The ocean is deep. Lava is hot. Outer space is big. The Antarctic is cold. And while I'm taking the time to list a bunch of staggeringly obvious things, my parents were worried about me through that whole thing with Paintball-me yelling about Casura. It might've been really bad for me, as far as my secrets went. And as far as their belief in their own secrets, really. Fortunately, I had two things in my favor. The first was my sister. Izzy had texted them in the midst of all that to say that she had seen me get swept out of the stadium along with a group of other fleeing civilians while my phone was knocked out of my hand, to explain why I wasn't answering them.

  So, I had to toss my regular phone into the lost and found and let someone there bring it to us, to make that look more realistic. No big deal, since it wasn’t the phone I used for any Touched stuff, so I didn’t mind letting it out of my sight nearly as much as I would have the other one.

  The other thing in my favor had been the very crowd Izzy had used as an excuse. People didn't exactly react well to seeing Paintball go on about Casura, then disappear with Flea. It was chaotic. Lots of them ran for any exit they could find, terrified that she would show up any second. They had evacuation areas set up, but in the pure chaos that took up the next hour or so, it wasn't at all suspicious for me to be out of contact. Or at least, it wasn't suspicious enough with all the other stuff my parents were dealing with right then. They were worried about me, but hearing that Izzy had seen me with a group of people being evacuated put me a bit down on the priority list.

  The point being, I didn’t have a ‘sit down in front of a spotlight and answer questions being hurled at me from both sides’ style interrogation waiting for me. When I showed up, after a quick rundown on what I needed to say from Izzy, my parents hugged me and put both of us in a car to go back to the hotel, where we were ordered to stay put until they got back. Given how lucky I had been with all that so far, I figured it was a bad idea to push things. And, to be honest, I kind of just wanted to fall down and sleep for the rest of the day anyway. Which I did. Well, for a few hours, anyway. It was pretty close to midnight when our parents came home, waking up Izzy and me, as we were sleeping on the couch in the main room. We had a very late dinner with them, and I made sure to ask as many questions as I could to keep up the appearance that I didn’t know anything. I was all wide-eyed innocence, swapping between gushing over how amazing my sister was, to have been out there helping evacuate people, and being worried about her.

  Yeah, I might’ve laid it on a little thick. But I was pretty sure our parents didn’t notice. They were even more tired than we had been by that point, after what had been a pretty staggeringly busy day. It was clear that what they really wanted, besides making sure we were okay, was to fall into bed themselves for about as long as they legally could. When I asked about Simon and Bailey, they said he had gone out with friends to blow off some steam, and took his cat with him. Which felt… a little bit odd, but honestly, I wasn’t in the right mindset to think about it too much.

  Once we were all done eating, and our parents were satisfied that we were really okay, they went to bed. Izzy followed suit, in her own bed that time. Well, the one she was using in the hotel suite, anyway. And I did the same. For about twenty minutes. I laid there, telling myself I should just sleep some more. But I couldn’t manage to drift off again. I just kept staring at the ceiling, my thoughts stuck on something. I was clearly obsessing, twisting and turning, anxiously holding my stomach as images bounced incessantly through my mind. I just couldn’t calm down.

  It wasn’t all the shit with Casura. I could set that aside. Yeah, I was worried about what Octavia and Julie were doing out there, and how all that would go. I was worried about a lot when it came to that stuff. But that wasn’t what was keeping me awake now. No, the shit I couldn’t stop obsessing over had nothing to do with that. I had only one image in my head: Paige. Paige, Paige, and more Paige. As I laid there and tried to sleep, every time I closed my eyes I saw her. I saw myself kissing her. I saw-- I… yeah, I saw all of that. I couldn’t stop seeing it. My stomach was doing flips, while I giggled, yes giggled under my blanket. Eventually, I had to get up and start pacing around the room, which didn’t actually help at all. It just made me skip. I was really skipping around the bed, and still giggling now and then. What the fuck was wrong with me?

  Okay, I had to get out of there for awhile. My parents were asleep, and should stay that way for a bit after everything that happened. But still, just in case, I left a note explaining that I had to get some fresh air. Then I headed out. Part of me wanted to change into my costume in the room, hit the balcony, and leap from there. But it felt just a little too dangerous to do that from a place like this right then. Besides, as distracted as I was, I probably would’ve jumped right into a wall.

  With that in mind, I made my way out of the hotel the old-fashioned way, by taking the elevator and walking out the side door. No one paid much attention to me. Mostly because there weren't many people around at that time of night to pay attention. It was a little after one in the morning, and anyone who wanted to be up that late was at one of the casinos. Those places would keep hopping all night long. Probably even more so tonight, with people being hopped up after the Casura excitement. Even if there were some who tried to call it a publicity stunt for the games.

  Walking out of the hotel and into the street, itself at least somewhat busy considering what time it was, I started letting myself drift away. Mentally, anyway. I walked along with the crowd, firmly ordering myself not to skip. It had been weird enough to do that upstairs in the privacy of the room, but out here, it would definitely draw attention I didn’t need. Walk normally, Cassidy. Be normal, just be normal, damn it. Breathing in and out while telling myself to calm down, I made it to an intersection and looked one way, then the other to decide which way I wanted to go. Not that I had any particular destination in mind. I just had to get out of that place and walk around.

  That was right around the point when a hand touched my arm. I practically jumped out of my skin, jerking around that way as a yelp escaped me. Somehow, I stopped myself from shooting off a gallon or so of paint in the process. Even more impressively, I managed not to turn into a puddle of paint myself. All which would’ve been pretty bad things to do right there in public.

  “Oh, shit, I’m sorry.” Oh. Oh. It was Paige. It was Paige, she was-- oh. She was the one who had touched my arm. She was right there, wincing and looking more awkward than I’d almost ever seen her. “Shit, that’s-- I should’ve called out to you,” she stammered, “I wasn’t-- sorry, I was--”

  At the same time that she started to say those last two words, I tried to speak up too, saying, “No, it’s just--” We both fell silent, looked at each other, then both started to talk again, at the same time. That repeated one more time, before we started to snicker. The giggles kept coming, like they’d been waiting for an excuse to erupt. Just like that, I couldn’t stop laughing. It felt nice.

  “Yo!” A voice suddenly cut through the giggles, as a guy standing a bit to the side glared at us. He was a somewhat heavyset guy wearing what was almost certainly the most obnoxious shirt I’d ever seen in my life. It was black, with images of a muscular Barney the dinosaur, a smiling emoji face with a switchblade, and what looked like a mix between Shrek and Mike from Monsters Inc. It was like Shrek’s head with Mike’s arms and legs attached. All three of those images were duplicated, one on each side of a line of incredibly obnoxious bright green, red, and yellow text down the middle. The text instructed the reader to smile, blink, or breathe if they wanted to have sex with the wearer, or recite the bible in Japanese if they didn’t. Very pleasant.

  As I took that all in, the man continued, and I could smell the alcohol coming off his breath. “Some people are trying to have a nice night out here and get some quiet videos of the street without recording a couple drunk bitches giggling in our ears. Why don’t you move on? You know, before I wave down that cop over there and tell him there’s a drunk twelve year old.”

  Before I could even start to try to react to that, Paige snapped, “Oh, sorry, I’m sure your ex-wife and three kids who want nothing to do with you will be very confused to hear the sound of people laughing in your video, since it’s not a sound they’d ever associate with anyone forced to spend time in your presence. We’ll quiet down for you. But for the record, we’re not drunk, we’re just happy. Which, like I said, probably isn’t an emotion you’re used to seeing from anyone in your line of sight. And they--” She nodded to me, voice rising just a little. “--are sixteen, not twelve. It’s a pretty easy mistake to make, though, so I get it. You were probably just thinking of the amount of years it’s been since you were last able to actually look down and see your toes.”

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  The man’s eyes widened as he tried to speak up, but Paige just kept going, completely ignoring his attempt to interrupt. “And I know, I know, fat insults are bad, and wrong, and really just not something I should engage in. But this isn’t about your gut. I’m talking about that absolute war crime of a shirt you happen to be wearing. Because frankly, I don’t know how anyone could see that thing as often as you have to without stabbing your own eyes out to make the pain stop.”

  The man had two very different, but still angry, reactions to that. At first, eyes widening, he started to snarl. “Hey, look, you fucking cunt, if you think you can-- wait.” That was when his other reaction came, as he glanced my way. “Wait, hold on. They? Did you say they? What the fuck, you two a couple of those pronoun-playing fucks?” He laughed then, but there was nothing happy about his version. “Does the he-she need help checking which restroom’s the right one t--”

  That was as far as he got, before Paige’s fist collided very firmly with that gut of his. His eyes went wide, and he doubled over, literally throwing up on the sidewalk with a loud, choked gasp. His hand rose to grasp vaguely at the air, while several shallow wheezing sounds escaped him. Several people around us gasped.

  Before anything else could happen, I grabbed Paige’s arm and pulled her. “Come on, come on!”

  Together, the two of us ran from that spot. We didn’t stop running until we’d gone several blocks and made a couple turns, putting us pretty far away from there. Finally, we made our way down a narrow alley between a fast food joint and a dry cleaners before stopping in the rear parking lot. There, we sank down to perch on the steps leading up to the delivery door for the cleaners.

  For a minute or so, neither of us said anything. We couldn’t say anything. We just sat there together, panting heavily as we came down from that high. Eventually, we started giggling again, and I managed a breathy, “Oh, my God, did you see the look on his face when you hit him?”

  Paige scoffed a little. “See his face? Like I was saying, I haven't been able to see anything since that shirt burned its way into my eyeballs. I'm running blind here, Cassie. It may be permanent.”

  Well, that just made me laugh again, the giggles boiling up and out before I could stop them. I sat there, doubling over as my arm crossed my stomach, laughing more than it felt like I had in a long time. Honestly, it wasn’t that funny. None of it was. But I needed it. I needed to laugh right then, and her words were a good excuse for it. Maybe the best excuse. It felt nice to giggle.

  It was only after I’d calmed down a little and stopped giggling that I realized something. Through that, I’d slid sideways and leaned over, so my head was on Paige’s shoulder. I seriously, really didn’t even remember doing that. Her arm was around me, holding me in place. Once I realized where I was and what I was doing, my body reflexively stiffened. But I took in a breath and let it out, telling myself to calm down. We were both silent once more, just sitting there together. No more giggling, just… sitting, with my head on her shoulder. I had never been more comfortable.

  “Sorry you had to hear that prick talk like that,” Paige finally murmured, squeezing me a bit. “If you want, I can track him down and hit him again. He’d never see the second one coming.”

  “He never saw the first one coming,” I pointed out with a snort, before shaking my head. “I don’t care about him, or what he thinks. I care about you. I mean--” My face turned pink, as I shifted a bit, lifting my head to look at her. She turned at the same time, and we were face to face, staring at one another from… oh wow, from very close together. It made my stomach do funny things once again, while a goofy smile found its way to my face. “I-- uhh… I mean, that is, I…” And then I was giggling dumbly once more. I didn’t even know where it came from, it just popped out.

  “I care about you too,” Paige murmured, her own face pink. “I was-- uh, sort of, watching your window. I mean, I was sitting at the cafe back there, drinking coffee and… I guess being really creepy with the window watching. Sorry. But, yeah, that’s how I saw you leave. At first I wasn’t sure you’d want company. I figured you might want to be alone, but I just… I guess I wanted to talk to you.” Yup, the girl was definitely blushing, glancing away from me to stare at the ground.

  My hand rose, finding her chin so I could turn her back to me. Leaning forward, I touched my forehead to hers and whispered, “I’m glad you did, Paige. I was out because I couldn’t sleep. I… uh, was thinking about earlier, about you, about us. About all of that. I was thinking about it so much I couldn’t sleep. I just-- wait, you were watching my window?” That clicked belatedly.

  Paige gave an anxious, somewhat self-conscious giggle once more, our foreheads still touching. “Yeah, I guess so. I didn’t mean to, at least at first. It was like you said, I wanted to get out and take a walk, clear my head. Eventually, I found my way to that cafe. I swear, it wasn’t until I sat in the corner booth and looked out that I realized I’d put myself right where I could see that window. Then I just… didn’t leave. I sat there for an hour drinking coffee and eating pie before you came out that side door. Then I just sort of started following you, to add to the creepiness.”

  “One, you’re allowed to follow me any time you want to,” I informed her. “And two, are you telling me you got pie without me? I’m not sure how I feel about that.” God, what was I doing right now? How were these words coming out of me? How was I teasing and playing with her like this? Who was I? How did this feel so natural, so simple, so… easy? What was going on?

  “Cassie…” Breathing out my name with a tiny shiver, which only made me shiver too, Paige leaned back, breaking the contact our foreheads had just so she could stare at me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I never broke my dad’s programming to say all those… those things back in school. I’m sorry I couldn’t-- I am so sorry I made you feel the way I did. When I heard that guy back there saying those things, it made me… it made me think about all that. I think that’s why I really hit him. I wanted to hit myself. Or maybe my dad. Or just-- fuck. I wanted to do something better.”

  “Paige, stop,” I quickly put in. My hands rose to touch either side of her face, cupping it so she couldn’t turn away. “It’s over. That’s over. I understand. Do you hear me? I understand. I know it wasn’t your fault. I know you wouldn’t have said those things if you had any choice. I get it.” Staring into those eyes, I shivered just a bit before pushing on as firmly as possible. “I need you to hear me now. I forgive you, Paige. Okay? That’s all over. It’s done. It’s gone. I forgive you.”

  Her eyes closed briefly before opening once more, and I could see the weight that had been there lift away. Her voice was somewhat shaky as the girl whispered a very faint, “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” I confirmed, just as softly. “I want to move on, Paige. I want to move on with you. I want you to be-- I want to see what we are, you and me, what we can be. Not just with Avant Guard, or any other Touched stuff. Not just with any of that. But for real. I’ve been confused and lost about a lot of things these past few months. I mean, I think I was confused and lost for the past few years, to be honest. But one thing I know, one thing I’m not confused about at all, is that I’m happy when I’m with you. I’m happy spending time with you, seeing you, talking to you, just-- you make me happy, Paige. I don’t think I really understood how happy you make me until I almost lost you forever. And I don’t want to risk feeling that again without making sure you know how I feel. I don’t care about any of that stuff that happened before. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t you. You’re not Pittman’s creation. You’re not his tool. You are Paige Banners. You’re my Paige.”

  That last bit honestly just slipped out without me really thinking too much about it. As it did, I found myself blushing just as much as Paige herself did. Both of us looked away, then back to each other almost simultaneously. She gave a soft, self-conscious giggle that sent my insides twirling, before I did the same. It took her another moment to find her own voice, and it shook slightly once she did. “Your Paige. Always your Paige. And you… you’re Cassidy. My Cassidy.”

  Oh God, no wonder she blushed when I’d said that before. Hearing it from her made a thrill go through me that I’d never really felt. I gave another dumb giggle, head bobbing up and down. “Yes. Oh yes. You-- I-- uh huh.” Belatedly, I realized I was still nodding and made myself stop.

  And then, without any real warning, or even thought (at least on my part), we were kissing again. It just sort of happened. I tasted her, felt her, and realized we were lost in that once more.

  It was… some time later that we finally broke for air, and I found myself murmuring, “You know what the really scary thing is gonna be?”

  “Absolutely everything else that happens from now on that doesn’t involve kissing you?” she guessed.

  Giggling giddily (and honestly, a bit goofily), I shook my head. “Well, yes, but also when we have to face the real threat.

  “Telling everybody from school why we don’t hate each other anymore.”

  (A/N - Yeah, sorry to tell you all, but the shirt is )

  Joke Tags: After Seeing All That Adorableness? I Think It’s Safe To Say Cassidy Isn’t The Only One With The Ability To Turn Into A Puddle