Right where we left off…
They pulled away each other to see Paige glaring at them.
If looks could kill, they'd be six feet under. Sean was nervous and jumpy, and his face had drained of all color. Emma just sat with her head down. She couldn't bear to meet Paige's eyes.
Sean quickly jumped away from Emma. "H-hunnie, I-it's not what it l-looks l-like!"
"Get out of my house now," said Paige in a shaky would-be calm voice. Emma raised her head and winced slightly as she met Paige's eyes. She looked ready to kill.
"Jade, Josie," Emma called, "c'mon we're leaving."
Jade and Josie came down the hall with Lauren clinging onto Josie for dear life. "I don't want them to go!" Lauren screamed.
"Oh yes you do," Paige said, never taking her eyes, full of hatred, off of Emma, "because when they leave, you'll get an extra big sundae." Lauren immediately let go of Josie.
Paige turned her head toward the twins. "Jade, Josie, thank you so much for coming over," she said in a false sugar-sweet voice. She smiled the sweetest smile she could muster, but her eyes still shown with anger.
Jade, Josie, and Emma scrambled out the door, leaving the family alone.
"Lauren, please go to your room," Paige said.
"But what about my ice cream!" the three year old demanded.
"I will make it later," said Paige through gritted teeth, temper rising. "Now go to your own room!"
The little girl walked down the hall, pouting all the way. When Paige heard the door close, she advanced on an apprehensive Sean. Squeezing a stress ball in one hand, and grasping her pocket knife in the other, Paige drew a deep breath and spoke, "Sean, get out of the house, before I do something irrational."
"Pai--," Sean began.
"LEAVE!" she bellowed.
Sean got out of the room as quickly as possible. As soon as she heard the door close, Paige collapsed on the couch, sobs racking her body.
After a good ten minutes, Paige grabbed the phone and dialed the number of her best friend. "Hazel?" Paige asked as soon as someone answered. Knowing it was Hazel, she went on without a reply, "Could you please come pick up Lauren and Mikey for a while?"
"Sure Paige, what's up?" Hazel asked.
"Please just pick them up," Paige replied, "I'll tell you later."
"I'll be over in ten," Hazel said.
"Thanks," Paige replied and hung up.
Ten minutes later, Hazel came over and picked Lauren and Michael up for the night.
"Paige will you tell me what's wrong?" Hazel asked.
"Later," said Paige, nodding her head towards Lauren. Hazel just nodded and left.
Paige went into the kitchen and took out her pocketknife. She raised the blade to her skin.
It's not worth it, said a little voice in the back of her head. You shouldn't cut yourself over this. It was just one kiss, it's not worth it.
Paige leaned over the sink and pressed the knife lightly against her skin.
Remember Ellie? Remember when you saw her cut? You don't want to be like her do you?
Paige dropped her knife in the sink. It would be stupid for her to cut. She walked out of the kitchen, and into her and Sean's room. She laid in her comfortable bed and cried herself to sleep.
Sean was driving in his civic, not knowing where he was going, and not really caring either. After a while he found himself in front of a familiar "lunchbox". Sean grinned, if anyone could help him out, Jay could.
Sean walked up to the trailer and knocked on the door. Jamie answered it. "Is Jay here?" Sean asked.
"Jay?" said Jamie. Sean nodded. "No man, he moved out years ago. Lives in Ontario now, he's a psychologist."
"Can I have his address?" Sean asked. Jamie gave him the address, and Sean got back into his civic and drove. About 8 hours later, Sean pulled up to a pretty nice house. He was kind of hesitant to call on his old friend at such a late hour, but figured he'd take his chances.
He walked up and knocked. An unfamiliar woman answered the door. She was holding a baby boy that looked a lot like Jay. "Hello?" she asked suspiciously.
"Is Jay here?" Sean asked.
"Jay," she called, not turning her back to Sean.
Jay came up behind the woman with the baby. "Yeah babe—Sean!"
"Hey slim shady," Sean said.
The woman frowned, "You know him?"
"Yeah, he's an old friend," Jay replied. "Marie, go put Logan down."
Marie left, still eyeing Sean suspiciously, and Jay invited Sean in. His house was pretty nice, Jay looked like he was doing pretty well.
"So what brings you here, man?" asked Jay, sitting in a chair, while Sean sat on the couch.
"I'm having… problems," said Sean.
"What kind of problems?" asked Jay.
Sean proceeded to tell Jay the whole story. When he finished Jay was looking at him knowingly.
"It sounds like you still love Emma, but you feel guilty because of Paige," explained. "You're also worried what a divorce would do to your kids, I see cases like this all the time."
"Wait are you shrinking me?" asked Sean.
"Yep, and this will cost you about 80 bucks," Jay laughed. Sean gaped at him. "Dude I was kidding," Jay explained. He and Sean laughed like old friends (which they were).
"Thanks for the help," Sean said.
"It's late, do you want to stay here tonight?" Jay offered.
"I guess," Sean replied. "Thanks."
"No problem," said Jay.
Emma drove home, tears slightly blurring her vision.
"Mom what's wrong?" Josie asked, worried.
"Nothing," replied Emma.
"It's not nothing mom," said Jade, "something happened."
"Nothing happened," Emma said firmly.
"Why won't you tell us?" Josie asked.
"Please girls, you wouldn't understand," Emma replied.
"What makes you so sure?" Jade asked.
"I brought you here to show you how having sex can make such a mess of your lives," Emma explained. "Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade you two for anything else in the world, but I just wanted to help. I ended up just making a bigger mess of my life though." Tears were now streaming freely down her cheeks, and she almost couldn't see.
"Mom, look out!" Jade and Josie screamed together, both pointing at the bus they were about to hit.
Paige awoke from her restless slumber an hour later. Her head was pounding from all the crying she'd done. She got up and walked into her bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Ibuprofen. Popping of the top, she dry swallowed two pills.
Paige walked through the house, looking for something to occupy her, so she wouldn't have to think about Sean. The image just kept on replaying in her mind.
Paige wandered around her house, until she found a basket of laundry that had not yet been put away. She grabbed the basket, and headed off to her room once more. She hung all the clothes that needed to be hung, folded a few shirts, and put them away, too. She grabbed two socks, folded them into and ball, and opened Sean's sock drawer to put them away.
She stood and walked over to the open drawer. As she was placing the socks in the drawer, something made her slip. In mid-fall she grabbed onto the drawer, yanking it out of the dresser. She fell, of course, and made everything fall out of the drawer.
"Great," she mumbled to herself, sarcastically. She turned the drawer over and began putting the things back in. She froze when her hands reached something. It wasn't a sock like it was supposed to be, it was a picture. A picture of Emma. Why did he have a picture of Emma?
Paige felt a tear trickle down her cheek, and she hastily wiped it away. No, she told herself, you will not cry over him anymore. She blinked her eyes a few more times to get rid of other tears threatening to come, and she began to put the things away again.
She froze once more, though, as her hands passed over…