paige spun her around before depositing her back down.
Emily swayed on her feet, dizzy from the spinning, but also from the realization that her memories were coming back to her. It was happening slowly, but she'd had three tonight and there was no reason to believe there wouldn't be more.
"You were right," she said, once she had gained her balance again.
"About what?"
"That some of the memories would feel really good, to get back." She raised a hand, catching the side of Paige's face in the glow of the streetlights and guided her in for a kiss. Their lips met softly, the kiss tender and lingering. A far cry from the quick, rushed one she had just remembered, but it made her feel the same. Ten years later and Paige could still make her her feel butterflies.
She didn't know how they had gone from that awkward moment on the school steps to dating, or from dating to living together but suddenly the not knowing didn't feel quite so frustrating. Not when remembering those moments made her feel like she was reliving them all over again.
Paige pulled back from the kiss, but only went far enough to rest her forehead against Emily's.
"Tonight really is turning out to be the best night," Emily whispered. She went cross-eyed, trying to look at her, before finally letting her eyes drift shut for a moment.
Paige hummed softly in the back of her throat in agreement before pulling back. "Yeah, you're really going to have to do something super special to top this."
Emily let out a laugh. "No, that's going to be your job."
"Nope," Paige said, popping the word. "That's all you." She kept one arm securely around Emily's waist as she stooped to gather up her crutches where they had fallen with a clatter when they'd hugged. Emily shook her head as she repositioed them under her arms and they resumed walking. A few minutes later they were back at the car.
"Are you ready for this?" Paige asked, opening the passenger side door.
Emily had almost forgotten about the frightening few moments at the interesction in the excitement of the last few minutes. The reminder caught her breathless for a moment before she shook the feeling aside and gave a determined nod. It had been scary but the moment was over. The accident was behind her and she had survived.
"I'm ready." She wished that her voice sounded as steady as her resolve.
Paige pressed a kiss to her temple and then helped her into the car. She shut the door gently behind her and then stowed her crutches before circling around and climbing into the driver's seat.
"I'll take back roads. And I'll go slow."
"I trust you," Emily said, reaching out and giving her knee a squeeeze. "I feel safe, when I'm with you."
The ride back was uneventful. Paige kept to her word, taking the scenic route home, driving slowly. The late hour and the back roads meant little to no traffic, and Emily was breathing easy the entire way back. She knew she was going to have to face intersections and city streets at some point, but not tonight.
Tonight was about sitting half-awake in the passenger seat, watching the light and shadows play across Paige's face and knowing she was going home to curl up in bed and fall asleep next to the woman she loved.
The woman she loved. The thought, the concept, it didn't fill her with anxiousness or dread. Instead, it was a light, airy feeling that bubbled in her chest and tickled the back of her throat as if in effort to escape.
She loved a woman. She was in love with a woman. She wanted to hold her hand and kiss her and...Emily's mind still stuttered over the next bit. Her body still heated in a blush a she completed the thought. But, not for the reasons it had before.
She was no longer uncomfortable or frightened by the thought. A little anxious maybe. A bit uncertain. But, also eager. Excited. Things had been progressing rapidly between them, but she was quickly becoming accustomed to and wanting more of the physical side of their relationship. Going all the way might still be a ways off, but she was certainly looking forward to all of the steps that would eventually lead to them finally making love.
Her body buzzed just at the thought of it. Arousal stirring in the pit of her stomach as images from her dream combined with real-life memories. She glanced at Paige, and then at the speedometer, guiltily wishing that she would go just a little faster so they would get home quicker. Her lips were tingling in anticipation of pressing against Paige's and her fingers itched to smooth across her skin.
She shifted restlessly in her seat, rubbing her legs together to try and ease the ache. Paige caught the action out of the corner of her eye and squeezed her hand.
"Don't worry," she said softly. "We're almost home."
Emily nodded and offered a weak smile, feeling guilty that Paige had mistaken her impatience for discomfort, but she didn't have the words to correct her. Instead she turned her head, watching Paige as she drove.
Her heart swelled with emotion just looking at her. Suddenly she had a word for the fluttering in her stomach and the breathless feeling in her lungs. Suddenly she understood the need to be near her, the safety she felt in her presence, the desire to make her happy, to make her smile. She knew what it was now, and she wasn't afraid of it anymore.
Sensing eyes on her, Paige dipped her head. It was too dark to see, but Emily knew she was blushing. "What?" she asked, turning to peek at Emily before returning her attention to the road.
"I love you," Emily said simply, and watched a grin blossom across Paige's features.
"You can't say that to me while I'm driving."
"What, why not?"
"Because when you say that, it makes me want to kiss you."
Feeling daring, Emily leaned sideways in her seat and pressed a kiss to Paige's cheek.
"Emily!"
Paige tried to sound stern but didn't quite manage it. "You're going to make me drive off the road."
"Maybe you should. Maybe another knock upside the head will knock my memories back into me."
"Don't even joke about that." This time, Paige did sound harsh.
"Sorry."
"No. I'm sorry." Paige squeezed her hand. "It's just.."
"Too soon?"
"It will always be too soon."
"Okay. I'm sorry." Emily squeezed Paige's hand back.
"I love you, too."
"What? No fair. If I can't say it, you can't say it."
"I'm the driver, I can say whatever I want."
"Your car rules suck."
"Deal with it."
Emily sighed, and shook her head, even though inside she was beaming. Tonight really had been the best night
