Stay Over-Paily
“Whose apartment is this?” Paige asked the second Emily opened the door to let her in. Emily looked surprised at the question, as if she’d been expecting Paige to ask something else.
“It’s Lucas’s. He’s out of town and he’s been letting Hanna stay here, and she’s been letting me stay here,” she explained. She sat down on the edge of the couch, and gestured for Paige to do the same.
"Thanks for coming over," Emily said quietly, deciding not to bother with more small talk. Paige sat down next to her. She’d been surprised, but pleased when Emily had called to ask her to come over.
"Of course. Em... what's going on? You sounded really upset on the phone," she said, concern lacing her voice. Emily swallowed heavily, not sure where to start. She’d told Paige that it had started again, but it was still complicated, and she didn’t know how to explain it.
"It's Noel Kahn," she said. Paige frowned, confused. She hadn’t thought about Noel Kahn in years.
"What about him?" she asked.
"He's Charlotte's brother. He's the person who's been threatening us," Emily said. Paige's frown deepened. She didn’t want to outright say Emily was wrong, but she was pretty sure she was in fact wrong.
"Em, are you sure? My mom is friends with his mom. There are pictures of them together back before we were born. They were in a one of those exercise classes for pregnant women together. Ellie Kahn was definitely pregnant around the time Noel would have been born," Paige said. Emily tilted her head in confusion.
“Damn. It just doesn't make any sense. We were so sure the baby was Noel. And we know he was in the Dollhouse," she said, rubbing her temples tiredly. Paige furrowed her eyebrows.
"How do you know that?" she asked, sensing she wouldn’t like the answer. Emily grimaced.
"We found a flash drive. Don’t ask how or where; it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what was on it. It had videos of him in the Dollhouse. He... he's the one who cut Aria's hair off. And he's the one who put blood on Spencer to make her think she hurt someone. It's all on the flash drive," she explained. Paige gasped. She knew Noel had been a dick in high school, but she never would have imagined he could have done something this bad.
"Where's the flash drive? You need to give it to the police!" Paige urged. Emily nodded, wishing the flash drive was safe in her hands instead of with Spencer.
"Yeah, I know. It’s with Spencer right now, but we can't go to the police before we talk to Hanna. She deserves to know about it," she said regretfully. Paige frowned.
"Where is she?" she asked. Emily shrugged.
"That is the question, isn't it? I'm really worried about her. She was convinced that Noel was AD. She wanted us to go to the police, but we didn't have enough evidence. Now she's disappeared and I'm worried she's doing something stupid."
"Have you tried calling her?" Paige asked. Emily gave her a look.
"Okay, dumb question. Of course you have."
Emily's phone rang, startling both women. Hope filled her chest at the thought that it could be Hanna. Her heart fell when she saw Spencer’s name instead.
"Hey Spence, what's up?" Emily asked. Paige watched as Emily's face drained of color.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" she asked. A look of horror crossed Emily's face.
"No, it's not your fault. Did you make a copy of it? It’s okay, I’m not mad. The important thing is that you're safe. Yeah, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
She put down the phone.
"What's wrong?" Paige asked when Emily didn't make a move to explain what had just happened.
"Someone broke into Spencer's house. She's okay, but they took the flash drive," Emily said numbly. She couldn’t believe this had happened. She didn’t blame Spencer, she knew she couldn’t have helped what happened, but she also couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t have happened if she’d had the flash drive. Paige's eyes widened.
"Oh my god. You should go over there and be with her. She shouldn’t be alone right now. I'll leave," Paige said, getting up.
"Stay over. Please," Emily begged, grasping Paige's hand. Paige froze.
"Spencer's fine. She’s not alone. We'll just sleep, I promise. I really don't want to be alone," Emily whispered. Paige hesitated. Emily had a girlfriend. Even if nothing happened between the two of them, Emily should have been confiding in someone else. There was someone else she should be finding comfort in. But her willpower had always been nonexistent when it came to Emily, and it appeared that was one thing that hadn't changed. The words were out of her mouth before she could give it another thought.
"Okay. I'll stay," she agreed. Emily’s face lit up, and Paige felt her butterflies flutter in her stomach.
Emily Fields was going to be the death of her.