Field of Dreams: Year 1

New beginnings

Paige's POV:

"Liv," I slowly opened the door and saw her laying in her bed like last time, her laptop in her lap. "Hi," I finally greeted, not fully closing the door behind myself.

"Hey," she returned, her exhaustion feeling in her sore voice. I sat next to her on the edge of her so well decorated and not surprisingly comfortable bed. "I didn't know you're coming today," she revealed with a little of amiable confusion.

"Of course, I would come," I just tilted my head to one side, a mischievous smile on my face. "How could I not remember that it's you're birthday today?" I asked suddenly, obviously catching her off-guard. She looked me with the expression I recognized as the you-remembered type. "Of course, I remembered," I pretended to read her thoughts. She laughed. Honestly, that was the only thing I wanted to see from Liv. Her smiling and being joyful and carefree. That was what mattered at the moment. She deserved it. More than anyone. "And, of course," I hinted. "I remembered to bring a present," I clapped my hands without sound, still with the same mischievous smirk on my face.

"Paige," she groaned playfully, trying to sit up like the first time I visited her. This time she succeeded without anyone's help. "You didn't have to," she said modestly. "No, I'm kidding," she laughed and put the laptop aside. "I am kidding actually!" she exclaimed with a childish tone and expression, which were totally not suitable for her words. I couldn't hold my chuckle. "I dislike surprises because I hate the state of not knowing something," she shared, laughing. "I think the sedatives are working without any problem," she told me through laughs. "I can't keep my mouth shut, and-" she suddenly stopped talking and looked somewhere behind me. I turned and saw Blake, holding the door frame with a weird smile on her face.

"Really?" I thought sarcastically, moving a little further from Liv. "I finally understand why they are best friends."

"Your parents really let you stay home?" was the first thing Blake said. I became the literal personification of confusion. "They were that desperate?" I looked at Liv, who was already holding her laughs. Their friendship was unconventional.

"They didn't have a choice," she let out with a giggle. Blake moved closer to her and hugged her from above, Liv moving up a little. "Oh, I really missed you," Liv admitted.

"I did too," Blake broke the hug and sat close to her friend. "How are you, Leah?" this was a nickname I heard for the first time.

"I'm s-" Liv was about to start talking about something totally different from what her friend had asked, but Blake just took her hand.

"No, the whole thing was my fault," Blake shared. "If I hadn't started yelling like that, we wouldn't have fought," she looked down. "I'm really sorry about everything. About ignoring you, not talking to you, avoiding eye contact, and-" she interrupted herself. We all love to do that. Just accept it. "And I'll respect every decision you make. No matter if I like it or not," she promised, her eyes still locked on her left knee. "Even about the football trainings. I-"

"No, no," this time Liv interrupted her. "It's my fault that I told you I didn't want us to be friends anymore," now Liv looked at her lap. "It just got out of my mouth. I-I didn't-"

"Via..." Blake started talking again. They had a whole ton of nicknames I didn't know anything about.

"No, let me finish," Liv said to her calmly, not sounding rude in any way possible. I don't know how she managed to do that. "I decided to exclude football from my life. I unfollowed every single football player, team, and coach and wanted to forget about it all," Liv told Blake the things she had told me the other days. "But...I couldn't. Just like it was with you. I understood I couldn't live without you. It was my fault to stop the trainings because I was too selfish to not understand what I was doing, and that it was our common effort. It wasn't fair for you," she stopped talking and decided to look up a little. In response, Blake just hugged her. Liv returned the hug again, and Blake patted her back. "Does that mean we are friends again?"

"In all kinds of ways," Blake broke the hug. "Yes!" she hugged her once again, and I felt something warm slowly going down my face, leaving cold traces of itself. "Paige!" I heard an exclaim and opened my eyes. "Why are you crying?" I was crying?

"I-I," I wanted to say something, but nothing got out of my mouth. Liv moved her bed sheet and came closer to me.

"What's wrong?" she asked me with a soft voice. "You can tell us everything. We won't tell anyone!" Liv made a sign to Blake to close the door of the room. She stood up to do so.

"I just got upset at the sight of you two," I told them, not sure if they understand what I wanted to tell them exactly.

"But you have Mia," Liv put her left hand over my body. My tears became even more. "You are so close. You're always together and have each other's back. You're such good friends," she tried to calm me down.

"No, we are not," I finally let out what was bothering me from inside for the whole previous week. "We are not," I repeated. The two girls in front of me looked at me in synchrony, and I guessed it was time to tell them everything that had happened.