A/N: Okay, so here's the deal. I really like writing this story again, but I'm not sure if it's going well or not from the lack of feedbacks/responses from you folks in the few previous chapters. I've been getting a lot of messages to resume writing of my other story in the Twilight fanfic section, and I know that if I do, I won't be able to continue to update this story anytime soon. I feel a bit conflicted. You gotta tell me now if you're still reading and want me to update this story, or else I'm going to have to go back to my Twilight story (because I'm getting a lot of messages lately to update and I feel so guilty for not updating where a story's being read more than my other fanfics). lol Please make this an easier decision for me! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fun update and don't forget to have another wonderful day ahead!
Paige's POV
"I thought we were shopping for Caleb?" I asked as I trailed after the blonde in front of me. "We have an hour to get this done, remember?" I decided to remind her. Hanna turned around and faced me, putting on what appears to be her most unfriendly expression, but it didn't seem to faze me at all. I think I've seen it too many times by now that it seriously was losing its effect.
"I lied, okay? I just wanted to have my Paige time. Emily's been hogging you all year, and I totally deserve this." Hanna argued before she spun back around and strode across the women's clothing store. I stood there a little dumbstruck, realizing I had just been duped into a shopping trip with Hanna. Great.
I started to walk around looking for Hanna, well, a head of blond hair to be exact, and it took me almost a minute before I finally found her. She was holding a nice top against her upper body while admiring herself in the mirror, and I rolled my eyes as I quickly made my way towards her.
"Look, you could've just asked. No need to…run around in circles like you did today. Totally unnecessary." I nodded as I tried to make my point. Hanna was now staring at me with this simple curious expression, and I tilted my head to the side wondering what on Earth was now running through that blond head of hers.
"Really?" she hesitantly asked.
"Really, really." I smiled and walked over to take the shirt out of her hand and put it back onto the rack again. I then took her hand and hurriedly led her out of the shop, finding my way around the block until I found the one place I was looking for.
"Where are we going?" Hanna finally asked after a few minutes as I continued to pull her along. I glanced back at her and smiled as the wind passed through us, causing the ends of her summer dress to flap lightly while tossing both our hairs along with the air current.
"You'll see." I said before I turned my head back around to navigate the both of us to my intended destination.
After another few more minutes of walking briskly to where I remembered, we were finally standing in front of the antique store I remembered Caleb had mention in our passing conversation. Hanna looked at the entrance with confusion, probably wondering why on Earth we were standing in front of a rundown store before us.
"Caleb likes antique handwritten letters. He loves to recreate his own version of them, and I probably shouldn't be telling you this but…" I paused as I looked her right in the eyes while smiling, "Caleb has written a lot of letters to you, and he keeps them locked away in this rustic metal box. He's told me that he hopes when he's older and…well, when you two are an old married couple with children, you and him could read it together and then pass the tradition and the letters down to your descendants to hold onto them." Hanna gasped and had thrown both hands over her mouth in shock, and by the looks of it, she was deeply touched by Caleb's romantic gesture. "They sell really nice writing paper and ink here, and I think it'd be a sweet surprise for him if you were the one that bought it. I mean, you don't need a special occasion to give Caleb a gift right?" I asked. Hanna only nodded in silence before she took a step towards the store, and then she halted before she looked at me and grasped my forearm.
"Emily's a real lucky girl." Hanna spoke before she threw her arms around my neck and embraced me. I patted her back to let her know that I knew, and we let go of each other before we entered the store together.
I'm the lucky one.
As I opened the door and walked into The Brew after Hanna, I was immediately hit with the smell of coffee that was wafting through the air. My eyes roamed the room for about ten seconds before I spotted the girl I love as she spoke animatedly to Caleb about something. I smiled and slowly snuck up behind her, bringing a finger to my lips to silence Caleb's opened mouth that was ready to speak, and then I covered her eyes with both my hands before leaning in towards her right ear.
"Guess who." I whispered as I felt the slight shiver that ran through her body. Emily sighed and leaned her back against my chest, and I believe I felt her eyes flutter a bit behind my hands.
"My dream come true?" Emily asked in a singsong voice, and I heard Hanna snort beside me before she walked over and kissed Caleb briefly on the lips before settling down in the wooden chair next to him. I leaned down to kiss the top of Emily's head before removing my hands from her eyes, and she looked up at me with the most beautiful brown eyes I still haven't gotten used to seeing.
"You've got that right, angel." I said before leaning down again and kissing her lips upside down. I heard her moan slightly into my mouth as she pressed her lips firmer up against mine, and I had to pull away before she gave everyone in the coffee shop a free show.
"Gosh, quit being so cute!" I heard Hanna say from across the table before I stepped aside and pulled the chair out beside Emily and sat down. I nodded at Caleb to greet him and he returned it before standing up.
"The usual?" Caleb asked as he began walking backwards and away from us. Hanna and I both nodded at the same time, and I looked over to Emily to see her smiling at me.
"What?" I asked curiously and smiled back at her.
"You." Emily simply said before leaning in to kiss me on the lips. We both smiled into the kiss and only broke away when we suddenly heard Hanna coughing from two feet away. I looked over at Hanna, expecting a teasing smirk on her face, but what I wasn't prepared for was the person who was standing at the side of our table.
"Emily." Maya said with that sultry tone I've heard her used on Emily so many times before back in high school. I almost wanted to glare at her but I heard Hanna scoffed at Maya's use of Emily's name and thought better of it not to.
"Maya." Emily looked completely shock at seeing her former high school lover. I watched as the two stared at one another for a long while, and I saw Emily opening her mouth to speak several times, but the words wouldn't come out. I sighed inwardly, remembering that Maya was Emily's first love after all. How could I ever forget?
"You look good." Maya finally broke the silence and I found myself catching Hanna's eyes before she rolled them and leaned back into her seat, crossing her arms in an unwelcoming manner to our guest. I found myself feeling slightly disoriented with having to be a part of this situation, and as I began to inch a little further away from Emily, she suddenly grabbed my hand from underneath the table and held onto me tight. I instantly looked up at her face and found her serious expression rather intimidating.
"Thanks." Emily said curtly after a whole minute. I glanced back over to Hanna and found her with almost the same expression as Emily.
Shit's about to go down, Hanna mouthed at me and I smiled amusedly at the blonde's choice of words.
"I see that you're back in town." Maya remarked and I caught her looking over Emily's body appreciatively as she did so. She must so wants my fist her face right now.
"Yeah, I am. With my girlfriend." Emily added as she brought our entwined hands up to rest on the table in plain view for Maya to see. I guess she hasn't quite forgiven Maya for breaking up with her so suddenly, having skipped town and never bothered to say goodbye before she left. Yeah, I'd probably resent her too if I were Emily.
Maya instantaneously looked over to me, quickly giving me the onceover and frowning before she looked at me gravely in the eyes.
"She's quite the looker." I noticed a hint of bitterness in her voice. I almost wanted to laugh in her face as soon as I heard those words coming out of her mouth, but I held back and looked at Hanna and quirked an eyebrow. Bitch doesn't even recognize you, Hanna mouthed and I finally laughed out loud. Both Emily and Maya looked at me in confusion, and I threw my free hand over my mouth and tried to stop but it wasn't working because I found myself snorting through my hand instead.
"Oh God!" I continued to laugh as Emily and Hanna started to smile at me. At least I had somehow found a way to lighten the mood in this room.
"What's so funny?" Maya asked irritably as she crossed her arms across her chest. I tried looking anywhere but her and then I had found Emily's eyes, and my laughter finally stopped as I gaze into them. It was then that I saw the truth.
I saw forgiveness. I saw the pain. And most importantly, I saw the love in her eyes.
"Nothing." I said as I continued to look into Emily's eyes. Yet there was something about the way she looked into my eyes that made it so easy to forget my worries. This is the part where I could say I'm in love, and maybe the moment I lean in and kiss her.
"So…" Maya went on again and I had to roll my eyes as she kept on interrupting my moment with Emily. Emily smiled and then reached up to caress the side of my face and leaned in to kiss me. I mean, really actually kissing me in front of her former girlfriend. When we both pulled away, I couldn't help but smile and I saw her eyes sparkle with something I've never really seen before.
"This is Paige." Emily finally introduced me, as she looked into my eyes for one more second before returning her glance back to Maya. I did as well and I was certainly amused when I saw that Maya finally recognized who I was.
"You…" she began and I had to try not to crack a smile while I quirked an eyebrow in question. "You're dating the girl who tried to drown you back in high school?" Maya let out in disbelief and my amused expression immediately turned into a scowl before I looked over to Emily to see her reaction. She had merely shrugged and smiled apologetically my way, and we both turned our attention back to Maya again at the same time when I saw a hand grasp Emily's shoulder.
"How can you possibly date someone who's treated you so badly?" Maya questioned Emily.
"Says the girl who skipped town without a word to her ex-girlfriend, who by the way, she had left behind to figure out by herself for weeks that they were broken up." I deadpanned as I stared fiercely into the darker girl's eyes. She looked almost frightened when I had finally glared at her, and I could only wish that she were completely chill to the bone by now.
"Here you are ladies, a – " Caleb stopped midsentence when he saw Maya, and I realized right then that I couldn't be any more glad for his sudden appearance.
"I think you should go." Emily said with a warning tone as she rubbed the back of my hand with her thumb to comfort me. I had relaxed a bit from her touch, and I looked at Caleb as he hesitantly handed me my coffee and then set Hanna's down before her. I turned to see if she's already gone yet, but Maya was still standing there, almost as if she hadn't heard a word Emily had said and was glued in place as she tried to look intensely into Emily's eyes.
"Em – " she barely began before I couldn't take it any more and stood up from my spot to stare her down this time around.
"Look, you can't just walk up to Emily and pretend like you didn't hurt her, disregard the fact that I'm her girlfriend, and then rudely make snarky comments about how much better you are than I am to be with her, so you need to leave like right now." I ordered as I tried to keep my voice down. She seemed to have gotten the message because she finally started moving her feet, but not before she took another glance at Emily, who didn't even seem to bother to meet her eyes. I watched as Maya went over to take her coffee from the bar and then headed out of The Brew, and when she did, I finally let out the breath that I wasn't aware I had been holding in and sank down into my seat. Emily patted my hand gently, to calm me down I assumed, and I looked over to Emily and saw her smiling brilliantly my way.
"What?" I asked nervously as I looked down into my lap. Maybe I had taken it a bit too far.
"My knight in shining armor." Emily cooed as she leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth. I finally turned to look at her and saw that she was actually enthralled by my little outburst from earlier.
"God, they're like stuck in a Disney movie or something with all these fairytale-ish princess-y lines." Hanna said teasingly and I glance over to see her smiling at the both of us. Without a warning, Hanna then turned to Caleb and punched him in the arms and she pouted when Caleb just yelped in pain.
"Why can't we be like them? You need to be Aladdin, so that I can be Jasmine." Hanna said to Caleb as she twirled a strand of hair with her fingers. We all looked at her a little confused and she rolled her eyes and went on, "You know, Aladdin, the guy who turned into a prince to win the heart of Princess Jasmine?" The three of us looked at each other in amusement and I just shrugged my shoulders when I finally met Caleb's glinting eyes.
"Are you asking me to take you on a magic carpet ride?" Caleb turned and gave Hanna a flirty grin.
"Ew! I do not need to hear this." I said as I scrunched up my face in disgust. They all laughed at me and Hanna looped her arms with Caleb as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"That was close enough, babe." Hanna giggled as Caleb winked my way.
"Okay, if you two don't stop, Em and I are leaving right this instance." I said for the both of us before I looked at Emily to see if she was okay with what I said. Fortunately, she was smiling adoringly my way and I watched as she reached out a hand to push my cup of coffee towards me.
"You still haven't touched your coffee." Emily spoke softly as she let go of my hand to reach for her own cup. She then cradled the coffee cup in both her hands and I simply couldn't remember the last time I've watched her doing something so simple but genuinely beautiful like this.
"Stop staring." Emily whispered as a blush crept onto her face. I smiled and then brought the cup of coffee to my lips and drank it quietly as I briefly glanced at her from the corner of my eyes.
"Caleb and I are still here, you know." Hanna jumped in out of nowhere and brought my concentration back to the couple sitting across from us.
"Sorry." I grinned as I took another glance at Emily who was smiling shyly my way.
"Hm, looks like we made it. Look how far we've all come." Caleb sighed rather contently as he wrapped an arm around Hanna's shoulders and pulled her in closer to him. I smiled at how right he was and looked over to Emily just in time to see her grasp my hand.
"A long way." I said as I caught Emily's beautiful doe eyes.
And we're still going strong.
Disclaimers: I do not own Pretty Little Liars.