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"FALSE IDENTITY."
october, 2023
SURE ENOUGH, PAIGE WAS UNABLE TO erasethe image of Le'ana and the girl from her memory. It remained on her mind as she slept. At one point she had even woken up in the middle of the night, after trying so hard to fall asleep, by simply imagining the two together. Was Le'ana holding her the same way she held Paige?
Had Le'ana reached up to place a loose hair behind the girl's ear like she did to Paige? She wondered if she kept her hand near the girl's face. Maybe her hand felt the soft indents along the girl's jaw. Was it similar to Paiges? Her eyes shut, imagining Le'ana's gaze. The way she looked at Paige that night, with such tenderness and longing, as if Paige were the only person in the world that mattered to her. The memory was vivid, etched into her consciousness like a masterpiece painted in her mind.
Paige found herself increasingly drawn to thoughts of Le'ana and the mysterious girl. She couldn't shake the feeling of curiosity that clawed at her insides, urging her to uncover the truth, but she knew that would be pushing it too far. Was whatever occurred between Paige and Le'ana merely a midnight encounter, or was there something deeper, something more profound that bound them together?
All day, Paige remained thinking of Le'ana. Sometimes she'd think of how the girl laughed, mainly at Paige's jokes. Well, that was until she saw her laughing yesterday. She'd even think of how Le'ana would glance at her, so much appreciation for Paige held in her eyes. Now, she looked at this random girl like that. Ok, maybe it was pitch-black and in the middle of the night but Paige was sure she glanced at this new girl the way she gazed at Paige.
What shocked Paige most was while she sat in a daze, a message appeared on her phone. A message from none other than Le'ana Rodes. She wasn't sure if what she was seeing was real and the girl definitely had to rub her eyes a few times before Paige came to the conclusion that Le'ana was actually messaging her. Though the message was a simple 'U ok?' which was as minimal as you could get, a message regardless was enough for the blonde. Paige definitely should've told Le'ana what happened, but she just settled for a simple confirmation that she was well rather than a long-winded response.
Le'ana could tell something was up with Paige the minute she responded with a simple and bland 'yes' hence, the first thing she did upon reading Paige's message was Facetime the girl. To her shock, Paige declined the call. She could not be bothered to put on a front when talking to Le'ana. She didn't want to lie to her face, doing it over a message was simply easier. Le'ana Facetimed again. Decline.
She tried one more time in the form of a regular call, and Paige decided to pick up. If Le'ana couldn't see her, hiding her true emotions would be easier. Immediately when answered she rushed to question Paige, as if Paige hadn't been questioning herself enough.
"P, are you ok? No way you're declining my calls." Le'ana laughed, making a joke of the situation. Paige sat in silence, hating this even more when she heard the nickname leave Le'ana's mouth.
"I'm fine Le'ana-"
"Full name is crazy." Here she went trying to make another joke expecting to hear Paige's contagious laughter through the speaker.
"Can I go now?" Was all Paige said, making the smile on Le'ana's face drop
"Paige. What's actually wrong with you? Are you mad or something? What? Just because I didn't pick up a stupid call last night. One call. How many others did I pick up?" Le'ana spoke not realising her voice was rising.
"It's not that." Paige spoke, short and sweet. Her anger at the situation was building up further.
"Tell me then Paige. You can't just ignore me, It's not fair P-"
"-No! Le'ana you don't get to tell me what's fair and what's not! What's not fair is me expecting you to answer while I'm crying in pain over this stupid knee. What were you doing that's so much more important?" Paige cried out. She knew exactly what Le'ana was doing but amidst the emotion, she wasn't paying attention to what she said.
"I'm sorry P. I was calling my family back home-" Wait what? Paige stopped in shock. Le'ana was really lying to her at a moment like this. She was dragged out of her anger when Le'ana kept uttering her name.
"Paige!" She shouted out after the third time.
"Uh- Yeah-" Were Paige's first words out of her daze.
"Is your knee ok?" Le'ana spoke. The girl was unaware Paige knew of what occurred. Maybe the lie was not right now that she thought of it, but in the moment she wanted nothing more than to hear if Paige was ok and if lying to her made her speak on it faster, Le'ana was willing to do it.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Uh- Le'ana I gotta bounce- i- I'll see you tomorrow or something. I don't know." Paige uttered, doing anything to leave this call.
"Bye-" Paige hung up, not caring if Le'ana spoke anymore.
So, one girl sat with a pain shooting up her knee, yet was more focused on the pain her upper chest felt at hearing Le'ana lie to her. The other girl sat with a pain focused on the same area as Paige, not for her lies or for the events that occurred the night before, but for how different she and Paige felt recently.
'Would it ever be the same?' were the last thoughts on either's mind. I'm sure we all know the answer, admitting might be too difficult for anyone.
ELLE'S NOTES !!! Paige's first wlw relationship and she's already head over heels- girl boo it's been like a week and a half 😭😭
i just wanna say thank u for all the love on this book it's actually crazy ily all very much it's so appreciated 🤍
also, school starts up again soon, so these daily chapters are probs gonna turn into every couple days but it is my mission to finish this book!!!! be patient w me <3
