Paige Goodall (shearmadness) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2017-02-14 16:34:00 |
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For months Demi had been more than a little curious about just what exactly Nathan and his friend Paige had going on, or just exactly what ‘friend’ meant to the both of them. It hadn’t been hard at Friendsgiving to notice the way they drifted towards each other, it had been even less of a struggle for her to take note of the fact Nathan had traveled all the way to Oklahoma with the other woman. But the real cherry on the top in Demi’s suspicion that there was something more going on had happened just now as she had been driving to the Doughnut Hole. She had been driving by an apartment complex, one she hadn’t even been aware Paige lived in, when Demi had spotted them. Nathan clearly leaving Paige’s place after a Pre-Valentine’s evening spent together. The writing to Demi was on the wall and she had made a mental note to confront Nathan about it later. Except Nathan wasn’t who had walked into the Doughnut Hole shortly after. No, Paige had been. Now Demi was weighing whether or not to ask the other woman about her overnight guest. Their last conversation did not end extremely well after all. Still, she was dying to know. So after another couple minutes of considering her options Demi took a deep breath and turned to Paige. “Hi, I don’t know if you remember me,” Demi started. “We met at Savannah Posey’s house.” It might not have been the smoothest opening line, but it started the conversation. “I feel like we might have gotten off on the wrong foot…” And her next question was not going to make that any better. “I didn’t realize until this morning that you and Nathan are involved, I think if I had known back then I wouldn’t have gone on about his charm and ego the way I had.” Even if she and Nathan had been nothing more than platonic, in hindsight Demi could see how her remarks would make a girlfriend -- or potential girlfriend -- uncomfortable. Of course Paige recognized the woman, considering they’d had a very awkward first meeting, but already this second one was even worse. “Involved? Me and Nate? That’s--look, I think you have the wrong idea.” Paige really didn’t want to be the person known as Nate’s ex-wife, and apparently she’d been successful with at least one person because it seemed as though Demi didn’t know that she and Nate were a thing of the past and definitely not a current phenomenon. “We’re not. Involved, that is. We’re friends. I don’t know why you’d think that, but if you’ve been holding back on telling him how charming he is, there’s no need for my sake,” she said, trying not to have such a short fuse but there was just something about this woman that rubbed her the wrong way. Demi was beautiful, and considering the benders she knew Nate had gone on after the divorce, he wouldn’t have any trouble starting something casual with her. Assuming that things had been straightened out, she glanced back up at the menu, as if she were debating between a coffee or a latte. “While I’ve only seen the two of you together twice, once at Savannah’s and then again this morning as he was leaving your apartment,” Demi couldn’t help the suggestive tone her voice took on that last part. “Anyone with eyes can see that the two of you are like magnets, you’re drawn to each other. But, I guess I was mistaken about the being involved part, so I’m sorry.” If Demi had thought a second meeting was going to go better than their first, well, she was realizing now that she might have been greatly mistaken. Even worse, Demi got the distinct impression that Paige thought she was somehow interested in Nathan, and while she tried to keep that realization from showing on her features she couldn’t help the way her eyes went wide and she sputtered, “Oh my god, do you think I’m interested in him?” Realizing that Demi had no intention of letting this conversation drop, Paige turned around to face the other woman. After all, she had manners. Demi’s brown eyes were still wide as saucers as she studied Paige. “Nathan and I have never been anything more than friends,” she continued. “Ever.” Demi paused a beat before she added. “He's a great guy and handsome, but I already have a great and handsome guy.” Demi took another beat. “And even if I didn't I've just never felt anything more than friendship towards him.” It could be said that this was Demi’s long winded way of saying she wasn't someone who should be seen as competition or a threat. “Whatever you say. It’s really none of my business one way or the other. And I would say comparing us to magnets is overstating the situation. I knew all of three people at that party and parties aren’t my favorite thing in the world to begin with. So. It was nice to be able to talk to a familiar face in an uncomfortable situation,” Paige said, excuse after excuse coming out of her mouth. It was also the truth, though. It really wasn’t any of her business what Nate did with his time seeing as he held no obligation to her anymore and it wasn’t untrue that parties made her anxious and talking to him had made it more bearable. “Any more conspiracy theories you need to get off your chest?” Paige asked, her eyebrow raising at the question. While she itched to argue her point about how Nathan and Paige had seemed drawn to each other at Savannah’s party, she was in fact aware enough not to start something in the middle of the Doughnut Hole. Maybe she was overstating the situation, and maybe neither Nathan or Paige were interested in each other, or, and Demi was leaning more towards this guess, Paige wasn’t ready to admit her own feelings to herself. “Fair enough,” Demi finally said, her tone easy and light in an attempt to ease some of the tension that had built just now. “I can admit when I’m wrong.” Living with and loving a lawyer had taught Demi a few things, one of which was how to accept when you had been out argued and/or were in fact wrong. “Although, you and Nathan would make a cute couple.” Even if she was wrong about them, it didn’t hurt to point out that obvious -- anyone with eyes could see that the two of them had chemistry, or at least Demi thought they did. “Nope, I suppose that was my only one,” Demi replied and then after a beat added. “Let me buy you coffee and a doughnut to make up for bothering you about this.” After all it was the least she could do, right? “Okay then,” Paige said, doing her best not to think about how she and Nate had been a cute couple. The sooner Demi dropped this subject the better, so clinging to the other woman’s offer for coffee, she stepped forward to the register when they were called next. “I’ll take a vanilla latte and an old-fashioned doughnut,” Paige told the barista before stepping aside to let Demi order and pay. She wasn’t going to pass up a free breakfast, after all. As they moved towards the other side of the bar, waiting for their orders to be ready, she asked, “You’ve known Nate a while then?” Demi tried -- and probably failed -- to hide the relieved smile that flickered across her face when Paige stepped up to the counter and took her up on her offer of coffee and a doughnut. Even if the woman was only doing it because it was free food, to Demi it felt a little bit like a win. The topic was still unsurprisingly on Nathan, though with him being one of the few things they had in common Demi could understand why, and a part of her itched to ask why Paige always called him Nate -- but she chose to stay quiet on that particular question. “I have,” Demi answered with a nod. “When he showed up in Austin long before the outbreak, I was friends with Pete and Savannah and I met him through them,” she explained. “And when he showed up here earlier this year it was nice seeing an old face reappear, especially when you can never be too sure about what might have happened to people you cared about, you know?” Demi took a pause before she asked. “How long have you known Nathan?” Paige quickly realized that Nate met Demi after she and Nate had gotten divorced, and despite the other woman insisting that she and Nate had never been anything more than friends, she also knew how Nate had been after they’d split up. From what Jackson told her, Nate chased anything with a skirt, and again the irrational dislike of Demi simply because she was a beautiful woman boiled up again. “I met Nate in college. We were both at the University of Texas here in Austin,” Paige explained, stamping down her nonsense feelings, reminding herself yet again that what her ex-husband did was his business and his alone. “I know what you mean, though. It was a shock to see Savannah’s name in the paper after thinking Austin had been blown off the map.” The thought very briefly flickered through Demi’s mind as to whether Paige had known Nathan when he had been married, but she had never paid much attention to her friend’s timetable as to when he had been a married man and it didn’t feel like a questions she should ask Paige, so she quickly chased the thought away. Better not to give the other woman any more reasons to be standoffish with her. “College, wow, so you probably have some great stories about him from that time,” Demi remarked with a laugh before she continued. “God, I’m pretty sure I would have a heart attack if I saw an old friend’s name in the paper,” she paused. “It’s morbid but unless I’ve crossed paths with them since the outbreak I’ve come to assume most people I knew from before are gone.” Paige struggled with how she even responded to Demi’s words. They were rather morbid, after all. Luckily the barista called out her drink and doughnut just then and Paige collected it from the handoff. “Well, thanks again for breakfast, but I should be getting to work. My boss can be a real dragon lady when I’m late,” she joked. The joke earned a laugh from Demi as the other woman took her leave. While this second run in had had tension filled moments like the last one, this time around she felt a little less like she had some reason to need to apologize. That in Demi’s mind was a plus and as she gathered up her breakfast items and prepared to leave as well she made a mental note to maybe grill Nathan about just how familiar he and Paige were, especially if their friendship went all the way back to college. |