I'm normally a Paily shipper, but I am currently unimpressed with the storylines concerning Emily's love life. So, I have decided to introduce a character into her life that is willing to treat her right. For the record, parts of this character are based off of me, but she is more just a construction of who I think would be a great match for Emily. Also, I realize that my timeline is slightly in the future, but just stick with it. This story is purely experimental but I will continue it for as long as I possibly can. I hope you enjoy this journey with me.
Orange leaves swirled around her as a column of air sent gusts of fragmented pieces high into the trees. It was early fall and the leaves had just begun to drop from their place on the branches above them leaving tempting piles all over the gravel path. Emily kicked through them and reveled in the satisfying crunch emanating beneath her white, Puma sneakers. After the scandal surrounding Ian Thomas's death and the disappearance of his body has settled down, the summer had been mildly uneventful for the swimmer and her three best friends. Initially 'A' had made the occasional threatening remark, but for the most part, he or she was on a, hopefully permanent, hiatus. After a disappointing outcome with Paige McCullers, and an unfortunate realization about Samara, Emily Fields had vowed to abstain from any new relationship for the summer months. Initially, this vow was threatened by Maya's inevitable return, but her ex-girlfriend's lackluster interest in their relationship eventually took its toll. Emily had sworn off girls (and boys—but that was a given) for as long as should possibly could. However, her caring, albeit occasionally nosy, friends were beginning to worry about her emotional state.
"Ooo, she's cute." Hanna Marin was the worst of them all. The blond had made Emily her personal project for the fall and it had resulted in numerous "girl hunts" as she referred to them. On this particular Saturday the four of them were gracing a park bench inconspicuously searching for Emily's next potential love interest.
"Too hippy chic," the words casually rolled across the brunette's rose-tinted lips as she flipped her long hair off of her shoulder.
All three of Emily's friends sighed in unison at her blatant disinterest as the typically quiet Aria finally voiced her concern.
"Em, I know that Hanna's suggestions can sometimes be a bit—bizarre—but if you reject every girl in the world, you're going to spend the rest of your life alone." The swimmer dropped her head and wrapped her jacket tighter around her toned arms.
"C'mon, guys…" She glanced at Spencer for some support but her look of concern only mirrored the others. "It's not like I'm never going to date again. I'm just… taking a break right now."
Hanna couldn't hide the smirk that tugged at the edge of her strawberry-glossed lips. She nudged her friend and countered, "Emily Fields, you're the hottest girl in the school. There are girls and guys just lining up and down the hallway waiting to be graced by your presence. Do you really think it's fair that you're holding out?"
"Yeah, who knew you were such a tease, Em," Spencer added with a playful wink.
"Fine! I'll go on a date… but I'm picking the girl!" Hanna offered her a semi-satisfied look of approval. "So, can we please stop wasting our Saturday afternoons doing this?" She threw out her hands emphasizing disdain for their current use of the park's running path.
"I could really use some coffee," Aria offered. "So, shall we?" The girls rose off of the bench and gathered their bags.
"Good thinking Aria. I mean honestly, have you seen how hot those coffee shop girls are—?"
"Hanna!" Emily's mocked frustration did little to hide her agreement, and the slight blush infiltrating her cheeks brought a giggle to Spencer, Hanna, and Aria's lips.
It was an unusually peaceful Monday morning for Emily Fields. Finding a date at the coffee shop on Saturday had been a bust, but her friends had still been thankful for the effort… even if it was half-assed. After much pressure from the other girls, Emily assured them that she would find herself a date by the end of the week or risk having Spencer set her up on one. The threat was more than enough to make the swimmer at least try.
Despite her one awkward run-in with Paige, swim practice that morning had been a pleasant start to her week. In addition to that, she had just remembered that her AP English class today was being used as a forum for an admissions counselor from Hollis. A slow smile spread across Emily's lips at the prospect of a free period to concentrate on the homework she had neglected over the weekend.
She casually met up with Hanna outside of the classroom praying that the blond had forgotten about her promise to find herself a date. However, Hanna's smirk was enough to eliminate her hopes.
"Good morning, hot stuff," the blond sing-songed as she threw an arm around the frowning girl. "Plan any hot dates yet?" Emily gently elbowed her friend and shook her head.
"Calm your horses, Hanna. I still have until the end of the week." Emily's look was casually, but her voice informed Hanna that the subject should be dropped. Hanna responded with a mock-pouty face as she shoved Emily through the door to their class. Despite her athletic inclinations, Emily Fields has surprisingly poor balance. Her friend's playful shove was just enough to send her tripping over her feet right into a tall brunette standing at the front of the class. Just as the swimmer was preparing herself for a monumental face plant, she felt two confident hands grab around her waist. Hanna could barely hold the laughter in as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. Emily was half collapsed in the mystery girl's arms with her head hovering dangerous close to her rescuer's low cut v-neck opening.
"It says Riley." Emily glanced up with a questioning look. "My name tag… it seems like you're having trouble reading it. It says Riley." Honestly, she was expecting a smug look from the girl, but when she stared into her face, she was met with soft eyes and a gentle smirk.
Emily was pulled away from the pair of blue eyes by a giggle at the classroom door. Aria and Spencer had arrived just in time to also witness her embarrassing trip, and now, half of the people in the room, including her teacher and the Hollis admissions counselor, were staring at the still entwined pair. Emily let out a soft "Oh" and stood to regain her composure. As the four girls moved to take their seats (Emily and Aria in the front row with Spencer and Hanna directly behind them) the conversations in the class resumed as they washed away all remnants of the previous event. Yet, as Emily looked up from her desk to find those beautiful blue eyes on her again, she couldn't help the grin that pulled at her pink lips.
"Hey Em." Spencer was poking her shoulder from her seat behind. "Do you want to go out on a date?" Emily was glad her friend couldn't see the look of exhaustion on her face.
"Nice job, Emily!" Hanna leaned over and slapped the swimmer's toned arm. "Turning Spencer gay too, huh?" Emily turned around in time to see a blush rise up Spencer's neck.
"No, Hanna, not with me… with this girl at the country club." Spencer said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Turning back to Emily she continued, "There's this tennis player at the club… and, since you're a swimmer, you're into athletes right? So I was telling her about you, and she asked me to give you her number."
Before Emily could respond, their English teacher walked to the front and demanded their attention.
"Alright everyone. Today we have a very special treat. An admissions counselor from Hollis is here with one of her students to talk to you about college admissions. Please be the wonderful students that I know you all are and give them your full attention."
She felt Aria's breathing close to her ear as she leaned over and whispered, "I think someone else might be looking for a date with you too…" The artsy girl casual glanced over to Riley leaning against a desk flipping through a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. She allowed herself the moment to take in the other girl's appearance. She was on the tall side, 5'7" maybe, and very slim, lanky…almost. She sported brunette hair with just a tinge of red in it. But it wasn't at all like Paige's hair, rather it had more of a soft orange tint to it. Emily watched as Riley set down the book and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail in the back. A few strands of her long side-swept bangs fell out and across her face. She was dressed in plain blue, skinny jeans, but not the skin-tight kind, the kind that just sort of followed the shape of her toned legs. At the bottom of her cuffed jeans, Emily found a dirty pair of white Keds, colored with a few marks of purple and red Sharpie. She smiled at the memories that the shoes seemed to carry. On top she wore a simple navy blue v-neck with a long whale-tail necklace falling softly across her chest. As Emily's eyes made their way higher, she was met with a familiar comforting feeling emanating from a pair of soft blue eyes. However, that comfort quickly turned to fear when she realized that Riley was staring right back at her. She had been caught. Emily whipped her eyes back to the front of the class but couldn't shake her hopeless feeling of having no idea what the Hollis counselor was talking about.
"…So now, I want to introduce you to one of the students who works in my office. Riley is a sophomore at Hollis who graduated from Rosewood two years ago. She's going to talk to you about scholarships."
Emily couldn't believe how quickly the other girl had recovered from their "moment" as she confidently walked to the front and began her speech.
"I'm here to talk to you guys about money." Her excitement brought a few "whoops" from the class. "And I'm here to talk to you about how ridiculously expensive college is…" Emily smirked at the moans that filled the classroom, and she was consumed by the charisma pouring out of Riley's every pore.
"But don't worry… Colleges are just begging to give you money!" More hoots and hollers filled the room as the class was on the verge of losing control.
"Alright, alright, calm down." Her smile was simply infectious. "On a more serious note. I want to talk to you all about scholarship money. I'm in the music production program at Hollis, and surprisingly, there is such a thing as a music scholarship. As I'm sure most of you are aware, you can also receive academic and athletic scholarships, amongst many others, and every year, thousands of dollars in scholarship money goes untouched. So, it's extremely important to pursue every opportunity possible."
Emily glanced down at her desk debating how to take advantage of this current opportunity. She quickly shook away her hopeful thoughts.
"So how many of you in here are athletes?" The room was still. "Emily, right?" She pointed to blushing girl in the front row. "You're a swimmer?" Emily nodded as Riley continued, addressing the class, "More and more schools around Pennsylvania are adding swimming and diving teams. So, thousands of dollars in scholarships are just waiting to be tapped."
The swimmer could almost feel her friend grinning into the back of her head. Waiting for Emily to turn around, Hanna caught her eye and mouthed, "FLIRT-ING."
The brunette's eyes quickly whipped around to find a smirk on Riley's face.
As the English teacher took back over and ended the presentation, Riley leaned against Emily's desk and whispered, "Oh, and tennis is stupid." She winked at the grinning brunette and walked over to gather her jacket and bag.
Spencer jabbed Emily's shoulder from behind and hissed, "What the hell was that?"
"Don't worry, Spence," Aria chimed in, "I don't think she meant that tennis is stupid. I think she was implying that tennis girl is stupid." Spencer settled back into her seat with surprising contentment with the explanation.
"Well, if tennis girl is a no-go, then you better ask my-name-tag-says-Riley out." Hanna's smirk frightened Emily enough to illicit a slight whimper from her.
"I can't ask out a college—"
"Hell yes, you can!" Hanna's assertiveness shocked the group. "You can, Emily Fields, and you will."