Locum Tenens

PART TWO: "Sic Infit"

~ So it begins. ~ 

DISCLAIMER: Pretty Little Liars and all its characters is the intellectual property of others. Some characters used in the writing of this fic belong to PLL. Events that transpire, will transpire and have transpired in this story are entirely of my own creation.

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CHAPTER THREE

Maybe she won't notice. Emily thought anxiously as she served another table outside of Café Prima their coffee and pastries. After all, it's not like I'm gonna blush everytime she's around. Just... act normal. Don't stammer. Don't grin like an idiot. And don't laugh at everything she says. She's Paige. You can't like her. Not more than a friend. She reminded herself.

Emily went back inside the café and checked the time on the clock mounted on the wall behind the counter before placing another order on the tray she was holding. In a few minutes Paige is going to arrive and she had to find a way to calm her nerves before she sees the girl again. Last week their MGMT100 professor divided the class into groups of ten for their semester-long project and she and Paige ended up being in the same group. Of course she was thrilled when she found out that they were groupmates because that meant having a legitimate reason to spend more time with the girl. Unlike Reese who was resorting to classic movies like Casablanca just to get Paige to spend time with her.

That was seven days ago. Things changed for her two days ago when she stood under the pouring rain looking into Paige's eyes and since then she has been a nervous wreck just thinking about running into the girl.

But Emily knew that seeing Paige again was inevitable. After all, they do have one class together this semester. She was still going to see Paige tomorrow afternoon so she might as well face the girl today.

The members of her group all agreed to meet with their client, the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America organization, at their head office in 230 North 13th Street for their first meeting regarding the project. Since Emily had her shift at the café and Paige had track practice, the latter suggested last week that they go to the meeting together, with Paige offering to swing by the café once she was done with her training. Emily had no problem with the arrangement when they discussed it last Thursday. But when Paige called her earlier to remind her of it, Emily felt faint and her pulse began to race at the mere thought of seeing Paige again.

As she headed outside the café to serve the steaming cup of coffee on her tray, Emily thought about what she would say and how she would act around Paige once they were standing in front of each other again. Like last Monday night under the pouring rain. Emily thought, her stomach fluttering when her gaze drifted to the spot outside Harrison where Paige stood holding an umbrella to shelter them both from the rain. When the girl moved to tuck that strand of hair while looking into her eyes... just like Paige is doing now...

"Shit!" A voice in front of her cursed when Emily lost her grip on the steaming cup of coffee she was holding when she realized that Paige was standing on the same spot and that the girl was looking at her.

"I'm so sorry!" Emily blurted out while trying to clean up the mess she made, wiping the spilled coffee off the table with a dishrag.

Emily stole a glance at the spot outside Harrison to see if she wasn't imagining things and true enough, Paige was still standing there but this time with a worried expression on her face and Reese standing next to her. Of course. Those two seemed inseparable. She averted her eyes and instead focused it on the customer she spilled the hot coffee on, groaning inwardly when she saw that the girl was wearing a white shirt and the coffee stain was smack-dab in the middle of it.