AN: Same warning as before, this chapter's got some NSFW content. while tamer than a lot of things I've read I just thought I'd throw it out there. Thank you for reading :)
As I made my way over to my car, I couldn't help wondering if these were my last few moments on earth. I hoped they wouldn't be spent making a slow creep across a mall parking lot hurt locker style. Hanna and Aria stood back looking on in terror. My hands shook with increasing fervor as I inched my way closer feeling a sudden chill all along the way. I finally arrived at the car and reached out my hand to grab the driver's side door handle. Nothing happened, no hand sneaked out from the undercarriage and snatched me at the legs; the ignition didn't suddenly light up with the car in autopilot. I was relieved, both to be alive and to have my car back; the only thing left was to check if it was working. I got out my keys but before I could do anything Aria ran over and swatted them out of my hands.
"No, don't!" Aria insisted. "You don't know where that thing's been or whose been messing with it" she explained. I wanted to care, I really did, but being without my Toyota was pure torture, especially since it meant being trapped in the house with Ashley and nowhere to go without asking her for a ride.
"I don't even know if it works, I just want to see."
By now Hanna had joined her and they were both stubbornly insisting that I not touch the car until they could figure out what to do.
"We'll call Tobey to come take a look at it, until then just let Aria take you back to my house."
"I'm not letting A turn you into roadside barbeque." Aria added.
I would have put up a fight, but honestly sometimes it feels nice to know your friends are looking out for you. Instead we walked back to Aria's car and made the short drive to Hanna's house. Aria let us out and I watched as her car slowly pulled out of the driveway, every second I contemplated yelling out for her to stop and take me with her; but that never happened. Instead her car pulled down the driveway and out to the street before peeling away and out of sight.
Later in Hanna's room while she was busy unpacking her treasures I started to go over recent events in an effort to reconcile them in my mind. A lot of things just weren't adding up and they all seemed to either directly or indirectly involve Hanna's mom.
"Hey Em," Hanna called out from her closet. "I'm starving. You wanna order crepes from Bon Temps?" Even though she'd posed it as a question I sensed she was more telling me to order rather than asking.
"Do you want sweet or savory?" I called out from the bed.
"both…" she whined. "If I get a sweet will you get a savory and go splitzies with me?"
Hanna always wanted to go splits on food whenever I ordered with her, but in the spirit of our renewed friendship I agreed.
She came out of the closet with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail wearing a tank-top and some pajama shorts. Her hair bopped up and down as she skipped to then hopped on the bed beside me. She started playing with my hair while running through her text messages to see if she'd missed anything while we were out.
"You know Emily, even your stupid hair is perfect. You're like that chick in the Pantene ads" I guess she'd decided to go back to ranting about how much of a goody-two-shoes she thought I was.
"Do you ever do anything wrong?"
"I've done plenty wrong" I let out a little too quickly.
"Yeah Em, but causing an accidental Dutch oven by farting in your sleep doesn't count." Hanna teased. She looked like she was about to say something but got suddenly distracted. She sat up in the bed staring directly at my suitcase which was resting against the dresser.
"Why is that out?" She seemed genuinely concerned.
Sensing the opportunity to cover my tracks, I didn't miss a beat. "That, uh…that's kind of what I wanted to tell you earlier. I was going to leave."
At first she seemed sad, but eventually she got over it and actually was quite amused as I explained my plan to take a bus down to Dallas and surprise my mother.
"You can't be serious. Everyone knows your mom hates surprises. She would have freaked and spent the whole week polishing jars of tomato sauce." Hanna laughed.
Just then there was a knock at the door and Ashley entered the room before anyone could let her in. This knock-enter combo was something Hanna and Mona had dubbed knentering.
"Ugh, mom I thought we talked about you knentering!" Hanna groaned. "What if we were naked?"
Ashley looked away from Hanna and turned her gaze squarely on me "Nothing I haven't seen before" she replied in a mocking tone.
She held up a bag from Bon Temps as if displaying a piece of evidence to a jury. "I guess this is going to be your dinner." She still hadn't handed the bag over.
"Well you know you can't eat in your room, so you'll have to join me down stairs if you plan on eating."
I was dreading the inevitable walk down the stairs to the kitchen. I knew there had to be something more up Ashley's sleeve; I just wasn't sure what yet. She stood sideways leaning against the door frame as if posing for a magazine. The red slip she had on looked flimsy against her toned physique. She was waiting for us to follow her down to the kitchen and apparently enjoying watching me sneak glances at her as she waited. I was directly behind her as she walked down the stairs which gave me first hand confirmation that she had on that slip and little else.
"Hey mom, do you think you could give your mechanic a call?" Hanna asked as she sat at the counter and opened the take-out bag.
"Is something wrong with your car honey?" Ashley asked with sincere concern.
"No, it's just we saw Em's car sitting out in the mall parking lot. I don't know it just seemed strange." Hanna explained.
Hanna took one crepe out of the bag, then looked it over, opened the bag back up, flipped it upside down and looked under it before sighing in frustration.
"They forgot the Velma" she groaned.
"What?" Ms. Marin questioned perplexed.
"The crepes are named after women mom. They gave us the Courtney, but there's no Velma."
Ashley looked concerned for all of ten seconds. She squatted down and pulled out a pot from under the sink.
"Well, honey I can make you some spaghetti and then you and Emily can share…"
I think Hanna lost all interest after the word spaghetti. She took the bag and the receipt and grabbed her car keys from the wall rack.
"If it's okay I think they're still open. I'm just going to go pick up the other one."
No sooner was Hanna out the door than Ashley had pulled out the Velma from the refrigerator.
"No reason why you shouldn't eat up Em, I'm sure Hanna's going to be a while."
That move really took the cake and I was incredibly upset with myself for not seeing it coming.
"I should have known." I grumble still seated at the counter.
"Known what?" Ashley shot back cockily.
She came around and leaned against the counter facing me and looking particularly predatory. I watched patiently as she playfully rubbed one leg up and down against the other. Despite the fact that I was no longer leaving, I still wasn't in the mood to put up with her head games.
"I can read you like a book you know." I shoot back confidently.
To this she responds by uncrossing her legs and walking up behind me so that my head was resting against her chest.
"Wouldn't you rather lick me like a stamp?"
She placed her hands out in front of me and rested them against the counter top, which just happened to be an all too convenient way to prevent me from leaving. I felt the muscles in my jaw clenching in anticipation and a flash of heat wash over me. At the same time I also felt some sense of relief, at least she'd dropped the pretense of a guessing game and made it abundantly clear what she wanted me to do. Slipping the knife and fork out from under my grasp, she began cutting up the crepe I'd yet to take a bite of. She then gouged at a piece with the fork and held it up to my mouth.
"Don't you want to taste it?"
Something magnetic and irresistible was pulling my lips toward that fork. I tried to hold back but found my mouth parting against my will. Tempted, I guess, by the promise of delicious apples and roasted walnuts drenched in brown sugar and caramel sauce. I tried to grab the fork away from her but she stopped me with her other arm and gently guided my hands toward my lap.
"No hands on the table Emily" She instructed.
"What do you want Ms. Marin?" I plead after finally giving in and letting her feed the crepe to me.
I felt the chair swiveling underneath me, all of the sudden I was face-to-face with Ashley and she honestly couldn't have looked more beautiful.
"All I want is for you to be honest about what you want." She explained in a rather abrupt matter-of-fact tone.
"Fine, I am attracted to you and I have been for a while." I try to speak confidently but her gaze has got a hold on me and its making me equal parts nervous and excited.
"That's what you wanted right? Me to stroke your ego?"
As she takes her hands and eases me off of the chair I can feel the softness of her finger tips slipping up my sides until I'm finally on my feet.
"Among other things" Ashley teases.
We stand there for a minute nose to nose daring the other to move first. She's exhibiting a level of confidence unlike anything I've ever seen before.
"You know Emily, in most cultures it's considered rude to eat without offering anything to everyone else in the house" She finally spoke. She then took one of her fingers and brushed it against my lip wiping away a string of caramel. I watched as she seductively placed the finger in her mouth and licked it clean.
"Delicious" she declared with a smile.
Whatever resolve I had left, it was gone right then and Ashley knew it, but she waited for me to make the first move. I brought our lips within touching distance but hesitated before finally taking the plunge. I sucked down on her bottom lip and attempted to maneuver myself away from the counter in order to maintain some semblance of control. It was no use though. She was kissing me like a hungry panther ready to devour me at any minute. My hands dropped to the sides of her slip as I felt her bite down on my neck. I had managed to push the slip up a bit and was now making direct contact with the skin underneath. My hands trembled from the contact as I felt her legs wrap around mine.
"Do you think you can make it up the stairs Emily?" she asked smartly before reaching underneath my shirt to unclasp my bra.
"Here is fine." I gasp in anticipation. As my shirt began to slip over my head I saw a wave of light hit the room and I could only assume that Hanna had finally returned. We pulled away in a hurry and rushed to fix our clothing before Hanna entered the room.
She sat and ate her food with little to no fanfare or speculation about what we'd been up to while she was gone. I tried to play it cool as we went up to bed that night, but really all I could think about was what a horrible p-blocker Hanna had turned out to be.
"Hey Em," she yawned out from bed. "Tomorrow you and me need to go down to that car shop and give that Lexie girl a piece of our minds."
"Sure thing Hanna." I yawn back before settling in for the night.