The clock on the dash shone through the darkness of the car, the numbers turning over to midnight just as Paige pulled the car to a stop. She turned her head and looked up at the window that was so familiar to her. A frown came to her lips when she saw the light was off. She hadn't gotten a response to the text message she had sent. Maybe Emily was asleep. Maybe this was a horrible idea.

Before she could second guess herself more, the passenger door was pulled open and Emily slid into the seat. She gave Paige a soft smile as she pulled it shut and reached for the seat belt to click it in place. Once she was settled she let out a soft breath and looked through the windshield "Where are we going?"

"For a drive" Paige said with a smile, her eyes unable to peel from Emily for a moment. She couldn't believe she had come. Part of her could, actually. There was something between them, something unspoken, that brought them together even when they probably shouldn't be.

Emily looked back over to Paige through the darkness of the car and gave her a single nod. Her face held a bit of a smile but there was more behind her eyes. Thoughtfulness and wonderment. It was easy to see Emily wondered what exactly Paige had in mind. Why she had received the text to meet her outside at midnight? It had been so out of the blue. Where had Paige even been?

Before she could ask, Paige pulled away from the curb. The two of them sat silently as Paige navigated the car through a few streets heading toward their road. It was the road they had driven on more times than either could count. Sometimes they would drive up into the hills and park and just sit under the stars. Sometimes they would follow the winding road through the hills while singing together at the top of their lungs. Sometimes they would sit silently as the trees flew by until one of them finally broke the silence and addressed whatever had been on their mind. It didn't matter why they drove their road, all that mattered was it was theirs and now as Paige headed there it still seemed to be theirs without argument or question.

When Paige finally reached the road that wound through the hills, she flipped on her headlights. Up until that point she had been sneaking through the town incognito. She didn't want anyone to see them. She didn't want anyone to ask questions tomorrow.

But Emily had questions tonight. As Paige started up the hill, Emily cleared her throat softly and glanced over at her "Where have you been? I haven't heard from you in months and then you just show up out of nowhere and expect me to hop in your car without reason or explanation? I shouldn't be here. I know how this ends, Paige."

"Then why are you here?" Paige asked softly, her eyes flickering from the road to Emily and back again. She smiled at her in the split second that their eyes met and she knew why Emily was there. Because for whatever reason, the two of them were incapable of staying away from one another.

Emily rolled her eyes at that. She saw the look Paige had just given her. That look with that stupid little smile that said she had gotten her way. Emily shook her head and smiled at that too. She wanted to be upset. She wanted to tell her to pull over and get out of the car and walk home but she wouldn't. She knew she would spend the entire walk back home wondering why Paige was back. She should get out now but she knew she wouldn't. Because no matter what happened the two of them seemed to gravitate back to one another.

So she gave in and she stayed. She reached across the car and let out a soft laugh as her hand brushed over Paige's hair, causing it to mess slightly from it's slicked back state "When did you cut your hair?"

"A while ago" Paige said very nonchalantly. She glanced back over at Emily and gave her a soft smile "After last time."

Emily nodded at that. She had figured as much. Every time something dramatic happened to Paige she changed something. She remembered a story Paige told her about the time in eighth grade when her parents separated for a bit. She had gone through a phase where she wore mismatched shoes. She had told everyone she was trying to start a trend but eventually admitted it was her way of mourning. When things went out of Paige's control she changed something she could control as a way of feeling a little better about the situation.

"I like your jacket" Emily said softly, her fingers moving from Paige's hair to the collar of the leather jacket Paige wore. "You know you kind of look like a girl version of James Dean."

Paige fought a smirk. Her eyes flickered off the road again to Emily looking at her across the car. She took a moment to take her all in from head to toe before she nodded just once and looked back at the winding road. Emily was dissecting her look, picking up on subtle things here and there, trying to make some sort of non-committal conversation. It was her way of flirting. Paige liked that she knew that. "Good to see some things don't change."

"What do you mean by that?" Emily's brow creased into a near frown.

Paige took her eyes off the road again and looked over at Emily with that intense half smile she was known for "You're still rocking the red lipstick and skirts. Did you put that on for me or were you just hanging around your room like that tonight?"

Emily chewed her bottom lip almost as if it were a knee jerk reaction to the mention of her lip color. She looked away from Paige for the first time since the drive had started and drew in a deep breath to calm the blush wanting to creep into her cheeks. She should have known Paige would notice what she was wearing. Paige had admitted to her that it had been the day that Emily had experimented with the red lips and tight skirt combination that had ultimately convinced Paige to approach her.

Paige took Emily's silence as her answer. A smirk lifted on her lips at that. She liked thinking that Emily took special care to look good for her. She knew how much she liked that look and had decided to go for it instead of just wearing whatever it was she had been wearing when she had gotten the text from Paige.

A silence fell between the two as they drove. Emily sat there trying not to look at Paige anymore because each moment next to her caused her to spiral more into whatever it was they still had. Paige, on the other hand, couldn't quite keep herself focused on the drive. Every time a straight stretch of road was ahead Paige's eyes moved to look at Emily. She couldn't stop herself. It was as if her eyes were magnets and Emily was made of steel.

After about ten minutes of winding road and silent glances from Paige, Emily rolled her eyes and finally looked back over to the girl driving the car. "You know I hate when you do that."

"Do what?" Paige asked with a smirk because she knew exactly to what Emily was referring.

"When you don't pay attention to the road" Emily said with an almost frustrated roll of her eyes.

Paige nodded and looked back at Emily. When their eyes met she smirked out of amusement because of the look of annoyance on Emily's face. "I was just wondering what you were thinking about over there."

"I wasn't thinking about anything in particular" Emily shrugged and looked away from Paige again, a sure indication that she wasn't being truthful.

"Don't lie to me" Paige said softly as her eyes shifted back to where she was driving.

Emily frowned. She hated that Paige knew her that well. She also kind of liked it. It was comforting if not completely inconvenient. She couldn't get away with anything. So she gave in and just shrugged "I was thinking about when we first met."

Paige nodded just once, her eyes glancing just a moment to Emily before looking back to the road so as not to get scolded by her again. "What about it?"

Emily's lips curled into a soft smile as a bit of a dreamy look came to her face as she remembered the day "Everything. You had been staring at me all day across the library but you didn't think I had noticed. Then you finally strolled up to me, sat down like you belonged, and asked me what I was doing that night."

Paige let out a soft laugh at the story. That wasn't quite how it had gone. She liked the version Emily told, though. It made her seem much more confident than she had actually been. "I think there was a lot more mumbling involved. I most definitely wasn't staring, either. It just so happened that every time you looked at me I was looking at you. It was all circumstance."

"Oh I'm sure" Emily said with a grin. She reached over and moved her hand down Paige's arm until she reached her hand that gripped at the gear shift. She lightly ran her finger over Paige's knuckles and nodded "It was endearing. The mumbling, I mean. You were confident in your own way. I would have never had the guts to say hello to you."

Paige shivered just slightly at the feel of Emily's finger gliding over her hand. She glanced down for a moment and smiled at the sight of it before looking back up at Emily with a slight shrug of her shoulders "There was just something about you. I had to know you."

Emily just nodded at that. Her smile faded and before she could stop herself the words tumbled out of her lips "Was it worth it?"

Paige's heart twisted in her chest at the guilt Emily's words caused to rush through her. She took in a deep breath to steady the trembles that had taken over her hands at the question. She knew they hadn't been perfect but they had been the most incredible thing to happen in Paige's life. "You know it was" She finally whispered, unsure if Emily had even heard the soft words.

"Sometimes I wonder" Emily said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her hand moved away from Paige's and her eyes turned forward. They were already heading downhill on the winding road which meant their drive was nearly over. She let out a sigh and shook her head "It still hurts sometimes."

"I know" Paige said with a nod of her head. Her eyes moved to look over at Emily and when their eyes met a frown took over her lips "But we both know it was the right thing to do at the time."

Emily nodded. She held eye contact with Paige for a moment before she was forced to look back to the road as she drove. Emily blinked when Paige looked away and let out a heavy breath "And now?"

Paige just shook her head. She stared straight ahead for a few long moments before shrugging her shoulders and finally speaking "Let's get you home."

Emily didn't argue. She knew neither of them had the answer to that question. She hadn't really expected an answer if she was being honest. She had just wanted to put it out there, for herself as much as for Paige, so they wouldn't have to dance around it awkwardly the rest of the night, however long that might be.

The rest of the ride was surprisingly pleasant. Neither of them said anything more. They sat in comfortable silence as Paige navigated back through town toward Emily's house. Emily recalled the last time she had seen Paige. It had been right before she was leaving for college. She had wanted to make it work but Paige had told her she wasn't that kind of girl. Paige had told her if they tried long distance she would end up hurting Emily. So it was better they just call it quits then and there. Emily never admitted how badly that had hurt her. Then again, how could she? She had known from the get go that Paige was going to hurt her. She had been warned by everyone in town. "Paige McCullers is no good and you should stay away" they had all said. Emily hadn't listened and when asked she would say she didn't regret it for a single second.

Paige once more turned off her headlights when she pulled into the neighborhood and slowly made her way to the curb in front of Emily's house. She pulled to a stop and after a moment looked back to Emily for the first time since the car had fallen silent. "Thanks for coming with me tonight. I know it was out of the blue. I'm actually surprised you didn't say no."

Emily rolled her eyes at that and let out a soft laugh "No you're not. You knew exactly what you were doing when you sent that text."

Paige smiled and her head nodded slightly. "I was hopeful at most."

Emily just shook her head in slight amusement as she pushed the door open. She got out of the car and after standing there just a moment, she leaned down and looked back in at Paige. Without a second thought she gave a nod behind her toward her house "Do you want to come up?"

Paige was genuinely surprised by that. She had thought the car ride was more than she deserved and Emily had been kind to oblige. An invite up to her room was the last thing she had expected from the night. But she wouldn't say no. She simply didn't have it in her to do so. So she turned off the car without hesitation, got out on her side, and with a smile rounded the car to where Emily was waiting on the curb. She tucked her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and gave a little nod of her head "After you."

Emily reached out and slid her arm through Paige's, gripping at her elbow before turning toward the house. It was completely dark which meant her parents were asleep. They would have to be quiet. They didn't care if Emily went out. They did, however, care if she saw Paige. Her father would be upset if he knew.

Her father had been the most adamant about Emily staying away from Paige. "You're a good girl, Emmy. She's not" He had pleaded with her after the first night Emily had been on a date with Paige. The first time they had broken up, before Senior year, he had held her while she cried and told her it hadn't been her fault. "She's just not a good kid. There's nothing you can do about it."

The second time they broke up, after Christmas their Senior year, he had gone to the McCullers' house and spoken with Paige. He had told her to stay away from Emily. By then Emily was an adult and could do whatever she wished, a point Paige had brought up more than once. Neither of them had ever told Emily about the conversation. She still didn't know to this day.

When Paige had told Emily she wasn't into long distance the week before Emily left for college, Mr. Fields nearly exploded. He had kept silent and let Emily sulk and be sad until she left for college. The day he dropped her off on campus he drove straight home afterwards. When he showed up and Paige was on the porch looking upset that she had missed saying goodbye to Emily, he had puffed out his chest and screamed at her. He had told her to never even think about seeing Emily again. If he heard that she was trying to talk to her he would do everything in his power to make sure Paige was put under a restraining order. No one hurt his baby girl and yet somehow Paige had managed to do it three times while under his watch.

As the memory of the last time she had been to Emily's house bounced around her head, Paige shook it away and followed Emily. Silently, and through the darkness, they managed to make it up the stairs and into Emily's room. Once the bedroom door was closed behind them, Paige immediately looked around. Not much had changed that she could tell. That didn't surprise her. Emily had, after all, been away at college so rearranging her bedroom wouldn't have been something Emily would have done.

Emily dropped her keys on her dresser than kicked off her shoes. She looked up to tell Paige to make herself comfortable only to see through the dull moonlight filling the room that Paige was already slipping out of her jacket. She couldn't help but smile at that. It was funny how easily they slipped back into old habits around one another. She just shook the thought out of her head and moved to sit on the edge of her bed.

Paige didn't do the same, though. As she stood there now in her soft white tshirt that was illuminated by the moonlight seeping through the windows of the room it was easy to see she wasn't as confident as she had been at the start of the night. She looked unsure what to do next. She had hung her jacket on the door knob and now had one hand pushed into the pocket of her jeans as the other slowly pushed back through short, slicked back hair.

It was then that Emily realized that Paige hadn't cut off as much hair as she had first thought. The way it had been styled in the car made it look like it was no longer than the top of her ears. Now, though, she saw as it fell loosely around Paige's face that it came to her chin. She had never seen Paige with anything less than shoulder length hair. She liked it. It gave Paige a sense of mystery and accentuated her strong jaw line that Emily had always admired.

"So..." Paige rocked up onto her toes and dropped the hand that had moved through her hair down to tuck it into the other pocket of her jeans.

Emily patted the bed next to where she sat and gave her a nod "I'm not going to bite."

Paige let out a soft laugh mixed with a sigh of relief and moved over to the bed immediately. She was nervous, for some reason, but seeing that Emily was calm helped her relax a bit.

Emily waited for Paige to settle on the bed next to her before she turned to face her better. She stared at her through the low light of the bedroom for a moment before she finally let the words tremble from her lips "I heard you've been out and about with some other girl."

Paige bit her lip and her eyes dropped away from Emily. She felt that pang of guilt twist around her heart again. It wasn't as if it was a secret. It wasn't like they were together. But it still made her feel guilty knowing that Emily was aware of what she had been doing while she was away at college.

Finally she nodded and lifted her head to look back at Emily "What you've heard is true but..." She just shrugged, giving her head a shake as her hand reached out to lightly come to rest against Emily's knee "...I can't stop thinking about you."

Emily nodded and her eyes dropped to look at Paige's hand on her knee. She bit at her lip as she thought about it for a moment before finally reaching out to lay her hand over Paige's. She looked back up at her and offered a soft smile "I've been there too. A few times."

Paige nodded again as she drew in a shaky breath. She tried to fight the wide smile that wanted to spread over her lips but she failed. Her face lit up with a smile that showed just what that meant to her to hear. She was sure Emily hated her. She hated herself for how it had ended. But it didn't seem to matter because here they were again.

Emily loved when Paige smiled like that. It was a smile of disbelief, almost, as if she couldn't believe that whatever good had just happened to cause her to smile was actually real. Emily let out a soft laugh at the way Paige smiled as her hand lifted and she gently moved to push some of Paige's loose hair behind her ear "It's funny, isn't it?"

"What?" Paige asked, still smiling, now out of interest in what Emily had going on in her mind.

"They use the term coming home to describe coming back to where you grew up but I don't think that's always the case" Emily licked her lips lightly, her eyes flickering from where she held Paige's gaze to her lips and back again. "I think, sometimes, it's not a place but a person that you go home to."

Paige felt her heart do a flip in her chest. She drew in another shaky breath and her smile lit up more, if that was at all possible. Her head nodded at the words and she lifted her hand from Emily's knee to lightly run along her cheek "That makes perfect sense to me."

Emily nodded just once before she leaned in now. Before she could think about it to stop herself she felt herself fall into Paige completely. It wasn't easy with them and she wasn't sure it ever would be. She wasn't sure they would ever really work out but in that moment it didn't matter. All that mattered was as her lips pressed into Paige's she felt completely at home.

She felt that no matter what happened and wherever she went in the world she would always be anchored to Paige. Good or bad, up or down, it wouldn't stop them from coming back together like this. Through all their uncertainty, Emily knew one thing for sure: Paige would always be her home.