A/N: 5.20 was every Hannily shipper's greatest dream come true, so until a more creative author comes along I'll write the continuation I wanted to see. Hit me with reviews! This is a two-parter.
Cancel your life this weekend. You're dancing with me. Will explain later.
Hanna stares at the drafted text until the words don't make sense.
What had she been thinking, telling her pageant coach she could dance? Now she has to get help from Emily and spending extra time with the girl is really not a good idea, not after these newly realized feelings.
Hanna wasn't sure when she'd started spending all her free time thinking about her beautiful best friend instead of her loyal boyfriend, but after months of wrestling with the feelings she had finally accepted them. As for breaking up with Caleb and attempting to get over Emily, she wasn't quite sure how to approach either – for now she was playing the waiting game and hoping that answers would present themselves with time.
Of course, this meant leaving herself out of situations where she might end up encouraging her feelings for Emily. Maybe this dance session wasn't such a good idea, what with her feelings and all. She feels like she's tricking Emily into…into what? Into titillating her?
The rational side of her kicks in. Don't be ridiculous, she chides herself. You're not asking her to give you a lap dance! And who else are you going to get dancing lessons from? You can control yourself.
After quickly banishing less-than-innocent thoughts of Emily and lap dancing (see? she can TOTALLY control herself), she sends the text and the weekend's plans are sealed.
They dance for hours, with only a brief intermission for Caleb to drop off bad news; and the crazy part, as angry as she is, it doesn't stop her eyes from wandering obsessively over Emily's glistening, toned body under the pretense of needing more guidance; doesn't stop her knees from going weak when she watches Emily drop to hers effortlessly; doesn't stop her mind from fantasizing other activities that will Emily just as breathless, panting, and sweaty.
This was such a bad idea. It's wrong, isn't it? It's wrong to be fixated on her best friend like this when she has Caleb and Kate and college to worry about, but Hanna's mind has never worked in predictable ways, and it would be a shame for something to change now.
When some of that sexual frustration, combined with the frustration over Kate's competition, ends up carrying over into Hanna's dancing, she doesn't expect the pageant coach to call her on it so brutally. But she isn't surprised as she should be that the coach rejects her as pageant material in favor of Emily – of course Emily Fields is better than her, the girl who has always been too perfect, always too far out of Hanna's league, always had too strong a hold on Hanna's heart.
The coach's comments crack a part of her that's been vulnerable and healing for a long time, and she doesn't stick around long enough to hear more of the verbal abuse. She drives home, ignores Emily's pleading look when she just nearly catches up to the car, and hopes she'll make it home in time to find something that will make her forget about everything, Emily especially.
Of course Emily follows her home, because that's just the person she is. Emily promises to win the pageant for Hanna, the conviction in her eyes and voice strong and solid enough to kick Hanna's heart into overdrive and make it hiccup and sputter out of control. It's too much, and Hanna's entire mood turns around in the blink of an eye, and she doesn't know how to express her gratitude for Emily's sweet gesture – oh, but wait, she does –
Before she loses her nerve – before she can catch up with the realization of how bad an idea this is – she darts forward, eyes glancing to Emily's, and then switching to Emily's soft and silent lips. She can smell some kind of fizzy and fruity body spray mixed with an undertone of sweat from the intensity of their dancing and it should be a strange mixture but it just makes Hanna's skin prickle hotly in excitement – and they're close enough that Hanna can almost taste the lust between them –
And then Emily's phone rings.
Hanna's more startled than she should be – her nerves are already excited as is – and she nearly falls off the seat when she jumps back in surprise.
The moment's broken, and Emily looks helplessly at her, equal parts shocked, disappointed, and confused, but she checks her phone anyways instead of finishing what Hanna had tried to start. As Emily reads her phone, Hanna watches Emily's expression change into something distraught – is it guilt? The blonde can only catch the name of the texter before Emily stuffs her phone into her pocket and stands.
"I'm sorry, Hanna, I can't – I have to go."
Hanna watches her leave. She doesn't have the courage to stop her, especially after seeing who had messaged Emily. Talia. Tall, tan, talented in every way that Hanna Marin is not. How could she have been foolish enough to think she'd held Emily's interest for even a second? She'd lost the game before she knew it had begun – she never had a chance.
That night, as the result of two hours of sobbing that prompt her mother to make a distress call, Caleb tucks her in and promises that everything will turn out alright. She nods and smiles and tries not to look too guilty when he kisses her forehead and turns out the light. In the darkness, she contemplates the gentlest way to break a boy's heart.