𝗖𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗦 ☆ 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗚𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗘𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦.

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗨𝗘 | 𝗜 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗫𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗.

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TRACK 1: I NEVER EXISTED - CHASE ATLANTIC

"i'm gonna leave either way if you stay with me...

...so go and tell him that i never existed."

july 13th, 2018.

IT WAS A RAINY FRIDAY EVENING IN MINNESOTA. Paige thought the weather for that evening was very fitting. Her best friend and teammate, Cameron, hadn't talked to her all day. Which wasn't unusual, but it wasn't usual either. Maybe she was busy, but she'd always text Paige. It was a Friday. They could be watching a movie on the couch, or playing 1 on 1 hoops in her basement. They had a few more weeks before Junior year started and they got busy with sports. Paige's family members weren't home either, which made the boredom even more severe.

Mindlessly clicking through the boring TV channels, the rain started to come down harder. Paige checked her phone every few minutes to see if there was a text. Still nothing.

It wasn't until ten minutes later there was a knock at her door. There stood her best friend in the pouring rain, towering over her. Paige could immediately tell something was wrong, Cameron was trembling, and she knew it wasn't from the cold. Paige reached for her hand and pulled inside, not giving Cameron a second to protest the matter. Paige dragged her all the way upstairs and into her room to give her some warmer clothes. Cameron hesitated to take the clothes at first, but she knew Paige wouldn't let her stand there shivering.

——————

"What do you mean we need to talk?" Cameron felt a pang of guilt as she couldn't even look the other blonde in the eye. "Cameron. Cameron. Look at me." Her voice boomed throughout her room, matching the tone of the thunder outside.

Cameron dragged her eyes from the floor to Paige's own, feeling even more guilty, even though the choice wasn't entirely hers. "You can't be mad."

"That's not how you start this talk off if you don't want me to be mad."

Cameron squeezed her eyes shut as she took a deep breath. "I quit basketball." She reopened her eyes to see that Paige was still looking at her, her face dropped, the color in her face faded. The silence between them hurt. It was agonizing. "He made me pick between basketball and hockey."

More silence.

Cameron continued. "So-"

"You picked hockey over me." Paige cut her off, it was the first thing to come from her mouth in minutes. Cameron looked to her, now Paige couldn't do the same, she was looking everywhere but at her, her arms crossed, her jaw clenched.

"I didn't pick hockey over you, I picked it over basketball. He made me choose one or the other."

"You couldn't play both?"

"You know how hard that was for me last year. Even the coaches said one or the other."

"That goes back to my first question."

"I didn't pick anything over you, Paige." Cameron raised her voice now, making Paige flinch a little. "If you were in my shoes you would've picked what's best for you, too."

"What's best for you?" Cameron could see the hurt in her eyes from across the room. All she wanted to do was forget she ran here in the rain in the first place.

"Paige don't-"

"I would've picked you, and basketball."

"It's not fucking like that, okay?" Cameron shouted, which was never like her when her and Paige argued, which was also a rare occurrence. "You and I both know when it comes down to me and you, you're the better basketball player. I can't live in your shadow forever."

Paige took a step forward, shaking her head. "No. I make you better. You make me better. That's how we work." Her words felt like Cameron just got punched in the face, several times.

Why the fuck did this feel like a breakup?

"Just for one more year. Then I'll let you go."

"Paige, I can't."

"Please." Paige reached out for her hand, taking it into her own, and now 16 year old Cameron Arko couldn't think. It was the mix of anger, frustration, sadness, a hint of jealously too, all at once, hanging in the air. They've held hands before, but this was different. Paige was begging her to stay. She could see tears at the brim of her blue eyes, her eyes screaming something other than stay— and it was too much.

Cameron ripped her hand away, ripping her eyes away too. "I can't." Was the last thing she muttered before the ran downstairs, and back into the rain, not bothering to stop as Paige came after her.

That was the night their friendship changed for the better, and for the worse.

— yeah ouch this one hurt to type.

what's good gang 😭. you guys fuck with angst? this was long as fuck sorry i'm an ao3 writer... expect more this week 😄. what do we think?