Hi all! Hope you're having a good weekend! Thanks for all the reviews! Thank you again for the guest reviewers who leave their feedback! I wish I could reply to you guys in a PM because I appreciate it!
So here is chapter 3. I'll need you to just be patient with the next few chapters, I'm just getting the story into a groove so I can move onto the main storyline that i want for this fic.
Anyway! I hope you like it :) Please review, I really appreciate when someone take the time out to do that for me :)
That night Emily was sitting on her couch by her phone, wondering what to do about contacting Paige, her number was on her screen, waiting to text but she
couldn't bring herself to do it. She had picked it up and placed it back down multiple times but she wasn't sure if she was going to develop the courage to actually
send a message through. She didn't know why but there was something about Paige that she really connected with and she didn't want to make a move too fast
and freak her out. She looked down to her phone again before she took a deep breath.
She had to do it, the only way to see if Paige was the girl she had been waiting for was to get to know her better.
'Hey Paige, It's Emily Fields. Do you start early tomorrow?' – Emily
She hit send without thinking too much more about it and then put her phone back on the couch. She felt as if she had been waiting for hours, she looked to her
phone while she was watching TV and almost jumped when she saw a reply come through. Without wasting a second or taking a breath, she picked up her phone,
unlocking it to see the reply.
'Hey Emily! I knew who it was, we traded numbers remember? Is someone trying to sue me? No early start tomorrow, why do you ask?' – Paige
Emily groaned, of course Paige knew it was her. She was trying to be smooth and she ended up looking like a fool. She shook her head and replied to Paige's
message immediately.
"I saw you running this morning and wondered if you wanted to go for a run with me tomorrow? You don't have too, I was just wondering. I've been needing a
running partner for a while' – Emily
'That sounds great to me, what time were you thinking?' – Paige
'How does 7 sound? We could get coffee after? I only have to be at work at 10 tomorrow' - Emily
So the coffee part hadn't been planned but Emily always did that after her run so she didn't see why not, she thought it could be an even better way to get to
know Paige.
She grinned as she saw Paige's reply come through quickly.
'Sounds perfect. Meet you at the park at 7?' – Paige
'Perfect. Can't wait. Have a great night' – Emily
'Me either, thanks, you too. Good night Emily' – Paige
7am the next morning, true to her word, Paige was waiting in the park for Emily to arrive. She knew she was being ridiculous and she would pay for it later in the
day but she had woken up at 5:30am because she couldn't get back to sleep and had spent half an hour picking what work out gear she was going to wear. She
didn't know why she was being so pedantic about what she was wearing because she knew it was just a run.
Emily was a few minutes late but Paige didn't mind, she was happy sitting in the park as butterflies were multiplying in her stomach. She saw Emily jog her way
over to her a few minutes past 7 with a bright smile on her lips. Her hair was tied back and she looked perfect, even for just a run at 7 in the morning.
"Morning" Paige greeted happily as she stood from the park bench she was sitting on
"Good morning" Emily replied apologetically "Sorry I'm late"
"You're not really, I was just early" Paige shrugged"So where are we running to today?"
"I have a circuit I usually do if you want to follow, it's about 3 miles" Emily said looking out to the park quickly
"Yeah sounds good to me" Paige agreed "Just don't go too hard for me"
"Oh sure" Emily said sarcastically "I'm terrified of how fit you are and how behind I'm going to be"
"Well we'll just run together then" Paige replied with a light shrug "You'd be able to keep up with me, I hope so anyway"
Emily laughed quietly as Paige nudged her gently
"I'm glad you asked me to come running with you" Paige said as she looked to the ground, not being able to contain her smile as she looked down to her shoes
"You are?" Emily asked
"Yeah" Paige said as she looked up to Emily again "Should we get going?"
"Yes, definitely" Emily replied
The run was pretty fast, they were both keeping up with each other though Paige was slowing her pace a little for Emily but mostly Emily was all over it. Paige had
to stop for a moment when her shoulder was giving her a little trouble but Emily was thankful for the break. They reached the end of their run in a record time for
Emily so they walked over to the coffee shop where they sat down with coffee outside.
"You are one hell of a runner" Paige said laughing "Are you sure you didn't go to the Olympics? You really pushed me"
"You were taking it easy on me" Emily said sceptically "You were the one pushing me, that was the quickest time I have done that track in"
"No I wasn't taking it easy on you" Paige said shaking her head "Honestly"
"Well it would be a different story if we were swimming" Emily replied "Then I wouldn't even bother"
"I'm not as fast as I used to be" Paige shook her head
"I bet you are" Emily smiled
"You said you did some competitive swimming in school right?" Paige asked
"And in college" Emily chimed in playfully "Can't forget that"
"Of course, well why don't we go swimming one day?" Paige suggested "I haven't swam for just fun in a little while. See for yourself how fast I am"
"A chance to swim with the Paige McCullers, I would love that, sounds fun to me" Emily said and she paused "But I'm more excited about getting to know just
Paige better"
"Me too" Paige said "Getting to know you that is, I'm glad to meet someone genuine here. Sadly genuine people seem to be difficult to come by these days"
"We'll go swimming" Emily nodded "For sure"
"So you've been here since high school then?" Paige asked
"I have been yeah" Emily replied "You were based in San Francisco?"
"Most of my life really" Paige nodded as she took a sip of her coffee "I'm happy to be back for a while though, I always called Rosewood home"
"I'll bet your parents are as well" Emily said
"Um yeah…" Paige nodded before she quickly changed the subject "So forgive me if I'm asking something I shouldn't and feel free to stop me but how old were you
when your friend was…When she was…"
"Murdered?" Emily asked finishing Paige's sentence that she was seemingly struggling with
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking that" Paige replied shaking her head "forget I asked that"
"No it's okay" Emily shrugged "it's not like I've never talked about it before"
"I know but I don't feel like I've got the right yet to ask that" Paige said
"It's fine" Emily said leaning over and placing her hand on Paige's arm
Paige paused for a moment as she felt Emily's warm, soft hand on her arm before she shook herself out of it and leaned forward to listen to Emily's reply as she
took her hand of Paige again
"Hmm well" Emily cleared her throat from their last interaction "We were 17. She went missing one night and they didn't find her body until a year later, the
investigation took forever and I've never been so scared in my life really, we were all suspects at one time"
"You were a suspect in a murder case?" Paige asked with widened eyes
"Well we were the last people to see Ali" Emily replied "Anyway, they worked out it wasn't us, obviously. It took a long time but we found out who murdered Alison
and reported it to the police"
"Wait, who figured it out?" Paige asked
"Hanna, Aria, Spencer and myself" Emily said
"Spencer or Aria never told me that" Paige replied with a furrowed brow
"And I would appreciate if you didn't tell them I told you. We kind of just agreed to go with the story that the police solved everything" Emily said shaking her head
"She was our friend and the police weren't doing anything"
"How exactly did you find out who it was?" Paige asked
"I'm just going to say that we looked into it and we managed to put enough evidence together after stumbling upon some of Alison's belongings and we took it to
the police" Emily explained "And it wasn't easy because we looked guilty as hell at some points. Just…don't mention this to anyone please"
"Your secret is safe with me" Paige nodded "So why didn't you become a police officer then?"
"Because Spencer's Mom was the one who got him put away" Emily shrugged "If she hadn't had made such an amazing case against him, nothing would have
gone ahead"
"I'm really sorry that you had to go through that" Paige offered "It must have been awful"
"It was" Emily nodded "But things are okay now. Things are great"
"I'm glad" Paige smiled as she looked at her phone for the time "You should probably get going soon huh?"
"Yeah I should actually" Emily said "I kind of wish we could hang out longer though, is that weird?"
"Weird yes because I was thinking the same thing" Paige said playfully "This was a great idea of yours Emily Fields"
"Thanks McCullers and I will hold you to that swim" Emily said
"Name the time and I'll get us some lanes at the aquatic centre" Paige said
"Just don't wipe the floor with me too much" Emily said "Some of us aren't world record and Olympic record holders"
"Who?" Paige asked looking around with a smirk
"Yeah okay Miss America" Emily laughed
"If anyone should be Miss America it should be you" Paige said quietly looking at Emily
Emily blushed, tucking some hair behind her ear, trying not to give her smile away too much
"So what's next for you?" Emily asked "I mean 9 Olympic gold's 1 silver, a bag of other awards including 3 world records and Olympic records, what can you possibly
do now?"
"Whatever life allows me too" Paige said with a smile "Are you sure you haven't been reading my profile?"
"It must be awesome to have achieved all of that" Emily said
"I don't like tooting my own horn but when you say it like that, it sounds pretty cool" Paige said "Sometimes I feel like I've been living a life that was meant for
someone else, sometimes I even feel like I was just watching what happened like on a movie, It sounds crazy"
"It doesn't sound crazy, I can only imagine what it would have been like" Emily said looking around the brew "You're a pretty big deal around here"
"I just forget sometimes that it actually happened but then I remember all of the late nights, hard work and the things I had to miss out on and it doesn't even
matter anymore" Paige smiled "It was certainly worth all of that"
"I don't know how you were so disciplined" Emily said shaking her head
"It was difficult sometimes" Paige replied "A lot of the time actually"
"You're really humble" Emily said
"I've been around a lot of people who are very self-important" Paige said shaking her head "I never want to be like that, I hate that"
"I haven't known you for long but I don't think you could be" Emily replied "I hate to do this but I have to get home and ready for work"
"Yeah of course" Paige said as she stood up from her chair as Emily did "Well thank you for this morning"
"Thank you for keeping me company" Emily said smiling "Are you free tomorrow for a run?"
"Tomorrow morning I have to take the squad training for the Sharks early" Paige said shaking her head slowly "Sorry, it's like that for the rest of the week before
the big meet next week"
"No that's okay" Emily replied with a small smile "You're in demand"
"Not really, text me when you're free next for a run" Paige said "Or just whenever, I had fun"
"I will, I did too" Emily agreed "I'll see you Friday then"
"You will" Paige said smiling
Emily smiled at Paige once more before she hesitantly walked away the brew towards her car. Paige sat back down and leaned back into her chair with a smile while
she looked around the street at the small town that she was learning to love again. Coming to Rosewood wasn't a bad idea after all she thought, maybe she
came back for more than just a coaching job.
The week went quickly and Paige was looking forward to Friday morning more and more with every day that came. They had been texting a little bit for the week
just about small things and arranging their next run but otherwise they hadn't seen each other since Monday morning.
She turned up for work in the morning, with a spring in her step and butterflies in her stomach, which she found strange because she was simply there to teach
but the fact that Emily would be there made her nervous.
Her class arrived one by one but she noticed quickly that she hadn't seen Braxton arrive and she certainly hadn't seen any sign of Emily around the centre so she
kind of wondered what was going on. She was due to start the class and she couldn't wait much longer so she got her kids in the pool and started her lesson.
The kids were working on their stroke without their kickboard today so Paige had to keep a close eye on her students to correct them but mostly to make sure they
were safe.
5 minutes of her lesson passed and Paige looked to the door where an upset Braxton was being ushered in by a seemingly stressed Emily.
Emily quickly placed Braxton's towel down on a chair and he folded his arms and she handed him his goggles.
Paige focussed back on her class when she heard one of the students tell her that they had reached the deep end of the pool, where they were instructed to wait.
Braxton walked over to the pool where Paige was, tears in his eyes, goggles in hand with his arms still folded
"Hey buddy" Paige greeted softly as she looked up at him, hanging off the side of the pool
"Hello" He mumbled softly looking at his feet
"Are you ready to swim?" Paige asked
"Momma was supposed to be home today but her plane got cancelled" Braxton said folding his arms tighter "She was supposed to come today"
"I'm sorry Braxton, she'll be home soon though" Paige said nodding "You know, when I was sad, I used to jump into the pool and swim and it would make me
happy"
"I don't think it will do that for me" Braxton said shaking his head furiously
"It might, you won't know until you try it" Paige encouraged "If you don't feel happier after a while you tell me and we'll figure something else out. What do you
say?"
"Okay" Braxton said nodding after a moments hesitation
Braxton walked to the side of the pool where his classmates were and he sat down on the edge of the pool and slipped in
"Why don't we go back to the other side of the pool, doing the exact same thing but whoever does it their stroke the best this time will get something from me at
the end" Paige said to her students "I'll be watching"
The rest of the lesson went relatively smoothly and Braxton seemed cheered up by the time the lesson finished, so much so that he hurried off to get changed
straight after his lesson with his friends.
"I'm so sorry he was late" Emily said approaching the side of the pool as Paige pulled herself out of the pool to stand in front of her
"No that's okay" Paige said running a hand over her hair to get rid of some excess "It was no problem, he didn't miss much anyway"
"He didn't want to leave the house without Hanna and she can't come home today so he's upset" Emily said shaking her head "Her plane was cancelled last night"
"Poor kid" Paige nodded
"I don't know how you got him into the pool though" Emily said shaking her head "I had a hard time getting him to change and get ready, he just didn't want to do
anything today"
"He's a sweet kid, I just listened to him and told him how I used to stop being sad" Paige replied with a simple shrug
"Well thank you for that" Emily said
"No problem" Paige said shrugging "He just misses his mom"
"Are you free for a run on Monday?" Emily asked
"Yeah, of course" Paige nodded "That sounds good"
"Great" Emily replied with a small smile
"Well…have a good weekend" Paige said politely with a shy smile
"Thanks, you too" Emily said as Braxton made her way over to Emily "Come on"
Paige turned around to see Jason standing in behind her once again with a grin on his face
"You blew it" Jason laughed
"I blew what?" Paige asked
"You should have asked her out" Jason replied shaking his head
"Nope, too early" Paige said quickly "I want to get to know her some more"
"She likes you though, you can tell" Jason noted "Get to know her on a date"
"I know, I just don't want to rush it" Paige shook her head
"Right, well don't wait too long" Jason said as he walked away
"But" Paige began to speak with her arms out by her side but he just waved as he walked into his office
I hoped you liked it! Emily and Paige will be continuing to get to know each other a little more over the next few chapters!
Have a great rest of your weekend, i will update asap!
Dani :)