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Right Where We Left Off

Chapter 3

John and Paige were seated almost immediately and their orders were taking shortly after. The silence at the table was deafening but neither knew what to say. Paige took a sip of her chilled water while looking around.

"Still looks the same." She said with a smile directed at John. He nodded and looked around himself.

"Sure does." He said crossing his arms in front of him on the table, leaning forward a bit. He stared a deep hole into her while she continued to survey the restaurant. She turned and caught him staring, but he didn't look away.

"What?" She asked self consciously.

"It's just…it's nothing." John said looking away, down at his arms.

"No, tell me." She said, thinking it was something funny. John slumped in his chair and looked back up at her.

"How come we never kept in touch?" He asked seriously. The minute John asked that, Paige instantly tensed up. She sat up straight and smoothed her hands over her napkin covered lap.

"John, you know why." She said, not wanting to bring up the painful subject.

"But is that the only reason?" He asked as if it was really no big deal. She cocked her head to the side in disbelief.

"Well, it may have been easy for you to get over but it took me quite a while to move on." She said before he sighed.

"But we were together for over 3 years. How could we let one little thing come between us and even ruin our friendship?" John asked, still seeking for answers. He had been asking himself these questions for years and now that he had the opportunity to ask, he didn't want to let it slip through his fingers.

"It wasn't a little thing, John, it was a very, very big thing." She said, wondering why they couldn't just put this subject on the side, just for now. John closed his eyes tight.

"Paige, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm sorry. Deeply, truly sorry. I never meant to do it." He said trying to get her to finally forgive him.

"But you did and I really don't want to argue about this right now." She said taking a sip of her drink. "Can we please change the subject?" She asked desperately, her eyes searching his. She tried her hardest to push that incident in the back of her mind at all times and she didn't want it coming out for a while, at least until her and John had become friends again. John looked at her, feeling like a real asshole. He couldn't take back the past but he could respect her wishes now.

"Sure. So what do you do these days?" He asked also taking a sip of his drink.

"I'm actually in between jobs right now. I was a personal assistant to an upcoming fashion designer but she just moved to LA and I wasn't really interested in living there." John's eyes lit up.

"Really? Well it just so happens I've been searching for a personal assistant for months and haven't come up with anyone. You'd be perfect!" He said with a beaming smile.

"Funny." She said, amused.

"I'm serious; I could really use you."

"What? Oh John, no. There's no way I'm qualified to work for you. I know nothing about wrestling."

"You don't need to know anything about wrestling. You just need to know about assisting." He said playfully.

Paige still wasn't sure. "I don't know, you guys travel a lot and I'm not good with flying."

"I'll be there to hold your hand." John said, crossing his arms in front of him on the table and leaning forward.

"It's a great offer John, really, and I really appreciate it but I'm going to need some time to think this over." She said.

"Of course, just let me know before I leave."

"When do you leave?" She asked taking a sip of her water.

"Tomorrow night." He said with a sly smile.

She shook her head and couldn't help but smile. "Gee, thanks for giving me so much time to think it over." She said sarcastically.

"Only for you." He said and they laughed. The rest of the evening went about the same, trading stories of their adulthood and reminiscing stories of high school. They sat at the restaurant at least an hour after they finished their food and were finally kicked out by the staff so they could clean up and close. John and Paige laughed the whole way to the car and as John drove to Paige's apartment.

"I had a great time Paige." He said as they approached her door.

"Me too, I'm glad we saw each other again." She said with a smile.

"Make sure you let me know if you want the job offer." He reminded her as she put her key in the door.

"I will." She kissed his cheek and walked in her apartment. "Goodnight John."

"…and then he walked me to my door and told me to call him if I wanted the job." Paige said. She was at the Cena's house, telling Carol about her night last night. They were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.

"Oh dear! I'm so happy for you. This is going to be great for you." Carol said excited. This would mean John and Paige would spend lots of time together. Lots of time to realize they are meant to be together.

"Whoa whoa, Carol. I still don't know if I'm going to take the job." Paige explained as she took another sip of coffee.

"What? Why wouldn't you? It's a good opportunity!" Carol cried knowing this was their only chance to be together, if they traveled together.

"It's a great opportunity." Paige agreed then shrugged. "I just don't know what type of environment it is and if I can handle it."

"John will there looking out for you. It won't be that bad." Carol said.

They were silent while Paige processed this information. "I guess. And then there's the flying. I'm not a flyer." She said with a laugh and finished off her coffee. "Plus, I mean, this is all happening so fast."

"Dear, listen to me. You have to take this job. Not only will have a nice job with good pay, you'll have a good boss who you were great friends with and you'll get to see the country and different parts of the world. Stop trying to find small things to convince yourself not to go. Look at the bigger picture. If you don't take this job, you're going to spend the rest of your life thinking 'what if?'." She said in a motherly way before standing up and taking their empty mugs to the kitchen. Paige sat thinking about, realizing everything Carol said was right. This could be the offer of a lifetime and was she really going to let it pass her by because she didn't like flying?

That night, Paige made her way into the airport with her luggage behind her. She had called John when she got home from the Cena's and let him know she was going to accept the job offer. He had quickly contacted his boss, Vince, and let him know. John had told her he had already bought her a plane ticket and he would meet her at their gate tonight. She had then called Carol and let her know her decision. She had seemed very happy and told her to keep in touch.

As Paige was waiting in line to get her boarding ticket, she looked down at herself. She was really doing this. Talk about taking a leap of faith. After she got her boarding pass, checked in her luggage and made it through security, she was fast walking to the gate just to make the flight. She ran the rest of the distance when she saw they were closing the door. They thankfully let her in last minute. She was actually glad she'd got there a little late so she didn't have to sit watching planes take off and land; it would just make her more nervous.

As she made her way down the skinny aisle and saw the cramped seats, she was glad she wore her comfortable dark wash skinny jeans, a white Indian Jones t-shirt, a small, ¾ length sleeve, gray sweater and black converse. She saw John sitting by a window seat, looking out the window and she sunk down in the chair next to him.

John turned to tell whoever sat down that someone was already sitting there. He was pretty upset that Paige hadn't shown and didn't even bother to tell him. He knew someone was going to try to take her seat but he really didn't want to sit next to anyone right now.

His eyes connected with Paige's and he couldn't help but smile. "I thought you had changed your mind."

"Nope, just late." She said as she buckled her seat belt, making sure to make it extra tight. She put her elbow on the arm rest between them and put her palm up. John looked at it confused. "You said you'd hold my hand. Can't back out now." He smiled and placed his hand in hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"It will be fine. I fly all the time." He said right before the stewardess's went into their speech about safety. It wasn't long before the plane started to take off. John looked over at Paige and wanted to laugh but he knew she's be pissed if he did that. She was staring straight ahead and her eyes were wide. He moved his thumb over her hand to try to soothe her and calm her down. It seemed to help because she relaxed a great deal. Once they were up in the air, Paige turned to him.

"That wasn't that bad." She said and John smiled. She was trying to play it cool but her voice was a little shaky.

"You'll get used to it." He said and she nodded. He slumped down a little bit and closed his eyes, hoping to get a little sleep. Paige on the other hand, felt like she was on a caffeine high and couldn't even close her eyes. She definitely shouldn't have had those extra glasses of coffee when she got home, especially when she knew she would want to sleep on the flight. She grabbed a magazine from the pouch in front of her and began reading. She saw John had already fallen asleep and she wanted to punch him. He was suppose to keep her calm. She turned back to her reading and began shaking her leg up in down anxiously. This was going to be a long flight.