Paiges Point of View
When in doubt call Marco. He's the only one besides Hazel who has any clue what's going on. And I'm not exactly about to call Hazel for this. I can just imagine. "Hi Hazel? It's Paige, you know, Queen Bee of Degrassi. I was wondering if you had any advice as to how I should bring up my realationship status with a cerain brunette wrapped in polyester. Alex, the girl."
No it was much more sensible to call Marco. He's almost like one of my girlfriends, only with better advice. Oh and he's gay so that's a plus. I dialed Marco's number and waited patiently for him to pick up the phone. Ring Ring Ring Come on Marco pick it up! Ring Ring Ring Ri-
"Hello?" Marco's voice filled my eardrums and I could feel myself being soothed. Marco's great for stuff like this. He's there to talk if you need him, but he also knows when to just shut up and let me vent. This was not one of those times. Right now, I need him to talk, and I need him to talk fast.
"Marco," I said " do you have like less than five minutes to help me out a little?".
I must have sounded a little desperate because he replied instantly sounding concerned."Yeah sure. What's up?" I sighed deeply and took a second to reflect. Was I really about to say this. Once it's said, it's not easily taken back.
" Alex is what's up," I said craning my neck to make sure she was still in the back room. I could practically see Marco's perfectly well kept eyebrows raising in interest as he let out a low whistle.
"So there's still an Alex issue?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and snapped back, "Yes! And I need your help. Quick...GO!" I said whispering frantically into the phone still checking behind me that she hadn't emerged with boxes of Whoppers.
"I'm going to need a little more info than 'she kissd me last night' if I'm going to be any help." he snapped back. I decided to soften my tone with him a bit. It wasn't his fault after all that I had made a mess of things, tried to fix it, and apparently failed.
I took a deep breath and began, " Ok, so night of the premiere, we were having a great time, like best night ever kind of great, but then of course Jay had to come and interrupt while we were dancing." I said, talking a mile a minute, "Well, he just had to start making comments about me, apparently that's his way of trying to win Alex back. But thats when something wierder than the fact that we had been dancing for 45 minutes happened. She like...stood up for me. Seriously he was rendered speachless and we all know that's a first. Then we left and the entire time we were walking home I couldn't stop laughing. And neither could she..." I stopped to remember the night. Niether of us had touched a drink and yet, both of us were completely elated from the moment we got into the limo at the beginning of the evening. I'd seen Alex in a good mood before, but this didn't even come close. That broad toothy smile didn't leave her face the entire walk back to her place. Looking back I should have seen it coming. She grabbed my hand while we were walking, I let her. I squeezed her hand, she squeezed back.
"Paige? Are you alive over there?" Marco asked me laughing a small giggle. I snapped out of my memories from that night. How long had I been thinking about it? 20 seconds at least.
" Sorry Marco. Uh so anyway, when we got to her house there was a little drama." something told me that I shouldn't clue Marco in on all the details. She worked hard to make other people think that everything was fine, and I was in no position to take that from her. "We wound up leaving and Alex cut her arm on the er..fence" smooth Paige, smooth.
"When we were in my room, we were sitting really really close and I was helping her clean the cut. She uh, she told me I was her lucky charm," I said, unable to stop the blush that was creeping onto my face just saying it.
"AWWWW. PAIGE! MARRY HER!" Marco crooned at the top of his lungs. I couldn't help but smile for a second before I snapped back into reality.
"Alright Marco, don't get to excited, the night didnt exactly end well." I sighed remembering what happened next. " She looked at me Marco, and I swear I had never seen anyones eyes show so much emotion before. I couldn't look away. She told me she was in trouble." Thinking back now, that seemed like such and Alex-y was to tell someone you like them. " And then, she kissed me." I said simply. Marco emitted another low whistle before he answered.
" Lemme guess. You freaked the instant her lips touched yours and ran for cover." he said clearly exasperated. I giggled a bit before I answered.
"Well not exactly. I uh, I might have kissed her back for a little bit." I said looking behind me once again. The line was silent for some time before Marco decided to talk.
"How much is a little bit? Like full on kissing or like, you gave her another peck. Did you lean in?" he asked full of curiosity. I had to think for a second.
" Well, it was full on kissing. And you know what I mean so don't make me describe. And it was for a solid 10 or 15 seconds. And yeah, I guess I leaned in. But I mean, you weren't there. You didn't see how she was looking at me. The whole night she was looking at me like that. I couldn't NOT kiss her." I said. I was telling the truth. Not kissing her wasn't even an option. " Then I bailed. I pulled away and I think I said something about the couch. I'm not sure. All I remember saying was 'Nighty night then."
Marco howled with laugter. I guess it was kind of funny. Probably not to Alex though " Nighty. NIGHT.THEN?AHAHAHAHAHA" He exclaimed between laughs. I rolled my eyes, remembering that I probably only had a minute or two before Alex came back.
"Yeah yeah I know. So then the next morning I told her I didn't want to talk about it, and then I saw you. After that we met in the laneway and-and we kissed again. Well she made fun of me and then we kissed. But whatever. " I didn't want to give Marco the chance to let out another "aww". " Of course that little worm Jay saw us and told Hazel." Marco groaned out of sympathy. See this is why I love that guy. "Hazel confronted me about it and I freaked. I completely panicked and told her that Alex meant nothing to me." I said lowering my voice. Stupid stupid stupid idiotic me. I must have replayed that moment in my head a hundred times since then, but it still made my heart drop a little lower into my stomach every time. Her face. Ugh that beautiful face. Her every feature conveyed dissapointment. I felt a little bit better after I apologized, but not much.
"Paaaaaige!" Marco moaned into the phone. He was dissapointed too. God, why am I such a...a bitch!?
" I know Marco, I know. Trust me, I've been kicking myself in the butt every minute since I said it. I believe flushing my head down a toilet was one of the options I considered at the time."
" So this is the first time you've seen her since?" Marco asked. I guess he was expecting me to have gone into hiding again.
"No. I got a little advice from Kevin Smith of all people. He basically told me to ignore everyone else and go 'get the girl' to use a direct quote. So I did. I drove to her apartment that night to try to make things right."
" Woah wait. You, Paige Michealchuck, apologized?" he said with a mixture of shock and mockery dripping from his voice.
" Yes, will you let me finish? She could be out at any second. Ok so after a little coaxing and my sincerest apologies, I got her to give in a little. And then-" I hesitated a little. This was a little personal. I mean Alex totally made me become more cheesy than a Hallmark Card for her, and the worst part about it? Every word I said, I meant it.
" And then..." Marco prompted, eager to hear how the story would unfold. I'm not a soap opera here. Geez.
" And then I told her that right now, she was everything to me.", I let out in one breath. Then I pulled the phone away from my ear and held it away. Not even that distance could completely silence Marco's ' OH MY GOD's and "THAT IS THE SINGLE CUTEST THING YOU HAVE EVER SAID!" I let him carry on like that for about 25 seconds smiling to myself before I remembered the task at hand.
" Then we held hands and looked at eachother for a second. I was just leaning in a little bit when Chad, her mom's loser boyfriend made her come back in because her mom was sick. So she left. And then I left. And now here I am and I have absolutley zero clue what to do." I finished dramatically. Marco though for a second.
" Ok um, how's she handeling it? I mean is she flirting, is she being normal, what?" He asked, going into full Dr. Phil mode.
" Awkward actually. She's kind of avoiding me and stumbleing on her words. She's in the back room right now hiding and I have no clue what to do." I whined the last seven words pouting.
"Ok Paige. Listen. She's confused. The last two times you two did anything or she tried to show you emotion you kinda freaked like a deer caught in headlights. She obviously thinks you're going to do it again and thats why she's avoiding you like a leper." I let this sink in.
" Oh," I responded weakly. Marco sighed. He was getting frusterated with me again and I had no clue why. " What?"
"Well are you going to do it again?" he asked. I didn't take a second to think about that one.
"No. That was the point of going to say sorry. I would never- I-no. Not again." I was serious. There's only so many times a person can handle getting that look from Alex. I was already pushing my limit for that so I wasn't ready to see it again.
"That's good.'Cause Paige, Alex is my friend too okay? So just...she's more sensitive than she lets on." Marco said, choosing his words carefully. I know this. Alex never really showed anyone how she felt. But that night, maybe even a little bit before, she showed me. She does care, no matter how much she protests. She does feel things that everyone else feels. Sadness, happiness, dissapointment, and definetely some anger.
" I know Marco. Thats why I lo-" No Paige. Don't get that invested yet. She could turn you away in seconds. But I still couldn't deny the thought that flashed through my mine. That's why I love her. Why I love Alex. Alex. I love Alex. Aw crap." That's why I lo-err.. like her so much. She's not such a hard ass when she lets you in. She's actaully- " Getting off topic again. " well you know. So what do I do?" This is what I need to know. Come on Marco don't let me down.
" Ok here we go. You have to show her that you're willing to be with her. Start it out slowly. Just brushing by her, touching slightly. Smile at her. Then once you're confortable with that, start the flirting at bit more. Let the touches linger a little. If she's still a little hesitent, don't worry. We know she likes you so thats a sure thing. Be patient and keep going at it. Then when you have a second, be sincere. Say anything that's on your mind. Just make sure to include how you feel. But don't freak her out. Be clever, do it subtley. If all else fails just lay one on her." He said. I swear, Marco Del Rossi should have his own show. He's put Oprah, Doctor Phil and whoever else out of buisness. And his dressing skills are much better than theirs anyway.
" Thank you thank you THANK YOU! You are pure genius." I exclaimed, a smile on my face. All of these things were do-able. " Seriously. My hero." I said. I could have kissed him.
" Stop fawning over me and go put my brilliant plan into action!" he said laughing.
" OK no problem bye thank YOU SO MUCH!" I whispered. Somehow I could still whisper and squeel at the same time. Marco laughed again and said
"Hey no problem. And keep me updated." I hung up the phone and scratched my ear. This is what I do when I'm flustered. I itch and scratch. Half of me wanted to just run in there to her and look in those eyes. Those beautiful brown orbs. But that would probably scare her and she'd just find a better hiding spot. No, this needs to be done delicatley. Marco gave me the outline, but it's time to put that plan into action.
"HEY ALEX?"
