"So, I was talking to Hanna."
"Oh, you were?" Paige, conscious of how fixated Hanna was with her nipple piercing, teasingly made a show of folding her arms across her breasts, and Emily playfully swatted them down.
"Yes. We were actually talking about getting together for Spring Break."
"Oh. So, my boobs didn't come up at all?"
"Disappointed?" Emily snarked, and Paige shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, yeah, your boobs did come up," Emily admitted. "But, mainly, we discussed Spring Break. We're not sure about Aria and Spence, because of their schools' schedules. We might only get a long weekend or a couple of days of overlap with them. But Hanna's definitely down. What do you think?"
For some reason, when Emily mentioned Spring Break with Hanna, Paige's mind, for the briefest of moments, flashed to an image of Hanna, seen from behind, in a white bikini cannonballing into a pool, holding her nose with one hand and pumping the other fist in the air. She shook the image off immediately and asked Emily where she and Hanna had talked about going.
"Probably somewhere in this part of the country - maybe San Diego or Havasu. We haven't decided. We just wanted to confirm the dates."
"Am I going to be the only date? Because it would be weird to be the only one included in things with you and your friends just because, you know. I'm the only significant other who comes with lady-parts."
"Oh, stop! I'm sure that some of the guys are coming, too, but I'll ask."
"Sounds good!" Paige replied. "I'm in!"
That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Paige told Emily that she had something to tell her.
"Ooh - sounds serious!" Emily's tone was light. Paige took both of her hands, to convey that it was, in fact, something serious.
"Earlier, when we were talking about Hanna and Spring Break, my mind just went off to an image of Hanna. In a bikini." She looked Emily in the eye, and continued, apologetically, "It was only for a split second. I don't even know why. I mean, it's not as though I – you know – have those thoughts about Hanna." Emily nodded her head. "I guess," Paige went on, "when you asked me a while ago, around Christmas, whether or not I still thought about guys, and I said I didn't know, I guess this means that I'm only into girls."
Emily tilted her head toward the bed, indicating that they should sit down. They sat, still holding hands, Emily with one leg tucked under her. "Okay," she began. "First of all, thanks for telling me. I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me truth."
Paige nodded and kept giving Emily a worried look.
"Second, I don't care where you are on the spectrum – bi, lesbian, straight." Paige quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, I guess we can rule out straight. Anyway, the only thing that matters is that you're with me. And, third, the fact that your mind went there doesn't make you one thing or another. Everybody has thoughts at one time or another. I mean, I know that I'm not attracted to guys, but I can see a guy with a nice chest and my mind will go there." Emily leaned in, raising her eyebrow at Paige, to make sure that she was following all of this. Paige nodded, and Emily continued. "Paige, I know that you love me, and I'm not worried about this, okay?"
Paige let out a huge sigh of relief. "Okay."
"I don't want you to be worrying about it, either."
Emily pulled her in for a hug. As they released, Paige begged, "Em, I know that you tell Hanna everything, but please don't tell her about this, okay? I don't need to hear all about this all through Spring Break!"
Emily got a wicked smile. "Ooh - I actually hadn't thought about it, but it would be worth it to see how she makes you squirm!"
Paige and Emily were getting excited for Spring Break, but they still had a ways to go - and a lot to do - before they got there. Midterm exams and the PAC-12 championships lay ahead of them in March. By the time they got through those, they would really be ready for a break.
When the decision was made to spend Spring Break in San Diego - Emily and Paige had, after all, already flown out to Pennsylvania twice this school year - Paige got serious about searching for a car. Emily had been looking forward to sharing in the search with Paige; not that she wanted or felt entitled to have input on Paige's choice (as long as it had four wheels, not two), but she wanted to share in the thrill of the hunt. Paige, though, went all black ops on her; determined to surprise Emily. Once she made her choice, she e-mailed the VIN to her father, and he made all of the arrangements.
As they headed to the dealership in Vicki's car, Emily asked Paige how things were going with her father. Paige sighed deeply as she thought it over. "Baby steps," she said at last. "We haven't lost any ground since Christmas - we can say 'I love you' when we talk on the phone, now. I just think that we need, you know, more one-on-one time."
"This summer?"
"For part of the summer, at least. I still want to get out to Rosewood for a couple of weeks."
"I mean, that would be great, but maybe the time with your dad is more important?"
"Yeah, maybe. You're important, too, Em. We don't really have time together when we're not doing something." Emily raised her eyebrows. "Not like that... You know what I mean - we're training, or competing, or studying."
"Well, we wouldn't be doing nothing in Rosewood. You wanted to volunteer with me at Rosewood High's swim camp, remember? Plus, we're going to be on Spring Break pretty soon, doing nothing."
"Are you trying to ditch me, Fields?"
"Of course not. I'm just saying."
"It'll be fine." Paige thought for a minute. "Unless you wanted to come home with me for part of the summer?"
"Would your dad be okay with that?"
"Of course he would." Paige looked over at her and winked. "Just as long as you don't wake him up late at night, screaming in ecstasy!"
Emily's hand abruptly clamped down on Paige's thigh. "Oh, God, Paige - if your dad ever heard the sounds that you make come out of me, I would seriously die of embarrassment!" Paige shot Emily a cocky grin. It faded when Emily added, "I'm not kidding, Paige: No sex in the McCullers house!"
A few minutes later, Emily spoke up again. "Paige?" Paige smiled in her direction. "This has been killing me for a long time, now. Knowing the way that you and your dad communicate, how did he handle it when you got your period?"
Paige tossed her head back in laughter. "How do you think?"
"Friendly neighbor lady? Pamphlet from the Department of Health? Sleepaway camp for pubescent girls?"
Paige shook her head, smiling. "Well, your first guess was the closest. The last guess, too, sort of. And, he did give me reading materials from the library, so I guess it was all of the above." Emily looked confused. "Pru. Pru's family got me through. I was basically living with them once I started," - Paige lowered her voice, indicating that it was her father's term - "'developing.'"
Paige handed the paperwork to a salesman, and he led them out to a back room where Paige signed her name a few times before the salesman took them out to a sky-blue 2014 Kia Soul. "Doesn't it just scream California - and Spring Break?" Paige gushed. Emily couldn't argue with her choice. Emily gave her a hug. "It's a beautiful car," she asserted. "Great choice!"
The salesman walked them through the functions on the remote control and helped them set up the bluetooth for Paige's phone.
Paige handed Emily the second set of keys. "You drive it back. I'll take Vicki's car."
"Oh, no!" Emily smiled. "No way I'm taking the first drive in your baby!"
The PAC-12 championships went extremely well, both for the Stanford team and for Paige and Emily. The entire freshman class performed well, and there were great expectations - among the coaches and the experts - for their next three seasons together.
Hanna caught the red-eye into San Jose late Wednesday night, sleeping over in Paige and Emily's room (the first time that Emily's bed had been slept in for months) before they set out for San Diego early Thursday morning. Emily rode shotgun as Hanna slept off her flight and the jet lag in the back.
Paige was much calmer than she usually was on long trips, exhaustion and anticipation keeping a lid on the road rage that she was otherwise prone to exhibit. The fact that Hanna was in the back seat no doubt contributed as well. Paige was comfortable enough around Emily to show her true colors, but she would never let an acquaintance see her dark side. However, Paige was also in a unusually good mood for the drive. It was partially the afterglow of the team's exceptional performance at championships and partially relief at having midterms behind her, but, mainly, it was anticipation of 10 days of fun in the sun with Emily. She reached over and placed a hand in her sleeping girlfriend's lap. Emily looked angelically peaceful. Paige resisted the urge to whip out her phone and take a picture, for safety's sake.
They made it to San Diego in time check in and drop off their bags before Emily and Hanna went to the airport in San Diego to pick up Caleb. He and Hanna were back together, and Paige was relieved when she found out that he was coming, too. She didn't want to be the only outsider.
Spencer and Aria had flown down Monday night, as their Spring Break started earlier than Stanford's. Emily called Spencer to let them know that they had all made it down to San Diego. They needed some time to recover from the drive and the flight, so they made plans to meet for dinner a couple of hours later.
Paige had met Caleb when she was in Rosewood for Thanksgiving. At dinner, she met Spencer's boyfriend, Toby, who struck her as someone straight out of a casting call for the Twilight movies, and Aria's boyfriend, Ezra. She tried not to be too creeped out about Ezra. There had been rumors of teachers engaged in inappropriate relationships with students at Paige's high school, and she had seen stories on the news about teachers from other schools in her district who got arrested for that, but, apparently, everything was fine, now that Aria had graduated and was no longer a minor. They certainly made a cute couple, Paige had to admit. In fact, they were all cute couples. Paige had to wonder whether there was an unusually large number of hot people at Rosewood High, or whether it was just the crowd that Emily rolled with.
Paige felt Emily's hand on her thigh under the table. Emily was giving her an "Are you okay?" look. Paige smiled to let her know that she was fine. Emily was worried that Paige was feeling left out, with all the Rosewood gossip going. Paige's look reassured her. She knew Paige well enough to know that she tended to zone in and out of conversations, giving her mind the freedom to wander. It was a sharp contrast to the focus that Paige displayed when she was swimming.
"So what do you say, Em?" Paige asked, as she lay next to Emily in their hotel room's queen-size bed. "Shall we cross San Diego off of our list?" wiggling her eyebrows, trying her best to be seductive.
"San Diego is in California, silly," Emily responded sleepily. "It's already been crossed off."
"Still... We're in this nice hotel room, we're on Spring Break, We have no classes or training to worry about."
"We've been in the car all day, we're exhausted, I smell like sweat," Emily countered.
"Are you going to tell me," Paige began, kissing that spot on Emily's neck that always got to her, "that we're going to be the only couple in this hotel not having sex tonight?"
Emily rolled over to face Paige. "Of course we're having sex tonight!" she giggled. "I just didn't want you to think that I'm easy!" Paige burst into deep laughter. Emily smacked her sharply on the shoulder. "Hey!" she protested, "It's not that funny!"
"No, no!" Paige said, trying to regain her composure, "It's not funny at all! It was just so unexpected! You caught me off guard."
"So, you do admit that I'm not easy?"
"No, Emily! You're hard! You're hard! Or whatever the opposite of easy would, in this case."
"Or whatever will get you laid," Emily said in a mocking tone.
"Um, basically!"
"Okay. Let's get it over with!"
On Friday morning, the spring breakers decided to venture out only as far as the hotel's pool, supposing that the beaches would be swarming with people.
Hanna took off her cover-up, and Paige's jaw dropped.
"Emily! You promised!" she protested angrily.
Emily gave a look of pure innocence. "I didn't say a word!"
"So, I'm just supposed to believe that it's pure coincidence that Hanna shows up wearing a white bikini?"
"What?" Hanna sounded surprised. "What's wrong with a white bikini? Does it wash me out?"
"Nice try, Hanna." Paige wasn't buying it.
"What's going on?" Aria asked.
"Okay," Paige said, trying to remain good-natured. "You're all going to find out anyway. When we started talking about spring break, I told Emily - in confidence - that I had a brief... mental... image..." Paige struggled to get the words out over the embarrassment of her confession. "...of Hanna's butt in a white bikini."
All the guys looked up. Hanna gasped. Emily laughed.
Hanna came clean, "Emily just told me to wear a white bikini to mess with you! I had no idea that you had been... visualizing!" she said, arching her eyebrows on the word. Paige turned a deep shade of red. Hanna turned her back to Paige and twerked. "So, was it everything that you dreamed of, Paigey?"
Paige looked helplessly over to Emily. Emily just shrugged. "Don't look at me! I told you that I wouldn't tell her, and I didn't!"
Hanna skipped over to Paige, not-so-subtly staring at her bikini top. "So, Paigey..." she oozed, "Now that you've had the chance to live your fantasy, am I going to get the chance to see mine?" Hanna turned to the rest of the group and mimed getting a nipple piercing, mouthing the words as she pointed towards Paige's left breast.
Paige shook her head resignedly and lay down in the lounge chair next to her girlfriend's. It was, apparently, going to be a long week.