Little Miss Perfect - Kelly Aldrich

5

Paige woke up in the morning, her hand shooting to her forehead, as a pounding sensation went off. She sat up too quickly as she winced, her hand shooting to her mouth as she tried to keep the contents in her stomach down, which she did successfully do. She sat on the side of the bed looking down at the floorboards trying to focus her eyes as her vision kept getting blurry and clear. Hangovers usually didn't hit Paige so hard, but she did drink a lot last night. Now that Paige was thinking about it, she had no idea how she got home to Kelly's place and how she managed to keep Kelly from falling flat on her face. She stood herself up as she threw on a hoodie Kelly had given her, as she left the room and made her way down the hall to the bathroom. She grabbed the face cloth sitting on the table as she soaked it with cold water and the second it hit her face, a groan escaped from her lips. "Oh fuck." She whispered as she dried her face and felt a wave rush through her. Once she felt like she was able to leave the room, she made her way downstairs only to freeze slightly in the doorway: Kelly in the kitchen, making breakfast. "Morning." Kelly said. She walked over to the sink as she grabbed something, she turned and placed a glass of water along with a hangover pill on the counter. "Looks like you could use it." She said, before going back to the pan on the stove. "Thanks." Paige muttered as she took the pill and downed the water quickly. "Want some breakfast. I made eggs and toast?" "Umm...I guess." Paige sat down at the island as Kelly put a plate of food in front of her before Kelly sat on the opposite side of the table. The girls sat in silence as they ate the food and as much as Paige didn't want to admit it, the food was good. Real good. "You're really good at cooking Kelly." "Just something my mom wanted me to be good at. I guess she had this whole idea of me being a housewife. A good housewife has to know how to cook." "That's not what you want to do though is it?" "I never said that. Having a family is something maybe I'd consider in the future, the far future I should be clear, but I want to go to school and be a hard working woman. I want to be a name people can know. It sounds dumb." "It's not dumb. Sounds empowering. I just never thought you'd be into stuff like that, seeing your whole life you know?" "Well you don't know everything about me Paige." "I could say the same thing about you Aldrich. You know nothing about me." "Well enlighten me then. What does Paige Benedict have planned for her life besides jail?" "As a matter of fact, I want to be a worry er. I planned to write a best selling novel that would take my family out of debt, help me get a better place for my sisters to live and ultimately, I'd pay back everything I owe to Mary." "Mary?" "I owe so much to her. She gave up everything ever since our parents died. You know she could've just said no and gone on in her life, Jody and I would've been bounced around in the system until I aged out and would've ended up on the streets. Jody probably would've died or her time would end sooner without an income for the hospital bills or a steady environment for her to live in. But instead, she dropped out of school, gave up on her own future to save ours. I will never be able to fully repay her. Becoming this accomplished writer and helping her get back on track...that would've been the beginning." Silence. "It still can be." Kelly spoke. Paige looked up at her, a sincere look was in Kelly's eyes, as Paige bit the inside of her cheek. "I wish, but until we know where everyone is and what's happening to us, I kind of have to put this whole future on the back burner. I just hope they're okay. I'd rather they be okay and let me suffer. If I could take all their pain and put it into me I would. I may be horrible, and I may never make anything easy on them, but I always want the best for them." "I'm sorry Paige. I had no idea." "Maybe it wasn't fair everything we did to one another. We never knew enough so we just judged each other before we could get the chance to really see each other." Paige stood as she put the plate in Kelly's sink, rinsing it. "Maybe. Maybe until we figure out what's going on, we try no to hate each other?" Kelly asks. Paige looks over at her and never realized how big her blue eyes were. She felt herself getting lost in them as she wanted to know more about this girl. Before, she thought this girl was an absolute menace, but now she felt like Kelly was a ghost. A spirit in which she never got to fully know. She wanted to know her, she wanted to know her dreams, she wanted to know her past, and she wanted to know her future. Suddenly the girl that Paige couldn't stand, had become the girl that she wanted to be around, always.