A/N: Uploading two chapters today. Don't worry, I'm still writing. I started a job recently so I've been figuring out my new schedule, which has been cool but very tiring. Anyway I hope y'all enjoy. This is sort of a bonus chapter not entirely advancing the plot, but I wanted to write fluff :p That's why I'm uploading the next one too. Review if you'd like! I love reading them.
An impressive amount of wedding cake samples filled the tables set up in the middle of the small bakery. Along with Alison, Emily walked along the tables row by row, listening to the host's suggestions and tasting every cake flavor from vanilla sponge to mousse-filled chocolate mint and coconut.
Emily grabbed a bite-sized piece of an apple cinnamon cake with her fork and savored the taste. Delectable. All the samples were incredible and the smell of the whole room was so sweet it made her want to try baking as a hobby again, even if it hadn't worked out so well in the past.
Her eyes flitted over to Alison.
They'd both dressed nice for the occasion, planning on turning the evening into a date night. She couldn't help but admire how beautiful Alison looked as she tasted a bit of frosting on the tip of her fork. With a pensive look, she looked for the host to share her thoughts, long blonde curls swaying around her as she turned.
When they walked in for the cake tasting session, they intentionally left out the fact that their wedding was taking place in Pennsylvania thirteen hours away just in case that information would make the host less inclined to help them. There was no shot of them leaving with a cake ordered by the end of the evening, but it was still an opportunity to figure out what flavors they liked and have some much-needed fun.
"What's your favorite?" Alison asked Emily as they walked down another row of samples.
Emily tried another piece of cake, a standard almond flavor. "I like the taste of the buttercream icing more than fondant," she decided.
"Me too," Alison said, "but I'm not opposed to using a little fondant on the side for decoration. I can't decide on the cake type."
"They're all so good," Emily agreed. "I'm leaning toward the vanilla flavors, maybe with a raspberry filling?"
"Ladies, have you made a decision?" the host asked as she walked over.
"We're going to need some more time to think about it," Alison told her, "Our wedding is still a while away, but we'll definitely let you know if we need anything else."
Emily thanked the woman and left the shop with Alison, hand in hand. "That was fun. I say we do it again in Rosewood," she said with a smile. "So where should we go now?"
Alison considered the question before saying, "You can choose."
Even after exploring the area, Emily wasn't familiar with everything the city had to offer, so she started thinking of places she knew had to be hidden somewhere within its winding streets. "Well, we can go to the theatre, a bar, maybe to the mall." She made a face at her last suggestion because shopping wasn't her idea of a perfect night, but Alison might enjoy it. "Too bad there's not a kissing rock here. There's no beating our first official date."
Ali thought about that. "Maybe there is another kissing rock out there and we just need to find it."
Emily laughed and then, seeing Alison's serious expression, said, "Wait, seriously? Are you suggesting we go hike and look for a big rock?"
Instead of answering the question, Alison held out her hand. "Give me the keys. I'm gonna drive."
"Tell me what we're doing first."
"You're just going to have to trust me," Ali told her.
"Fine. I trust you, but I'm still a little scared," Emily joked as she relented and handed over the keys.
Hopping into the passenger side, Emily shut the door behind her as Alison started the car. In the midst of wondering what Alison's plans were and how late they might be out tonight, her thoughts jumped to her two friends turned babysitters for the evening. "You think Spencer's going to be okay?" Emily asked.
"Believe me, I hate the idea of the Drakes being in the same country where we're taking our honeymoon," Alison said, "but if they're locked up somewhere overseas, it'll at least prevent Spencer from visiting them. Anyway, she promised us she'd be fine, for tonight at least."
Emily nodded and watched out the window as the car turned down a street they'd passed on the way to the bakery. It was a scenic area filled with a variety of little shops. Alison abruptly parallel parked the car in front of one of the stores, startling the brunette.
"Okay, help me out here. I'm lost," Emily told her.
"I thought our first official date was unforgettable," Ali said with a faux pout as she turned the engine off. "I put a lot of effort into that, you know, dragging boxes of stuff out into the woods while I was pregnant."
Oh. Emily looked back at the store, finally noticing the home décor sign, and suddenly it made sense.
"You weren't kidding about recreating it," Emily said in realization.
She tried to hide the smile that was creeping up on her face, suddenly feeling excited because she remembered every tiny detail of their kissing rock date, from the scent of the candles to the way the ground felt under them through two layers of blankets and how she'd seen a new side of Alison that night. She recalled the faint red blush splashed across Ali's cheeks and how she was suddenly giggly, nervous, yet still all too eager to prove her love and show her girlfriend just how much she meant to her.
Emily thought even further back; way, way back to before Alison went missing and the kissing rock was just a dusty old rock that supposedly attracted ghosts.
"What about our first unofficial date at the kissing rock? Do you remember that?" Emily asked out of curiosity.
Ali opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. There was something satisfying about catching Alison DiLaurentis off guard. "How could I forget?" she finally said.
"You put a lot of effort into that, too," Emily teased her. The day was so different in hindsight; now she could see how intentional it all was, even if Ali never would've admitted it at the time.
Ali laughed a little, but the blush creeping across her face didn't go unnoticed by Emily. "God, who was I kidding?" she asked as they walked into the store.
Fifteen-year-old Alison stretched across Emily's bed one Sunday afternoon, making every effort to draw attention to how bored she was. Emily, on the other hand, was perfectly content to spend time with her without the other girls. Ali had appeared on her doorstep nearly 24 hours ago, seeking refuge from whatever fighting was currently going on in the DiLaurentis household.
If she was affected by it, she didn't let it show. Emily wanted to distract her anyway, just in case.
"We can go out by the lake," Emily suggested. "Lounge around, maybe swim. That would be fun."
Alison stared at the ceiling, lips pursed in thought. Suddenly, she rolled over until she was facing Emily. "I have a better idea. Let's have a scavenger hunt."
"A scavenger hunt?" Emily asked skeptically. It didn't sound like a queen bee's idea of fun. Unless the items on the list were juicier, riskier than what you'd search for at a child's birthday party. Emily bit her lip. "What are we searching for?"
"Anything interesting," Ali answered. She grabbed Emily's schoolbag and carelessly dumped her textbooks out onto the bed so it was empty. "Here, you're gonna need this."
"I thought you were going to say we're hunting for secrets," Emily admitted as she pulled the bag over her shoulders.
"Now that would be a good time," Ali said, "but we'll have to settle for something more your speed." The words hit Emily like a jab, and she felt insulted even as Ali gently took her hand and guided her out the door.
...
The scavenger hunt was all too normal by Alison's standards, which was what made it seem so atypical to Emily. Ali made up the list as they went along, stopping by the mall and some convenience stores to collect apples, a beach towel, a can of spray paint, lip gloss, and a long scarf, even though it was nearing summer.
They reached the lakefront in the late evening when the first golden rays of sunset were just beginning to light up the horizon, and Ali declared they were almost to their last stop.
"What are we searching for here?" Emily asked as she balanced herself on a log washed up on the shore. The day was going great and she was more than happy to spend the rest of it looking for any item the other girl had in mind, though there was still a prickly feeling of nervousness over her skin when she remembered how Ali acted at the lakefront the weekend before. Their friends were there, just barely out of earshot, when she asked Emily who she wanted to take to the kissing rock, already knowing the answer. That was part of being close to Ali; it was always a mix of excitement and gratitude and anxiety.
"I haven't decided. Do you have any ideas?" Ali asked. Emily looked back at her and watched as she stood at the edge of the water line so her feet were just barely dipping in. She looked so different than she did at school, with less makeup and a more relaxed stance. Softer, younger, more innocent. Looks can be deceiving, Emily reminded herself.
Ali looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer, snapping Emily out of her daze. "Oh, um…maybe a nice shell?"
Alison pulled a face like that was the wrong answer.
The front of the home goods store was filled with elaborate displays of lamps, vases, and spring décor. Alison grabbed a cart as Emily walked over to the candle aisle.
"You're insane, you know that?" Emily told her fiancée while the blonde picked several candles at random from the special sale shelf.
"And you're the one going along with it," Alison replied.
Down the next aisle, they picked out two large, feather-soft blankets. Two rows down, they added a cute picnic basket to the cart, and Emily mentally noted they'd have to pick up snacks elsewhere.
Two stops later and Emily and Alison were back in the car, driving down the highway that separated the city from the secluded backroads leading to their house.
Emily watched as the sky inched closer to dusk and suddenly the idea of running off to a secluded area seemed less enticing. "As much as I love this tradition, maybe we should've planned the picnic for earlier," she said, hoping her words wouldn't offend Ali. "We hardly know our way around this area in broad daylight, and it's getting dark soon."
"I'm way ahead of you," Alison said as she turned on the blinker and turned onto another street. "Getting lost in the wilderness with a possible murderer on the loose isn't my idea of a perfect night, either."
"We're going to a hotel?" Emily asked. She craned her neck to see the tall buildings in the distance, lights from individual rooms glowing against the darkening cloudy sky. "What were the blankets and decorations for if we already have a perfectly good comforter?"
"To set the scene," Ali said, and Emily rolled her eyes in amusement. "I had to make it at least somewhat authentic to our first date."
"Like I said before, you're insane." Emily paused, then added, more to herself than the woman beside her, "I'm going to catch you off guard with a surprise one of these days."
"We'll see about that," Alison said with a hum. She started turning into a parking lot as Emily noticed another hotel directly across the street with tall glass windows overlooking the dense forest.
"If you want it to be authentic, that's our place," Emily said.
After a lot of contemplation, Emily decided she and Ali should hunt for lost items forgotten by the beach area. After finding only a couple of pennies, they gave up, spread a beach towel over the sand and snacked on apples they'd picked up earlier. Ali rested her head on Emily's lap and looked at the sky, deep in thought. The area was empty. Emily was grateful they were alone.
"What are you thinking?" she asked Alison. Feeling particularly brave, she reached out and ran her fingers through the other girl's hair. She braced for the backlash, half expecting a biting comment, but instead, Ali relaxed into the touch and closed her eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, she looked at Emily like she was trying to solve a particularly difficult problem. "I thought there was somewhere else you would've wanted to go," she said.
Before Emily could respond, she asked, "Do you trust me?"
The question felt loaded. Emily knew most people would -and should- answer no, but for her, it was always the opposite. "Yes."
"Well," Alison said, sitting up, "I guess we're doing this." She reached into the backpack Emily had set off to the side and pulled out the long scarf. She tied it around Emily's head like a blindfold before the swimmer could register what was happening.
Emily felt goosebumps on her skin even though the air was quite warm. "What are you doing?" Her heart thumped as she reached for the blindfold to pull it off.
"Stop," Ali told her, pulling her hand back down. Then, more gently, "Relax, Em. It'll be worth it. Come on, let me help you."
Though she was still shaken, Emily took Ali's hand and allowed herself to guided forward. Once she felt the sand under her feet give way to dirt and twigs, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she knew exactly where they were headed.
Alison finally guided her to sit down, and Emily knew where she was before she even touched the cold, hard surface of the kissing rock, despite the fact she'd never visited it before. "You can take your blindfold off now," Ali said.
Adrenaline was rushing through Emily's veins, and she didn't know if it was excitement or a fight or flight response urging her to run. Mostly, she felt like she might throw up the knots in her stomach at any given moment. Yet she somehow managed to remove the blindfold. She already knew Ali would be sitting across from her, but it was still jarring to see her knowing this was real life and not one of the dreams she had more often than she cared to admit.
"Okay, why do you look terrified?" Ali asked as if she couldn't guess the reason.
"Is this supposed to be a joke?" Emily asked, surprising even herself when the words came out defensive instead of timid.
"It's not a joke," Ali said. Her voice was calm and level. Serious.
Emily didn't know what to believe. Her head was spinning and the fight or flight response was still pushing against her insides, urging her to flee. She slowly started backing away from the other girl as Ali sighed.
"Don't you get it, Emily? I'm doing this for you. This is what you wanted." The coolness of her tone was gone, replaced by agitation.
"But it's not what you want," Emily told her. Alison didn't have a response for that. A fleeting look of uncertainty brushed over her, like she was only just realizing the depth of Emily's apprehension.
She stood up and brushed the dust off her legs, now looking anywhere but at Emily. For a second, Emily expected Ali to deliver some harsh parting words and leave her there alone, but she ended up sitting on the ground, knees against her chest and back against the rock so she was facing away from her friend.
Emily sat in stunned silence, hardly breathing as she waited to see if Alison would move. The thought of Alison being upset with her was awful enough, but after she heard the quietest muffled sniffle, so soft she might have imagined it, she was overwhelmed with the urge to fix the situation. "Ali, look, I'm sorry. Is everything okay?" she asked, sliding over to sit on the ground next to her.
"I'm fine," she said, shifting her expression back to its composed default, "as long as you never mention this again. Seriously. If people find out, they're going to make assumptions that obviously aren't true."
"I was never going to tell anyone. It's my secret more than yours. I just…I don't know what you expect from me." The brunette looked down, fighting back emotions that threatened to bubble to the surface. She'd never come this close to admitting her feelings out loud. It was hard to acknowledge it when she still felt ashamed every time she accidentally stared at a girl for too long or caught herself thinking of Ali as more than a friend.
Ali considered that. "I didn't mean to upset you," she said finally. Emily supposed that was the closest thing to an apology she'd ever heard from Alison. Quietly, she added, "Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking."
Emily squeezed her hand supportively, knowing Alison struggled with being open. At most, Emily only saw pieces and glimpses of her true thoughts. Maybe she was the only person allowed to see them.
When Ali turned to look at Emily, she looked exhausted and maybe even a little regretful that she didn't have the words to explain herself better. But her blue eyes looked more open and honest than Emily had ever seen them. And something felt different about this look. It was long; heavy. The kind of look that's supposed to lead to something.
She caught Ali's eyes drifting to her lips.
Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach and without thinking, she leaned over and kissed Alison for the first time.
Ali tasted like the lip gloss they'd picked up earlier as part of the scavenger hunt. A sweet, subtle strawberry. Emily wasn't the most experienced at kissing, but for the first time, she understood what the hype was about. It was the first kiss to stir something inside of her and make her crave more.
Then her mind started racing as she realized- oh God, she was kissing THE Alison DiLaurentis, and regardless of the fact that she'd invited her here and acted like she was totally fine with kissing Emily, how could she know if it was actually really okay? This was Alison after all, the queen bee of Rosewood who had a different boy trailing behind her every week.
Emily pulled back, searching her friend's eyes.
"It'sokay," Alison whispered, so quickly the words blurred together and Emily could hardly understand them. Without hesitation, she pulled Emily close to her again and reconnected their lips.
This time, Emily let herself give in to what she wanted. Really, what was the point in fighting it? Her senses were alive, finally free, and she vowed to commit every sensation to memory, from the softness of Ali's lips to the way her hair felt between her fingers and the way she could feel her own heart beat everywhere in her body, all the way to her toes.
When they pulled apart again, Emily couldn't keep a smile off her face. Ali laughed a little, nudged her in the side.
"You're amazing, you know that?" she told the blonde.
She just barely heard Ali's breath hitch before she responded with a flippant "Yeah, I know."
"That was brave of you," the blonde added after a moment of consideration. "I always knew you had it in you."
"Thanks," Emily said, suddenly feeling shy again because she didn't know how to respond. Ali's breathing was still heavy; Emily could hear it. Alison might lie, but her body's response to the kiss didn't. Right?
No, she knew better than to read too much into it. And yet, it gave her a glimmer of hope that maybe it would be okay to kiss her again after this.
(That same hope would spring up again a few weeks later in the school library.)
Dusk was falling over the area. The two girls hadn't noticed their surroundings change from the golden hue of sunset to an evening violet, made darker by the shadows of the trees.
"We should get back to my house. Are you sleeping over again tonight?" Emily asked her.
"I haven't decided yet," Ali answered noncommittally. She reached for the backpack and stuffed the blindfold-scarf back into it.
Just about every item they picked up during the scavenger hunt was used in some form, Emily realized. She reached into the bag, shuffling around the contents, and pulled out the red spray paint. "What was this for?" she asked the blonde.
"Who said it was for anything? The list I made was completely random."
Emily glanced at the kissing rock behind them, taking note of the graffiti scribbled all over it and thinking how it all seemed a little too intentional. The blindfold, the lip gloss…
"We should at least get some use out of it," Emily decided. She shook the can of spray paint and used it to write their initials on the side they were sitting against when they kissed. It stuck to the rock like a tattoo. Emily thought about all the people who would come here and read it, not knowing which names EF and AD stood for.
Ali took the can and painted a lopsided heart around it to get a reaction from her friend. "Now ours stands out the most. What do you think?" she asked with a satisfied smirk. Emily swore her heart stopped beating in her chest.
"Come back to bed," Ali said softly as Emily finished repositioning some tea light candles on the nightstand.
Ali was lying across the bed half undressed, partially wrapped in one of the blankets from the store. A wide glass window covered almost the entire south wall of the fourth-floor hotel room, and through it, they could see the tops of tall, skinny pine trees stretching back into the dark of night.
The window was spotted with raindrops racing down in streaks, and the soothing sound of rain pattered against the glass. The only light in the room was a subtle orange glow emitted from a handful of candles. It was different than being out in the woods, but the relative darkness of the space made it feel cozy and dreamlike.
Emily paused for a moment to admire the atmosphere before turning back to the bed to enjoy an equally satisfying view.
She settled down onto the queen-sized mattress and noticed Alison was examining something on her phone.
Wait. That wasn't Ali's phone.
"What's this about?" Ali asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she held up the screen so Emily could see the notification from some stranger offering to buy one of her older pairs of heels.
"Oh yeah, I was selling a few things I don't wear anymore," Emily answered sheepishly as she laid her head on the edge of Ali's pillow.
"You wore these for Hanna's baby shower and the girls' birthday. That wasn't long ago," Ali said. She looked down at the phone again. "We've been sticking to our budget, so if this is about money…"
"It's not," Emily assured her. A half-truth. "When we moved here, I brought way more than I need. It wouldn't hurt to lighten the load a little before the trip back." A lie. The brunette bit her lip and internally prayed Ali would drop the subject.
"If you say so," Ali said, sounding unconvinced, but not upset, and Emily feared she was already mentally working out what the extra cash would be put toward.
"Guess what?" Emily asked to change the subject as she snuggled in closer to Alison and traced a finger along the curve of her hip.
She felt the other girl's breathing pick up pace ever so slightly from her touch. "What?" Ali asked.
"I've been thinking more about our first trip to the kissing rock, when we left our initials on it," Emily told her. "Admit it, you came up with that scavenger hunt list just to take me there."
"It was obvious, I know," Ali said, letting her hands wander over Emily's back. "I needed to rationalize what I was doing. Cause you know, wanting to kiss your friend and planning elaborate schemes to urge them to make the first move is totally platonic."
"You thought about kissing me way back then?" Emily asked, heart skipping a beat.
"Em, come on. You literally just called me out on it," Alison said, rolling on top on her and pulling the blanket over them.
"I know. I just still can't believe it sometimes. In my mind, it was one-sided back then. I had hope every now and then, but I never thought…" Emily trailed off.
"I'm sorry," Ali told her, kissing her softly on the cheek.
"Don't be. That was a long time ago. Another lifetime."
Ali rested her forehead against Emily's. "Like I promised you, I'm never going to take you for granted again."
They shared a long, hard kiss, shifting in position until Alison was straddling her. Back pressed against the headboard of the bed, one hand on Alison's thigh and the other tangled in blonde hair, it occurred to Emily that they were, for once, completely alone.
Their daughters were safe at home with two capable babysitters. There was no threat of interruption; no need to rush.
She slowed her movements, taking time to fully breathe in the moment and appreciate the finer details: Ali's body felt so warm against her own. She could touch her in one place and heat would instantly spread all through Emily's body, making her forget how chilly the room felt only minutes before.
Alison always arched her neck when Emily kissed along her jaw and sucked on her pulse point, just as Emily's eyes always fluttered shut at the feeling of hands traveling over her breasts.
Slow and steady. Every movement deliberate.
They shifted positions again, Alison underneath her this time, hips buckling up against hers and breathing heavy and ragged. If she were to speak, her voice would come out lower, huskier than usual. Emily knew from experience.
A familiar ache burned deep within her. As she worked with her fingers, she kissed the thin pink C-section scar stretching above Ali's bikini line before moving to the smaller, faded scar on her thigh. Alison hated her scars. She was always quick to cover up when changing clothes, but Emily thought every part of her was so beautiful.
Ali twitched underneath her and Emily thought back to that first trip to the kissing rock.
She imagined telling the fifteen-year-old version of herself that one day, she'd end up in a hotel room in Georgia with the girl who couldn't even admit she wanted to kiss her without making excuses finally under her, inside of her, promising her forever.
Alison was more mature now and didn't use secrets as weapons anymore, but all in all, she was still the same girl who went to great lengths to kiss her ten years ago and still wanted to kiss her now.
With one look around the forest-themed decorated room, Emily realized some things never change.
After the pressure built until she couldn't take it anymore and she rode out her high, Emily laid still for a while, feeling her heart echo through her body. She was too sleepy to move a muscle but so incredibly content.
Alison's position mirrored hers and their legs were still tangled together beneath the blanket. Emily rested her head against her fiancee's chest, suddenly overwhelmed with love.
"You're worth so much. I hope you know that," Emily told her. Ali's heartbeat stuttered a moment and then started racing faster.
"So are you," she said in return with a small, sincere smile.
Emily pulled back slightly so she could lie next to Ali and be level with her eyes. "I don't want you to ever feel like you didn't deserve to survive Rosewood," she said, thinking back to what Ali said at the restaurant regarding Addison's murder and the Royce case. "You earned your second chance, and I'm so, so happy you're here with me. Please don't forget that."
Alison held onto her with all her might, burying her head into Emily's neck, and the latter didn't fight the tight embrace because she knew Ali still carried around a lot of baggage from the past, and reassuring words hit her in a vulnerable place.
She sat up shortly after, appearing content, much to Emily's relief. "I can't wait to marry you," she said in a soft voice, tucking a piece of Emily's raven hair behind her ear.
"October needs to come faster," Emily agreed. Looking at the clock, she said, "We didn't tell Spence and Toby how late we planned on staying out."
"They'll understand," Ali said, lying back down and pulling Emily with her.