A/N: Update:D Sorry if the date seemed sort of short, but I'm so glad that you guys loved the last chapter c:

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I changed in the bathrooms on Hanna's floor, stuffing my pajamas in my purse. I did my makeup down there, too, and then I left before Hanna or Aria tried to find me. I had expected just as much as I'd got from them, but still had hoped that they would at least try to understand.

Though, there was still a small part of me that considered that Ali was messing with me. But if that were true, why would she have flat out pointed out that I probably thought she was doing it? Why would she risk making me thinking about that if she actually was messing with me?

I thought back to what Ali told me on our date. She told me that she liked me, and why should I believe that she was lying, other than the fact that I used to think she was a bitch who couldn't ever stop lying? My stomach twisted up inside of me as I drove to my work. I was a little early, so I walked around the block and back around to the store. I tried and tried to sort through all of my thoughts.

When I started my shift, the Saturday shopping rush hadn't really started yet, which was the only reason that I answered Aria's phone call when I got it. "Hey," she greeted, her voice soft.

"Hey," I returned, my voice coming out stiff.

"I'm really sorry about earlier, Emily," Aria immediately apologized. "You must've seen something in Alison that made you trust her… I just haven't seen anything like that, so you can understand why I don't trust her."

"Yeah, I understand." I did, I did understand.

"Maybe one day I'll meet her and then I'll see what you saw, Em, but until then, I just won't feel completely comfortable about you dating her," Aria stated. I nodded, and then realized that she couldn't see me.

"Okay."

"But, Em, I'm going to respect your decision. It's not my place to tell you that she shouldn't go out with Alison. I can't really speak for Hanna, because I think she's a little more taken aback by this than I am," Aria explained.

"Thanks," is all I said.

"Really, I am sorry, Em," Aria apologized, "I'll see you later."

The line ended, and the almost immediately after, Hanna called me. I bit the inside of my cheek as I answered. "Emily," Hanna started instantly, sounding definitely harsher than Aria had sounded, "I really don't think that you should trust Alison. I hear all sorts of things about her, you know? I just don't want you to get hurt."

I bit down harder on my cheek, and then I suddenly tasted blood and I released it. "Hanna, thanks for the concern, but I really think you have her wrong."

"It's not like all those bad things she's done are made up!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Hanna, I already told you why I don't hate her anymore, and I'm not going to do it again. Thanks for the concern, really. I'm glad that you care about me. But you have to trust me on this one."

A pause on the other end of the line. "Emily, I just think that maybe you shouldn't see her anymore."

I huffed, and then hung up. I loved Hanna, really. She was one of my best friends, and she was just trying to be a protective friend, but I didn't need that right now. I needed a supportive friend right now.

I glanced down at my phone, but before I could consider anything, someone approached the counter to check out.

A good couple of hours passed before the Saturday shopping rush passed, and I was free to go back on my phone until my shift was over. I pulled up my contact list and started to scroll down the list alphabetically. I didn't get far, though, because I stopped at Ali's name.

Running my hand through my hair nervously, I clicked on her name and held the phone up to my ear. After a couple of rings, I was starting to fear that she wasn't going to pick up, but then she did. "Hey," she greeted as soon as she answered.

"Hey, are you busy?" I asked, swallowing thickly.

"Depends on what else you're about to ask me," Ali teased, and I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face.

"My shift ends in about ten minutes. Can you meet me here?" I asked, and the I chewed on my tongue nervously as I waited for a response.

"Uh, yeah, I can do that. I'll be there in a few," Alison answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Cool, see you in a few, then," I said, and then I hung up. I almost felt bad for hanging out with Alison right after Hanna told me that she didn't think I should anymore, but Hanna couldn't control me or tell me what to do.

As my shift was ending, and I was gathering up all my stuff and making sure that my pajamas were still stuffed in the bottom of my purse, I heard the door to the store open. I glanced over and saw Alison walking in with two coffees in hand. The smile that appeared on my face was involuntary.

She came up to the counter and smiled at me, sliding the coffee across. I grabbed. "Thanks," I said, walking out from behind the counter. I took a sip of the coffee.

"See, that's why I had to know what kind you drank," Ali reminded me, smirking at me a little bit. "So what do you want to do?"

"Can we just walk a little bit?" I asked as we left the store. I spotted Ali's car parked neatly next to mine.

"Sure," Ali answered, and we turned away from the cars and started walking down the sidewalk. "Are you okay? You sound kind of stressed out."

I took a sip of my Americano coffee. It tasted a lot better when Ali got it for me, if that made sense. "I am," I answered. "This morning, I told my friends that it was you I went out with last night."

Ali wet her lip-gloss covered lips with her tongue, and I took that sign of nervousness. "What did they say?" she asked.

"Let's just say that it was nothing good," I answered, sighing. Ali frowned.

"I'm sorry," she said.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. I just need to get my mind off of them." I looked at Ali and felt my throat tighten. She was wearing a black skirt, a white top and then a tight black jacket that I decided was leather. Her golden curls were cascading over her shoulders. Next to her, I felt unpretty.

"What?" Ali asked me in a small voice, and I realized that I was still staring at her.

I glanced away from her and just cleared my throat, taking another sip of my coffee. I looked back at Alison and asked her suddenly, "What kind do you drink?"

Ali looked down at her coffee. "It's just a caramel macchiato," she answered, shrugging. "Why?"

"In case I decide to buy you a coffee next time," I said, a smile playing on my face. I was surprised at how not intimidated I felt right now, but I was kind of glad about it. That meant I was feeling more comfortable around Ali, right?

Ali smiled. Suddenly, my phone rang. I looked at who was calling and immediately declined it. "Who was it?" Alison asked.

"Hanna," I answered, slipping my phone back into my pocket.

"They really don't like me, huh?" Alison asked.

I took a deep breath. "They think that you're just going out with me because there's something in it for you."

"There is," Ali said, her voice sounding nervous. "You."

I couldn't fight the smile that appeared on my face, but then I forced it to drop. "You know what I mean, Ali."

Alison sighed and nodded. "I know," she agreed. "Em, I promise that I'm not just doing this to mess with you or something. Look, you could even ask Spencer. I was totally like loopy last night after you kissed me."

I blinked, raising my eyebrows at her a little bit. Ali's cheeks flushed red once she realized that she'd just said that.

"Ah," she said, as if trying to regain whatever confidence she'd had before, "yeah."

I chuckled, and nudged her slightly. She flashed me a bashful smile.

"Well hello there!" a voice I didn't recognize immediately said suddenly. I stopped walking at the same time as Alison did, and looked up to see Spencer.

"Spencer," Ali said in a warning voice, but the brunette didn't seem to care.

"You must be Emily!" Spencer said, extending a hand. "I'm Spencer. I think we met briefly at Alison's birthday celebration."

"Yeah, I think so," I agreed, shaking her hand nervously. I glanced at Ali, and she just rolled her eyes at Spencer.

"Is this a date?" Spencer asked, looking at Alison pointedly.

"This is coffee, Spence," Ali said. "You know, that stuff that you chug twenty-four seven so that you can stare at your computer without falling asleep?"

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll get lost." She looked back at me. "It was nice to finally really meet you, Emily."

"Uh yeah, you too," I said, and then she walked away. "She seems nice."

"She's crazy," Ali said suddenly, walking again. It took me a second to realize that she was, and I hurried to catch up to her. "In a good way, I mean."

"Well she still seems nice," I commented, and Ali smiled at me for a reason that I wasn't entirely sure of. Then, on some random bit of courage that I pulled out of my ass, I told her, "You look really nice today, by the way."

Ali blushed instantly and looked down at herself. "Oh. Thanks." She looked at me. "So do you."

I shook my head. "I didn't even look at what these clothes were before I put them on this morning."

"Doesn't matter," Ali declared. "You'd look nice in anything."

Now I felt myself blushing, and suddenly, Ali had her arm hooked with mine. Even though my bare arm was just against her jacket, it felt great to be so close to her.

I smiled at her, and then I looked around at where we'd ended up. I saw the Brew across the street, which meant that we had walked a couple of blocks by now. Then I spotted a head of light blonde hair and an angry face across the street, and the owner of those things was headed right our way. "Oh no," I muttered, unhooking my arm from Ali's.

Ali followed my gaze and we both stopped walking. "Um…" Ali glanced at me and I sighed, walking forward a little bit to intercept Hanna.

"What are you doing?" Hanna demanded.

"Hanna—" I started in a warning voice.

"You totally hung up on me earlier! What the hell?" Hanna demanded. "And now you're just strolling around with her like you've known her all your life?"

"Hanna—" I tried again, but she wasn't done.

"You know I'm just trying to help right? I don't want you to get hurt!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Hanna!" I snapped. "Look, I know that you're trying to help, and I told you that I appreciate that. But I'm not just going to back out of whatever this is because there is a possibility that I'm going to get hurt, alright? So just back off, please."

Hanna searched my face, and then glanced over my shoulder. I glanced back too, and saw Alison staring down at the lid on her coffee. I looked back at Hanna, who rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Talk later." And then she was leaving.

I sighed and turned back around and walked over to Ali. She looked up and flipped a little bit of her hair out of her face. "You okay?" she asked me.

I nodded, but I really wanted to ask her if she was okay. "Come on, let's head back." Ali nodded, and we turned back and started back for where our cars were. "I'm sorry," I said suddenly, "about Hanna. She's just trying to be a good friend."

"She's trying to protect you from the beast that is Alison DiLaurentis," Ali revised, nodding that she understood. I frowned.

"Ali…" My voice trailed off, but Ali glanced at me and looked me up and down. She smiled suddenly.

"It's fine," she insisted. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. It's not your fault."

We walked in silence for a few minutes, and I wished that Ali would hook her arm through mine again, but she didn't. I took another sip of my coffee, which was starting to get cold. "Maybe," I said suddenly, "if they really met you, they wouldn't hate you anymore."

Ali glanced at me. "Well maybe, if they didn't hate me, they would consider really meeting me."

"I'm serious, Alison," I argued. Ali glanced at me and sighed.

"You make me nervous, Em," Alison admitted suddenly, and I raised both of my eyebrows. I made her nervous? "I'm scared that I'm going to say or do the wrong thing when I'm around you. I was too scared to even try to kiss you last night. I can barely keep my legs from turning to jelly when you look at me."

Our gazes were locked as we walked, and I waited to see if she was going to say anything else.

And she was, "It hasn't been all that long since I met you, and obviously we only had our first date yesterday, but I really like you. I don't want anything to mess up what we might have."

"I don't either," I said, wondering where exactly this was going.

"I'm afraid that your friends are going to try to do that," Ali admitted, breaking our eye contact, and I frowned. "So if you think that them 'really' meeting me will make them not hate me, we can do it."

I let out a quiet breath as I looked ahead of us. "Maybe the five of us could get together. Like, you and Spencer, and me and my friends."

Ali nodded. "I think that would be a good idea."

"I'll set it up," I told her, deciding that if she wasn't going to hook her arm with mine, I was going to do it. Once I did, she smiled at me.

"Okay," she agreed. "I'm free next Saturday if you want to set it up for then."

"Okay," I said, smiling at her. "Aren't you supposed to have plans every Saturday for your image?" I was just teasing, and she knew that.

"Em, I'm always free for you," Ali said, giving me a shy smile. I'd already realized that, but it felt weird to hear her say it. We were back at our cars, and my coffee was empty.

I smiled at her. "Thanks for dropping whatever it was that you were doing to come walk with me. I really needed it."

Alison smiled back at me. "Anytime, Emily," she said, and something in her voice told me that she really meant that. "And I'll be waiting for that coffee you plan on buying me," she told me teasingly.

I bit back a grin. Then, simultaneously, we both leaned forward so that our lips met carefully in between us. It was like a shock of electricity sent through my entire body. Our lips moved softly against one another's, and I felt Ali's free hand rest itself on my arm. I brought my free hand up the side of her head, touching her hair. I pulled her a little closer to me, and my hand slid down to her neck.

A few seconds after that, we pulled apart. Ali's cheeks were bright red again, and I felt mine blushing similarly. She bit her lower lip as she smiled at me. "I'll call you," she told me.

"I'll be waiting," I told her, my heart beating faster than normal. She licked over her lips, and I tried not to realize how sexy that was. She stepped backwards away from me, gave me one last smile, and then got in her car. I took a deep breath and went to get into my car as well. Alison was going to be the death of me.

AWWW c: I hope that this chapter was alright...

So... please let me know your thoughts in a quick review or a PM c: Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!

TCAs were earlier tonight c: Who watched? Demi totally slaaaaaaayed *heart eyes*. I was so torn when Lucy got her award because I totally wanted Troian to win too but like ahhh couldn't they both have won?! And yaya PLL won :D And Sasha won too, ofc because she's AMAZING! And Ashley won too woo =) Even though Shay didn't win, we all know that she's totally amaaaaazing just like Troian =) And ya know, they all won bc PLL and yeaaah :) And yay for Nina and Ian and then the Tyler and the other Ian haha... yeah anyway I'm happy about the winners (mostly... Glee didn't win the comedy show. Kinda annoyed about that, but ya know, it hasn't really been the greatest recently... soo... sadface though.)

Okay so that's my rant about the TCAs! I've actually gotta go to bed soon (so I don't stay up until 4am and wake up at 1:30pm like I did last night)... soo yeah lol.

Goodnight lovelies! Please review! :D