Hi Everyone! I'm back! Thanks so much for all the reviews you guys have left for the last chapter! I'm glad you guys seemed to like it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, much appreciated. Thank you to the guest reviewers as well that I can't reply to personally so I will just say thank you to you guys now :)
This chapter is a bit of a long one so hopefully you guys like it! :) I thought I would make their first date a bit of a longer one.
I should be updating soon!
Let me know what you think when you've finished reading it! :)
The next day Paige made her way to Jason's swim school, no classes were actually scheduled but she knew she would find him in there either cleaning up the place
a little or doing some paperwork in the office.
"Do you actually ever leave this place?" Paige asked as she walked through the gate to see Jason cleaning the pool, her hands in her pockets and a smile on her
face.
"I could say the same thing" Jason replied gesturing to the pool "I know you like the water but maybe you should take a break from this place, ever heard of a
work life balance?"
"You can't talk" Paige rebutted quickly "I'm not here every day though"
"So what are you do I owe this pleasure?" Jason asked with a smile as Paige sat down on a plastic chair that was positioned near the edge of the pool
"I wanted to know if I could possibly borrow the pool tonight?" Paige asked hopefully "I'll look after the place and I won't mess it up…plus I'll clean it even more
tonight when I'm done"
"You having a lap session?" Jason asked raising his eyebrow
"Not quite" Paige shook her head "I kind of want to use it for leisurely purposes"
"Of what kind?" Jason inquired
"I have a date with Emily and I wanted to do something different" Paige replied "I mean we already did the whole movie and coffee thing so I thought we could do
something different"
"So you're going to give her a swimming lesson?" Jason asked "How long have you been out of the game for McCullers?"
"I'm not going to give her a swimming lesson" Paige replied rolling her eyes "I said to Emily that I would race her in the pool and I thought for something different
we could do that"
"Interesting concept you have there" Jason nodded
"What? Is that a bad idea?" Paige asked cautiously
"No, I think she'll love it" Jason replied with a chuckle "You do whatever you think she'll like, you seem to be able to read people pretty well"
"I think this will be fun and it'll be different to any other date she's been on" Paige explained with a small smile
"Of course you can use it, just lock up and you're more than welcome" Jason nodded
"Thanks Jason" Paige replied with a grin, standing up from her seat to hit him on the shoulder affectionately "You're the best. I'll see you later"
Paige's next stop that afternoon was the Hastings household where she was going to see if Spencer was home.
"It's a bit of a strange request asking for a picnic basket" Spencer said raising an eyebrow as Paige stood in the kitchen with a broad smile on her face with her
arms folded
"Yeah I know but I need it for tonight" Paige replied shrugging "Please, I really need to borrow it"
"Of course, anything for romance. You're lucky I want to see you happy with Emily" Spencer joked rolling her eyes "What are you guys going to do anyway?"
"Well I asked Jason if I could use the pool tonight" Paige said "We've been talking about having a race and I thought why not?"
"You're going to beat your date in a swimming race for your first date?" Spencer raised her eyebrows skeptically "Interesting"
"Assuming I beat her" Paige replied shrugging "But I'm going to set up a picnic by the pool and hopefully things are going to go well"
"She's going to love it" Spencer said with a smile "Also, if you don't beat her then I'm going to ask the question of how you managed to win so many medals last
year"
"That was a different time" Paige shrugged
"It was just over 7 months ago Paige, you can't be that different" Spencer shook her head "Anyway, I think you're going to really surprise her with this"
"You think?" Paige asked
"She will love it" Spencer affirmed her best friend "That's actually pretty perfect for you guys"
"I hope so" Paige replied "I don't know, it just feels different with her. I want this to be perfect"
"I can see that" Spencer said with a smile "You're a nervous wreck around this girl. I've never seen you like that with a girl before"
"I am not" Paige denied but even she knew that she was definitely a nervous wreck whenever it came to Emily
"Tell me how you go tonight" Spencer said walking to another room before coming back with the picnic basket
"I will, thank you" Paige grinned "You're the best"
"I am and don't you forget that McCullers" Spencer joked with a grin on her face as she watched her best friend get so excited by the fact that she now had a picnic
basket.
Emily was curious as to what they were going to do when she received a text from Paige telling her to go to the swim school that night for their date but she also
was excited. Although they had only known each other for a few weeks, she felt like this date had been a long time coming and she knew Paige would be putting a
lot of thought into it, she knew she was going to have a good time.
7:30 finally arrived and when Paige saw Emily pull up outside of the aquatic centre she took a deep breath, this had been a while coming and she wanted
everything to be perfect. She was nervous, even more nervous than usual around Emily because she wanted Emily to have fun. She wanted Emily to have a good
night and she just wanted her to enjoy herself.
Paige had left very few lights on in the aquatic center but she had lit a few candles around the picnic blanket with other blankets and cushions surrounding her
picnic set up; she had gone through quite a bit of effort for their first date.
Emily walked through the gate of the center and pausing when she saw Paige sitting by the pool on the picnic blanket, the light reflecting off of the pool projecting
softly on Paige's features. Emily's heart paused with her body as she saw the smile on Paige's face as soon as she walked in.
"Hey" Emily greeted with a grin as she took in the scene in front of her
"Hey Em" Paige responded quietly and calmly as she patted the spot next to her on the picnic blanket "Come take a seat"
"Picnic by the pool, huh?" Emily asked as she made her way to Paige looking around the silent and empty center "I wondered why you wanted me to meet you
here and bring my bathing suit. I have to say it's kind of beautiful in here at night but maybe that's just because you've set it up so well"
"I thought that maybe if you were up for it, we could have that race later we've been talking about for a little while" Paige shrugged "I thought why not tonight?"
"You just want to beat me" Emily joked playfully "Make this first date a feel good date for you?"
"I want to have some fun" Paige shrugged with a smile "Plus yes, it could help my ego a little. I haven't had a win in a while"
"This looks beautiful" Emily said humbled, suddenly forgetting the joke Paige had just made, sitting down next to her "You didn't have to go to so much trouble"
"I wanted to" Paige shrugged simply "It wasn't that much trouble anyway, it didn't take that long so you don't need to worry about that"
"This is so cute" Emily said with a smile "Is it bad that I've been looking forward to this all day?"
"I have too, I'm not even going to hide it " Paige admitted happily "I'm glad you said yes to this"
"Of course I was going to say yes" Emily spoke honestly
"Really?" Paige asked "Even after the whole Samara thing? That was a bit of a disaster"
"I over reacted, I know that. I was just scared that you were going to see how beautiful Samara was and I knew she would go after you, I can't blame her really"
Emily shrugged
"Have you seen yourself in the mirror though Em?" Paige asked with a chuckle "You are absolutely stunning, beyond that. You literally have not left my head since
I saw you walk through these doors a few weeks ago"
"I know what you mean" Emily replied shyly
"But honestly, I'm not sorry it's taken so long for us to get here because I feel like I know you as a friend which I think is important" Paige smiled "I don't think
we're going to have to worry about finding things to talk about"
"No, I don't think so" Emily shook her head "Plus, with your experiences you're probably one of the most interesting people I have ever met"
"I'm not that interesting" Paige shrugged
"Are you kidding?" Emily asked "You probably have enough interesting stories to tell than all the people I know put together"
"Well I want to hear about you, I'm not a fan of talking about myself" Paige said as she handed Emily a plate and uncovered a huge selection of food on the picnic
mat. She had made everything from salad to desserts and everything in between "How's work going?"
"It's good" Emily said staring at the food for a moment "Of course it would be better if the other lawyers would give me more of a chance but I guess I have to earn
it"
"Should I get something to get sued or something so you can defend me?" Paige asked jokingly "I'd hire you"
"I'd rather prosecute someone, attacking is easier to me" Emily shrugged
"Okay well I could sue someone?" Paige nodded and she commented sarcastically with a chuckle as she joked "Come to think about it, I never really liked all of
those charity events, maybe I can sue them for something"
"I don't know if I'd be able to help you with that one" Emily said laughing at Paige's joke "Though I'm sure some of the others would be happy to"
"A lawyer with a soul huh?" Paige asked as she smirked "Who would have thought those exist"
"You watch yourself" Emily joked knocking her plate on Paige's knee gently
"Start eating on that thing and stop using it as a weapon please. I happen to think that is why I think you'd be a great lawyer anyway" Paige said as she grabbed
some food and looked up to Emily "The better you can understand them, the better you can see where they are coming from and I guess you could build on that"
"I like to think so" Emily nodded "Kind of like how we waited to go on this date I guess. Did you make this all of this food?"
"I might have had some help from Aria today but most of it, I did" Paige said proudly "I had an early morning run so I spent the rest of my day cooking"
"So you went from Olympian to swim teacher?" Emily asked before taking her first bite of Paige's food "What made you do that?"
"Well if I couldn't do it anymore, I wanted to help other people learn" Paige paused "Plus teaching someone to swim could save their life"
"You're really good with the kids, Braxton loves you. He always talks about you for hours after his lesson. I don't know how you got him to respond to you the
other day when he was upset and get him in the pool, I tried everything" Emily sighed shaking her head
"Well he's a pretty great kid, I just had to talk to him and see what was wrong. I used to do events where I did a clinic with kids so I've learnt how to deal with kids
when they're upset" Paige said "And they're not difficult to deal with"
"Well maybe for you" Emily replied
"You seem to do a great job with Braxton" Paige said raising her eyebrow "He adores you, I don't blame him either"
"Well he is a great kid" Emily blushed as she looked to Paige "Are you always this creative with first dates?"
"Only for certain people" Paige joked "Honestly, as I told you before, I haven't been able to go on a date in a while"
"Really?" Emily asked with a chuckle
"You can tell, cant you?" Paige laughed
"I guess we both haven't because we weren't very good at asking each other out" Emily shook her head "It's just that I'm the same as you, I haven't been on a
date since Samara really, I haven't given anyone any time or chances"
"Well I appreciate that" Paige joked "I mean I guess I should thank Samara because she pushed me to admit to you how I felt"
"I wouldn't go so far as thanking her" Emily smiled jokingly
"I would" Paige replied with a grin
"This food is awesome by the way" Emily noted seriously
"Thank you" Paige said
"How did you learn to cook like this?" Emily asked
"Well when I went through training they taught us to cook so we could make nutritional meals for ourselves quickly and still be able to make them healthy" Paige
replied "So you won't have to feel guilty about this meal, it's completely healthy…except for the apple pie but it's as healthy as possible"
"You even made dessert?" Emily asked with an infectious grin
"Only the best for you Miss Fields" Paige joked "I'm glad you're liking it so far though"
"This is fantastic" Emily nodded "This is my favourite first date"
"I've done well then" Paige replied smiling "Wait until I beat you later though"
"So Samara kissed you huh?" Emily asked curiously
"She did" Paige said pulling a face is disapproval as she spoke "She kind of just forced herself on me though. I pulled away as soon as I knew what happened so I
don't know whether I could call it a kiss"
"So what are you doing with the interview then?" Emily asked "Also, I tried to tell you that she was bad news"
"I know, I know" Paige nodded "I'm pulling out of it, it wasn't worth it to me. I didn't want a 4 page spread enough to let her treat me like that"
"But you said your manager worked hard for that?"
"He did and I'll send him something to make it up to him but I wasn't going to put up with that for the sake of an interview" Paige replied with a shake of the head
and smiled towards Emily shyly "I wasn't going to risk you being upset at me over it"
"I shouldn't have done that, I was wrong to put you in that position" Emily replied "I just got jealous and it cost you your interview"
"Actually, her rudeness cost me the interview, you kind of just made it more apparent" Paige shrugged "Honestly don't worry about it"
"I just feel bad because it was none of my business" Emily admitted
"Don't worry about it" Paige repeated waving off Emily's concern
"So you do know I'm going to beat you when we jump in that pool and race, right?" Emily asked smartly
"Hey, I'm not doubting that you might push me" Paige replied looking out to the water in the pool "Might. I think I've got you covered though, something tells me
that I night have this one in the bag"
"Oh really?" Emily laughed raising her eyebrow
"Well some of us are current Olympic champions" Paige said looking between herself and Emily jokingly "Or one of us"
"Okay, if you're so confident…put a medal on the line" Emily offered
"What?" Paige's eyes widened with a smirk
"Yep, put one of your gold medals on the line here in our race" Emily continued "If I win, I get one"
"You're playing possum with me, aren't you?" Paige asked as her lips parted to make way for a wide grin "I bet you're really good"
"Want to find out?" Emily asked boldly, leaning forward towards Paige
"Okay, fine. I'm a confident person when it comes to the pool. You have yourself a deal Miss Fields" Paige shrugged "Don't blow your shot at an Olympic Gold
though because this might be the only chance you ever get"
"It will be the only chance I get" Emily chuckled "I know that for a fact"
"Well I look forward to seeing you back your talk up" Paige replied
"I'm just glad you're willing to put your money where your mouth is" Emily joked
Paige paused for a moment, the smile gradually fading from her face as they stayed silent, chewing their food quietly. The silence wasn't awkward and that's what
Paige had noticed, their silence was never awkward.
"Can I ask something?" Paige asked
"Sure" Emily nodded
"I know this is none of my business and feel free to tell me to just shut up but your friend Maya that Samara was talking about" Paige replied cautiously as she
brought up something that she really knew nothing about "What was the deal with you two? If it's okay that I even ask this"
"Of course it is" Emily nodded "I have nothing to hide"
"No I know that" Paige replied with a sigh "I don't know, I just know that there are always two sides to every story and I heard Samara's…you told me yours…"
"But not as much as Samara told you?" Emily asked
"I'm screwing this up" Paige muttered
"No you're not" Emily said leaning over to place her hand on Paige's leg quickly "It's not a big deal so I'll tell you. Samara and I were together for 6 months before
Maya transferred to my college. She was beautiful, inside and out with a really great personality so we hit it off straight away. We had a few classes together so
naturally we became pretty close friends and I liked my friends to get to know Samara because I thought it was important but they never really saw eye to eye.
Samara was always jealous of Maya as soon as she found out that Maya was bi and Maya didn't like Samara because she thought Samara was so territorial and
selfish. Basically Maya didn't think that Samara was good for me"
"I think Maya might have been onto something" Paige replied with a small smile
"And she was" Emily said with a smile "But I didn't really see it that way when I was with her though, which can probably be said about most relationships"
"Definitely" Paige laughed nodding
"Anyway so I started spending quite a bit of time with Maya because she was doing a video project on the day in the life of a college swimmer. We started to really
get to know each other and Maya admitted that she liked me but she knew I was in a relationship and she made it clear that she would never do that" Emily
explained
"But wasn't that weird?" Paige asked
"Not really because I was head over heals for Samara" Emily shook her head "Samara found out that Maya admitted to liking me and at that point I think she
started cheating on me with my roommate. So that went on for a month or so and Maya could see I was unhappy to the point where she thought I should
confront Samara about it"
"Sounds like she was actually a pretty good friend to you" Paige replied
"She was. She was great all through my break up but after a certain point she got a little less patient, which I understood I guess. I think she was sick of liking me
and not getting anything back from me but I made it clear that I wasn't ready to date again" Emily explained "I asked her to wait but she said she couldn't which
was fine. I didn't think it was going to work between us anyway. She developed a bit of a bad habit of drugs and when we graduated she moved away and I never
heard from her again"
"That's horrible" Paige said with a furrowed brow
"I don't know" Emily said optimistically "I've always thought that people are in your life for a reason. They never overstay their welcome, they're there in the time
that you need them and when you don't need them any longer they leave. Sometimes when they're in your life they might not be there because you need them,
maybe they need you for that time in their life. I needed Maya to get me through the whole Samara thing and when Samara was gone, maybe I didn't need Maya
anymore"
"Emily Fields" Paige said with a sigh, shaking her head in amazement
"What?" Emily asked suddenly becoming self-conscious with her thoughts
"That was probably one of be truest things someone has ever said" Paige said honestly
"That's just how I see things" Emily shrugged
"And I think it's a great way to look at it" Paige nodded before she paused "So why do you think we walked into each others lives then?"
"That's something I don't know yet" Emily smiled "But I'm glad it happened. It's safe to say you came in just as I was ready to start dating again"
"I know what you mean" Paige nodded
They finished dinner, deciding to let their food settle before they both changed and made their way back out to the pool. Emily was out to the pool first, placing her
towel down by the side of the pool. Emily paused as she heard footsteps behind her approaching slowly, she turned to see Paige in her bikini and froze almost
immediately. Emily always knew Paige had a good body but she didn't know just how good it was when she was standing only feet away from her. Paige was
nothing short of toned from head to toe. Her shoulders were solid due to the fact she was a swimmer, her legs were strong and her stomach was flat with her abs
very visible for anyone to see.
"You okay?" Paige asked chuckling as she saw Emily's eyes locked on her abs
"Um" Emily said as she ripped herself out from her thoughts "Yeah..."
"Is something wrong?" Paige asked looking down at herself "I know, this bikini is pretty ugly"
"Paige, nothing about what you are wearing is ugly" Emily said quickly to save Paige from her self doubt "Nothing about you could ever be associated with the word
ugly. You just kind of stunned me when you walked out"
"Well you're pretty stunning yourself" Paige smiled softly "Now I didn't know I was swimming for a medal tonight so I didn't bring my proper swimsuit but I'm sure
I could find one around here somewhere if we wanted to be completely serious"
"Personally I just think Olympians should swim like this all the time" Emily nodded jokingly
"I can't guarantee that we would actually get in the pool if that was one of our conditions" Paige joked "Though these are easier to get in and out of than our
normal suits"
"I'll bet" Emily nodded
Paige smiled while she nodded again and she found herself doing the exact same thing Emily had done to her moments ago, she couldn't help but look at Emily's
perfectly toned stomach, smooth olive skin and perfect legs.
"What?" Emily observed shyly as she saw Paige look away as soon as she realized she was staring
"You're pretty perfect, you know that?" Paige blurted out before she realized what she said
"Thank you but I'm far from it" Emily said shaking her head "You ready to go?"
"Always" Paige nodded as she stepped towards the starting blocks "Are you sure you want to do this? It could hurt your ego a little…or a lot"
"I'm just wondering how quickly you can get my new medal to me" Emily shrugged "I mean will you post it to me or just give it to me? Does it come in a box?"
"Slow down there Miss America" Paige joked using the nickname she called her a while ago "You can think about what could have been when you lose"
"You know I was a pretty big deal around here when I swam" Emily joked as she stood on the blocks next to Paige who also stepped onto her starting block
"Okay, you can count us in" Paige said as she crouched, getting in position to dive into the pool "We'll let you have the advantage"
"Kind of bizarre that I'm racing Paige McCullers the 9 time Olympic gold medalist" Emily said a she became caught up in the moment "I watched your last race and
I was amazed by your determination"
"Don't get all sentimental on me now, we can talk about that later" Paige joked as she focused on the water ahead of her "On your mark"
"Go" Emily called quickly as she jumped in the pool
"Hey!" Paige called before making a quick jump into the pool after Emily
Emily was fast but she wasn't Paige fast so needless to say Paige's medal was safe, even when Emily took off a little before Paige. Paige found herself catching up
reasonably quickly but she had to give Emily some credit, she was fast and her stroke technique was excellent.
"You're a cheat" Paige said in between breaths laughing as Emily touched in a few lengths behind Paige "I'll hand it to you though, you're pretty good Emily Fields"
"Well I kind of figured it was the only shot I had" Emily laughed "Thank you for that"
"I'll beat you any day" Paige shrugged before Emily splashed some water in her face "Sore loser"
"That was fun" Emily said chuckling
Paige moved herself to lean on the lane rope towards Emily quickly, stealing a kiss from the girl next to her
"You must have been a good swimmer in college" Paige nodded "Why didn't you progress it further?"
"I didn't know that I should have" Emily shrugged with a grin as she pressed her lips to Paige's once more
"You're good" Paige nodded as she pulled away from Emily "I'll give you that"
"At least I can say I was in an Olympic Gold Medal race" Emily playfully replied
"Exactly" Paige replied "And you did well"
It was getting late so Paige decided she was going to clean up while Emily was getting changed again, though not without protest from Emily because she wanted
to help clean up. Paige wouldn't allow it seeing as she said she was the one who made the mess in the first place and she was the one who asked Emily out on the
date. Paige put some old clothes over her bikini when Emily was ready so she could walk her out to the car.
Once they reached Emily's car they both paused, neither wanting to make the first move to say goodnight
"Thank you for tonight" Emily said turning around to face Paige again as she leaned up against her car "I had a great time, you planned a really perfect first date"
"I'm glad, I sure did" Paige said before she paused for a moment with a smile "Have a good time that is"
"I know what you meant" Emily chuckled shaking her head "You are a dork, you know that?"
"I know" Paige nodded in defeat
"But you're cute" Emily admitted quickly
"Maybe we can do something like this again soon?" Paige asked with a hopeful smile "I kind of hope we can do things like this often"
"I would love that" Emily nodded "Are we on for a run tomorrow morning?"
"I think so, yeah" Paige replied "You sure your ego can take two bruising's in a row? I'll take it easy on you tomorrow"
"Meet same time?" Emily asked "And don't take it easy on my account"
"Yep" She confirmed with a quick nod
"Now I said I don't kiss on the first date but" Emily began before she was cut off by Paige who cupped Emily's cheek gently in her hand as she captured Emily's lips
in a kiss. She felt Emily smile against her lips briefly before she returned the kiss with some enthusiasm. Paige pushed Emily back slightly against the car, her other
hand moving to Emily's hip while Emily moved her arms to dangle over Paige's shoulder.
"I'm glad we made an exception" Paige replied grinning, her nose rubbing Emily's as she nodded "I think we broke that in the pool anyway"
"Good night Paige" Emily said happily
"Night Em" Paige replied as she backed away from Emily reluctantly, placing her hands in her back pockets while she watched Emily get into her car.
Paige waved when Emily drove away, smiling one of the biggest smiles she had ever had formed on her lips as she looked to the ground while walking back into the
swimming center. That night was perfect and their first date was perfect.
So what do we all think? Please review and let me know what your thoughts are about this chapter! I should be updating soon!
From here I'm going to skip forward just a tiny bit, I just need to get another part of the story moving but it won't be skipping much time at all.
Hope you are all having a good weekend so far!
Dani :)