Pretty Little Liars 1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Emison is by far my favourite pairing from the show which is why I wanted to write a fic. However, this is my first one so I'd really appreciate any feedback. I'm from England, so I might use some phrases which don't make sense to some of you (please let me know!) and I also apologise for any inconsistencies when it comes to schooling, the American education system will forever confuse the crap out of me.**

**Just some background, none of the 5 girls know each other and CeCe is the same age as Ali and the others. There is no A. Like I said, I'd really appreciate any feedback! :')**

* * *

Her alarm clock's shrill ring pierced the air for the fourth time that morning, resulting in Alison deciding to finally leave her bed – albeit begrudgingly. She made her way into the bathroom, seemingly unfazed by the fact that she'd overslept by an hour. A familiar voice laced with annoyance called her name from downstairs.

"Yes mom, I am aware of what time it is. As I am about the day of the week. Technology really is mind-blowing these days." Alison shouted back, rolling her eyes.

She could almost hear her mum sighing in exasperation from here. It always thrilled Alison to have the upper hand.

* * *

Half an hour later, she stood in front of her full length mirror, inspecting her appearance to ensure she was without any imperfection. So called female role models were liars as far as Alison was concerned. Imperfection wasn't beauty – imperfection was weakness. Beauty was in strength, in fierceness and the ability to win. And no one knew how to be a victor as flawlessly as Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

Walking down the hallways, Alison went about her business in the same way as usual. She directed flirtatious smiles in the direction of the handsome jocks, she feigned compliments at a few wannabe girls – and she reminded some of the trash of their exact status at the school.

A figure lightly bumped Alison's shoulder as she made her way down the corridor.

"Watch where you're walking!" Alison snapped, angling herself to study the face of the clumsy fool. She smirked in recognition.

"Oh no, how many times do I have to tell you? When it comes to right of way in these hallways, we follow a hierarchy. "She spoke in mock sweetness, dragging out every syllable as if her mere demeanor wasn't patronising enough.

She took a step closer to the quivering mess before her, a small crowd beginning to form as she prepared to launch a major blow.

"You see," she continued. "It goes Alison, jocks, cheerleaders, dogs, vermin…hermaphrodites." She finished, raising her voice at the latter. Their surrounding peers sniggered, while Lucas stared at his feet, as if there were some fascinating artefact on his worn Converses.

"S-sorry Alison, I'm s-so sor-" He stammered, lips quivering as beads of sweat began to form above his brows. The sniggers turned into an eruption of laughter as Lucas pushed through the crowd and bolted down the hallways before being subject to any further embarrassment.

Alison basked in the stares of admiration and commendations on her episode as the crowd began to dissipate. Occurrences such as this were merely a spot on her daily routine – she exercised her full power wherever she went. There was nothing about Alison that didn't evoke awe. She wasn't just your average blonde-hair-blue-eyes pretty popular girl, she was a queen. It would be insulting to describe her luscious locks as blonde – they were golden. And her eyes, they were oceans with depth beyond anyone's imagination – but they were icy guarded all at the same time. Alison Dilaurentis was an enigma, and there wasn't a guy – or girl who wasn't dying to unravel the mystery that she was.

* * *

"Late to school but still time for a little Hermie-roasting, you're practically superwoman!" her current best friend and side kick CeCe gushed excitedly as they made their way to class. Alison internally rolled her eyes at her try-hard attitude. She flashed CeCe her signature smirk as she replied.

"That was just prep, I haven't even turned on the heat yet."

Alison drowned out the rest of CeCe's blabbering as they neared her English class. She'd become an expert at tuning in just as people may have become suspicious of her ignorance. She was an expert at feeding them phony reassurance that she was concerned about their every whim, although she frankly had more interest in American history – and her teacher could easily tell you how little that was.

"Sure CeCe, he's probably dying to ask you out – but maybe you should tone it down on the foundation. After all..that," she gestured towards the taller blonde's face. "is your face and not a colouring book." Her tone was still sweet, but CeCe took the hint. Their conversation was over, it was Alison's decree.

* * *

Mr. Fitz walked into the class a couple of minutes after Alison had made her ever hotly anticipated arrival. He scribbled a few notes on the board before turning to face the students. She paid little attention to his words as he most likely rambled on about something ridiculous, like love or feelings. English as a subject to study made little sense to Alison. She loved to read, to escape reality if even just for a while. To be transported to another person's world. She also loved to write – to recount her greatest conquests, even though she did admittedly exaggerate them. But Alison would never understand an English teacher's need to dissect a text to such great extents. Because come on, if a writer says that 'The curtains were red,' then Mr. Fitz would suggest that this room was one filled passion, love and angst. He would probably go on to suggest that the owner of the room felt happy or elated when the room was decorated. But do you know what Alison thought the writer meant? That the curtains were fucking red.

"..And so, this is going to be a project that I want you to work on in pairs." She heard the teacher say as she escaped her thoughts. She felt a familiar gaze that was of Noel Kahn on her. Alison met his eye and half smiled. He slipped her a wink.

"..but yeah, I'd like to get some new interaction going – so your new seating plan and assigned partners are up on the board." Mr. Fitz finished, earning a chorus of groans from the class.

"This is a literary masterpiece!" he exclaimed, holding his hands up in defence. "I'm sure you're all going to enjoy the project." He paused as he was met with looks along the lines of 'yeah, right' by his students.

"Well, this is something you'll need to work on outside of class too, so at least you can count on no extra assignments for the next few weeks?" he attempted meekly. Accompanied by another chorus of groans, the class was filled with the sound of scraping chairs and shuffling as they repositioned themselves according to the new chart. Alison stayed in her seat, nonchalant as always. Alison didn't go to people, they came to her.

The blonde didn't turn to the figure that took the seat next to her, she instead continued to buff her nails while the rest of the class got to work.

"H-hey, I'm Emily.." came a female's voice from beside her. The voice was tentative, shaky. Alison could already feel the control that she was in as she turned her head slightly. Her new partner was a tan skinned brunette who she quickly racked her brain to search for some dirt on. Alison's brain was basically a mind palace of secrets and gossip, insecurities that she could use to manipulate anyone she wanted, whenever she wanted. It was only when the girl spoke again that Alison realised she had no recognition of Emily whatsoever.

"It's nice to meet you," Emily smiled, holding out her hand for Alison to shake. The blonde looked down at the other girl's hand, wearing a sour expression on her face as though she had contagious leprosy. The brunette's smile wavered and then quickly disappeared as she allowed her hand to fall.

"Whatever." Alison finally returned, dismissively. She always hated projects where teachers selected their partners for fear of being lumbered with an obvious dork such as Emily. Not fear – Alison reminded herself. Alison Dilaurentis was fearless. She knew that her face communicated her distaste, and she sure as hell intended for things to be that way. The blonde turned abruptly to Emily who was fidgeting uncomfortably beside her.

Locking eyes with the brunette and injecting a moderate dose of venom into her voice, she began. "We work on this on my schedule. When I summon you, you respond to me. You don't speak to me until I speak to you. I happen to need this grade so better not be slacking." She paused to check that her words were registering with the other girl. Sure enough, her eyes betrayed hints of shock, her mouth slightly agape. Alison continued, her tone still stealthy,

"And DON'T for a second assume that this makes us friends." She scoffed at the last word, rising from her seat as the bell rang, perfectly timed for a typically dramatic Ali D exit. The blonde sashayed away without another glance in her victim's direction, who sat completely perplexed. A small part of her was in utter shock that someone could be so conceited whilst the rational part of her was completely expecting Alison's hostility judging by her reputation. She wondered if the blonde's attitude towards her would soften throughout the course of their project, before mentally slapping herself at such an absurd prospect. Alison Dilaurentis didn't change for anybody.

* * *

**I know the scene where Emison meet isn't very descriptive but that's because even though this chapter is written in the third person, it's sort of most Ali orientated - and I wanted to stress that she doesn't find anything about Emily (or anyone else) very intriguing. Yet... ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Again, I realise you might feel like this story is moving real slow and there hasn't been any cheesy Emison scenes as of yet - but I'd like to capture the fact that these things - realistically - take time. Thanks! :)**

**Also, does any other UK PLL fan feel my frustration of having to wait a day to watch the newepisodes? aghhhhhh.**

* * *

Emily stretched out her legs and leaned against her favourite tree in an attempt to get comfortable. This was and had always been her choice spot for lunch, breaks or frankly, any period of time she had to spend in school that wasn't in a classroom. She enjoyed that it was secluded, on school grounds but far enough from the building to get away from the gossip that its walls encased. At this current moment in time though, it was the place that she'd finally begin reading Great Expectations, the latest text her English teacher had assigned.

Emily loved studying English as an academic subject. She furiously tried to understand the depths behind a writers simple words, ad believed that there was always more than the surface led you to believe. She loved that books could contain love, hate, anguish, fear, strength and so much more all at the same time.

"We need to talk." Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice that sounded bored, yet all too familiar. Brown eyes met blue as Emily raised her head to greet Alison.

"Hi," the brunette offered pleasantly, shuffling over and removing her books to make room for the blonde to sit down.

Alison remained standing, with one hand her hip. She let out an exasperated sigh and began tapping her foot impatiently. The brunette quickly realised that Alison's manners hadn't improved since their last conversation – if you could call it that – and cleared her throat.

"We're meeting up at my house to work on our English assignment tomorrow after school. Be there at 6." The standing girl said bluntly. She glanced down at the book at Emily's hands and her expression shifted slightly.

"Good, you've started it. That makes one of us." She smirked as if sharing some inside joke with herself. Emily just nodded; there was something about Alison that told you that negotiation wasn't an option.

"What are you, mute?" snapped Alison. Emily almost tutted, ever confused by Alison's bipolar nature. However she thought better of it, feeling a rush of intimidation as the blonde beauty towered over her.

"No Alis-" she began, only to be cut off once again.

"Whatever," came the automatic reply. Emily watched the entire time as the blonde girl retreated back to her bench. It's exactly that, she thought to herself – 'her bench'. Taking in her immaculate appearance, it was impossible not to find her attractive. Emily couldn't decide if she found Alison to be beautiful – as she'd always believed that attractiveness and beauty were two entirely different concepts. Watching as the queen bee took her seat and effortlessly seemed to be re-engulfed into the conversation, the brunette decided that Alison was beautiful. She just didn't always see it.

Emily had watched all the movies – she knew there was a status quo in high school, but she couldn't help but wonder about Alison. Some part of Emily was sure that no one, not even Alison Dilaurentis could be as cruel as the movie-mean-girls could. They were exaggerated, evil even. And Emily didn't believe that evil existed. No one, not even Alison Dilaurentis was beyond redemption.

* * *

"What were you doing talking to _her_?" CeCe whined as Alison re-took her seat. The high school queen raised a perfectly kept eyebrow. She didn't like to be questioned.

"I mean, that shit could be contagious." CeCe giggled, earning a few laughs from the other populars at the table.

"What are you talking about?" Alison demanded, her tone all business. CeCe's expression was somewhere between amused and gleeful. She always felt thrilled to feed Ali with information. It kept them close.

"The fact that she's _gay_, Ali!" CeCe squealed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The fact was – it should have been. That was jackpot blackmail material that Alison Dilaurentis should have had stored somewhere in her mind palace. Why hadn't she? Alison snapped back to the present, shaking off her momentary uneasiness.

"Well, looks like my new English partner's next to be roasted." Alison flashed a smirk at the other blonde girl who beamed in return.

"She's probably already has fantasies you," Noel Kahn chimed in. "Well, some parts of you more than others, if you know what I mean." He winked suggestively, causing the other males to erupt with laughter and pat him on the back.

Alison rolled her eyes at their immaturity. _All that testosterone, and not a sheep in sight_, she thought to retort, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. The blonde filtered out their meaningless drivel as she collected her thoughts about what she'd just found out. Emily hadn't gotten on her nerves too much as of yet, but if she did step out line, Alison had her leverage to shut her up. Alison Dilaurentis could silence anybody.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter turned out a lot longer than I intended it to..but thanks for being patient with me! I'm glad some of you enjoyed the first couple of chapters despite the fact they're slow moving. I appreciate the reviews :)**

Emily tied her hair back into a pony tail and stuffed her copy of Great Expectations into her back before heading downstairs.

"Em, honey, is that you?" Her mum called as she heard her daughter's descending footsteps. Emily entered the kitchen and gave her mother a warm smile.

"Oh, I didn't realise you were heading out. Are you studying at Spencer's tonight?" the older woman pressed.

"Actually I have this project that I'm working on with partners that our teacher assigned.." Emily began. Her mother sensed the hesitation in the young girl's voice and proceeded to ask:

"Oh, and do you not like your partner?"

"Not exactly, it's just..my partner is Alison." Emily replied weakly.

"Alison as in Alison Dilaurentis?" Mrs. Fields asked, a little surprised. Emily merely nodded in response. The Dilaurentis family were pillars of the Rosewood community, and Emily's mother was not immune to Alison's charm.

A huge grin broke across Mrs. Fields' face as she registered what her daughter had told her.

"Oh Em, that's wonderful! Alison is so active around here, you're going to make so many new friends!" she gushed, mistaking Emily's dread for a mere case of the jitters.

Emily didn't have the heart to cut off her mother as she rambled on some more about Alison's shining reputation, until she noticed the clock striking six o'clock.

"Okay mum, I really have to go, love you!" She said quickly before exiting the house.

* * *

She took a deep breath as she walked across the street. The walk between her own and the Dilaurentis' household was only 3 minutes, and at this current moment, Emily wished it were longer. She had replayed the two very short conversations she had so far engaged in with Alison and analysed them in excruciating detail. She laughed internally at herself, _I'm almost as anal as Spencer._

Spencer Hastings was Emily's best – and probably only friend. She was also Alison Dilaurentis' neighbour, and had deeply sympathised with Emily when she learned of their new study arrangement. The youngest Hastings child had even planned out a meticulous escape route for her friend, in case Alison became too unbearable. She always did things in typical Spencer-style, and Emily couldn't help but love her fiercely for it.

Emily had also made a decision when it came to Alison. Mrs. Fields had always taught her daughter to be patient and willing to understand people, as not everyone was as fortunate as they were. Emily had fully absorbed this, and was always very thorough before making judgements about people she engaged with. But although the brunette had been taught that she was never to be anything but polite, she wasn't a pushover. She'd spent her years in the closet having her own subconscious bully her into submission – and she sure as hell wasn't about to go back there with the likes of Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

The door to the Dilaurentis house was opened by a lean, middle aged man dressed in a crisp black suit who Emily assumed was the family's butler. He ushered her inside house as she began to explain who she was here to see.

The man nodded in understanding and spoke as he led the girl into the family kitchen.

"My name is Marcello," his tone was warm but professional – his accent a thick Italian one. he gave the brunette a small smile before leaving her in the kitchen. Emily took a second to absorb the huge room before her, the cabinets a glossy black with thick, marble worktops. Most of the appliances seemed to be mounds of glossy black that Emily could imagine no purpose for. All at once she understood the hysteria that surrounded Dilaurentis house parties.

"Hello there, you must be here for Jason." Emily was snapped out of her thoughts by the voice of Mrs. Dilaurentis. The young brunette smiled at the woman, who was dressed in a smart silk shirt with tailored trousers – stylishly accessorised with a pale scarf around her neck.

"Actually no, I'm here to study with Alison." she explained.

"Oh.." Mrs. D raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry." She quickly offered, realising she had paused.

"You just don't look like the type of friends my daughter chooses to keep." It was her turn to explain.

Emily shuffled and looked down at her feet uncomfortably, gluing her eyes to her grey Vans. She herself was perfectly aware that she wasn't friends with Alison, she hadn't realised she was wearing a tattoo of the fact that Mrs. D could see. Mrs. Dilaurentis seemed to notice the deflation in Emily's stance and she quickly motioned for the girl to sit.

"I don't mean any offence, of course. In fact I'm offering you a compliment, Alison doesn't exactly know what good company is." She sighed, placing a hand on Emily's arm apologetically.

"No offence taken," she reassured her, genuinely. "I'm actually just here because we have a project we were meant to be working on together, for English."

"Oh, I see! Alison usually works with a girl named CeCe on projects like that," Mrs. D replied, sounding less than pleased.

"..which reminds me, where are my manners? I haven't even asked you your name. You probably want to leave before you've even started studying!" She continued, her tone apologetic.

_I do want to leave, but I can guarantee you aren't the reason,_ Emily thought to herself.

"Of course not, Mrs. Dilaurentis. I'm looking forward to it. I'm Emily Fields, by the way." She replied, smiling again at the woman. She had always wondered if Alison's lack of manners were a reflection of her parents, but so far that theory seemed to be completely disproven. Mrs. Dilaurentis continued to ask the girl some questions about herself before the conversation was abruptly halted.

"You're late." Alison stated as she entered the kitchen, her tone cold. Emily looked down at her phone and then turned to the blonde.

"It's 6:07." She laughed in response.

Alison wasn't amused.

"I told you to be here at 6."

"Oh sure honey, Emily arrived 5 minutes ago," Mrs. Dilaurentis chimed in. Alison shot her mother an icy glare before locking eyes with Emily.

"That would still mean you got here at 6.02." she pressed. Emily opened her mouth to retort but Alison beat her to it. Alison allowed blue to hold brown before she turned around and began to make her way out of the room.

"Whatever," she spat, and Emily felt an unwelcome wave of déjà vu.

"Follow me." The blonde commanded, and the brunette felt intimidated into obliging despite the fact that she wasn't even looking at Alison. Nobody said no to Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

"Your room is amazing. As is the rest of your house from what I saw of it. You have a beautiful ho-" Emily wondered if she was going to be able to utter a full sentence in the presence of this girl.

"Skip the pleasantries and sit down." Alison said, her tone obviously bored. The blonde sat on her bed and stretched out her legs. Emily took a step towards the bed and then paused. She had promised herself that she would leave tonight making sure that Alison knew she wouldn't be able to take her for a fool. She figured she may as well nip this thing in the bud.

"Look," she began, folding her arms across her chest and taking a breath. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to me like I'm a dog-"

"I tend not to have conversations with dogs, actually." Alison shot back, indifferently.

"You know what I mean!" Emily's tone was more impatient than she intended.

"We don't have a choice but to study together for a while. You don't have to like it, but there isn't much we can do. So just please, for both of our sakes, let's just try to…be productive.." The brunette's voice began to falter as she became aware that Alison had left the bed and was now standing directly opposite her as she delivered her speech. A smirk played across the blonde's lips.

"Go ahead, continue. Honestly everything you have to say is so riveting." Alison belittled. The blonde's voice was calm, she seemed entirely unfazed. Emily felt anger rise within her, but she kept her voice level.

"Listen," the brunette tried again, more forcefully. "I know you don't like me, and I know that you don't like this arrangement. I know you aren't used to-"

"What makes you think you know so much about me?" Emily realised that this time, the tone of the interruption was curious rather than cold. It was at this point too that taller girl realised that neither of them had broken eye contact and she struggled to shake a familiar uneasiness that crept over her.

"Well, you're Alison Dilaurentis.." she blurted out pathetically, and Emily hated how soft her tone had become.

The blonde retreated to the bed and sighed as if feigning pity for the other girl. She began flicking through a magazine, completely nonchalant as if there had been no exchange between the pair of them. Emily sat down and began removing some papers from her bag, assuming it was a closed conversation.

"Honey, not even the people that know me know me." the blonde sing songed. Her tone was distant, but not in the harsh way that it usually was. It was more the voice of someone preoccupied with more important thoughts.

And as the two girls spent the next hour or so scribbling down notes in near-silence, realisation dawned upon the taller of the two girls. She wasn't at all happy about it, but Emily Fields wanted to know Alison Dilaurentis.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks again for being patient with the pace of the story - do let me know if you have any ideas for future chapters, I'm far from immune from the dreaded writer's block. Enjoy the chapter :')**

* * *

Alison pushed the door to her locker shut with more force than necessary, a sign to CeCe that their conversation had ended. She parted with the other girl as she headed to a particular tree outside of the school. The feisty blonde hadn't had a conversation with her English partner since their confrontation a couple of nights ago. Alison wasn't even sure if she could call it a confrontation – the brunette had been so quick to back down. They'd spent the rest of the evening barely saying a word to each other, and when they did, Emily made no complaints about Alison's hostility. While the blonde was satisfied with crushing any competition, she couldn't help but be curious as to how far the taller girl would have gone to get her point across.

It hadn't helped that Mrs. Dilaurentis had spent dinner that night singing Emily's praises. Referencing her good manners, how pretty she was. Alison couldn't help but snort at the latter. Emily struck her as nothing more than average, if that.

Alison had found that despite not speaking with Emily, her thoughts had drifted to her more often than she was comfortable with over the last few days. She didn't expect that she would get any more trouble from her. The girl didn't seem to have much of a backbone. But she still couldn't help but wonder..

She wasn't even sure what she was wondering about. Physically shaking her head to clear her mind, she perfected her signature, impassive expression as she spotted Emily sitting in the spot where Alison knew she'd be.

* * *

"Alison..." the brunette hesitated sensing a shadow looming over her.

"How's it going?" The blonde asked, casually before taking a seat against the tree beside the other girl. She stretched out her legs and let her hands lie in her lap as she looked at Emily expectantly. The tanned girl's expression was confused, but not angry.

"Not great really," she gestured to the Biology textbook in her lap. "I never thought mitochondria would prove to be this important."

"Pity, I don't speak geek," Alison teased, but there was no menace in her voice. The blonde could tell that Emily was surprised as she let out a nervous laugh.

"So, how are you?" Emily asked after a minute, with a smile. Her question made Alison realise that she couldn't remember the last time someone had asked her that. The friends – or acquaintances that Ali had didn't usually bother with questions she found so trivial. They usually jumped straight to gossip, the good stuff. Alison couldn't even remember the appropriate response. She shrugged, nonchalant before proceeding with a question of her own.

"You want to start writing up that assignment after school today? Your place or mine?" She smirked after realising how suggestive the last part sounded, _probably more so considering her sexuality_, the blonde thought to herself.

Emily's smile widened as she replied:

"Actually, I can't tonight," she explained. "I have a date."

Alison scoffed, "Who asked a plain Jane like you out on a date?" her tone had lost its humour and was more of a sneer. The brunette's face dropped as she looked down at her lap, fidgeting with her fingers. She had been wondering how long this mock politeness from the ice queen would last. It hadn't even been five minutes.

"Well?" the blonde pressed, for a reason that even she wasn't sure.

"It really isn't any of your business." Emily replied after a pause while gathering up her books in preparation to flee. She felt the other girl stand up just after she did so herself. Alison spoke again just as the taller girl began to walk away.

"Wait," she said firmly, but it wasn't a demand. Emily cursed herself internally for turning around, and looked expectantly at the blonde.

"Give me your phone," she said. She continued quickly as Emily opened her mouth to protest. "I can just text you when we need to arrange a study date."

Alison could have kicked herself right there at her terrible choice of words and she could feel a faint blush creeping up her neck. Her ego swelled just a little when she noticed that Emily's tanned face was a more furious shade of red. The taller girl fumbled around in her bag to retrieve her phone, avoiding looking at the blonde's face. Alison saved her number in the other girl's phone and called her own phone so she could do the same. As Alison returned the girl's phone, their fingers brushed together ever so slightly, and Emily recoiled quickly from the contact. The brunette rushed to apologise, out of polite habit and Alison could already feel that she had forgiven her for her earlier rudeness.

* * *

As Emily hurriedly walked away as the bell sounded, Alison considered how she couldn't even manage five minutes without making a snide remark. This was generally an ability that she revelled in, it reminded people of who was in charge. She was used to wiping the smile off her unsuspecting victims' faces, and yet when Emily's face fell, Alison didn't feel the same rush of accomplishment she usually did. As she re-entered the school building, she vowed to be more cautious around the girl the next time they spoke. Nobody was going to guilt trip Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

Emily zipped up her dress and sat in front of her mirror in order to make her face up for her date. It had come as quite a shock, when Paige, a girl and usually her rival on the school swim team had approached her with the intention of a date. The tanned brunette didn't really keep friends – with the exception of Spencer, and had had little interaction with Paige or any of her other teammates. However she'd been happy to accept the invitation, she'd begun to feel quite excited.

Emily sighed as she looked at her 'plain Jane' face in the mirror. _Her opinion doesn't even matter to you_, she reminded herself internally. Studying her features, she couldn't help but feel that Alison was right, though. She had an angular jaw and limp brown hair. And then there were her eyes, brown too. Emily had always felt that brown eyes were a bore. They didn't have the same intensity that blue eyes have, some blue eyes more than others…

She shook thoughts of Alison as she reminded herself that she was preparing for a date with Paige. Emily wasn't one for heavy make up, so it didn't take her long. She retrieved her hairband and tied her long hair back, into a high pony tail just as her phone vibrated.

Emily was shocked to see that the notification was from Alison, only she had saved her name as 'Ali'. The brunette knew that it was silly to get caught up on a minor detail like this – but she couldn't help but feel spec- _Stop,_ she told herself. _That's the kind of thing Alison does to make people feel like they're special so she can exploit them._ Emily wasn't going to fall into that, but she read the text anyway:

**Wear your hair down tonight. You'll look prettier.**

**Ali.**

No greeting, no emoticons. Just a command that Emily could practically hear Alison barking out. The brunette suppressed the annoyance that she felt building up inside her as she debated whether or not to reply. Alison wasn't her friend, her family or anything more that implied that she had the right to order her around, least of all when it came to her appearance? _Who does she think she is?_ Emily fumed internally. She eventually concluded that replying was a bad idea, deciding that she wouldn't let the impolite blonde put a downer on her evening.

After grabbing her belongings and stepping out of her bedroom door, Emily hesitated. Walking back into her bedroom, she stood once again in front of her mirror. She pulled the hairband out of her hair and let her hair hang loose. She almost gasped at the difference, and wanted to kick herself for what she did next. Emily left the hairband on her desk and waited downstairs.

As she waited for Paige to arrive, Emily wasn't sure whether she hated herself or Alison more. But if she wasn't aware of this before, she sure as hell knew it now.

Nobody said no to Alison Dilaurentis.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I've realised that in this chapter, and those previous, not much action happens at all. That's because I enjoy and feel a lot more comfortable both reading and writing through a person's feelings and thoughts, and am not great with actual 'stuff' that happens. So if anyone has any ideas, please do let me know, I'd appreciate it. **

**Enjoy the update. :')**

* * *

The next week or so, Alison Dilaurentis seemed to be on her best – or possibly most dangerous behaviour around Emily Fields. Although their English project had seemed to take a backseat the two girls had studied Maths together for three hours, on three consecutive days after school. Both girls, though neither would vocally admit it, found the wretched subject a touch away from enjoyable when they were battling it together. Emily had been impressed, proud even at the fact that they had been able to revel in each other's company without a snide remark from either of them. The brunette had hoped that her date with Paige would be the start of something special, with the sordid intention of proving Alison wrong. However as their time together became less strained, she'd sought relief in admitting that the entire date had been a nightmare that she had no plans to revisit.

If Emily hadn't been surprised enough at Alison's calm nature in her presence, she was somewhat astounded when the blonde girl confided in her that she was utterly bored by Noel Kahn. The brunette, like the rest of the school had been under the impression that they were, despite being casual – Rosewood High's 'it' couple.

* * *

Alison's admission hadn't just shocked Emily. The blonde herself had struggled to understand why she felt comfortable with sharing such a close kept piece of information with a girl she barely knew. But despite barely knowing her, she felt that the brunette had touched parts of her persona that none of her 'friends' even knew existed. She felt conflicted as to why she felt at ease with a girl who she knew very well had never been her biggest fan. Nobody loathed confusion as much as Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

While Emily couldn't deny that she was glad for the glimpses of humanity Alison seemed willing to show her, she couldn't help but feel saddened when she passed the blonde in the school hallways. Despite Emily seeming to be safe from her wrath, Alison was still keen to rip apart those without the courage to retaliate while basking in sickening appreciation from her clique.

* * *

The youngest Dilaurentis child sashayed nonchalantly into her English class, despite being ten minutes late. The teacher spoke out as the class turned to watch her enter.

"Ms. Dilaurentis, you're late." His voice was clearly expectant, waiting for an excuse.

"Fashionably, as always." The blonde flashed him her brilliant smile as she took her seat beside Emily. She smirked again as Mr. Fitz went back to reading the stack of papers on his desk, leaving the class to their own devices.

* * *

"I only have a couple chapters left of the book," Emily began. Alison turned her attention to the girl beside her. The corner of the blonde's mouth turned up in a smirk as she took in Emily's hair, flowing loosely and freely past her shoulders. Alison watched, amused as Emily's face shifted from defensive – to indecisive, before giving in to the smile which finally broke onto her face. The blue eyed girl couldn't help but notice how her smile wasn't forced or rehearsed like her own. Instead, it was entirely genuine – almost, and reached the brunette's deep brown eyes. Alison had always found brown eyes to be comforting, and warm. They didn't frighten people quite in the way that her own blue ones did. Unintentionally, and somewhat automatically in response Alison felt her own smirk become a smile too.

"I haven't actually started it yet," Alison finally admitted, focusing on her surroundings. "I figured I could watch the movie, since the assignment is a comparison." She continued to defend her incompetence as Emily sighed.

The brunette smiled at her attempt and shook her head.

"The main character is an orphan named Pip, and in a nutshell, the plot follows his rise to wealth." Emily started to explain.

"Great. So I just need to listen to Drake's 'Started from the Bottom' on repeat. I won't even need to watch the movie at this rate." Alison couldn't resist interrupting.

"Well I did say in a nutshell, there are lots more themes we can talk about." Emily replied evenly, but both girls knew she was amused.

"Enlighten me then, what moral does Mr. Dickens want to portray?" the blonde asked, her tone still playful.

Emily cleared her throat and began rummaging through her notes before speaking again.

"Well, the social historical context would imply that-"

"No." the blonde interrupted her again with a shake of her head. "What did you take from the book?" She rephrased her question, her gaze intent and her tone laced with interest. It dawned upon Alison that she wasn't feigning her curiosity – she was genuinely intrigued about what  
Emily had to say, and judging by the expression on the brunette's face, this was as surprising to her as it was to the other girl.

"I guess I just felt like Dickens wanted us to know that loyalty and affection are always more important than social status and class, you know?" Emily said sheepishly, finding it difficult to voice her thoughts coherently for a reason that she wasn't sure of.

"And do _you_ believe that?" Alison asked, with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Of course," Emily confirmed, without any hesitation. The blonde half nodded, she'd expected nothing less than the reply she got. She couldn't help but internally scoff at the brunette's naivety, but for a reason she couldn't fathom chose not to voice this.

"And what does our friend Pip make of your conclusion?" she asked instead.

The taller girl began to gather her papers and kept her eyes on the desk as she responded.

"Pip and I are in agreement. He fell off the wagon a bit, you know, got a little lost," Emily paused and looked at the girl beside her before continuing.

"But he found his way back. You know, there's always a way back." She finished, her tone gentle and Alison became fully aware that they weren't talking about Pip anymore. Blue eyes held brown for a few moments as the blonde deliberated over Emily's words. As the bell began to ring, Emily watched and couldn't help but feel disappointment wash over her as the expression on the other girl's face became distant and cold once again in an instant. It was almost as if the bell had reminded Alison of who she was – hell, it had reminded Emily of who Alison was.

* * *

A few hours later, Emily scanned the library bookshelves for a reference copy of a biology textbook she was in desperate need of. As she continued to search, she heard a melodic laugh from the next row. Considering this was a library and laughter seemed somewhat out of place, the brunette let her curiosity get the better of her and turned the corner.

She was pleasantly caught off guard to find Alison sitting cross legged in the middle of the isle, fully engrossed in, and clearly amused by a copy of Great Expectations. Taking in the ratio of read pages to those left to read, Emily guessed that Alison was only a couple of pages from completion.

"What's so funny?" Emily asked, with a small smile.

Alison looked up, a little startled.

"Their names. Pip, Mr. Wopsle…Uncle Pumblechook. They all sound like stuffed animals." The blonde's amusement was clearly still at its peak as she replied, chuckling, her tone childishly animated.

Emily laughed with her as she crouched down to sit beside the blonde girl. She gestured to the lack of pages left to read before speaking.

"I can't believe you've almost finished it," she commented. Alison shrugged in response, changing the subject. The blonde girl gently stroked a strand of Emily's hair between her fingers before letting it fall back over her shoulders.

"You should totally let me braid your hair sometime," she suggested, a light smile playing across her lips.

Emily looked down at her hands, knowing all too well that a blush was beginning to creep onto her cheeks.

"Oh sure, the more religiously I follow your fashion advice, the closer I'll get to finding my soul mate, right?" she replied, jokingly as she looked back up at the blonde.

Alison's eyes gleamed and her was sweet as she looked right back at the brunette.

"Classic Emily. You're big on happy endings," she stated, her voice soft and dripping with fondness. She looked down at her book as she continued.

"So's Dickens, by the way. Pip gets Estella in the end."

Emily didn't feel obliged to reply. She remembered the first horrific attempt to study with Alison, and the uncomfortable silence that had suffocated her for the majority of the evening. Despite the occasion being only a couple of weeks prior, the brunette had become accustomed to silence with Alison – however any discomfort had evaporated. They had both been perfectly content to study together, without conversation – with both girls sneaking minute glances at each other at regular intervals. Rarely, but surely, the two heads would turn simultaneously, both girls cheeks displaying a deeper shade of red as this occurrence became more frequent. In summary, Emily felt that silence had become a symbol of a truce between her and Alison.

"Can I read you something?" Alison's question shook the Emily from her thoughts. The brunette nodded.

"**I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace…against hope, against happiness. Against all discouragement there could be.**" Her voice was gentle; almost a whisper, as she read and she could feel Emily hanging on to every word. The blonde had noticed that Emily always seemed to pay close attention to her as she spoke. She was perfectly used to being showered with attention, but something in Emily's transfixed gaze was different – honest.

"Did you get to that part yet?" Alison questioned, after a moment. Again, Emily nodded, still staring intently at the blonde. Emily could feel herself leaning closer to Alison, almost subconsciously. Every ounce of restraint in Emily's body seemed to be asleep as she willed herself to pull away. This shouldn't be happening, she thought to herself. Emily Fields, stop wha-

"Do we need to take this girl down a few notches, Ali?"

The two sitting girls jerked back instantly at the sound of Noel Kahn's voice. He was accompanied by a blonde who Emily had pegged as CeCe Drake.

"We were just t-talking..." Emily felt the need to defend herself, despite knowing she had done nothing wrong.

"Oh, please!" CeCe sneered. "Ali doesn't talk to people who dress like that, right Ali." She eyeballed Emily's simplistic appearance, grimacing. But Emily didn't care enough to feel self-conscious due to CeCe. Her eyes were glued to Alison as she stood up to stand beside her two friends. Alison looked down at the brunette and paused before responding. Emily's insides began to twist as she saw the familiar shift in Alison's expression.

"Absolutely. Where did you get that t-shirt anyway? Homos-R-Us?" Alison taunted, her icy tone sounding so alien compared to what it was just a few minutes prior. The popular blonde felt an instant twinge of regret as she saw her English partner's face immediately fall. She felt the guilt heighten as she saw a familiar expression on Emily's face – it was a look that Alison had expertly perfected. The tanned girl had stiffened her upper lip and her eyes became distant as she put up a wall that Alison felt only she could see. Unfortunately for Emily, she hadn't quite mastered masking her emotions, and she wasn't quick enough to hide a flash of bitter disappointment that Alison tried her hardest to ignore.

* * *

The threesome's laughter rang in Emily's ears as once again, she watched Alison walk away from her. A rush of defeat swept over her as she forced herself to believe it once and for all:

There was no way back for Alison Dilaurentis.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm really glad that some of you seem to be enjoying this. Apologies in advance as my grammar is pretty apalling and I haven't proofread this well. I'll correct anything later, but do let me know if any errors jump out at you. Thanks again for reviewing, and enjoy the update. :)**

* * *

The weekend after their library passed with agonising difficulty for Alison Dilaurentis. The nonchalant blonde was entirely sure she had never experienced what she was feeling right now. And when trying to process what it was that she was feeling, it bothered her even more so to admit that she had no idea. Alison wasn't a homophobe. That was something that she knew for certain. What she didn't know was why she had felt the need to be so cruel to Emily in the presence of her friends, where she could so easily have put a stop to their teasing.

The truth of the way things worked at Rosewood High was that Alison's decree was final. If she wanted to engage in casual conversation with Emily in broad daylight, all she had to do was the say the word and not even CeCe or Noel could frown upon it. It frustrated her that she had chosen to endorse a bigoted opinion that wasn't even hers, instead of simply admitting that she enjoyed Emily's company.

And enjoy Emily's company, she did. The passing of the first weekend that they hadn't spoken since their unlikely alliance had formed had proven that. But the pride that Alison had held her back from apologising. Apologising would signify defeat, and nobody defeated Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

Emily leaned back against her pillows and rested her laptop on her long, toned legs. She was a conclusion away from completing her individual piece on Great Expectations, relieved at having one assignment off her mind. Just as the brunette began to type again after adjusting her position, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

She unlocked her phone to find the 32nd text she had received from Alison that weekend. Emily mentally slapped herself for having kept count while she skimmed through the message.

**How long are you going to give me the silent treatment? We have English first period.**

**-Ali**

Emily scoffed as she put down her phone without composing a reply, the same scenario that had followed every other message she'd gotten from the blonde over the last two days. They had started off vague, but touching remorseful. Alison had been insistent that 'they needed to talk' and she 'just wanted to explain'. Their tone had begun to change though, Alison's text becoming more teasing, and if Emily dared to admit – desperate.

* * *

But Emily Fields was no longer a soft touch. She had been subject to homophobia for far too long after she had plucked up the courage to come out, and not even Alison Dilaurentis was going to push her back into that closet. The brunette had endured months of sneers and judgemental looks from some of her swim team mates, with one of them beginning a nasty rumour about how their anchor was only on the team in order to eyeball the other girls in their swim suits. If the cruelty of teenagers wasn't enough to fuel Emily's inner turmoil, she had also been forced to suffer looks of disappointment and misunderstanding in the eyes of her mother when she had first embraced her sexuality.

She had spent much too long being suffocated by such anguish, and was now much too proud to revert to her former state. Emily was fully aware that there would always be small minded people who would sneer and taunt, but strangers didn't pose too much of a problem. The issues started to arise when the bigotry came from someone she could physically feel herself beginning to care about.

* * *

Alison took her usual seat and smoothened out the pleats on her coral skirt. She met Mr. Fitz's raised eyebrow with a smirk as she glanced at her phone, noting she was 4 minutes early to class. The blonde could fully accept that Emily was hurt by the comments she and her friends had made, but this was getting absurd. Patience was one attribute that Alison couldn't boast about, mainly because prior to now, she had never been forced to exercise it. Alison had ceased badgering the brunette with texts since the evening before, with the conviction that any friction between them would smoothen out once they had spoken in person.

* * *

The blonde glanced at her phone again to note the time was 9.01, and Mr. Fitz had begun rambling about deadlines for their assignments. She drummed her fingernails on the desk in front of her, watching the door and waiting for a particular brunette to rush through it. A twinge of panic arose within Alison as she was sure that Emily had never been late to their lessons before. She probably overslept, she scalded herself. She had to stop overthinking matters. But she felt like overthinking had been a common occurrence for her masterful brain since she and Emily had been conversing.

As the bell rang for next period, Alison involuntarily sat back in her chair, her expression blank for a few moments. She could barely even believe Emily had skipped a class just to avoid her. She had jumped to this conclusion because the timing seemed far too much of a coincidence for her absence to be of a regular excuse. As the blonde straightened up to leave the classroom with regained composure, she couldn't help but feel disappointment wash over her. As the feeling reached the pit of her stomach, she wondered how many times she had been the reason that Emily had felt this way.

* * *

The next day, Emily flopped down on Spencer's bed and sighed in contentment. She had completed over half of the assignments that she still had ample amount of time for. As Spencer began to complain about her pretentious sister and her fiancé, Emily felt her phone buzz on the bed next to her. The brunette of darker complexion groaned as she sat up to unlock her phone. She turned to meet Spencer's questioning gaze. Considering her friend's expression, the younger Hastings raised an eyebrow.

"Alison?" she asked knowingly. Emily nodded casually in return, keeping her face impassive as she tossed her phone over to her friend.

**Playing truant? This is getting ridiculous. Just come over and we can talk.**

Before either girl could comment, another message was received.

**Please. **

Spencer scoffed at the addition and shook her head. She had lived next door Alison Dilaurentis for as long as she could remember, and she saw nothing more than a manipulative serpent – with or without basic manners.

Although Emily had returned home after Alison and co had belittled her and given away nothing of her sour mood around her mother, she had confided in Spencer about the whole affair. As expected, the Hastings had launched with full speed into reminding her friend of the Alison Dilaurentis that everybody with half a brain knew and loathed. However she had been grateful when Spencer had listened sympathetically as she told her about the cracks in Alison's façade she felt like she had seen.

"Are you going to reply?" Spencer asked, sufficiently prepared to talk of her friend out of it if she showed any signs of softening towards the blonde.

"No." Emily replied quickly. "I'm sort of scared, Spence." She admitted after a pause.

Spencer shuffled closer to the taller girl and crossed her legs, her expression confused.

"Why are you afraid? She's doing all the chasing." She inquired, feeling satisfied about the last part.

Emily sighed and shrugged before responding.

"I'm just not sure what she'll do. Nobody ignores Alison Dilaurentis." Saying her full name had started to feel alien to Emily. That had been a formality, the term she'd use when referring to the blonde before they had ever had a conversation. In recent weeks, the brunette had allowed herself to refer to her as Ali - within the confines of her own brain, of course.

"Oh come off it, she'll have completely forgotten that you exist in a couple of days," Spencer said cheerily, placing her hand lightly on her friend's arm. Emily knew that she intended for that to be comforting, but she couldn't ignore the sharp stab of sadness she felt when she realised it was true.

"You're right," Emily agreed reluctantly.

"Of course I am," Spencer replied matter-of-factly, nudging her friend playfully. Emily couldn't bite back her grin as she accepted the truth of the statement. While the only Fields child thrived at school, and had a very impressive GPA, Spencer Hastings was an academic prodigy. To Spencer, her glowing report cards were a matter of maintaining family standards and competing with her sister, but Emily couldn't have been more proud of her best friend. That was part of the reason that Spencer was so fond of the other brunette, Emily saw far enough past her fact-machine exterior to really know her.

* * *

As Emily watched Spencer close her front door after waving goodbye to her a few hours later, she made her way down the Hastings pathway beginning her walk home.

"Em, wait…" she heard a voice that wasn't Spencer's. Emily stopped dead in her tracks and forced herself to look into the Dilaurentis' front yard, her jaw set. Alison stood just in front of the first step of their porch, her hands swaying awkwardly at her sides, as if she didn't know what to do with them. The brunette jerked her head back around before she could make eye contact with the blonde, shoving her hands into her pockets as she walked briskly on.

"Just wait, please…" came the plea, although from the faintness of her voice, Emily could tell that Alison hadn't made a move to come after her. She wasn't sure if she was more disappointed or relieved.

* * *

When Emily arrived home, she discovered that she had a new text message.

**We HAVE to finish this project, Em. Get a grip.**

**-Ali.**

Any doubts the brunette had previously had evaporated, she was definitely more relieved.

* * *

Alison sat amongst her friends as she half-listened to them babble animatedly about some new kid they were convinced was a transvestite. Honestly, she didn't think she cared. However the blonde had been making an effort to become absorbed with idle gossip amongst her clique, with the hopes that it would free her mind of Emily. The brunette had skipped their next two English lessons and had still maintained a stony silence over text. Alison had caught glimpses of the girl in question between classes a total of three times – and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been looking out for her.

She was ripped from her thoughts as she heard a large thud.

"What the-" She began before clamping her mouth shut upon laying her eyes on a raging Emily.

"That's my half of the assignment." She gestured to the large stack of paper she'd not so graciously placed on the bench. "Make your changes. Do your bit. That's all." Emily's voice was flat, and her eyes were guarded. While Alison had a silent admiration for brown eyes, she had liked Emily's for a lot more than just their colour. Whenever the blonde spoke, the brunette's eyes seemed to shine. And whenever Emily spoke, her eyes were open and honest, they were like inviting doors that reassured a person that what she said was what she meant. Emily's eyes had a simple message: no games, no lies.

But now, her gaze had been unflinching as she spoke, articulating each word perfectly with no hints of forgiveness or kindness in her tone. Alison cursed as she realised that her thoughts had lost her the opportunity to reply, as Emily had started to leave as quickly as she came.

The blonde was left no choice but to watch on as the brunette walked away, meeting a shorter girl who Alison recognised as her neighbour Spencer Hastings halfway. She fought hard with the seething pang of envy that entered her stomach as she saw the two girls link arms, turning the corner as Emily threw her head back in laughter, amused by something Spencer had said.

The jealousy was quickly over ridden by anger as she caught on to her friends whispering and giggling excitedly between themselves about what had just happened. She turned her head back toward them in a flash, silencing them with a glare in true Dilaurentis style.

Nobody laughed at the expense of Alison Dilaurentis.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Just a quick note to say that this story will be a week old tomorrow! I'd like to say a huge thank you for the 60 reviews and over 70 follows, I'm immensely grateful. I'm still not entirely sure how this site works but the figures sound good to me, haha. This is the first story I've ever actually written, despite wanting to do so for a while. I'm real humbled by the response as I wasn't expecting many people to actually read it. So thank you again, and I hope you'll stay tuned. **

**With regards to this chapter, it is again quite feelings-centred, but I think you'll like the direction in which it's heading. Just a warning, this kind of switches from being told from Ali's view and Emily's quite a bit, so I hope it isn't too hard to keep up. Enjoy the update.**

* * *

Thoughts of a certain blonde had not and would not enter Emily Fields' mind as the following Friday came. Today marked the biggest swim meet of the season, and not even Alison Dilaurentis was going to jeopardise it for the brunette. In fact, as silly as it sounded, dumping a load of paperwork on Alison seemed to have lifted a huge weight from Emily's shoulders. She considered her half of the assignment to be a symbolic representation of any connection she felt she had with the blonde, and ridding herself of it was liberating.

* * *

Emily bundled her clothes into her locker and secured it before adjusting the straps on her swim suit. While the girl could be timid in social situations, she was far from a nervous wreck when the pool was involved. When she was swimming, she was in her element. It was safe to say that Emily was the backbone of the Rosewood High Girls Team.

Only today, there were hints of worry clearly displayed on Emily's face. The entire team had been informed that today's meet would be watched by scouts from a range of colleges – including Stanford and Danby who had some of the best scholarship programmes. Coach Slocomb had also pulled Emily aside and repeated the news, emphasising on the likelihood that Emily could snatch one of the said scholarships, if she performed the way everyone knew she could. While the team's confidence in her was humbling, the brunette was daunted by everything that was at stake.

"Nervous, huh?" She turned to find a swim suit clad Paige looking at her with a small smile.

Emily returned the smile and nodded at her team mate. It was something of a relief to be able to admit it to someone. Paige placed a hand on the tanned brunette's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"You don't have a thing to worry about, okay?" She began, her voice gentle but firm. "We're all rooting for you."

Emily's furrowed brow relaxed as she widened her smile in response. While there had been no hope for any romantic dealings between the two girls, they had both become much more vocally supportive of each other inside the pool.

"Neither do you," Emily replied finally, and she meant it. While she herself was the anchor on the team and by far the fastest, Paige always swam just before her – leaving for her the task of finishing off an already impressive time.

Paige grinned at her as the two girls made their way out of the locker room together, falling into an excited conversation about potential colleges. Their conversation wasn't lengthy but it progressed from university, to school work, to the latest episode of Orange Is the New Black, before discussing the opposing team for today – Oakwood High School. As the girls made their way to join the team for a pep talk beside the pool, Emily decided it was all business from now.

* * *

Noel Kahn was on just about every athletic team that Rosewood High School high school, (and while he wasn't on the girl's teams, he was certainly _in_ them, if you know what I mean). As he stretched and jogged lightly on the spot to warm up for today's swim meet, his eyes drifted to the double door entrance to the stadium. The stud had been surprised when Ali had texted him the night before to inform him that she'd be attending the meet – playfully adding that she hadn't got anything better to do. He knew it would only be a matter of time till she ceased with her teasing and succumbed to his advances. The thought caused a small smirk to play across his lips.

Noel was shaken from his thoughts as the very blonde he was searching for sauntered in, CeCe faithfully at her side. He jogged lightly to greet them as they made their way to the stands.

* * *

Emily's tucked her hair securely underneath her cap and tilted her head from side to side, losing her shoulders in preparation for her lap. The brunette shifted on the bench to scan the crowds for Spencer, who religiously attended every one of Emily's meets. She craned her neck past a crowd of the Oakwood High swimmers, her eyes roaming the stadium seating. Emily could have sworn her heart stopped beating momentarily as her gaze caught sight of an entirely unwelcome head of golden curls, taking a seat in fifth row. Alison Dilaurentis didn't have any interest in the swim team or their progress. _Could she have come here to see me?_ Emily toyed with the possibility. As she witnessed a speedo clad Noel Kahn jog over to receive a flirtatious smile from the blonde, she immediately cursed herself. _Of course she didn't,_ she reprimanded herself, her thoughts bitter.

* * *

"I see you made it then," Noel's tone was upbeat as he kept his eyes glued to Alison, practically ignoring CeCe's existence as she smiled at him.

"Like I said, nothing better to do." Ali reminded him simply, but flashed him a smile.

"Oh please, you just love the sight of me in speedos." He waggled his eyebrows in an attempt to be seductive and Alison rolled her eyes in reply. She allowed her blue orbs to roam over his body, and while nobody could deny that his physique was impressive – Alison could honestly say she wasn't the slightest bit lustful for the boy in front of her.

Maybe her lack of interest in Noel was down to the real reason she was here. Although Alison sure as hell hadn't told CeCe this, she was stewing about Emily's continued silence toward her. The blonde had ceased texting her altogether upon realising that it wasn't doing her any good. And with each passing day that the two girls didn't communicate, Alison was running out of ideas to change that – and her imagination was dwindling fast.

Thoughts of Emily were pushed out of Alison's mind as she became conscious of someone speaking the brunette's name.

"Emily's going to tear your girls apart today," said a girl's voice, full of conviction.

The comment earned some laughter before another female voice replied.

"I shouldn't say this, but we stand no chance as long as Emily's in the pool."

Alison studied the backs of the heads that the voiced belonged to. The first girl had dark brown locks that were familiar to the blonde, and she recognised her as Spencer Hastings. The second girl, however had blonde ringlets and her laughter had been like chiming bells. Being careful not to appear suspicious, Alison angled herself in a way that gave her a better view of the stranger's face. at first glance, Ali could admit that she was attractive. Her jaw was angular but her features were soft in contradiction. Taking into account her Oakwood High hoodie, Alison understood why she didn't recognise her.

In the time that the popular girl had been observing them, a third blonde had joined them. Alison angled herself to analyse the new arrival, but she didn't need much time. Carrying three drinks and an array of snacks was Hanna Marin, or as Alison preferred – Hefty Hanna. For some reason, Alison was finding it difficult to be amused by the nickname she had christened said girl with so many years ago, instead feeling an unfamiliar uneasiness wash over her. She cocked her head side wards a touch, taking a look at Hanna's face. Her cheeks were rosy and her blue eyes were animated. Looking past the few pounds that she could do without it, Alison was surprised at how easy it was to admit to herself that Hanna was in fact pretty.

"Em looks so damn good in a swim suit!" Hanna squealed as she sat down, receiving questioning glances from Spencer and the nameless stranger.

"What?!" She said, defensive. "I don't swing that way, but damn if I did – I would climb that girl like a maple tree." She told them casually. Her comment initiated spurts of laughter from the other two girls, but suddenly Alison regretted her eavesdropping.

The formidable Dilaurentis was struggling to appreciate Hanna's humour and was utterly confused as to why. Her insides seemed to be enveloped in the same uncomfortable feeling they had experienced when Alison had witnessed Spencer and Emily walking together. Although somewhere deep inside her she was sure that this is what was referred to as jealousy, every shred of her reputation insisted that it couldn't be. Alison Dilaurentis didn't get jealous.

* * *

Despite experiencing some disappointment after seeing Alison, Emily had her game face on. The meet had begun and she was proud to note that her team mates were a full lap ahead of the opposition. Only Paige was left to swim, and then it would all be down to the anchor. The stadium was loud with cheers, the crowd was probably the biggest turnout the Sharks had ever had. The brunette glanced over to where Spencer was sitting and was filled with reassurance as she saw her friend crazily waving around the 'Go Emily!' banner she had handmade when they were in eighth grade.

Crouching into position, Emily squeezed her eyes shut as she freed her mind of her surroundings. Perfectly judging her time, the brunette filled her lungs with hair and pushed off, diving into the pool to do what she did best.

* * *

Alison's breathing became uneven as she finally laid eyes on Emily. The brunette was crouching down in preparation to dive, seeming entirely focused. From the moment Emily expertly dived into the pool, the crowd erupted into cheers louder than the blonde had heard all afternoon. All eyes were on the brunette, and Alison's were no exception.

As Alison watched Emily, every word that Hanna and her co-supporters had said made complete sense. The blonde felt paralysed as she found herself unable to even muster up some applause – breathing itself became a chore at that moment. Her English partner's limbs were long and toned. The skin that encased them was a gorgeous tan that no manufactured bottle could ever compete with. To say that Emily looked 'good' in a swim suit was an insult to the word 'understatement'. The blonde could see nothing but pure, unadulterated beauty as she looked on, entranced. As the brunette swam, every stroke was as graceful as it was powerful. While some of the swimmers before her appeared to be battling with the water, the ripped around Emily appeared as though they were responding to her commands. Filled with awe, it became clear to Alison that the brunette was anything but plain. The realisation caused the blonde wonder what else she'd been wrong about.

* * *

Emily's grin stretched from ear to ear across her face as she received commendations on her new record time from her team mates. As always, the anchor had stolen the show and her team were immensely proud. A small crowd had gathered around the Sharks bench, with Spencer being the first to grab Emily into a bone crushing hug.

"Come here, champ!" She exclaimed as she encircled her friend.

"Can't. Breathe. Spence." Emily struggled to get out as she continued to beam. The shorter brunette laughed as she released her, patting Emily on the back.

"Seriously though, how insane is your reach?" Spencer asked, her question rhetorical but still laced with pride.

Emily continued to be bombarded with hugs and congratulations by members of the crowd. The brunette was oblivious to the distant gaze that an intent pair of blue eyes had on the scene.

* * *

Ushering CeCe to join Noel and the other male members of the swim team, Alison watched the Girls Swim Team bench. To say she was watching the 'girls', was of course a lie. The blonde's eyes were searching for one girl in particular. As flocks of people buzzed around the star of the show, showering her with attention, Alison was once again deep in thought.

It was clear that in that entourage, Emily was the object of everyone's affection. Seeing the brunette being the centre of a crowd, Alison likened the situation to her own social rank at the high school. Judging by the expressions on the faces of those that the blonde had decided to call Emily's 'fans', they were all enamoured with her. It was the same expression of admiration that wannabe's like CeCe wore when they were around Alison.

But there was a stark difference in the scene that was unfolding before her. As her fans enveloped her in hugs, Emily welcomed them. And as they congratulated her, adored her, she was grateful. And as they gazed at her in adoration, the gaze she returned was earnest, there was mutual respect. It was at this point that Alison decided it was ridiculous to compare herself to Emily – there was no correlation. Not quite sure how she felt about it, she reminded herself:

There was nobody quite like Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

Emily headed to her car a few hours later, ready to make her way home. The brunette had admittedly prolonged her preparation to leave the school after the meet on the off chance that Alison might approach her. Although was fairly certain that she didn't want to know what the blonde had to say, she couldn't help but be curious. But of course, the queen bee made no attempt to talk to her, and Emily hadn't even noticed her leave the stadium.

As she drove, Emily reminded herself that today had been a good day. A great day, in fact. Nothing should be given the power to change that. Not even Alison Dilaurentis.

She smiled as she replayed the after-events of the meet in her head. Scouts from both Danby and Stanford amongst other colleges had been highly complementary about her performance, with the man from Danby even giving her some lengthy information about their scholarship. He'd told her that provided that she continued at the performance level she was at, the scholarship was as good as hers.

An even happier memory was of the phone call she had had with her mother just a few minutes after the scout had left. After informing of her of what he'd said, Mrs. Fields had been beside herself with happiness and pride.

Emily always felt her heart swell when she thought of her mother, and was contented even more so when she knew she had done something to trigger her happiness. That was something characteristic about Emily Fields, her happiness fed off other people's happiness.

* * *

Alison had left the school almost immediately after the meet, unable to stomach the sight of people fawning over Emily any longer. She couldn't understand or comprehend what she was feeling as she watched the mystery blonde from the stands wrap her arms around Emily, whispering assumed words of congratulations into the brunette's ear. The proximity of the unknown girl to her English partner gave Alison goose bumps – and they weren't the good kind. Similarly to the way she didn't know _what_ she was feeling, it was completely unbeknownst to Alison as to _why_.

* * *

Upon reaching home, Emily was grabbed into yet another oxygen depriving hug that day, this time courtesy of her mother. The brunette was always amused when her mother tried to hug her. The older woman's arms ended up encircled her daughter's waist and Emily could easily pat her mother's head if she wanted to due to their height differences. On this occasion, she kissed the top of Mrs. Fields' head as she pulled away and returned the smile that was offered her way.

"Honey, I made your favourite!" Her mother said excitedly. "Unless you want to go out?" She suggested after a pause.

"No mum, it smells delicious." Emily replied honestly, happy to spend the night in with Mrs. Fields.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She thought to add as she put down her bag.

"Just lay the table please sweetheart, we'll eat in a couple of minutes." Her mother instructed.

As Emily did as she was told, her mother began plating up their food. At the precise moment that both women had taken their seats, they were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"These door to door sale people," Mrs. Fields muttered. "Haven't they heard of dinner time?"

Emily laughed and pushed her chair back to stand up. "I'll get it mum." She told her. She knew how grumpy her mother could get when they were disturbed at the dinner table. The brunette had considered putting up a sign that read 'whatever it is you're selling, we're not interested' just to out Mrs. Fields at ease.

* * *

But when Emily pulled the door open, she wasn't greeted by a robotic young man in a suit holding up some useless device. Instead, she stood open mouthed, face to face with none other than Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please keep the reviews coming, I love hearing what you think. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi. I'm going to start by letting you know that I'm so damn frustrated because this was the chapter I was looking forward to writing the most, and today I just could not put my mind to it, so I'm aware that it isn't the best. I'm pretty disappinted in how it turned out, but I wanted to update ASAP because I'm going away soon. **

**If I regain any inspiration, I'll edit, but until then - I hope some of you will enjoy it anyway.**

* * *

To describe silence as deafening had never quite made sense to Emily Fields. She had paid close attention in English lessons and could appreciate a good oxymoron here and there, but that particular one wasn't up there in her list of favourites. That was until this moment. The moment that Alison Dilaurentis showed up at her door.

* * *

Alison Dilaurentis had never felt the need to initiate a conversation. She had a certain magnetism that caused those around her to hound her with questions instead. That was until this moment. The moment that she stood before Emily Fields, desperate to pour out all that she was feeling. To her dismay, the blonde seemed to have lost her tongue.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" It was Emily who eventually spoke, her tone unwelcoming but she was unable to disguise the curiosity.

"Can I…come in?" Alison's voice was unsure. She became acutely aware that never before had she been forced to ask that question, she was accustomed to being welcomed with open arms. To be more accurate, she was used to being begged to enter people's houses. In Emily's case though, this seemed highly unlikely. The brunette had straightened up, her frame completely blocking the entrance to the Fields' household. Alison but couldn't help but wonder if her stance was a visual representation of the emotional guard that she herself had caused Emily to put up.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Emily chose her words carefully, but her aversion to Alison was made clear.

"I just didn't know how else to reach you," the blonde blurted out, her voice a mumble.

The brunette pushed the desperation that she could so clearly in the blonde's eyes out of her mind before replying.

"My mother doesn't like guests at dinnertime," she explained. She locked eyes with Alison as she added:

"This isn't convenient."

Alison hoped that her blue eyes hadn't betrayed flashes of pain as she ripped her gaze away from the brunette. She knew full well what Emily was saying. _This_ wasn't inconvenient, _Alison_ was the inconvenience.

The blonde could only manage a stiff nod as she reluctantly turned to leave.

"Who are you talking to?"

Alison stopped in her tracks and looked back to where Emily was standing to see a shorter, older woman standing beside the brunette. The lady had the same complexion as Emily, and they both had identically kind eyes. Alison was knocked for six as she observed the uncanny resemblance her English partner to the woman she had pegged as her mother.

"Alison Dilaurentis!?" Mrs. Fields exclamation came out as half a question, half a statement. The woman's tone was laced with cheer as she spoke the blonde's name.

Alison forced her signature smile onto her face as she held her hand out to Emily's mother.

"You must be Mrs. Fields; it's so lovely to meet you." Her voice was sweet and she could feel her English partner grimace as her mother and the blonde shook hands.

"Alison was just leaving," Emily interjected quickly. She wasn't looking at the blonde, instead staring at Mrs. Fields with a pleading look. The older woman seemed not to have noticed, as she stepped aside and rotated her daughter's body around to make room for Alison to pass.

"Nonsense, Emily. Where are your manners? Won't you join us for dinner Alison?" She looked at the blonde expectantly, who hadn't yet entered the house.

"I'd love to, Mrs. Fields. Thank you." She accepted, her tone gracious – but she knew that Emily wasn't buying it. Alison didn't dare to study the brunette's expression as she stepped into the house and followed Mrs. Fields to the kitchen. She was certain that she'd seen enough disdain in her brown orbs to last her a lifetime.

* * *

Emily Fields pushed her food absent mindedly around her plate as she continued to drown out the sound of her mother and Alison's conversation. Mrs. Fields had been quite happy to discuss the various events about the town that their guest was involved in. And their dinner guest being the famous Alison Dilaurentis, she had been fully willing to ramble on about her oh so amazing extra-curricular activities. Though the blonde's tone was sweet, and her mutual interest in Emily's mother's hobbies didn't appear to be feigned, the brunette knew better than to be fooled. It was because of this apprehension that she found polite way to remove herself from their discussion every time either of them made an effort to include her.

Emily had barely even looked up from the table due to the unfortunate seating plan. Directly opposite her was Alison, who she could feel sneaking glances from time to time. In her experience, Emily had physically felt herself becoming drawn to the blonde every time their eyes met. Whether it was a badly concealed peek while they studied or when they followed social ettiquete by holding each other's gazes as they spoke, the brunette had felt a surge of electricity through her. Emily knew that this was the effect that Alison Dilaurentis had on everybody, but she decided that if this was the case – she'd rather be a nobody.

The tanned swimmer's eyes were still glued to her plate as she became conscious of her mother saying her name.

"Emily honey, you've barely eaten a thing. Are you feeling okay?" her mother asked, concerned. Emily looked down at her basically full plate and shrugged.

"Sure, guess I'm just not hungry."

"You must be," Alison cut in, receiving surprised looks from both Emily and Mrs. Fields.

"I just… I mean you must've worked up an appetite after your swim meet today." The blonde explained her outburst hastily.

Mrs. Fields was quick to agree with Alison, but removed all three plates from the table after her daughter insisted she'd eat later if she felt like it.

"You girls can go on upstairs now if you like," she said as she continued to clear the table. During dinner, Alison had informed Mrs. Fields that she'd been here to discuss final details for their English project before profusely apologising for intruding on their dinner.

"Would you like any help washing up?" Alison was the first to offer her services, causing Emily to fight the urge to roll her eyes. The blonde was trying far too hard. She wasn't about to fall for feigned helpfulness.

* * *

As she partially listened to Alison thank her mother for dinner, the brunette felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she pictured the blonde in her bedroom. She could already picture the underwhelmed look on the Dilaurentis girl's face when she'd enter the small space. Emily almost insisted that they remain downstairs to talk in the living room, but she knew that her mother was likely to misinterpret the relationship the girls had – and the brunette had decided that Mrs. Fields attempting to flirt for her was a touch less horrifying than Alison Dilaurentis' snobby attitude.

* * *

Alison had felt absolutely out of her element as she followed Emily upstairs. She'd tried to suppress the unfamiliar that she assumed was nervousness as she trudged after the taller girl. The blonde accepted that it wasn't right to label these feelings as unfamiliar. She'd been encompassed by a great deal of sentiments that she wasn't used to in recent weeks, but they were all too familiar whenever she was around Emily.

As she reached the doorway to the brunette's bedroom, the blonde stopped in her tracks to take in the sight before her. Emily's bedroom was the perfect balance between vintage country and preppy chic. The décor was simple, and though the room was clearly of small dimensions, it appeared to be light and airy. While the walls were painted simply in white, one of the walls was almost completely covered by a poster of a female Olympic swimmer that Alison couldn't identify. On another wall hung a noticeboard with a calendar and a few timetables pinned to it, as well as a few photographs. All of the images featured Emily, one with Mrs. Fields, one with Spencer, a few with girls that Ali couldn't recognise. The blonde wondered whether any of her own friends had pictures of themselves and herself pinned to a noticeboard that they'd see every day. She doubted it.

* * *

"You can sit down." Emily said quietly, shaking Alison from her thoughts. The brunette had perches herself on what Alison decided was her favourite feature of the bedroom. Emily sat expectantly on a cosy window seat that Ali could imagine her English partner sitting curled up on, reading a book – or being Emily, just staring absent mindedly at the outside world.

Alison knew that Emily had probably meant for her to take a seat on the bed opposite her, judging by the way the brunette had angled herself. However the blonde decided to be bold – the girl she was used to being, and took a seat next to Emily in the window nook instead. She carefully noted that the brunette was quick to readjust her seating position to ensure she was pressed up as close against the wall – and as far away from Alison – that she could be.

"This room is so lovely," Alison said honestly. "It feels so homely, the window s-"

"I don't think you came here to talk about my room, Alison." Emily interjected, quietly. The blonde turned to meet the other girl's eyes. Her expression was calm, but not inviting.

"What do you think I came here to talk about?" She asked. Emily jerked her head away from the blonde's gaze and folded her arms across her chest, feeling suddenly tired.

"I'm not in the mood to play your games, Alison."

"I'm not here to play games."

"Then don't answer my questions with questions."

"You didn't ask me any questions."

Emily let out an exasperated sigh and felt her fists involuntarily ball up in frustration. She could hear the teasing tone in the blonde's voice. She could physically feel toying with her.

"Well then why are you here, Alison?" Emily had intended for her tone to remain calm but her question had come out as more of a plea. She immediately sensed that she would regret pleading with Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

Emily had whipped her head around before demanding to know why she was there. All composure had left the brunette's brown orbs, instead being replaced by what could only be described as Alison-inflicted hurt. The blonde recognised that look. It was something that had filled so many pairs of eyes on a daily basis as she knocked down innocents one by one. It was the same look that flashed in her mother's eyes every time her daughter uttered a word of disrespect against her. That look had only ever reminded Alison that she was on top – in control. And yet right now, as that very same look reflected back into her own eyes courtesy of Emily Fields, Alison Dilaurentis was filled with pure and utter self-condemnation.

"I came here because I'm sorry."

Her words were choked as she let words that she'd only ever read in books or been on the receiving end of left her mouth. Emily's answer was a small, sad smile.

"I can't eradicate homophobia with 'I'm sorry'." The brunette responded shortly, before staring straight ahead, her jaw set.

Alison rotated her body a full ninety degrees and tucked on leg under her other thigh so she was staring straight at Emily's side profile.

"Em, I'm not a homophobe." The blonde was insistent, her voice full of conviction.

"It sure sounded that way the other day in the library."

Guilt washed over Alison once again at the vocal reminder. Mostly, she was saddened at the fact that prior to her ugly outburst, the two girls had been having a conversation that was simple but felt pleasantly intimate – and now being her obnoxious self, she had tainted what could have - _should_ have, formed a fond memory in Emily's mind.

"It doesn't bother me that you're gay. It doesn't bother me who you're into." Alison's voice had gone from insistent to pleading.

"Emily," she continued. "You're the only person who's ever tried to stand up to me. Nobody's ever _dared_-"

"I don't need you to hound me on how invincible you are, Alison." The brunette interrupted blandly.

"Let me finish Em, please." Emily closed her mouth and watched the blonde in silence, nodding for her to go on.

"You being gay, it's part of you. It's just one, tiny part of you. I let that take over everything else that I couldn't see in you," Alison's voice was thick with an emotion Emily couldn't quite put her finger on. Almost subconsciously, Alison reached out and placed her hand at the top of the taller girl's wrist before she continued.

"I didn't even consider the parts of you that are so brave, Em. The guts it must have taken…" Alison's voice became quieter and softer as it wavered and she studied the taller girl's face. Emily appeared to have stopped listening, as her attention was focused entirely on the sight of the paler palm placed partially over the back of her own hand.

"Em…" Alison began again, causing the brunette to snap her head up to meet the blonde's gaze. At this point both girls noted – secretly glad, that neither of them had made a move to retract their hands.

"I've been so self-consumed that I didn't even consider you. Hell, I didn't even realise you've lived across the street from me, all these years…" Alison recalled her guilt as she'd been informed of Emily's address and tried to push it out of her mind. She could see the brunette opening her mouth to interrupt so she spoke again, quickly.

"But I don't always feel like I have to be that way with you, Emily." The truth of the statement shocked both girls, and Alison was surprised at how easily the words had spilled from her lips.

"You don't have to be _any_ way with anybody, Ali." Emily's voice was still tentative and quiet, but Alison could feel the other girl unwinding. She felt her heart jump a little as the brunette referred to her as Ali for the first time.

The blonde gently pulled her hand away from Emily's and clasped both of her own together. The girl in front of her made it sound so simple. She imagined most things seemed simple to Emily.

"I have a reputation to uphold." She reminded her.

"Why is your reputation so important?" Emily decided to be bold.

Alison rebuffed and ignored the direct question. "Your forgiveness is more important at the moment." She told the brunette. Emily bit her lip at her dilemma. She could hear Spencer in her head, telling her that this was classic Dilaurentis gameplay, but the blonde sounded so sincere. Her blue orbs were open wide, and Emily felt like she could see right through them if she looked hard enough.

"I'm not going to wake up a straight girl tomorrow." Emily warned her.

"I wouldn't want you to." Alison's reply could be interpreted in so many ways.

The turmoil that Emily was experiencing was evident to Alison. The brunette wanted to believe that the blonde was being completely honest, but she was so aware at how well Alison Dilaurentis could lie. She so badly wanted this conversation to end, but she didn't think she could stand to watch Alison Dilaurentis leave. She _needed_ her, but she didn't want her. And so Emily did what she always did when she was conflicted – she changed the subject.

"Why did you come to the meet today?" Emily didn't expect to get an answer. Alison had avoided all of the questions she'd asked prior to now, so she was somewhat taken aback at the blonde's simple yet poignant reply.

"I wanted to see you."

"…and I did. I _really_ saw you." There was an intensity in Alison's crystal-like orbs that Emily was sure she'd never seen before as she finished. She was adept enough to realise that the blonde's words held some deeper meaning, but she didn't feel like she was able to decipher what it was.

"I thought you were there for Noel." Emily admitted sheepishly.

Alison smiled slyly. "So did Noel."

"You can't keep treating people that way, you know." Emily's returned a faint smile, but her tone was serious. Alison knew quite well that the brunette didn't care much for Noel Kahn's ego, but she understood perfectly what she was saying.

"I might need reminding now and then. Looks like you're gonna have to consider being my friend." Alison's voice wasn't as hollow as it had been during the course of the conversation, and her confidence was back.

As Emily felt a dreaded blush creep up neck as she opened her mouth to retort, she was beaten to it by the sound of Mrs. Fields calling up the stairs.

"You girls are awfully quiet up there…"

And after a short pause, the older woman's tone became more accusing. "Emily, your bedroom door better not be closed..."

"It's wide open, mom!" Emily shouted back in a rush, her entire face now a deep shade of crimson. The brunette's embarrassment was heightened by Alison's blatant amusement.

"Well clearly your mother already thinks I'm _more_ than a friend, so there's nothing left to consider, I'm afraid." The blonde teased, relieved when a grin broke onto Emily's face.

A brief image of Emily and Alison sitting in a coffee shop talking – just doing what friends did – flashed through the brunette's mind. She wondered what it would be like if they put a label on what they clearly couldn't ignore. Emily decided that she wanted to more than just wonder.

"I guess not," the brunette replied finally, a sense of relief and fulfillment washing over her.

It wasn't like anybody doubted it to begin with, but Emily became certain – _nobody_ could say no to Alison Dilaurentis.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey, I'm glad you guys liked the previous chapter more than I did. Haha. This one is sort of a filler I guess? I wanted to explore how things have changed over a few weeks without taking up too many chapters. Still not completely got rid of the writer's block, so bear with me. **

**Enjoy the update.**

* * *

Emily Fields was pretty sure that she had never met a person with as much depth as Alison Dilaurentis. As the week's progressed, and she slowly peeled back layer upon layer of Alison's character, the brunette wondered if she would ever cease to be surprised at the girl she never thought she'd be friends with.

* * *

She liked it when Alison strolled nonchalantly down the school hallways – _with_ her. She liked how it felt when the petite blonde would casually knit their arms together as they walked and talked. She liked it when Alison reminded her of how sorry she was for the weeks prior – even though the brunette had long forgiven her.

Emily liked it when Alison invited Hanna Marin and Spencer Hastings to eat lunch with them. She liked watching as the two blondes chattered passionately about all the trendiest designers that Emily didn't know – or particularly care much for. She liked it when Ali told Hanna that her outfit was utterly adorable, and she liked that she could trust that she meant it. She liked the sincerity in Alison's eyes when she told Spencer that her academic excellence was an inspiration for her, and while Spencer's face didn't betray signs of welcome, she liked that she could count on her best friend's eventual acceptance of a new friendship that felt like what she had been missing her entire life.

The brunette liked glancing up from the pool to the fourth row of the stadium's seats to not only see Spencer madly cheering her on, but to find a Rosewood Sharks tee-shirt clad Alison staring right back at her. She liked that although the shirt wasn't the blonde's signature style, it looked perfect on her anyway.

She liked the childish excitement that radiated from Ali when she came over to the Fields' residence to the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. She enjoyed taking in the easy flowing conversation as Mrs. Fields and the blonde interacted with one another. She liked it when her mother smiled and told Alison to call her 'Pam'. She liked it when Alison called dibs on sprawling comfortably on Emily's window seat every time she came around. She liked that despite the seat being too small for the both of them, the blonde always managed to make room.

She liked it when the two girls hang out at the Dilaurentis' house, and Mrs. Dilaurentis referred to the brunette as her second daughter. She liked it when Alison offered to help her mother with the dishes, and she loved the pleasant surprise in the older woman's expression as she told her it was fine.

Emily liked it even more so that Alison was still different when they were alone. She liked the heartiness in the chiming laughter that left the blonde's mouth it was just the two of them. The brunette liked the small smile that caused corners of the blonde's eyes to twinkle, a smile that she didn't see very often – but she just knew that it was _her_ smile. She liked knowing that even if neither of them voiced it, when they were alone – she was _her_ Ali.

And as much as Emily liked the side of Alison that the blonde had spent so long hiding from everybody else, she also liked it when she saw a familiar fire in Alison's blue orbs. She liked it when the blonde calmly told Noel that the only reason he was uncomfortable with Emily's sexual orientation was because the brunette attracted more female attention than he ever would. She liked it that Alison showed up to school wearing a pro-LGBT tee shirt the next day. Emily liked it even more that the day after that, half of the school followed suit and wore the same ensemble.

Emily liked Alison's kindness, but she admired her sassiness just as much. She liked the blonde's tentative attempts to empathise, but she loved the fierceness to stick to her own beliefs equally.

* * *

But her favourite moments with Alison, were moments like now. She liked it when they were sitting in the school yard, leaning up against Emily's favourite tree. She liked that she couldn't even tell whether the sun was shining, because the light coming from a certain pair of blue eyes blinded her to all of her surroundings.

The brunette had spent the weekend in Texas with her father, and so it was the first in a while that she hadn't spent with Alison.

"I missed you this weekend." She liked that she could say this to Ali, and she didn't have to be shy anymore. She liked the laziness of the smile she received in return.

"Tu me manques."

Emily furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Although it was no secret that she thrived academically, French had never been a strength. She liked that the blonde didn't need for her to speak in order to know that a further explanation was required.

"That's how I felt while you were away," she continued, twiddling a few strands of grass between her fingers.

"Tu me manques," she said again, her voice softer this time. Emily liked that tone.

"It's more literal than 'I miss you'," the blonde explained, still focusing on the ground.

She looked up finally, meeting the tanned girl's curious gaze.

"It means, 'you are missing from me'."

And just like that, Emily would get a glimpse at the Ali she liked the most. It could be amidst light hearted conversation, a mandatory text, or a gruelling study period. Just when Emily felt like her breath had been stolen by Alison Dilaurentis for the last time, the blonde would say something so profound that she was once again knocked for six.

But then, there was that one part of Alison – the side that Emily would be glad to see the back of, that she didn't like as much. It was the part where Alison continued to fidget with the grass again, pointedly avoiding looking at the brunette. It was when the blue orbs clouded over, only slightly – and the expression became guarded again. It was the moment when she had to face that her Ali had gone into hiding again, and she didn't like that she had no say in when she would resurface.

* * *

Alison Dilaurentis was entirely certain that there had never been anyone as pure as Emily Fields. She was also quite assured that no one had ever been as forgiving. As time went on, and she witnessed the brunette's habits – she accepted that there wasn't a single thing she didn't like about Emily.

She liked the precision of the angle at which her eyebrows furrowed every morning as she saw the brunette scanning the crowds for her. She liked it even more when the worry evaporated when they laid eyes on each other, to be replaced only by an expression of pure unadulterated contentment. She liked it when she felt Emily's arm stiffen momentarily as she linked it with her own. She liked who she was when she was with Emily.

She liked the split second of exasperation that went by as Emily tried to explain algebraic division to her for the umpteenth time. She liked the way the brunette laughed when she grumbled about how she preferred maths before the alphabet started to feature in it. She liked that Emily didn't give up on her, even though she herself knew it was hopeless.

She liked it when they sat silently while watching chick flicks that she'd never been able to stand before meeting the brunette. She liked seeing Emily's copper-like eyes react to the movie – she liked the way they glowed as they watered.

She liked the way the word 'Ali', rolled off the brunette's tongue. She liked that to begin with it had been shy, and now it was said with conviction. With confidence. She liked that Emily wore her hair down, letting it flow freely past her shoulders.

She liked the almost unbreakable focus on Emily's face while she was near the pool. She liked that when there was a lapse in focus, it was due to their gazes locking. She liked how serenely beautiful the brunette looked as she glided effortlessly up and down the length of the pool – never once appearing fatigued like the other athletes.

She liked the way Emily didn't even try to race her up the stairs to her window seat. She liked the way it felt when she had her back pressed up against the taller girl's legs as they encompassed the too-small space. She liked how it felt to be close to her. She liked it when she looked around Emily's bedroom. She liked it when her eyes fell upon the noticeboard, on the photograph of the two girls arm in arm, grins galore. She liked the sight of them together.

But her favourite moments, were moments like now. Moments where just the two of them were sitting carelessly in Emily's – and now hers too – favourite spot. She liked the way Emily paid utmost attention to any word that left the blonde's mouth. She loved the way she looked at her – like they were the only two people for miles. The tenderness in her expression, like she would never tire of looking at her.

She liked the curiosity in the brunette's expression when she told her:

"Tu me manques,"

But what she liked the most about it, was that she meant it. When Emily was away, Alison felt so much more than just missing her. She was indeed missing from her. Emily had become essential to her. This girl was now like a limb, like an organ, like blood. Alison Dilaurentis couldn't function without Emily Fields.

And then came the only part of their time together that Ali didn't like. It was when she felt the panic overcome her, and she let her walls rebuild themselves. She didn't like it when Emily's intense gaze sent shivers through her that she didn't understand. She didn't enjoy the unfamiliar warmth she felt at the height of the infatuation she had with the girl before her. She didn't like the way that Emily made her feel. And most of all, she didn't like it when she saw that familiar look of confusion flash through Emily's brown orbs, only quickly to be replaced by hurt – and then to be masked again by bittersweet contentment.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to start off by saying thanks so much for all the reviews and follows and faves and stuff - I seriously do appreciate it, and I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter. This again is kind of a filler leading up to a chapter that I think you'll like, so hold on for it. I wanted to write in the next part but tomorrow I get my results which determine whether or not I'm going to uni so my mind is elsewhere and this is my anxiety writing haha. **

**Thank you again and enjoy the update!:)**

* * *

Emily switched her Bunsen burner's flame from blue to safety as she turned to face her chemistry partner. She watched on, amused as the petite brunette attempted to prise a boiling crystal using a pair of tongs, her expression smothered in concentration.

"Want some help with that?" she finally decided to offer after the other girl failed for the fifth time.

"I thought you'd never ask," came Aria Montgomery's grateful reply.

* * *

Both girls removed their goggles and wiped down their sides of the bench after clearing away their practical equipment. They then re-took their seats in preparation to work on a dual write up for the experiment. Emily had grown fond of the girl over the course of the semester where they'd been paired together. In brief summary, Aria was 5 feet and 1 inch of eccentricity. She was always dressed in some quirky little outfit that Emily couldn't understand – but had to admit worked perfectly for her.

"I can finish this write up tomorrow after school," Aria told Emily, earning a raise of the eyebrow from her partner.

"Aren't you going to the dance tomorrow?"

With it being their senior year, tomorrow would mark the last of the girl's school dances before homecoming. Dances at Rosewood High were always themed to perfection, and while Emily was usually left in an uncomfortable situation when it came to finding a date, she always had a reasonably good time. Although of course, she was biased – since Spencer Hastings was the root of the impeccable organisation of said dances. The school hallways had been buzzing with excitement in anticipation for this dance, as it was one final hoorah before the homecoming dance which was pretty much the same every year. Emily had been pretty sure every senior would be attending.

Aria's minute body visibly deflated as she sighed before she answered Emily.

"Nope. I don't have a date." Her reply was simple, but the tanned brunette could hear the disappointment in her friend's tone.

"There's still a whole school day before the dance, someone's bound to ask you!" Emily attempted to raise the other girl's spirits.

Aria scoffed and shrugged. "Highly unlikely," she said flatly. The smaller girl must have noticed the cold in her tone, because she reached out and gently squeezed Emily's hand before adding:

"But thanks for trying."

Emily truly had grown to care about this bizarre bundle of uniqueness and wasn't prepared to give up here and allow her friend to sulk.

"Isn't there anyone you have your eye on? Maybe you could ask someone instead," she suggested.

Aria's expression was suddenly hesitant as if she was considering whether or not to let Emily in on a secret.

"There is this one guy…" She began, keeping her focus fixed on the papers on the desk. Emily smiled at her friend's uncertainty.

"You can tell me, Aria. It's not like I'm your competition," she teased the smaller girl, earning a well-missed grin.

"It's just that... I was sort of really hoping that Noel Kahn would ask me," Aria bit her lip as she sneaked a glance at her lab partner before reluctantly made her admission. It was clear to Emily that she had failed to keep the surprise out of her expression as Aria quickly looked away and started to fidget with her fingers as excuses began tumbling out of her mouth.

"I know, it's stupid…you probably think I'm just like those stupid cheerlea-"

"It's not stupid at all, Aria. It's just.. I just never suspected a thing." Emily's tone was soft, accepting. Aria's eyes met her friend's and she saw the calm in them and immediately relaxed.

"So," Emily continued. "Why can't you just ask him?"

It was Aria's turn to raise her eyebrows. "I figured he'd be taking Alison Dilaurentis. Right?" Aria's large round eyes were still watching Emily expectantly as she considered her reply.

Truthfully, Emily didn't know the answer to that. Although she felt as if Alison had been more open with her than she had with anyone else, Noel Kahn seemed to be a touchy subject. Although the blonde had admitted that she wasn't particularly enamoured with him, she didn't do much to dispel rumours around an alleged romantic relationship that the two shared either.

"I'm not sure actually," the brunette finally replied, honestly. The look she got from Aria in return said she didn't believe her, but the small hint of a small that crossed the smaller brunette's lips told her it was okay.

"You know, I don't have a date either." Emily changed the subject from Noel Kahn, and more importantly – Alison.

"Really? I thought Paige from the swim team would've asked you," Aria inquired. Emily always found it amusing that Aria specified that Paige was from the swim team, even though they both knew full well who she was talking about. There were a lot of little habits that Aria had which kept Emily laughing.

"She did, but I didn't think it would be right." She started to explain. "It would feel like I was leading her on, you know?"

Aria nodded in understanding. She knew that Emily was far too moral to treat someone that way, even if meant she had to attend a dance dateless. She had grown to admire Emily a great deal for her selflessness.

"So you're going alone?" Aria asked.

"Looks that way." Emily nodded, before allowing a grin to break out onto her face.

"What?" Aria asked, confused by the sudden change in her friend's demeanor.

"Well, what do you say that you and I go to the dance alone…_together_?"

At this, Aria involuntary felt a grin spread over her features too.

"Damn it Em, when did you get so smooth?" She laughed at the corniness of her friend's invitation, but she saw the kindness in her gesture.

Emily laughed along with her for a moment before continuing, "Seriously, be my date. Why should you miss out on the fun because of Noel Kahn?"

Aria considered Emily's question for a moment and decided that she had a point. She was sure she wasn't the only girl who was crushing on Noel, and she probably wasn't the only one being suffocated by disappointment at not having him ask her to the dance. Why should she say no to the considerate friend that actually was?

The pixie like brunette's smile widened as she placed a hand on Emily's arm before she spoke, her voice back to its usual animated tone.

"I'll pick you up at seven."

* * *

An hour or so later, Alison Dilaurentis sat down to lunch with a hyperventilating Hanna Marin and caffeine deficient Spencer Hastings. Just as she could feel the last shred of patience that she possessed snapping due to her luncheon company, a familiar voice swept in to calm her.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Chem lab over ran by a little." Emily greeted her friends, dumping her bag on the table before taking a seat. She'd noticed that a lot with Emily. The brunette always managed to swoop in and stop her from snapping right before she reached breaking point.

"You're here now," Alison replied, almost too quickly – her tone laced with relief. The blonde returned the small smile that Emily offered her before the brunette turned to face Hanna.

"Yes, and it's about damn time! You'll never guess what just happened-" Hanna gushed, gripping Emily's arm out of excitement. The brunette suspected that her friend was about to launch into a passionate discussion about some new pair of shoes that she just had to have and laughed at the girl's animated expression.

"Just tell her already," Spencer cut in. "Before you slice open one of her veins." She added, gently removing Hanna's hand from Emily's arm – Alison silently thanked the Hastings child, although she didn't know why this pleased her.

"Ali got me a date to the dance..." Hanna began with a clap of her hands, a ridiculously large grin spreading across her face.

Emily looked between the three girls. Both Ali and Spencer had presumably already gotten over Hanna's excitement as neither of them seemed curious or amused by their friend's childish squealing.

"Are you going to tell me who, or are we playing twenty questions?" Emily probed, finally.

"Sean Ackard." As soon as the words left Hanna's mouth, Emily understood. Everybody in their year knew that Hanna Marin had only ever had eyes for one boy – at least from the seventh grade onwards. That boy was Sean Ackard, who was popular, but good natured from what Emily had heard. If anyone could be responsible for the dreamy look that had suddenly glazed over Hanna's blue orbs, it was him.

"That's great Han! He won't know what hit him," she poked the blonde lightly in the ribs with her elbow and returned her grin and then spoke again. "But what did Ali do?"

At this, Hanna began to gush again – earning an eye roll from Spencer.

"You should have seen her Em, Ali literally _said_ that I was gonna be the hottest girl at the dance and he was practically on one knee!" She recounted, gleefully. Emily smiled at Hanna's need to exaggerate. She was however; glad at the bond the two blondes had formed. Hanna had been the butt of Alison's jokes for an extremely long time, and the brunette was thrilled that she had been able to look past it.

"That was nice of you Ali," Emily looked directly at the blonde opposite her.

"I know, I'm fabulous." Came Alison's cocky reply.

"Don't forget modest." Spencer added flatly.

Emily shook her head and continued to smile in silent contentment. This had become a weekly occurrence now, the four of them having lunch together, and it usually followed the same trend. Hanna would praise the changes in Alison, while Spencer looked for moments to drop sarcastic lines to keep Alison grounded. Though Emily had initially worried that her best friends comments were hostile, she'd begun to realise that in truth, there was a silent but mutual respect that hadn't been voiced by either Spencer or Alison, and she could live with that.

"What about you Spence, who are you going with?" Emily decided to ask.

Now it was Spencer's expression that became animated. A blush that Emily rarely ever saw threatened to shatter the signature Hastings composure she had perfected.

"Toby asked me," she said shyly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Toby Cavanaugh?" It was Alison who spoke now. Spencer blinked and cleared her throat, not expecting the blonde to cut in.

"Yes…why?" Spencer asked, her tone wary.

Alison shrugged. "Good choice. He's cute," she replied simply.

Spencer hated to admit it, but Alison's approval was relieving. The blonde knew compromising secrets about everyone that went to Rosewood High, and despite not being the Dilaurentis girl's biggest fan, she had faith in that she would have happily informed her if Toby wasn't a good candidate to accompany her to the dance.

Of course, Spencer didn't voice this. Instead, she made no verbal reply to Alison's comment and proceeded to ask her instead:

"Who are _you_ taking?"

The way the question was phrased was quite apt when it was addressed to Alison Dilaurentis. It wasn't about _who_ had asked her – because pretty much every guy in their year was bound to have. It was about who she decided was worthy of her company on the night.

The blonde shrugged again, nonchalantly replying:

"I haven't decided yet,"

Spencer rolled her eyes again as both Hanna and Emily nodded, expecting nothing less vague to the reply they had received. She decided that she wasn't done yet though.

"Not Noel Kahn then?" She dared to press the blonde.

At this point, Alison turned to look directly at Spencer – a glint in her eyes that seemed dangerous on the surface, but uneasy underneath.

"Honey, he didn't even make the shortlist."

Sensing the tension, Emily decided it was time for her to cut in. Spencer and Alison were making progress, but she knew that the blonde didn't like to talk about Noel, and she knew even better that Spencer liked to push every button of Alison's that she could get her metaphorical hands on.

"Welllll… I won't be dateless after all," she said, her voice cheery.

She felt three pairs of eyes simultaneously latch onto her face. But one blue pair's gaze felt so much more intense, as if they were looking right through her.

"Okay, spill! Who is it? Is she cute?" Hanna prodded her friend for details.

Emily laughed at the blonde's priorities and nodded. "Her name's Aria, and she's really sweet. She's been my chem lab partner since the start of the semester." She explained.

"Montgomery, right? She's my only competition in English class," Spencer mused.

"That's her, yes." Emily confirmed before grimacing at her best friend. "Please tell me you haven't terrorised her Shakespeare style?"

Spencer just shot her a grin and sipped on her water as Hanna piped up.

"Why, is it serious? After all, you two do have _chemistry_ together." The blonde snorted at her own joke.

Emily laughed, fondly. "Very punny, Ha."

Spencer rolled her eyes once again and scalded the other brunette: "Don't encourage her, Em."

"Who asked who?" The other three girls had almost forgotten that Alison was still there, due to how quiet she had been during the conversation. Her voice was laced with curiosity when she finally spoke, her gaze fixed solely on Emily.

"I asked her," Emily replied simply, staring right back. She could have sworn that she saw a flash of something that resembled disappointment, but it left as quickly as the blonde's expression became vacant again.

"Good for you," Alison replied – her response short and hesitant, but laced with sincerity. Suddenly, it was Emily's turn to be disappointed.

* * *

**Again, I can only apologies for inconsistencies regarding the American education system, dances etc. They aren't something I'm that knowledgeable on. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/n: Hey guys!** **Firstly, apologies for istakes in this chapter. It turned out longer than I intended and I haven't proof read it too well. As always, thank you for the reviews, please keep them coming. Y'all make my day :)**

**Just wanted to say a special thanks to Paladin4Hire, who inspired most of this chapter, and also the one with the swim meet. Thank you for giving me inspiration when I couldn't find any for myself.**

**Guys, I'm always open to suggestions - so do let me know if you have any. :)**

* * *

Music pumped through speakers planted all around the auditorium of Rosewood High School, drowning out the laughter of the gleeful students. Spencer Hastings watched the scene before her, satisfied with the execution of her plans for the dance. Of course, in the back of her mind she knew that there was nothing to worry about – a Hastings never fell short of expectation, but it contented her to see a sea of people enjoying something she had orchestrated.

* * *

Just then, the brunette's phone buzzed and she unlocked it to find a text from Emily.

**Aria just picked me up. See you in ten x**

Though the enjoyment of the student body as a whole was important to Spencer, she always hoped even more so that her best friend had a good night due to dates always being an issue. It had been the first time that Emily had actually been bold enough to ask somebody else to accompany her to a dance, so her approval was even more important to Spencer on this particular night.

"Excuse me! Shouldn't you be giving that hunk of yours a lap dance?" Spencer was shaken from her thoughts by Hanna's typical Hanna-phrased question. She stepped back to admire the blonde's outfit, a simple but sophisticated Marilyn Monroe ensemble which fit perfectly with the Hollywood Glamour theme.

"You look amazing, Han!" She complimented her friend, ignoring her question.

Hanna flushed with pride and fluttered her eyelashes at the brunette.

"You look pretty great too, like Spencer great." Hanna replied, and the brunette decided that she didn't want an elaboration on what 'Spencer great' meant, so she'd just accept the compliment.

"Now, don't avoid my questions. Where's Toby?" Hanna pushed.

"Where's Sean?" Spencer shot back.

Hanna rolled her eyes and gestured to the refreshments table. "Getting us some drinks,"

Spencer sighed and shrugged meekly as she began to explain. "I've just been pretty anxious about making sure everything's in order and now he's over there and I'm over here and-"

"So why not just go over to him…." Hanna stated the obvious.

"Because, Han. He makes me nervous. Now shut up." Spencer snapped, flushing a deep shade of scarlet as she silently thanked the minimal lighting she'd picked out for the night.

Hanna grinned and gave the brunette a wink before grabbing hold of Spencer's elbow, leaving the girl no chance to protest. The blonde marched herself and her friend over to a round table, where Toby was seated on his lonesome.

"Hey Tobes," Hanna launched straight in, nicknaming a boy she'd never had a conversation with, much to Spencer's dismay. "Doesn't Spencer look great?"

The tall, muscled male's eyes widened at being put on the spot as he looked between the two girls.

"Y-yes, she looks like…Spencer great. Beautiful, even." He spluttered out, his voice becoming a whisper at the last word, but it was just loud enough for Spencer to hear – and thus enough to cause a brush to rise up her neck one again. As flushed as the Hastings' child was at his comment, she didn't fail to notice that he was the second person that night to refer to her as 'Spencer great', and she made a silent vow to grill him on its meaning at some point.

"You want to dance, Spence?" Toby asked quickly, after clearing his throat. The words came out as something of a plea – emphasising how eager he was to rid them both of Hanna's out there style of socialising.

"Sure," was all the brunette could muster up in response, but she happily took the hand that he offered her as they disappeared onto the dance floor. It was Hanna's turn to be satisfied as she grinned lazily, just as Sean appeared at her side.

"What were you doing?" He asked, following the blonde's gaze.

"Playing cupid." She told him.

"Being stupid?" Sean asked, his face wrinkling up in confusion. Hanna' voice had become difficult to hear over the loud music. The blonde made no verbal response, instead grabbing Sean's hands so she could have a few dances with a hunk of her own.

* * *

Emily extended her arm out to Aria as they set foot onto the red carpet that Spencer had aptly picked out for the themed dance. She smiled as the shorter girl linked their arms together as they made their way over to a table where Toby, Spencer and Sean seemed to be engaging in some heated discussion.

Spencer was the first to look up as the new arrivals made it to the table, a broad smiling breaking out across her face as she stood up to greet her best friend and her date.

"Em, you look stunning!" And she meant it. It was rare to see her friend wearing a dress, since Emily's style was generally laid back. It was even stranger to see her in a pair of heels, which she certainly pulled off. The tanned girl generally stuck to jeans and tees, although in Spencer's opinion, her legs were a sight to envy.

"And Aria, that outfit is adorable." Spencer gestured to the makeshift corset that the smaller girl was wearing over her dress. "Did you make that?"

Aria nodded, smiling at the other brunette. "I like to make use of old cast offs," she explained.

Spencer couldn't deny that she was impressed at the girl's creativity. Her dress was in one word – flamboyant. Though the spectating brunette had practically memorised the dictionary, she wouldn't really find the words to describe Aria's dress sense – but she decided that it suited her just fine.

The five took their seats at the table and a comfortable conversation flowed between them. Aria realised that she had no regrets about coming to the dance, despite Noel Kahn sitting just two tables away with a girl she recognised as CeCe Drake. It was about five minutes after Hanna returned from the ladies room, plus another five minutes after she spent gushing over Emily and Aria's outfits – that they all headed over the dance floor with their dates.

* * *

"You know, it's cool if you don't want to dance.." Emily told Aria as the smaller brunette took both of her hands and began to sway.

"Are you kidding?" She laughed in return. "I bet half of the guys here have two left feet anyway."

Emily returned the reassuring smile her chemistry partner sent her way. She knew that there were a lot of girls at Rosewood High who wouldn't be seen dead dancing with another girl at a school dance, but she felt comfortable now in assuming that Aria wasn't one of them. The smaller brunette gave one of Emily's hands a gentle squeeze in confirmation, and the tanned brunette felt her worries evaporate. Aria had always known that Emily was sweet, and she'd felt even more grateful when she'd offered to take her to the dance – but she'd been humbled by the taller brunette's attentiveness, just wishing that Noel could be as considerate.

* * *

Hanna allowed her eyes to leave Sean's for a second as she glanced in the direction where she knew Emily and Aria were dancing. The taller girl had loose hold of the pixie like brunette's hand as she spun Aria around before catching her around the waist as they both became unbalanced due to their laughter. The sight caused a smile to reach Hanna's lips, it was nice to see Emily able to have fun openly with another girl – and Aria seemed nice enough. It occurred to the blonde at this point though, that she didn't know much about Em's chem partner at all, and that was always going to be a worry.

"Mind if I steal her for a minute, Aria?"

Both Emily and Aria turned to face the blonde bombshell that the voice belonged to.

"Bored of Sean already, Han?" Emily teased. Aria laughed along with the brunette and Hanna rolled her eyes.

"You look hot – I have to dance with you," Hanna stated, as she ushered for Sean to lead Aria for the next song.

Sean and Aria began to engage in friendly conversation as Hanna pulled Emily some distance away for their dance. The brunette sensed some ulterior motive and raised her eyebrows.

"Something on your mind?" She inquired.

"Just… how's it going with Aria? You two seem cosy." Hanna replied.

"I'm having a lot of fun actually, Han. Aria's a sweetheart."

Hanna continued to dance around her friend as she replied. "She does seem lovely Em, but I mean you don't want to go jumping into a relationship wh-"

Emily's laughter drowned out whatever she had continued to say as the blonde looked at her friend, expectantly.

"I just bought her here as a friend Hanna. The guy she wanted to come with is kind of a jerk," the brunette explained, leading the blonde over to the drinks table.

"Oh." Hanna mused. "No wonder my gaydar was confused."

The girls sipped on their drinks as Hanna's protective worries seemed to be for nothing, commenting on a few people's outfits as they walked by. Emily wouldn't help but where Alison was, and who she'd come to the dance with – but she tried not to let her distracted mood show.

"I was wondering when we'd bump into you!" Hanna suddenly exclaimed, snapping Emily out of her thoughts. As her eyes focused, her gaze fell upon the girl she had just been wondering about. The brunette tried not to make her staring obvious as Hanna began to blabber on about how amazing Alison looked.

"What is it, Em?" Alison raised an eyebrow at the brunette, noticing her transfixed gaze.

"W-what?" Emily ripped her eyes away from the petite blonde as she stammered.

"Don't I look hot?" Alison's tone was dangerously flirtatious.

"You...those feathers look really pretty," Emily decided to say, with a strained smile.

In actual fact, she wanted to say a lot more. She wanted to tell Alison how that dress hugged every perfect curve of her enviable body. She wanted to tell Alison how she was an exquisite fusion of sophisticated, sexy and stylish. Moreover, she wanted everyone to know that the theme of the night wasn't Hollywood glamour – Alison was.

* * *

"So, who _did_ you actually come here with tonight?" Spencer pressed Ali again as the five girls sat around a table. "You've danced with everybody."

Not everybody, Emily's subconscious reminded her. The brunette shook herself from her thoughts as she waited for Alison to respond with some cryptic line. She was surprised however, when Alison's reply was simple:

"Ben Cougar, or something."

"Coogan." Emily corrected her. The brunette felt the need to explain herself as three pairs of eyes gazed at her, full of surprise. "He's on the swim team."

Emily didn't know Ben Coogan personally, or know very much about in fact. However from what she had heard, he was the team prankster, constantly winding people up. Normally, she would have just assumed he was just a guy with a try hard sense of humour, but the thought of him with Alison – he just didn't seem mature enough.

"I didn't see you with any one guy in particular," Hanna said to Alison as Aria nodded in agreement, backing up Spencer's point.

"I got pretty bored with him," Ali shrugged as she admitted it. Some time ago, Spencer would have cursed the blonde girl for being so pretentious, but now she was just appreciative of her honesty.

"Besides," Alison continued. "I didn't dance with _everybody_." The comment was heard by the entire table, but the blonde was looking directly at Emily as she said it.

"Ali, we don't have t-"

"What? Am I not your type?" Alison's gaze flickered to Aria as she retorted. The small brunette seemed perfectly sweet, but she had been grating on Alison's nerves all night. She wasn't sure what it was about her – but something about the way she so carelessly grabbed hold of Emily's hand…

"May I?" Alison was suddenly bought back to the present by the sight of Emily, standing beside her chair with a hand outstretched. A lump had begun to form in the blonde's throat, and so she merely nodded, allowing her own hand to fall into the brunette's grasp.

As Emily led Alison to a vacant spot on the dance floor, the blonde began to feel uneasy. She had danced with near enough every boy in the room, from those who tried to get too up close and personal, to those who were to afraid to stand anywhere nearer than one metre's distance within her space. Yet somehow, the thought of dancing with Emily seemed different – intimate. She knew that she could back out, make some excuse – Emily wouldn't question it. But cowardice wasn't something Alison Dilaurentis did.

* * *

Just as she the blonde began shake off her doubts, the song changed and the DJ began to speak.

"Grab hold of the one you love, kids! This one's for you," He called into the mic, before switching the song to Sam Smith's acoustic version of Latch.

Alison turned to see Emily's eyes wide, with terror, fear, anticipation? She wasn't sure.

"Would you rather we didn't?" the brunette asked, hesitantly.

"It's just a dance, Em." Alison worked hard to say the words confidently, not allowing her voice to waver as she stepped closer to Emily, looping her arms around her waist.

_You, you enchant me_

_Even when you're not around…_

Alison felt Emily's body stiffen momentarily before the taller girl placed her shaky hands on the tops of the blonde girl's arms.

_Now I've got you in my space,_

_I won't let go of you…_

For a few seconds, neither girl moved their feet. They simply stood there, gazes locked – entranced. There may have been surrounded by a sea of people, but for Alison: there was only Emily.

Not fighting the gravitational pull that Emily seemed to hold over her anymore, Alison inched forward. She allowed her arms to encircle the taller girl's waist more securely, resting her own head just below Emily's collarbone.

_I feel we're close enough,_

_Could I lock in your love? _

Almost immediately, Emily – or at least her body reciprocated. Her long, toned arms engulfed the blonde beauty, gripping her as closely as she possibly could to her own torso. Alison felt Emily's chin rest on the top of her head, and the blonde allowed her eyes to close. She could both hear and feel the brunette's heartbeat, slowing down as if synchronising with the pace of her own.

_Got you shackled in my embrace,_

_I'm latching onto you._

And just like that, the two fit together. Like two pieces of a jigsaw that had been left frustratingly incomplete for a number of years, they became one. Their embrace no longer passed as a dance, they simply stayed fixed in that spot, rocking back and forth slowly. Both girls allowed themselves to become intoxicated with the other, lost in each other's touch. It suddenly dawned on Emily that she'd never felt as if she was holding something so precious, while Alison simultaneously realised that she had never known a moment so serene.

* * *

Spencer, Toby and a few other members had begun the clean-up operation after the auditorium became near empty of its inhabitants. Emily, of course had stuck around to aid her friend which explained why Aria was still present, while Hanna had been forced to leave early on her mom's wishes. Emily wasn't sure why Alison had chosen to stay behind, but she knew that she was glad.

"Em, could you get those balloons?" Spencer pointed to a corner where the balloons were higher than the ones she herself was removing from the walls.

"Sure. Aria you want to bring that bag over?" Emily asked. Aria didn't immediately respond, seeming too engrossed in something she was looking at on her phone.

"Oh, Em. Sorry, of course." She replied, apologetic.

"Is everything okay?" Emily's tone was concerned, her voice as gentle as ever.

Aria bit her lip. She wondered if Emily had always been this kind.

"It's just…my brother's pretty trashed and I'd really like it if he got home before my parents.." she began.

"Do you need to go?" Emily cut her off.

"Of course not, I'm your ride. I'll wait." Aria insisted.

"I can take you home, Emily." A third voice entered the conversation. Alison.

"If you don't mind, Ali.." The swimmer trailed off, studying the blonde's expression. Her face was impassive, but her mood didn't seem sour.

"Of course I don't. You live across the street from me." Alison reminded her.

Aria's eyes wandered between the two girls. "Well, if you guys are cool with that…" She spoke directly to Emily. "I'm sorry about this, but I really did have a great time." She meant it.

"Me too, Aria." Emily replied genuinely as her chemistry partner pulled her in for a goodbye hug.

* * *

The silence that filled the car as the two girls drove home wasn't as comfortable as the one Emily had become accustomed to in recent weeks. Any attempt that either of them made at conversation quickly expired, and so they'd both resorted to staying quiet. It bothered the brunette that efforts between them suddenly felt strained, after she'd felt like they had bonded so well. Although she knew it shouldn't bug her, she kept replaying Alison's words over and over in her head:

'_It's just a dance, Em. '_

Was it wise to continue being friends with Alison, when for Emily – it was so much more?

"So, are you planning to see Aria again?" Alison made an effort to re-intiate conversation, her eyes on the road.

"I have chem lab on Tuesday," Emily told her.

"I meant…socially."

Emily couldn't help but laugh at her friend, glancing in the direction of the driver' side.

"That's a funny way to phrase it. You sound like Spencer."

Alison's expression didn't change, and her lips didn't even twitch to show hints of a smile. Emily allowed her laughter to subside.

"Not as anything more than a friend," She decided not to push Alison given that her mood didn't seem playful. At this, the blonde seemed to give a stiff nod, before reverting back to her previous silence.

The blonde pulled up outside the Fields' house about five minutes later, and Emily unbuckled her seatbelt. Just as she was about to leave the car, she remembered something Alison had reminded her of earlier.

"Did you want to take my bio notes now? I might not see you till Monday," She asked, having promised to loan her class notes to the struggling blonde.

"I'd be grateful," Alison replied, finally turning to look at the brunette with a small smile.

As they entered the house, Emily told her friend she'd run on ahead to grab her books, leaving Alison to wait alone in the kitchen. The shorter girl had mentally smirked at being kept downstairs, given that Emily's parents were out of town. Her English partner was so chaste, it was adorable. The blonde mentally snarled at herself to snap out of whatever state it was she was in. she could tell that her current demeanour wasn't exactly pleasing to Emily.

"My handwriting's kind of crappy, but its all there." Emily had returned, holding out a battered exercise book.

Alison took hold of what she was offered and cleared her throat, which suddenly felt extremely dry.

"Thanks and you looked really pretty tonight, Em." The words came out all at once, and she sounded more nervous than she should have been. She was a friend, complimenting another friend on an outfit, that was all.

Emily blinked in surprise, but a genuine smile crossed her features. "Thanks, Ali."

Although the two girls weren't in the habit of parting with a goodbye hug, Alison suddenly wished that thy were – in the hopes that it might diminish the awkwardness that was lingering between them.

Instead, they mumbled a goodbye and Alison let herself out, trying still to shake herself of the strange feelings that were suffocating her.

* * *

Just as Emily removed her heels, and a literal five minutes after Alison had left – there was a ring of the doorbell. It was quite late, and Emily wasn't expecting her parents home till the next day, so this was slightly worrying. She walked over to the front door, unlocking it and pulling it slightly ajar – surprised at who was standing on the other side of it.

"Ali, did you forget something?" The brunette asked, opening the door fully to face the friend standing on her doorstep.

"Yes, actually." Alison's voice was shaky, as if she didn't quite trust herself. "I meant to give you something."

Emily glanced down at the other girl's empty hands, curious and slightly confused. Before she had the chance to ask any further questions however, Alison had closed the distance between them – and just like that, pressed her lips to the brunette's. She pulled away as quickly as she had approached, panic flaring up inside of her. It only lasted a second, but Emily could still feel the tingles from where the blonde had hurriedly brushed her fingertips across the brunette's cheeks. She could still feel the parts of her mouth that Alison Dilaurentis had just put a minute amount of pressure on – with her own.

But just as quickly as Alison had returned to her doorstep, she had turned and bolted down the yard to leave. Before Emily could even process the blonde's movements, she had gotten right back into her car and driven much further than across the street, back to the Dilaurentis household.

Left with no option but to go back inside, Emily closed the front door and leaned against it trying to collect her thoughts. She wasn't sure what that had meant, or whether it meant anything at all; but she was certain of one thing. Alison Dilaurentis had kissed her – and Emily Fields had _liked_ it.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Just a quick thank you for all the reviews again! I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter. The kiss wasn't part of the plan, but 5x10 destroyed me so I needed it as much as everyone else. Guys, your reviews. You people make me ALMOST forget the shattered state of Emison on the show at the moment! Honestly, your comments make my day.**

**I have to apologise for kissing scenes and stuff, that's not the kind of thing I write best. But I hope you enjoy this update and I promise things will start to smoothen out for the girls soon. :)**

* * *

Alison Dilaurentis had lost count of the number of times she had been faced with inner turmoil since she had met Emily Fields. She was also fully aware that every time she was faced with such discomfort, it was entirely her own fault. Her English partner had texted her frequently over that weekend, pleading for them to get together and talk about what had occurred after the dance. Alison however, had ignored almost every one of those texts – only sending back a short reply about how she was busy with her parents and wouldn't be able to come out during the next couple of days.

Truthfully though, the blonde didn't want to talk about what happened because she didn't _know _what to say. As much as she'd tried to put it out of her mind, that kiss was playing repeatedly in her mind – taunting her.

It wasn't like what a first kiss was meant to be like, Alison knew that for sure. Emily hadn't even reciprocated, though the blonde pulled away far too quickly for her even to be given the chance. So why, after being the one to initiate the kiss, had Alison been the one to recoil from it? For fear that Emily might not return the embrace? Upon realisation that she didn't like girls that way? Alison had toyed with many possible explanations for why she had been so impulsive that night. The one theory that she'd tried hard to crush, but was still resounding stood – she had pulled back at that moment because she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to pull away if Emily _had_ indeed returned the kiss.

* * *

Emily parted with Spencer somewhat distractedly, opening up her locker. Grabbing hold of a couple of textbooks, she shut it again and began to scan the hallways for that head of golden ringlets she desperately needed to see. Their English lesson had been cancelled that morning, conveniently for Alison – and the brunette hadn't had the liberty of bumping into her since.

The swimmer needed some sort of explanation for what had taken place on her doorstep just two nights before. She knew that she needed it, but she wasn't sure if she _wanted_ it. Something about Alison dodging her texts made her feel even more uneasy about the situation than she ought to have been.

The timing couldn't have been worse. Emily's dad was in rosewood for the week, on leave from Texas. The brunette was of course over joyed to see her father, but all of her feelings right now seemed clouded by her confusion over Alison.

She'd been through plausible excuses in her head: that the blonde was aiming for a friendly kiss on the cheek and Emily had turned her head at exactly the wrong moment? That Alison was playing the kind of tricks that only Alison did? She'd even considered that someone may have spiked the blonde's drink; it was a common occurrence at school dances. And yet somewhere, she clung onto the hope that maybe Alison had kissed her, because she _wanted _to.

* * *

Alison had successfully managed to get through a day of school and arrive home without any awkward encounters with Emily that day. The blonde flopped down on her bed, exhausted. She was tired – largely from thinking, mostly about Emily. Although she'd concluded that it didn't mean anything, she wasn't able to forget the taste of the brunette's lips. She may only have contacted them with her own for a mini second, but it wasn't something she _wanted_ to forget.

Though the blonde herself preferred to wear fruity lip glosses, strawberry, cherry, watermelon – the works, Emily had clearly opted for chap stick of a flavour that Alison didn't recognise. All she knew is that if she ever tasted that chap stick again, the only flavour she'd be able to think of it as was Emily.

Just as Alison allowed her eyes to close, her door burst open and the blonde bolted upright – eyes wide with shock at the arrival. Emily's entrance may have sounded bold, but the brunette's stance said otherwise. She stood awkwardly in the doorway, her arms dangling at her sides as if they didn't even belong to her.

"Your mom said I could come straight up…" She explained, her tone hesitant. Alison nodded and stood up from the bed, fixing her skirt as she began to feel self-conscious all of a sudden.

"You'd better sit down, then." The blonde motioned for Emily sit down. As the brunette took a seat on the bed, Alison made her way over to the door and closed it behind her. Mrs. Dilaurentis didn't have the same rules for her daughter that Mrs. Fields did, but for a second – Emily wished that wasn't the case.

* * *

Emily decided that there wasn't any point in beating around the bush with Alison given their current circumstances, and so she launched straight in as the blonde took a seat a safe distance away from her.

"Look, Ali. If you're confused about your sexuality-" She started to speak, only to be cut off by a sharp cackle of laughter from the other girl.

"I like boys, Em." Her tone was uninviting, and she stated it as if there were no possible alternatives. The brunette felt her patience wearing thin. It was bad enough that Alison had been avoiding her, but to try to cut the conversation short when they'd finally started to have it – that wasn't okay with her.

"Really? It didn't seem that way when you high fived my mouth with yours, Alison."

Both girls were silent for a moment, equally shocked by the iciness in Emily's tone. Moreover, that wasn't the way that she ever phrased things out loud. A twinge of pain shot through Alison at the trivial way that the brunette had described their kiss, but she shook it off.

"Em, it's just something that friends do."

"Do you kiss all of your friends like that?" It was the first time that either of them had used the word 'kiss' and Alison was both grateful and uncomfortable at the same time.

"Well, I never had any complaints from CeCe, Riley or Naomi." Alison lied smoothly, her tone casual. A flash of discomfort graced Emily's features as she pictured the mental image of Alison kissing said girls. Even if was just something Ali _'did'_ with her alleged friends, it didn't mean Emily was okay with it.

"That's messed up, Ali." Emily's voice was quiet, but her tone betrayed signs of defeat.

"No, Emily. It's practice." Alison's reply was sharp, and the glazing over of Emily's eyes made her regret it instantly. It may have been a while but the truth was as clear as ever, nobody could lie as well as Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

She may only have uttered two words, but they were enough to cause something inside Emily to shatter. She could hear Spencer in her head right now, reprimanding her, telling her; _I told you so_. This wasn't _her_ Ali, the Alison she'd grown to care for. This was the cold, manipulative ice queen that she thought was long gone.

Emily could feel her eyes begin to heat up, tears threatening to fall. She wasn't prepared to give Alison Dilaurentis that satisfaction, and so she got up from the bed quickly, preparing to leave. When she was halfway between the bed and the door, she turned back to the blonde.

"For the record, I'm not CeCe or Naomi, or Riley. I don't want to _practice_ with you." Her disdain was evident as she spat out the word 'practice'.

"So, you don't want me to kiss you again?" Alison had also left the bed and was now standing directly opposite her. The harshness had left her tone and was replaced by the same dangerous seduction that Emily had heard on the night of the dance.

Emily swallowed the lump in her throat as she willed herself to look up from the lower half of Alison's face. Despite how furious the blonde had just made her, she was hypnotised by the way her precise way her lips moved as she pronounced every word.

The brunette finally forced herself to make eye contact with Alison, holding her gaze as she replied:

"No…not for practice." She chose her words carefully, because there was no way that she would deny herself the pleasure of kissing Alison Dilaurentis if it was a mutual desire.

The blonde seemed to become distracted for a minute as her eyes looked past Emily, her tone becoming serious as she spoke again.

"You're probably right. That's not how our first kiss should have gone anyway."

The pace of Emily's heartbeat quickened significantly as she registered Alison's word. The blonde had a habit of dressing up the things she said in a cryptic way that the brunette felt she needed to dissect them in order to find their true meaning. But right now, all she could focus on was the word 'first'. Did that mean Alison _wanted_ it to happen again?

Emily decided that voicing this question to Alison wouldn't be effective, and so all that was left was for her to find out for herself. Mustering up every ounce of courage that she felt she had, the brunette raised one of her hands to Ali's face, cupping the pale girl's cheek and allowed her thumb to tenderly stroke the skin beneath the one of the girl's blue eyes – which wide with surprise. Alison however, didn't recoil from the contact and the brunette took this as a good sign.

As Emily's lips met Alison's, the blonde followed the taller girl's lead and allowed her eyes to close as she pulled the brunette closer to her. It occurred suddenly to Emily that both of their lips were moving, she was kissing Alison Dilaurentis, and Alison Dilaurentis was kissing her _back_. There was no hesitance from Alison as her lips moved hungrily in synchronisation with Emily's, both girls could feel nothing but need pulsing through them as Alison's hands became tangled in the brunette's hair.

Alison took note of the fact that Emily, unlike most of the boys that she had kissed – hadn't immediately tried to polish the inside of her mouth with her tongue as soon as their lips had met. Instead, there had been electricity as the brunette had been brave enough to make the first move – but gentle enough to allow for room to actually remember the experience.

Emily's arms had looped protectively around the blonde's waist at some point during their embrace, and she had been preparing to pull away just as she felt Alison lick her lower lip, almost pleading for entrance. The brunette was all too happy to oblige as she parted her lips, just as Alison's tongue darted inside her mouth. There was no wrestling for dominance between the pair of them, there was simply fire as their tongues dances together – while Alison's hands roamed from Emily's face, to her shoulders, until they trailed all the way down Emily's arms until they became intertwined with the brunette's fingers. And suddenly, Alison felt like she was_ home_.

* * *

The need for oxygen seemed to kick start the decision to pull away from one another, as both of their eyes fluttered open at once. Blue orbs were filled with longing, passion and awe while the brunette felt pretty sure that her own expression was likely to be a mirror of the blonde's. Both girls breathed heavily, hearts pounding – looking nowhere but at each other.

Alison began to think that neither of them was ever going to speak again, and she wasn't sure that she even minded. There seemed to be a peace around her, just standing here with her hands locked with Emily's. It was the brunette however who, after what felt like an eternity, broke the silence.

"I think our first kiss should have gone something like that."

* * *

And just like that, she released both of the blonde's hands and headed downstairs straight after offering Alison a smile which conveyed some sort of emotion that she wasn't able to recognise. Alison Dilaurentis child didn't know if the events of the last five minutes had been practice, but if that was the case – she would be perfectly content if she never did come across the real thing.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello guys, and once again thanks for your reviews, they're always appreciated. This is probably the last update in a while (sorry!) but I'm going away for a while and it'll probably be about three weeks till I post a new chapter.**

**I do hope you'll enjoy the update however, and I definitely intend to finish this story when I get back. Thanks again. :)**

* * *

The cafeteria was at its busiest just after noon as Emily took a seat opposite Spencer Hastings. Seated beside her best friend was Aria Montgomery, who the Hastings child had taken a real shine to after the recent dance. It amused Emily to witness their new friendship, as the two were such stark opposites. Everything Spencer did was with military precision – completely prim and proper. And yet Aria was all sorts of mis-matched and quirky, and yet somehow the differences between the two complimented one another perfectly.

She also couldn't help but be a little disheartened by their new friendship. Not because she felt like she may have been losing Spencer, as one would assume – but because it reminded her of a friendship of her own.

While her own tresses were a deep brown, Alison's curls were golden. While her orbs were a deep and ordinary brown, Alison's were a blue that no artist or writer would ever be able to be able to do justice to using paints or mere words. While she was tall and gangly, Alison was petite and graceful.

But Alison Dilaurentis wasn't just her opposite in physical appearance.

Although the two girls may not have had open discussions about it, Emily was fairly certain that Alison's views on almost everything would contradict her own. While the brunette always found herself looking for hope – regardless of the situation, the blonde silently crushed the notion that hope even existed. And yet, despite beliefs that didn't coincide – Emily had believed that the two of them fit together.

While hope existed for Emily, the cliché 'opposites attract' had never had much authenticity. She had always thought it only logical for attraction to be based on common ground. Take her and Spencer for example; their forever long friendship had been reinforced by academic excellence at school, joining the same clubs, liking the same books. But now, as she watched her best friend and Aria chatter easily, as she thought about herself and Alison – she thought that maybe it took finding your opposite in order for you to find yourself.

And that was all she could do at this point really, think about her and Alison. It made her silently miserable, but her opposite seemed to be drifting away from her. Two days had passed since their kiss in Alison's bedroom, and they had only had one verbal encounter since. It had been brief and civil. Passing by one another in the hallways, they had exchanged greetings, and asked after each other's wellbeing. For Emily, it all felt wrong – stiff and uncomfortable. Neither of them had made reference to what had gone on in Alison's bedroom just days prior – and the brunette was determined not to have to be the one to make the first move.

She had been in complete control that day, when she leaned in to initiate a kiss with Alison. But she wasn't however, aware as to why she'd felt the need to flee straight after. It wasn't that the kiss had been disappointing – in fact, that was another opposite she'd noticed recently. Emily didn't have the same rebellious streak as Alison, so while she had never experienced the high one would get from ecstasy, she felt like the taste of the blonde's lips was as close as she'd ever get.

Part of leaving Alison that day was down to fear, she'd admitted. While Emily had shared kisses with girls before, kisses where she'd felt…something. Nothing came close to what seemed to ignite when their lips had touched, their bodies seemed to have melted into each other – it was as if they'd become fluid.

Thinking back to that awkward hallway exchange again, Emily tried to forget the tone of Alison's voice as she'd spoken. The blonde had allowed her voice to betray many different emotions since the two of them had started to spend time together – but this had been different. Alison hadn't sounded entirely unfriendly, but her tone had been one that was laced with impatience. Like she had a ton of other places she'd rather have been at that moment. And that was another opposite for Emily, because right now, there wasn't anyone's company she craved more.

* * *

Alison got out of the car and slammed the door shut with more force than necessary after it pulled up outside her house. She turned around then, kneeling slightly so she was looking toward the driver through the window.

"Thanks for driving me home, Noel." And her tone was genuine, she was in fact grateful. He'd tipped her a wink and given her his classic boyish smile before speeding off, leaving Alison to walk up to her doorstep alone.

An Emily-free day was enough to make Alison realise how much her social life had changed. All of sudden, she wasn't sure who she should be texting – though there was a ridiculous number of boys who'd be happy to be on the receiving end. And thus, in her efforts not to obsess over obsessing over her obsession, Alison had thrown in the towel and arranged to meet up with Noel.

Conversation with Noel was easy. That was the simplest – and probably also the most detailed way she could put it. It wasn't hard to find a topic that the male swimmer would enjoy poking fun at. And it wasn't hard for the blonde to find something in what he said humorous. Laughing with Noel was easy.

But as free and effortless conversation with Noel was, they were soon forgotten. Conversations with Noel weren't the type of conversations that the blonde replayed over and over in her head, savouring each word that he'd said. Noel teasing her wasn't the type of teasing that gave her a thrill – his occasional seriousness wasn't riveting. Talking to Noel may have been easy, but it didn't leave her desperately wanting to speak with him more. Conversation with Noel Kahn just didn't measure up once one had spoken with Emily Fields.

* * *

And this was the pattern that Alison's thoughts had been following for the last few days. She willed herself to think about Noel, and then unintentionally, Emily would tip-toe across her brain. And once the brunette had begun to walk into her thoughts, she'd think back to when they'd kiss. And once she allowed herself to think about _that_ kiss, she'd remember how the brunette had left her soon after – and then all at once it was like Emily was stomping around over every nerve that her brain consisted of.

Alison hadn't felt this kind of anger since before she and Emily had become friends. In fact, she wasn't even sure that she could refer to her as a friend anymore. Friends didn't share kisses like those. Friends didn't cling to each other like the way Emily had gripped hold of her waist that night, and friends didn't allow days to pass without so much as a trivial text.

There it was again, that same hollow emptiness that Alison had been burdened with lately as she mulled over the fact that they weren't speaking. What bothered her most though, was that she suddenly knew what it felt like to be every other person at Rosewood High.

She knew what it felt like to be one of the boys that she herself had flashed a flirtatious smile at, watching as she saw their eyes betray signs of infatuation, while she knew full well that they stood no chance with her. She knew what it felt like when those wannabe cheerleaders pleaded with her to attend one of their parties, and she given them a simple 'maybe' even though she knew she'd rather spend her Friday night studying math than going to a party thrown by one of them.

But the worst of it all was that suddenly, she knew what it felt like to be Emily. She knew how it must have felt when she herself had left the brunette on her doorstep after planting a tentative kiss on her lips. She knew what it must have felt like to watch someone who made you feel complete, walk away from you. She'd heard the cliché about 'getting a taste of your own medicine', but she hadn't realised that it would be as bitter as this.

She wondered if Emily was being forced to go through this mental torment too. She didn't have to wonder long though, because Alison already knew the answer. Emily wasn't the one who had dismissed their kiss as practice. Emily wasn't the one who'd been _afraid_ to take the lead.

Though Alison may have changed significantly over the last few months, there were traits that she couldn't erase. She couldn't shake off the expectation that Emily would apologise to her despite doing nothing wrong – just because it's what she'd been used to. She couldn't help but wait for the brunette to appear again, shy and sweet as ever, hovering at her doorway. But these were only whispers, and her mind was screaming at her to accept it: Emily Fields wasn't going to come running back to her.

* * *

Emily leaned back against the wall and hugged her knees close to her chest as she half-listened to her friend ramble on about her date the previous night. It was a relief to have Hanna here, chattering away oblivious to her inner turmoil. It was nice to listen to someone speak about a kiss they'd shared with somebody with excitement, with a dreamy look on their face that she supposed would never cross Alison's face.

She cursed herself mentally for allowing Alison to cross her mind again, focusing on what Hanna was saying.

"…I so owe Alison for this."

Emily decided she was allowed to think about her since it was Hanna had bought her up. Her gaze flickered to her friend who was lounging casually on her bed.

"Owe Alison for what?" Emily asked, hoping Hanna didn't hear the lowering of her volume when she said the blonde's name.

"For setting me up with Sean, _duh_." Hanna said, as if it were obvious. Emily supposed it should have been, Hanna hadn't stopped talking about him since she'd walked in.

"Have you heard from Ali today? She hasn't texted me back yet but I need details," Hanna placed emphasis on the word with exaggeration that only Hanna could pull off.

Emily didn't answer her question, but raised an eyebrow.

"Details about what?" She asked, keeping her tone casual.

_Had Alison confided in someone about their kiss?_

"Noel Kahn, obviously. Just when the school thinks there's no chance for Nolison, bam! They're getting cosy over dinner."

_Of course she hadn't._

It occurred to Emily that Nolison sounded completely awkward – and just downright ridiculous. She was annoyed, frustrated. She also couldn't help but feel jealous. But mostly, she just felt tired.

"I guess that's Alison for you." Emily's reply didn't make any real response to anything that Hanna had just said, but she noticed the blonde looking at her strangely. Her expression was full of curiosity, but it seemed to be burying a level of understanding.

"Em, are you ok?" The understanding clearly wasn't mistaken, as the blonde's tone was gently with concern.

"Actually Han, I just feel a headache coming on. You think we could finish this off tomorrow?"

The blonde girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, considering her decision. But then she got up from the bed and began to gather her belongings. It wasn't common to see Emily in a state of reclusion, but she felt that it would be best to give the brunette some space for the time being.

"Just call if you need anything, okay?" She looked at Emily, expectantly. The swimmer nodded, and offered her a small smile before giving her friend a goodbye hug as she left the room.

It occurred to her that Hanna leaving didn't make her feel any different to the way she did while she'd been in her company. It was the same for Spencer's company, and for Aria's. She still had this emptiness, a feeling of being incomplete. And she was suddenly all too aware of what loneliness was.

She sat down on the edge of her bed just as her phone began to ring, to her disdain. She didn't feel like talking, or thinking – or doing anything. But as her eyes took in the caller ID with surprise, she felt like her mind had already been changed.

Accepting the call, she bought the phone up her ear.

* * *

"What, Alison?" The brunette shocked herself at how easily her annoyance seemed to have seeped into her tone. But the blonde didn't seem fazed as she replied.

"I'm having some trouble."

Emily could only feel her temper wearing thinner. Of course Alison had chosen to call her now, when she was in need of something. That was what Alison did. She bit her tongue, not wanting to give the blonde the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten to her. The line was silent for a few moments, with only a few fuzzy cracks due to bad reception.

"I think I'm in need of some vitamin E."

Alison's voice was quiet – but there was confidence and flirtation in her tone that Emily recognised. As she said it, the brunette could visualise a smile playing across the blonde's lips.

"I have a letter for you too." Emily replied, her voice even.

"What is it?" Alison's tone was curious, like it hadn't been the response she'd been looking for. But honestly, the blonde was just grateful that the conversation hadn't ended.

"N. As in 'no'. As in _Noel_." Suddenly, any restraint Emily had was history, and the blonde almost winced from the venom in her tone as she said his name.

"Emily, listen-" She began.

"No, Alison. _You_ listen. I heard everything I needed to hear before I kissed you-" The brunette drew breath sharply, pushing faint memories of the taste of Alison's lips out of her head.

"That can't happen again." Alison's tone had lost its flirty edge, she was blunt.

"But…you kissed me first," Emily hated how pathetic she sounded, any strength that her voice had suddenly non-existent.

"Em, I lied to you when I said that kiss was for practice. I don't kiss my friends like that. "

Emily was left more confused than ever, desperately trying to figure out what Alison was trying to say. She could argue that the blonde was telling her she felt something when they kissed, but her impassive tone said otherwise.

"Then why?" Emily's tone was open now, honest. Simply searching for answers.

"I wanted to know how it felt. To kiss a girl." Alison was concentrating now, speaking with an even tone that she'd spent years perfecting. Emily still wasn't entirely sure where this was going, so she made no reply leaving Alison an opportunity to continue.

"I just thought I'd see why Katy Perry felt the need to write a song about it. I guess you could call it an experiment. It wasn't really for me." Alison's tone was still casual. Emily could vividly imagine the blonde shrugging as she said that.

"...an experiment." Emily repeated, her voice quiet – processing Alison's words.

Alison nodded her head vigorously, although she knew the brunette couldn't see her. Emily's mouth gaped open at the way that Alison was talking – as if she'd tried a new breakfast cereal and just decided that it wasn't to her taste.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I was playing the field." The blonde joked, laughing lightly at the pun she'd made using her English partner's name.

But Emily didn't laugh with her.

"You…god. You're _unbelievable_." Emily's words were choked out, plagued with disgust and pain and everything that Alison hoped that she'd never have to hear in that girl's voice.

"I hope you meant that as a compliment." But Alison's voice wasn't as confident anymore, and she began to brace herself for Emily's wrath. She was suddenly grateful that she couldn't see the brunette, and that this was a phone call.

The line was suddenly quiet, and Alison thought that maybe in her anger Emily had hung up on her. But as she moved the phone away from her ear and glanced at it, the call hadn't been ended – and it terrified her.

"We can still be friends, right?" Alison dared herself to ask, although she knew all too well how ludicrous a proposition that was.

It was at that point, that the girl on the other end began to laugh. Throaty chuckles in between violent sobs that Alison wished she could – but knew she would never forget. The sound of Emily trying, desperately fighting to muffle her cries twisted Alison's insides in a way that she had never had to endure before. But she made no attempt to speak. For the first time in her life, Alison Dilaurentis waited for someone.

And then, Alison knew that she would never forget what Emily said next. Every time she saw an olive skinned girl, or saw a pair of deep brown eyes. Every time she walked by a pool, or caught a whiff of chlorine, she would hear this voice. She would hear the raspyness and the edge to the brunette's tone as she spoke, her tone dripping with pure unadulterated disappointment.

"I don't know what I saw in you."

And then, the line went dead.

* * *

There was nothing that Alison would have traded in order to un-hear those words. She would have handled Emily hurtling abuse at her down the phone, curses and insults – the works. Yet somehow, the sound of her disappointment, - her _regret_ – had wounded the blonde so much more.

Alison looked down at the text that she'd began to compose, before even being entirely aware of what she was doing. It was only then that she realised she hadn't only disappointed Emily, she had disappointed herself.

**I don't know what you saw in me, but I'm sure glad that you did.**

As the blonde erased the unsent text, she did something that she had never consciously done before. That night, Alison Dilaurentis cried – and she had cried for somebody.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: hello! I'm actually still away and so I'm posting this from my phone. I started it over two weeks ago and its been bugginv me that it wasnt complete. Its by no means my best chapter but I've had to redo it a load of times due to a dodgy internet connection. (I havent proofread it at all but I will whenI I'm I'm the comfort of my own home) I'll probably be away for another week or so but I think I've been suffering from withdrawal symptoms from not posting, haha.**

**Thank you again for the reviews - I do apologise to new reviewers who I haven't yet responded to. I promise I will get round to it. I hope you enjoy this, and even if you don't - you'll like the next chapter! (I haven't written it yet but I'm excited to which is a good sign) :')!**

* * *

In a fit of exasperation, Alison Dilaurentis pushed away her algebra textbook and flopped down on her bed. The subject was far from a favourite for the blonde, and it wasn't the first time in recent weeks that she'd given up before even completing a page worth of exercises. The last time she'd actually managed to whittle away over an hour whilst battling simultaneous equations was when she had bucketfuls of moral support in the form of Emily Fields. An unwelcome yet familiar ache surfaced within Alison as images of the tanned brunette flashed through her mind. Two weeks had passed since the phonecall that cost the blonde Emily's friendship, and time had never crawled at such an unsatisfactory pace. It was both a positive and a negative that one of these weeks was a break from school, as it meant that the twinge that pulsed through Alison upon laying eyes on her English partner wasn't as frequent as it would have been had they been attending school as of regular. However, not seeing Emily left the other girl constantly wondering - what Emily was doing - who Emily was with - what Emily was thinking about...

And with this one particular person plaguing her thoughts, Alison's desperate attempt to answer some of these questions was to turn to social media.

* * *

As she had been doing quite frequently during the course of the last week, the blonde whipped out her phone and header straight for Twitter. She scrolled impatiently through her timeline for all of thirty seconds before she became thoroughly annoyed by the trivial posts from some of the It-Crowd of Rosewood High. Alison had never had much patience for those social media users who felt the need to update their followers on their every move. It left no room for speculation, for mystery - which Alison clearly loved. But most of all, it was just downright boring.

Checking her mentions, which were of course blowing up with invitations to hang out over the break, gushing compliments on her twitpics and the like - she felt her boredom only increase.

Succumbing to her curiosity once again, Alison found herself scrolling through Emily's tweets. The blonde girl had scrolled through the same ones, countless times and she could wholeheartedly admit that boredom was a myth as she did so. Emily wasn't exactly a social butterfly, and so her tweets were infrequent and few, but Alison couldn't help but pay close attention to every single one of them. Mostly, it contented Alison to visit the brunette's page just to find that her profile picture hadn't been updated. As much as Alison longed to see a more recent image of Emily, she enjoyed that the first picture she saw everytime she visited her profile was one of the two of them. There they were, her own pale skin contrasted by Emily's olive. Her own icy blue orbs softened by Emily's velvety brown ones. Her own face plastered with a genuine grin as they both stared directly at the camera, the taller girls arm wrapped securely around Alison's shoulder whilst her own arm was looped around Emily's waist. It had become something of a ritual for her to stare at the picture for a while before proceeding to dissect Emily's tweets. She hated how much she liked the sight of them together. She hated the obvious sincerity in both of their smiles. She hated that her eyes seemed to linger on Emily's lips for a fraction of a second too long, even though it was just a picture. But most of all, she hated that she'd lost her.

It was at that thought that Alison decided to pen a tweet of her own.

**How do you cope with losing something you never really had?**

The blonde had always been cryptic in her posts via any social network. She basked in the frustration of her followers as they tried to unravel the mystery surrounding them. However recently, she didn't feel she was taking enjoyment from being a central topic of discussion - in honestly, she wasn't even sure whether she herself knew the meaning behind half of her ramblings.

* * *

Not having the will to make an attempt to tackle her algebra work again, Alison opened up her instagram and began to scroll through her feed once again. She'd occasionally lazily double tap a random picture, knowing how it would bring out the inner fangirl of whoever was behind the account, and the thought caused her ego to swell. Confused or not, she was still Alison Dilaurentis.

She ceased scrolling as her eyes fell on a post from Emily. It was a photograph of the brunette accompanied by Hanna Marin, their heads angled towards one another, temples touching. Posted fifteen minutes prior, Emily had captioned her post:

**Fun with my favourite blonde! :)**

Metaphoric fire began to ignite Alison's body as she was stabbed with another familiar pang of envy. She tried to extinguish the flames rising within her by conjuring up scenarios that invalidated that simple yet infuriating caption. Perhaps Hanna had posted that picture from Emily's phone. Perhaps she meant 'blonde' in the most stereotypical of senses - because let's face it, Hanna took all the awards for ditziness.

Subconscious theories aside, Alison had been stung. She was accustomed to being prized, at the top of the social pyramid. In honesty, the Dilaurentis child didn't always want the fawning attention she received, but at this moment one thing was for certain. Alison Dilaurentis wanted to be Emily Fields' favourite.

* * *

After dropping Hanna off at the Marin household, Emily Fields entered her home with a contented sigh. She had enjoyed spending the say with her excitable blonde friend, despite the fact that they'd spent most of their time shopping - an activity that the brunette didn't usually revel in. But as contagious as Hanna's personality was, Emily's reasons for appreciating her company recently were a touch on the selfish side.

As days passed, the brunette found her thoughts being clouded by Alison Dilaurentis far more often than she was comfortable with. Company of any kind saved her from being suffocated by her own mind - and more specifically - from memories of Alison.

She had replayed the phonecall that had caused what had become of them in meticulous after mulling over the ruthless way that Alison had discarded their intimate encounters, Emily had instead continued to be haunted by her own words:

**_I don't know what I saw in you._**

It hadn't bothered her that she had returned Alison's malice - she was fully aware that shehad the right to retaliate to the attack. What caused Emily extreme discomfort was the fact that once she'd uttered those words, realisation had struck her that it was the single most dishonest sentence she had ever formulated.

* * *

The truth was, Emily Fields new exactly what she saw in Alison Dilaurentis. Like everyone else, she saw the polished beauty of the blonde's surface. She saw the confidence in her strides, the fire in her blue orbs. She saw the enticing way her that her dresses and skirts hugged her curvaceous hips, sparking a ridiculous jealousy of a mere piece of cloth from within herself.

But the brunette also saw the kindness that Alison so desperately tried to mask. She saw the childish excitement over swingsets and ice cream. In Alison, she'd seen humanity.

Something else that she'd seen was a raw talent for story writing. Unbeknownst to Alison, Emily had once been casually scrolling through the blonde's phone on one of their study dates when her eyes fell onto the Tumblr app. It had surprised her, but mostly sparked a burning curiosity to view the blonde's blog. Whilst they had openly exchanged instagram and Twitter usernames, neither girl had even mentioned Emily's preferred networking site, Tumblr. The brunette had concluded that their reasoning was probably the same: personal tumblr blogs were something that one wanted to share with the whole world, yet simultaneously wanted no one to see.

This is why, Emily had spent the past three weeks trawling through Alison's blog, excited for regular updates. Amongst mandatory photographs which the blonde had reblogged, it turned out that Alison used her blog as a platform to publish short stories which Emily had a sneaking suspicion related somehow to her real life. There had been previous entries that the tanned swimmer recognised as altercations wiry CeCe, Noel and even the older Dilaurentis child, Jason. Whilst Alison sneakily changed the names of characters and geographical locations, the events were familiar to Emily as recounts Alison had verbally given her.

Refreshing the page, Emily began to read a new post which was titled 'Girl Crush'. The two words were enough to cause the brunette's eyebrows to raise involuntarily, and she cursed mentally as once again, Alison Dilaurentis pulled her in.

**Girl Crush**

**It is a welcome thing for one to be admired. Admiration is particularly flattering to a female. By no means am I saying that boys don't like to be seen as eye candy, but for girls, admiration is fuel. I myself am not immune to the swelling of my ego upon noticing an awe filled glance, or a smirk of approval from an admirer. I can wholeheartedly admit to the rush that engulfs me when my very presence causes an unsuspecting young man to stumble and stutter in distraction.**

**But lately, I'm becoming increasingly aware of a certain admiration which makes me unsure.**

**My narcisstic tendencies are in heaven as they recognise that they're the object of a girl crush, of course. But there is something peculiar about the admiration which she emits. I can no longer play down the intensity of her gaze whenever she looks at me, the way they betray signs of adoration that are dangerously close to infatuation. It's no longer possible for me to ignore the sultry tone with which she speaks to me - one that can only be reserved for a lover.**

**The most interesting part of this new discovery of mine is that I don't even think she realises she's doing it. I'm not sure that she realises the way she seems to adjust her seating position to compliment mine with every minute move I make. I don't think she knows how her always-concerned eyes seem liquid with honesty when they lock with mine. I most certainly don't think she realises the impression she leaves when she covers my lips with hers and encompasses me in her embrace.**

* * *

Emily hadn't completed reading the post but she was already certain that she was the muse. She was once again livid with herself for becoming so engrossed in Alison's words, but she was also furious at how the blonde seemed to be portraying their complicated situation as one sided. Her name may not have been mentioned anywhere, but it didn't change the fact that she was being made out to be a measly lovesick puppy - even if it was only the conclusion that strangers would come to. The brunette stretched out her legs and proper herself up against a pillow before she bitterly continued to read.

* * *

**_These aren't the only things I feel that she's failed to notice. I'm sure - and I'm glad - that she hasn't caught me as I count the specks of copper that litter her chocolatey brown orbs. It's clear that she's oblivious to the way that I battle to slow my pulse as she approaches me - but I feel NP sadness when I fail. She must have missed the force with which I gripped her when we kissed, afraid the eagerness with which I reciprocated the gesture. Perhaps I wasn't as blatant as I'd feared when we sat silently, estranged from one another, her gaze locked on a terrible movie playing in English class. Maybe she didn't realise that it wasn't the movie I'd been watching, but only her._**

**_I've dared myself to wonder what would happen if she knew that I knew that I'm her girl crush. But my real curiosity is in knowing what would happen if she knew that she's my girl crush, too._**

It was only upon rereading the last line for the third time that Emily thought yo close her mouth which was agape with confusion. Could Alison have realised that she had been effectively stalking her updates? That seemed the only plausible explanation. This had to be the blondes way of messing with her head. There couldn't possibly be any truth to the last paragraph. But something about the description seemed so real...

The brunette physically shook her head to rid herself of any thoughts - Alison bearing or not. They would be returning to school tomorrow and seeing the blonde was going to be difficult enough without her judgement being clouded by a blog that the inhabitants of Rosewood were oblivious to. Convincing herself of this, the brunette switched off her phone and squeezed her eyes shut in the hopes that sleep would be kind and claim her sooner rather than later.

* * *

A goofy grin found its way onto Spencer Hastings' face as she stopped scrolling through her instagram feed. She double tapped a new post from Aria, a picture of the two of them posing ridiculously in oversized sunglasses. Her beam only brightened as she read the caption:

**Team Sparia! :P**

New friendships were scarce for Spencer. This wasn't due to shyness or poor social skills, but more down to the fact that the Hastings family were accustomed to keeping things professional. The youngest child had thus only ever really maintained a real solid bond with Emily, until now. Spencer had found that she didn't feel the need to keep a business like mind around Aria, and while Emily would always be her best friend, she was glad to know that she hadn't lost the ability to let loose with somebody else.

As she continued to scroll, she noticed a new post from Alison Dilaurentis, and while she was still far from her biggest fan - she was just a curious as any other Rosewood teen. Spencer almost snorted as she took in the caption underneath a photograph of Alison and Noel Kahn:

**'Selfies with my favorite swimmer ;)'**

Now, Spencer had often felt like she was born in the wrong century, an old soul. However she couldn't deny that she was prone to over analysing posts on social media just as every other youth was. Then again, she was after all a Hastings - overthinking was in her DNA.

* * *

Spencer was fully aware that Hanna Marin had the subtlety of a hand grenade, but she'd always expected Alison Dilaurentis to have a little more tact. And yet here, this caption was a blatantly direct response to an earlier post of Emily's.

Amidst her own budding friendship with Aria, she was content to see Emily forging a believable bond with Alison. It had become apparent recently however, though neither the swimmer nor the blonde had specifically told her - they weren't on speaking terms. She had attempted to broach the subject with her best friend, mostly wanting to remind her that she was always an available confidant but Emily had been quick to shut her down.

Despite the brunette making it clear that she wasn't going to give her much to go on, Spencer had been keen to figure out what had caused their rift. She had initially been sure that whatever the reason - Alison was to blame. Although she was biased, she knew how harsh the blonde's words could be, and so she was still certain that she was right. By her calculations, shed concluded that the two must have fallen out closely following the Hollywood Glamour themed dance. Perhaps Alison had been cruel as she had driven Emily home? The assumption had crossed her mind yet didn't seem to fit.

The slow dance that Alison and Emily had engaged in had not escaped the curious Hastings child's notice. While she had thoroughly enjoyed jovial jives with Toby, there was something terrifyingly serene about the way that the two girls were bundled together. It didn't seem like either girl was more content than the other - in fact a comfortably mutual peace could be deciphered. Even as an observer, Spencer had to admit that she felt almost moved as she watched the two seemingly lost in each other's embrace.

It was interactions such as these which plagued more confusion for Spencer. She was still understandably skeptical about Alison, but it was plain to see that Emily was positively different in her presence. She also had to begrudgingly admit that Alison was almost good company when Emily was around too. Almost.

Although Spencer was frustrated that she hadn't yet been able to put her finger on what might have caused the rift between the two, she was mostly consumed with worry. They would be returning to school the next day, and she could already feel the level of awkwardness that would a company the two girls in question point blank ignorance of one another. Her worries were heightened however due to the agenda for the first day back.

This week, all senior English classes would in turn attend a theatre ti watch a live adaptation of Great Expectations to compliment their studies. While Spencer was thrilled that she'd spend a day with Aria, their seperate classes meant that Emily - and Alison for that matter would be going on the trip seperately to her and her pixie like friend. She was concerned because she knew exactly how forgiving Emily was. But her fear was mostly in that Alison's ruthless habits could see to it that forgiveness was no longer an option.

As she switched off her beside lamp and allowed her eyelids to win their battle, she made a vow to herself. She would for sure figure out what had caused the fallout between her best friend and her neighbour, regardless of how much sleuthing it might take. And nobody played detective as well as Spencer Hastings.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello again! I'm still not home, so this is another phone update hence the poor grammar. I can only apologise but I have read the previous chapters and have seen some errors which I intend to put right soon. **

**I just wanted to a huge thank you on e again for all the reviews - particularly on the last chapter. Please don't feel as though I don't appreciate it, my internet is just shoddy right now so I'll reply personally very soon I promise. **

**Sorry to ramble in an author's note, but I have to make a point. I try not to be excessive in authors notes generally but please, read them. I'm obtusely glad that peoplepeople are eager to read more of this story - but please read my authors notes, or at least skin read them. I've explained that being away is the reason for the lengthy delay before the last update - and before that I was actually posting daily. I don't want to launch into a fully fledged rant, but it isnt ways possible to update as regularly and I'd really appreciate it if you could be kind enough to take the explanations I offer in my authors notes.**

**I'll stop now, and I'm sorry if that came off a tad dramatic haha. Enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Extravagant velvet curtains drew closed about thirty seconds after the interval had been announced. Emily Fields gratefully bolted from her seat and out of the theatre, making a bee line for the ladies washroom. There wasn't a single ounce of restraint left in her - the last hour had been more than she could endure. The proximity with which she was seated beside Alison Dilaurentis and the way the blonde's leg had repeatedly brushed against hers. The seductive tone with which the blonde had whispered her own commentary during the play and the way that Emily forced herself not to respond. The way Alison's perfume wafted around them, suffocating her - and the ache that came with maintaining her distance.

* * *

Emily placed both of her hands beside the sink, squeezing her eyes shut as she worked to steady her breathing. She wasn't sure that she'd be able to stand another two hours of this. She didn't even want to think about 'this' anymore. She wanted to pretend she hadn't noticed Alison's head turn to the right every so often as they sat, she could only wish that she couldn't feel the blonde's gaze on her. Most of all, she wanted to erase her mind of the goosebumps that were birthed on her arms as the Dilaurentis child whispered her name.

"Emily..." Soft, pleading whispers that were only audible due to Alisons's lips hovering just millimetres from the brunette's ear. Emily could only squeeze her eyes shut even tighter in am attempt to stop herself from replaying the sound.

"Emily.." Her inner battle was lost. Her name on the blonde's lips resounded in her ears, only getting louder.

"Emily."

The swimmer's eyes snapped open as she swivelled around in shock. The voice was no longer a whisper, and the brunette was no longer a prisoner to her mind. Her name was no longer a plea, but a statement - and Emily could only stare helplessly in a state of dizziness at an impassive looking Alison who had just entered the washroom.

* * *

Icy blue eyes bore into a wide open pair of brown ones as Alison held Emily's gaze. It almost felt as though neither girl would break eye contact had it not been for the sound of a cubicle door unlocking and another young girl hastily exiting the bathroom.

It should have dawned on her that they were now alone, and she should have been terrified. But instead, Emily felt that two metres distance between them was unwelcome company - and the fact that she felt that way gave fear a new meaning.

"Talk to me, Emily." Alison's tone was dangerous. It was sickly sweet and Emily couldn't allow herself to trust it. The brunette could only lamwly fold her arms across her chest as the blonde continued to study her, her expression gentle.

"I don't know what you saw in me either, Em." There wasn't any confidence in her words anymore. In fact, Alison's voice was sjakh with uncertainty. The blonde must have noticed the curiosity that Emily's eyes betrayed, as she was quick to continue.

"But I know what I see in you."

* * *

And just like that, Emily no longer had reason to loathe the distance between them, because Alison had wiped out its existence. There was no time for Emily to respond as the blonde had already covered the brunette's lips with her own. To be frank, the swimmer wouldn't have protested even if there had in fact been an opportunity. She could only manage to mentally scald herself as she began to move her lips I'm synchronisation with Alison's. By the time the blonde's hands had found their way down to her hips however, she couldn't even register any rational thoughts as her hands involuntarily tangled themselves into Alison's golden tresses.

It was only when she felt Alison's thigh brush her own that she realised that their bodies were flush against one another's. She wasn't sure when she had granted the blonde's tongue entry into her own mouth, but she was pretty sure that she didn't care. The only thing that she had any regard for at this current moment was the small gasp that Alison let out as she nipped gently at her bottom lip.

Emily reluctantly broke their lip lock at this, her eye lids fluttering open to take in the sight before her. Alison's actions mirrored her own, and the brunette saw confusion and hurt at the loss of contact. Her heart shaped face flushed, and her golden curls dishevelled - Emily had never seen Alison looking so distractingly pretty.

It was the fact that Alison's hands were still planted on either side of her waist, and the way she was eyeing Emily's lips in a manner that was almost predatory that finished any hopes of coherent thinking.

The brunette placed both of her hands on the tops of Alison's arms, rotating the blonde so that their positions had been switched before she claimed the other girls lips once again in a bruising kiss. If Alison was thrown her spontaneity, she didn't show it - because she immediately reciprocated the gesture with force that Emily didn't expect. One of Alison's hands caressed Emily's cheek whilst the other had grasped a fistful of the brunette's shirt in an attempt to draw her closer. The brunette shared the desire to remove any distance that was still left between them, resulting in Alison becoming the sandwich filling between the sinks and Emily's front.

* * *

The need for oxygen hadn't seemed to bother either girl very much - the reason the kiss was broken this time was down to the sheer contentment that they both felt with their bodies pressed together like this. Emily could only watch, defeated as Alison bit her lip shyly for a second before a smirk broke onto her face. The brunette must have responded childishly with a scowl because Alison was making an effort to disguise her smugness, feigning innocence as she tucked a lock of hair behind Emily's ear.

This time, there was no hiding Alison's surprise as Emily took hold of her waist and hoisted her up onto the sink. Regaining composure, the blonde pulled the taller girl closer to her once more, wrappiglng her arms securely around Emily's neck as she stood between her legs. It was the swimmer's turn to smirk now, as she glanced down at her positioning.

"If I'd known that it would have been this easy to get you to spread your legs, I would have bought you to the theatre so much sooner."

It was the first time that she had spoken since they'd entered the room, and Emily was grateful that her voice didn't crack given the activities they were engaging in a few minutes prior.

"Emily Fields, I would very much appreciate it if my mind was free of Noel Kahn right now given what we're about to do."

The brunette would have laughed at Alison's signature wittiness but she was suddenly overcome with nervousness as she felt the full meaning of the blonde's reply. She wasn't left in anticipation for long as Alison had tipped a finger under her chin, bringing their faces closer together before capturing Emily's lower lip between her teeth. The brunette placed one hand behind Alison's head, and the other on her thigh as she fought for dominance as their embrace became too heated to constitute as a mere kiss.

Emily had lost all sense of time and space as Alison's lips began a brand new journey down her neck. There was a frenzied heat between her legs that the blonde was only adding to as she slyly slipped her thigh them, applying gentle pressure to her core. Emily felt no remose at the mkan that escaped her lips as Alison's mouth rested on her collarbone.

She could feel the blonde's glee at her triumph as she muffled the sound by joining their lips another time. Even through their kiss, Emily could feel Alison's smirk - and she wasn't having that. Ragged breaths and roaming hands from Alison were thrilling, but the brunette wasted the smaller girl to feel the burning pool of desire in her stomach with the same intensity that she herself was.

Every nerve ending was screaming at her to cease her movements and run, but she ignored them as she slid her hand beneath Alison's vest top, her hand caressing the smooth, bare skin. There was no smirk now, in fact that blonde's breath had caught in her throat and her lips were no longer returning Emily's kiss. The brunette mentally basked in Alison's shock, exerting a small amount of pressure on the blonde' s lips before she pulled away to study the other girl's reaction. Sure emough, Alison's usually knowing eyes were wide with shock - but the gentle squeeze she gave Emily's shoulder suggested she had no opposition. The taller girl took this and skillfully prised open a few buttons to reveal more of Alison than she had ever seen before.

Ily had thought Alison to be unconventionally beautiful for some time now, but the sight of her exposed torso, accompanied by an expression that was both unsure yet prepared personified every bit of admiration the brunette had ever had for her.

* * *

Neither girl knew who had initiated the next move because they were all too quickly a tangled mess, Emily's hands tracing over Alison's stomach, around her back and back up over her bra-clad breasts. Emily couldn't take any extra glee from the breathy moans that were coming from Alison, because similar sounds were escaping her own mouth as the blonde tentatively allowed her hand to get lost beneath her shirt.

Alison didn't explore Emily's top half for long however, because the brunette was soon wild with anticipation as she felt the other girl's finger fumbling with the button on her jeans. The sense part of Emily should have stopped this now. She should have recognised that this was new territory for the blonde that was worth more than rushing into. But as Alison's fingers descended to the most private part of her, responsibility sounded like a rude word. She was no longer fussed about the sounds that were leaving her lips, knowing that they were only doing so amidst throes of pure pleasure. As her breathing slipped completely out of her control, she knew that it was only a matter of time-

* * *

Time.

The shrill ring, as per usual, told Emily that it seven o' clock. Today however, it also tore her viciously from sleep, causing her to sit bolt upright in panic. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead as her fingers involuntary flew up to her lips as if searching for traces of Alison. She scanned the room frantically - relief flooding her as she took in the sight of her bedroom - confirmation that she had simply been sucked into a dream.

The brunette was unsure of how she felt about the interruption courtesy of her alarm clock. Gratefulness washed over her as she almost felt guilty for thinking of Alison in such a crude way. Some part of however couldn't help but feel disappointed that she'd been roused from her slumber. The taste of Alison's lipgloss, the curve of Alison's hips. It had all seemed so real...

Emily shook her head more vigorously than she needed to in order to rid herself of such thoughts. She entered the bathroom quickly, in need of a cold shower. Considering the fact that she was still meant to be livid by the blonde in question, the last thing she needed was to be involuntarily subject to fantasies about her. Given that today was the day of their theatre trip, the timing of a dream of such nature could not have be more inconvenient.

As she stepped into the cubicle, the water trickled from the shower head and she began to rid herself of any impurities. She wondered if there was any way as easy as this that she could wash her hands of Alison Dilaurentis. Although she knew it was ludicrous to think it were possible, that wasn't what bothered her. What pained Emily was that even if it were that simple to rid herself of Alison, she knew she never would - because she didn't want to.

* * *

Spencer Hastings drummed her fingers on the desk nervously as she waited for English class to start. She was never usually nervous upon returning to school after a break, in fact she was generally more pumped to learn than ever. In fact, Spencer didn't become overcome with nervousness very often at all.

"Easy Spence, you're about to give the the a splinter."

The younger Hastings immediately ceased her movement as she turned to smile at the small brunette who had just taken the seat beside her.

"Hey, Aria." She spoke with relief at being shaken from her thoughts.

They were mostly thoughts of her best friend. Thoughts plagued with worry and sympathy for her. Thoughts doused in curiosity of what might be happening between the tanned brunette and Alison at present.

"Are you thinking about Emily?"

Spencer had come to love small habits that she'd picked up on from the pixie like brunette. Like now, while most people would have asked what she was thinking about, Aria just seemed to know that it was more a case of who.

"That obvious, huh?" She asked sheepishly.

Aria offered her small smile that bought out kindness in her doll like eyes. She placed her hand over Spencer's slightly larger one and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Don't worry, Spence. If anyone can handle Alison, its Em."

It was hard not to feel reassured when Aria's tone was as soothing as it was just then, but just as the teacher entered the room and the girls began opening their books - Spencer made a silent prayer that Aria was right.

* * *

It was exactly 8.53 a.m when Alisom Dilaurentis stepped gracefully onto the awaiting coach and hesitated at the front of the isle as she scanned the available seats. She could just about spot the head of the brunette she had been looking forward to seeing towards the back of the coach, seated next to Mona Vanderwaal. The blonde should have known that Emily would be sure to sit as far from her as possible during the journey, since they'd have to be beside each other during the play in order to discuss notes. It didn't lessen the disappointment that overcame her though.

She was gently pulled into a seat by none other than Noel Kahn, and she didn't bother to argue. They participated in trivial conversation that Alison wasn't fussed by until noel eventually fell silent. The blonde knew that this was a rare occurrence and so there must be some explicit reason, but she decided not to question it - instead enjoying the peace. She only half fought the urge to smirk as she sensed him fidgeting next to her as if contemplating whether or not to speak his mind.

"What happened with you and your new gal pal?" Was what he finally came out with, earning a raised eyebrow from the girl beside him.

"Oh come on, Ali." He gave her a knowing look. "You were joined at the hip not so long ago."

Everyone had noticed when Alison and Emily had begun to spend time together, so it only seemed logical that they'd noticed now that they were no longer doing so. The blonde shrugged, nonchalantly as she replied.

"Now we're not." She kept her response casual and short, but she felt an emptiness as she realised that things may remain that way.

"Hmm, that's a shame." The younger Kahn brother mused, half talking to himself. At this, genuine curiosity was sparked from within Alison.

"And why is that?"

Noel flashed her his boyish smile for a second before it twisted into a smirk.

"Between you and me, given half the chance, I'd smash her back doors in."

"Don't be so disgusting, Noel." Her retort wasn't particularly smart but it was sharp and full of distaste.

"She's far from disgusting, Ali." He replied, amused at Alison's sudden change in tone.

"Well, that's what she thinks you are." The blonde spat back, her stomach twisting at mental images of Noel with his blundering hands anywhere near her English partner. "And I'll make sure that's the opinion every other girl around here has if I ever hear you speak about Emily so crudely again."

Noel was only amused further by her threat. It hadn't escaped his notice how differently the formidable Dilaurentis behaved since she had been involved with the brunette in question.

"What's the big deal?" He had always enjoyed pushing her, but he knew her limit was approaching judging by the iciness of the glare she shot him in response.

"You've never defended CeCe's virtue while the two of you were on a bitch-split." He pointed out. Alison's anger had subsided now, as there was no teasing left in his tone. He was simply as curious as every other student at Rosewood High. She also knew that she couldn't retort in annoyance at this point, because Noel was right.

"Is there an entry for bitch split in the dictionary?" Alison was skilled at changing the subject when she was uncomfortable or unwilling to participate in the current conversation.

A carefree grin broke out onto Noel's face, forming crinkles at the corners of his eyes as he replied playfully. Alison had always been grateful with how easy it was to cause a lapse in Noel Kahn's concentration.

"I don't know, but there should be."

* * *

The remainder of the journey passed by in a manner similar to this. Witty banter and throaty laughs that managed to sway her mind from a female swimmer sitting just metres away. Occasionally however, as Noel dropped another line, Alison caught herself wondering whether Emily was engaging in such casual conversation with Mona. She almost snorted considering how bland the Vanderwaal child was, but the familiar ache in her chest stopped her. Her English partner wasn't cruel enough to discard somebody as quickly as she herself was guilty of. The pain only throbbed as realisation dawned upon her: Emily Fields was too good for Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

**I'd originally planned to write the whole theatre trip onto one chapter but he first part ended up being longer than I thought haha. I changed the rating on this story, but I don't write smut so future chapters won't be any more detailed than this one, so relax is that kind of stuff makes your insides churn.**

**Thanks for reading, and have a great day**.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Firstly, I apologise profusely for the fact that it's been almost a year since I updated this. My only excuse is that life happened. Secondly though, thank you so much to everyone who's still holding out hope for this, for still reviewing - almost 300 like what!? and for continuing to favourite and follow. Since the show itself has been pretty underwhelming when it comes to Emison and I'm not crazy about the introduction of Lorenzo, I feel like the writers block is going to continue to hit me so as always, suggestions are welcome.**

**As I've said, I havent updated this but I've not been on ff so I haven't responded to a lot of the recent reviews either - I do appreciate them and if you have any questions, please feel free to PM. Thanks again and enjoy the update :)**

* * *

Despite somewhat enjoying Great Expectations as a novel, Alison Dilaurentis was having a hard time investing her interest in the play adaptation she was currently watching. The blonde couldn't blame her inability to concentrate on lacklustre performances by the cast – it was clear from the silence in the theatre that the remainder of the audience was hooked. The reason for her distraction was two seats away from her, giving context to the cliché of 'so close, yet so far'. Emily was sandwiched between the extremely tall and broad Andrew Campbell, and the contrastingly frail Mona Vanderwaal making it near impossible for Alison to even steal glances at her English partner – only heightening her frustrations.

When Mr. Fitz had informed the class that they would be attending this trip, Alison had initially been more excited than her cool exterior would allow her to portray, not only because it meant a day spared from the mundane routine that was high school but also as it had been during the period that she and Emily Fields were still thick as thieves. Now that she was here though, she found that shed much rather be in the confines of those suffocating four walls, so long as it meant that the swimmer was at least in her line of sight at all times. Was that really too much to ask for?

The blonde beauty could almost find amusement in what she had been reduced to. Just months ago, she had the entire school wrapped around her pinkie finger, and near enough everyone would respond to her command. The truth was, she _still_ had the student body at her beck and call but honestly, she no longer wanted it. There didn't seem to be any enjoyment left in having control, being both feared and fawned over. Emily had slipped under her skin with more ease than she'd care to admit, breaking down the walls she'd so artfully built around herself and still remaining patient when she pitifully attempted to cement them back together again. The tanned swimmer had awoken her conscience, made her question her unfriendly actions, her spiteful words and so much more. _God_, she had made her question more. She has made her question_ herself_, who she was and what she liked. It was all well and good to hear giggly straight girls in the hallways gossip about how Ruby Rose was making them question their sexuality, but the amusement was replaced with worry when it came to her Emily. The blonde teen wasn't entirely sure whether she appreciated or resented her for it – but Emily Field had changed Alison Dilaurentis.

* * *

As the rich maroon velvet curtains fell signalling the interval, Emily resisted the urge to bolt to the bathroom. The swimmer wasn't sure she could handle any further reminders of her ever so vivid dream this morning. Especially not when the object of her illusions was only three paces to her right. That was what her longing has come to now – quantifying their distance in paces. She wasn't sure if anyone who'd ever had a crush had ever been as pathetic as she felt right now, but she sure as hell hoped so, if only to quash her ever present embarrassment.

Crush. It seemed to be the safest way to describe the infatuation she still had with the blonde goddess despite their estrangement. After all, it seemed only normal. People experienced crushed on their friends all the time, right? _Right?_

Wrong. At least when it came to Emily, she was fairly certain that hypothesis was inaccurate. Emily Fields loved Spencer Hastings. She would always smile fondly at her Nancy Drew-esque fashion sense and her affinity for polo shorts. But she'd never allowed her gaze to fall on her lips while she talked through a mathematic equation, or imagined what those lips would taste like. She'd certainly never tasted those lips and craved another hit.

The brunette seemed to be jolted from her musings as she felt a body settle in the seat beside her, despite failing to notice Andrew had even left. Her senses were suddenly overcome by that familiar perfume that she simultaneously welcomed yet also wanted to run from. She allowed herself to turn her head slightly, chocolate brown irises meeting ocean blue ones.

* * *

As her favourite brown came into her line of sight, everything Alison had planned to say left her brain. All sense of coherent thinking was replaced by comfort, familiarity and a longing more intense than she'd ever known. The blonde allowed her eyes to roam over the other girl's face, taking in details that she hadn't been able to examine in what felt like too long. Her English partner looked tired – that was the first thing she pinpointed. The circles under her eyes weren't immediately obvious, but Alison could make out the shadows that were much less faint than her guilt considering she was likely the reason for them. The second thing she noticed was that Emily was still desperately beautiful. It wasn't as though the Dilaurentis child expected her to have had a facial transplant, but every time they reunited after having had spent time apart, the blonde girl was thrown by how soft the girl's features were, how perfectly her thick locks framed her face and those slight, curved lips that-

"That was Andrew's seat." Emily's voice was calm and missing the bitterness that the blonde was expecting.

"He can have mine," The blonde replied, keeping her tone even. She paused, waiting for the other girl to respond, frowning when all she received was a small nod followed by the brunette turning her head to face the front. Alison adjusted her position slightly so one leg was tucked under the other, her back at right angles to the back of the seat so she can face Emily entirely. It's that exact unfortunate – or maybe fortunate moment that Emily chose to turn her head to face the girl beside her once again, only realising their faces were much more proximal than she'd bargained for.

For a millisecond, their breaths mingled and Alison wasn't sure if it was hers that hitched, or Emily's or maybe both. The taller girl jerked back as quickly as she had moved forward in a desperate attempt to put some space between them while trying to rid her mind of what closing the distance might have meant.

The blonde girl however seemed to have other ideas, and Emily was fairly certain she would die today when Alison's calf settled against hers before she continued to speak.

"I wanted to apologise to you, Emily." Alison began quietly, her voice sincere and her gaze dropping to her lap. The swimmer couldn't help but lift her eyebrows in surprise at how forthcoming the other girl was being – she couldn't pretend she hadn't expected the blonde to flirt her way back into her good books.

"But then I realised that I spent so much of our time together apologising to you," the blonde sighed as she continued, her voice still quiet.

"So you don't think I deserve an apology?" Emily retorted, on the defensive. Blue eyes deep with a mixture of tiredness and fear snapped up to meet hers as the other girl shook her head slowly.

"You deserve more."

The response was whispered, almost too quiet for Emily to hear but she caught it – and she hated that she felt her pulse quicken. It was unjust that real life Alison could make her feel even more alive than dream Alison had.

"That doesn't mean to say I'm not sorry, Em. Because I am. God things are a mess without you," Alison continued, taking the other girl's silence as rejection.

"I say inconsiderate things all the time because it's what I've been used to. It's not an excuse Emily, but you weren't an experiment. I'm a horrible person and I do and awful things but you do make me better, you know? You're teaching me that I don't need to be all that and sometimes change scares me Em. But you have to know that I need your positive influence right? I'm fairly certain that my mum wants to adopt you," The blonde finishes her desperate plea with a lame attempt to joke the brunette out of her trance.

"What do you mean I wasn't an experiment?" Emily asks in a whisper, failing to keep the mixture of fear and excitement out of her tone.

"Is that all you took from that?" Alison replied in a voice as hushed as her friends as the theatre is plunged into darkness before the play resumes. The brunette can feel her face reddening and silently thanks the Lord for the lack of lighting. Amused and endeared, the blonde continues:

"I'm not sure what this is, Em." She grazes her fingertips over the back of the brunette's hand in reference to exactly what _this_ is.

"But I really do want to figure it out." The blonde finishes, allowing her fingers to linger for a second before retracting them and sitting properly in her seat, with one arm on an armrest. Alison waits nervously for a reply and takes Emily's silence as rejection once again as she turns her head slightly back to the other girl in one last measly attempt to salvage what they have.

"With you, I mean… like together… figure it out," the whispered words come tumbling out in no particular order and Emily's excitement quickly changed to endearing smile that she can no longer muster up the energy to hide.

"I know what you meant," Emily reassured the blonde, placing her arm on the armrest which they now share.

"But we're going to get kicked out if we keep talking in here, okay?" The brunette whispered gently as a reminder of where they are and Alison bites back a comment about Emily's goody two shoes habits, as adorable as she finds them.

"Can we go somewhere after then? To talk," Alison emphasised the last word but her tone is playful.

"Please," the blonde girl added for good measure. Emily gives no verbal response, settling for a short nod of her head which Alison takes gladly as she faces the stage once again to try to focus. Emily's right arm still remains pressed up against Alison's left for the remainder of the play, contact which both girls are quietly grateful for as they await their impending **'talk'**.

* * *

'Somewhere' turned out to be the Fields' residence. The car journey was mainly quiet, with nothing more than the girls discussing where they should go. Emily made the final decision that her house would be most appropriate, hoping that being in her own home might make her feel more at ease with the blonde – though she didn't voice her reasoning out loud.

"I'm home," Emily called as she walked into the kitchen with Alison in tow. Mrs. Fields looked up from her book, a smile breaking onto her face as she noticed her daughter's company.

"Alison! It's been so long," she gushed as she enveloped the smaller girl in a hug. Emily rolled her eyes at the embrace and cleared her throat.

"That's not the way you greet me, mum." She mock pouted.

"What can I say, I'm Pam's favourite blonde," Alison replied playfully, looking at Emily with a curious expression she didn't recognise.

Emily quirked her eyebrow up and responded with a smirk:

"Yeah, well I'm her favourite swimmer," receiving only a sly wink from the blonde girl in response.

"That you are," Mrs Fields chuckled fondly, oblivious to the story behind the exchange. Emily proceeded to make quick fire education related excuses as to why Alison couldn't stop to bake cookies today, retreating to her bedroom with the blonde girl hot on her heels.

* * *

Alison closed the door behind her before making her way over to the bed and taking a seat – not trusting herself to share the window seat with the brunette. She watched with amusement as Emily's eyes lingered on the closed door, as if debating whether or not to open it as per her mother's wishes. The taller girl eventually met Alison's knowing gaze and huffed at being caught.

"Well, you wanted to talk," Emily prodded.

"I don't like girls," Alison stated, sighing at the bluntness of the other girl. Emily masked the stab of pain she felt with an eye roll.

"What I mean is, I've never…" Alison trailed off, unable to form the sentence she was looking for. The brunette allowed her resolve to crumble slightly and plopped down on the bed opposite the blonde.

"I did kiss you because I wanted to know what it felt like," the smaller girl tried again.

"So I was an experiment?" The swimmer's head was beginning to pound, and she was fairly certain she couldn't go through this again.

"Let me finish Em," the blonde pleaded in frustration. Emily crossed her arms and watched the other girl expectantly.

"I kissed you because I wanted to know what it felt like to kiss _you, _not girls in general. And I don't… I can't say that I like girls because I've never even thought about it but, I think about you, you know?" Alison spoke slowly, punctuating each word as though she was still processing the news herself.

She'd spent a lot of time in the theatre thinking about what she would say to Emily now that the olive tree had been extended, and it wasn't as easy as she might earlier have assumed. One thing she was certain about was that Emily was right – she was confused. She knew for certain that she'd never looked at a girl the way she looked at her English partner. Sure, she could admit that girls were attractive – but even then she was too spiteful to vocalise it. However the blonde had never found herself studying the specifics of another girl's body shape, the endlessness of their limbs or the toned abdomen beneath their swim suits. Never until she'd met Emily Fields.

She'd gone on to wonder what would happen if by some miracle, people found out that she had these particular _feelings_ for a girl. It was then that she realised, the only person that really cared was herself. Her mother was an accepting and open minded individual who would most likely lecture her on how proud she was. As for the student body, there was bound to be a few narrow minded bigots still lurking around the halls of Rosewood High – heck, months ago she wasn't far off herself. But regardless of how much she was changing, she was still the alpha female of the school, and nobody would dare question her actions, no matter how Sapphic the connotations.

* * *

Emily Fields had always been an obedient child who gave neither her parents nor her teachers an excuse to complain. That's why the brunette chose to rise from her bed, and open her door so it was left ajar before reclaiming her spot. The swimmer tucked some of her hair behind her ear and met the expectant yet patient gaze of the blonde beauty opposite her. Her response was quiet, yet smiling.

"I think about you, too."


End file.
