Paige started 2003 on a good note. Working.
She was working as an assistant to the curator in the Red River Valley Museum. The same museum she and Sheldon visited all those years ago.
Paige was perfectly aware that her parents, teachers and everyone else thought that she was wasting her life, but this job made her happy. Being a child prodigy is a curse, having to bear everyone's expectations and not being able to live her life like a regular person, always having to look in and never be able to participate.
Sheldon was different from her and all other other child geniuses. He didn't need people.
She's not entirely sure why but she's still following his career closely and just as she suspected, he's a trailblazer, debunking and confirming formulas, creating theories left and right without concern for what people might think.
Sheldon left Texas and didn't look back. He did what she couldn't do.
How could he so easily abandon everything in his life? Paige wonders if she can become like him but just the thought of all those expectations makes her want to curl up and cry.
And yet, some days she wonders…what if she had stayed with him?
A memory of him spitting and retching after she kissed him comes unbidden to her. The humiliation and shame are fresh. No. She would rather be normal, Sheldon could never be with a regular person, he most likely would stay alone for the rest of his life AND be okay with it.
She's arranging a display of Quanah Parker and thinking about Sheldon when a childish voice breaks through her thoughts.
"Uncle Sheldon. Why are some so big?" A kid is in front of the flint points display.
Paige almost laughs, here she was thinking about Sheldon and someone who just happens to be named Sheldon is visiting the museum. Her mirth dies as soon as the person responds to the question.
She knows that voice, the arrogance always present. The tone of indifference makes Paige remember the tall gangly teenager she had a crush on.
The tall and wiry man that stands next to the child is handsome and Paige rages a little in her head, of course he had to grow up to be handsome as well. The familiar tingle in her belly reminds her that she hasn't gone on a date in 8 months, hasn't gotten laid in almost a year.
Of course Sheldon is not bothering to look her way, but Paige still stays hidden behind the displays. She wants to know more about the boy she once knew, or at least the boy she thought she knew. Very recently he published a paper about antimatter that got a lot of buzz and some of the people she still knew in those circles claimed it would be a breakthrough, but Paige refused to read it. She had left that part of her life behind.
Sheldon looks happy, which isn't what she expected. Didn't he know how many people looked up to him? How many expectations and hopes sat on his shoulders? He's just standing there explaining basic history to his niece?
"Wait. So people can mistake flint for fossils?"
The voice belongs to a young blond woman standing next to Sheldon. Poor girl, she's in for a surprise, Sheldon is being kind to his niece but that doesn't extend to strangers.
"Correct. You can see more about this in the next display." Sheldon points to the correct display and Paige sucks in a breath when that hand is pulled by the blond girl. Except, the blow up never comes, Sheldon allows himself to be led by the hand like some pre-schooler.
Paige is working, she shouldn't be following guests around. Tries to remove the image from her mind, but it's impossible, she needs to see more.
She follows them discreetly, it's obvious that Sheldon and the blond girl know each other, but Paige is too far away and can't listen in on them. Decides to risk it and moves closer, pretending to adjust the display next to the one they're watching.
The little girl is between Sheldon and the blond girl, holding onto their hands and the image is that of a happy family. Something ugly churns in her stomach.
"Penny, could you hogtie a Polar bear?" The little girl turns eyes full of adoration towards the blond woman. Penny.
"Of course Sweetie." Paige is close to snorting out loud but holds it in, Sheldon will not let that comment go unchallenged.
"Is that true Uncle Sheldon?" The same eyes turn to Sheldon.
"It is. Penny can do anything." Sheldon's face has never been as expressive as it is in that moment, the fond smile and bright eyes make Paige grit her teeth.
'What the hell is going on?' This can't be Sheldon Cooper.
The blond woman. Penny. Is delighted and goes up to her toes to kiss Sheldon.
And. He. Allows. It.
'What the fuck?' He not only allows it, he kisses her back like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Paige is not really paying attention to what the girls are saying. She only has eyes for Sheldon, because this is not possible, he had gagged at her kiss, not the one where she tricked him to kiss her fingers, no, the one in his college dorm.
She had been honest, and had been rejected.
It isn't until one of the tour guides asks her if she's okay that Paige moves, and she realizes that Sheldon and his group are gone. She does a basic sweep of the museum but they're no longer there. In a way it's a relief, she can go back to her life.
Can she?
Paige remembers that her phone has a number saved that she hasn't called since Sheldon left for Germany.
Missy is waiting for dinner alongside everyone else.
Jonah is actually helping her Momma in the kitchen so Missy is busy watching Shelly and Penny sitting on either side of Ceecee while she plays with her little Game Boy. They're guiding and helping her and bantering with each other, it doesn't help that Ceecee is blond like her mom, Missy has the sudden image of an older Shelly and Penny doing the exact same thing for their own blond little girl.
Life does have a sense of humor.
Missy was all for it, Penny was able to bring out a side of her brother that none of them even knew was there.
Her phone vibrates and interrupts her thinking. Checks the caller ID and grimaces a little, she had been half expecting this call when Shelly told her they were going to the Red River Valley Museum. No one notices her slipping to the backyard, she accepts the call but keeps moving all the way to Meemaw's log bench in the back, she doesn't want Shelly's freaky hearing to pick up on this call.
"Hello?"
"Hi Missy…it's Paige."
They go through the motions of small talk and pretending to care about each other's lives. Paige has never been a patient person and it doesn't take long for the actual reason for the call to come through.
"So…how's Sheldon?" Paige doesn't quite manage the casual tone.
"He's good. I'm gonna assume you're calling because you saw him at the museum with his girlfriend." Missy ain't a genius like her brother but she's not dumb and she's also not going to dance around this subject.
Paige makes a noise, it's half hum and half groan. "Yeah, I saw them…" The silence might bother other people but Missy ain't gonna help Paige with this. "How?"
"Don't know. Shelly claims it started because he helped her with Math homework and she gave him cheesecake."
Paige makes a sound over the line that Missy can't identify. "She doesn't seem like his kind."
Missy really didn't like the tone or the words. "His kind?" She deadpans.
"You know what I mean. Sheldon's not like the rest of us."
"Yeah well, sadly I know for a fact that he reproduces like the rest of us so there's that."
"Missy!"
"Paige."
"I don't know why I called. To get closure maybe." Paige really does sound exhausted and confused.
"Don't kno' what to tell you Paige. She is it."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
The line is silent and Missy has to check her phone to see that the call is still going.
"It's not fair." Paige sounds like that tween from all those years ago.
"No, it's not." Missy is not even going to pretend that she doesn't feel for Paige, at one point she seemed like the only girl that could get the best out of her brother…right before Paige spiraled into whatever the fuck she became. Missy doesn't like to think of Paige as less, but well, that's the closest she can find that fits. Paige started losing her star and Shelly left her in the dust.
"I'm sorry for calling." Paige doesn't wait for an answer and hangs up.
Missy lets out a frustrated breath. That girl ain't right. But even after all, she hopes that Paige can get her head out of her ass and start living.
"Aunt Missy! Dinner!"
"Coming!"
Missy shakes off the remnants of the conversation and moves to have dinner in a full house. There are not many days left of this and she's going to enjoy the ones she has left.