"Can I buy you lunch?"

Emily bit her lip with a smile as she thought back to the last DM that she received from Paige the night before.

It wasn't a date. Emily would have been fooling herself if she pretended that it was. She was doing a favor for her old friend – taking her around to her firm's main office in Philadelphia and introducing her to some of the senior partners. It was a pretty big favor; Emily would have to commute into the city instead of working out of the Rosewood office, as she normally did, but it wasn't anything that she wouldn't have done for any other of her friends. And by offering to buy her lunch afterwards, Paige was just returning the favor. Common courtesy. It was as simple as that.

Not a date. Just a thank-you lunch. Still, Emily had been stunned and delighted when she read the DM. And, almost a day later, her heart was still aflutter with nervous anticipation.

She knew exactly where she wanted to take Paige for lunch. There was a popular, hip restaurant in walking distance from the office. She used to love going there, when she was younger and still excited about living working in the city – before adulthood happened and she transferred to the suburban office in Rosewood. As she got ready for work that morning, she pictured herself walking to the restaurant with Paige and reminiscing about the old times. In her mind's eye, they were holding hands; not looking at each other, but unable to stop smiling over the fact that they were holding hands.

She flushed that image from her mind immediately. It wasn't a date. She would never do that to Abby. She would never even consider it. And, of course, she had told Abby that Paige was flying into Philly and that she was going to introduce her to the partners. Abby knew all about Paige; how she and Emily had grown up together in Rosewood, how, after a rocky start, they ended up dating, how that came to an abrupt end when Paige's parents shipped her off to Stanford, and how each of them moved on from their relationship but still retained their friendship. She wasn't doing anything behind Abby's back; in fact, she had even asked Abby to join them for lunch, even though she was sure that Abby wouldn't be able to get the day off of work.

But the point was that she and Paige weren't sneaking around. They were meeting in a very public place, not some shady, secret rendezvous. Then again, they were meeting in Philadelphia, where no one knew them, and anyone who happened to catch them holding hands as they leaned across the table for a kiss would just assume that they were together; two women in love with no reason to hide their feelings for each other.

Emily and Paige had always been good at hiding their feelings. Feelings were the reason that Paige bullied Emily in their early days as teammates. They were also the reason that Emily never admitted to Paige that she had only chosen Pepperdine so that they could, at least, be in the same state. (Admitting it seemed foolish after Paige greeted the news with, "Why the hell would you go to Pepperdine?" Shortly after that, Emily quietly transferred to Danby and tried to move on with her life.)

Emily tiptoed past the bed where Abby still lay sleeping and ambled over to the closet, opening its sliding door open quietly as she could. She pulled out her best suit and looked it over in the dim light before laying it on the bed. There was nothing suspicious about wearing her best suit. She wasn't dressing up for Paige. It was just that the Philadelphia office wasn't as casual as the office in Rosewood. She would have looked out of place in the loose-fitting black pants and oversized top that made up her typical work outfits. Still, it didn't hurt that the suit was tailored to accentuate her curves, while hiding the effects of too many nights spent drinking away her feelings – or crying to herself in front of a cheesy romance movie and a tub of butter pecan ice cream.

In her imagination, Paige looked exactly the same as she did back in high school. She knew better than that, of course. She had Paige's Instagram posts to prove it. But in her mind, time had stood still for both of them. Time at least owed them that much.

Emily didn't ordinarily wash her hair on Monday nights, the way she did after she got Paige's DM. If she were honest with herself, she'd admit that she was trying to recreate a mood. Back in their days in Rosewood, Emily always washed out her hair on Fridays, at the end of a week of practice. Since Fridays were usually their date nights, there was the extra benefit of having fresh-smelling hair for Paige. Paige used to love to take deep breaths of the scent from Emily's hair when they cuddled on the porch at the end of the evening.

But this time, it wasn't about romance or seduction. It was purely nostalgia.

Emily let out a sigh as she wrestled her way into a bra that was becoming too tight on her. It seemed that everything in her life was too small; too constricting. Deep down, she had always clung to the belief that Paige would save her; that Paige would always have her back, the that way she always did in competition. If Emily was having an off day or was a little slow off of the blocks, she could count on Paige, skimming through the water like a woman possessed. Or when Emily got disillusioned or bored with her latest romance, she would find herself stooping down to pick up a book that had fallen from her locker when, all of a sudden, a pair of feet would appear before her as if by magic, and she would look up to see Paige's face, backlit and glowing, with a smile that looked angelic.

Emily scoffed to herself. It had been ten years – ten years – and she still hadn't let go of that dream. She sat on the bed to pull on her shoes, and Abby stirred, then rustled, trying to get comfortable again. Emily rubbed her leg, to help her settle down. What she had with Abby was comfortable, like an old pair of shoes. There was no longer that thrill that you get when the shoes are new, and they had grown scuffed and worn with use, but they adapted to her feet. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Is it cheating to window shop for shoes when there are still a lot of years left in the pair that you're wearing? The pair that you used to get so excited to put on?

Emily kissed Abby good-bye and they exchanged the obligatory I-love-yous that couples who have been together for a certain length of time can say without thinking. She grabbed her purse and keys and headed out to face her future.

There was no going back.

A/N - Thanks for reading! :'( 3