"Please don't get any stains on my carpet! Or the couch! And Hanna for God's sake please use a napkin!" Spencer belted out from across of her new and improved barn, now turned into a mini apartment. Her brown eyes were almost popping out of her head. Aria handed Hanna a napkin and Hanna chewed on her pizza, "calm down, Spence!"

Spencer sighed, "mouth closed, Hanna. Chew with your mouth closed so food won't fly out of your mouth and hit my couch!" Alison laughed at Spencer's high stress levels, "chill. No one is going to mess up anything."

Spencer sat down in her sofa chair, "I'm going to have an anxiety attack before the night is over." Hanna took another bite of her pizza, this time chewing and swallowing the piece, "this was your idea!"

Emily took a bite of a piece of brownie that Aria had made, "relax, Spence. We can always go to the main house and eat if you want." The girls heard something twist and pop and looked over to see Hanna washing down a slice of pizza with a Mike's Hard Lemonade.

"We can't do this in the main house," Hanna grinned with her pink lips wet lips from the alcohol bottle. Alison shot Hanna an approving smile, "hand me one." Spencer eyed the two blondes, "you guys better not—,"

"Spill it. We know," Alison cut. Spencer slipped a tiring sigh and stuck her hand out towards Hanna, "just hand me one too. I need a drink, or twelve to get through this night." Hanna smiled and passed Spencer, Aria, and Emily a bottle and waited for each girl to open their drinks, "let's make a toast!"

The five girls leaned forward over Spencer's coffee table and touched the tip of their glassy bottles together. Alison cleared her throat, pretending like she was going to make a big announcement, "congratulations to you, Spence, for moving into this beautiful barn and turning it into a dream room. And also for every other achievement in your life because you have way too many to name especially at the age of sixteen."

The girls all giggled and Alison continued, "and cheers to all of us for having an amazing summer this year and hopefully finishing it out even better than it started!" The girls clicked their glasses together and all took a big sip from their bottles.

Alison leaned back into Spencer's couch and took another swig of her bottle. The blonde's eyes moved to the other side of the couch to lay upon Emily, who just finished taking a sip out of her bottle. Alison's mouth couldn't help but to turn in the corners, creating a smile. Emily was so innocent and sometimes it was just plain adorable.

"Want some water, Em? Or maybe a juice instead?" Alison chuckled, speaking only soft enough to where she and Emily could hear. It didn't matter though because Aria, Hanna, and Spencer were too busy in a conversation about how sad they were that summer was coming to a end soon.

Emily cracked a half smile at Alison, "no, I'm okay. Mike's are just so sweet."

"That's why I thought you'd like it. You're sweet, it's sweet, I thought it would be a good match," Alison replied, winking at the brunette.

Emily felt her cheeks flush red. As much as Emily wanted to reply, she was suddenly at a loss of words and all she could manage to do was return a smile to Alison and take another sip of her drink.

Alison took a last swig of her drink and put down the empty bottle. She started to ask Hanna to pass her another drink, but Alison could feel Emily's eyes still on her, and a thought came to her. Alison slowly stood up and bent over the coffee table, sketching out her legs and standing on her toes.

Alison's pink tank top rose a bit, exposing the abs on her midriff. Emily's mouth parted open and her chocolate brown eyes stayed burning on Alison's body. Emily could see the muscles in Alison's thigh and calf and she could even see the dent in her stomach muscles clenching as she reached across of the table. The blonde's jean shorts were a bit too short, rising slightly up causing Emily to see as high up on Alison's hamstring as she could, just before the skin connected to her butt.

Alison made sure she took her precious time grabbing another Mike's Hard Lemonade from beside of Hanna and slowly sat back down on the couch. Alison opened the bottle and placed the cap on the coffee table, "I just love these things," she said after taking her first sip from the glass bottle and licking her bottom lip of any alcohol drops on her lips. Alison's voice was low and husky, and it sent chills down Emily's spine.

Emily opened her mouth to respond but her phone started buzzing in her pocket, taking her attention away from her conversation with Alison. Emily unlocked her phone and pressed it against her ear.

"Hello?

Hey, Paige."

Alison felt like her mood instantly turned sour. Why was Pigskin calling Emily right now? Didn't Paige know that Emily was going to be hanging out with her friends tonight?

The now frustrated blonde took a big gulp from her drink, keeping her icy blue eyes shooting daggers into Emily's soft brown one's.

"No, it's okay. We're just sitting around all drinking.

Yes, she's here.

No, Paige, stop it.

It's okay, I miss you, too.

I know, I'll make it up to you soon. I miss you a lot, too.

Okay, goodnight."

Emily hung up her phone and placed it on the table in front of her. Emily knew that Alison was looking at her. The brunette could almost feel blue eyes being glued and burning onto her skin. Emily turned to face Alison, "it was Paige."

Alison nodded and sarcastically replied, "yeah, got that part, thanks." Emily looked down from Alison's eyes, "I know you don't really like her but—,"

"I can't stand her," Alison cut off.

Emily brought her puppy-like eyes back up to meet Alison's once again, "Ali, this has to stop." Alison snarled but kept her voice low, "why are you pinning this all on me? She obviously doesn't like me either." Emily once again broke her eye contact from Alison and tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear.

"She asked about me, didn't she?" Alison questioned. Emily faced Alison, "what?"

"Paige. You said 'she's here'. That was about me, wasn't it?" Alison questioned, but already knew the answer. "Yes," Emily replied quietly.

Alison rolled her eyes, "of course she did. She has a problem with me too but I'm the only one catching the heat from you?"

"Alison, she's my girlfriend. I've told her the same thing I've told you, I care about you both and I hate seeing two people I really care about feud like this," Emily replied.

Alison stood up from the couch, flipping her blonde curls over her shoulders, "whatever." Hearing Emily call Paige her girlfriend made Alison's stomach turn. Emily watched as Alison grabbed another drink from Spencer's mini-fridge and chug down her second one so she could open the third one.

"Whoa, Ali, slow down. There's no rush tonight," Spencer stated, noting Alison downing her second drink in only a matter of seconds. When Alison finished off the beverage, she put the empty glass bottle in the trashcan and popped open the third one, "I'm going outside."

Spencer stood up softly grabbed Alison's arm, "no, you can't. My parents might see you drinking outside." Alison pressed her lips together, "Spencer, I'm not going to get caught. You know me better than that."

Alison tugged her arm free from Spencer's hold and walked to the door, stepping outside and shutting the door.

#######

"It's been fifteen minutes, should we go check on Ali?" Aria asked, sitting on the couch across of the table with Hanna. Emily perked her head up hearing Alison's name. She had been texting Paige for the past few minutes. Paige was getting worked up and upset that Alison was here and with every minute that went by that she was arguing with Paige, she kept drinking and drinking.

"I'll go get her," Emily said, standing up from the couch and slipping her phone in her back pocket. Emily had only finished one drink. The brunette wasn't much of a drinker. Not because she didn't like it, but because she was trying to stay in tip-top shape to keep winning titles in swimming.

Emily had a handful of division one schools like Maryland, UCLA, North Carolina, and Oklahoma offering her scholarships, but she wanted to make sure to pick the perfect college before she committed to anyone. And junior year was the year to start selecting top choices.

Emily opened Spencer's front door and shut it behind of her, looking for Alison. "Ali?" Emily whispered, her eyes scanning Spencer's yard for a blonde.

"What?"

Emily could hear Alison's voice, but not see her, "where are you?"

"Why does it matter? I'm not Paige," Alison replied. Emily could hear a slight slur in Alison's voice. Great, she's tipsy.

When Alison was tipsy she was either one of two things; completely adorable and funny or piss rude and she could act like a straight up bitch. And Emily knew which one she was about it get.

"Alison, where are you?" Emily called out, her voice a bit annoyed. Emily saw a ladder drop down from a tree and her eyes followed up to the top of the ladder. Of course Alison was in Spencer's tree house. A perfect place for a girl who's been drinking to climb without any safety concerns at all.

Emily walked to the tree and climbed up the ladder, pulling herself through the hole as she entered the tree house. "Pull the ladder up," Alison said, "I don't want to be bothered."

Emily rolled the ladder up to the tree house so no one could come up. The brunette brought her eyes to Alison's, "why are you up here?"

Emily could only barely see Alison's expressions because of the moonlight shinning through the window of the tree house. Alison cut her eyes to Emily, "didn't I just say that I didn't want to be bothered?"

Emily sat beside of Alison on the blankets and pillows on the wooden floor, "you let me up here." Alison's eyes softened, "you don't count." Emily's eyes ran over Alison's body, starting from her bare legs to the top of her head. Alison really was beautiful. There was no doubt in that. It was almost unreal and even a bit unfair how flawless she was.

"Ali, what's wrong?" Emily finally spoke. "Nothing," Alison quickly replied. Emily titled her head and put her soft hand on Alison's thigh. Typically touching Alison would make Emily nervous, but she could see that the blonde really had something bothering her. Something was just off with her.

Alison's body jumped a little when Emily touched her and Emily pulled her hand back, "I'm sorry, I-I, I didn't mean to—,"

Alison brought Emily's hand back to her thigh, "it's okay, Em. It just took me by surprise." Emily took a breath and allowed her fingers to relax once again on Alison's smooth skin.

Something in Emily felt excited, even aroused. When Emily started to calm she asked the same question again, "what's wrong, Ali?"

Alison shook her head, "it wouldn't make a difference even if I told you, Emily."

Emily could hear an almost saddened tone in Alison's voice.

"It might," Emily said. The brunette instantly felt guilt for her meaning of the words. In the back of Emily's head she was hoping that Alison would say something that would make things different between the two. That would make things very different.

Alison titled her head and looked into Emily's dark eyes. Emily felt her heart race, but somehow time felt as if it stopped. Emily was so close to Alison's face that she could smell the Mike's Hard on her breath. Emily could see different shades of blue shining in Alison's eyes from the moonlight. Emily could even see Alison's sun freckles that only noticeably danced on her skin in the summer.

The moment felt heated and it felt so right to Emily. The brunette watched as Alison started to lean in closer to Emily. Emily naturally closed her eyes as she felt Alison's breath on her lips.

Emily jumped back when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Alison pulled herself away from Emily and sat up straight, tossing her hair over her shoulders. Emily pulled her phone out of her back pocket and looked down at her screen to see that it was Paige calling her.

A stronger wave of guilt rushed over Emily's body at what she was about to do. Emily stood up, "I've-I've got to go." Alison stood up, "Emily?!" Emily ignored Paige's phone call and slipped the phone back in her back pocket, "we should go back to Spencer's barn."

Emily wouldn't even bring her eyes back up to meet Alison's. She couldn't. Looking into Alison's eyes right now would have been almost too much to handle. Emily was flustered and full of remorse and shame.

Alison stood up now, her sight focused on Emily, "is this really what you want?" Emily knew that Alison's question meant more than just about going back to Spencer's barn. Emily's mind was clouded. She knew what she wanted to do, but it just wasn't right.

"Emily, answer me," Alison stated. Emily brought her eyes up to Alison's, her voice shaky and uneven, "I can't do this right now." Alison reached down and tossed the ladder back down the tree. The blonde lowered herself to the ladder and started climbing down, but before her head went out of the tree house she looked back up to Emily, "you chose this. Remember that."