Well hello there my lovely readers! Please forgive me for the delay in updating. I had quite the busy weekend dealing with work related stuff and I was also having issues figuring out where I wanted to take this chapter. I had hoped to get more written than what I will be posting today, but I hope this will hold you over until the next chapter.. which should be up in the next couple of days.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. I love to read the feedback. So don't hesitate to let me know what you think. -Britt

Still sitting on the bleacher where Paige had left her, Emily ran back through the series of events that had just taken place with Paige in her head.

She was already crushing really hard on this girl. A girl she'd only known for less than three hours, but those three hours seemed to be long enough to gain Emily's full and undivided attention. It'd been a while since Emily had laughed as hard and smiled as big as she had today with Paige.

Though, the one thought that lingered in the back of her mind was that Paige hadn't really shown any signs of being interested in Emily or possibly even being gay for that matter.

What about that intense stare that she continued to hold with me even after I released her finger? Why did I look down at my watch? I wasn't really interested in the time.

Emily knew that had she allowed herself to get lost in Paige's warm brown eyes any longer, it could have made Paige extremely uncomfortable.

Emily had no intentions of losing Paige before she had the chance to actually find her.

She seemed to be friendly towards me, but maybe she was just being polite. God, I love her sense of humor. She's so funny. I like that she makes jokes about herself. And she's honest. An honest girl would be good for me.

Something about this girl made Emily want to know more about her. She could sense that Paige seemed to be a naturally closed off person and she wondered what might have caused her to be that way. Maybe she was just a little shy, or unsure.

She was easy to read though, and when Emily seemed to ask her anything she'd say exactly what she wanted to. When she didn't want to elaborate she told Emily exactly that. But Emily figured, with time, if she was lucky enough to spend more time with her, Paige would open up more to her.

Emily hoped that she, herself, wasn't that cause, making it hard for Paige to be herself around her. Emily always thought herself to be very easy going and friendly. No one had ever told her she came off as having an intimidating personality, quite the opposite actually; she was a very approachable person.

Did I come on too strong? Maybe the massage was too weird. I might have overstepped my boundaries. But then again, I'll massage other people on the team if they ask. Maybe I'm just over-thinking this whole thing. Wait, why am I thinking any of this, she's probably straight anyways.

It wouldn't be the first time Emily fell for a straight girl, she'd just hoped that maybe she was wrong about Paige. She really wanted to be wrong about Paige. So, Emily figured she'd test the waters, dive down to the bottom, and hopefully have it all figured out before she surfaced again.

Emily's gaze drifted over from her feet to the edge of the pool by the stairs. There on the tile, she noticed that Paige's goggles and swim cap were still where she had placed them when she had left the pool earlier to grab their towels.

Paige left and forgot to grab them. Was she in that big of a hurry to get away from me?

Emily came to a stand, grabbed her towel and threw it over her left shoulder. She walked over to the goggles and swim cap and bent down to pick them up. Standing up with the goggles and cap in her hand she took a closer look at the goggles.

Paige's goggles looked like they had been well worn, almost to the point where she'd probably need a new pair soon. The edges of the eye pieces were scratched up quite a bit and the straps looked like they could snap at any point. It was a curious thing to Emily as to why Paige had goggles in such bad condition. It didn't really make sense to her. She was always replacing her own goggles when they proved to be just about out of life.

Knowing she had the team contact list she figured she'd text Paige about them and see what she wanted her to do with them. She had a feeling Paige probably had several pairs at home anyways. Losing goggles and swim caps was a given with swimming competitively.

Pulling up the hood on her hoodie, to cover up her still damp hair from the quick shower she just took, Emily exited the side door of the gym with her duffle resting on her right shoulder. The expected, but still surprising cold air caused her to briefly lose her breath once she had fully stepped outside.

It was pitch black outside by now and the January air was nipping away at her nose. Taking the sidewalk that wrapped around to the front of the school, Emily sped her pace up so she could find shelter from the harsh wind in her car.

Luckily this year's winter was a mild one so far and there wasn't any snow on the ground requiring her to walk extra carefully to her car. Her car keys were in her left hand ready to unlock her car with a push of the unlock button and her phone was in her right hand ready to dial anyone's number if need be.

Out of habit, she had parked on the street in front of the school under a street lamp. She often found herself swimming earlier in the mornings before classes or staying later into the evenings after practices when she felt the need, but most often want, to get extra practice in.

Her dad had always warned her about staying as visible as possible at night when she was walking to her car alone. Parking under a street lamp was something he had asked her to do to make him feel only the tiniest bit better about her being out by herself during the darkest hours of the day. It didn't necessarily prevent someone from preying on her, but it might make them think twice if they knew they could be seen.

Double clicking the unlock button on her car remote, her red Toyota Corolla flashed it's head and tail lights signaling that it had successfully unlocked for her. She opened the passenger side door and threw her bag onto the seat. Closing the door, she stepped into the street and made her way around the front of the car and to her door.

She opened up the door and quickly took her seat inside while tugging the door shut. She automatically reached for the lock button and locked all the doors, securing herself inside. Without looking she reached up and clicked on the overhead light.

With her phone still in her hand she unlocked the screen and started a text message to Paige that read:

Hey! This is Emily, I saw that you had left your goggles & cap when you left earlier. I have them with me. What did you want me to do with them? :) -E

After she sent Paige the text she proceeded to send a text to her mom, letting her know she was in her car about to head home from the school. Just after she hit the send button, her phone buzzed in her hand with a reply from Paige already.

Wow, that was fast.

Oh shoot! I totally spaced. Is there any way you might be able to swing by my place & drop them off tonight? They are kind of important to me. If not it's okay, I can meet you tomorrow to get them. -P

Odd, what's so important about goggles and a swim cap. Maybe she thinks they are lucky or something.

Sure no problem, I can swing by tonight, I haven't left the school yet. What's your address? -E

Paige replied almost immediately again. Emily had recognized the street name right away, it was about a 15 minute drive from her own place, but it sat just outside of the Rosewood school zone and just inside the Jefferson school zone where the surrounding area was considered more rural.

Great, thanks, see you soon! -E

Before she pulled out onto the street, she sent her mom a follow-up text letting her know she'd be stopping by a teammate's house to drop off their belongings. Her mom just warned her not to stay out too late and to text her when she was officially on her way home.

Emily's thoughts were again filled with Paige as she drove towards her destination.

Emily just couldn't shake her thoughts about Paige. She attempted to change the radio station several times throughout her drive, but without any luck in changing the focus of her thoughts she just silenced the radio and left herself to her own thoughts.

Her emotions were tripping over Paige and it was unlike anything she had ever experienced after meeting someone for such a short length of time.

She realized it was a good first step in finally moving on from the previous relationship she was in. It had ended a few months ago on bad terms and she wasn't sure she'd be ready to move on so soon. It wasn't that she still felt attached to her previous girlfriend, it was just that she had been hurt and she thought it would take a lot more time to mend the broken feeling she still felt inside.

Emily was now approaching the address Paige had texted her. She came to a slow crawl with her car and took the left hand turn towards the tree-lined driveway. The driveway continued straight back for quite some time and then curved slightly to the right. Paige's house was tucked away behind quite a bit of tree growth. It was too dark to tell, but Emily imagined it to be a very beautiful drive in the daytime during the warmer months. With it being winter, the majority of all the trees were bare and Emily could make out little specks of light coming from other houses in the distance.

Paige's driveway must have been about a mile long. It was definitely one of the more private pieces of property Emily had visited in a while. Emily lived in a very residential area with neighbors on all sides. She wondered what it would be like to not have neighbors directly next door, in front, and in back of her house.

Reaching the end of the driveway Emily parked her car on the left next to the illuminated driveway lamp. She cut the engine to her car and took a minute to collect her thoughts.

Peering out her car windows she took a minute to glance at Paige's house. With the front porch lights on as well as the driveway lamp it was fairly easy for Emily to make out most of its details.

It was a white two story house that was, what Emily guessed, at least four to five bedrooms big.

I wonder if she has a big family.

The window shutters were a shade of navy blue, matching the color of the front door. There was a covered porch stretching across the front of the house that had a swinging bench hanging on the left side and a couple of rocking chairs that sat on the right. She had parked in front of one of the two garage doors and off to the far right of the driveway space she noticed a basketball hoop sitting where the asphalt met the lawn. The yard looked like it had been professionally landscaped and was most likely up kept throughout the year. Paige's backyard was fenced in and Emily wondered if maybe they had a family dog.

The clock on her phone now read that is was just after seven thirty. She sent a quick text to Paige letting her know she was there in hopes that she wouldn't have to stand on the porch that long waiting for Paige to open the door. She was in a hoodie and baggy sweat pants but her outfit didn't prevent her from feeling chilled when she stepped outside. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she reached over to her duffle and unzipped the side pocket that stored Paige's belongings.

With Paige's goggles and swim cap in her right hand, and her phone and car keys in her left hand, Emily opened up her car door. Exposing herself to the cold harsh wind of the night again, Emily proceeded to get out of her car as fast as she could so that she didn't have to endure the wintry air any longer than she had to.

Stuffing her keys and phone in her left sweatpants pocket, Emily briskly walked her way up the brick sidewalk that that eventually led her to the two steps of Paige's porch. With one swift jump she cleared them both and landed just before the welcome door mat. Just as she outstretched her arm to ring the doorbell, the door opened up and there was Paige, looking as hot as ever wearing a skin tight grey tank top and sweatpants that were rolled once at her hip, exposing the tiniest bit of her stomach.

Emily swallowed hard.

Damn.

Was all Emily could think.