I haven't seen many Emily/Aria fanfics and an idea for this one-shot just popped into my head. Enjoy!
For once the girls and I came to camp out at a lake with the only purpose in mind enjoying ourselves. We needed a break from everything, even our relationships. But as always, someone's life always ends up in danger no matter what we do.
All we were doing was sitting on the dock. I had my jeans pulled up to my knees so that I could sit on the edge of the dock and dangle my legs over the edge into the dark water that was hardly moving beneath us. The lake was still that day, almost unnaturally still. I had just sat there listening to the buzzing of nearby insects and staring at a large black willow tree just down the bank. Its leaves swayed in the breeze that made the summer heat bearable and small birds fluttered around it.
Spencer sat in a lawn chair just off the dock and she appeared to be sleeping, leaning back against the white fabric of the chair as a flowery sunhat drooped over her face and protected her eyes from the rays of sunlight.
Hanna had been very predictable, she was lying on a beach towel face down beside Spencer so that she would get an even tan.
At the end of the dock Aria sat with her legs crossed on a beach towel to prevent the old, prickly wood from giving her legs splinters. I was sitting at the right distance from her that I could see the left side of her face. She was watching the clouds floating across the blue sky on the other side of the lake in almost a dreamlike state. Her lips were slightly parted and she didn't even move when a strand of her hair blew into her face. I couldn't describe her appearance as anything less than beautiful.
"See any interesting shapes?" I had asked her with a smile on my face. Hanna gave us her attention for a moment before shifting her position to reach for her iPod earbuds to drown us out.
"Cerulean." Aria had answered me, never looking away from the sky.
"What?" I asked for clarification.
"Cerulean. It's the color of the sky. I wasn't looking at the clouds." She said as she turned to face me, a small smile playing itself across her face. I couldn't help but smile back at her. Somehow she seemed different that day. She seemed more like herself, which honestly I hadn't seen much of in recent months. She was the same girl who used to walk around with a pink stripe in her hair and not feel the least bit embarrassed or strange.
After another few moments of silence she sighed in contentment. The grey blouse she had been wearing found itself on the docks after she pulled it over her head. Now she was just wearing her black tank top so that she could feel more of the breeze.
I still couldn't shake the feeling I got when I looked at her that day, something had definitely been off. It was like I had been seeing her with new eyes for the last few days but still couldn't understand what I saw differently.
When Hanna shifted onto her back to tan the comfortable silence between Aria and I ended and she rose to her feet.
"I'm going to get a water bottle from the cooler, want anything?" She asked me as she slipped on the flip flops that had been lying next to her on the dock.
"Yeah, water would be great. Thanks." I responded, not knowing that these were the last words I was going to say to her before something really terrible happened.
I had turned my head to look back at the willow tree, but Aria had hardly made it three steps before a high shriek shook us all from our relaxed states of mind. I had looked fast enough to see Aria's body disappear under the dark water, sending ripples across the calm lake. The old, creaky dock had failed to support her weight even though she was the lightest of all of us. She had stepped on some weak spot or crack in a board, and enough of it collapsed that she fell through.
"Aria!" I screeched as I hurried toward the splintered wood. Below the dock nothing was visible except for the unsettled water and large pieces of wood bobbing about.
"I don't see anything!" Spencer cried out when she had gotten close enough to understand what had taken place.
I knew Aria wasn't a good swimmer, a terrible one at that, so I didn't hesitate for a second as I dove into the water after her when I hadn't seen her appear at the surface.
The water was murky and cold and at first it felt good on my skin, but I quickly shuddered. It was too dark and the water was too disturbed to see anything clearly even if I had been able to keep my eyes open without them burning.
I had to come back up for a breath of air and didn't stop to answer any of Hanna or Spencer's questions as I swam back under the dock.
Out of blind luck I had run into Aria's body and knew to run my hands down her body until I found the problem. My fingertips met an underwater plant that had ensnared Aria's leg in its tangled mess rooted into the floor of the body of water. I had to be carefully not to get myself stuck as I tore the plants from Aria until I felt I could pull her to the surface.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and kicked as hard as I could even though I had clearly run out of breath what seemed like ages ago.
When we finally broke the surface Aria's body suddenly became much heavier and her head lolled back against my shoulder limply. I drug her right up to the edge of the dock, where I could hoist her up into the waiting arms of Spencer and Hanna, who then proceeded to pull me out of the water.
The two of them laid Aria flat on her back in the grass after carrying her off of the unstable dock. With tears in my eyes I had collapsed at her side. Being on the swim team, I was trained in how to react to a situation like this one. I leaned my head over Aria's face and pinched her wrist at the same time.
"She's not breathing." I cried to the others, even though I continued to treat her, following instinct alone.
I tilted Aria's head back and pinched her nose as I covered her mouth with my own and tried to give her not only air, but life. Her heart had stopped beating quickly. Spencer and Hanna supported her head and crowded around me, unsure of what to do.
With sobs escaping my mouth ever few seconds I covered one hand with the other over Aria's chest and pushed down with force in an attempt to get her heart beating. I followed the procedure of CPR for several minutes, and Spencer eventually put her hand on my shoulder and told me to stop. I looked up at them with defeat in my eyes and saw the gut wrenching sadness filling theirs. There was nothing I wanted more at that point than to see Aria's eyes one more time.
It was right then that I realized what that strange feeling I had felt. When I had pressed my lips against Aria's for the sole purpose of trying to save her life, it had felt the same as it had the first time I had kissed Maya. It felt strange and weird, she was one of my best friends, but it also felt right.
So I couldn't let her go, having just figured out this realization. The anger I was feeling towards myself at not acting on my emotions sooner built up and bubbled over the rim, sending me into hysteria.
"Damn it Aria, open your eyes!" I shouted at her, bringing my fist down against her chest. My violent outburst scared the other girls and they flinched away. I slammed my fist against Aria's chest once more simultaneously with a sob. Aria's lifeless body just felt so wrong.
"Emily." Spencer warned me. I raised my arm again, but Spencer grabbed my wrist and made eye contact with me.
"Stop." She said solemnly.
"Why didn't you call 911!" I shouted at Hanna, who was sitting there dumbstruck.
"No bars. We're in the middle of nowhere." Hanna said, the reality had slowly begun to seep into her brain.
I leaned over Aria with my eyes closed and gave her one last breath. Water filled my mouth and I coughed as I pulled away, my eyes wide with surprise.
"Aria!" Spencer shouted in relief. I pulled Aria's torso onto my lap and cried into her hopelessly sopping wet hair as she coughed up water that ended up on my shirt.
That day I had realized that maybe, just maybe, I loved my pint-sized friend more and in a different way than I knew or had cared to admit.