Disclaimer: I own nothing! The characters belong to Sara Shepard and Marlene King!
August 16th, 2011.
The sun was way too goddamn bright.
Rays were streaming in through the shades and even the tiniest bit of light felt excruciating. Paige squinted her eyes, her vision a bit blurry, and her room so illuminated she could barely see a thing. A groan escaped her mouth as she tried to open her eyes a little bit wider. Fuck, when did the sun get so bright? She pulled her pillow over her face, finally opening her eyes completely against the darkness of her pillow. Her head was pounding. It felt like a heavy metal band had decided to set up shop on top of her brain and start performing.
Slowly, she peeled the pillow off of her face, wincing the more exposed her face became to the bright sunshine. Finally, with the pillow completely off of her face, she sat up in her bed. The motion caused her stomach to turn and some of last night's dinner to make its way up her throat. She clamped her teeth down hard on her tongue. She glanced at the alarm clock resting on her bedside table. The time read 10:06am. Her eyes fluttered closed once more. She let the breath she was holding slowly escape her body. She had an hour until practice. How was she supposed to swim with a pounding headache and nausea that made her feel like she'd come down with four stomach bugs at one time? She brought a hand to her face and dragged it across her cheek and up through her hair. Her hand caught on multiple knots and she forced her fingers through them.
She flung her feet over the side of the bed. She touched her toes down against the floor, standing up on shaky legs. She nearly stumbled straight to the ground. She took a deep breath, once again trying to regulate her breathing. She managed a few shaky steps. She stood in front of her mirror and was finally able to take herself in.
She was only half dressed. She had on one of her old high school swim t-shirts but she didn't remember putting it on. Fuck, she couldn't even remember coming in last night. Where were the rest of her clothes? She looked around her floor. Spotless. How did she manage to lose the clothes she was wearing last night and get into this t-shirt?
The party was already in full swing by the time Paige got there. She had spent a good majority of the last three hours trying to pick the perfect outfit and what she had decided on was far from perfect. It was simple, basic, and not going to to get her noticed. While the house wasn't busting from the seams with people, the music was loud and there were a few other tell-tale signs a party was happening. Paige stood at the edge of the grass, her arms crossed uncomfortably over her chest. This was a bad idea. She never should have come. She didn't know anybody here. She should have just sat in bed, watching reruns of Grey's Anatomy on Lifetime. At least there she couldn't embarrass herself.
With shaky legs, she was ready to turn around and head back to her dorm and put on her pajamas. There would be plenty of opportunity to get the full college experience another night. She was about two full steps off of the lawn when she heard a voice call her name from behind. She stopped. Her eyes fluttered closed and she turned herself back around. "HEY! You. You're the girl from the locker room!" Came the tipsy voice of a girl Paige vaguely recognized. Paige straightened her back and titled her chin forward. Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrow raised. The girl in front of her looked aggressive. She was built like a hockey player and frankly, scared Paige just a little bit.
"Yeah. And you are?" Paige asked, steeling herself for some kind of confrontation. Instead, the girls face softened and she smiled.
"I'm Reagan. Emily's friend. The watchdog." The reminder of Paige's earlier comment forced color to rush to her cheeks. She trained her eyes toward the ground. She gestured forward toward Reagan.
"I'm sorry – I get competitive. It brings out an ugly side of me." Paige mumbled. Her arms were still crossed tightly across her chest. If they were any tighter, she was sure she would start to collapse in on herself. Reagan took a few steps closer to Paige, who in turn took a step backward. Reagan laughed.
"Hey! I don't bite. Most of the time. And I totally get it. Emily talked to me, told me that you two talked it out and it's all kosher now." Paige pursed her lips, trying to prevent a smile from creeping onto her face. Emily talked to Reagan about her!
"Uh, yeah. She struck up a truce with me after practice." Paige shrugged. She looked behind her shoulder, wondering if it was going to be possible for her to leave without Reagan on her tail. Reagan quirked an eyebrow.
"Were you about to leave?" She asked Paige. Paige raised one shoulder, rolling it uncomfortably. Apparently she was as transparent as plastic wrap. She tried to think of a good reason to tell Reagan she was trying to blow off the party but all that she could come up with was:
"Yeah. This isn't my scene."
It, clearly, was not a good enough reason for Reagan. She rolled her eyes and pulled Paige's arms free. She grabbed Paige's loose hand and began to drag her toward the house.
"Oh please. A party is everybody's scene! If not while sober then after a few shots. C'mon. I know where the boys are keeping the good shit." Paige didn't have time to protest. Reagan had her through the doorway and into the loud kitchen before she had time to even think of opening her mouth.
Twenty minutes later, Paige had downed four vodka shots and was leaning on Reagan for support, as her feet were shaky and unable to hold her up. Her vision was warped and she hadn't stopped giggling in well over two minutes. The party had picked up and the house was flooded with student athletes, from all sports. Somehow the word about the little get together had gotten out but Paige had been too preoccupied with the alcohol shots in front of her to really notice the gathering crowds. One had grown around Paige and Reagan, who had moved on from vodka shots to trying to organize a game of flip cup. Paige had never really been drunk before and the shots were affecting her faster than she had expected them to. She wasn't going to deny the fact that she loved the feeling. And it didn't hurt that she hadn't seem Emily yet tonight. Even the prospect of seeing Emily had her stomach falling down to her toes and her heart leaping into her throat. She was grateful for the distraction that the alcohol provided to her. She figured could put off thinking about Emily and thinking about seeing Emily as long as she was drinking.
But as luck, or fate, would have it, not a moment later, Paige heard a very familiar laugh coming from her left.
Emily.
She had been at the party for close to two hours and the alcohol that had been practically forced down her throat had left her system. It was strange being one of the only sober people at a party, albeit entertaining. She had arrived with Reagan, who had long since abandoned her for the table full of shots, and helped "set up". That processes entailed putting stacks of solo cups in every available corner and alcohol on the tables. There wasn't a spot in the house that wasn't ready for borderline alcoholic college students.
It had come as a shock to Reagan, and a few other girls on the team, that Emily wasn't a big drinker. She glossed over the details of her almost sobriety, accepting only one beer before cutting herself off. She knew what happened when she drank. She wasn't about to unleash that beast on these people she had only just met.
Most of the past 20 minutes, Emily had been leaning against a counter in the kitchen, playing Unblock Me on her phone. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what was happening at the party, she was, it just seemed to to get old after a while. She had seen the same three people declare, loudly, that they were drunk as fuck and by the second time it was eye roll inducing. This kind of thing was only fun for the drinkers. The sober friends got the short end of the stick.
Her battery was coming close to dying so she tucked her phone away into her back pocket. She heard Reagan's booming laugh coming from the dining room and she followed the sound. She was about ready to tell Reagan that she was just going to head out, citing a headache as an excuse, when she noticed the sloppy figure next to her. Paige. She had actually come. Emily was sure that Paige had written off her invitation with a typical eye roll but clearly, she had been wrong. The girl was clearly already very drunk and the game of flip cup the pair was about to engage in was certainly not going to help that. Emily slid up next to Reagan, clapping her new friend on the shoulder. "How's it going over here?" She asked, amusement peppering her tone. Reagan turned toward her, eyes wide with excitement. She threw her arms around Emily's neck. Emily was taken by surprise by the gesture and it took her a moment to return the embrace.
"Emmmmmmmmmmily! Look who I found!" Reagan exclaimed, pointing a finger at Paige after she released Emily's shoulders. Paige now had her eyes trained toward the ground and the drunken giddiness Emily had seen on her face when she arrived at the table had disappeared. She looked up and shot a nervous smirk at Emily. It was shakier than the ones Emily was used to seeing but familiar enough to strangely put her at ease.
"Hey Paige." Emily greeted, genuinely smiling at the other girl. Emily had meant business with their truce. She wasn't going to let Paige forget about it.
"Hey Fields." Paige mumbled back in response, her eyes still looking everywhere but at Emily. Reagan, who had turned into a pouty-faced child when Emily deflected her attention momentarily to Paige, quickly brought Emily's eyes back to her.
"We're just gonnar play some flip cup! You should definitely play Emily!" Reagan, once again, exclaimed loud enough for the whole room to hear. An uproarious cheer came from the fellow party goers once flip cup was mentioned and a crowd gathered near Reagan, Emily, and Paige. Emily shook her head and politely declined.
"No thanks. I've had enough tonight and you've probably had more than enough for the both of us." Reagan shrugged, turning her attention back to the line of red solo cups that were currently being filled with beer. Paige had moved to the opposite side of the table, face to face with Reagan. It was clear to Emily that Paige had had quite a bit to drink. Her usually pale cheeks were flushed red and her hair, which was normally groomed neatly, was flying wildly in a multitude of different directions. Her legs were wobbly (Emily was sure that at any moment she would fall over if she took one wrong step) and her eyes were only half open. Emily didn't know how much she had to drink but she recognized that look and it was one of somebody who was a few over their limit.
Emily shifted positions, moving closer to Paige. At some point when Emily was sizing Paige up, the teams had formed for flip cup and the game was starting. Emily watched the lines of people drink beer quickly and then try to flip the cup over onto its rim. It wasn't Emily's favorite drinking game, especially to watch, but something was keeping her at the table. Her eyes kept drifting over to Paige, who was giggling into the chest of some male swimmer that Emily hadn't met yet. He had a look in his eyes that Emily recognized too. Lust. She felt a strange twinge in her gut that caused her teeth to grind slightly until she had to look away from the pair. She diverted her attention over to Reagan, who was dancing to the beat of a song that wasn't playing. Emily took a few steps closer to her friend.
"Are you having fun?" Emily asked, quirking her eyebrow. Reagan gave a screech and a nod in response.
"OF COURSE." She yelled back. Reagan moved to get another drink from the table but Emily grabbed her hand.
"Hey, maybe you should take a break from the alcohol. Grab some water first?" Emily suggested. It was strange, being the responsible one. It was never her job to take care of other people. Spencer was always the babysitter and Emily had had her fair share of being babysat by her friend. Especially when drunk.
Reagan put up a bit of a fight but a few minutes later she had a bottle of water in her hand that she downed quickly before getting distracted by some other going-on of the party. Emily had lost track of Paige while she was trying to get Reagan to consume something other than liquor. After Reagan was out of her sight, Emily began scanning the room for Paige. No sign of her in the living room.
She moved through the kitchen quickly and then the dining room.
Nothing.
With a sigh of defeat, she went back into the living room. It vaguely occurred to her that Paige was not her responsibility. They weren't friends. They were barely not enemies. Paige should be none of Emily's concern. Yet here she was, searching for her. She told herself it was because she saw how drunk Paige was and knew what kind of choices somebody who was that drunk was liable to make. She didn't want Paige to do something that could hurt the team in the long run. Like jump off a roof. Or crash a bike into a trash can. Anything she could do to prevent an accident like that would be helpful. And that was the only reason. It had to be.
Emily had all of the power in the world over Paige.
Even when Paige only had half of her mind, Emily still threw her for a loop just by being present. It drove her nuts.
Paige could feel her. Feel the heat radiating off of her from where she was standing and it was almost as intoxicating as the the alcohol she had been drinking. And even worse was the feeling of her stomach falling down to her toes when Emily said her name. She nearly passed out right then and there the sound was so dizzying to her.
Paige was sure that the alcohol was heightening her reactions to Emily. Or dulling Paige's ability to shove her reactions down.
Either way, Paige knew she had to be as far away from Emily as she could get as quickly as possible.
There was a boy standing next to her who had been shooting her looks since the game started. Up until this point, she had been ignoring him, more intently focused on calming herself down. But she turned her eyes upward to him and introduced herself.
Within minutes, the pair were locked into a conversation. He was clearly trying to impress Paige and Paige was content to pretend that what he was saying was aweing her. Frankly, she didn't have to try too hard to pretend. The alcohol, which had been affecting her pretty severely earlier, had started to hit her even harder. She was laughing at things she would never usually laugh at. Her sober self would never find the boy in front of her funny or even the least bit attractive. Hell, even drunk her was struggling to be attracted to him. Aesthetically, he was great. He had good bone structure, pretty eyes, and a clean shaven face. There was nothing wrong with the way he looked. He was what most girls would consider a catch. However, Paige had to look long and hard to find something, anything, that would physically attract her to him. And the only thing she could come up with was the point of his ears.
His
Ears.
And even that was a little bit of a stretch.
He was nice, at least he seemed to be. He was not nearly as drunk as she was and as they walked from the living room around to the kitchen, he helped steady her when her ankles seemed as though they were going to give out on her. She appreciated that. He got her a water bottle, unopened, that she graciously accepted and drank very quickly. Her eyelids were starting to feel heavy and her limbs felt like they weren't part of her body anymore. She pulled out her phone to check the time. It was nearing 2:30. The rational part of her knew she ought to leave and sleep at least a little bit because she had an early practice the next morning but the rest of her wanted to keep the night going. See where it would take her.
From the kitchen, her new friend took her down into the basement where the lights had been dimmed. He situated them into a corner and pulled their bodies incredibly close. Paige's eyes widened. Oh. This is where he thought this was going to go. He dragged his fingers lightly along Paige's arm, all the way up until it reached her hair. He took a few pieces of her hair and twisted them around his fingers. Into her ear he whispered, "You're so beautiful." She could feel his hot breath against her face and it made her stomach turn. She had to pull back.
She looked him straight in the eyes. "I-I can't do this. I'm sorry." She slurred slightly. His hand fell from her hair and he looked a little aggravated. He didn't protest as she walked away, which she was certainly thankful for.
Her stomach still hadn't stopped turning. She felt disgusted. Not by him but with herself. Or maybe the turning of her stomach was just the alcohol. She didn't know for sure, she just knew that she wanted to leave. She walked up the stairs as steadily as she could, which was not very steady at all. She had to stop at the top stair and close her eyes to try and get the room to stop spinning around her. Her stomach lurched again and she gagged, but she forced it down. No way was she puking in the doorway of a fraternity houses' basement. There were still crowds of people in the house, though the amount of people had thinned considerably. Paige tried to work her way around them but her motor skills were impaired and she only succeeded in bumping into people and nearly falling over.
About halfway between the basement door and the exit, Paige felt a hand on her elbow. Almost instinctually, she pulled it back. "Whoa, easy there tiger, just trying to get you standing upright again." Came the owner of the hand still wrapped around her elbow. Emily Fields. Of course.
"M'fine." Paige mumbled, weakly attempting to pull her elbow completely from Emily's grasp. Emily laughed.
"You're very drunk Paige. Where are you going?" She asked, letting go of Paige's elbow, which came as a welcome relief, though the spot where her hand had been was still tingling. Paige weakly pointed toward the door.
"Home." She stated curtly, or as curtly as she could with her words still slurring and coming out as though she were in slow motion.
"Not by yourself, you're not. C'mon. I'm walking you home." Emily said with a tone that made it quite clear that Paige really didn't have a choice in the matter. She didn't have the energy to argue so she just nodded. Music was still blasting throughout the house, which Paige was grateful for. It made the silence between the pair of them seem less awkward.
They exited the house side by side, Paige still struggling to take a step without nearly falling over. Emily was close enough to her to be able to prevent her from falling if she were to trip too badly but far enough away for Paige to still be comfortable. The first few moments of the walk were silent. Emily was keeping a careful eye on Paige, who was attempting to keep her eyes trained toward the ground in front of her but every so often her gaze would drift over to Emily.
Finally, a few minutes into their trek, the silence got to Emily. "What made you decide to jump ship? It seemed like you were having a good time, if the way that guy was hanging on you was any indication." Emily inquired, facing Paige. She shrugged.
"He and I had different ideas about where the night was going to go." Paige replied simply, not wanting to think about the way his breath felt against her ear again. Even the fleeting thought of it made her stomach start to turn again and her face to lose some color. She avoided looking Emily in the eyes but the light 'Oh' that she heard from the other girl made it clear that Emily understood exactly what she meant.
Silence overtook the pair of them again. Paige shivered, the crisp nearly-autumn air feeling bitterer than she expected. It was Emily again who broke the silence.
"What building do you live in? I know we're far from my building but I don't know how far away we are from yours."
"I live in Wilbur. It's close. I walked. I think it's over there." Paige pointed over to her right and then her left. And then behind them. Emily shook her head.
"You're going to have to forgive me for not trusting your directional skills." Emily retorted as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She pulled up the google maps all on her phone and pulled up directions from their location to Paige's dorm. When Emily looked up to tell Paige which direction they ought to be heading, Paige was nowhere to be seen.
Emily turned her head and looked in all directions, looking for movement. It was pitch black so she wasn't getting much in the way of that. "Paige? Paige? PAIGE?" Emily yelled, picking one direction and going that way. From a little ways ahead of her she heard a small giggle that alerted her to her lost teammate's location. She sped up and jogged quickly to where she thought she heard the sound. She looked around for Paige but she was still not in sight. Emily heard another laugh.
"'M down here." Was the response from the still giggling Paige. Emily jumped slightly backward, looking down. There she was, sitting on the concrete, blood oozing from her knee and elbow. Emily crouched down, looking up at Paige with a strange mix of worry and amusement in her eyes.
"How did this happen?" She asked looking at the flesh wound on Paige's knee. Paige shrugged.
"Dunno. Was walkin and then I tripped." Emily sighed.
"Mind if I take a look at your leg and make sure you didn't break anything?" Paige waved a hand at Emily, giving her permission. Gently, Emily rested one of her hands over the top of Paige's knee and one below it. She carefully bent it, making sure Paige still had her full range of motion. She brought her knee back down and removed her hands, shifting them down toward Paige's ankle, pressing down on a few key spots. When Paige made no outcries of pain, Emily looked back up at Paige, only to find Paige staring directly at her. Color began to flood the other girl's cheeks and she looked away quickly. "Everything looks okay. Can you stand up on your own?" Emily asked, choosing to ignore the developing blush. Paige nodded. She braced herself, one hand on either side of her hips and tried to push herself up. She got halfway there before her arms gave out on her and she collapsed back onto the ground. Emily was next to her and helping her up before Paige even had a chance to protest. "Here, I'm going to help you. Lean on me as much as you need to, okay?" Emily tried to add as much sternness to her tone as she possibly could, not waiting Paige to try and tell her that she could walk on her own. Emily snaked an arm around Paige's waist, gripping her side. Her phone with her navigation was in her other hand. Slowly, the pair of them began to walk. For the first few steps, Paige was able to support most of her weight on her own but before long, she had to lean almost completely on Emily.
Luckily, the walk wasn't long and Emily didn't have to support all of Paige's body weight for too long. It only took about five minutes for the pair of them to get to Paige's dorm. When they arrived at the door, Emily shifted her body so she was facing Paige. "Do you have your keys?" Paige nodded. She reached into the back pocket of her jean skirt and pulled out a Stanford University lanyard with a key and ID attached. She handed it over to Emily, who swiped the pair of them into the building. It was lucky that the elevator wasn't too far from the entrance or the trip would have been a lot more difficult.
Paige hadn't been able to focus on anything but the feeling of Emily's arm around her back since the moment she put it there. Her nerve endings were on fire. She couldn't focus on the throbbing pain of her leg or the tingling in her elbow. All she could feel was Emily's hand. If Paige had thought that Emily just being within feet of her was intoxicating, then she couldn't put a word to what she was feeling right now. She was dizzy and it wasn't from the alcohol.
In the back of her mind, Paige knew that she would never be able to admit how Emily made her feel while she was sober. She was so good at pushing it down, avoiding it, and pretending that it didn't exist. But with her inhibitions lowered and most of her mental walls gone, she could admit that Emily Fields made her feel sick but in the best damn way possible. She made her feel like a butterfly conservatory had been let loose in her stomach. Like she'd just ridden the tilt-a-whirl thirty times in a row without a break. With one touch, she could make Paige feel like she was every single one of the elements at once.
But ask her tomorrow how Emily Fields made her feel and all you'd get as a noncommittal grunt and a shrug.
Because when she was sober, Paige wasn't ready to admit what everything she felt for Emily meant.
Paige pulled away from Emily as soon as they were in her room. Paige immediately sat down on her bed, bringing her leg up to rest on top of the bed. Emily looked around. She lived in a single room that was still mostly bare, some boxes and suitcases had yet to be unpacked. "Do you have a first aid kit anywhere? I want to clean up those cuts so they don't get infected." Emily asked, trying to think of where Paige might have put it. Paige just pointed at the bottom drawer of her desk. Emil walked over to it and pulled the drawer open. She found the first aid kit and lightly kicked the door shut. "You should change before I put bandages on these." Emily said, putting the first aid kit on the desk and opening it. She pulled out a few band aids and gauze pads. "Let me know when it's safe to turn around." Emily called to behind her. She looked down at the desk some more. No pictures of friends or family. Nothing personal. It was like she didn't have anything to make the room her own. Paige made a grunting noise from the bed, which Emily took to mean she was decent again. She had on only an oversized t-shirt that barely covered what needed to be covered. "Is that what you sleep in?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow. Paige nodded, her eyes closing slowly. "Hey, no sleeping. Not until I'm finished."
"Hurry up then. I'm exhausted." Paige slurred, her head reclining back onto her pillow. Emily rolled her eyes and kneeled down next to Paige's injured leg. Just as Emily was about to begin cleaning off the wound, Paige's head shot up. "Is this going to hurt?" Emily laughed.
"Not as much as you falling on the concrete did. Besides, I doubt you'll remember if it hurt or not in the morning anyway." Emily replied. Paige seemed to accept that answer and let her had fall back against her pillow. Gently, Emily began to clean off Paige's wound. It was a superficial cut and would probably scab over and then heal within a few days. Same with the one on her elbow. By the time Emily finished cleaning off Paige's scrapes, the other girl had passed out. Her eyes were tightly closed and her mouth was hanging open. The sight was, if Emily was being totally honest, kind of adorable. She was tempted to take a picture. Instead, she pulled the covers out from underneath Paige and threw them on top of her. She cleaned up what little mess she made and threw Paige's clothes into her hamper. The less she had to organize in the morning before practice, the better she was sure to feel. Emily made sure to leave Paige's key where she would see it and locked the door behind her as she left.
Emily woke up the next morning two hours before her practice. She took a warm shower and decided to get a coffee before practice. Impulsively, she decided to buy a coffee for Paige. She wondered how the other girl was doing after last night.
With both coffees in hand, she walked toward Paige's dorm. Luckily, just as she was arriving, someone was leaving so she slipped right into the building and into the elevator. Emily didn't know why she was doing all of this. She didn't have to be this nice to Paige, especially not after Paige had spent years treating her so poorly. She could have, and maybe should have, just left her to fend for herself last night after the party.
But Emily couldn't do that.
She knew that Paige wouldn't have been able to get herself home if Emily hadn't run into her. She would have been stuck on that sidewalk where she fell or worse. Emily couldn't have that on her conscience. That behavior was, at the very least, understandable. It was nice. Polite. A friendly thing to do. Bringing Paige coffee the morning after? Now that was a bit of a stretch. Emily chalked it up to concern about her teammate's well-being. It was only the second practice and coach would probably have her ass if she missed a practice already. And what kind of teammate would she be if she let that happen? And what better way to prove that Emily meant business with that truce than to show up with coffee and a friendly smile?
Emily arrived at Paige's door and took a deep breath before knocking. It only took a few moments for Paige to answer the door. There was a look of confusion on Paige's face and it confirmed Emily's suspicions that Paige didn't remember anything about last night. Emily raised the coffee in her left hand and said, "Mind if I come in? I come bearing gifts." Paige nodded skeptically. She took the coffee from Emily's hands as she walked in. Emily stood, slightly awkwardly, in the middle of the room while sipping her coffee. Paige stood near the door, alternating between looking at Emily and the ground. Emily decided to break the silence. "Do you remember anything at all from last night?" Emily asked. Paige opened her mouth as if she were going to say something but closed quickly and just shook her head.
"Not a single thing. I don't even know how I got back to my room." Emily laughed, taking a step toward her.
"I think I can help you with that. Mind if we walk and talk?" Paige shook her head.
"Not at all. Let me grab my bag." Paige grabbed her stuff off of the bed. Emily left the room a few steps ahead of Paige, who locked the door quickly behind them. They walked together toward the natatorium at a semi-leisurely pace. Emily recounted the parts of the night that Paige had spent with her with as much detail as she could. Emily knew how it felt to lose whole nights because she drank too much. It would have been nice to have someone to recount the details to her.
The walk to the natatorium was surprisingly quick, gaps in the conversation slim to none. It was surprising to Emily how easy it was to talk to Paige. It didn't feel like it was only yesterday Paige was intentionally bumping into her and trying to get under her skin. In fact, it felt like they had never been enemies at all.
Emily had watched Paige's reactions to her recount of the night, taking note of when her face dropped in embarrassment or when she seemed uncomfortable with how her actions may have been perceived. She didn't say much but the expressions on her face seemed to say it all. And that piqued Emily's interest. Emily had never seen Paige look more expressive and less guarded. It always seemed to her that the other girl always had walls up a mile high. Maybe it was just the hangover that was making it difficult for her to put up the walls but this version of Paige was one that Emily would be interested in getting to know.
Could it be possible that there was more to Paige than meets the eye?
If Paige was confused when she woke up in the morning, her mind was sent for another loop when there was a knock on her door and Emily Fields was waiting on the other side of it.
With coffee.
For her.
Part of her was tempted to slam the door in her face and continue to hide out until she finally remembered anything of what happened last night.
But the smile on Emily's face and the echo of the truce from yesterday stopped her.
Which, in the end, was a decision she was glad she made. Paige listened carefully to Emily's recount of the night's events. Slowly, bits and pieces of the night started to come back to her. The pictures were foggy and not in sequence, but at least it was something. She felt better knowing that she didn't make too many poor decisions. Though she was incredibly embarrassed by her behavior around Emily. Emily probably thought she was ridiculous. Or childish. Or both.
Emily finished recounting the events just as they arrived in the locker room. They both paused right before the aisle of lockers they shared yesterday. Paige looked upwards at Emily through her eyelashes, making the smallest amount of eye contact that she could. "Thanks. For everything you did." Paige began. "You could have just left me there and I wouldn't have blamed you if you did." She raised her eyes and looked Emily full in the face. In that moment, Paige allowed herself to give Emily a genuine smile.
It was delayed but Emily gave a bright mile in return. With a deep breath and a small smile, Paige starting walking to another aisle. Before she could get too far, Emily grabbed her elbow. Paige paused and raised a questioning eyebrow. Emily inhaled slowly before saying, "Hey, about what I said yesterday. The us not being able to be friends thing." She paused, looking Paige in the eye, "I take it back. I want to try and be friends Paige." She finished, her hand still on Paige's elbow. Paige's eye shifted to the hand and back to Emily's eyes. Slowly, she nodded.
"Yeah. I think I'd like that." Emily grinned at Paige, a true and genuine grin, before finally taking her hand off of her elbow.
"Good. You know this means no more calling me Highness at the pool right?" Emily joked, moving in toward the locker she had claimed as hers. Paige abandoned the idea of picking a different locker. If they were going to be friends, they could share a locker space. Paige rolled her eyes, good-naturedly of course, at Emily's comment.
"You sure about that? I was kind of attached." Paige bantered back. Emily mock glared over her shoulder.
"How about this? You can keep calling me Highness if I get to call you lush." Paige flinched a bit and nodded.
"Alright, point taken, Fields. Get changed before we're both late." She joked.
Paige marveled at how easy it seemed between the two of them. Like this had always been how they were together.
And Paige liked it.
A lot.
A/N: FINALLY. An update! I know it's been forever and I'm so, so sorry about it. I had the craziest summer with the craziest work hours but now I'm back in school with routine that's easier to work writing into so here we are! I hope things don't seem to be moving too quickly, I just wanted to establish their friendship. They won't revert from here. There's nowhere to go but up for them, but it will take quite some time for them to reach couple status on this timeline. AGAIN I want to apologize for the wait. I won't take this long between updates again (hopefully, though I make no promises). If you ever want to bother me/check on the progress of the next chapter, you're more than welcome to follow me or just message me on tumblr! I'm fifteendivision over there c: Heart all of you for sticking with me/this story through the accidental hiatus! Also I apologize for any errors in spelling or grammar I was too lazy to look this over.