Pru stopped by Paige's house first thing Friday morning. She was their ride to Rosewood. Paige and Emily loaded up their gear, and they hit the road.
They spent most of the drive listening to Pru's rundown of all the great parties on campus that past spring. "The Jockathon was definitely the place to meet hot men - no offense."
"Why would we take offense at that?"
"I don't know, I just don't have a lot of stories to tell you about where the hot women were!"
Paige gave a look to Emily in the back seat. Emily was shaking her head. "You definitely need to party with Hanna!"
"Dude, I know!" Pru shouted animatedly. "She needs to get her ass out there! Rosewood's not that far away!"
They were actually going to meet Hanna for a late lunch in Rosewood after they dropped off Paige and Emily's bags at Emily's house. After lunch, Hanna suggested mini golf. Emily tried to signal her that it might not be the best idea, but Pru had already picked up on the idea. Emily had one last hope. She convinced the girls that they would enjoy themselves more if they didn't keep score and just played for fun. Paige wasn't so sure how much fun that would be, but she acquiesced to Emily's pleading eyes.
Emily noticed Paige cringe when Hanna made a tricky shot. Everyone else was cheering her for it. Paige closed her eyes and leaned her head back a little, mumbling something to herself.
Emily pulled her aside as Pru teed up her ball. "Okay. What's going on?"
Paige gave her a smile of pure innocence. "What do you mean?"
"What's with all the mumbling and the eye-rolling?" Paige shrugged her shoulders. Emily tightened her lips and glared.
"Okay, I'm just keeping track of my own score - just so I'll know how well I'm doing."
"So why did you cringe when Hanna made that last shot?"
"Cringe? What cringe?"
"Is she beating you, Paige?"
"God, Em - she's like a fucking mini-golf prodigy!"
Emily laughed. Of course, Paige was keeping track of their scores in her head. "Knock it off," she said. "Let's just enjoy the game and the company."
"Says the girl in last place!" Paige mumbled.
"What was that?"
Paige threw on her innocent smile again.
Pam was home from work by the time Hanna dropped Paige and Emily off. Pru had already hit the road, wanting to get home before it got too late.
Wayne wouldn't be back in Rosewood until later in the summer.
Paige and Emily helped Pam get dinner ready. After dinner, Pam found a moment alone with Emily and told her, sternly, "Now, Emmy. I hope that you and Paige are going to respect your father and me by not sneaking around under our roof." She was looking deep into her daughter's eyes.
"Yes, Mom," Emily replied shyly. She felt a little guilty that her Mom had felt the need to ask.
As she and Paige brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, Emily gave Paige a serious look and told her, "No funny stuff this week, Paige." Paige laughed. Emily reiterated. "I mean it this time, Paige. My Mom had a talk with me!"
"Well, we knew that this day would come, eventually," Paige said, sadly.
"What day?"
"We knew that our streak of sleeping in the same bed have would come to an end at some point."
To their surprise, falling asleep alone didn't turn out to be the challenge that it had been after they first started sharing a bed. They had grown into each other like a foot in a comfortable shoe, each having adjusted to the contours of the other. They didn't view it as a bad thing - as if they'd grown so comfortable and were taking the experience for granted, but, rather, that they'd grown so comfortable together that it was almost as if they still felt each other when they were apart.
Of course, given the option, they would definitely have chosen to be together. Paige was especially clingy the following morning.
On Sunday morning, Pam Fields decided that she wanted to join the girls on their run. It had been a while since she'd actively worked out, and one of the things that Pam wanted to concentrate on, now that she and Wayne were empty nesters, was getting back in shape. "You're in great shape, Pam," Paige encouraged her, remembering to use her girlfriend's mom's first name.
Emily was nervous about the plan. As the three of them were stretching, she gave Paige a gentle hand on the forearm and a stern look in the eye, as if to remind her not to go ultra-competitive on her mom. Paige's smile said Of course! – but Emily was still leery.
Pam told the girls not to slow down for her sake. "If I can't keep up, I'll drop back. You don't have to lay back with me." Paige started out at a very slow pace. After a while, she noticed that Pam was huffing, so she slowed it down even further. Emily was shocked. She kept looking over at Paige, but Paige never rolled her eyes or shook her head in frustration. She just kept throwing smiles and thumbs up in Pam's direction.
When they neared the end, Pam was laboring. Paige turned around, jogging backwards, and started calling out words of encouragement: "We're almost there! Hang on – you can make it! Just one more push!" They slowed to a halt, and Paige gave Pam a big hug, yelling, "You did it!" Emily's heart swelled with pride at the sight.
Pam bent over, hands on her knees, to catch her breath. Emily put a hand on her back to make sure that she was okay. "Oh, Emily!" she said, "I had no idea how out of shape I've let myself become." Emily helped her to a seat. Paige came over with a big, excited smile on her face. "Guess what! You did a little over a mile! That's great for your first time back" It was the slowest mile that Paige had ever run, and she would never quit a run that early were she running on her own, but she made it sound like finishing a half-marathon. She knew that, for Pam, at this point, it was a comparable achievement. Her smile spread to Pam's face and to Emily's.
The two words running through Emily's mind were Marriage Material. Emily knew that Paige would get along well with her dad, with the guns and the motorcycle riding. She wasn't expecting her to be so great with her mom.
"You'd make a great coach," Emily remarked, as she and Paige walked hand-in-hand through downtown Rosewood.
"Are you saying that my swimming days are over? 'Cause I'm looking at a few more years of kicking your butt all over the pool, Fields!"
Emily gave her arm a playful smack. "I'm talking about running with my Mom this morning. I know how competitive you are, and how hard it must have been for you to keep that pace, but you were nothing but patient and encouraging."
Paige just shrugged it off. "Well, she should enjoy running. And everybody could use a little encouragement."
Emily gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You'd be great with kids."
Paige tried to joke her way out of this serious conversation. "Are you saying that you want kids with me, Fields?"
Emily looked away, smiling. "No, that's not what I'm saying!" she said shyly. "I meant coaching kids." But I would love that, she thought, and wished that she could say it out loud. Then she decided, why not? She held Paige's hand a little tighter and told her. "But I'd love to raise a family with you." She was looking at their hands while she said this. "You'd be a great mom." She bumped Paige's shoulder to cover up her embarrassment at what she had just admitted and tried to start walking again. Paige stood in place, holding Emily back by their intertwined hands.
"Wow, Emily. That's - huge."
Emily still couldn't look her in the eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you…"
"No, it's good huge! Great huge, in fact!"
Emily nudged Paige's shoulder again, and they resumed their walk.
The two week swim camp for middle schoolers and high schoolers started up on Monday. Most of the high schoolers knew Emily from her senior year at Rosewood High, and many knew Paige by reputation. Word had trickled down from Emily's facebook that she was sleeping with the enemy, as it were.
Coach Fulton, of course, was familiar with Paige's reputation. She was relying on Emily's recommendation of Paige as a coach. She knew that Emily had good skills of observation and great instincts.
As would be expected, Paige and Emily played well off each other, just as they did swimming relays, on the dance floor, and in the bedroom. Paige conveyed the mental aspect: preparation, focus, toughness. Emily stressed the physical: fluidity, mechanics, muscle-memory. It wasn't so much good cop/bad cop; more like mom and dad; - Emily the nurturer and encourager, Paige the motivator, setting high goals and taking no excuses. After the first week, Coach Fulton found that she could give them more responsibility and more latitude to plan and run the daily sessions.
It was an eye-opening experience for Paige and Emily. Both of them had dreams of swimming beyond college, although both knew that the odds were against those dreams. Their career dreams had never included coaching, but, after the experience in Rosewood, they definitely saw themselves coaching at some level, whatever they ended up doing for a living. The idea of investing in the next generation of swimmers was something that was gaining appeal with them. If that developed into a career or a life-calling, they were certainly open to it.
But, for the summer, they were just enjoying watching the girls in the swim program develop and improve their skills and gain an appreciation for the science and the sport of swimming.
Living under Pam and Wayne's roof – and rules – was becoming increasingly frustrating for Paige and Emily. Being so close to each other physically without being able to be physically intimate was a kind of torture. Coach Fulton let Paige and Emily stay behind after the swimmers went home in the afternoons, and they burned off some of their frustrations in the pool.
"Emily," Paige confessed sadly, "I'm going crazy! I don't want to sound like a sex-crazed adolescent, but I can't stand not being able to connect with you physically." Emily had driven them to an overlook on the outskirts of the town for an intense make-out session. In a way, it helped them regain the intimacy that they were longing for, but even more, it only increased their frustration at not being able to connect fully.
Emily had made a promise that she wouldn't sneak around behind her mom's back. She was trying to find a loophole. Or a plan B: Sneaking around in Hanna's house; going to visit Paige's dad for the weekend.
The solution came from an unexpected source. Coach Meehan called Emily about an alumni fundraiser that was coming up in Washington, DC, over the weekend. The Potomac Area Stanford Club set up a conference with several female athletes, and the representative from the swim team had been forced to cancel at the last minute because of a family emergency. Coach Meehan thought that, since Philadelphia was so close, Emily might be able to fill in on short notice. Stanford would pay her train fare and put her up in a hotel overnight. Coach Meehan was delighted to learn that Paige was in Rosewood, too, and he said that it wouldn't be a problem to get a ticket and a room for her, as well. Emily was about to say that Stanford didn't have to shell out for an extra room, but she realized that it would be easier to convince her mom to let her go with Paige if her mom could at least pretend that they were going to be in separate rooms.
The trip from Philadelphia to DC was only two hours long, but it was the longest trip that Paige could imagine. "Don't they have those sleeper cars where you can pull the curtain and have some privacy?" Paige couldn't stop her knee from manically bouncing up and down. Anyone watching would have thought that she was afraid of train travel.
"Paige, seriously. For a two-hour trip?"
"Emily, do you have any idea how long it's been?"
"So, we can wait another couple of hours. And, look on the bright side! We'll be able to cross DC off of our list!"
"It's going to be the fastest X that we ever earned, I can tell you that."
Emily put her hand on Paige's knee, stroking it gently to calm her down. She underestimated how much she missed Paige's body. The gentle strokes became more intense, and her hand strayed to bolder heights along the length of Paige's thigh. The train wasn't crowded, but they were far from alone, and what Emily was doing – and where it was leading – definitely called for privacy. "Shit!" she said under her breath. "Can't they move this thing any faster?"
The train pulled into Union Station (finally!), and Paige and Emily caught the shuttle to their hotel in Arlington. They called the focal from the Stanford Club, Lynn Murray, and arranged to meet her in the hotel's conference room after they checked in and dropped off their bags. Lynn gave them their nametags and a copy of an agenda for Saturday's events. There was an informal mixer in progress, and Lynn invited them to come meet some of the alumnae and guests. Paige begged off, saying that they were exhausted from the trip. Emily said, "We'd love to!" gently elbowing Paige in the ribs. Paige forced a smile onto her face.
When they finally made it back to the hotel room – Paige's, because it was two doors closer to the elevator – things got heated in a hurry. Paige was shoved against the door before she could get her jacket off. She thought that it was going to be the first time that they had sex fully clothed, but after some passionate kissing and groping, Emily backed off and slowed things down. She guided Paige to the bed and slowly undressed her, then herself.
They made slow, tender love, finishing in a wave of passion and relief. Afterwards, Emily got up and started gathering her clothes. "Where are you going?" Paige asked, raising her head off of the pillow.
"Stanford spent a lot of money to get me a room. It would be a shame to waste it."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"Yes," Emily replied, tossing Paige her clothes. "I'm saying, 'Take me back to my place and have your way with me!'" she said, playfully.
Rather than quench their desire for each other, the weekend in DC only added fuel to the flames. Having a taste of what they had been denied since they got to Rosewood only made them hungry for more. It got to be too much for Paige when she and Emily were making out desperately on the couch in the living room while Emily's mom was at work.
"Emily, please!" Paige begged, "You've got to give me more."
Emily moaned. "I can't, Paige! I promised!"
"Your mom won't find out! She's at work - she's not coming back till tonight!"
"Paige, I promised. I'm not going to break a promise to my Mom!"
"What about a handjob? Guys always say that handjobs don't count as sex!"
Emily glared at Paige. Then, she stood up and started walking away, till Paige grabbed her by her wrist. She had one last desperate idea to try.
"Take a shower with me!"
"What?"
"Nothing will happen, Emily! I promise! I just need to feel connected to you, flesh to flesh."
"Yeah. Not sure that I can trust you in the shower, Paige."
"Emily, please!" Emily heard the desperation in her voice. "I promise!"
She knew that Paige needed a physical connection. She had figured that out before they started dating, the way that Paige would always put her arm around her when they talked, especially on that night when they fell asleep together for the first time. And she trusted Paige not to violate her trust. "Come on," she said at last.
Paige stood behind Emily under the hot spray, her hands around Emily's waist, holding her tighter. She was taking long whiffs of Emily's hair. "Mmm - I love the smell of your shampoo. It reminds me of that night when you fell asleep in my arms."
Her naked body against Paige's, the heat of the water, and the way that Paige was talking got to be too much for Emily. She noticed that she had been subtly grinding into Paige. She reached for the handle to turn off the water. "I can't do this, Paige. I trust you, but I don't trust myself!"
Paige put her hand on top of Emily's to stop her. "Wait!" she begged. "Touch yourself... for me... please, Emily."
Emily was frozen in place by shock.
"I'm sorry. I mean, if that's not breaking your promise to your mom. If it is, then we can get out of the shower."
Emily turned around and looked Paige in the eye as she slipped her fingers into herself. Paige, seeing what she was doing, kissed her deeply, and then moved her lips to find that spot on Emily's neck. Her hands were firmly working on Emily's breasts. Emily's senses were overloaded. She lost her command of the English language, yelling out half-words and words that made no sense. Paige didn't let up on her neck, her earlobe, her mouth, and her breasts. Soon, she felt Emily stumble and lean into her for support. Paige stopped her before she removed her fingers and allowed them pass under the stream of water. "Wait!" she begged. "I really need to taste you!"
Emily withdrew her fingers and surrendered them to Paige who, upon tasting them, reflexively moved both hands from Emily's body onto her own center. Emily stroked the abs that she loved so much as she sucked on Paige's breasts. Her hand strayed behind Paige's back, where she lightly caressed Paige's ass and teased a fingernail up the length of Paige's spine. Paige began to moan, and Emily kissed her, swallowing every breath that emanated from Paige's throat. Before long, Paige's body was spasming, and Emily helped her lean against of the shower, rubbing from her shoulders to her elbows as she came down. Paige allowed herself to sink down to the tub, thoroughly spent. "Thank you," she said, softly. "I really needed that."
Emily got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She took Paige by the hand and helped her out of the tub, wrapping her in a towel. They held each other for a long time.
"I really needed it, too," Emily admitted.