Chapter 5

"…you wanted to talk?"

Paige gulped nervously, being in such proximity to Emily's lips felt like sweet torture but she wanted, no needed, to hear out what the brunette had to say.

"I've been such an idiot Paige, about everything. Ali is still the same old manipulative Ali, and I can't believe I feel under her whole spell again, I'm so stupid!" Emily blurted out quickly.

Paige silently nodded, indicating she was still listening and for her to go on.

"But most of all, I royally fucked up when it comes to us." The sad look on Emily's face telling Paige she genuinely meant what she was saying.

Paige remained silent for a moment taking all the new information in. As the tension in the air grew heavy, she decided to ask the question that she feared the answer to most of all.

"Did you sleep with her?"

"No" Emily responded immediately.

A wave of relief and happiness flowed through Paige's entire being, she felt light a giant weight had been lifted.

"So nothing happened between the two of you?"

Emily ducked her head feeling incredibly guilty, the inability to meet Paige's eyes portraying her answer.

"Oh." Paige said taking on a harder tone, her flow of happiness had sizzled out.

Paige turned around facing away from Emily and walked over to stand by the window looking outside, trying to keep the range of emotions raging inside of her from spilling out.

Emily knew this would be extremely hard for Paige to hear but she deserved the truth, she took a deep breath before proceeding.

"Ali came over to my house one night; she was really upset so I let her stay over. As I was starting to fall asleep she leant over and kissed me… and for a little while I kinda kissed her back."

Emily looked over to Paige standing by the window, watching Paige's body tense under her words.

"She wanted to… you know… but I stopped her." Emily continued.

"Why?" Paid said coldly, still looking outside.

"I didn't know why at the time but it just felt wrong, but now I realised my heart had moved on. Alison was my first love, but the only person who owns my heart now is you."

Paige turned around to face Emily, feeling slightly better from hearing the girl's final words but still understandably upset.

"You really hurt me Em, I can't just forget and pretend that it never happened. And I can't ever forgive Alison for the way she treated me before she went missing or whatever lie she's concocted this time. She made my life a living hell, I don't think she went on a magical spirit quest and had a personality transplant whilst she was gone."

"I know I've hurt you and let you down so much, but I plan on making it up to you for the rest of my life… if you let me." Emily said pleadingly and grabbing a hold of Paige's hands.

Paige looked down at their joined hands, a part of her wanted to scream 'YES' so badly and to pull the girl in for a passionate kiss that would bruise their lips for days but her guard around her heart was already too raised.

"Honestly I don't know, I'm going to need some time to think about this. How about we just hang out and see how things go for the time being? It's the best I can do right now."

"Okay, I can do that." Emily smiled and Paige returned it slightly.

"So we're friends?" Emily prodded.

"Ugh, I hate it when people say refer to a situation like this with that saying."

"How about amigos? buddies? chums? pals?"

Paige couldn't help but chuckle at Emily's suggestions and just shook her head.

"Ok fine no labels to this mutual hanging out of two awesome people." She said pretending to be sad and admitting defeat.

Then out of the corner of her eye Emily spotted something on Paige's desk that sparked her interest, she walked over and picked up the DVD case and studied it carefully.

"Rudy, really? I thought you couldn't stand this movie." She asked incredulously.

Paige's face quickly became flushed, suddenly feeling caught out.

"Yeah, but it reminded me of you." She answered truthfully.

It was now Emily's turn to blush; Paige smiled as she caught the girl's reaction.

Paige looked to the clock on her wall and hesitated weighing up some options in her head, it was starting to get late but she didn't want to say goodbye to Emily just yet and be left in the house all alone.

"Do you maybe want to stay and watch it? I mean, someone should at least enjoy the DVD otherwise its whole existence is a waste." Paige asked shyly.

Nothing could have stopped the giant smile that formed on Emily's face if it had tried.

"I'd love to! Umm but before that, can I have a quick shower and maybe borrow some clothes? I'm starting to get frostbite over here."

"Yeah sure, of course." Paige walked over and fumbled around in her drawers before pulling out a spare hoodie and tracksuit pants and handed it to Emily.

"Thanks" Emily smiled sweetly at her and then made way into the bathroom just down the hallway from Paige's bedroom.

Paige heard the shower water starting to run and allowed herself the mental image of a naked Emily soaping her body to cross her mind before she quickly dismissed it, she walked downstairs to the kitchen to heat up some popcorn to try and distract herself from those lingering thoughts.

When Paige returned to her room she was greeted with the image of how perfect Emily looked curled up on her bed with her head propped up on a pillow as the movie was starting to roll through the opening credits.

"You've made popcorn, awesome!" Emily smiled and then patted her hand on the bed beside her, beckoning Paige to come join her.

Paige lay down beside Emily and used the other pillow to make a comfy head rest, feeling slightly nervous again but shook it off, having those feelings right now would only complicate matters further.

By about 40 minutes into the film, both girls were fast asleep as the TV continued to play in the background.