[Disclaimer] I own nothing... except for Jacob and all his adorableness ;).
[Author's note] Thank you all so much for the follows, favourites and especially the reviews, I read them all and I'm incredible grateful for them. As I received no complaints regarding the name 'Alex', I will be keeping Paige's girlfriend's name as such. Also Getlostandruncic, if Emily has a girlfriend or not you'll have to wait and see ;). Here's chapter 4, I hope you all enjoy it.
Paige's eyes unconsciously taking in the appearance of the girl before her, her long raven hair still much the same as she remembered in college, as its waves slightly curled hanging over her left shoulder. Her eyes taken in the physicality of the girl's body, accentuated by the tight black jeans and crisp white shirt the other girl was wearing, the outfit pulled together by a wine coloured leather jacket which formed brilliantly around the girl's waist. Emily's eyes doing a similar scan of Paige's physique, her almond eyes taking in the form fitting work-out pants and loose sleeveless top Paige was wearing, her eyes stood still for a minute as she caught a glimpse of the girl's toned side and black sports bra, reminiscent of a happier time when she first said the words 'I love you' out loud to Paige. The only difference Emily's eyes recognised was a change in Paige's hair colour, it was now a chestnut brown, a little darker than the auburn she had always remembered her with.
In truth when Emily and Paige fell in love, what they really fell for was each other's personalities. Paige adored the modest air of confidence that always surrounded the tan girl, she was almost envious of it in a certain sense. Emily fell for Paige's competitive streak, her awkwardness but mainly fell for Paige because of her ability to always make her feel safe. Paige was her safe place. The beautiful, physically fit, and athletically toned bodies of each of the swimmers was always just an added bonus for the two. It often meant they were both often caught shamelessly checking the other one out. Anytime Emily wore shorts or a skirt, Paige was only ever half concentrated on what else was going on around her. It was a similar situation for Emily anytime Paige wore loose tops like the one she was wearing just now, ones where she would catch sight of paler girl's impressive abs. Appreciating each other's beauty was something that never grew old between the two, if anything it became enhanced when their relationship became more physical towards the end of senior year. This appreciation was still obviously entwined within each of the girls as their eyes continued taking in each detail of the other, it hasn't seen in 5 years. Their love only grew even deeper when they both moved to San Francisco, Emily in pursuit of biology and Paige deciding to major in law, just like her parents had always wanted her to. Paige always wanted to follow her dream path of doing something along the lines of art or photography, a passion she obtained from her late grandmother when she was a young girl. She decided against following her dream, instead choosing law, a degree her parents actually approved of. This often caused numerous arguments with Emily who wanted Paige to just switch major but the girl never would in fear of disappointing her Mom and Dad.
The two copper coloured eyes met again; confusion, pain, sadness being spoken through emotion, no words were needed.
"I… ummm… I… I need to leave" Emily's voice quivered, before she quickly turned on her heels and ran out the door, her heart thumping painfully in her chest as thousands of tears threatened to spill over.
"Emily… wait!" Paige shouted, her body unable to move any further than where it stood planted to the ground.
"Fuck!" Was the last thing Emily heard before running out of River's front door waiting in the small hallway just outside the apartment for the elevator.
"Emmy!" The confused girl was immediately tackled and enraptured by two small arms jumping up into her grasp, taking her by surprise as soon at the elevator doors whooshed opened.
"Hello Jake. I've missed you… it's been a little while since I saw you last" Emily tried to sound chirpy for the younger boy, avoiding any eye contact with Hanna for the moment.
"You home from seeing you're Mommy and Daddy, Emmy?" The boy's azure eyes sparkled as he placed his two hands, one on each of her cheeks.
"I am, buddy. I've got you an awesome present too… but I forgot today…" Trying to keep her emotions in check was getting a little harder the longer she was stood trying to sound normal.
"You otay, Em? You look sad…" Jake added, this time using his small hands to turn Emily's head from left to right as his curious eyes scanned her own.
"I'm okay buddy… I just look sad because I miss my parents already" Emily lying to spare herself anymore questions from the young boy.
"I get sad too when I miss Mommy and Daddy" He wrapped his hands around her neck again giving Emily a tight hug, a tear escaping from her eye, causing Hanna to step forward this time.
"Hey Jake, I think Em's in a hurry how about you bring in the shopping and I'll be right in after you" the little boy nodded okay before giving Emily a small kiss on the cheek and squeezing in one final hug before Emily placed him back onto the ground for him to run inside.
Hanna waited to speak until she saw the door shut behind her son, "Emily… are you okay? You ran into Paige didn't you?"
"What the fuck do you think?" Emily shouted back tearfully at her best friend.
"I'm sorry…"
"Sorry for what? The fact that you're allowing Paige who left without any contact for 5 years, stay in your house… or for your pure stupidity, in that you don't know how to pick up a fucking phone and call… oh no wait sorry I forgot, I'm made out of extremely fragile glass… I might break, crash or burn if I hear she's back in America. You're supposed to be my fuckin friend, Hanna!"
"I was going to tell you! She's only been back since yesterday, Em… plus you do remember she's is my friend too. Maybe, I don't completely agree with how you two handled the situation after everything that happened 5 years ago, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start picking sides." Hanna spoke confidently, but genuinely sorry when she saw the sadness on her friends face.
"Fuck you and your excuses, Hanna!" Emily spoke matter of factly not wanting to hear anymore, before stepping into the awaiting elevator.
"Paigey, we home" Paige heard Jake's call from just outside her door, she allowed a small smile to appear on her face on hearing the boy call her by her nickname again, he remembered this time she thought to herself.
Suddenly the little boy came barging in to show off his new superhero cape to Paige, but his face immediately changed when he saw the girl had been crying. "You otay? What's happening today everybody's so sad…" the little boy's brow creasing out of a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
"umm yeah… I just umm hurt myself, I'm okay though" Paige smiled, she too made up a lie to avoid causing confusion for the young boy.
"I cry too when I sometimes get booboos" Jake responded now sitting beside her. "Mommy or Daddy kisses my booboos better, who makes your hurts go 'way?" the little boy looked up at her his brown hair ruffled on top of his head after hugging Emily just seconds before.
"Well Jake, I have a good friend in England, across the big ocean who makes me feel happy but she's not here at the minute, neither are my Mom or Dad. But your Mommy and Daddy make me feel better too, they make me happy, and we laugh a lot." Paige spoke quietly, answering the boy's question.
"Mama and Daddy give you kisses too?" Jake questioned seriously, causing Paige to laugh through her tears this time.
"No they don't, they save all their kisses for you Jacob."
"…and each other, bleugh" the little boy stuck out his tongue in mock disgust.
"Yep, and each other" Paige replied still laughing.
"So Dance!"
"Dance?" Paige was confused by his sudden statement.
"Dancing makes you feel better too… 'cause it's so silly and funny" Jake explained further.
"Okay… but only if you dance with me" The little boy nodding his head as the two stood up and started dancing around the room, laughing and giggling.
"Thanks Jacob… you really are a little superhero."
"I know" Paige laughed again at Jake's out right response. He definitely shared Hanna's bluntness and humour.
After Emily stormed off upset and understandably so, Hanna walked back inside to see how Paige was doing. She heard soft giggles coming from the guest room where Paige was staying.
She slide in past the door, and saw Paige and her son dancing around the room. She stood and watched them for a few moments, quietly laughing to herself.
After about a minute the two dancers slumped down on the bed, Jake spotting his mother "Mama, I make Paigey happy 'gain", the young boy spoke proudly.
"I can see that baby, good job. Hey, can you do me a favour, I have to talk to Paige for minute about some boring grown-up things, how about you go find your colours and we can make daddy a card for when he comes home in a few days?" Hanna asked picking up her son and squeezing him before placing him back down.
"Otay…" Jake replied as he ran out the door.
Hanna took a seat beside Paige on the bed, the two sitting in silence for a few minutes.
"Is she okay?" Paige mumbled quietly.
"Yeah, she will be. I think she's just a little shocked and surprised. I don't know if you know just how hard having you leave with no contact for 5 years was on her, Paige. I know you guys were in a bad place. I mean, Emily was in a bad place. But one day you were here and the next you were gone… and here you are again. It's hard… it's confusing. She's entitled to be upset, confused and angry… and so are you, Pay."
"I'm sorry…" Paige whispered.
"Paige you don't need to be sorry. You and Emily just need to talk, that's all… you're both past the worse part now, you left a different Emily five years ago than you had known, but I promise you Emily is back to the Emily we all knew before one single stupid accident dictated a change. When she has calmed down she will talk with you, you two can try figure out how things are going to go from here. You both might not have changed a whole lot, but five years is a long time and you're both two different people now. I feel like I know you both well enough to say that the both of you can talk and figure out this thing out and decide where you both stand now. Emily just needs a while… and so do you."
"Thanks Han." Paige sniffled, wiping an escaped tear from her cheek.
"Plus, if anyone should be worried it should be me… Emily is super angry at me and in fairness, rightly so. I'll get Spence to call over to her place later today and they can talk it out for a bit. Did you try contact Alex after last night? Talking to her might make you feel a little better."
"No, I might now though. I miss her so much, but I've never been so glad over the fact that she won't be out here for another few weeks. Things with Emily are complicated enough, I need to get past just being around her again. I don't need Lex getting involved just yet, she doesn't deserve to get caught up in my messed-up past", Paige explained.
"I understand, I'll go call Spence, now. You can come out when you ready" Hanna smiled as she placed her hand on Paige's shoulder, Paige looking up at the blonde as her eyes began to glaze over once again.
"Thank you, Hanna."
Paige knew it would hard seeing Emily again for the first time after five years, but she underestimated just how much pain still lingered there. The distraught look on Emily's face when she ran out of the guestroom remained flashing on Paige's memory.
"Emily, let me in" Spencer knocked on Emily's bedroom door having been let inside by Emily's roommate Sarah. "Emily! Emily come on just open the door... open the stupid door!" Spencer began to get frustrated at Emily's stubbornness.
"Fine! Fine… I can wait out here until you need to come out for food, water or to pee" She stated, this time taking a seat on ground beside Emily's bedroom door. 5 minutes had passed, when she finally heard some movement from inside the room and the latch clicked to unlock the door. Spencer quickly stood up and walked in to see Emily had already retreated back to bed pulling the covers over her.
"What do you want, Spencer?" She heard the voice mumble from under the blankets.
"I'm here to see if you're okay…" Spencer was interrupted almost immediately by Emily's next direct question "Did you know she was back?"
"Yeah I did, but wait before you start ripping me to shreds like you did to Hanna, let me explain" Spencer spoke quickly hearing a heavy sigh come from Emily when she mentioned she knew Paige was back.
"You know I always go to Hanna every Monday after work, except this Monday Paige just happened to be there. Hanna coincidently ran into her yesterday morning in Central Park, when Paige had only been back in the US for a couple of hours. It's not like any of us purposely sought each other out with the intention of hurting you, Em. Plus you were on vacation, visiting your parents in Texas… we didn't think you'd be back until the weekend. I'm sorry you had to find out Paige was back like that, but Hanna and I had planned on telling you as soon as you were supposed to be back, which was Sunday, right?" Spencer explained pacing around Emily's room while doing so, anxiously waiting to see if Emily would lose her temper with her also.
"You know I'm not made out glass, right Spence?" Emily eventually spoke up.
"We know that, Em. We were going to tell you as soon as you got back, I promise." Spencer walked around the side of the bed, pulling the covers gently at first to see if Emily was okay with what she was planning to do. Emily didn't move which she took it as a yes. Spencer pulled back the covers a little move this time as she kicked off her boots and climbed into the bed beside Emily.
"How are really you doing, Em?" Spencer spoke quietly.
"Honestly… I dunno… I dunno what I feel. It was just such a shock to walk into Hanna and Caleb's apartment and seeing her stood there in the flesh. Everything kind of hit me at once, memories of the accident and the aftermath came flooding back, the heartbreak I felt when I found out she had left without saying goodbye… I know we had just broke up and I probably didn't deserve a goodbye, but I had only recently accepted the fact I may never see her again, and that hit me like a tonne of brick as it reminded me just how painful it was to accept the fact that she could've been gone forever… and then anger. Anger at Paige for disappearing, anger at you guys for not telling me she was back… anger at myself" Emily's voice breaking a little as an air of sadness returned, the shock of having Paige back in the US still only setting in.
"It's okay to feel all those things Em, you know that right? What happened between you and Paige was exceptional, it shouldn't have happened. But it did and that changed your guy's lives. But look at where you are now, Em… and well Paige is Paige, but you need to remember 5 years is a long time. People change. I can sit here and explain this to all evening, Em. But only you and Paige can figure out this thing, by talking to one another and not by having Han and I act as go-betweens running back and forth between you two. Take your time, and I'm pretty sure Paige will be ready to talk when you are.
Emily just nodded her head on hearing what Spencer had to say, using her free hand to wipe away a stream of tears from her cheek, before turning around to lie her head on Spencer's side.
"How about I stay here tonight, and we can watch some old school horror movies, order in some sushi and drink some beer. We can basically pretend like we're actually back in highschool and not two 25 year old women who are supposed to have their life together at this stage, but are still only figuring it out, one day at a time. Although being 25 has it's benefits, alcohol being one and the fact we can live in New York, Rosewoods really missing out on the sushi trend." Spencer suggested, earning a little laugh out of Emily this time, "sure, sounds great".
The two continued the night as planned, no more mention of Paige was brought up and Emily seemed to cheer up a bit, although Spencer was pretty sure that was all thanks to the beer she had provided.
It was close to midnight when Emily yawned signalling her exhaustion giving the day's events. The exhaustion was that little bit harder to fight off thanks to the alcohol.
"Spence… Why do bad things happen to good people?" Emily asked her friend, her words probably would have reminded inside her mind given a more sober state. Spencer was about to answer when Emily spoke up again "Why did I have to become such a horrible person and push her away…"
"… Actually I guess if I was her I would have left too…" Emily final words barely audible to Spencer, as she watched the raven-haired girl drift off into a deep sleep.
[Author's Note]: Hope you enjoyed the chapter please leave a review or PM and let me know what you think. I know the whole accident and the reason behind Paige and Emily's break-up is still pretty vague, I promise it will all eventually fall into place. Also I want to wish you all a Happy PLL Day in advance, and hopefully we'll get more than a 2 second Paily scene. Thanks for reading -KTF