Emily had always been the friend I could rely on, even during that year when Aria was gone, I felt like I could still talk to Emily. Ever since Caleb left to meet his mother and Emily came to live with me we've got along even better. At first I thought it might ruin our friendship-spending so much time with each other at school, hanging out, sleeping together-but I think it just proves how strong we are. Plus, she's so supportive. If I could go back to when she came out, I wish I'd had the strength to tell her the truth-"I'm not sure I'm entirely straight either Em" I would have said. I sometimes find myself looking at girls in the mall, wishing I could look at them a little bit longer; take time to take it all in. There's a lot of beautiful people in Rosewood. But that was just admiration, and possibly jealousy, wasn't it?

I took off my bra but left on my vest top and little shorts I'd been wearing to sunbathe and scrambled into my bed...our bed. I had just started to drift off to sleep when Em came home. She thinks she's quiet, but I heard her slam her car door, slam the front door, then stomp upstairs. I sat up as she came through our bedroom door. I saw her wipe a tear from her cheek so i dashed out of bed and locked my arms around her.

"Em, honey, what's up?" I whispered-mom had gone to bed a while ago

"Hanna, please I don't want to talk about it" she sobbed

"Em, you know I'm here for you, you've been such a rock to me since Caleb left, I think I should give back a little. Please, if it's Samara, you can tell me" I tried to reason with her, she didn't think I'd want to talk about girls with her since my love life was down the drain, but I did, I wanted to comfort her.

"Please, Hanna, just let me go to sleep, we can talk in the morning"

"Ok, well you know, we have all Saturday to sleep, we could stay up and share?" There's no reasoning with her when she looks at you with her beautiful brown eyes. Wait, do I stare at her eyes that often?

"No, I'd rather you just let me sleep, but can you hold my hand? I need to know you're there" I would be more than happy to do that.

"Sure. Here, do you want a tissue?"

"Thanks Han"

We hopped into bed, and I let her rest her head on my neck, I was on the left side of the bed. Emily, well, she was half way across and was edging closer every second. She gave me her right hand and I held it with my left, rubbing my thumb on her palm as she always did to me when I was upset over Caleb. I shouldn't be doing this, she has a girlfriend and well, I'm straight...right?

I woke up the next morning to find Em still asleep, at some point I'd wrapped my right arm around her and turned to face her. She seemed to be waking, but I just looked at her, at that moment there was nothing to upset either of us and the world seemed like a great place. Emily blinked twice and looked up, she seemed upset again.

"Em, do you want to talk yet?" I asked, trying to speak quietly since I wasn't sure whether mom was awake or not.

"Hanna, you are so stubborn" She gave me a little smile and sat up. "Well, it's A. She's trying to mess with me again. Making it look like I'm cheating again. Samara's only just gotten over the poker night. Thanks for that, by the way. You were quite convincing." I told Samara that I wanted a few numbers for a friend, and I'd asked Em to give her number out so she could arrange everything for me. I wasn't convinced it was a good story, but Samara seemed to accept it. It was either our excuse, or the fact that Emily blew $100 on a surprise dinner date.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I wish there was a way of explaining A without having to explain everything" It would be easy if we dated because then she wouldn't get in our way every damn day

"It's not your fault, it's hers...or his. Whoever the hell A is, they're ruining just about every relationship I have"

"Whoa, Em. You've still got me" I whispered "and Aria and Spence" but mainly me.

"And I love you for that" she was holding back tears again

"I love you too, Miss Fields" Im in love with you, Miss Fields.

"Aww, Miss Marin. You are a such a great friend" I could be a great girlfriend, Em

We started to get dressed, Emily wasn't shy about me seeing her body. She has an amazing body, who wouldn't want to show it off? Whoa, I need to stop that. I can't be gay. I was only fantasising about Caleb last week. Maybe I'm bi. Yeah, maybe, but I need to talk to someone about this. Maybe that was why I was convincing when I told Samara I needed numbers-she probably has me on her gaydar.

"Hey, could I ask you something, Em" I asked across the room, she'd just put her bra on, and had her jeans on already. I still had what I'd worn to bed, since I couldn't decide what to wear today.

"Sure, anything, Hanna" She smiled that beautiful smile, her teeth glistened in the sunlight coming through my bedroom window. They were so sparkly and white. I laughed at the mental image of her sparkling like Edward Cullen. "Are you ok? Something funny?"

"oh nothing" I wiped the smile off my face with my next thought. "So, I mean don't take this the wrong way but, well, are you sure you're gay?"

"Why would you think I'm not, I've had 3 girlfriends in the past year or so, and I haven't ever looked at a guy, hoping that I might be what my parents consider normal. I'm happy with who I am Hanna, why would you question me like that?" She looked like I'd offended her. I didn't think I'd said anything that she would take the wrong way. She clearly won't be into me, whether she's gay or not.

I sat on my bed and immediately regretted what I asked, but Emily came to sit next to me and took my hand

"Hanna, you know I tell you everything. Don't you think I would have told you if I were crushing on a boy? All I think about is y..I mean, whoever I'm dating"

What was that? Did she really just start to say "you"? it must be my imagination.

"Thanks for letting me know, I guess I was just curious" How was I supposed to explain it? It's not just something you blurt out to your best friend every day. Oh, by the way-I think I'm in love with you. No, there has to be a better way.

"We have all day to talk Hanna. I really don't mind answering questions if it makes you more comfortable" She always knows what to say, how does she do it? I was just watching her put her hair up when I noticed the time; 2:57 pm. Mom would be home any minute and I still wasn't dressed. Emily put a light green Abercrombie hoodie over her tank top, looked at the weather, and took it off again. The green went well with her skin tone but the tank's good.