A/N: First off all, you guys are FREAKING AWESOME! This is my first foray into writing fanfic and I'm pleased and in awe that you all like it so far. Thank you for all the love. I'm very grateful for all of the follows/ favs, pm's and reviews. Please keep them coming. I read them all. And if you're reading and enjoy what you see, please follow me. That's what let's me know you like my little story. I have to ask you guys to be patient and forgive me if the pace is a little slow right now. I'm trying to set the foundation and introduce all the players in this tale. I promise it will pick up and get to the juicy stuff soon. Enough with me rambling on. Off to the story...
Two weeks later
"I love you too, Em."
I keep playing this phrase in my mind over and over again. Emily and I tell each other "I love you" all of the time, but lying there holding her while she waxed poetic about how great I was, it felt different. My heart was beating a million miles a second. I felt like I was going to die from the sheer amount of love and adoration I have for her. It took everything in my power not to tell her everything right there. About Ben, about how I love her and have loved her since we were ten. Thank goodness she was as wasted as she was. Otherwise, she would have known something was up.
"The greatest friend a girl could have."
Friend. That's all she sees me as. That's probably all she'll ever see me as. Maybe that's for the best. These thoughts are soon invaded by the sound of Emily's voice as I slowly drift back to full consciousness. The melody of some sugary pop song plays while Emily sings about having one less problem. I open my eyes and peek out of the passenger side window trying to gauge where we're at. All that's visible is country side as far as the eye can see.
"Em, it's a good thing you got a full scholarship to school. Cause if you had to rely on your singing to pay the bills, you'd be S.O.L.," I yawn as I try to wake up from a much needed nap.
"Ha, ha, ha. Maybe you should forego college and start a career as a stand up comedian," she says. "Some of us have to sing for our supper. Not everyone is lucky enough to have Mr. Moneybags for a father," she adds.
"Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be," I mumble. "What in thee world are you listening to?" I ask her.
"Well hello mom. Nice to see you. When did Paige leave?" she jokes.
"Look who has jokes now. Seriously Em, this song is ridiculous."
"No it isn't, but I'm hardly surprised that you don't like a song that was made in this century," she says.
"It's not my fault that all current music is crap."
"Not all current music is crap. How dare you insinuate that Queen Bee doesn't make quality music. I almost ended our friendship and made you walk the rest of the way to Penn,"she says with such a serious face that if I didn't know her I wouldn't know she's joking.
"Ok maybe not all of it, but the majority of it is. There's no substance, no really emotion. It's all bling, turn up and my stuff is better and more expensive than your stuff. What happened to singing about the things in life that really matter?" I rant.
"Wow grandma, on your soapbox much?"
"Whatever. I don't expect you to understand. You wouldn't know good music if it ran you over with a semi truck," I say.
"Excuse me? You're familiar with my parents right? Wayne and Pam Fields? All I heard growing up was jazz, blues, r&b and soul music. I can't help it that I like Miley as much as I like Miles."
"I guess. Where are we anyway?" I ask.
"About an hour and a half a way."
"Well could we make a stop? I'm about due for a potty break." She nods her head in the affirmative and we ride in a comfortable silence. After a while she asks,"Can you believe we're about to move into our college dorms? I seems like only yesterday you were daring me to skinny dip with you in the creek."
"It does seem kind of surreal, but I'm excited for things to come," I tell her. She pulls into a gas station and I hop out.
"Do you want anything while I'm in there?"
"Just for you to hurry up," she says sweetly while batting her eyelashes.
"Yes dear," I chuckle. Ever since I found out about Ben cheating on Emily, things have been kind of strained between us. Not just Ben and I, but Emily and I as well. I hate keeping secrets from her. I've told her absolutely everything from the moment I meet her. This little road trip has been doing us some good. I'm starting to feel like we're Emily and Paige again. Hopefully now that the three of us are away from the madness that is Rosewood, things can starting getting back to normal. Ben is miles away from Alison, so out of sight out of mind right? As I approach the car, I hear that Emily is blasting the stereo. I open the door to her singing "I got my mind made up, man, I can't let go. I'm killing every second til it saves my soul."
"Finally! Something we both can rock to!"
When we arrive on campus, I feel like an eight year old who's gone to Disney World for the first time. My eyes get big and my mouth is wide open.
"Impressive right?" Emily asks. As part of the campaign to recruit her, she got the opportunity to tour the campus last winter. She's already experienced the grounds and all their splendor. She hardly has the same feelings of awe and wonder as I do.
"This place is beautiful Em. Why didn't you tell me?" I ask.
"The look on your face right now is priceless. How could I have denied you this moment?" We manage to navigate our way to her dorms and find a decent spot to unload.
"Want to find where your room is first before we start unpacking?" I suggest.
"Sure," she says. We make our way to the office to retrieve her key and room number, as well as who she'll be rooming with.
So who'd you get?" I ask her.
"My roommate's name is Hanna Marin," she says. We make our way to Emily's room. As we near the door I can hear a heavy bass beat playing. Emily unlocks it so that we can enter.
"I'm so fancy! You already know!" some girl, who I assume is Hanna, is singing and dancing around while she unpacks her stuff. At least they have similar taste in awful music. Score one for Hanna. She turns around after a second and jumps.
"Holy shit! You guys scared the crap out of me!" She exclaims.
"Sorry," Emily extends her hand, "I'm Emily and this is Paige my,"
"Girlfriend," Hanna says.
"No my bestfriend actually," Emily responds.
"My bad. I didn't mean to imply anything. You guys just have this 'together' vibe so I assumed," she trails off. I can feel the heat rising on my face.
"No worries. It isn't the first time," I say as I shake her hand.
"Oh really?" she says intriguingly, "Do tell."
"Maybe some other time. We still have a lot of unpacking to do. Em I'm going to head down to the car and start unloading the trailer.," I tell her. She stays behind to chat with Hanna, while I get the hell out of dodge. Am I really that obvious when it comes to my feelings for Emily? When I get back to the room with the first load, Emily says, "Hey Hanna mentioned a sort of meet and greet for all the freshmen at the Hub tonight. Do you want to go?"
"Sure," I tell her. "Even more reason to hurry up with the unloading."
Emily and I make short work of her things and in no time we're finished.
"That looks like everything," I say. "Want to head over to my place next?"
"Yes. See you later tonight Hanna," Emily says.
"Well it was nice meeting you Paige. I hope to see you around." We make our way over to the building where my dorm room is held and I make my way inside to retrieve my keys. As we make our way to my room, I'm starting to notice that the building my room is in is quite different from the one Emily's is in. I unlock the door to my room. No, room doesn't quite explain what we enter into. This is more like a suite. There's a small living area with a couple sofas and couple of end tables and a television. A small kitchenette is to the right. A low whistle comes from Emily.
"Still complaining about daddy's money?" she asks.
"I hardly need all of this Em. Besides there's no telling what he did to get me into the upperclassmen's dorms. That means he's going to lord it over my head to bend me to do his will," I grumble.
"Jeez Paige you make him sound so conniving and manipulative."
"Well if the shoe fits." She rolls her eyes at this. We continue down the small hall off to the left and find an empty bedroom. It's not the biggest space. There's only enough room for a twin bed, dresser and a desk. On the plus side there is an en suite bathroom.
"McCullers I hope your room mate is cool because I intend on spending mass amounts of time here. Can you imagine the parties? They'll be EPIC," Emily says.
"Let's see what's on the other side," I say. We make our way to the right side of the apartment. There appears to be another room on this side. I proceed to open the door. When I do it's already occupied by a tall, pretty brunette.
"Have you ever heard of knocking," she bristles.
"Sorry I didn't know anyone was in here," I apologize.
"Well clearly someone is," she says.
"Hi, I'm Paige. Your roommate and this is my bestfriend Emily." I extend my hand for her to shake. She keeps her hands folded across her chest and looks at my hand like I have leprosy. "Okaaay. And you are?" I trail off.
"Spencer Hastings." Hastings. That name sounds so familiar, but I can't quite remember from where.
"Since it looks like your preoccupied. Well just get on with moving my stuff in to the other room."
"Sure whatever," she says.
"What crawled into her Wheaties and died?" Emily asks after we've left the room.
"Em," I warn.
"What?! I'm just saying she didn't have to be a complete bitch to you. This is your first time meeting."
"It doesn't matter. She can stay on her side of the apartment and I'll stay on mine. Let's hurry up and get this over with so we can get ready for that meet and great thing," I state. I had a feeling that this was going to be a long year co-habitating with one Ms. Spencer Hastings.
We manage to get done with all the madness of move in day and arrive at the meet and greet in a decent amount of time. There's a huge crowd of people milling about while the Dean is giving a welcome speech to all the incoming Freshman. Emily, Hanna and myself find ourselves a spot in the crowd to listen to it. While the speech commences, I take a moment to drink in my surroundings. The atmosphere is a buzz with the excitement of people embarking on a new life journey. They're not yet jaded by the harsh realities of the real world. I can feel the same sort of elation myself. It's quite easy to be swept up in the notion of it all. I glance to my side and notice Emily and Hanna giggling about something. They appear to have hit it off right away. Emily has the most carefree smile on her face. It never ceases to amaze me how she is breathtaking without even trying. I'm quite sure she could make walking the dog look sexy as hell.
"Still coveting things we can't have I see."
All the hairs on the back of neck stand on end and my blood runs cold. I turn around and come face to face with someone I thought was out of my life for good. Flowing blonde hair, stunning blue eyes and a smug look of indifference. It could only be one person.
"Alison," I whisper.
"Paige, don't sound so excited to see me," she says. I'm stunned into silence. "You look like this is the last place you expected to see me," she continues.
"What are you doing here Alison?" I spit out through gritted teeth.
"I thought you were going to Stanford," I growl.
She looks at me with that "Alison" look that only she can pull off before she answers, "I was. Then things here became much more appealing to me. So I decided to stay closer to home. Oh and Ben told me that you know about our little dalliance. I trust that will be staying between the three of us." I just stare at her.
"What's wrong Paige, cat got your tongue? Well I suggest it stays that way," she says.
"Or what?" I final manage to get out.
"Or your little secret won't be so secret anymore," she threatens.
"I have nothing to hide," I say.
"Oh sure you do. Everyone has a dirty little secret or two. Even your sweet, innocent Emily." I scoff. Alison just gives a laugh that brings me chills.
"You should ask her about getting her Katy Perry on." I look at her questioningly.
"She likes the taste of my cherry Chapstick." She winks at me and walks off before I can ask her to explain in English what she just said instead of Ali speak.
"Who was that?" Hanna asks from behind me.
"Alison DeLaurentis," Emily says. I can hear something in her voice that says she's even less pleased that Alison is here than I am.
"She looks like a stone cold bitch." Hanna comments.
"That's because she is," I tell her. "Come on. Let's see what else this mixer has to offer."
Emily, Hanna and I stay at the meet and greet for about another hour until we decide we've had enough. We head to one of the on campus hangouts to grab something to eat. We grab a booth and take a look at the menus. After we place our orders, we fall in to a comfortable conversation.
"So Hanna, what are you majoring in?" I ask.
"Business management. My mom owns a couple of boutiques and has required me to learn the ins and outs of business," she says dejectedly.
"You don't sound too enthused about that," I say.
"I am. Really I am. I'm just more interested in the fashion aspects of the family business."
I shake my head sympathetically. "I'm all too familiar with that song friend. I, too, am majoring in Business Management so that I one day might inherit that family burden."
"Wow, you sound like you're on your way to the guillotine," Hanna says.
"Because that's what it feels like," I say.
"Look at the bright side pal. We get to be study buddies," she says. I smile and shake my head. I like Hanna.
"I keep telling her to follow her passion," Emily says. "She should be doing something in music. You should see her Hanna, she's amazing. She plays piano and guitar. And when she sings, heavenly," she gushes. I start to blush something serious.
"My, my Emily. Somebody is president of the Paige fan club," Hanna teases. It's Emily's turn to blush.
"I'm just saying. When someone loves music the way Paige does, they shouldn't just treat it as a hobby," Emily says adamantly.
"Mm hmm," is all that Hanna says.
"Enough about me. Why don't you tell her your major Em," I say.
"I'm majoring in English. I want it become a teacher. The plan is to one day run my own school," Emily explains.
"Ok Ms. I want to change the world one impressionable mind at a time." Emily and I both laugh.
"Why did you guys decide to come to Penn State?" Hanna inquires.
"We're from Pennsylvania actually. A small town called Rosewwood. And Emily over her got recruited for the swim team," I say.
"Really?" Hanna says surprised. "You're that good Emily?"
"She's better," I say. "She's so good that they offered her a full ride to come here."
"Paige is no slouch either," Emily interjects. "She got offered a scholarship to swim here as well."
"Only a partial one. I'm not as desired as you are," I say. Emily looks over at me and we smile at each other.
"Alright already. Emily thinks Paige is great. Paige thinks Emily is great. This meeting of the Mutual Love Society is now adjourned," Hanna says.
"So now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, let's get to more tantalizing conversation," Hanna smiles. "Paige can I ask you something?" Hanna asks me.
"Umm, sure I guess," I answer warily.
"Are you gay? I don't mean any offense by it, but your are pinging my gaydar all sorts of crazy." I just chuckle.
"Yes I am Hanna."
"What about you Emily? Are you a lover of ladies as well?" She asks
"Oh, no no no no no," Em says a little too quickly. "I have a boyfriend. He's a football player. Maybe you've heard oh him. Ben Coogan?"
"Oh yeah, he's the new wide receiver," Hanna replies.
"Why did you ask Em if she's gay, Hanna? Does she ping your gaydar too?" I ask. Hanna looks at Emily and smiles but doesn't say a word. Emily is about to ask her what's the look for when a gorgeous girl approaches our table.
"Excuse me I couldn't help but over hear that you're Ben's girlfriend," the girl asks.
"Yeah, hi, I'm Emily."
"Oh I know your name. Ben's description of you doesn't hardly do justice to how beautiful you are," the girl says in a salacious tone.
"And how do you know Ben?" I ask feeling a bit annoyed.
"Forgive my lack of manners. My name in Naya. I'm a cheerleader here. Ben is a bit of a hot commodity here around campus. Very popular with everyone. And I do mean everyone." My stomach drops at what I think she's implying.
"So Emily, maybe you and I could hang out sometime. You know, get to know each other better," Naya flirts.
"Ummm," Emily stutters.
Hanna jumps in, "She's not interested in you. She's straight, what did you say your name was?"
"Naya."
"Right, Naya, so you're barking up the wrong tree," Hanna says.
"Emily isn't the first girl I've meet who's told me she's straight. And do you know what happened to them?" Naya questions.
"What?" Emily asks.
"They all go straight to my bed," she grins.
"Look she said she's not interested," I say.
"She actually hasn't said 'no' to anything," Naya says matter of factly.
"Well I'm telling you she's not interested." I reiterate.
"I can catch a hint. It was nice meeting you Emily. Maybe we can chat more when your guard dog isn't around," Naya says. She gives Emily a wink, Hanna and I a look and strolls off in the direction she came from.
"Aggressive much," Hanna says. Emily is sitting looking dumbfounded.
"Are you ok Em?"I ask.
"I've never had a woman approach me like that before. It was kind of, I don't know," she says. She has this look on her face that I can't explain, but it makes me want to punch something.
"If you want me to I'll go over there and kick her ass right now," I say.
Emily grabs my hand and smiles. "That's not necessary Paige. I just wonder what she meant by that comment about Ben."