"Hey, I'm leaving set now. Do you want to start heading over to the apartment?"
"Yeah of course, do you want me to stop and get anything on the way?" Cass asked.
"How about some popcorn and chocolate and whatever else you're in the mood for, I'm in a junk food mood right now."
"Did something happen at work?" She sounded worried, I'm glad that we're trying to patch things up.
"Not really at work, but don't worry Cass. I'll fill you in once you get here."
"You're home already? Wow that was quick Paige."
"Well I kind of called you, like 5 minutes after I left and surprisingly there wasn't that much traffic today. I'm not exactly home yet either but I should be there any minute now."
"Well damn! I'll hurry my ass up then. See you soon! Bye!"
As soon as I walked into my apartment I went straight to my bedroom to change. Changing into my favourite pair of sweats and the comfiest sweater I own I feel a lot more comfortable and free. My stylist has been sending over clothes for me to wear, they're all so beautiful and nothing I could afford before getting this role. I reach out and grab the closest item to me, it's this beautiful black maxi dress that has gold little specks of glitter that are hardly noticeable unless the light hits it at the right angle. The neck line plunges down to just above where my cleavage would end, and the straps wrap around your shoulders in a thin spaghetti strap. The back of the dress has no back, it's open all the way down to the small of my back. The clothes are screaming at me to try them on, and as I'm about to Cassie clears her throat in the doorway, making me jump and turn around quickly.
"That has to be the beautiful dress I've ever seen."
"Funny you say that, I was literally just saying that in my head before you creeped up on me." I giggled, "If I wasn't admiring this dress, I probably would have screamed when you cleared your throat!"
She laughed starting to walk up to me from across the room to hug me, "I'm sorry." Glancing around the room she notices all the other clothes. Brushing her finger tips a long the clothes she asks breathless, "Where did you get all these? They're so beautiful..."
"Uh.. My stylist keeps sending over clothes for me to wear but, as you can see, half of them aren't really made for every day wear. Like this one, where would I wear this?" holding up the black maxi dress I was admiring. "Its more to make a statement, no?"
"Paige.. Come on! You have a body that most girls only dream of having." Snatching the dress out of my hands to hold it up against my body she says, "This dress is breath taking, and will hug your curves in all the right places. Go try it on and let me see you in it."
"Cas-" I try to cut in.
"Don't Cass me Paige. You're trying it on, and everything else they sent you." She motioned to the rack of clothes "Besides, these seem like pieces you'd wear to events or like.. cast interviews." Picking some of the clothes up looking them over and moving onto the next piece, "Or just places where there will be a lot of paparazzi. They just want you to look good for when they take your pictures." She finished off with a shrug.
I smirked, "What would I do without you?" She glances towards me, sticks her tongue out. "So why don't you pick out the pieces you think stand out to you the most first, and I'll try those on." Walking over to shield myself with my closet door while I change into the dress, I sigh as I continue to voice my thoughts. "Whatever doesn't look good or fit right on me, you can have if you like. But I need your honest opinion, you have to tell me-"
"Just get the dress on and let me see it, I want to see how good it looks!" she squeals as I pull the last strap over my shoulder and set out in clear view so she can get a good look. Looking down to adjust the way the dress falls over my chest I see her turn around. I froze at her facial expression.
Her mouth was open as she walks towards me, she's breathless as she says, "Paige.. holy shit." Once she reaches me she reaches out to my waist and pulls the fabric that was folded over to reveal a slit that goes to mid thigh right in the front of the dress. She gasped, "You look so beautiful.. and the way the slit exposes your gorgeous legs you'll.." She looks up at my face and moves my hair, and I couldn't stop the smile that spreads across my face. "You'll look like a goddess on the carpet or anywhere wearing that dress."
Blushing I glance at the floor and say, "You.. You really think so?"
"See for yourself, you really do look amazing Paige."
Walking over to the full length mirror I looked myself over. Cassie was right, this dress is beautiful, and the way it hugs my body is perfect. Not too tight, and not too loose. I loved it. I wanted to see the way it moved while I walked so I took a few steps back and walked toward the mirror. The dress moved around my body slightly exposing the right amount of leg from the slit in the dress. Placing my hand on my hip and the other lightly on the opposite thigh of the slit, sticking my leg slightly out of it trying to pose as if someone were taking my picture.
Cassie stifled a laugh from behind me, "What are you doing?
"I'm pretending I'm on the red carpet or something and people are taking my picture, to see how I'd look." I laughed, "I know it sounds silly Cass, but I don't even know if I feel comfortable around that many cameras.. Everyone will see if I look like a fool."
"Don't worry, you look great girl." She smiled as she picked up an outfit handing it to me, "Now go try this on, its the next best thing.. I think."
I had tried on a few more dresses and outfits only finding one that I didn't like, my stylist knew my taste and how everything would look. Props to her. Cassie ended up liking the outfit and taking it. We were having such a good time laughing and reminiscing that it felt like it always was, things were different I couldn't deny that, but it still felt good to have her here with me. We were down to the last dress, it was an all white maxi dress that went up to your neck like a choker. It was shaped similar to an hour glass and I doubted that it would look good on me. The back was such a beautiful lace pattern with diamonds embedded into it. Cassie glanced over at me and I could tell that she loved this dress as much as I do.
"Okay, why don't you pick your jaw off the floor while I go try this on, yeah?"
I wasn't going to waste any time with putting the dress on I was way too excited to see what it looked like, "Cass, I'm going to need your help in a sec. I can't reach the clip that holds the choker in place."
I stepped into sight holding the back of my neck while I shimmied the rest of the dress into place. Cassie just gasped and put her hands over her mouth while staring at me. She moved behind me as I moved my hands placing them on my thighs. Looking myself over my mouth fell open when I turned around to see the lace pattern, "Holy shit Cass, I think I'm in love."
So entranced by the dress neither of us heard the front door open or close. "Paige, that is THE dress you're going to wear to your next event. This or that first black dress with the slit. Holy shit man." she squealed. "I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my best friend plays my favourite character in the movie. It's just so surreal!"
I couldn't help but smile at hearing that, it means we've made some progress to move pass the tension between us.
"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that Cassie. I've been feeling so guilty since our fight the other day, and I feel as if we're drifting apart." Tears started to form in my eyes and I quickly try to wipe them before they fall, "Rainer keeps saying that things are going to change... that nothing will be the same. And I don't want to believe him Cassie, I really don't. But I feel it already happening."
"Oh Paige.." she comes and grabs me to pull me into a hug, "You don't understand.." pulling back to look at my face, "I was jealous that you got the part and not me. I was mad at you for it. But its not your fault that they liked you better than they liked me." Her eyes started to tear up, "I shouldn't blame you for something that neither of us can control and let it ruin our friendship. I'll still be mad about it, I'm not going to lie about that." We both laughed and I pulled her in for another hug.
"Okay okay enough. That's too much emotion for me right now, let's go watch Gilmore Girls." I winked to her and she laughed as she wiped the last of her tears.
"Hey Paige.." Jake says as he opens my bedroom door. He stopped abruptly once the door was opened and his eyes met mine, the rest of his sentence never leaving his mouth.
His eyes trailed all over my body starting with my face and ending with a glance in the mirror behind me, I wouldn't know if he was looking at the detail of the lace or my ass. I wouldn't try and figure it out because I was distracted by the way his eyes looked as if he was trying to memorize the way I looked.
I cleared my throat, "Is there something you wanted to say Jake?"
He looked at Cassie as if to say things are going to get rough, you should leave. "Yeah, I think-"
"You think what Jake? You think that it's time to talk about what you did, right?" I glared at him, I didn't need to talk about this right now.
"Yeah I was hoping we could. I need to leave soon to go back to Texas-"
"Then spit it out Jake, say what you need to say."
"I'm just gonna...." Cassie turns on her heel and out the door.
"You know when we kissed.." I scoffed , he looked up at me and tried to move closer and I only stepped back.
"Yes. I remember that day. We never got to talk about it because you decided what I needed for me!" I yelled, "Best part of that Jake is, you went and made your move on Alexis, didn't you?" I was getting angrier by the minute. So I was going to let it out no holding back.
"I wanted you Jake. I wanted you so bad.. For a while that's all I ever wanted was you and me. But you-" he crashed his lips into mine, his hands grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him, I let him kiss me. I wanted to know what it was like to kiss Jake. His hand slowly make its way up to the back of my neck, taking my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling it. I tried to focus on his lips on mine but my anger was a constant reminder of what he did.
I push at his chest and glare at him, "You have no right to play these games with my head Jake!" I push at his chest again as tears start to well up in my eyes angrily I wipe them away, "You think of me as a fool don't you? Don't show up for my birthday to go fuck Alexis? Make a script about your so called love for me? But you.. You never took it seriously until Rainer came into the picture!" I'm yelling at him, getting angrier by the second. "I didn't even want Rainer at the beginning-"
"So you're saying you want... him?"
"Is that all you're fucking getting out of what I just said?"
"No.. but you said you didn't want him in the beginning, so that's almost like saying you want him..."
"How are you that clueless Jake? I mean seriously? You pick my freaking panel to confess your love world wide?! Did you think the world needed to know that you loved me? You pack up and leave not once thinking of me or how it would effect me." Picking at my nails I confessed, "I still want you .. sort of. But now.. now Jake. I don't know anymore. It wasn't right for you to do that to me. I mean sure it was romantic in a way, but this is my fucking career Jake!"
"Paige you have to understand.." picking up my discarded sweater and sweats from earlier and going behind the closet door, "I wasn't sure if you wanted to be with me, I want you Paige I always have. But when you panicked that you couldn't do this.. The whole August thing. I freaked out too. I thought it would be better to stay friends. Paige-"
"Good. Then let's keep it that way for now." He looked at me eyes filled with hurt, "You said it yourself Jake. You have to go back to Texas to do this job and I think it will be good for you." I walked up to him and caressed his face, "I'll always want you Jake, but for now, while I try to figure things out. You have things you need to figure out too, so.. We should stay friends."
He's looking at my lips and I know what he's thinking of doing so I do it for him. I lean up and gently kiss him, he sighs into my lips and grabs my face. He kisses me with such sudden force that it's hard not to meet his lips with equal amount, so I bite his lip. He groans and hoists me up onto the dresser, now standing between my legs trailing kisses from my jaw to my neck while I play with his hair. Once his lips finally return to mine, it's one last soft kiss.
Slowly we pull away from each other, "Paige you know I want you, but if that's what you want.."
"It is Jake. It's the best thing for both of us right now. We wait." he kisses my forehead and leaves with one last glance of me.
I try to smile, but I know things will be different. He's going to change in the time he's gone, and so will I. Its bound to happen, one way or another so why not accept it now while its not too late.
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HOLY SHIT. That was the longest chapter I've ever written. I'm hoping you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you did. Positive feedback is the best feedback! Please vote and share with your friends. :)
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