Chapter 7: Tomatoes and Cheese

Emily's Pov-

Every day I'd go to Paige's place right after school to make sure she was ok. She wouldn't say very much when I visited her but I could see that she liked it when I kept her company.

I knew where she had the spare key to the house so I could easily enter her house if the door was locked.

Every time I reached Paige's house I would knock on the front door hoping that Paige would open it but she never did.

I used the spare key to unlock the door and I slowly walked in.

All lights were turned off but I could hear that the song Tonight by FM Static was playing.

"Paige? Are you up?" I called out as I started to walk to where I now knew Paige's room were.

"It's Emily, I'm just here to check up on you." I continued as I kept walking to Paige's room.

I wasn't surprised that Paige remained silent, I knew she wasn't sleeping sine she looked like she had been awake for days maybe even longer.

I pushed down the handle of the door and lightly pushed the door only opening it a little.

"Paige, it's me. I'm coming in now." I said and then I opened the door and walked into Paige's room, as usual she was laying on her bed with her back turned away from me.

I walked up to Paige when I suddenly stepped on something. I looked down and saw that it was a picture that looked just like the one I had found in Stefan's room a few days ago. It was the same two kids, the boy in the baseball cap who was Stefan and the girl with auburn hair.

I picked them up and after a while I noticed something I never thought of the first time I saw that photo.

"This is you?" I said and it looked like I had Paige's attention since she turned over and looked at me. She noticed the photo I was holding and she sigh then she rolled back.

"Yes." She then mumbled.

"You look different." I said as I was about to give the photo back to Paige but when she turned up the volume on her cellphone that kept playing Tonight on an instant loop. So I put it in my back pocket and walked around so I could talk to Paige face to face.

"How are you?" I asked since I had no idea what else to say.

Paige just looked at me with her big brown eyes, there was no anger in them just an empty sadness.

"Paige, I know you're in pain but you can't keep doing this." I said reaching out to her.

"Paige please, let me help you." I said as I at the very least tried to get Paige out of bed.

Paige kept looking at me and I wanted her to know that all I wanted to do was to be there for her.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Paige asked sounding like she thought it was something she didn't deserved.

I just smiled and shrugged "Maybe I'm just like that way." I said and Paige made a snoring laugh.

"Paige, please… at least get out of bed." I said and Paige looked at me for a few seconds then she moved to the edge of the bed and very slowly got out of the bed and stood in front of me.

I knew I had to make her talk about something fast before she would thing that this was stupid and return to her bed.

"Are you hungry?" I asked wondering when the last time Paige ate something.

"I guess." Paige said looking like she didn't cared, but then a loud growl came from her stomach.

"I can cook some food, if you'd like." I offered as Paige sat down on the bed.

"Sure." She mumbled under her breath.

"Ok and Paige there is one more thing I have to ask." I said very carefully and Paige looked up at me.

"Is the shower working?" I asked.

"Yes." Paige answered getting a confused look on her face.

"Good, because you could use one." I said.

"I'm fine." Paige said.

"No, right now you smell worse than my gym bag and I had some swimming practice before I got here." I said trying to get Paige to see my point.

"Fine." Paige said and reluctantly she got up and grabbed a towel then she went to where I assumed her bathroom was and I went downstairs to the kitchen to see if I could make something for Paige.

I checked the kitchen and I noticed there wasn't much in the pantries or the refrigerator. After a few seconds I decided to just make tomato soup and grilled cheese since that was pretty much the only thing I could make from the things in Paige's kitchen.

I opened a can of tomato soup and then my phone started to ring, I looked at it and I saw that Hanna was calling.

"Hi Hanna." I said as I poured the soup in a bowl.

"Hi Em, guess what." Hanna said sounding excited.

"You got a sneak peek at this year's fall collection?" I guessed.

"No it's not… wait you know about that?" Hanna asked.

"Hanna, what did you want to tell me?" I asked as I put the bowl in the microwave.

"That boy Caleb, he talked to me today." Hanna said.

"Wow, what did he say?" I asked.

"He asked where his class would be." Hanna said.

"Wow, he almost proposed to you Han." I joked.

"Shut up! He asked me out of several girls in the hallway and now I can talk to him and make him want to ask me out." Hanna said.

"That's one strategy Han." I said as I started making the first grilled cheese sandwich.

"Ok, Mrs. Single, I haven't seen you putting yourself out there. You wanna come over and watch a movie?" Hanna asked.

"I can't I'm already with someone tonight." I said.

"Really, whom?" Hanna asked.

"Paige McCullers." I answered.

"I'm sorry I thought you said you were with Paige." Hanna said sounding a bit judging.

"She lost her brother Han, give her a break." I said.

"I know that, but whenever I hear her name I just remember how horrible person she is." Hanna said.

"She isn't like that Han, she might have a tough girl act but I know she really is a kind girl." I said, remembering that day at the carwash where Paige could have been aggressive to me but she wasn't.

"Ok, it's your funeral." Hanna said.

"Bye, Hanna." I said and hanged up the phone and then I finished the grilled cheese sandwich just as I saw Paige walk into the kitchen, she had changed her clothes and her hair was still wet from the shower.

"I hope you like tomato soup and grill cheese, it was the only thing I could make." I said.

"That's ok." Paige said as she sat down and started to eat, judging from the way she ate she must have been starving.

"That was the only soup I could make but I did make a few more sandwiches." I said as I noticed how fast Paige was eating.

Paige grabbed another grilled cheese and she almost swallowed it in just four bites.

"When was the last time you ate?" I asked.

"I don't know." Paige said looking down at her plate.

"I think I'm done with swimming." Paige suddenly said.

I was chocked since I knew Paige loved swimming just as much as I did, maybe even more.

"It's just, now when Stefan is gone I don't know… anything anymore." Paige said.

"You're confused." I said.

Paige just nodded lightly and looked down on the floor.

"I know you don't think so but the best way to find what you are looking for isn't to stay here, you should come back to school and try to find out who you are." I said.

Paige looked at me, she really did listened to what I said and she looked like she was considering what I said.

"And what if I don't find myself?" Paige said.

"Will you find out by staying here?" I asked.

Paige nodded and took another bite from a sandwich.

"I'm sorry." Paige suddenly said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Everything I did to you." Paige answered then she started to cry. "I was horrible to you, you should hate me." She continued.

"Paige, I don't hate you." I said and I walked up next to her.

"You should, I hate myself more than anything." Paige said.

"Hey, look at me." I said and moved my hand under Paige's chin and made her look at me.

"I don't hate you, and you don't deserve to feel like this." I said and Paige looked into my eyes then I felt her hand on the back off my head and before I noticed anything Paige's lips was suddenly pressed against mine. I didn't believe what was happening Paige is kissing me.

She broke away from me and then she looked scared as she said. "Please, don't tell."