Chapter Six: Angel and Devil
A/N: Second to last chapter, I think, and this one's got a little Palex in it :D
Warnings: Little bit stronger language than in the past chapters. Just a fair warning. Though this is rated Teen and I'm sure most teens have heard as much before, lol.
Alex
I was still battling with my combined shock and fury at my little conversation with Emily, AKA Bitchface, when I set out to search for Paige a few minutes later. I wasn't sure what I hoped to accomplish by telling Paige what had occurred, perhaps I just needed to vent and relay to her that her cousin's girlfriend was fucking insane. Or maybe there was a tiny part of me that hoped she'd give her permission for me to kick Bitchface's bitchy ass.
I could hear a commotion coming from the living room, and went to check it out.
All right, what I just said about Emily being insane? Scratch that. The entire freaking family belongs in a loony bin.
At least a dozen of them. Dancing the conga around the living room. What the hell had I gotten myself into by kissing Paige the night of that premiere party? Was this what I'd signed up for? I might have been able to excuse this particular event, and blame it on them all being drunk. Maybe. I mean, after all, Paige couldn't be held accountable for her family's insanity.
But then I saw her. In her blue little dress with her hair all curly and pulled back from her face. For a split second it occurred to me just how strikingly gorgeous she was, before I realized what she was doing.
You guessed it. The conga. Around the living room.
She was grinning, having the time of her life, laughing and dancing around between her equally weirdly insane relatives. I made a quick scan of the room's occupants, Daniel and Emily were nowhere to be found. Likewise, Patricia and Marco were absent, as was Dylan. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen my fake-date since I'd left him to chat with his uncle.
Not about to start dancing like a fool with the rest of them, I merely strode right through the middle of the room, forcing the chain of Michalchuks to break as I pushed passed them. Finally reaching my girlfriend, I poked her impatiently on the arm.
She glanced over at me, and her face brightened. "Alex," she said happily. "Want to join us? Get in behind me."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Not likely. Come here, I need to talk to you."
I spun around and marched back through the crowded room of people falling over each other and giggling, some considerably intoxicated, some merely weird that way, and knew without even looking that Paige had listened to me for once and followed.
Once we were free of the Michalchuk mob, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the thankfully re-deserted kitchen. I barely had time to appreciate how adorable, and rather, if I do say so myself, sexy she looked with her cheeks all flushed from dancing and her hair tousled and falling out of the clip at the back of her head. But I wanted to say what needed to be said before we were interrupted.
I tossed a glance back the way we had come. "Quick question, is Dylan, by any chance, the only sane Michalchuk alive?" Couldn't help asking that first, as it was quickly becoming a increasingly strong suspicion of mine.
Paige looked surprised. "Um, hello?" she gestured to herself.
I shrugged. "Like I said, is Dylan the only sane Michalchuk a-ahh!" I broke off when she shoved me in the shoulder, nearly causing me to fall back into the table of desserts behind me. Unable to resist my now cackling girlfriend, I reached over to grab her around the waist, spinning us around until she was the one with the table digging into her lower back. I playfully forced her backward, until her pretty blond curls were dangling an inch above a mouth-watering plate of fudge.
"Stop!" she cried, still giggling and pushing me off of her. I let her up, smirking affectionately. Sometimes I think if I could hear that laugh and see the accompanying smile every day for the rest of my life, I could die a happy lesbian.
Okay then.
When had I become such a damn girl? Apparently, falling madly in love had made me a bit mushy. Or maybe I just needed to stop reading Paige's vomit-inducing-sugar-level romance books and go back to trashy magazines. Or, for that matter, stop hanging out so much with her, Marco, and Ellie and start spending more time with Jay. I was getting far too soft these days.
"Alex, you know we can't be like this here," Paige whispered, but she was still smiling. The moment gone, I suddenly remembered why I had dragged her in here in the first place.
"Look, Paige, I think your cousin Daniel may be in danger," I said tentatively.
A look of sweet confusion was immediately plastered across her features. "What are you talking about?"
"His girlfriend," I began. "Is freaking insane.I'm talking solitary-confinement, psycho-bitch insane."
Paige was a mixture of bewilderment and barely concealed amusement. "What are you talking about?" she repeated. "Emily? I met her last time I was here. She seemed nice."
"Nice?" I said incredulously. "Nice? Are you serious? She practically threatened my life!" Okay, maybe that was a little over the top. Whatever.
"Alex, what are you—" she began for the third time.
"Talking about?" I finished. "I'm talking about how she nearly tore my head off for talking to her freaking boyfriend!"
"Shh! Keep it down," Paige hushed me. "Why would she do that? Just for talking to Daniel?"
"Me and him were talking about video games earlier, and now apparently he's been talking about me non-stop. So now she thinks I'm trying to steal him from her," I explained, my aggravation returning. "I told you, she's got issues."
Paige let out a long, low breath, leaning back against the table. "Wow."
I nodded. "Yeah."
She absently began to play with a strand of her hair, twisting it around her finger as she considered this new information. Her hand moved up to feel the side of her head where the hair was falling out of the clip, and reached back to undo it. I watched as she combed her fingers through her hair, smoothing it back. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth as she concentrated on getting it in its proper place.
"Here. Let me do it," I offered, taking the clip from her. She turned around and let me run my hands through the neat blond ringlets, soft as an angel's. And after all, that was what Paige was to me.
Oh yeah, I was so calling Jay later.
"So what exactly did she say?"
"You mean once I finally understood what she was talking about? She told me to stay away from Daniel. Then she called me a bitch who thinks mascara is the name of the new My Chemical Romance album."
"Ooh, they're coming out with a new album?"
"Focus, Paige," I said, rolling my eyes.
"But, you're supposed to be with Dylan," she said, picking idly at the wood of the table. I gently pulled her hair back behind her head, positioning the sleek black clip in the middle.
"Yeah, apparently she thinks I'm cheating on him."
"I can't believe she had the nerve to talk to you like that."
The quiet but obvious anger in her voice made me smile. "I can't believe the nice people in white coats haven't come to take her away yet."
Paige snorted. Finally succeeding in fastening the clip, I began tugging out a few strands from the front so that they framed her face. Just how she liked it.
"Finished. Turn around."
She obliged, and I couldn't resist kissing her lightly on the lips when she did. To my disappointment, she pulled away almost immediately.
"Not here, okay?" she muttered, looking apologetic.
"If Marco and Dylan can do it, why can't we?" I whined.
"Exactly. I told Marco off for it earlier. What kind of hypocrite would I be if I turned around and did the exact same thing?" Paige asked.
"A cute one," I flirted shamelessly.
She shook her head. "Just...give it another hour and a half, all right? We'll be leaving soon."
"You're way too rational, Paige. You need to learn to live in the moment," I said seriously. She backed up a step as I slowly moved closer to her. "Come on, the whole threat of being caught is what makes it so fun. It's a thrill."
"It's what's going to get me murdered by my parents if someone walks in on us kissing in the middle of the kitchen."
"So we'll go find a bathroom or a closet or something like Marco and Dylan did."
"Hon, being in a closet is the whole reason that I can't kiss you right now," Paige pointed out.
I merely flashed her a smirk. She had backed up as far as she could go, and was now standing with her back against the wall. She frowned, and deciding that there had never been such a perfect moment, I leaned forward and covered the delicate pout with my own lips.
Despite all her previous resistance, I soon found her kissing me back quite eagerly. As usual, she tried to dominate, and as usual, I won with incredible ease. Paige's natural kissing style mirrored her personality. Fierce and dominating, yet with the slightest tenderness that made you feel like she really meant it. However, I had long since come to the decision that not being in absolute control for once was good for Paige. She was with me, I would take care of her. She needed to learn to relinquish her tight hold on control and power and trust someone once in a while. Namely, me. After all, I sure as hell didn't plan on anything happening to Paige while she was in my care, and I intended to get her to relax and just submit to what was natural. A difficult and scary thing for Paige, I can understand, given all she's been through. But that's also exactly the reason she, of all people, needs to know she can trust someone and let it all just happen, while she's safe and protected and loved.
Finally, we broke the kiss, and I smiled, satisfied. A little taste of Paige was all I ever needed to calm me. It was like the effects of several bottles of beer all wrapped up in the disguise of perfect lips and the sweet taste of coffee. Only Paige's favorite white chocolate mocha's, of course. My princess didn't drink any other kind.
Paige gave a soft sigh, her breath tickling my face. "Okay, Nunez, you got what you wanted," she was trying to sound bitter and grudging, but the effect was somewhat destroyed by the way her lips kept twitching as they fought off a grin.
"Yeah, but your kisses are kind of like potato chips, Paigey, you can never have just one."
She laughed. "Well, I'm sorry to say one is going to have to be enough for now. And look, as for this Daniel/Emily thing...just try and avoid both of them as much as possible. We'll be out of here soon enough."
I frowned at the change of subject. "So I don't get to kick her ass?"
Paige scowled and hit me on the arm. "No, you don't get to kick her ass." I pouted. She rolled her eyes. "That's my job later."
I laughed, knowing she was kidding but still appreciating the sentiment that she would kick someone's ass for me. "So I guess we should be heading back to our 'dates'," I said reluctantly.
"Guess so."
"Where is yours, anyway?" I asked curiously.
"Somewhere with Patricia, after she accidentally slammed her face into the back of his head when we were all dancing in the living room," Paige said. There was the bitterness she'd been going for.
"Are you serious?"
"It wouldn't have fucking happened if she hadn't been right on top of him. Evidently she's never heard of personal space."
I arched an eyebrow, surprised at Paige's language. Well, not the language itself so much as that fact that it was Paige using it. My angel wasn't always so innocent. She could be quite a little devil when she wanted to be.
"So where's yours?" she asked me.
I hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure," I said slowly, a crease forming between my eyebrows.
She laughed. "Great. Well, we'd better go and find them. Who knows what trouble those boys are getting themselves into. I'm so glad we know how to behave at parties," she joked, airily waving a hand in mock superiority.
I chuckled. "Oh yeah. We make friends everywhere we go."
Just then, the sound of loud, pounding footsteps and ragged gasping made me look up.
Marco stood in the doorway, clutching at his chest, wide-eyed and looking deathly pale.
"Paige, Alex...oh shit..."
"Marco, what the hell happened?" I demanded, pushing myself off the wall away from Paige, who looked alarmed.
"Patricia, she...oh God she saw..." Marco stammered, still trying to catch his breath.
"What? She saw what? A shooting star? J Lo? The future? All three?" I joked, my voice rising with mock hysteria. Neither Paige nor Marco seemed to find it funny.
"She saw me and Dylan kissing."