Hey guys. Thanks for sticking with the story. It hasn't been too great so far so I will try to better it :) Might start to flick between the P.O.V for more insight, let me know if that doesn't work :) Will update with a slightly longer chapter later!

Emily awakened with the mother of all headaches. She groaned as she tried to lift her head before letting it crash back down. Maybe there was such a thing as too many spirits. She opened her eyes slightly to inspect her pillow. Oh great. White makeup everywhere. Her arm stretched out as she went to roll over but instead bumped into something- someone. Her eyes widened as she sat up fully to check who was occupying the other side. She felt her heart kick starting when she realised it was only Paige. No recollection of the previous night though. She shook Paige's shoulder gently. Paige took a good few shakes before gradually opening her eyes and then almost jumping from the bed.

"Paige why are you jumping?" Emily clearly couldn't recall any of her actions.

"You just. The makeup. Sorry," Paige stammered as she rose from the bed, "Don't you have a driving lesson soon?" she quizzed as she looked frantically at the clock which read 1:37 PM.

"Uh no. I have one tomorrow instead. Something told me I'd be a wreck today and I was absolutely right. I'm gonna make pizza and take up residence right here. You are more than welcome to join."

Paige couldn't let Emily know anything was wrong. If she refused, Emily would know. "Hmmm okay. We are not watching The Grudge again are we?"

Emily laughed and shook her head. "I would like some more sleep though, feels like someone took a sledgehammer to my head."

Paige nodded before lying back down, with considerably more space between the girls but she had no intention of sleeping.

Emily couldn't think of why Paige was being weird but she hoped sleep would help.


Paige flicked between Spencer and Hanna on her phone. Who would be more understanding? Who would be more helpful? Who wouldn't make jokes? Spence. It had to be.

"Uh hey Spence, listen I need to talk to you."

"Hi Paige. Why are we whispering?"

"Em's still asleep. It's urgent. Can you come over?"

"To Emily's? Sure. I'll even bring coffee."

"Thank you Spencer."

"Don't mention it, I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

Paige disconnected the call just as Emily started to stir. Oh no. Paige started to panic, she couldn't deal with this right now.

"Who are you talking to?" Emily asked drowsily.

"Spence just phoned to tell me that she's bringing reinforcements in the form of caffeine."

"Ooo yay!" Emily managed to slip out before sleep pulled her under once more.

Paige got up silently and walked over to the bedroom door. She twisted the handle very slowly so as not to wake sleeping beauty. She breathed a sigh of relief when the door was safely shut behind her. From through the frosted glass on the front door she could see Spencer's outline gradually getting bigger so she ran downstairs to grab the door. Just in time. Spencer almost jumped out of her skin.

"Hiii Paige. Are you having withdrawal symptoms or something?" Spencer laughed as she entered through the house to the kitchen.

"I wish," Paige said, alerting Spencer that something was wrong. Spencer dropped the light-heartedness and placed her hand on Paige's shoulder as they sat down at the kitchen table.

Paige felt sick as she went over in her head what she was going to say. She still didn't even know how she felt about it. She didn't even know if it was real. Hopefully Spence would make some logic of the situation and if she couldn't then it was all damned.

"Sooo. The weirdest thing happened last night..."


Emily woke up for a third and final time. The smell of coffee was too much to ignore. She turned over to check on- where was she? A buzzing sound of voices came from the kitchen and Emily was confused for a second. Oh right. Spence was the carrier of coffee. The same coffee that still wasn't being drunk at this very moment in time. Emily ripped off the bedsheets and ran downstairs lightly but she stopped at the bottom. As she had gotten there the kitchen door had been closed from the inside. Why would Spencer and Paige want the door closed? Her curiosity got the better of her and she creeped up to the door without making a sound.

Paige was the one talking, "So she said that and then she just kissed me. Out of nowhere." Spencer gasped and Emily racked her brains to remember who was at her party last night. Who had Paige been shacking up with?

"Paige. You have to talk to her. You both need to know where you stand. That's too big to just try and downplay."

Who. Were. They. Talking. About?! Emily rattled off every girl in her head one by one. None of them made sense. Unless it was just a one way crush one of them had on Paige. But then why would Paige be making such a big deal out of that? She would have laughed about it with Emily and that would have been the end of it. What on Earth was going on?

"I know. I will. Causing mayhem just like her character; it's quite fitting that she was dressed as the Joker huh?" Paige sighed.

No. Nooo. Emily almost fell over. What? No. She listened more intently in case the alcohol was still warping her perception of things.

Spencer laughed. "She has definitely thrown a spanner in the works. I think you should just talk things through with her, she's been through a lot and probably take it a lot easier than you think. And why is your face... is that makeup?"

"Uh yeah. Joker makeup. I couldn't avoid it when Em was throwing herself at me."

Oh god. She just said it. Emily froze on the spot. Little traces of the previous night were coming back to her. Oh no. No no no. She had to get out of there. The only thing she grabbed on her way out was her cellphone to call Hanna on her way to Hanna's house.


"Thank you so much for listening to this. I know she doesn't open up like she used to. Before..."

"Before Ali," Spencer finished Paige's sentence, "yeah. You're different though, Paige. You're the only person she exposes her vulnerable side to. She even closed off to us eventually. Anyway, we should probably wake her before she sleeps forever."

Paige laughed as they both stood up. Spencer shouted "Em" several times before actually going upstairs.

"Paige she's not up here."

"What? Where is she?"

"I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you are."

"I'll wait on her coming back, I know you're meeting Toby."

Spencer thanked Paige as she hugged her before leaving. "Please call me when she gets home." Paige nodded to Spencer's request and walked her out.

From the living room window she watched Spencer walk away and then put her head in her hands. What was happening? Was Emily just drunk? Was she expressing something real? She wondered where Emily could've went as well as why she would've left.

Her question was answered two minutes later by a text from Hanna. It read: "Em knows what she did. She'll be home later."

Paige thanked Hanna for the heads up. So Emily overheard them talking? Now Paige felt really great. Not only did Emily forget about coming on to her, she ran away when she found out about it. Just great.


"Em you did what?! No way," Hanna's grin could split the sky.

"Hanna it's not funny," scowled Emily, "I screwed up, mega screwed up. Oh man I was just so wasted."

"That doesn't mean anything. I get drunk all the time, doesn't mean I want to get off with my friends who I have no feelings for. No matter how hot they might look."

Emily felt sick at that comment. Hanna had a point. She wouldn't be even remotely interested in Paige that way, drunk or sober, if her feelings were purely platonic.

"I've ruined everything in that case Han."

"The fact she was still there this morning proves otherwise. And you said she was talking about it right? That means there's more to it than making a big deal or trying to move past it. You guys have to talk."

Emily winced at the thought of facing Paige. She would rather shove her head in a blender right now. There was no way Paige felt anything. The conversation she had with Spencer proved that. Her childhood best friend would not even find her attractive in the slightest never mind fall in love with her. Emily couldn't decide if that would be a relief or a gut wrenching sucker punch. This in itself made her heart ache. How could one night mess up so many things?

"You're right. But what do I say?"

"Well firstly, apologise for coating the poor girl in makeup," laughed Hanna. It was going to be a long afternoon for Emily...


Paige anxiously watched the clock as it quickly approached half past 5. Her fingernails showed evidence of her nerves. A few hours alone with her thoughts were turning her into a paranoid wreck. She just wished Emily would come home to sort this.

As if by magic, Emily walked through the door. She mumbled to Paige that she didn't know what to say. Paige decided to take the whole situation by the reigns.

"Okay. I have two scenarios. Scenario 1: you were beyond drunk last night and your hormones got the better of you. You wanted to kiss anyone but it happened to be me you got to. We laugh about it and agree to lock the memory away, safe between the only 4 people who know about it. We stay as best friends and forget it ever happened. We eat pizza and watch horrors and mock each other. I teach you driving and you irritate me at swimming. I call you when you work late shifts to make sure you get home again. We plan ridiculous parties and win swim meets. We get up at silly o'clock and race laps in the pool. We feed each other breakfast. We have a great time with each other. We make plans for you birthday in 18 days. We joke. You call me out. I laugh at you.

Emily had a lump in her throat. Something deep within her knew Paige didn't want to explain scenario 2. Emily shook her head, "you don't get it."

"I do get it. It was one of those awkward situations designed to test our friendship's resilience and we will bounce back. I promise," urged Paige, "we're going to shower then make pizza and watch rubbish horror films because that's just how interesting our lives are."

The lump in Emily's throat was now a golfball but she agreed with Paige. She didn't want to, but she did. Her best friend didn't want anything and so by default neither did she.


Paige was left reeling at what she had just said to Emily. She had pretty much put the nail in the coffin that was the possibility of anything further happening. She didn't want to, but she did. The whole thing felt wrong but she had to go with Emily's decision and act like it didn't bother her.