A few weeks had passed since Paige's car accident, and Emily, true to her unspoken promise to Spencer, had been back to Palo Alto at least once a week since her first visit. She was waiting for her parents, who agreed to pay for all her gas while she was in university, to call for an explanation why her credit card statements had spiked in the last few weeks. But so far she didn't have to explain. And, really, they had always liked Paige, once they'd gotten to know her, even if her mom thought she was "a little odd," so she thought they'd understand.
Emily had plans to go again on Saturday afternoon, promising to cook dinner for Paige and Spencer. It was the least she could do since they always managed to feed her during her visits. She'd expected Spencer to give her a hard time since the warning she'd received from her on her first trip to Palo Alto and because they actually competed against each other head-to-head in the pool. Spencer had bested her in the conference championships by a few hundredths of a second in the two hundred-yard backstroke, which Emily planned to redeem this season. But the girls rarely spoke about swimming, unless it was directly related to Paige's rehab. And Spencer seemed to genuinely like her. She trusted her, at least, using Emily's last couple of visits as opportunities to get out of the house and go out with friends or her boyfriend. Just last week she convinced Emily to spend the night to keep an eye on Paige and so she could have her own sleepover with Toby, giving Paige a break from his near-constant presence in the house since Spencer devoted so much of her free time caring for roommate. She even offered her own bed.
Paige and Emily were also making great strides to reestablish their once-strong friendship, and for the first time in years Emily felt all was well with the world again. There was a distance between them—Emily couldn't deny it—but she also felt the familiar warmth she'd always felt around Paige and how easy it was just to be near each other, even if neither had made any attempt to address the past.
Samantha mocked her endlessly each time she returned from a visit.
"How was your sleepover?" she teased when she got back the previous Sunday.
Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes. "It was fine. Spencer has a comfortable bed," Emily said, refusing to give her roommate more than that.
"And how's the invalid?"
"She's doing better." Emily couldn't help the smile that escaped when she thought about the star swimmer. She hoped Sam hadn't picked up on that. "She seems to be in less pain and is managing better on her own."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "That's really all you're giving me?" she asked. "You're spending all this time with the newly single and super hot former best friend of yours, who, however briefly, was once more than just your best friend, and that's all you're giving me?"
Emily felt heat rush to her ears. "It's not like that," she insisted. "We're just spending time together, becoming friends again. She hasn't even... We haven't even hugged."
"And why's that exactly?"
"Sam, leave it," Emily said seriously. "I barely even know her anymore. Trust me, she's changed a lot since we were friends and, while I'm really getting along with this new version of her, I'm still getting to know her."
"Uh huh," Sam hummed, unconvinced.
"I'm serious!" Emily insisted. "Plus, she just got out of a relationship."
Emily could tell Sam wasn't persuaded, but at least she dropped it for the time being.
On Thursday afternoon, Emily received a text from Spencer:
Saturdayafternoon at 2, meet me at Memorial Glade.
Emily knitted her eyebrows together, wondering why Spencer was coming to Berkeley. She was supposed to be going to Palo Alto that afternoon.
She sent Spencer a text back.
I thought I was coming over to cook that day.
A few minutes later, she received a reply.
You are. But Memorial Glade first.2:00.
Emily, still confused, asked Sam later, "Is there anything happening at Memorial Glade on Saturday afternoon?"
"There's always something going on there."
"No, I know, but Spencer Hastings told me to meet her there on Saturday, but she didn't say why."
"Spencer Hastings? Stanford swimmer Spencer Hastings?" Sam asked. "Paige McCullers' ultra-competitive, beat-you-in-the-pool-last-year Spencer Hastings? Your new bed-sharing-bestie Spencer Hastings? "
Emily rolled her eyes.
"This I have to see," Sam said.
When Emily and Sam reached Memorial Glade on Saturday, a small crowd had already formed around the chalk-partitioned lawn. On each end were what looked to be three loop stands, but Emily was looking for Spencer, while Sam was freaking the fuck out about something.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "We're at a Quidditch match."
Emily stopped to take in her surrounding and saw cardinal red-clad players carrying brooms. She had never seen Quidditch played before, though she had always been curious. This also explained why Spencer was at Berkeley: her boyfriend played on Stanford's Quidditch team.
Emily looked for the Stanford supporters and saw Spencer standing next to a seated Paige, who was wearing a black hoodie and, what appeared to be, a red and white Stanford scarf.
Sam was the first to speak when they finally reached the two rival swimmers. "I didn't realize Slytherin was coming to campus today," she said, looking at the Stanford team finishing up their warm-up drills.
Emily cut off any potential reply by quickly stepping in to introduce her roommate, which wasn't really necessary since the Stanford and Cal swim teams were quite familiar with one another.
"It's great to see you out and about, Paige," Emily said to her high school friend, feeling oddly nervous. "You must be feeling better."
"I am," she said smiling. "But I'm mostly sick of only getting out to go to class."
"I tried saying no," Spencer said, finally taking a seat in the chair next to Paige. "God forbid I hurt her collarbone again by stepping too quickly on the brakes, but she's a stubborn one."
Paige shook her head. "It was fine. I'm fine," she amended.
"So, Paige," Sam started, "any chance you're going to be back when our teams go head-to-head? It'll be so much more rewarding to beat you if you're back in the water."
Emily stared at her roommate incredulously, while Paige dropped her head and laughed and Spencer scoffed, saying, "Yeah, that's not gonna happen."
Paige, who was a First-Team All-American, the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year last year and the captain of the second-ranked team in the country, simply said, "I'll be back," and winked at Sam.
Emily could hardly keep her eyes on the Quidditch pitch, nervous that Sam or Spencer would say something that would set the other one off. She loved her roommate, and she was gaining a real affection for Paige's roommate, but both could be a little volatile. They represented rival, powerhouse swimming schools and had a lot of pride about their respective teams and universities. Emily understood it, and she knew, without ever speaking to her about it, that Paige did too. But thankfully nothing more was said about swimming or about the larger Stanford-Cal rivalry, despite the fact that the two schools were pitted against each other on the field before them. Spencer was mostly focused on the match at hand, screaming her encouragement to Toby, who Emily had pointed out to Sam.
And so far Sam was behaving well, even though she had whispered to Emily shortly after her discussion with Paige, "Damn, Fields, McCullers is even hotter than I remembered," for which Emily swatted her in the ribs. But after thirty minutes of Quidditch play and no sightings of the snitch, Emily heard Sam ask, "So, Paige, what was Emily like in high school?"
Paige, squinting in the bright fall sun, looked to Emily briefly, before looking past her to Sam, who was seated on the ground on Emily's other side. "Um, I don't know. Conscientious, kind, brave? She was a good friend. I don't know. It's sort of hard to boil her down to a few words," she admitted.
Emily hoped Sam was satisfied with that answer. She didn't want Paige to be put on the spot or have to wonder how much Sam knew about their friendship. But Sam wasn't quite satisfied.
"Please tell me, at least, that she had more game with the ladies than she does now. This girl can't keep a girl around if her life depended on it." Sam revealed.
Emily glared at Sam who wasn't fazed by Emily's gaze, but Emily could feel Paige starring at her. Sure enough, when Emily finally turned her head to see if she could gauge Paige's expression, Paige was looking right at her, her eyebrows knitted together trying to figure something out. She noticed Spencer was starring at her, too.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity but was really only a few seconds, Paige looked to Sam and said, "I'm not actually sure. Emily only dated one person in high school before breaking up with him to concentrate on swimming."
Emily finally glanced back to her roommate, the latter whom looked like she was trying to work details out in her head. She knew Sam would have many questions for her later, but at least she was quiet for now. Moments later, the whistle blew and the crowd began cheering, while Spencer swore under her breath. The Bears had caught the snitch, ending the match and also pulling ahead in points to win the game. Sam joined the crowd already cheering, while Emily snuck a peek at Paige, who was whispering something in Spencer's ear as the Stanford team went to shake hands with the victorious squad. Then, a sweaty and exhausted Toby grabbed his girlfriend from behind and waved at Emily as Spencer playfully shoved him off before reaching up to give him a kiss on the lips.
When she finished Spencer turned to Emily and asked, "So we'll see you in a bit?"
Emily nodded, still shaken from Sam's exchange with Paige. "Yeah. I'm going to stop at the store first, but," she said glancing at her phone to look at the time, "I should be there by five, depending on traffic."
"Sounds good. See you then," she said, collapsing the chairs she and Paige sat in during the match. "We'll see you in the water, Bowen," she said to Sam.
Sam waived. "It was nice meeting you both," she said sincerely. "It's going to make it all the more awkward when we beat you." She really couldn't help herself, but it made everyone laugh, including Spencer. But it was Paige who took the bait this time.
"Good luck with that," she said winking to Sam. "Remind me again which team is nationally-ranked second and which team is fifth?" Spencer gave her teammate a high five.
Emily looked to Sam to see how she was taking the well-deserved taunting. Sam put her fist to her heart and said dramatically, "Just when I was beginning to like you, McCullers," making Paige laugh. "But seriously," Sam added, "good luck with your rehab. I really do hope you're at full strength when we compete in February."
"Thanks," Paige said, looking a little surprised by the well wishes. "I hope so too."
Sam started walking away and Emily followed, but not before she squeezed Paige's shoulder, the side that wasn't dangling from a sling, and said quietly in her ear, "I'll see you later." She quickened her pace to meet Sam, noticing only that Paige nodded her head. It was the first time she'd touched her since they were seventeen.
On her way to Palo Alto, Emily received a text from Spencer, sent at 4:46:
Please tell me you're close. The ex just showed up and she won't leave and Paige is too polite to tell her to fuck off. Help!
Well, this was an interesting development and not one Emily was sure she was ready for. Paige had talked a bit about her recent girlfriend, Tessa, and she didn't seem that broken up about getting dumped by her, to be honest. Spencer didn't even try to hide her disdain for the girl, calling her "the stupidest person to ever be accepted to Stanford," but Spencer lived for hyperbole, so Emily wasn't sure what to think. She wasn't a subject Emily ever wanted to dwell on.
At 5:02 she received another text from Spencer:
Seriously. Where the fuck are you?
Emily parked her car in front of their building and sent off a reply:
Outside now. See you soon.
Spencer met her at the entrance gate, saving her having to buzz in.
"Thank God you're here," she said.
"What's she doing here?" Emily asked, getting straight to the point.
"She just heard about the accident and 'Oh Em Gee! I came as soon as I could,'" Spencer said, finishing the sentence off in her best valley girl accent, which was actually hilarious coming from the native New Yorker's mouth. "You have to help me get her to leave, or I'm going to kill her," she stressed.
"What do you want me to do?" Emily asked. She really didn't know what she could do.
Spencer huffed. "I don't know. Tell her her hair is on fire, or something. Maybe she'll run out in panic."
Emily just starred at her, as if to ask, really?
"What?" Spencer asked. "She's actually a moron. It might work."
When Emily and Spencer entered the apartment they saw Tessa, a smallish dark-haired girl who was probably described as cute everywhere she went, sitting right next to Paige, fussing over her. Paige looked extremely uncomfortable, which is probably why when she saw Emily enter she exclaimed, with the biggest smile Emily had seen in a long time, "Emily! You're here!"
Tessa turned to face the intruder and gave Emily a dirty look, which Emily ignored. Emily hated her immediately. She wanted her gone. And between what Spencer and Paige had said about the girl previously, and the way she saw her hanging all over Paige, despite Paige's obvious discomfort, something inside of her snapped. Moving solely on instinct, she sauntered over to Paige, grocery bags still in hand, and leaned down to give her friend a gentle but lingering kiss on her lips. She smiled when upon opening her eyes she saw that Paige's were still closed, the slightest smile on her just-kissed lips.
"Hey, babe," she said quietly, running her hand down Paige's cheek. "How are you feeling?"
Paige looked at Emily, curiosity filling her eyes, asking questions Emily didn't know she could answer. Finally, she stuttered, "I-I'm, um, I'm good."
"I'm glad," she said, still in a bit of shock over what she'd just done. "I'll be right back," she added, as she started walking to the kitchen to put the groceries away. She turned to back to Paige, who hadn't taken her eyes off of her, and winked at her before she disappeared into the kitchen. Tessa, she'd noticed, looked livid, while Spencer was trying to not laugh, though at what Emily couldn't be sure. Paige didn't say another word.
Emily was glad for the temporary reprieve the kitchen provided her. It gave her a chance to try and make sense of what had just happened. She'd kissed Paige. She'd actually kissed Paige. Spencer had begged her to help her get rid of the ex, but this was certainly not what she had in mind. She just hoped she hadn't overstepped anything with Paige, who had at least gone with it in the moment.
She stood in front of the open refrigerator, trying to compose herself and quell the beating of her chest. She had only felt that once before and she was sure she'd never feel it again. This time there was no mistaking what it meant. "Shit," she said out loud to herself, closing the refrigerator door.
Emily didn't hear what was said when she went into the kitchen, but she returned to see Tessa leaving the apartment in a huff, punctuating her departure by slamming the door.
Spencer turned to her smiling and said, "Well done, Emily."
When she turned to Paige, she noticed she'd sobered a bit from the stunt Emily pulled, and she was looking at her intensely, waiting to see what Emily's next move would be.