"You made it."
Emily cautiously approached the rock that her best friend was sitting on, legs crossed, a knowing smirk on her face as her eyes appraised Emily.
"Yeah, I did," Emily murmured. She had received a note from Alison that morning in her locker, carefully written in the blonde's neat cursive: "Meet me at The Kissing Rock after school. There's something I wanna show you. Don't be late."
Emily had carefully avoided Alison's gaze for the rest of the day, her mind burning with questions: did Ali know how she felt? Did she feel the same way? But no, how could she- Alison DiLaurentis was very into boys, everybody knew that.
"Aren't you gonna tell me how pretty I look today, Em?" The blonde asked with a devious smile, and Emily's eyes widened, roaming over her best friend's body. She did look good- well, amazing, wearing a light blue dress that complemented her equally blue eyes. Emily couldn't help but let her eyes brush over the dangerously low dip of the dress, leaving little to the imagination in terms of Alison's cleavage, but she blushed and looked away when the blonde caught her staring.
"You look beautiful, Ali," she said simply, and Alison's smile widened, but this time it turned into something more... genuine. A soft smile, one that made Alison look like a simple 15-year-old girl, not like a predator circling her prey.
Emily loved when Alison showed her her soft side. Sometimes it felt like she was the only person who ever saw it.
"You can sit." Emily took Alison's words in haste, sitting down on the rock beside her. "You're beautiful too, you know."
Emily felt that familiar sensation of butterflies rise up in her stomach, but she tried to convince herself that Alison meant it in a friendly way. Ali would never like her like that, she just wouldn't.
"You're just saying that to say it, Ali," she mumbled, cheeks reddening in light of her insecurity as she stared down at her hands.
"I am not. Look at me." Before she knew it Alison's hand was at her chin, gently tugging it up to force Emily into making eye contact with her. "You're beautiful."
"Oh. Well... thank you."
With that a silence fell over the two, Alison's hand leaving Emily's face and falling into her lap, but the blonde noticeably scooted closer to Emily.
"Emily." Alison's voice rang after a few moments of silence, filled with that authoritative power that made people listen to her no matter what she was saying. That was how she had gotten Emily, Spencer, Hanna, and Aria to listen to her since the day they had met her.
"Yes, Ali?"
"You didn't really believe my story about the ghosts here, did you?"
The blonde started giggling, and Emily followed suit, drunk off the sound of Alison's laughter.
"No, of course not," she managed to say once they had quieted down a bit. "There are no such thing as ghosts anyway."
"Good, because that would be so creepy. Imagine a bunch of old people watching you while you kissed. It would almost be worse than kissing in front of your mom."
Emily winced, the thought of kissing anybody... let alone the only person she really wanted to kiss, the girl next to her... in front of Pam Fields an unpleasant one.
"You never answered me the other day, you know." Emily's heart dropped into her stomach, fully anticipating what her friend was about to say. "Who have you always fantasized about taking here?"
Emily shrugged nonchalantly, hoping that if she just brushed it off Alison would drop it. "I don't know, I've never-"
"Is it Ben?" Alison grinned, apparently delighted at the thought. "He is your boyfriend. He's hot, charming, totally in love with you... what's not to like?"
"Well..."
"Or is it somebody else?" All Emily could do was nod meekly. "Ah, who would've thought that sweet Emily Fields would be having fantasies about somebody other than her boyfriend? I've taught you well," Alison said with a sly wink, and Emily felt her stomach tighten. "So who's the lucky guy, Em?"
"I'm... Ali, it's not-"
"Or is it a girl?"
"Y-yes."
"Is it me?"
"Yes."
"I know you wanna kiss me."
Emily's eyes widened, sure that she had misheard Alison. This was all she had been wanting for months now but she had been sure that Alison hadn't wanted it as well. But when Alison turned to face her, raising an eyebrow expectantly, she knew that she was serious.
A trembling hand reached out, carefully brushing Alison's hair behind her ear. A little smile flitted across Alison's face at the contact, eyes fluttering shut. Then Emily moved forward, inch by inch until her lips were pressing against Alison's.
It was slow at first, the two girls taking their time to explore each other's mouths. It was nothing and yet everything like Emily had expected. Alison's lips were soft and perfect, her jungle red lipstick leaving its mark on Emily's lips. The blonde reciprocated the kiss, first shyly and then fervently.
Emily pulled away for a few seconds after the first kiss, staring into Alison's eyes, and she murmured, "Kiss me again, Em."
That was the only invitation Emily needed, her lips finding Alison's again in a second. This time the kiss was deeper, Emily's teeth tugging at Alison's bottom lip playfully before her tongue entered Alison's mouth.
They remained kissing for a few minutes, and Emily felt like she was on cloud nine. Finally Alison pulled away, face flushed from their kisses and from their close proximity.
"Alison..."
"Emily."
"I- you know, I liked that. A lot. Kissing you."
Alison didn't vocalize her contentedness, and a strange look passed over her face at Emily's words.
"I should really get going, Em. I need to get home before Jason and his bone-headed friends do and start going through my things."
The girl rose to her feet, collecting her things. She began to walk away, but before she had gotten out of earshot of Emily she turned around, voice taking on a dark tone.
"This is our secret. Don't tell anybody."
All Emily could do was nod meekly, feeling her heart crack a little as she watched Alison leave.
Alison never did tell Emily that she enjoyed their kisses too, but the notes she got in her locker every week instructing her to meet Alison at "their spot" told her all she needed to know.