A/N: Please leave reviews! Planning on turning this into at least 2 chapters, maybe 3 depending on how the story goes and if people like it! Thanks ahead of time! :)
A pink spoon descended shakily into the frosty, styrofoam cup of strawberry fro-yo. Emily's fingers curling tightly around the short stem to keep from looking upwards at the couple she'd just noticed on the other side of the glass window. She wondered if she hoped hard enough and kept her gaze firmly averted she could will them out of a sudden urge for a sweet treat. Her focus instead, became intent on catching a strawberry sliver currently slipping down a turret of frozen cream.
"–And that's when I set myself on fire and ran through a Bergdorf's." The statement's outlandishness ripped Emily from her aimless fruit chase and she jerked upright to meet her best friend's icy, blue gaze. "About time you started listening to me."
A small crease appeared in Emily's forehead, the instant pooling of guilt in her gut after realizing she'd been ignoring Hanna for the past five minutes straight. "I'm sorry Han – I just got…distracted." She issued a soft smile, her gaze flickering past Hanna's silhouette and out the window where she saw Alison's outline receding into Lorenzo's car. She sighed in relief before an iron fist of jealousy clenched around her heart.
"Please, continue with this story about how you ended up committing arson in your favorite department store." Knitting her brows together in a faux fixation on the topic, she spooned her dessert into her mouth and chewed softly, hoping she didn't look as frazzled as she felt.
In return, Hanna rolled her eyes and reclined back in her plastic chair, concern brewing in her once aggravated gaze. "It's too late, now you'll never know what happened." She spoke with kindness though, any annoyance ebbing away in wake of obvious distress in her friend. "Come on Em, something is clearly bothering you, so spill."
Sighing, defeated, Emily shoveled another bit of fro-yo into her mouth and savored the confectionary taste, delaying the incoming sentence as long as possible.
"Does this have anything to do with Sara? To be honest I'm not even sure that girl is full-on gay, I mean she hasn't even tried to hit on me even once –"
Emily couldn't help but smile at that, Hanna's brash honesty was one of the things she loved about her. It was nice to know she could be who she was around her and know that Hanna would never sugarcoat or treat her differently because of who she loved. "No…I mean…not exactly – well, kind of." Another deep sigh, this one weary and well-worn, as if she'd been harboring it, a ghost in her heart for weeks. "I thought that being with Sara would fix everything you know? Like finding someone new and exciting and different might make me…might help me… –"
"Get over Alison." Awkward silence trampled through the air between them. Emily's knuckles whitened against the table. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Not really, but I am the smartest." Her pink pout pressed into a gentle smile. "I just know you, and I know that this hasn't been easy, especially when she seems to take any oppurtunity she can to tote that Rent-A-Cop around town. For all we know he's an ex-stripper and she's just using him to make you jealous." The blonde swabbed her index finger through her vanilla ice cream; rainbow sprinkles clinging for dear life to her well-glossed lips. "I never really thought Sara was right for you anyways." Hanna added between licks to collect the glob of sugar around her mouth. "There's just no…spark."
Emily tried to hide the grin threatening to form at the idea of Ali attempting to make her jealous, but she knew that wasn't likely, no use getting her hopes up. "Am I a terrible person? For being with Sara even though I'm not over Ali?"
Wiping her sticky finger off on her napkin, Hanna slowly leaned over across the table, her gaze warm as apple pie. "No Emily, I don't think you're a terrible person. I don't think you even knowhow to be a terrible person. It's not weird that you tried to find someone as different from Alison as possible. Lesbians have rebounds too, you know."
"Right, I forgot you were the expert." Hanna winked, and Emily instantly felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Saying it all out loud as an instant stress relief. "Thanks Hanna. You finished?" She gestured to the empty cup across from her and piled on top of her own before tossing them in the trash and going back to grab her purse.
She met up with Hanna next to the exit, the two girls emerging into the dewey sunlight together. "Any advice on what I should do next?" Hanna opened her mouth to speak before falling silent, catching sight of a familiar car pulling into the lot.
"Well, whatever it is, you might want to decide fast." Emily's neck nearly cracked in the haze of speed she used to look up at the direction Hanna was looking, just in time to see a cascade of honeyed curls emerge from the driver's side.
Her body started to feel jittery and anxious, synapses refusing to function as her nerves sizzled, Ali had come back on purpose. Apparently Emily hadn't been the only one on the look out earlier. A second seemed to stretch by before Alison finally noticed them both and smiled – the same smile that made Emily's heart a cartoon animation.
Hanna's breath tickled a strands of dark hair, just before she felt a gentle prod against the small of her back.
'"Don't do anything I wouldn't do."