So I'm back...finally. I know, it's been a long ass time and I apologize for that, but school is school. I've also realized that I always seem to get Paily together and then the next chapter they doubt each other again, so I'll work on not being so predictable and repetitive. Also, PLL and "Better Together" by Jack Johnson aren't mine. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 15

Paige's POV

Paige sat down with her sandwich at the Subway near Harvard when Hanna Marin suddenly sat across from her. Paige blinked in confusion, wondering where she had come from. As she opened her mouth to ask, Hanna interrupted her rather loudly.

"What are you doing to Emily?"

Paige wasn't sure if she had heard correctly. What was she doing to Emily? "I'm dating her?" Paige said cautiously. She hadn't talked to any of Emily's friends since making up with her. Hanna narrowed her eyes, making Paige shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"Dating her? Or using her?" Hanna accused. Paige's eyes widened in shock.

"Using her?" Paige repeated.

"Yeah, you're going to break her heart as revenge for swiping the captain's spot from you." Hanna declared like she had discovered who the murderer was.

Paige wasn't sure if she was comprehending what the blonde was saying. Hanna was still trying to use her naiveness in high school against her? "Um, Hanna, that was in fucking high school!" Paige exclaimed, exasperated. "I was young and dumb and way too competitive for my own good. I've already apologized to Emily and she accepted it. Now, why can't you?"

Hanna gave the swimmer an irritated look while shaking her head. Paige was beyond confused by now. She had no idea how she was supposed to convince Hanna that she genuinely cared about Emily.

"Paige, you did not give show one sign of liking Emily all throughout high school. And let me remind you that we are freshmen in college. You were in high school literally six months ago. You cannot seriously think that I would be able to forgive you yet. Did you forget what you fucking did to her? To her friends?" Hanna was shouting now and Paige shot uneasy glances around her. "Oh, now you worry about what people think of your opinions about Emily? What changed, Paige? How can you go from hating someone's guts to dating them in this short of a time period?" The blonde sat down, cradling her head in her hands. The Harvard swimmer softly cleared her throat, at a loss of words. Page had no idea how strongly Hanna had felt about her relationship with Emily.

"Hanna?" Paige asked weakly. "Are...are you ok-" she began before Hanna looked up and interrupted her.

"I want Emily to be happy, but I'm afraid that she's going to get hurt and I won't be there to pick up the pieces of her heart," Hanna whispered. Paige felt a pang in her own heart as Hanna uttered those words. She finally understood why Hanna was having such a hard time with the relationship.

"Hey," Paige started, "I know that I was an asshole in high school and I get that it wasn't too long ago that I was bullying you guys. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I hope that you'll give me a chance to prove that I'm not with Emily just for vengeance."

Hanna stared at her silently for a few moments before asking, "Do you love her?"

Paige was caught off guard with the question and frankly, didn't really know the answer. She thought about how she and Emily first realized that they liked each other on the beach. She thought about their first date with the horrific yellow Uber. She thought to their second date and third and fourth and all the nights they would spend talking with each other. Learning about each other. And kissing of course. Paige thought about how Emily and she just fit. They just shared a connection besides the love for swimming. They shared something special. The only problem was that Paige didn't know if Emily felt as strongly as she did for Emily. Taking a deep breath and looking Hanna straight in the eye, Paige said, "Yes."

Hanna seemed to sense the sincerity in Paige's face and voice because she broke out into a smile and said, "Well then what are you waiting for? Go get your girl!"

Paige, who was stunned, yet happy by Hanna's chane in attitude, got out of her seat and went to throw away her garbage. She exited the restaurant with Hanna at her heels. Paige turned back and said, "I suppose that you want to witness this."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Duh! And I might have planted a seed of doubt in her mind that you actually wanted a real relationship with her, so I might need to come as back up in case she punches you."

Paige sighed. "Alright, let's go quickly before she has any more time to doubt my intentions.

Emily's POV

Emily pulled her knees into her chest even more as she sat on her bed. She didn't know what to think. Paige had never given her any reason to doubt anything, but Hanna had been very convincing. She thought that she knew Paige pretty well, but now that she actually thought about it, Paige had changed opinions of her pretty fast. It wasn't that long ago when Paige was her enemy. Emily groaned, closing her eyes, trying to stop her brain from overthinking everything. She grabbed her phone, wanting to go on Yahoo Answers to get help, but then almost laughed at herself. This relationship might be doomed if she relied on Yahoo Answers for advice. Just as she put her phone down, the dorm room door slammed open and Emily nearly jumped out of her skin.

Paige stood there, breathing hard like she had sprinted across campus. "Paige," Emily started, surprised, but her roommate didn't let her finish.

"Emily. I don't know what you're thinking about...this right now," Paige said as she gestured to herself and Emily. "I don't want you thinking that I'm only with you to cause you pain," Paige continued and Emily raised an eyebrow. Hanna must have attacked her somewhere. "Once Hanna attacked me," Paige began and Emily stifled a small smirk, "I knew that I had to do something. I wasn't sure how to explain how I feel about you, but as I was driving here, a song was playing on the radio and, for some reason, it explained my feelings way better than I could ever have done." Paige stated and took a deep breath, opening her mouth. Emily could guess what was going to happen next.

"There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard. No song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart and our dreams and they are made out of real things. Like a shoebox of photographs with sepiatone loving. Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. Like 'why are we here?' and 'where do we go?' and 'how come it's so hard?' It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving. I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together. Mmm, it's always better when we're together. Yeah, we'll look at them stars when we're together. Well, it's always better when we're together. Yeah, it's always better when we're together."

As Paige sung to her, Emily tried to stay wary and distant, but the combination of the sweet words and Paige's warm smile was enough to break Emily. After Paige had finished singing the portion of Jack Johnson's song, Emily got up. "What about Hanna?" Emily asked and Hanna entered the dorm room.

"Hey Em, guess what? I guess Paige is for real." Hanna said before winking and leaving.

Emily was stunned. "You managed to convince Hanna? How did you do that?" she questioned in disbelief.

Paige smirked. "I have my ways."

"Yeah, you do," Emily muttered under her breath, before walking over to Paige and closing the gap between them. Paige's hands found themselves at Emily's waist and smiling against Paige's lips, Emily wrapped her arms around the other swimmer's neck.