Wow--Paily
Ever since she had been a little girl, Paige had dreamed of competing in the Olympics. As far back as she could remember, every two years she and her mother would watch the competition together. She’d stare at the television in awe as figure skaters and skiers, gymnasts and runners all put their bodies to the limit. Her favorite event, however, had always been the swimming. She’d been fascinated by the way their bodies glided through the water, and secretly thought they were more fish than human.
So, as soon as she’d been old enough, she’d asked her parents if she could enroll in swimming lessons. From the moment she dipped her toes in the water, the pool became her second home. On land, she was awkward, uncoordinated, unpopular Paige McCullers. But in the pool, she was graceful, fast, and elegant. In the pool, she could forget who she was. The only thing that existed was her, her and the water. And the only thing that mattered was being the best.
And she was the best. For most of her swimming career, Paige was the best. Emily had been better than her, at least for a while, but she was used to dominating in the pool. It was where she was most herself. And in college, her Olympic dreams were almost realized. She was so close she could taste it. Her dream was going to become a reality.
Until a semi-truck plowed into her car. One minute, she’d been driving home from practice, and the next minute she was opening her eyes in a hospital room. She hadn’t been seriously injured—thank God—except for one small injury. Her knee.
Two surgeries and six months of physical therapy later, and she’d regained approximately eighty percent of the movement in her knee. Unfortunately, it was that remaining twenty percent that was going to take her to the Olympics. She’d met with a number of coaches, who only months previously had been fighting over her, and they all refused to take her on as a client. They said she’d never be able to compete again.
Paige was reminded of the time in high school when she’d arranged for Emily to meet with a trainer, only for her to end up infuriated with Paige for ever getting her hopes up. She hadn’t been able to understand it at the time. Hope, she’d thought. She was giving Emily hope. But maybe Spencer Hastings had always been right. Maybe hope really was eternal misery.
“Paige? Are you ready to go?” Emily asked, startling Paige out of her thoughts. Paige sighed and stood up.
“Yeah. You don’t have to come with me, you know,” she said. Emily shrugged. She knew Paige wouldn’t mind if she stayed home while she went to rehab. Sometimes, in fact, she thought Paige might prefer it. But she liked driving Paige to and from the small center. It made her feel included in Paige’s life, which was something she hadn’t felt since the accident.
The drive there was silent, as usual. Paige always got moody when it was time for her physical therapy. She’d been furious when they’d decreased it from four days a week to two days a week. But her trainer had insisted that she was pushing herself too far, and it wasn’t going to do her any well if she ran herself into the ground.
“Hey, I was thinking I’d come in today,” Emily said nonchalantly. Paige frowned. At her insistence, Emily hadn’t come in since the first day.
“Why? There’s no need,” she said. Emily shrugged, and got out of the car.
“I just thought I would,” she said. Before Paige could argue with her, Emily was inside the building. Paige sighed, and followed her girlfriend.
“Emily, where are you going?” Paige asked when she turned down the wrong hall. While she tried to keep Emily from coming to therapy with her, she knew the other woman knew where it was.
“Paige! We’re trying something new today,” Lena said. Lena was a small redheaded woman who had been working with Paige since she’d gotten out of the hospital.
“What? Something new?” Paige asked, confused. Lena nodded.
“It was Emily’s idea, actually. Emily?” She turned to the other woman. Emily took a deep breath, steeling herself for possible angry protests.
“You’re getting in the pool today,” she said. Paige’s eyes widened.
“What?” she asked. Emily nodded.
“I told Lena I thought it would be good for you to get in the pool again. You still might not get back that twenty percent, or be able to swim professionally, but I thought you might enjoy it,” she explained.
“Wow,” Paige said softly. Emily raised an eyebrow.
“Is that a good wow or a bad wow?” she asked. Paige seemed to consider the question for a moment. On one hand, this felt like a terrible idea. If she got into that pool, all of her old dreams would come rushing back, dreams she’d already given up on. But if she refused to step into the pool, would she ever be able to forgive herself? She might even be able to enjoy swimming again, just for fun.
“You have to swim for yourself,” Paige said softly, an old memory coming to mind. Emily furrowed her eyebrows.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“You have to swim for yourself. That’s what you told me, back in high school. When I said that I didn’t even like swimming anymore, you told me I had to swim for myself and forget everyone else,” Paige said. A small smile began to form on Emily’s face as she remembered back to the night she’d said those words.
“So it’s a good wow?” she asked hopefully. Paige nodded, smiling as well. She might not ever make it to the Olympics. She might not be able to be a professional swimmer. But that didn’t mean the pool couldn’t be her second home. It didn’t mean she couldn’t love swimming again.
“It’s a good wow.”