Emily awoke in a bed that was not her own, in a room she didn't recognise and beside a young blonde who's name she couldn't remember, not that this surprised her as it had long since become a common occurrence. She was a player, a fuckboy, whatever else you wanted to call someone who had multiple one night stands and Emily had lost count of the amount of people she had slept with. None of them meant anything to her, she just used them for her own entertainment and once she was done she discarded them without a care in the world. At 22 years old and after a string of heartbreaks and losing her dad after he died on tour with the army in Afghanistan, Emily had closed off her heart and swore to never let anyone else in.
She hadn't always been that way, she used to be kind and gentle. Falling in love hard and with ease. But now it was just a string of one night stands and late night drinking that got her through the days. Her dad had been her rock, Wayne Fields had idolised his little girl and she had idolised him back. He always knew what to do or say to cheer her up and without him she was falling into a pit of despair.
Even her mother was unable to get her out of this depressing cycle. They had ended up having their fair share of arguments about her behaviour after Wayne's death and in the end they had silently agreed to ignore what Emily got up to outside of the house. Pam worried deeply for her daughter but the more concern she showed the further it seemed to push Emily away. A set of rules had been placed and out of respect and love for her mother, Emily had abided by them all. The main one being no girls in the house, Pam hated seeing Emily using these people and therefore out of sight out of mind had come into play.
They had slowly managed to rebuild the once strong relationship they had with each other and could now fully enjoy one another's company as a family. It hadn't stopped Emily from acting out once she walked out of the front door but it was a start that Pam was willing to take. The arguments had taken their toll on Pam and she had begun to resent Emily but with that in the past they could once again confide in each other and be the rock that one another needed.
Emily felt bad about how she acted when she left the house however it had become her coping mechanism and she didn't know how to stop it without letting all the pain back in and she wasn't ready to face her grief just yet. Not just the grief of losing her father but the grief of losing her ex girlfriend who had completely broken her heart when they were in high school by cheating on her and then walking away as if Emily had meant nothing to her. Paige was the only one that Emily had let take a hold of her heart and she had shattered it leaving Emily's friends to try and pick up the pieces. But try as they might they had never been able to put Emily back together as she once had been. There was a permanent coldness that taken ahold of her.
Being born intersex had its benefits, the girls loved her and she had them lining up around the corner, craving to experience what she had to give. She had made a name for herself and lived up to it. It helped keep her distracted from the pain she was really feeling and she revelled in pleasuring others. Anything to keep her mind off of reality.
Her friends had accepted her for who and what she was as soon as she had told them of her mutation. She hold told them only weeks after meeting them, and even being at a young age they had all clicked so well that Emily instantly knew they would be friends for life and that she could trust them with anything. Her penis was fully functioning and an impressive size as well, or so she had been told on multiple accounts.
She had had her fair share of abuse once other people at her high school had learnt about her secret but it was mainly from boys who were jealous of her ability to woo the girls and please them as well. She'd gotten through the worst of it with her friends by her side and had left high school high on the spectrum of popularity which had followed her into adult life. Everyone in the town knew of her and that worked in her favour most of the time especially when it came to finding someone to help her hide from her problems for one night.
The alcohol also helped and every night when she left her house she would consume enough to make her forget all her problems and focus on letting go. Her friends had tried several times to persuade her to seek professional help in the form of rehab or a psychologist but without wanting to herself it was never going to work. You could only be helped if you accepted the fact that you needed the help in the first place.
Slowly detaching herself from the blonde whose name she couldn't remember, Emily sat on the edge of the bed and quietly got herself dressed. She pulled on her boxers and sweatpants before reaching for her bra and t shirt. After successfully putting them both on without disturbing the sleeping blonde she checked her phone and the time read 04:00.
Emily had work in a few hours and groaned at the thought, she hated her job but stuck it out as a need to survive. Her mother worked at the police station and couldn't afford the house and the bills by herself after her fathers death even with the money they had gotten from his life insurance. And at 22 it wasn't fair of Emily to expect her mother to continuously provide for her either. She had gotten a job as an accountant at a small firm in town. She had been quite brainy at school and had passed all the necessary exams in order to gain her job but it didn't bring her that satisfaction that she knew her friends got with their own respective jobs.
She had always been athletic and had loved swimming, she had done it competitively and was rather good at it, winning several completions and medals. Those medals were now stashed away in a box hidden at the top of her wardrobe where she wouldn't stumble upon them and gloat about what could have been. At one point she had been tipped to enter the olympics and everyone had thought she would have pursued a job in athletics or swimming in particular. However after losing her father at 17 she had pushed all her interests to one side and just ambled through life without really living it.
That was one of her biggest regrets so far and she knew if her dad could see her now, not living out her dream like she was supposed to, he would be very disappointed. He had been her biggest fan, always in the front row of her meets when he was back in Rosewood during leave, cheering the loudest out of the entire crowd. She always had her best performances when her father was in the audience, he made her want to push herself and become the best version of herself that she could.
She didn't even give the blonde one last look, instead she tiptoed out of the house silently and stretched out her muscles as she reached the pavement. They had partaken in a busy and very physically demanding evening and Emily was starting to feel the effects of last nights activities mixed with the lack of sleep she had gotten over the course of the week.
Walking towards her house she faced down looking towards the pavement and allowed her feet to take the road home without her consciously being aware. Half asleep and her head full of thoughts about the day ahead and how much she had to do once she got into work she didn't notice that there was someone walking straight towards her. Not until they collided into one another on the pavement. Emily was quickly brought out of her thoughts and anger bubbled inside her as she was quick to comment.
"Watch where you're fucking..." Emily couldn't finish her sentence for when her eyes found the face of the person she'd bumped into she froze in awe. The anger quickly disappeared within her and she took in the sight before her.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry" the girl said quickly as she put away the phone that had distracted her enough to cause the collision, making it her own fault in her eyes. She looked away in embarrassment before being able to resist looking at the beautiful brunette once again.
She was shorter than Emily but that wasn't a surprise due to the brunette being of above average height for a woman. The newcomer had long blonde hair that flowed way past her shoulders and over her curves. As for her eyes, they were the most beautiful blue Emily had ever seen. Emily took her time to rake her eyes over the blondes body, taking in every aspect of the stunning woman in front of her.
"Don't worry about it" Emily shrugged as she got lost in the blondes eyes for a second time. "What are you doing out here at this time of night anyway? It's dangerous for a beautiful girl like you to be out alone" Emily said with concern laced through her voice but a smirk appearing on her face as she ended the sentence.
A blush appeared on the blondes face and she did her best to avoid Emily's eye contact. Realising that she still hadn't replied to the question she shook her head slowly and tried to compose herself. It was harder than it should have been and she got lost in her thoughts about the tanned girl in front of her. Taking in her long legs, long brown hair and athletic build before coming to a stop at her mesmerising brown eyes. Even though she was wearing sweats and looking slightly dishevelled the blonde thought the brunette was incredible.
"I needed some fresh air and where better to find that than outside" the blonde replied.
The sentence could have been taken as sarcastic but it was said with such seriousness that Emily just smiled before thinking of a reply. She really needed to get home and try and get a couple of hours sleep before the day started however she couldn't bare to walk away from the mystery blonde. She decided to take a leap of faith and try and keep the blonde talking.
"Where are you heading? I'll walk with you to make sure you get to your destination safely" Emily said as she tried to keep the blonde interested in her.
"Home. It's not that far, I don't want you to go out of your way" the blonde replied shyly, looking at the ground once again.
She was usually confident but something about the brunette in front of her made her feel insecure about herself. She felt as if the brunette could read everything about her with just one look. She started to walk off in the direction of her house, not knowing what else to say to the brunette and just hoping that she would follow her.
Emily didn't say anything as she turned around and caught up easily with the blonde. She tried to avert her eyes from the girl beside her by taking the time to study their surroundings, even though she had walked these streets hundreds of times she was surprised by how many of the little things she had seemed to miss before now. Things such as lawn decorations in certain yards, one house in particular was overfilled with garden gnomes and such like and Emily smiled as she took it all in.
The new girl noticed the smile on Emily's face and followed the direction the brunette was looking in, she reciprocated the smile as she also looked at each and every gnome carefully. One in particular caught her attention, it was of average size and was bent in half with its trousers down and its porcelain ass on show. She stifled a giggle before bringing her gaze back to the road ahead of them.
They walked for several more minutes in a comfortable silence before they reached what Emily presumed to be the blondes house. Turning to face her, the blonde looked at Emily and seemed like she wanted to say or do something. Emily cocked her head to the side but was left disappointed as the blonde instead headed towards the house.
"What's your name Blondie?" Emily shouted after her.
The blonde spun on her heel to face Emily and a slight smile appeared on her face. She stayed in one place as Emily made small steps towards her, not wanting this interaction to come to an end.
"Alison. And yours?" The blonde replied casually.
"Emily"
"Well goodnight Emily" and with that being the last words to be spoken Alison turned around once more and walked towards her front door before slipping inside the house. Not another word or look had been spoken or given and yet Emily felt a flutter in her stomach that she hadn't felt for several years. She shook it off as an effect from the alcohol she had drank several hours earlier and took out a cigarette from her sweatpants pocket which she lit and put to her lips.
Smoking was another consequence of her fathers death. Unable to cope with the grief she had locked away her heart and feelings and instead looked for a distraction in smoking and drinking. She had become a shadow of her former self and had it not been for her close friends she would have lost herself completely.
"You've met my neighbour then" a voice said loudly as Emily spun around in surprise almost choking on the smoke from the cigarette.
"Spencer." Emily breathed out in relief as she took in the appearance of one of her best friends. She looked as tired as Emily presumed she herself looked and her heart went out to her friend knowing that work was particularly hard for her at the moment.
She walked over towards the tall brunette who was leaning on a pillar of the porch of her house. Emily made her way quickly across Alison's lawn and onto Spencer's property, taking several drags from her cigarette and ignoring the condescending look she was receiving. She wasn't one to readily take advice when it was given especially when it came to her friends telling her to give up smoking. Taking a place leaning on the pillar opposite the one Spencer herself was leant against, Emily gave her friend a questioning look.
"Couldn't sleep. Same as you two I guess" Spencer replied to the unasked question whilst gesturing between Emily and Alison's house.
"She bumped into me, I offered to walk her home." Emily stated with no emotion in her voice, the walls that Alison had began to break down with just one look already back up and fully repaired. She knew Spencer probably had a good idea of where she had been previously to her meeting of the blonde and didn't feel the need to explain herself any further.
Spencer nodded at the short statement and knew Emily wasn't one to resist a beautiful girl. However she had spoken to her new neighbour several times over the past week and had come to like her. She worried about Emily's intentions for her as much as she loved her friend she knew when it came to women there was only one thing Emily was interested in. If that was indeed the case and it somehow went south quickly and then came to light that Emily and Spencer knew each other then Spencer knew her relationship with her neighbour would very quickly turn sour and strained and for some reason she didn't want that.
"Sleep here. You're not going to get any sleep if you walk home now" Spencer said as a statement not a suggestion.
Emily nodded, taking in the last few drags of her cigarette and putting it out on the ground with her foot before following the tall brunette inside the house, up the stairs and into the bedroom. Emily was the only one of her friends who still lived with her parents or parent in Emily and Hanna's case. Hanna's mother being divorced and her dad having fucked off to start a new life with a stuck up bitch and her snobby daughter.
Spencer had inherited her parents house when they had moved to New York to start up a prestigious law firm in the big city. It came with the condition that they always had a place to stay when they or her older sister Melissa were in town and Spencer had graciously accepted their offer. On multiple occasions Spencer had offered her barn to Emily as a place of her own but Emily couldn't bring herself to leave her mother just yet, knowing how much Pam was leaning on Emily and they helped each other get through each day without Wayne.
Emily's other two close friends, Hanna and Aria had both bought their own places once they had moved back to a Rosewood after college. Aria's was small in size just like the girl herself and the entire decor reflected her personality to a tee. Hanna's house was big and had more rooms than she had use for but it worked in favour of her showy personality and due to they amount of money she was making at her job in the fashion industry she saw it more as an investment opportunity in case things ever went south for her.
The two of them stood beside the window in Spencer's room and unbeknownst to them their every move was being watched. Emily lifted her arms up under Spencer's instruction and had her t shirt removed for her. Her tiredness and alcohol intake causing a lack of coordination at that particular moment and her friend willing to help her out.
Emily licked her lips seductively and put her arms around Spencer's neck and it was that move that made the blonde that had been watching from her own window turn away in a fit of jealousy.
Alison had made it to her bedroom after getting a drink from the kitchen and got changed into her pyjamas before walking over to the window to close the curtains. She had been met by the sight of Emily stood in the house opposite hers and stood in awe of the beautiful brunette. She couldn't avert her eyes even if she had wanted to, there was just something about Emily that had her hooked. Alison wanted to get to know her better. In fact she needed to get to know her better.
That was until she saw the interaction between Emily and Spencer and took it that they were lovers. She felt her heart shatter and a fit of jealousy come over herself and she couldn't understand why. She had just met this girl and also she was straight. She'd never had any feelings for another woman before and it was making her brain hurt in confusion.
She shut the light pink curtains angrily before stalking over to her king sized bed and lying down with a huff. The vast amount of space around her becoming more apparent with everyday that she stayed single and not wanting the feeling of loneliness to consume her anymore than it already had. Her mind wouldn't shut off and the images of Spencer and Emily just played on repeat over and over.
She had spoken to Spencer and gained a sort of trust from her new neighbour with every conversation that they'd had over the previous week. She also never heard Spencer mention a partner in any capacity only quick snippets about having to go meet friends for coffee. The word friend being the main focus of Alison's thoughts on the subject.
Maybe this was all a big misunderstanding, she'd only witnessed their interactions for a couple of seconds after all. And the smell of alcohol had been apparent as she had previously walked beside Emily so maybe Spencer was just helping out a friend. Alison decided to go with that option for now but vowed to keep an eye out for any indication that her initial thoughts had been correct.
Spencer brushed Emily's arms off of her neck and laughed at the gesture. Shaking her head before raising her eye sight and capturing Emily's full attention. She took a couple of steps back before turning to her wardrobe and pulling out a set of pyjamas for herself and another one for Emily. She chucked the second set over to Emily before turning to face the other direction and get herself changed whilst Emily who had caught the clothes with ease, slipped off her sweatpants and underwear and proceeded to put the pyjamas on.
"You and Hanna may be able to make "friends with benefits" work but you know me and Aria will never do that with you. Not that you would need us to anyway with the line of girls queuing for just a minute of your attention" Spencer stated as she turned around and walked back over to Emily, it was said as a joke but it came with a serious message behind it.
Emily laughed before turning away from Spencer and climbing into bed. She pulled the duvet up around her tightly and pouted at Spencer before she patted the space next to her and in turn Spencer crawled onto the bed and under the duvet herself. Emily rolled over and put her arm across Spencer's waist, snuggling in close. Spencer sighed deeply before putting her arm over Emily's shoulder and holding her tight.
"I don't get how you resist me Spence. I'm so charming" Emily said sleepily with a slight chuckle and trying to stifle a yawn that threatened to escape her mouth.
Spencer laughed with her and just held her tighter. She brushed Emily's hair softly with her hand before reaching with her other hand to pick up her phone from the bedside unit and making sure all seven of her alarms were set for the morning. Obviously they were, she had the same seven alarms set on repeat for every morning without fail, including the weekend. Spencer's life was structured down to a tee and it was how she made it through life. Everyday was planned out in accurate detail from her morning routine down to the meals she was having. Such was the life of a Hastings, she had been brought up around routine and even the slightest change to her day brought uneasiness and panic.
She was the clever one of their group of friends, he over thinker. If anyone had a problem that needed solving logically then they would go straight to Spencer. She could figure anything out and her solutions were meticulously figured out down to every last detail. She was the reliable one and would always be there no matter what was asked of her.
Her brain, planning and attention to detail were what made her such a brilliant lawyer. That and her inability to step down from an argument and the fact that she was never wrong and could never be proven to be wrong either. She had graduated top of every class and had worked very hard to get to where she was today but she wouldn't never forget that during her times of need all her friends had rallied around her and helped her out when it was required.
"Get some sleep Em. God only knows you need it after your extra curricular activities this evening. I don't know how you do that every night and still make it into work" Spencer said before yawning and closing her eyes.
Her last thoughts about her best friend in her arms and how detrimental the lifestyle she had taken on was to her health. She worried deeply for Emily and knew it wouldn't be long before burning the candle at both ends caught up with her and something bad would happen. But until then she would continue to be there for her and when it came to a top she would continue to be there for her. Offering help in whatever way Emily would need it next. That's what friends are for.
A/N
Here we go then, the first chapter of my latest fanfic. If you've read my previous one then I hope you'll notice the massive improvement with this one. My last one allowed me to realise what I had been doing wrong and in turn change up my style of writing and put in a lot more detail to fill out the story.
Each chapter will be roughly this length which allows me to put a lot more depth into the storyline itself. I will update at least once a week if not more but because these chapters are about 4 times the length of the ones in my first fanfic I won't be able to update as frequently as I previously have been.
That all being said I hope you enjoy this fanfic and the direction I am taking it in. Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the reviews and I also listen to suggestions concerning character development and storylines :)