Good afternoon, guys! :) This Sunday's update is here, folks. I know I failed last week because of some stuff regarding what I did on Saturday. :D Anyway, I updated during the week to compensate the lack of new material and I'm here to surprise you again. xD I'm really happy with all the positive comments you guys are making every time I upload a chapter, and that makes me continue working on this. So billions of thanks. :) I hope you enjoy this one and have a nice week you all! ;)

Herhers: I couldn't decide between the two alternatives you proposed, you I decided there's going to be talking and not talking to keep you happy. :D

CaliGrlFoLife: LOL Am I the master of the cliffhanger? That's funny, but I guess it's the truth. ;) I'll try not to play with your feelings this time. xD

Sheirome: It was time for Paige to show some guts, you're right about that. :D

Guest: Emily was so desperate that she had to go to the source. She's a little bit neurotic, but that makes her even more adorable. I love writing a desperate version of Emily, even if that makes you suffer. I'm sorry I'm so evil, I can't help it. xDD

MJ: I can't believe you don't like Paige's attitude. She finally made a move. That kiss wasn't just to shut Emily up. However, let's just be patient with her, 'cause this is new for her and she needs a little bit of support to deal with it. Luckily I'm fine, thank you. :D Blame the alcohol for my delay on the previous chapter. LOL I love your idea of virtually sending me candy. :D I hope you like this update. Have a nice week! ;)

jofi: I'm such a coward I made everything in my hands to fulfill your wishes. Sunday update! Just kidding. LOL

Enjoy the chapter, guys!

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE

: Chapter 18 – Bipolarity:

"If this is your way to avoid talking, then..." I start saying after the kiss she gave me, until she interrupts me.

"I hope it's working." She grins at me and my anger goes away.

"Can we please talk, Paige? Like, seriously," I add, her eyes just an inch apart from mine.

"Don't you like this?" She gives me a chaste kiss and I realize I don't want this to stop. I've been thinking about this happening since I saw her for the first time.

I kiss her back, forgetting about the talk we're supposed to have.

"I have a feeling this is a dream." My words make her grin. She caresses my cheek, sending shivers up my spine.

"It's not a dream, Em." I feel my cheeks go red.

I take a step back, trying to avoid more physical contact that makes me really vulnerable. I can't forget I came to find an explanation of the events occurred in the last two days.

"Why?" I ask, making her frown. I walk towards the couch and take a seat. She follows me.

"Why what?"

"This sudden change. If I remember rightly, you're straight."

She sighs and averts her gaze. "I don't know who I am anymore." She seems honest.

"I don't want to end up hurt, Paige. That's all," I confess. She holds my hand and turns her head to look me in the eye.

"Even if I don't know who I am anymore, I know I want you." My heart is pounding really fast. Is this a love declaration? She squeezes my hand.

"So what's gonna happen now?" I ask, provoking a smile on her lips.

"You're so rigid, you know." She giggles. "I can't define what's going on with me. Do you really need labels? I just want to be with you, that's all I know for sure. Is that enough?" She's flushing, looking down at the floor.

I smile at her. "You're so sweet when you act so shy, you know."

"Don't say that, please." She laughs at my words, but her cheeks are getting even redder. "You're evil," she adds.

"Am I?" I tease her.

She nods at me jokingly. "And I love it." She leans in and touches my lips again. She tastes great.

"This is weird. I mean… you're kissing me," I state. "Since when do you feel this way? 'Cause you made it really clear that you weren't into me for a long time."

"I don't know yet, but I knew I felt something since the first day. I can't describe the feeling, but I wanted to be with you at every moment."

"Then, why didn't you say so?"

She laughs loudly. "You make it sound like this is normal. I mean, you know you're gay since forever, right?" I nod at her. "I just found out I like a woman. I was trying to process it. It's not so easy." I caress her arm, I want her to know I support her decision to go slow. This must not be easy to her.

"Do you want this to happen? I mean, I don't want to push you, but I need to know."

She stares at me before answering to my question. "Only if you want to," she teases me, placing her hand on my knee. She doesn't know how that physical contact makes me feel.

"Just one last question," I say, making her laugh. This seems like an interrogation.

"Shoot."

"Jason…"

She takes a deep breath. "He's nice, handsome, clever, caring… He's just perfect, but he's not you." She's adorable. I thought being more into her was impossible, but her sweetness towards me has proven the contrary.

I kiss her hungrily, practically attacking her violently. She moans into the kiss and that just feels great.

"I thought you wanted to talk. You tricked me, Em." I laugh at her words.

"And Jason…" I mumble, expecting a discouraging answer.

"I broke up with him. I didn't want to make a move until I was really single. I'm a decent person," she jokes. I'm really glad she did that, 'cause I don't want to share her with anybody.

"You made my day, like really." She winks at me and life seems complete to me. I didn't think today would end up like this.

She jumps out of the couch and I suddenly feel like something's missing. I need her body next to mine.

"Are you staying for dinner?" I hesitate for a few seconds. I don't want to stress her now that she's giving me an opportunity.

"I don't want to bother you." She gives me a look of disbelief.

"Are you serious? I'd love if you stayed. Besides, I have lasagna in the oven, so…" she jokes, making me feel a little bit stupid. I still can't make myself to the idea that she actually wants to be with me. The feeling seems to be mutual, although I'm still puzzled that this is finally happening.

"It smells great. I didn't say anything because I was focused on other delicious stuff around the apartment." I approach her and hug her from behind as she's taking the exquisite food from the oven.

"Do you want to provoke an accident?" she asks, making me laugh. She leaves the tray on the table and takes a step to face me. I can hear her breathing.

"What are you doing?" I playfully ask. There's a slight gap between our faces that's making my heart go crazy.

"This is the last kiss I'm giving you, I'm hungry." I love her sense of humor. I've always found it sexy when someone makes me laugh.

"It's really sad that I'm going to be replaced by lasagna."

She giggles and then her lips touch mine again and I feel the most fortunate person in the world.

I enjoy the dinner like I hadn't in a long time. I have a feeling my life is finally complete. The food is delicious and the company couldn't be any better. We don't stop talking for an entire hour. I love how she has an opinion about everything. Besides, I've always found intelligence really hot, and she also has that quality. Like I said before, she's just perfect, she has no flaws. After finishing the delicious lasagna, she gets some ice cream from the freezer and we share the bucket while we watch a movie. 30 minutes later I realize she has her eyes closed. I understand she's exhausted after spending all day in hospital with her mom. It's totally understandable that the nerves and the uncertainty she felt today are taking its toll.

"Hey, Paige," I say, caressing her cheek.

"Hey," she answers, a smile on her lips. "I wasn't asleep." I laugh at her comment.

"You're tired. I'm going to leave so you can rest, okay?" She nods at me.

I turn the TV off and go get my things.

"See you tomorrow." I open the door and all of a sudden she opens her eyes widely.

"Aren't you going to give me a good night kiss?" she teases me.

I approach the couch and lean in to kiss her. It still feels weird kissing her. I mean, I'm loving it, but I didn't expect this would be happening anytime soon.

"Good night, Em." She gives me a chaste kiss and I leave the apartment with a full smile on my face.

The next day I wake up in completely optimistic mode. I feel like everything is going well with my life. I have a good job that I love, good friends and a woman that apparently likes me against all odds.

"Did I tell you Paige was at the hospital yesterday?" Spencer asks while we both have breakfast.

"I know that her mom was feeling a strange dizziness and went to get some tests." I say this with a grin on my face.

"Do you realize you're talking about someone getting sick while smiling?" She laughs at me. "I hope you're not developing some kind of lack of apathy."

I suddenly feel bad. "I'm happy it was nothing serious. I was smiling because…" She interrupts me.

"Because you're profoundly in love with Paige and she the feelings seem mutual. I was just teasing you, Em." She laughs and then continues drinking her huge glass of coffee. I know she's a surgeon and she has crazy and never-ending shifts, but the amount of coffee she consumes is way too excessive. It's her only bad habit, though, so I'm not going to involve in that matter.

"I'm just happy."

She nods at me. "And that makes me happy too. Besides, the little I know about her gives me a good feel. I warned her not to hurt you." She giggles.

"What? Why? Did you put on that terrifying face that gets any san person on their nerves?" Spencer is adorable, but she can be a little bit intimidating if she means to protect her loved ones.

"She got really nervous and assured me she had the best intentions towards you. It was actually funny. I felt like a father when the groom comes asking for permission to marry her daughter." She roars with laughter.

"You're evil, you know." She continues laughing, making it impossible for her to pour the cereals into the bowl.

"The best part of it was when she confronted me and said that she was going to treat you like a goddess and that she wasn't intimidated by my threat. She has guts, Em. I like her." She can be a little bit cocky sometimes and I love when she behaves like that. I always have had a soft spot for ballsy women.

"I'm enjoying this conversation, but I need to go to work. We'll talk later, though. Have a nice day, Spence."

"You too, Em." She waves at me, putting a generous spoonful of cereal inside her mouth with her other hand.

"You look happy today, Emily," the receptionist says when I enter the building.

"I really am. Have a nice day, Mark," I cheerfully add. He smiles at me. It's not so hard to make anybody's day a bit better.

I walk down the corridor and I see that she's already occupying her seat and looking concentratedly at the computer.

"Hey, beautiful," I say, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"Morning," she says, moving her shoulder so I take my hand away.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, frowning at her.

"We're at work. I'd appreciate if you didn't call me beautiful and touch me." It sounded really rude and even if it wasn't her intention, her words hurt me.

"I will act professionally then, Mrs. McCullers," I emphasize, clearly manifesting that it bothered me.

"Em, just… I'm sorry, but..." I look her in the eye and interrupt her.

"It's okay. I have a lot of work, so…" She is about to say something, but a knock on the door interrupts our little argument.

"Morning, Emily. I just… wanted to talk to you about… you know… Can we please talk in private?" Mr. McCullers raises her eyebrows, making it clear that he wants me out of the matter they need to discuss.

"We can talk here. I trust her." Paige looks at me and gives me that sad look that makes me want to hug her, although she treated me like shit just a few seconds ago.

"Okay then." He seems surprised about Paige's words. I mean, I know he's happy with my hard work, he told me so a week ago, but this is something else. I guess this is Paige's way of expressing her trust towards me, but this isn't going to make me forget about her bitchy behavior. "Mom told me about… you know… him…" He keeps looking at me from the corner of his eye. I'm trying to make the conversation less awkward by focusing on the blueprints that are on my desk, pretending I'm not hearing a word he's saying.

"Jason? You can say his name. I told you you can trust her, dad." Paige grins at the man that's having a hard time to say he's happy about Paige breaking up with Jason.

"Anyway, I'm glad you didn't ignore my advice. It doesn't look good if you date someone from work, you know. It may look like that guy is not going to get fired because he's hanging out with the boss' daughter." I suddenly turn my head to look at Paige. She sighs.

"Okay, dad. Anything else?" Her dad looks relieved by the late news on her daughter's love life. However, he doesn't know she's doing it again. Not with a guy though.

"Are you afraid of planes, Emily?" he asks grinning at me. I look at him with surprise. I don't get why he's asking that.

"No, I'm not," I briefly answer.

"That's great. We may have to fly somewhere regarding a new project. I will give you more details shortly. See you later, girls." He leaves the office and Paige looks at me.

"I'm sorry," she says, looking at me with those sad eyes.

"We're working. It's not a good moment," I resentfully add.

We barely speak all day, but when it's time to leave home, she approaches me. She kneels before me and looks me in the eye.

"Do you have plans for this afternoon?" I simple shake my head, not saying a word. "We need to talk." My heart skips a beat when I hear those words.

We leave the office and she brings me to a café that's a few blocks away from our workplace. The place is really nice. It has different individual seat booths separated by a thin wooden panel that doesn't go up until the ceiling, but it gives a privacy feeling when you're inside one of them. The only thing I can think about when occupying one of the booths is that she's trying to hide again. If she wants to make things right, this is not the appropriate place to do so.

She sits next to me, even if there's a specific place right in front of me so the conversation is more comfortable. The silence surrounding us is getting me on my nerves. We ask for two cappuccinos and I wait for her to say something.

"I'm sorry, Em. I just…" She seems really nervous and that makes me even more impatient.

"You're having second thoughts, I get it. Just say the words, okay? This is killing me." I raise my voice.

She holds my hand and I suddenly calm down. "It's not that, Emily. I just… I'm a coward and I don't know how to deal with his." I stare at her and I see defeat in her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"What happened this morning… I mean, I don't want to suppress my feelings towards you, but we need to…" I speak before she ends the sentence.

"I understand that, Paige. Don't get worried about that. It bothered me a little bit, but…"

"A little bit? It looked like World Ward III was coming" A smile shows on her lips. "You're way too passionate, you know that?" I laugh at her as I nod at her words.

"Anyway, you can't touch or call me beautiful at work, okay? It's not that I don't like it, it's just that…"

"Your dad doesn't want you to date anybody from work."

"Are you going to finish all my sentences?" she jokes.

"I will if I have to." She smiles.

The waitress comes to bring our order and I let go of her hand, but she holds it again, trying to let me know it's okay to do so.

I take a sip of the delicious cappuccino and decide to ask her something that's going to make her awkward, but I think that it needs to be done.

"Are you worried about your dad finding out you're dating a workmate or a woman?" The silence confirms my worries.

"Will you hate me if I say that I'm terrified about the second option?" She takes a deep breath and looks away, waiting for my answer.

"I totally understand that you're feeling insecure about dating a hot woman." I try to take some of the heat out of the issue. She laughs nervously.

"I don't want it to seem like I'm ashamed of you. It's just that this is new to me and I don't know how people will react, and… I feel stupid for feeling like this when I'm barely thirty years old." A shy laugh escapes her lips. I realize she's still worried about the whole thing though.

"It's totally normal to feel that way. I mean, it took five years for me to come out to my parents and friends. I was 24 years old, so there's not a lot of difference between the two of us. We're a pair of cowards." She laughs. It sucks that we have to somehow hide our feelings in public when we're two grown-ups, but she needs time and I will support her no matter how much it annoys me.

"Are we really okay? I know this is difficult for you. I'm making you go back in time and act like a closeted teenager, and I apologize for that." I love how honest she's being. She knows this is hard for me too.

"We're great, Paige. I'm glad you decided to tell me what was going on. I don't want that to change, okay? I don't want secrets between us," I say and she nods at me.

"Do you want to know a secret?" she teases me. I laugh at her sudden mood change. "I've never believed in the whole soulmate theory. I'm not so sure anymore." A huge smile appears on my face. I can't hide the fact that this made my day. However, the day gets even better when she passionately kisses me. Now that I think about our conversation, I'm actually feeling like a teenager. I can't stop thinking about her all day and the way she makes me feel, it's going to be hard to control my feelings. Although the efforts will be paid off if she continues kissing me like this.

No cliffhanger this time! Ha! :D

To be continued…

Stay tuned! ;)