a/n: Grammatical errors gallore, oh my oh my!

Chapter 11: I'll Be Ok

Alex Nunez, on the other side of the door, was also on a mission: To find something to do with her shit life.

Lying on the couch, starring at the ceiling, she thought over her options for the weekend. She could hang out with Jay and Sean (but there were only so many candy bars in Toronto to be stolen before they'd get caught). She could go out with Ellie (but she couldn't handle all her emo-angst crap). Maybe Hazel was free…

Oh god. Was she really that bored that she even considered spending time with her! Insanity.

She turned off the TV, annoyed with herself for having such disgrosting thoughts. Disgrosting. She smiled to herself, realizing she used a word Paige had created…

Ah, Paige. Her incredibly beautiful and intelligent girlfriend, who was off in another city, no doubt dazzling everyone with her incredible beauty and intelligence while she was stuck here, more or less vegetating as the world went by around her.

She rolled over, burying her face in the cushion. She found herself smiling again (something she never did often without Paige), happy that they were back together. The long distance thing was going to work, she was sure of it. Sure, it was tough – really, really, tough – but that was okay. Hearing her voice every night before they went to bed was better than nothing. Paige's barrage of emails always made her day. The 4x6 by her bed definitely didn't replace the real thing, but at least it was something.

It was just a matter of sacrificing something for the one that you love, and Alex was pretty damn used to that. Besides, she still had to get her life together, and she wasn't exactly going to force Paige into making all her decisions for her. She had already considered all her options – she could go to college, get a (better) job, save up her money, and move to Kingston. Or stay here and buy a car. Kingston was only a couple hours away; the commute wouldn't be too bad. The only thing she was positive was that she wasn't going to make Paige give up Banting. It was her dream; what kind of asshole of a girlfriend would she be if she made her choose? There were going to be no regrets about their relationship. The last thing she wanted was Paige doubting her.

She considered calling her, but she knew Paige was probably sleeping or nursing a hangover from some exclusive college party, and she didn't want her head to be verbally bitten off. Besides, it was only the second week into the first semester. Paige should use her time getting to know people, like a good first year student should. She didn't need to be harassed by her overly-clingy girlfriend.

She felt a pang of jealousy though, thinking of Paige laughing and joking with other people…but the jealousy quickly faded when she remembered the last night they shared together.

Two weeks ago her life was irreversibly changed. After Mazel (Alex felt it was her duty to give Marco and Hazel an equally stupid nickname) failed to show up to Alex's house for Paige's 'farewell party', Alex had officially stopped being a moron. She finally got her head out of her ass long enough for them to get back together.

And by 'get back together', Paige pretty much jumped Alex.

Not that she minded.

So that night (and a good portion of the morning, of course) they got "reacquainted." It was only until the afternoon that they finally got up from bed to discuss their future plans.

"So, a month and you'll be back?" Alex asked as the two lay on Alex's couch. Paige's face buried into her neck did nothing to ease the immediate feeling of loss, knowing that she'd be going soon.

"Maybe less, maybe more…"

"And only for a weekend?"

"Probably…"

"Hm," was all she could say. She knew she wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her frown, and didn't bother to put on a fake face when Paige's eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Lexi…"

"I know, I know. It's okay, seriously. I'm honestly happy for you. It'll just be hard to be apart for so long…"

Paige appeared to be swooning at this admission, which made Alex crack a smile. "You're so adorable when you're being sincere," Paige said, holding her closer to her. "It'll be hard for me too. This whole 'learning' thing better be worth it," she joked.

"You'll call, right?"

"And write, and email, and text, and smoke signal – everything, I promise. It'll be like I never left. Now let's get out of here, my parents were expecting us like an hour ago," she said, standing and attempting to pull Alex off the couch.

Now, on the same couch, she began to dose off at the memory, a smile of contentment crawling across her face. The smile quickly disappeared, when a cheerful knock on Alex's door shook her from her almost-sleep.

"Ugh," Alex groaned, choosing to ignore it. Why would some idiot be bothering her so damn early in the (she glanced at the clock) almost afternoon!

Another knock.

"Damnit," she whispered to herself. Suddenly, the phone beside her vibrated.

She read the caller ID. Paige. "Hey babe," she answered, her voice slightly scratchy.

"Hi, Lexi!" Paige answered. "What are you doing right now?"

"Aside from planning world domination, absolutely nothing." Paige's laugh rang through the phone, waking Alex up instantly. "You?"

"Nothing, too. You sound sleepy. Were you sleeping?"

"Nah, don't worry. Even if I was sleeping, I don't mind."

Alex could swear she heard her eyes roll. "Cute, hun. A lie, but cute nonetheless. Were you going to go out today?"

"Ah, well I was thinking of going shopping for some flannel, maybe picking up a KD Lang album," she teased, stopping only when she heard Paige's surprised gasp. "Then I was going to stop by the fertility clinic, you know, see if I've got more options from when I was there yesterday, I think I found a sample that described Dylan perfectly..."

Paige sighed in relief. "Ah, you're funny. Really, Lexi, you should have a sitcom, you're hilarious."

Alex was surprised to hear the knock again. "That's why you love me," she answered smugly, ignoring the door again.

"Among other reasons, sure," Paige laughed. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd postpone your plans and maybe spend the day with me."

Alex laughed. "Paige, I gotta say, your jokes have gotten better."

"Not joking, hun. Let's go out today."

"Sure, I'll just hop in my rocket and meet you in five."

"I'm serious Alex, spend the day with me," Paige said sweetly. Alex laughed sardonically at her persistence.

"I don't think you quite understand the distance factor we have against us…"

The knock came again, louder.

"Ugh, some fucker keeps pounding on the door."

"Aww, maybe you should get it."

"Maybe. Or I could talk to my girlfriend."

A few more firm knocks came.

"Mmm, that does sound better. But it might be important."

"Yeah, or it could be another door-to-door salesman, or Darcy and her Christian youth posse trying to convert me…"

Another series of knocks fell on the door, this time sounding like hard thumps as if the asshole on the other side knew she was home and too lazy to get up.

"Damnit, hold on a sec," she said, relenting.

"Sure, hun."

She pulled open the door, not even bothering to check who it was before starting her rant. "You better me Ma-fucking-donna, 'cause-" Before she could finish, Alex just saw a mass of blonde and pink throw itself at her.

"Finally!" Paige greeted, wrapping her arms around her, making her stumbled back. "It's so good to see you finally," she said gleefully.

"How long have you been standing out there?" Alex asked in shock, returning Paige's firm squeeze.

"Wait! Before I answer," Paige pulled away and gently cupped Alex's cheek before planting a soft kiss on her lips, "Mmm…a few minutes?"

Alex couldn't help the smile that formed as she returned her kiss. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"Well that wouldn't have been very fun, would it?" she answered trailing her hand up and down Alex's back, making her shiver.

"But we could've been doing this," she said, giving her another kiss, "sooner."

"Good point," she said, giving her a quick peck her check before pulling away and closing the door behind her. "Home alone?"

"Yeah," Alex answered, taking her hand and leading her to the couch. "I thought you were busy all weekend, couldn't come home."

"I did too. But Jay gave me a call and said you were 'a damn loser' when I wasn't around," Paige teased.

Alex rolled her eyes. "He's the damn loser. Wait, since when did you two talk?"

"Oh," Paige said, nonchalantly, "we've just reached an understanding."

"And what does that mean?" Alex asked, put off.

"You still haven't told me about why you were with Spin that night…"

"That's different."

"How?"

Alex scowled. "Fine. You win."

"Of course I do. And as my reward," Paige said, standing up and pulling Alex with her, "let's go out. We can go to a movie, have lunch, meet up with friends, shop for matching flannel tops and if you're good, come back here later tonight." Paige took hold of Alex's arms and wrapped them around her waist.

Alex couldn't help buy grin like an idiot. Holding her like this made every sacrifice worth it. Every issue she had in her life disappeared whenever she was around.

"As tempting as all this sounds, I'm incredibly broke. So why don't we just fast-forward through all that and get to the good part," Alex offered, playfully pulling on Paige's earlobe with her teeth.

"The flannel shopping?" Paige giggled, until Alex's actions threw her off tangent for a moment. "But we should go out-" she pulled away, but Alex's lips found hers before she could finish her thought. Alex laid her down on the couch, thankful that they were alone. Their kisses intensified, only separating to catch their breath.

"So let's go out?" Alex whispered. Paige looked up at her dumbly, seemingly incapable of forming coherent thought.

"Mmm? Oh, right," she smiled, flustered. "Wait, do what?"

"Something about going out and getting matching tattoos and piercings…" Alex joked, leaning forward once more, before Paige placed a finger on her lips.

"I remember now, thanks," Paige smirked, gently pushing Alex off so she could sit up. "You're broke, I'm broke…but Jay's extreme generosity is going to help pay for today, if we actually do manage to get out..." Alex tensed at her words.

"What? Jay?"

"Yeah…He told me he'd pay for my trip if I came back for the weekend," Paige said cautiously. "The first thing I asked him was if he was expecting some prostitution-like service if I accepted and he said no," she said lightly, hoping to ease the tension. "Then I asked him if he got the money legally and he said yes. Good enough for me…right?"

"Yeah," Alex said, scratching her head. "He doesn't even have a job…"

"Well he mentioned something about winning a bet. Probably some stupid sport thing or whatever," she said off-hand.

"But Marco and Hazel haven't even given…"

"What about Marco and Hazel?" Paige asked curiously.

Alex snapped out of her thoughts before giving her another kiss, distracting her momentarily. "Nothing. But next time we're in the middle of a make out session, try not to mention my ex-boyfriend," she said playfully, tapping her nose against hers. "Let's go spend the kid's money."

The two left Alex's apartment hand-in-hand, not knowing that only a few blocks away, eight of their closest friends were discussing their rekindled relationship.

-/-/-/-/-/-

a/n: I should've done this sooner, but here's credit to the bands/artists I ripped the chapter titles off: Abba, Aleksander Denstad With, Stars, Coldplay, Elton John, John Lennon, Embrace, Weezer, Keane, Donny Hathaway, and McFly.