Shane's House, Two Days After Christmas, 8:35 PM….
To say that a pretty eventful Christmas Day took place would be a massive understatement. During the festivities, the Alexa dilemma was pretty much ignored by the teens, as they decided not to let that whole mess rain on their parade. Well, Shane attempted to ignore it, but it kept smacking him in the back of the head every chance it got. Nonetheless, fun times were had. The remainder of the presents were unwrapped of course, with everyone being pleased with what they received. Surprisingly, the person responsible for the most sentimental gift was Paige, who came through with an old picture of her and Shane printed out and framed. The frame was black and purple with the words, "The Brit and her Yank" seen on the bottom. That picture immediately found itself on Price's desk in his room.
"You can use my face as motivation when you're feeling… down." She told him with a cheeky grin.
Price and the girls laughed, with him telling her to behave once again. Eventually, Lita and Kevin made their return, which marked the end of the Squad's stay in the Price household. By the time the patriarch of the Price family had come back from dropping off the girls, he was too exhausted to even speak to his son and his friend. Despite them wanting to know what he and Lita had gotten up to during the day, they backed off and let the man rest. Fast forward to the present moment, and it was once again time for the Elder to head to to his place of employment. Paige and Shane were sitting on the edge of the blowup mattress in the living room while casually looking at some show on television when he was about to exit.
"Alright, kids. Big man's off to work. Something, something, don't burn my damn house down…. God, I don't wanna be in that hot ass club tonight." Big Kev vented.
"I can't see how being in a hot place is bad though. It's freezing outside." Shane pointed out.
"Right, but I also don't feel like dealing with a bunch of drunk jerkoffs only a couple days after friggin' Christmas. Talk about the highest of highs to the lowest of lows."
Paige raised an eyebrow at his comments.
"Sounds like someone had a great 25th. Do tell, what were you and Ruby's mum up to anyway?" She prodded.
"Oh we had a great time participating in this one activity called none of your goddamn business." Kev answered defensively.
Knight threw her hands up with a smirk.
"Just inquiring, no need for the hostility."
Price nudged her in the shoulder.
"Just drop it for now. Don't make him even more annoyed than he already is."
"Oh my god, you're so boooring sometimes."
"I gotta live with him for years to come, you're leaving in two weeks. If not making my life harder for the sake of some laughs makes me boring, then so be it."
Big Kev nodded.
"I knew I raised a smart kid. Okay, bye."
And now, the two friends were all alone.
"So, in about 20 minutes, we're goin' to Alexa's house." Paige said nonchalantly.
Price's eyes damn near flew out of his head.
"Who the f- When did I agree to doing that?!"
"You didn't, but we are. I came here to have a good time with you people, and I can't do that with you moping around and her acting like a bitch. Therefore, we're solving this as soon as possible."
"Midnight, Midnight, think for a second. We can't just randomly show up at her front door."
"Why bloody not? You're scared?"
"Yes! I know the girl pretty damn well! If she sees my face this soon after what went down, she might fuck around and castrate me on the spot!" Price exclaimed.
"Oh now you're just being ridiculous." She responded rolling her eyes.
"I might be, but you get my point. Plus… I can't- I can't bring myself to face her right now. I need a little time. Again, I don't even know if we're still a couple. Doesn't feel like it."
Paige saw the tears coming, so she immediately took action and embraced him. She spoke mid hug.
"Love, love it's okay. Maybe I'm being a little overzealous. But just think about it. The longer you leave this unattended, the more uncertain things will seem. Then what? You're gonna stress yourself out, your dad's gonna notice, and then when he finds out everything that happened that night, he's going to kill you."
"What? Why would he?" Shane asked confused.
"So not even 2 hours after he trusts his son and his teenage friends to just have fun in his house without supervision, his son's girlfriend nearly fights like 3 people, while his son walks out in the freezing cold to God knows where. You think that wouldn't slightly annoy him?" Paige said, laying everything out.
"Shit, that would do more than annoy him I think."
"Exactly, so if not tonight, when?"
Price thought for a while with a furrowed brow, before producing the answer he was looking for.
"I need at least a few more days. Not because I'm stalling, but I need to to take care of something before I do this."
"Take care of what?"
"The Liv part of the whole thing. We can't properly resolve this if we don't settle the issue between her and Alexa."
"Fair point. So, how do you plan on making that happen?"
"Triangle method." He simply replied.
"Triangle huh? The hell is that?"
"Remember what I did to sort out the mess I made between Alexa, Bayley and me? I'm going to try and find a way to get Liv and Alexa in the same room as me so we can talk." He explained.
"A bit easier said than done innit?" Paige asked, voice laced with skepticism.
"No, I know this isn't gonna be a walk in the park, but I can't think of a better way. It's all I got."
With a less than confident expression plastered on her face, Knight asked her friend to thoroughly explain what he planned on doing.
"I'm gonna text Liv, right? I'll ask her to meet me downtown for a little get together. You can come along if you want."
"Oh, I'm definitely coming. You think you can just leave me alone in the house all day with your sleeping bear of a dad? I heard him snore through the walls this morning."
Price chuckled at her impromptu complaint about his father.
"Trust me, I know all about that. Anyways, the three of us will hang out, and at some point, I bring up the incident. I know it'll kill the whole mood and I'm dreading it. Still, it has to be done."
The pale girl nodded and motioned for Shane to continue.
"Okay, so I bring it up, and then I ask her if she'd be willing to sit with me and Alexa to try and squash the beef, and correct any misunderstandings that may have occurred between the two of them. If she says yes, great-"
"And if she says no?" Knight asked.
Shane sighed.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But, if she says yes, then the first part is complete. Just like last time though, the hardest is yet to come."
"Heh, that's what she said."
"Midnight, I will throw you."
"I'd like to see you try. Remember, I bite."
The Irish boy narrowed his eyes at her before moving on.
"Getting Alexa on board with this is obviously the main objective, but I don't know… Damn it, I don't know how I'm gonna get her to hear me out this time. The look in her eyes was different. I haven't seen that much hate from her since I first got here. At this point, I think it comes down to this. If she decides that she wants to help fix this, then cool. That's exactly what I want, I love her more than just about anything else in the world. But, if not… then I guess we're done for good."
Paige wanted to say something to the effect of, "No way you two are done", but she knew there was actually a chance of that being the case. Instead of saying anything, she just grabbed his hand and held it, signifying her full support. Knowing what she meant, he smiled.
"You really do love me, huh?"
"If ya couldn't tell that by now, you really are just a stupid Yank. Now, you have two choices. Either go to your room and sleep, or stay out here with me and watch 64 Zoo Lane until we pass out on this cheap blowup mattress."
Price couldn't help but question her choice in entertainment.
"64 Zoo Lane? What are we, 5?"
"It's my comfort show, shut it. Now what's it gonna be, Price boy?"
"Fine, I'll stay out here with you. You're not hogging the entire blanket though." Shane begrudgingly agreed.
With the plans set and the day coming to an end, Shane and Paige laid there and watched hours of the beloved British children's show until they both knocked out. Even with all the turmoil going on around him, it turns out that still after all this time, sometimes all he needs to calm down is his Midnight.
AN: Quick little Paige and Shane filler chapter. I figured I owed you guys more than one update every six months, so here ya go. As always, leave as many reviews as you want. Any suggestions for how the story will play out will be considered. See y'all in the next chapter.