Title: Who Loves You?
Author: TexasWatermelon
Fandom: Degrassi
Pairing: Paige/Ellie
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ellie's a little jealous, but she's got her own devices to get what she wants.
Disclaimer: Degrassi belongs to stupid people who like to make sickening pairings for us to puke at.
Archiving: Sure, just ask.
Word Count: 899
A/N: Some spoilers for "Talking In Your Sleep," which hasn't aired yet in the U.S. It does deviate from the overall plot of that episode, which I've just seen on the internet, so when you see it don't be surprised that it really isn't very much of a resemblance at all.
Basically I was disgusted when I saw the previews for this episode, in which Paige hooks up with their roomate Griffin. So I had to rectify this in my own mind. It's fixed now :D Enjoy.
Ellie tries to be annoyed when she walks into the kitchen, Paige still singing the same cheerful tune that brought her out of a not-so-good sleep this morning. She manages it well enough, even though she drops her scowl when she reaches the coffee pot.
"What can I say? I'm blissful," Paige confesses, which makes Ellie feel glad and guilty at the same time. She sits down at the table as Paige explains her reason for the aforementioned blissfulness, which to her delight included having "you guys."
Ellie knows before she even refuses that she's going to help Paige paint, but for the sake of saving face she refuses anyway. She really does hate painting; the smell of it makes her feel sick. She just hates the fact that she has to give in because Griffin tries to be all cute and valiant by promising to help, which earns him a sultry smile and not her. She hides this by staring solemnly into her coffee.
"Hey Paige, are we still on for the bed later?" Griffin asks and Ellie spits her coffee back into the cup to prevent from spraying it all over Paige and Marco. She tries to make her protest by bringing up the roommate code of conduct, a subject she's already broached with Paige before. But the blonde calls her Eleanor like she's twelve years old, which kind of makes her melt just a little and stops all words.
The look that Paige sends after Griffin's back breeds painful amounts of jealousy in Ellie's chest.
--
It's obvious that Paige and Griffin are sleeping together, no matter what Paige promised at the breakfast table that day. They try to be discrete, but Paige isn't exactly quiet and Griffin is one of those guys that wears a cocky smirk the morning after. And Ellie tries to ignore it, but she's one of those people that notices something more the more it irks her.
She watches Paige sneak into his room one night, and before she can stop herself she calls out to her. Paige turns around and looks at her curiously, not a trace of shame laced through her expression even though they both know what's about to happen.
And Ellie desperately wants to tell her not to go. She wants to tell her to sneak into her room tonight, to let her be the one with the smirk on her face the next morning. She wants to plead with Paige to let her elicit those noises from her. She wants to, but she can't.
"Nothing. Goodnight." She closes the door before she can glance at Paige's confused expression.
--
Ellie does help Paige paint. She helps even though she feels nauseous the entire time. She helps even though it makes her sicker to watch Paige and Griffin frolic and mess around with each other the entire time than it does to inhale the fumes for four hours.
It doesn't last much longer, though. A few days after the Martha Stewart special, Paige and Griffin are no longer an item. Paige seems a little down, but not overly distressed and Ellie knows that all those nights she spent listening to every little sound Paige made in the throes of passion were meaningless, gratuitous sex. She knows that she can make it better. And she intents to.
--
She waits in the open doorway of her bedroom one night for nearly fifteen minutes before Paige finally comes upstairs. The blonde looks slightly startled when she notices Ellie's mysteriously imposing presence.
"Ellie, what's up?" she asks curiously. Ellie merely shakes her head. She's too overcome by a strange carelessness to any possible consequences. "Okay. See you in the morning."
Before she can turn, Ellie grabs her arm, causing Paige to look up to her almost timidly. Ellie drinks in the expression, feeding the fire in her stomach. She pulls Paige closer to her, bodies bumping together slightly. The blonde exhales sharply, staring up at Ellie unblinkingly almost as though captivated by her forwardness.
Ellie lets her fingertips run lightly down Paige's cheek, nails grazing her bottom lip. She poses a silent question to Paige, who answers by stepping them back into the darkness of Ellie's bedroom. Ellie leans in, lips hovering just above Paige's as she takes a moment to just smell her, her hair, her breath, and the last traces of today's lip gloss.
When she kisses Paige it's not demanding, not soft or chaste. It conveys the extent of her feeling, every night spent wishing, every morning spent loathing that smile on Griffin's face so that when she pulls away Paige asks "How long?"
"Too long," Ellie replies breathily, fingers playing at the hem of Paige's shirt.
"Not anymore," Paige whispers, kissing Ellie once more.
It's not necessarily the bliss that Ellie thought it might be, though afterwards she knows that expectation was childish to begin with. It's never bliss, just varying degrees of satisfaction. And it's very satisfying, pushing a half-naked Paige onto your bed, having her pull you on top of her like she needs you there, feeling her hands run over your skin, searching for release. Not bliss, but enough to make Ellie go back for more.
And in the morning, Ellie doesn't have a smirk on her face. She's too busy listening to the noises she makes Paige make for the umpteenth time.