Beyond Degrassi: It still goes there
A/N: Sorry these updates are so slow in the making. I'm working on another fanfic, and a Palex fanart piece. It's progress is on my myspace background, so check it out.
Part 5: Give it a try, it can't hurt – can it?
Alex shifted nervously as she waited in the little coffee shop. It was a bit more high class than the area she had grown used to hanging out in. It was right near the University though, so she figured it would be a good place to meet up with Paige. She looked at her watch again, the digital numbers gave her no peace of mind. Paige was late. Alex could count the number of times she had seen Paige late on one hand. Would Paige just not show up? She had thought she sounded happy on the phone.
The door opened, and there she stood. Alex smiled, the nervous feeling melted away instantly. This was a far better way to see Paige, by herself, rather than hand in hand with "Robert" at a nightclub. She was really beautiful, Alex wondered how she ever had the nerve to cut things off with her.
Paige pulled up a chair next to Alex, already explaining why she was late "You won't believe this, but I completely lost track of time. And by that, I mean, I kind of fell asleep without setting an alarm. I am so sorry. I'm so glad you're still here, I was afraid that you wouldn't be."
"It's okay Paige, take a breather. Relax." Alex laughed, she was just glad Paige had made it.
Paige gave Alex an unsure smile, and tried to do just as she was told, relax a little. Alex was just sitting there watching her, she looked pleased. Paige hoped Alex felt all these giddy feelings she was feeling, she hoped beyond hope Alex wanted her back. "I'll relax once I know one thing Alex, why are you in Kingston? Did you come back for..." she left the 'me' unsaid, she was afraid to hear 'no' as the answer.
"What the hell else is in Kingston?" Alex responded snidely. She leaned forward, putting her weight on her elbows. She looked Paige in the eyes, that way that always felt like she was searching her very soul, and said very seriously, "I made a mistake. I was afraid."
Paige didn't know what to say. She stared back into those dark eyes, and felt like her own were watering up. She didn't even know why she felt such a strong attraction, affection, just flat out need for Alex, but she did. Alex could stick her heart in a blended, and she would still come crawling back. She wanted a future with Alex. She really wanted it, she had ever since the day she came into that hallway to say she was ready to stop caring about the wrong things. She hadn't stop caring about the wrong things, she had only thought she did. "I'm sorry I kept pressuring you, that wasn't right. I should have been more considerate, I just... I wanted you to come with me."
"I know." Alex shrugged then reached over and grabbed Paige's hand in her own. It felt just grand to hold her hand again, she had been afraid she never would. She changed the tone of the conversation from serious back to playful, "I'm here. You're here. We're here. That's all that matters right now."
"What about tomorrow? next month? next year? Will we be together then?" Paige asked, she wanted to know if Alex wanted her. Really wanted to commit to it. Even if she didn't want to commit, Paige wouldn't turn down the now. She was ready for whatever Alex would drag her through, in 'the now'.
"I'd like to hope so." Alex scoffed, "and, just so we don't have to worry much about it, we'll just pretend the stars have told us we're destined to be together forever."
"The stars, huh? Since when do you believe in Astrology?" Paige teased back. They were going to be Palex again. Everything was right again. She couldn't be happier in this moment.
"After you tattoo that many of those stupid little symbols on people's bodies it really gets you thinking." Alex explained sarcastically.
"That's right! You're a big shot Tattoo artist now." Paige grinned, "How did you get into that?"
"Jay." Alex said simply, "It was all his idea."
"Jay! Was he working at Elixir? Were you with him again?" Paige shot out one thought right after the other with out pause, "Is he here?"
"He was here, and yeah he worked at Elixir." Alex answered with a bit of irritation edging in on her voice, "Do you seriously think I would ever even consider getting back with him?"
"The bartender said-"
"Paige. Look at me. This is me, Alex, hello? That bastard gave me Gonorrhea, nothing will ever change that."
Paige had believed the bartender. Alex was right though, she wasn't a very forgiving person. Alex and Jay wouldn't likely ever be a couple again. "Of course hon", She shook her head, "I'm sorry I wasn't thinking, so how do you like the whole tattooing thing? Is it totally icky working with people's blood and what-not?"
Alex's Apartment...
Emma was currently in a near-unconscious state, sweating and moaning. She had fought Jay when he tried to shove her in the passenger seat. She managed to knee him in the face, his lip was split. It was still bleeding. In the end she came with him because he told her he could get her a fix. It had been a lie, but she had desperately wanted to believe it. Her withdrawals hadn't even kicked in at that point. Now she was confined to Jay's room in Alex's apartment, and now she was suffering from her addiction.
Alex hadn't returned home yet, but they hadn't been there very long. He was sure she wasn't going to be miss sunshine when she found out he was back. When he took off, she made it sound like he was abandoning her. She took it all the wrong way, which wasn't all that new to him. The things he did and said were taken the wrong way a lot. Here he was helping Emma get over her addiction to a very nasty substance, and surely if her parents found out where she was he'd be the bad guy. Kidnapping, or whatever.
"Where the hell is the guy, Jay? I feel like I'm dying, I can't take this." Emma cried, "It hurts."
"He'll be here any minute, Em. You just hold on." He lied.
"You keep saying that. Call him, do something! Fuck! I'll call him!" Her voice raised again, her suffering very clear.
"I just called him. He's coming." He felt lowsey about this whole situation. She was in obvious pain, and there was nothing he could do. She shouldn't have done the crap to begin with. She shouldn't have been hanging with those guys. She curled up into a fetal position and cried some more. It was a terrible sight. He could hold out his lie until Alex got home, at least. Then maybe he could convince Alex to watch her while he went to go find some god damn methadone.
He kept Emma at bay for three more hours before Alex came in the front door. To Jay's surprise, Paige walked in behind her. Alex was smiling until she set eyes on him in his old doorway. Emma asked him if that was the guy, he said no. Paige gave Alex an inquisitive look.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Alex shot at him.
"Hey, yeah." Jay didn't know what to say to Alex, so he changed the subject "How's it going Paige? Good to see you, hope everything is going well at Banting."
"You don't live here anymore." Alex stepped up right in front of him. She caught sight of Emma in his room. She looked sick.
Jay reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out some cash, then he handed it to her "Here. My portion of the rent." he lowered his voice, "Don't give me a hard time on this, please Lexi, just let me stay for a while. I'm not asking for much."
Alex shifted her weight and put a hand on her hip. She nodded her head past Jay at Emma, "What's wrong with her?"
"Hey Greenpeace I'm going to call again. He should have been here by now. Give me just a sec, okay?" He said to Emma and closed the door between her and the three of them. "I brought her back here to get over an addiction, alright? I didn't know where else to go."
"Brought her here, do her parents know Jay? She does have parents, you know. Parents who care about her. One of our former teachers, the one with the temper." Alex was unrelenting, and she did have a point. He didn't like the point much though.
"What's going on?" Paige asked Alex more than Jay.
"Emma 'Save the Whales' Nelson is puking all over my spare bedroom." Alex explained coldly, "Apparently this asshole kidnapped the jacked up little girl."
"That's not cool Lex. I'd do the same for you..." Jay frowned, "I'm just trying to do the right thing here."
"You can't do the right thing Jay." Alex snapped back bitterly.
"Addiction to what?" Paige interrupted, while she placed her hand on the small of Alex's lower back. Alex leaned into her touch, she was tense. She had just told Paige how furious she was at Jay for leaving her with an apartment she couldn't really afford. She also knew Emma wasn't one of Alex's favorite people.
"Heroin." Jay said under his breath, as if saying it made it worse. Heroin was a drug he had never even considered getting near. He had more than one junkie friend meet a nasty ending in one way or another. Nothing good came from junk.
Paige gasped. Alex rolled her eyes.
"Look. Lexi, could you watch over her for a bit? I want to see if I can find some Methadone on the street. It's the best thing I can do for her right now."
"No-" Alex started
"We'll watch her" Paige cut Alex off, "Go do what you need to do."
Jay smiled at Paige, Alex glowered at him. He said, "Thank you." and then he rushed out the door.
"Before you get all huffy on me," Paige smirked then kissed Alex. It wasn't exactly the romantic kiss either of them had imagined as their first getting back together kiss. When the kiss was over Paige poked Alex's nose playfully, "First of all you need the money, and he gave it to you. Secondly, I don't want to see Emma die or go to jail. He seems to know what he's doing, we should help all we can."
"I don't want to see her die either, but I don't..." Alex started to explain, but mid-thought she changed her mind. Paige was right, Alex didn't want to see Emma die either. "Okay, so we'll do what we can. Of all people... Emma. It should be me in there."
"Don't say things like that." Paige nudged Alex before she opened up the door. Emma looked up and saw the two of them.
"Where's Jay?" Her voice cracked, and she seemed to get angrier at hearing her own voice "Get out of here! I'm just feeling a little queasy, that's all. Go away."
Paige ignored her request and came in to sit next to her. Alex stood at the door awkwardly, and watched Paige try to comfort the sick girl. "You need help Emma." Paige started, "We know about the drugs, and we want to help."
"I'm fine." Emma retorted, "I've just got a 24-hour bug. I'm fine."
"You will be." Paige said, "We're here for you. We're your friends."
"Your not my friends. Just go away"
"So, why'd you do it, Huh?" Alex asked from her leaning spot in the door frame.
"What?" Emma asked, confused by Alex's sudden rude interjection.
"Alex." Paige warned.
"Smack, Junk, Heroin." Alex continued, despite the warning tone Paige used with her name. "You gotta be pretty damned stupid, or pretty fucking desperate to go to that shit. I sure as hell know you aren't stupid. So what made you do it?"
"Shut up." Emma responded. Paige tried to put an arm on her shoulders, but Emma knocked it away.
"Everyone knows you had that eating problem. Was this a new way to loose weight? I think speed would have been slightly more effective, if that's what you were going for... or-"
"Cut it out Alex." Paige snapped. Emma stood up, despite how much it hurt to stand. The pains in her stomach made her want to double over, and try unsuccessfully to comfort them. She was dizzy and nauseous, but she rose to the challenge anyway. Paige stood up when Emma stood, she looked like she was ready to catch her if she fell.
"Or maybe Simpson's little angel just got hooked on some bad habits- like sucking cock down at the ravine." Alex continued. She was never very fond of Emma, she couldn't help it. The brat was spoiled. She had everything going for her, and still she was always whining about something or another. Emma lived the easy life, why would she need an escape drug like heroin? Emma didn't know the first thing about having it rough.
"Maybe I like living my own life, maybe I like to feel good." Emma countered, walking slowly over to the door frame. She collapsed before she made it, the pain too much for her to handle. She glared up at Alex defiantly while she clenched her teeth in pain. Paige knelled down behind her, not knowing how to help without touching her.
"Yeah. Right. Looks like you feel great, looks like you have one hell of a special life." Alex taunted, "Damn, I wish I was you."
"I know my life isn't perfect!" Emma screamed, she covered her ears and closed her eyes "Stop picking on me! Leave me alone!"
"Emma, she's just trying to help... in her not so smart way." Paige tried to explain to Emma.
"I don't want your help. Either of you! Leave me alone!" She was still screaming. Alex backed out of the room.
"We're here to help. Jay will be back with something for you any minute." Paige said before leaving Emma to her own sorrows. Alex had put her in a state that wasn't very co-operative, now Paige would have to give her space.
In the living room she crossed her arms in front of Alex, "What was that about? I thought you agreed to help her?"
"I don't know." Alex mumbled.
"We've been back together for less than four hours, and you're already starting a fight." Paige uncrossed her arms and gestured in her exasperation.
"Paige..." Alex tried to pull Paige into an embrace. Paige let Alex hug her, but didn't hug her back.
"That wasn't cool. It only made things worse." Paige was angry now, Paige was nearly impossible when she was angry. Alex wished she knew why she had baited Emma, she hadn't had the intention before she started. "I better get home." Paige stated evenly.
"Stay. Please, stay?" Alex pleaded, still holding Paige in her arms "Can we talk about this? I don't want our first day back together to end like this. Not like this."
"Fine. I don't really want it to end like this either." Paige twisted her mouth to the side as she paused to think of the catch, " I'll stay, but we're going to be there for Emma. You're not going to do that again, right?"
"I'll behave, I promise." Alex nodded like a puppy, who was just told 'be a good girl'.
"Okay, keep that promise. She needs friends." Paige took Alex's hand and lead her back into the room Emma was crying in, this time in hope's to actually help the poor thing.