Ok, now I know a lot of you lovelies have been waiting for this and I apologize that it has taken a little longer than usual. Sometimes you just have to be in the right mindset to write and it just hasn't been that good for me the last few days. Plus school also takes priority as well, sorry :( But here it is; Chapter 4... Enjoy!
P.S. I want to thank all of my amazing reviewers, followers, etc. for letting me share my story with you and taking the time to tell me how much you love it :D You are awesome and I love you all!
"Guys, this is just too hard. I don't know if I can take much more of this." Aria complained, staring down at her lunch tray.
"It's easy, just remember, the food goes in your mouth." Spencer teasingly replied.
"I'm not talking about the food, Spence. I'm talking about Ezra. He still hasn't replied to any of my calls or texts since last night, and I'm getting really worried." Aria expressed.
"How bad could it be?" Hanna asked, "I'm sure he just got caught up doing something else and is just a little hung up. It was just a trip to Philly, and besides, he's been out of contact with you for longer than that and nothing bad has happened."
"Hanna's right, Aria." Spencer added, "it was just an author's meeting. What can happen at an author's meeting? It's not like he'd get stoned for not using enough alliteration or anything like that."
"That's not what I'm worried about. We got in this huge argument last night and it did not end well; and by "not ending well." I mean he practically just told me to drop off the face of the Earth." Aria added.
"Ok, here's what you do," Hanna interjected, "you go to his apartment, wait for him to get there, strip down completely, and lounge on his favorite chair. He will forget all about the fight the moment he walks in and..."
"No! None of your advice! It's not welcome at the moment." Spencer stated, harshly, "If anything, just do the normal cliché thing and go there and talk to him. I know cliché isn't really your thing, but it works for the most part. Or you could just give him time to cool off, which would probably be better in this situation."
"Well, I guess you're right." Aria admitted, "but what if we really are done with? What if he really doesn't care?"
"Of course he cares!" Hanna exclaimed, "There is no way he doesn't care for you. It was just a heat of the moment thing and you have to let him cool down, like Spencer said. She's right about the cliché thing too, it actually works."
"Well, there's no arguing that is there." Aria figured, "I'll go see him after school, later in the evening."
"Good," Spencer stated, "now that we've figured that mess out, let's figure this one out..."
All three girls turned their attention towards Emily, who had been blankly staring down at her food for the past seven minutes or so, seemingly enthralled in a world of her own.
"Yo Em, Earth to Em." Hanna said, "Emily, you've been smiling like an idiot for the past five minutes. What on Earth has gotten you so dazed?"
Emily, who had just began to slip back into reality, looked at the stares of all three of her friends, waiting for an answer to a question she didn't even know.
"Um... ah... Wh-what?" Emily asked.
"Uh, well, you've basically been sitting there trying to vaporize your vegetables for the past five minutes or so. What gives? Why are you suddenly so happy?" Spencer inquired.
"Oh, that. Well, um... I don't really know for sure." Emily lied, knowing full well what the cause of her happiness was. It was Paige. Not just her, but her voice; it was so low and husky she practically melted in the driver's seat last night. She almost had to think twice on whether or not she had heard her right, but it was definitely an unfamiliar voice that, frankly, she would never get tired of hearing.
"Bull. Crap." Hanna said, calling her bluff. Emily knew they could tell; she was a terrible liar. "It's that new girl, isn't it?"
"Ooohh, I sensed tension when you heard that" Spencer teased, "It's been less than a day and you can't stop thinking about her can you?"
"No." Emily said, admitting defeat. "She's just so damn perfect, it seems. Like during swim practice, she was flying through the water like it wasn't even there; she set a freaking school record at her first swim practice here. I can't even begin to explain it, she pushed me so hard last night that I broke my personal record along with a school record as well. It.. it.. I don't know why, but I literally think I'm in love with her already. I know that may sound bad, but it.. just..." Emily trailed off, unable to conjure up the feelings she had for Paige and put them into words.
"Oh my God, Em, that's incredible!" Hanna squealed, "You and mute girl would make an amazing couple..."
"Hanna!" Spencer chastised. It was evident to everyone but her that that would be the worst thing to say to Emily, under the circumstances.
"Actually," Emily started, "she's not mute..."
"What!?" all three girls exclaimed simultaneously.
"Wait, so you're saying she can talk, but chooses not to? Why on Earth would anyone do that?" Hanna asked, quite confused at the present moment. "What did she say to you?"
"Yeah, Em," Aria added, "what did she say?"
"Well, nothing much. She just thanked me for driving her home last night." Emily answered.
"Whoa, hold the phone," Hanna exclaimed, "you drove her home last night? So you know where she lives and everything? This just keeps getting better and better!"
"Ok, slow down there miss 'jump to conclusions,'" Aria stated, "obviously nothing happened between them."
"Aria's right, nothing happened." Emily added, still wondering why they were still having this conversation.
"Well, anyways," Spencer stated, "we're happy you found a new friend. A friend who can definitely help you with your math homework, let me tell you. She freaking aced the test today, you know, the one we took yesterday. The teacher said if she studied that night, she could take the test for extra credit since she wasn't there when we learned it, and she freaking aced it! Can you believe that?"
"Wow, she can swim, ace calculus tests, what's next? Win a Nobel Peace Prize?" Hanna sarcastically remarked.
"Ha, I wouldn't doubt it." Emily added.
The girls had spent so much time talking about Paige that they lost track of time; the bell had already rung by time they finished their meals and one by one they threw their garbage away and headed towards their next class.
This was the first time in her life that Emily could say she was looking forward to AP Chemistry.
Emily quickly strolled towards her next class, arriving a little earlier than usual. As she walks in, she finds Paige, and nonchalantly meanders towards her. But before she got there, Paige had noticed her and looked up at her, with a big smile on her face.
"For the love of all that is good and pure in this world, don't trip or do anything stupid." Emily thought, knowing that of all the times she does something stupid, this would be one of those times.
Thankfully, Emily safely makes it to her seat just before the bell rings.
"Hey," Emily greets.
Paige just continues with her smile and glances down at her homework; which was due today by the way.
"Oh shit," Emily thought, "that was due today and I didn't even look at it. I was too busy thinking about her."
"Alright, everyone, pass your homework forward and we will continue with the lesson by doing a lab today." said Mr. Dyck.
"Hey, Mr. Dyck, I don't get this homework at all. And neither does anyone else." said Noel Khan, the most popular kid in school.
"It's true," said Amy Pierce, a fellow student, "nobody understands this at all."
"Well, I guess in that case, I will spend class time going over it with you and we can start the lab tomorrow." Mr. Dyck said.
"Whew, off the hook today." Emily thought, as she proceeded to pull out her unfinished homework. Paige on the other hand, pulled out her homework which had been completed the night before.
"Whoa, wait a minute," Emily said, "you understand this stuff?"
Paige smiled and nodded, putting her homework aside and grabbing her sketchbook from her bookbag.
She opened it up to an unfinished drawing of a horse and rider clearing a pretty large jump; it was outlined and only partially shaded in. Paige began to shade light strokes with her pencil and completely lost touch with the rest of the world.
Emily was awestruck at the sight of Paige becoming one with her drawing; she couldn't focus on the lesson at this point, all she cared about was the woman sitting next to her.
"Ok, the whole GPA dropping thing, yeah, that's happening right now." Emily thought, still transfixed on Paige's light touch of her pencil.
A few minutes passed and Emily was straining to pay close attention to Mr. Dyck as he helped the class with last nights homework, but there was no way she would be able to withstand the temptation of staring blankly at her lab partner. Then, she had an idea...
"Hey, Paige?" She asked, hoping to get her attention. Which she did, because the auburn haired girl stopped her strokes and looked up at her with those deep, brown eyes of hers and smiled.
"Would it be alright if you helped me out with this? It's really just not sticking with me." she asked.
Paige nodded and put aside her drawing. Now, leaning over towards Emily as if asking what her question is.
"Well, how do you convert liters into moles? I don't really get the math for that." Emily asked.
Paige began to write the math equation out for her and then solved it step by step in a way that was easy for Emily to follow.
"Oh, ha, now I get it, thanks Paige." Emily said with a smile. She then continued on with the rest of the homework assignment and finished it right before the bell rang. Also Paige had just wrapped up the rest of her drawing as she had finished it as well.
"Meet me in the gym? We have athletic conditioning next." Emily stated, walking towards her locker.
Paige nodded as both girls headed to Emily's locker. Paige had decided to wait for Emily to stuff her unnecessary books back into her locker in order to make her bookbag lighter. They both then headed towards the locker rooms to change for gym class.
In the locker rooms, Emily couldn't help but steal glances at Paige's abs again; for they were just so perfect. As they entered the gym coach Fulton pulled them aside, informing them that tonight's swim practice was canceled due to a family issue of hers.
After that, coach called attendance, and announced that everyone who was in the weight room yesterday was to be on the track today and vice versa. Both girls then proceeded to jog the track the rest of the period in silence.
After gym, Emily again stole glances at Paige's perfect body and then the unexpected happened. Paige turned to Emily, and said, "I... I don't have a ride home."
Emily was shocked, mostly because that was the second time Paige had spoken to her, and also that she had no way home.
"Aren't your parents supposed to pick you up?" Emily asked.
"Th..they...don't get h..home... til' later this... evening." Paige stuttered, "m..maybe n..not until t...tomorrow."
"Well, does this mean you need a ride home again?"
Paige just looked at her like a lost puppy, and nodded gently. She hated to admit it though, but she didn't want to walk home in the cold like this.
"Well alright then, meet me at my locker after school and I'll be glad to give you a lift home." Emily said, smiling brightly. She didn't want the excitement that filled her to show on her face so she looked away and grabbed her bag in order to hide it. She was able to contain it enough to give Paige another smile, shut her locker, and scurry out the door.
After the last bell had rung, Emily rushed to her locker like as fast as she could without making herself seem too weird. She had to wait a few minutes before Paige showed up but when she did, she was greeted with a bright smile and eager looking Paige.
"Why did she look so happy?" Emily thought. But she quickly pushed away her thoughts and greeted Paige with a smile as well.
"All set?" She asked.
Paige responded with a smile and started off in the direction of the parking lot.
On the way there, Emily decided to ask a question that has been burning inside of her from the get go.
"Hey, Paige. Is... Is there a reason you don't speak that much?" Emily asked cautiously, hoping not to upset her in any way.
Paige just looked at her, and smiled her usual smile.
"Well, I take it you're not going to tell me, so I'll just have to find out for myself." Emily added playfully. Paige chuckled and continued to stare out the window.
When they arrived at Paige's house, Emily couldn't help but notice how different it had looked from the night before. The sun was shining and she could see clearly a few horses grazing by the barn she saw last night.
As they sat there, Emily had waited for Paige to leave but she didn't; she just sat there, staring out towards where the horses were standing.
Paige turned towards Emily, and Emily grew even more curious as to what was going on in that head of hers. But before she had time to speak, Paige answered her question.
"You don't have anywhere important to be right now, do you?" Paige inquired.
Emily was a little taken back by the question but quickly responded with, "Well, no, not in particular. In fact my mom thinks I'm still at practice. So no I don't have anywhere to be right now. Why do you ask?
Paige paused, hesitantly finding the right words to say. She knew if she asked outright that Emily would know that she didn't want her to leave. But she also knew that if she didn't ask, then she would have to go even longer without seeing her again, and she didn't want to do that.
"Well, um.. do... do you like horses?" Paige asked, unable to think of anything else to say.
Emily was very curious as to what Paige had in mind, but she figured it would give her a reason to stay and that was enough for her.
"Yeah, actually. I think they're pretty neat." Emily replied.
"Well, um... would you.. um.. like to see... my... ho..rses...?" Paige asked, kicking herself for asking such a ridiculous question. "Of course she didn't, you dumbass, she just wanted to go home where it was warm and she didn't have to be around your ugly butt." She just wanted to disappear. She regretted ever opening her mouth; every time she did, something wrong came out.
"I'd love to." Emily responded, turning her car off. "But it's pretty cold out, is it warm in the barn?"
Paige couldn't believe her ears; she actually said yes, to her; of all the people in the world Emily said yes to her.
"Yeah, it's warm in there; I'll just bring them in, it's their dinnertime anyway." Paige replied with a huge grin across her face.
And with that, they both trudged to the barn as Paige called in the horses; who of course didn't need much persuading considering the small amount of grass there was to eat.
As they entered the barn, all four horses were lined up in their stalls; one by one Paige fed them their hay and grain for the day. Emily stood back and watched as she took care of these large, dependent animals. It intrigued her just how much love she saw in Paige's eyes for these large creatures; she hoped one day Paige would look at her in the same way as well (minus the bestiality part of course.)
As Paige finished feeding the horses, Emily couldn't help but fall even more in love with her.
"Well, that's done; now they are pretty much preoccupied and don't really care much for anything else but you can pet them if you'd like. The one on the far left is Joey, then Snazzie, then Cowboy, and finally Twister on the far right."
Emily, to be honest, wasn't the least bit interested in the horses; the only thing she could think of was Paige. But Paige obviously wanted her to like them, so she went along with it and greeted each individual horse with a pat on the neck.
"They're so beautiful, Paige." Emily said, but really she was just talking about Paige; she was beautiful.
"Yeah, I know. Hey, it's getting kinda chilly, wanna go inside and grab something to eat or drink?" Paige asked, hoping Emily would accept her kind yet awkward offer.
"I'd love to." Emily replied.
The two girls entered the large, white house and immediately Emily felt relief from the bitter cold wind that had begun to blow.
Paige's house was filled with a welcoming aroma that filled your senses as soon as you walked inside. To the left, was the dining room, which was just adjacent to the kitchen down the hall. To the right was the living room, complete with a plasma screen TV and an "L" shaped couch and coffee table. Just ahead was a flight of stairs leading to, most likely, the master bedroom and Paige's bedroom. The entire flight of stairs was lined with family portraits and copies of famous works of art. The walls were all white with the exception of the living room, which was a light brown.
"Want anything to eat or drink?" Paige asked.
"No thanks, I'm good." Emily replied. All she really wanted was to hang out with Paige, but she didn't want to make her uncomfortable like the other girls did. She just wanted Paige to come to her, like she did when she asked to see her horses.
"Well, you wanna watch TV or something?" Paige asked.
"Sure, what do you like to watch?" Emily asked, walking towards the living room.
"Actually that TV doesn't work." Paige lied. "The only one that works right now is the one in my room. The cable is being weird down here and we're trying to get it fixed." She lied again. She really just wanted an excuse to have Emily in her room. A girl; a girl like Emily in her room.
"Oh, alright, lets go to your room then." Emily replied, heading up the stairs, thanking the Gods that she is going to end up in Paige's room, on her bed, with her.
They entered Paige's room. It was Mint green and there were multiple framed drawings of horses hanging up on all four of the walls. She had a queen sized bed, which Emily thought was nice. Her dresser was white and scattered on it were swimming medals, trophies, ribbons and pictures of her, some from when she was young, and some from maybe just a year ago.
She also noticed a second sketchbook; apparently Paige had a thing for drawing. Emily walked over, picked it up, and started flipping through it. She noticed that the drawings were a little different; they were just of a bunch of random women in different positions. No horses, no settings, no animals, no nothing but these women; they weren't provocative at all, they were just random positions. Sitting, standing, reading, walking, running, crying, sleeping, etc.
Paige noticed Emily's curiosity and grabbed the book away from her, as if she was embarrassed that she saw them. She placed it in her desk drawer and shut it.
"Hey, those were really good." Emily said, trying to ease her embarrassment as much as possible. It didn't seem to help though, because she quickly changed the subject back to their original plan.
"Here's the remote. Pick anything you like." Paige persuaded, handing Emily the remote.
Emily reluctantly turned it on and decided to flip to Animal Planet; figuring that's what Paige liked to watch as well. Animal Cops Houston was on a rerun and they both settled into Paige's bed and just laid there for a while, in silence.
After the 3rd rerun, Emily had received a text from her mom, wondering where the hell she was because she wasn't at practice.
"Oh, shit," Emily thought. "I'm dead." It was going on 9 o' clock and Emily had to be home by 8.
"Hey, Paige," Emily said, "I have to go, that was my mom."
Sitting up, Paige smiled and pushed the hair out of her face, for she had been half asleep.
Emily stood up and started to walk out, but when she got to the door, she turned around and said, "Hey, you're a really good artist. I can tell what you're interests are; and I think we share the same ones."
Paige just sat there, staring at her, looking as though she was caught in some sort of lie.
"We both like horses." Emily said, as she turned around and walked out the door.