Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars (if I did I would bring it back before June!), Emily, Hanna, Aria, or Spencer, or anything else of any concern.
So this is just a total friendship story about the girls. It's set like after "That Night" in "It Happened That Night." I think the place will make sense, but if the story is untrue to it I'm so sorry because I haven't seen the entire episode and don't know everything about it.
Anyway, here it is!
The bell jingled as Emily Fields walked into The Brew, blowing warm air into the pleasantly cool coffee shop.
"Em!" Emily was startled as Hanna jumped up from a seat at the counter. "What are you doing here?"
Emily shrugged, slightly suspicious. "Nothing," she said flatly. "I mean, I'm just getting some coffee. What are you doing?"
Hanna smiled in a way that made Emily nervous. "Nothing, either. I'm just getting coffee, too. I love coffee. You want to sit down?"
After the events of the past few days, Emily was done with questioning people. The police, herself, the world: it didn't seem to matter who it was that she questioned, or if it happened in the real world or her head, she always came out of it weary and sad. So, instead of asking Hanna what was up, she just shrugged again and sat down.
"Everything okay?" Hanna sat back down next to Emily and picked up the cup of coffee she was drinking. "Where did you come from?"
"Um, swimming," Emily said absently. "I asked the coach if I could leave early."
Hanna raised her eyebrows. "Why did you leave early? You love swimming."
Emily rolled her eyes. "Of course I do," she snapped, though not exactly angrily. "I just wasn't feeling it today."
"Does your coach say that's okay?" Hanna didn't exactly seem suspicious, just conversational. And she was Hanna-she always asked things like this.
"I say it's okay," Emily said disagreeably, putting an emphasis on the "I" part. "I know what I need. Anyway, what are you doing? Spencer said you were going to see Dr. Sullivan. Why?"
Hanna looked extremely uncomfortable. She brushed back her hair and bit her lip. "I left early."
Emily didn't care how weary she was of questioning people anymore. From the look on Hanna's face, she was lying. Mrs. Marin wasn't the only one who could tell when Hanna was lying. It was really quite easy. Emily smiled inwardly at her newfound power, though there was nothing to smile about. Then, she summoned herself up in her most intimidating fashion and said, "Why did you go to Dr. Sullivan? You weren't telling her about that night, were you?"
"No!" Hanna seemed shocked. And she was being honest-Emily could tell.
"Did you even go to Dr. Sullivan?"
Hanna's face was a strange mixture of panic, exasperation, and amusement. "Em, what are you doing? If I'd known you could talk like this, I'd never have paid Dr. Sullivan. You sound good enough to be a shrink. "
Emily did her best to regain her firm composure and not laugh. "Well? Did you?"
Hanna took a deep breath. Then she looked at Emily and shook her head. "No, okay, Em? But you have to promise that you won't tell anyone. And I can't tell you where I did go. PLEASE trust me."
There was a silence. Emily pictured Maya. She knew Maya would have trusted Hanna. Not that Maya and Hanna were friends, but it was easy to picture Maya in that situation. She thought about when she'd told on Maya. She hasn't liked it. She wasn't going to do it now, to Hanna. It wouldn't be right.
"Fine." Emily blinked up at Hanna and shrugged. "But do you promise it's okay?"
Hanna smiled and hugged Emily. "It's all good, Em. I promise."
Emily started to answer, but was suddenly startled by Aria and Spencer. "Hey!" Aria exclaimed. She laughed. Emily couldn't help but giggle too, even though she wasn't particularly happy and didn't know what Aria was laughing at.
"How was Dr. Sullivan?" Spencer asked. She looked plainly curious. "I mean, I guess the shrink is not exactly what you talk about at a shrink."
"She was fine," Hanna said so firmly that Spencer and Aria looked surprised. Emily just smiled. She hated secrets of any kind, especially from her best friends. But she wasn't about to get involved in whatever Hanna was doing. And she did trust Hanna.
"Perk up, Em," Aria said, patting Emily on the shoulder. "How was swim?"
Emily nodded half-heartedly. Then she stopped. "Great," she said, a sudden realisation coming over her that it WAS actually great. She loved to swim, after all. "It was great. Look, I'm fine. Lets just get some coffee and talk."
Hanna laughed. Spencer and Aria joined in. Emily shook her head, but her eyes shined. They were her friends, maybe they understood just a little more then she thought.
Did you like it? I hope so!
I was thinking about doing a collection of four stories with one for each girl (like this was for Em), but I'm not sure. If I do, I'll probably do Hanna next because those two are my favourites. Anyway, I didn't love this as much as I'd hoped and almost didn't publish it, so I'm sorry if you didn't like it as well!
Linley =)