Good night, guys. I'm sorry for the delay, it's been a few busy weeks. :) Here's the chapter that explains everything you've been wanting to know. I didn't have time to go over the chapter, so there will probably be more mistakes than usual. Sorry about that, but I've been wanting to publish this chapter and it has to be today. :D Next chapter, chapter 50, will be the last one. I think 50 chapters are enough and I feel like I don't have anything more to add to this story. Thanks for your support, you're adorable. Have a nice day, buddies. :)
CC99: Thanks! That was totally my intention. I love cliffhangers. :D
yulebrinner25: Thank you! Paige is really sweet, I can't deny that. :) They're going to be together, that's for sure. ;)
Guest: Thank you for the review. Paige's always been a protective girlfriend, that's why I love her character so much.
wilq: Thank you for your nice words! ;) I feel like it has to be end, that's all. I will take a break and maybe I'll write another Paily fanfic soon enough. I need to think about an interesting storyline. :) I don't know if you'd like the next and last part of the story, but I can assure you I'll write that chapter with love. ;)
Thank you to all the people who are reading previous chapters and take some time to write a review and make me happy. You're awesome. ;)
Enjoy!
MEANT TO BE
Chapter 49: The hurtful truth
Paige's POV
"What are you talking about?" My sister sighs and avoids looking at me. "Are you going to tell me who was that on the phone? And why are you saying that I'm leaving tomorrow?" She's making me nervous, I need some answers. She keeps walking nervously around the kitchen. Suddenly she stops right in front of me and places her hands on my shoulders. She looks me in the eye, her stare makes me even more nervous.
"Listen to me very carefully. I know who revealed you real identity." I open my eyes widely. I've been wanting to know the truth since it changed my life, but now that I know that I'm just seconds away from solving the mystery, I hesitate about it. It's a little bit scary. If one of Emily's friends is the traitor, I don't know how I will react to the news. "Dad just called me," she states.
"Dad? Were you yelling to dad?" I don't understand anything.
"Dad knows, Paige."
"Dad knows what?" I raise my voice. I don't understand what is going on and I'm getting on my nerves.
"That you and Emily are dating."
"What?" I shout. That's impossible. We were cautious when we were in public and only a few people know about us. I didn't see this coming and it hurts. "Did he tell you that? How did that happen? I mean…" She interrupts when I start freaking out about this whole mess.
"Calm down, okay?" She holds my arm so I stop moving around the big kitchen. "There's more." My heart starts pounding. This was enough already. "It was him who told the journalist."
"You're kidding, right?" I can't believe this is really happening. Him knowing was shocking, but this hurts my feelings more than anything bad that ever happened to me.
"He thought that would give him an excuse to put distance between you two and you'd stop seeing her." This has to be a nightmare. This is not happening to me. I should be really mad right now, however, I'm speechless. My sister is staring at me, waiting for an answer.
"I don't know what to say." A tear runs down my cheek. My sister hugs me tightly, I don't feel better though. It hit me hard. I pull away from the hug, I suddenly feel the urge to know more about my dad's betrayal. I didn't think he'd go so far only because he's ashamed of who I really am. It's despicable." A flow of tears invade my face. I feel sadness, but mostly anger.
"He's a monster. I forbid you to feel bad about this, okay? You didn't do anything wrong." She clears my tears with a tissue. "I don't think he feels ashamed of you. I think it has to do with the business, you know. He's that superficial." I frown at her. I don't get the point. "I have a theory about the reason why he did it." I pay attention to her, even if her theory may hurt my feelings even more. "His company is everything for him. When he was in jail because of the financial problems, he thought he'd lose the company. That's why when got out, he devoted his life to it and that's how he got to be one of the richest people in the country. I think he was afraid everything would come to light and that would affect the company."
"Are you saying he's afraid that my coming out would affect negatively to the family business. That's insane, Jess."
"I'm not defending him. I'm not sure if that would be one of the consequences, but I'm sure he thinks that's possible. Remember people are still homophobic and stupid. He probably thinks some of the major investors and clients would pull out just because of that. I don't know, I'm just assuming he thought that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done this to you. Anyway, I hate him, I really do."
"This is too much to assimilate. I knew he wasn't the best dad, but this is just disgusting."
"That's the reason why I want you to go back and live your life. Screw him. Just be yourself and be happy. Don't let him upset you. You deserve to be happy."
"Does mom know?" I start crying again. This is too overwhelming.
"I don't think so, but I'm not sure of it. I was so mad at him that I couldn't continue hearing his voice, so I didn't ask." I nod at her. "And stop crying. You're tougher than that, Paigey." She hugs me again.
"What is going on here?" Emily's voice startles me. I forgot Jason and my girlfriend were on the living room. I guess they didn't come sooner because of the yelling, they wouldn't want to interrupt our conversation. I look at her and I clean my tears, but the redness beneath my eyes gives me away. She knows something bad is going on and that I was crying.
"We'll talk tomorrow, okay? I'll stay at Jason's. I will leave you two alone." She kisses me on the cheek and leaves the kitchen. A few seconds later I hear the door closing.
Emily's POV
"What happened?" I approach her, but she's staring at the floor, trying to hide the tears that were on her face.
She raises her head and looks at me. She's upset about something. She doesn't say a word for a few seconds, but then she starts speaking. She explains what Jess told her about her dad. I don't even interrupt her, I can't believe what comes out of her mouth. I can see anger on her eyes while she keeps explaining what her dad did. When she finishes speaking, she looks at me, I guess she wants to know my opinion.
"I'm so sorry, honey." I hug her and she hugs me back. "It's almost unbelievable." She nods at me, but doesn't say a word. "Does this mean they were following us?" I suddenly remember that one day, while waiting for Paige to pick me up in her sister's car, I saw a black car approaching and I thought it was her. And then another car like that when I was going to Spencer and Hanna's apartment.
"I don't know, Emily. I only know that I don't want to talk about it." She's angrier than I previously thought. It's totally reasonable.
"Now that I think about it, I've been seeing a big black car everywhere, but I didn't think that… Is that even possible?" I want to know how it happened.
"I don't know, and I don't care." She's getting angrier and I don't think I can stop her. She needs to vent.
"So? What are we going to do?" I know she's angry right now, but I want to know how my life will change. It affects me too.
"I need a break. I'm going to my bedroom." She leaves the kitchen before I can say anything.
"Paige…" I yell. She turns around to look at me when she is about to close the bedroom door. "Do you want me to…?"
"Leave me alone, please." I get that she's furious and needs time, but it still hurts that she's acting like that. I don't want to fight, so I decide to give her a moment. I'm hungry, so I prepare a huge salad and eat in front of the TV. I clean my plate and then continue watching a movie. After an hour since Paige got into her bedroom I hesitate to go check if she's okay. I finally decide not to bother her and continue watching TV. Just when the movie has all my attention, a phone call startles me. It's almost midnight. When I see who the caller is, I sigh and prepare for the worst.
"Hi."
"Hi? Is that everything you're going to say?" I knew she wouldn't be calling to wish me good night.
"What do you want, mom?"
"I want you to tell me where you are? I know you're not going to class and Hanna refuses to tell me where you're," she shouts. I can feel she's desperate. Poor Hanna, she must be going crazy due to my mom's harassment.
"Hanna doesn't know where I am," I lie, trying to make my mom stop asking Hanna about my whereabouts.
"At least tell me you're okay." Her anger is fading away, I can notice it.
"I'm fine, mom. I just needed time to think about what is going on in my life, that's all. I have a feeling I will be coming back soon."
"What does that mean? I'm a little bit tired of your riddles, Emily."
"You don't need to worry about me."
"That's easy for you to say. At least tell me you're not alone."
"I'm not alone, mom. I'm with… a friend," I add, after a brief pause to choose the word to describe Paige.
"Just a friend?" she asks.
"Mom…"
"Girlfriend?" I didn't expect my mom to say that word after what happened between us.
"Mom, please…"
"I just want to know. I'm fine with that." I didn't see this coming either. Did I really need to leave the country so my mom would accept who I really am? I know her first reaction was a little bit disappointing, but this is a huge step.
"She's… more than a friend." I can't say the word girlfriend yet. Not to my mom.
"Okay. Will I have a chance to meet her?" I can't help but laugh at her question. This is odd, but it makes me a little bit happy.
"Have you been drinking?" I can hear her laugh on the other side of the line.
"I know my first reaction was bad, but I've been thinking and… I love you, Emily. I know the best for you and if that friend of yours…" she laughs again. "… makes you happy, I will support you."
"Wow! Thank you, mom. I love you too."
"Will you call me tomorrow?"
"Sure, mom. You made me really happy. Thank you. Have a nice day."
"Bye, honey." When I end the call, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I can't help but grin. This phone call was what I needed to give me hope about our future as a couple. I didn't think this call would make me happy even what happened with Paige.
I look at my watch and see that it's almost 1 AM. I go wash my teeth and then open the door of Paige's bedroom. I try to be quiet. She's inside the bed and I can tell she's asleep because of her breathing. I get into the bed, filling the space next to her and hug her from behind. She doesn't move, but her breathing, the touch of her skin and her sweet smell is everything I need right now.
Paige's POV
She opens her eyes really slowly. I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, and I've been looking at her for ten minutes. I woke up half an hour ago and I couldn't sleep more, so I prepared breakfast and came here. I didn't want to wake her up, so I decided to wait for her to open her eyes.
"What?" she asks with her sleepy voice.
"I was admiring the beautiful view." A smile creeps up on her face.
"How are you feeling?" I raise my eyebrows. I mean, I'm not as angry as I was yesterday, but this is going to be tough.
"I'm really sorry." I approach her and kiss her on the lips. "I was rude to you last night. Sorry," I add.
She places her hands around my neck and she pulls me towards her and kiss me passionately. "Don't say that, dummy." Her grin makes me forget about my problems for a few seconds. I really appreciate that after what happened last night.
"You didn't deserve that," I admit again. I know I was really hurt, but I ignored her and that was not okay.
"Will you just shut up and kiss me?" I bite my lower lip and smile at her.
"I love you, Emily," I say, making her smile shyly. I have a feeling this kiss is more meaningful. I mean, our life is going to change and we must be ready to take a few steps towards our future.
"I love you too, Paige," she admits after pulling apart from the kiss.
"Even if my life is upside down, I'm grateful to have you."
"Stop saying stuff like that if you don't want to make me cry." She pushes me away lightly and I laugh.
When I finally get her to wake up from bed, I drag her to the kitchen. She wants to spend all day in bed, but I don't think that's a good idea considering that we will probably leave tomorrow. I want her to get an opportunity to get to know more this city. While having breakfast, I suggest her about my idea of leaving tomorrow. I don't think we need to be here now that everything is crystal clear. I want to go back. She tells me she supports any decision I make, so I guess tomorrow we'll be leaving. We have another day to enjoy and then we're finally returning to our previous lives.
The day goes as planned. One good thing about my dad's betrayal is that I don't need to hide my feelings anymore. I hold Emily's hand and kiss her in public. I don't care if paparazzis are around or not, I just don't care anymore. I'm finally going to live my life withouth doubts and regrets. I feel like I finally show everyone who I really am, and it feels awesome. We have dinner with Jason and my sister at night, my sister insisted on a goodbye dinner, even if they're probably going to travel to the States really often. And I finally tell Jason about Emily. I think like he deserves the truth. At first I thought that my sister would have told him that we are dating. She doesn't know how to keep secrets, but this time she did it. It was nice of her to give me the chance to tell Jason.
The next day, when we set foot on the airport, everything feels weird. It's like a new beginning to me. I already called Jack and I'm going to stay at his apartment for now. I don't want to go back to the dorm and attract more attention to my girlfriend. One thing is being out and another is making Emily's life a hell, so this seems like a wiser decision. I leave Emily on the dorm and head to Mark's.
Emily's POV
"Wow! This is huge!" Hanna exclaims as she stops the car on the driveway. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Don't make me be more nervous, Hanna. I need to do this," I admit, even if I'm a bundle of nerves.
"Okay, it's your decision. I just came to support you. I'll be waiting inside the car. Take your time, Em."
I open the door and get out of the car, I close the door right after that. Hanna gives me a huge smile and I smile back, but I just do it in order to hide the anxiousness that is killing me. I walk towards the entrance and I ring the ball after taking a deep breath. A woman opens the door and it takes a few seconds for me to react. The woman looks at me strangely.
"How did you get here? Did you jump the fence?" She seems a little bit bothered. I'm so nervous that I didn't notice the fence was open. "Okay, I can see it now." She points at the fence that was supposed to be acting like a safety element. "How can I help you?"
"I was actually looking for someone," I finally add. The woman frowns at me, wondering who the hell I want to talk.
To be continued…
