Then There Were Two

Laura's pulse was going crazy. That had been risky calling Audrey out like that. She probably could have just left Paige to be eliminated and safely claimed second place. It had payed off though. She was poised to take first. There was no way Paige could beat her.

The other girl looked terrified. Laura did feel bad for her. She'd done well though. Really well. She was going to come in second. Laura was going to win this though.

Paige started the round. "I visited Salem on Halloween once. My parents wouldn't have approved so I went without telling them. It was fun."

She was playing it safe. Made sense. Laura should just kick it back to her, see where she went with it. "I broke my arm in three places once."

Paige toyed with her ponytail. "I still cry at the end of Titanic."

Plausible. The girl seemed sensitive. Alright then, time to turn up the heat. Laura wasn't going to give her another easy turn.

"I have a favorite strap-on. I call her Mrs. Longfellow. She's purple."

Paige looked scared. Laura had her on the ropes. She could see the gears turning in Paige's head. Violet let her think. This was the last round, she must want it to be good.

Eventually Paige settled on something to say. "I, um...I have...fantasies...about..." The poor girl was blushing so hard that Laura worried she'd burst a blood vessel. "...big penises."

Paige **** the last two words out then stared directly at her feet.

She'd had a hard time with that one. It could have been because it was an embarrassing secret, or it could have been because she was making it up. Laura narrowed her eyes and tried to decide which it was.

Calling bullshit was probably too risky. If Paige had just told the truth then Laura would be eliminated. If she'd lied though then she was out of things to say. Laura could just continue to play the game and whatever Paige said next would be even easier to call out.

Laura would share one final truth then. "Sometimes, if my girlfriend is into it, while I'm going down on her I like to go a little...lower."

That wasn't exactly something Laura wanted people to know about her. She hadn't enjoyed sharing it. It was worth it though. Probably. Yeah, definitely worth it. First place was as good as hers now.

Paige looked terrified. She glanced around desperately, but there was no getting out of this. She had to speak.

After a long silence Violet gave her some prodding. "Paige, you have to share something."

"I know, I know."

"Now Paige," Violet said.

"I'm thinking."

"You've thought long enough, just share whatever is on your mind."

Paige bit her lip. "I was into Trevor before I was into Riley."

Laura didn't believe her for a second.

"Bullshit."

***

Paige was walking across the crowded room when she saw him. Dark hair, chiseled jaw, tall, and, if her friend was right, smart too. She'd asked about him after the last party she'd seen him at. Trevor, his name was. She'd tried getting his attention last time but he hadn't seemed to notice. This time she was going to at least get a conversation with him.

He was leaning against the wall, talking to a red-headed guy. She'd seen them together before. They were probably friends. As she started walking over to introduce herself Trevor said something to his friend then walked away down the hall.

She was going to circle around to try again later, but the red-headed boy had already seen her. It would be rude to just swerve away from him, so Paige finished walking over.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Paige."

"Riley," he said. "Nice to meet you. Are you one of Jessica's friends?"

"Yeah. Well, I'm friends with her sister. You?"

"I don't know her that well, but my friend does."

"The guy you were talking to?" Paige asked, perking up.

"Yeah, Trevor."

"Where'd he go?" she asked.

"Oh, he's calling it an early night."

"It's not that late."

"I don't think he's up for socializing. He's been having a hard time of it. He broke up with his girlfriend recently."

So good news then that he was single, but bad news that he might not be ready to jump into something new. Paige adjusted her bangs. She'd missed him again.

"So...what do you do?" the red-head, Riley, asked her.

He was having a hard time maintaining eye contact. "I'm just finishing up my senior year," she replied, somewhat distracted. Maybe she could get Jessica to throw another party next weekend. If Trevor had been to the last two he'd be to the next one too, right?

"Oh, you're still in school. Cool. What are you studying?"

"English," she told him. Oh. Wait. This was Trevor's friend. If she became his friend too then maybe he could introduce them. "What about you?"

"I graduated a few years ago. I'm a data scientist."

"That sounds fun, whats that like?"

The boy smiled but still wouldn't look her in the eyes. He seemed almost nervous.

"It's nothing special. We mostly just play around with numbers. Models. That kind of thing."

"Is that how you met Trevor?"

"Hm? No, Trevor and I have been friends since high school. I um, like your hair by the way."

"Thanks."

"Do you do anything special?"

"Special?"

"Like...conditioner or something?"

Did he play for the other team? Paige was still a little uncomfortable around gay people. She was working on it though, she'd come a long way since leaving for college. She **** the feeling down; she was better than that.

"Not really," she said. "I mean I use conditioner but nothing special."

"Oh. Well, it's really pretty."

"Thanks." If Trevor wasn't coming back then there wasn't much point to this. She might as well get back to her friends. Still, it was probably worth staying in touch with the guy if he was Trevor's friend.

"I've got to get back," she told him, "but do you mind if I give you my number? The next time you guys are hanging out you should give me a call."

"Yeah, of course! Definitely. For sure."

He handed her his phone and Paige keyed in her number. This was way more forward than she was used to being, but things hadn't exactly been going well for her on the dating front since her and Joshua broke up.

"Let me know if you guys have anything going on," she said, then went to go find her friends.

***

Riley had called her three days later asking if she'd want to go see a movie and grab some dinner afterwards. When she'd asked who else was going he'd offered to invite Trevor. It was perfect.

As she walked up to the movie theater though she saw Riley standing there alone.

"Hey!" he greeted her.

"Hey. Where's Trevor? Grabbing the tickets?"

"He uh...he couldn't make it."

"Oh." She'd spent so long getting ready and now it was pointless.

"Yeah. He's had a rough go of it since him and his ex split up. He's still a little bit of a shut in these days."

"Is it ok if I ask what happened?"

Riley looked uncertain, but he answered her. "She cheated on him. To be honest she wasn't great for him before that either. The whole thing was just messy."

"That's awful."

"Yeah, it really tore him up. I can't imagine what he's going through."

"It's...not easy." She did her best to keep a grip on her emotions.

"That's happened to you then?" His eyes immediately shot open. "Oh, god, sorry. That was a really rude question. I didn't mean to pry."

Paige sighed. "No, it's fine. His name was Joshua. We were high school sweet hearts, and we tried to do long distance when we went to different colleges. The plan was to get married after we graduated. Turns out he couldn't wait that long."

"He sounds like an idiot."

Paige let out a little laugh. "I don't want to be mean."

"Well, it's his loss. You can definitely do better."

"Thanks. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"Oh. No." He glanced to the side. "I'm mostly just focusing on my career right now."

"You'll find someone, I'm sure. You seem like a real catch."

"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled.

"Really. You're smart, you're cute, any girl would be lucky to have you."

"We...should probably buy the tickets," he said.

She nodded and they began walking over to the ticket booth.

"You look nice, by the way," Riley said, his voice deeply sincere.

That was when Paige realized she was on a date. Her pulse quickened as she worked through the realization.

Of course she was on a date. Riley had been interested in her since the first time they talked at the party. How had she missed that? She felt so stupid.

And she'd asked him to invite Trevor along! She was mortified and hoped desperately that Riley couldn't tell.

Somehow they made it to their seats without her embarrassing herself further. She had no idea how the movie started. She was too distracted.

Was she interested in Riley? She'd meant what she'd told him earlier. He was cute. He seemed sweet too. It could be worth trying out. Especially since it sounded like Trevor wasn't emotionally available. Riley wouldn't be a bad consolation prize.

Stop it, she told herself. Don't think about him that way.

She'd probably hurt Riley's feelings. She owed it to him to at least see if there was something there. It wouldn't cost her anything.

After the movie Riley tried to make an excuse to go home early but Paige insisted on dinner. And it went well.

***

Wait, Paige thought. No. That wasn't right. She'd gone over to Riley at that party because she was interested in him, not in Trevor. She'd been excited for their first date at the movies, not hoping to spend it with Trevor. Riley had never been her consolation prize.

She tried to hold on to those memories, but it was difficult to think of them as real. They never quite came into focus as clearly as her new history. The truth was that she'd only met Riley because she'd wanted to meet Trevor. He had been an accident. An accident that she'd fallen in love with anyways, but an accident nonetheless.

No! She loved Riley. He was her world. She wouldn't let this show take that away from her. She wouldn't!

She looked up at Riley who was staring at her in shock. She was crying now. She wished she could take her words back more than anything she'd ever wanted in her life. It had just been the first thing she could think to say that passed whatever intuitive test Violet had put in her head. She hadn't meant...

She looked away. She couldn't bear to look at Riley. Not now. Not after what she'd done. And she didn't dare to look at Trevor. So she stared at her feet as she did her best to hide her gentle sobbing.