Emily piled up the empty coffee cups that had been left on the table in the corner by her last customers of the day and deposited them in the large gray bin that she had balanced on her hip. Glancing up at the clock that was mounted on the wall overhead, she smiled upon realizing that it was finally time for her shift to be over.

She set the bin down, the cups and silverware rattling around inside of it, and pulled her apron over her head. "See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder to her boss, not bothering to wait for a response as she pushed open the door and exited out into the street, shielding her eyes from the summer sun. It was late Friday afternoon and she had plans with her three best friends that she wouldn't trade for the entire world, she thought, as she headed towards her car, flipping her keys in her hand so that she could find the fob to unlock her car.

—

"Aria, Spencer, can you guys, like, not?" Hanna said, holding up the popcorn bowl in front of her face as she and Emily walked in on them for the third time that night. The four of them were having a movie night at Spencer's since her parents were gone for the weekend, and despite Emily's questioning of whether or not Spencer wanted the house for just her and Aria for the night they had proceeded ahead with their plans. All was going normally, except for the fact that every time Emily and Hanna left the room to get drinks or food or to use the bathroom they inevitably came back to find the two of them making out.

Emily and Hanna still didn't really understand how their two best friends had happened, and neither of them were putting in the effort to explain it. Hanna had been so puzzled that she had actually taken the time out one night to sit down with Emily and go over everything that had happened in the past few months: First, Ezra had broken up with Aria in the fall of their senior year, citing that their relationship was doing more harm than good to her in the long run and that she deserved someone better than him. Aria had been inconsolable for a few days, but she had come around surprisingly quickly, seeing the big picture and saying that she could see why things between them wouldn't work out. She had been sixteen when they had begun dating and he had been in his twenties, and relationships like that didn't have a high success rate; besides, as the days went on, the little differences between them became bigger and bigger and it felt like they were becoming entirely separate people.

Spencer and Toby's relationship sputtered to a stop around the same time, with Spencer saying that she was too busy with her schoolwork and college applications to have a full time boyfriend and give him the attention he needed. Toby was confused - and rightfully so - and tried valiantly to get Spencer to talk to him, even going so far as to ask Emily for advice. Emily had never been great at reading Spencer's impromptu actions, and this was beyond her. She couldn't tell if this was the truth or if she was hiding something - blackmail from A? - and so she could only shrug her shoulders helplessly and watch as Toby walked away, defeated.

As Hanna pointed out, her voice rising in pitch and her pacing becoming more frantic around the room as Emily reclined on her bed, watching her with a slightly amused look on her face, Spencer and Aria became pretty much attached at the hip after all of that and started hanging out more, just the two of them. They began to spend their Friday nights alone at Spencer's house or going to the movies, and they could finish one another's sentences and Aria had Spencer's coffee order down without a second thought. Spencer thought nothing of reaching over and fishing Aria's ridiculous necklace of the day out of the front of her shirt and flipping it over so that the pendant faced outward. Emily and Hanna would exchange glances whenever this happened, but both of them wrote it off as them growing closer, like Emily and Hanna had after she moved in.

The shocker had come when the two of them had arrived at Aria's house one night to meet up before going to the mall to look at dresses for their senior prom. "Hey, Em, I don't think anyone's actually home," Hanna commented, a few minutes after pressing the doorbell without anyone answering. Emily shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hugging her arms around herself and about to answer when a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye made her jump. Her reflexes were honed now, thanks to A and his/her/its creepy ways, and so she grabbed Hanna's arm, pulling her away from the door and around Aria's wraparound porch.

"Em, what are you doing?" Hanna whispered, crouching down next to Emily nonetheless, trusting her enough to go along with this. Emily shook her head, peering around the corner of the house. She shushed Hanna, heart hammering in her chest as she saw two shadowy figures emerge from a car parked in front of the house. One of them laughed and Emily relaxed immediately, recognizing it as being Spencer's. The smaller of the two figures pushed her, and Emily assumed that had to be Aria. She began to stand only for Hanna to pull her down this time, clamping a hand over her mouth. "Em, look!" she whispered, nodding towards Spencer and Aria, as if Emily would look anywhere else.

They were on Aria's porch now, right in front of the door, with Aria's back to them. Spencer was gazing down at her, neither of them talking. Aria raised up on her tip toes, arms going around Spencer's neck, and - Emily gasped, Hanna lost her balance on her heels, and the two of them went tumbling from behind the corner of the house. Aria and Spencer stopped kissing (all Emily could think of was, "They were kissing," and "Those idiots, A could see them!") and stared at the two of them. Hanna and Emily tried to pick themselves up.

"Okay, I know this looks bad, but - what are you guys even doing?" Hanna nearly shrieked, hands on her hips. Emily put a hand on Hanna's arm, trying to calm her down, and Aria flushed red. Spencer crossed her arms over her chest before dropping them to her side and then crossing them again.

"We - that's none of your business."

"It is so our business! You're our best friends and we just caught you kissing!"

"Hanna!"

"Emily!"

"Spencer, do something!"

"Aria, what can I do?"

Aria pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes squeezed shut, and then sighed. "Okay, yes, we were kissing - "

"Hah!"

"Hanna!" Emily and Spencer both exclaimed at once, their eyes meeting as they smirked in unison.

" - but we were going to tell you, I swear," Aria continued, her eyes wide and expressive. She toyed with her necklace, biting her lip, and Spencer put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's just new, you guys. You can understand, right?" she asked, her tone somewhat hopeful. Of course they would, but there was always that tiny part that everyone had inside of them that was scared of their friends rejecting them.

"You guys are such idiots. We wouldn't have cared if you had just told us in the first place," Hanna muttered, stomping across the porch to envelop them in a hug. Emily gave the both of them a thumbs up before hugging them as well. Neither of them had ever gone into any detail after that as to how, exactly, it had happened, although Hanna had spent a lot of time trying to get it out of them. Spencer had never been one to give out relationship details freely, and Aria would give them out when she felt like it or when she was pressured, but they were exceptionally tightlipped. Hanna and Emily didn't mind that they were dating in the least, but they were a little worried that their group dynamic would change. They were giving it time, since it had only been two months since they had found out, and it was only five months since things between Spencer and Aria had started (or so they said), so they were still in the honeymoon stage.

"I'm sitting between you," Hanna declared, literally plunking herself down in the tiny space between Aria and Spencer. Spencer gave her the kind of glare that could kill a person, and Emily was quick to try and fix things before they got bad.

"So, what movie are we going to watch?" she all but shouted, picking up the stack of DVDs and trying to ignore how Hanna was now munching on the popcorn while Spencer glared stonily ahead and Aria hid her smirk behind her hand. Her friends were such weirdos, she thought with a sigh, just as her phone buzzed on the coffee table. She leaned over to pick it up, and when she glanced over at her friends, she was surprised to find that they were all staring at her with knowing looks on their faces. "What are you looking at?"

"Who's the text from, Em?" Spencer asked in a sing-song voice, her bad mood apparently resolved now. She threw a sideways look at Hanna, who apparently caught it and turned it to Aria. Emily was incredibly suspicious now, but she turned her gaze towards her phone and felt her lips curve up into a smile almost involuntarily.

"Paige." Paige McCullers was Emily's fourth best friend, although she didn't usually hang out with the three of them. She had been Emily's friend for several years now, and their connection as friends had been instant. They met on the swim team when they had been freshmen, but neither of them had ever really gone out of their way to talk to the other until a chance encounter one morning at the pool when they were the only two there. They ended up talking about everything from parental expectations to favorite bands to their best friends to school to the weather (they still laughed about the fact that one of their first conversations actually included the weather), and now they were just as tight as Emily was with Hanna, Aria, or Spencer.

Another knowing look was being exchange between her friends and Emily stopped replying to Paige's text (What're you up to?) long enough to cut them a look of frustration. "Seriously, what are you guys doing?"

"Us? Nothing. Okay, what movies do we have?" Aria reached forward and took the DVDs entirely too quickly, causing Emily to eye her before she just shook her head and went back to texting.

Emily: Nothing much, just hanging out with the girls. How's your Friday night going?

Paige: Not nearly as great as yours, I'd bet. Don't let me keep you, and have tons of fun with them! :)

Emily frowned when Paige ended their fairly short texting conversation, but she could see why the other girl wouldn't want to distract her from a night with her best friends. She put her phone back on the table and turned to say something to her three friends about what movie they should watch only to catch them whispering amongst themselves.

"Seriously, guys?"

At least they had the decency to look guilty even if they wouldn't tell her what they whispering about.

—

Paige clicked the lock button on her iPhone and tossed it away from her, letting it land safely at the foot of her bed. With a groan, she rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, wondering when her life had become some cliche soap opera where she was in love with her stupid (except not, except everything but stupid) best friend who would never love her back. For the longest time she had tried to deny it at all, just passing it off as having that really close friend she had never had before, but that had only gone on for so long before she couldn't keep lying to herself every single day.

From the second she and Emily crossed paths on the swim team her freshman year she had been instantly drawn to her. At first it was because Emily was such a striking figure, even at the age of fourteen, and Paige was jealous that she attracted so much attention from the other girls on the swim team and from the boys in the school, not to mention she had friends. Then, when things happened with her friend Alison and Emily became more withdrawn and her little group of friends disbanded, Paige found herself wanting more and more to talk to her just to make her smile again.

It took her until the following year to even say a word to her, and it wasn't until halfway through that year that the both of them ran into one another at the pool one morning and struck up a conversation. Ever since then they had been practically joined at the hip when Emily wasn't with her other best friends, and even though she was Paige's only best friend Paige understood completely about her keeping Spencer, Aria, and Hanna separate from her. She did, really. That wasn't to say that they never hung out together, but she knew it wasn't the same as the four of them hanging out together, or the two of them hanging out.

When her phone vibrated at the edge of the bed she sat up, reaching blindly for it and squinting to read the screen.

Emily: Hanna and i just walked in on Spencer and Aria making out for the fourth time. Hanna threw a glass of water on them and now Aria is yelling something about her hair. Keep me company while the drama goes down?

Paige rolled her eyes, because really, only Hanna Marin would do that, and only Spencer and Aria would get caught making out four separate times in an hour.

Paige: Four times? Seriously, if you guys leave them alone for more than five minutes you might walk in on something more than making out.

Emily: Oh my God, Paige, don't even joke about that!

Paige: It could be true, you don't know!

Emily: Spencer just said something about baby squirrels. I'm doing a terrible job of refereeing this match. You're a distraction, McCullers. ;)

Paige stared down at her phone screen, laid it down on her lap, and spent a long moment just composing herself. It was texts like that that made it hard to be friends with Emily sometimes. She knew they meant nothing because Emily didn't view her that way but there was always that little tiny part of her that would latch onto any shred of hope there was and then get dashed viciously against reality. It was a cycle Paige had perfected over the last two and a half years.

She sighed, trying to figure out the best response. She lived in eternal fear of Emily someday putting together two and two and figuring out Paige's dirty little secret. Emily was an out and proud lesbian, and so was Paige, and so obviously neither of them had a problem with that, but they had never discussed having feelings for each other because their relationship had had such a strictly platonic feeling from the very beginning - on Emily's side that is, which meant that Paige had to go along with it or risk losing the friendship altogether. She would rather keep being the completely whipped best friend who wasn't a girlfriend but might as well have been for the way she acted and the way Emily treated her sometimes and deal with the painful repercussions on her own rather than have Emily ever find out and have her push Paige away. She finally typed in what she hoped was a joking, friendly response.

Paige: But I'm the best distraction you could ask for.

Emily: It's true. Okay, I think they've resolved it. Either that or they have Hanna in a headlock, in which case I should definitely go. Are we still on for breakfast tomorrow?

Paige: You know it.

Emily: Great. See you there!

Not three seconds had gone by before Paige's phone vibrated in her hand again and she lifted it up, wondering what Emily had forgotten to tell her. She was surprised to see "Hanna Marin" lighting up the screen, and she frowned at the message.

Hanna: Em still doesn't know, does she?

Her eyes went wide in fear for the briefest of moments before she relaxed, her fingers automatically typing without much thought.

Paige: No, and she won't ever know.

Hanna, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Paige had been hanging out about a month or so prior, just shortly after Emily and Hanna had discovered Spencer and Aria and the two girls had decided to make their relationship public, and things had been progressing normally. Paige certainly hadn't noticed anything out of the usual until Emily had to leave early to get to her shift at the coffee shop, leaving the rest to be with each other. It was one of the few times that Paige had ever been alone with Emily's other friends, and so she cast her eyes downward as soon as Emily was out of sight, twisting her dark hair around her finger. She missed the knowing looks the three girls gave each other, not addressing them until Aria spoke.

"So, Paige. You and Em are close."

Paige glanced up, smiling at them and nodding in agreement. "She's amazing, yeah. I'm really glad we're friends." She was incredibly grateful that they were friends, in fact. She couldn't imagine her life without her at this point, and she felt like Emily saved her, in a way. She felt like she had been on the track to being a much worse person in high school before Emily had entered her life. Hanna looked like she was trying to hold something in, Spencer giving her a warning glance from her spot beside Aria.

"Han - "

"Do you like Emily?"

Paige dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter, eyes flicking between each girl. Aria was staring at Hanna with a "What the hell have you done?" look on her face; Spencer was pinching the bridge of her nose and looking very frustrated; and Hanna looked sheepish about her outburst but also like she wanted answers. "I - what - I don't - "

It was like her brain wouldn't work properly, wouldn't let her deny the fact that she had liked Emily for such a long time now that she couldn't remember a time where she didn't like her. Hanna looked positively gleeful at getting her hunch proved right, and it wasn't until Aria reached across the table and covered Paige's hand with her own, looking sympathetic. "Look, Spencer and I know what it's like to have a secret that you don't want getting out just yet, so we're not going to say anything. And trust us, Hanna won't be saying anything either if she knows what's good for her." As if practiced, Spencer and Aria threw warning glares at the blonde, who held up her hands.

"Man, you guys are a scary couple!" Paige just smiled weakly, her heart absolutely pounding. It was bad enough that three people knew her dirty little secret now, but add into the mix that it was Emily's three best friends and it was practically a disaster. The four of them hadn't talked about it since then, preferring to pretend it hadn't happened, although she had seen some of Hanna's facial expressions around her when she saw her and Emily interacting, and they weren't subtle, to say the least. Spencer and Aria were always around to rein her in, though.

The next time her phone buzzed the text wasn't from Hanna, but rather, Spencer. Or someone using Spencer's phone, at any rate.

Spencer: Hey, it's Aria. Ignore Han, she doesn't know what she's talking about. Your secret's still safe with us!

And a minute later another text arrived.

Spencer: It's Spencer this time. Like Aria said, your secret is still safe with us, but if you ever need to talk, the three of us are here for you. Or, rather, the two of us. Hanna might not be the greatest to talk to about these things.

Paige threw her phone to the end of the bed again and laid back against her pillow, staring up at her ceiling. She was well and truly fucked when it came to one Emily Fields.