A/N- Guys! The reviews are awesome! Thank you for giving me something to read in return!
Chapter splits can be tough. This part of the story just would have been too long for one chapter (meaning the update probably would have taken longer) so this chapter and the next go together. To the reviewer who said that they always end just when things get interesting... I hope that's not a bad thing! Lol, just like to give you something to think about while you're waiting for the next. Hope you enjoy this one- got another flashback for you!
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Twenty minutes after Emily set her phone down, it vibrated and rang with Alison's name flashing across the screen. "Hello," she answered. She tried to make her tone even, but she couldn't help sounding grumpy.
"Hey, I'm on my way home now." The blonde sounded flustered and Emily could hear the sounds of shoes hitting the ground. It almost sounded like she was running down stairs.
"Okay..." She wasn't really sure what to say. Honestly, she was pissed, but she didn't think it was wise to lose her cool.
"I'll be home in the next hour," Alison spoke again. Her voice sounded different, as if her car's bluetooth had just picked up the call.
"Okay..." Emily repeated.
"I can pick up a pizza or something for dinner. Would that be good?" She asked.
"Thought you just had lunch?" Emily retorted. She couldn't help the attitude that slipped in. She was annoyed.
"I- I lost track of time... I'm sorry," Alison told her. She sounded genuine, but it didn't stop Emily from wondering where the hell she'd been all this time.
"It's just been a long day," Emily told her.
"I know, I'm sorry. How about a pepperoni pizza.. Ellie would love that. Would you eat that?" She asked.
Emily sighed. She did like pepperoni. "Yeah, that's good."
"Okay, I'll be back soon."
"See ya." Emily hung up. She was thankful that Alison took the initiative to pick up dinner. It was some consolation, but she still felt wronged here. They were supposed to be working together as a team, and Emily would never be gone for that long without checking in. She knew that a part of her anger was coming from the past. She had been burned by the blonde so many times. Things had gone well the last few weeks, but Emily's guard had stayed up and this was exactly why. She knew that things with the blonde could change on a dime.
But this time she was ready for it. And she wasn't going to let Alison leave her high and dry again.
~2019
Emily carefully shifted the cardboard box that she was holding to one arm and reached out to knock on the door of a large house. It was her first time seeing Spencer's parents house in person. Toby had mentioned previously that it was 'nice' but he had definitely undersold it. This place was huge. The house was only a town over from where Emily and Toby had grown up, but she'd never had any reason to visit this neighborhood before.
She stood outside waiting for someone to answer the door. She felt a little nervous. It was the day of the Engagement Party and she'd tried to call Alison from her car before walking up, but the blonde's phone went to voicemail. It had been a few weeks since her conversation with Toby and she hadn't spoken to Alison much outside of a few times. They had exchanged texts last night where Emily had told her that she was picking up the cake around noon and asked if she should she bring it to the Hastings house after. Alison had told her that was fine, and Emily just assumed that they would all be there getting everything ready for the party.
The door swung opened and revealed a brunette woman. She looked a little like Spencer, but she was definitely older.
"Hi, I'm Emily," she introduced herself to the woman with a polite smile. The older brunette furrowed her brows slightly and tilted her head looking a little confused. "I'm Toby's friend...I brought the cake for tonight." She motioned to the box that she was holding.
"Right, of course!" The woman seemed to recognized something in Emily's explanation. "You can come in. I'm Spencer's sister, Melissa." She moved aside to let Emily enter the house with the large box.
Emily walked into a large foyer and tried not to gawk at the expanse. This place was nice on the inside too.
"Is that Alison?" A voice sounded from the other room.
Melissa motioned Emily to follow her and they walked in the direction of the voice. She was led to a kitchen where another woman, likely Spencer's mother, was standing at the kitchen island. The island was covered in decorations that looked like they would be going around the house for the party.
"This is Toby's friend, Emily," Melissa introduced.
Emily smiled at the older woman. "Toby and I have been friends our whole lives so I'm filling in for 'Best Man' in the wedding," she supplied. She didn't want another instance like what had happened with Alison. She knew that it might seem a little odd to other people that Toby's best friend was a girl, but it had never felt weird for either of them.
"Of course, Spencer told me about you," the woman politely acknowledged. "I'm Veronica Hastings, Spencer's mother."
"Nice to meet you," Emily smiled. "I talked to Alison last week and she gave me the information for the cake. I picked it up on my way."
The older woman raised her brows. "Where is Alison anyway?" She looked at Melissa and scoffed.
"She's at a luncheon for the hospital,"Melissa answered. "The one that Wren and Elliott are at."
This was news to Emily. She'd assumed that Alison was going to be at the house when she got there.
"She's supposed to be here," Veronica gawked.
"Mom, come on," Melissa rolled her eyes. "Don't be surprised. Plus, we have Emily," she smiled.
Emily raised her brows. So maybe Alison really had conned her like Toby had suggested. After the night that she'd told Toby about her lunch with Alison, Emily had gone back and forth a few times trying to figure out if Alison had been intentionally flirting with her to get what she wanted. Now that Emily was in the Hastings' house getting ready to help decorate and Alison was no where in sight it was starting to seem pretty clear. She was annoyed, but tried to keep her expression even. "I can help with whatever you guys need," Emily told them. After all, it wasn't Veronica and Melissa's fault.
She spent the whole afternoon with the women making sure that the house was tastefully decorated for the guests coming that evening. It didn't require much from Emily because Melissa and Veronica clearly already had a plan for where they wanted everything to go. Emily just followed along and hung things where she was told.
"Do you want me to put the other balloons in that corner?" Emily asked Melissa as she pointed across the room.
Melissa looked up from the fireplace where she was pinning a bow along the mantle. "No, I think Alison is supposed to set something up there." She squinted down at her watch and shook her head slightly. "I don't know what's taking her so long."
This was the first time that the blonde had been brought up in hours and Emily felt her ears perk up. "You said that she's at a luncheon?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, for the hospital that Wren and Elliott work at," Melissa confirmed.
If she was ditching the party prep work for some charity, Emily couldn't be too annoyed. She'd probably just been roped into going, maybe even last minute. "Elliott is her fiancé, right? Who's Wren?" Emily asked. She'd never heard that name before.
"My husband," Melissa smiled, clearly proud to be married to a doctor. "He and Elliott met back in medical school at Penn. They've been friends ever since."
Emily nodded at the information. "So did he and Alison meet at Penn too?" She asked further.
Melissa shook her head. "No, they weren't there at the same time. They met at my wedding, actually."
Emily forced a smile onto her face. "So you get the credit for introducing them?"
"Yeah right, like I would willingly set my cousin up with someone I know," Melissa snorted. "Her Dad hit it off with Elliott at the reception and introduced them."
"How long ago was your wedding?" Emily asked. She couldn't stop herself from asking questions. She knew that she needed to let it all go, but she just wanted to get the whole picture of Alison and so far all that she had was several fragmented pieces of a puzzle.
Melissa smiled again and glanced down at her ring before looking back to Emily. "Four years next month," she told her.
"Congrats," Emily raised her brows. The more interesting part was that if Melissa's wedding had been nearly four years ago, then Alison had known her fiancé that long. So they'd met while the blonde was still in college and Elliott was already a doctor? What in the world could they have had in common. The information only further confused Emily about Alison.
Once most of the decorations were up, Emily excused herself back to her apartment so that she could quickly get herself ready for the party. She didn't have much time, but she wanted to make sure that she looked good seeing as there would be people that she knew there that Toby had invited. She tried to get the whole Alison thing out of her head, but for some reason she couldn't stop thinking of the blonde. She'd had plenty of crushes not work out before and she couldn't figure out why she couldn't let this one go. After all, Alison was engaged. And also potentially a master manipulator.
She planned to address the second part of that later.
At the party, she mingled with all of the guests that she recognized. There were a couple of people from their high school that she knew. For the most part, Emily had only stayed in touch with Toby, but she had no problem catching up with some people from their teenaged years. She hung out with Hanna and her boyfriend Caleb for a while once they got in from New York. She laughed when Toby's Dad snuck up beside her and joked that she still had a chance and it still wasn't too late to make herself his daughter-in-law. In all, it was a good group of people that had gathered for the party. It was definitely a success.
She caught sight of Alison about an hour in. She was standing across the room and chatting with several adults that Emily guessed were relatives of some kind. She didn't mean to stare, but the navy dress that Alison had on looked really good on her. It was classy, but managed to hug the curves around her hips and chest nearly perfectly. It was painful to see, but Emily had trouble making herself look away.
Luckily, Spencer and Toby walked up and disrupted her gaze.
"Ahem," Toby cleared his throat when they were close enough. Emily knew that she was busted and didn't bother to make any excuses. Toby knew her too well. She glanced at Spencer, hoping that the brunette had missed Emily's gawking.
It seemed like Emily had caught a break because Spencer just launched into a big hug. "Thank you so much for all of the work that you did!"
Emily let out a laugh and returned the embrace. She looked over her shoulder at Toby who was stifling a laugh. Spencer wasn't exactly known for being a hugger. She must have been in a good mood. Or had a few glasses of wine. Or both. "It was no problem at all. I'm so glad that it's a hit," she smiled.
Toby finally let out a laughed and then leaned in for a hug after Spencer and whispered his own quiet gratitude. They chatted for a few moments. Emily kept finding herself glancing across the room every time she saw the navy material of Alison's dress in the corner of her eye.
At one point, her eyes lost track of Alison and while Toby was talking, Emily searched the room to find where the blonde had gone. She spotted her by the door approaching a man with longish, light brown hair and sporting a much more casual look than everyone else. Alison launched herself into the man's arms. He held her tightly, clearly just as happy to see her as she was him. Before she could ask questions, Spencer seemed to take note as well. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed and skipped towards the man's direction.
Emily pinched her brows. Initially she had thought that maybe this was the mysterious fiancé, but this guy sure didn't look like a doctor. She looked at Toby, "Who's that?"
Toby laughed at Emily's utter confusion. "Alison's older brother, Jason."
She watched the scene unfold as Spencer approached him. He threw an around Spencer with a jovial look on his face. Emily thought of how Alison had told her that the two families lived next door to each other growing up. It was clear that Spencer was close to Jason. He must have played the part of big brother to both of them. She could understand why after spending an afternoon with Melissa. The older woman had been kind throughout, but she had an air about the way that she spoke that made it seem like she was competing in some way and trying to demonstrate that she was the best. She could only watch Jason's mannerisms from across the room, but he seemed different. "Looks like they're excited to see him," she commented.
"Yeah, he's kind of secretly my favorite member of that family too," Told told her.
Emily laughed. "Really?"
Toby nodded. "He isn't around much, but he apparently dropped out of Penn," he paused to give Emily a faux scandalous look. "And now he works with a non-profit that provides water supply in developing countries. Last I heard, he was in somewhere in Africa... Uganda maybe? It's been awhile."
Emily smiled genuinely. "That's really cool." She'd done a few service projects in the US and abroad over the years and she loved helping people. Both Spencer and Alison's families clearly had plenty of money. It was nice to know at least someone was using it for good.
"You definitely thought that was Elliott," Toby snickered.
She side eyed him and swatted his arm. "Did not."
But she had. She'd been looking around the party trying to figure out who Alison's fiancé was, but so far hadn't gotten her answer. She told herself that it was just genuine curiosity and chose to ignore the fact that it was probably more.
She wound up meeting him later, though, actually on accident. She was helping herself to some of the appetizers set out on a table when someone bumped her arm.
"Sorry about that."
Emily turned her head and was faced with a rather unassuming man. He was built slim and had short light brown hair with dark eyes. He had on khaki pants, a checkered button down, and a navy blazer. Something about him just screamed 'Hastings'.
"No problem," Emily shrugged.
A beat passed and the man looked at her face as if trying to place her. "Are you a friend of Spencer's or do you know the groom?" He finally asked.
"Both actually," Emily chuckled. "But I grew up with Toby."
He nodded in understanding and continued to place various cheese and cracker varieties onto his small plate.
"Are you related to Spencer?" She found herself asking.
"I will be soon, I suppose," he answered without looking away from the appetizers. "I'm engaged to her cousin."
"Alison?" Emily asked in surprise. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but this guy wasn't it. He was dressed like a country club member and had little to know personality. In the short time that she'd spent with Alison, she could tell that the blonde was full of personality (or personalities, but that was beside the point). This guy didn't seem like her type at all, though admittedly Emily had been a little off about her preferences before.
Emily's outburst caught his attention and he finally looked up. "Oh, you two have met then?" He asked, shoving one of his hands in his pocket.
Emily felt a little bit awkward. It seemed like maybe Alison didn't give details to him either. "We've seen each other around. I'm in the wedding too so we coordinated some things to get ready for the party."
"Well she did a great job setting up the decorations," he raised his brows as he gazed around the room.
Emily pinched her brows slightly while he wasn't looking. Hold on... she? Alison hadn't even been there for the entire afternoon while Emily was. She had decorated with Melissa and Veronica, not Alison. "She wasn't at your hospital event today?" Emily blurted before she could stop herself.
Elliott snapped his head back towards Emily. "Alison? No. She hates those things." He eyed Emily for a beat. "How did you know about the luncheon?" He asked suspiciously.
Emily tried to think quickly. She hated lying, but she'd also really dug herself a hole here. The only thing that she could do was keep digging and hope that she could hide in it. "Oh, Melissa just mentioned it earlier and I assumed." She did her best to play it off nonchalantly.
He eyed her one last time, but ultimately seemed to buy it. He nodded to her one last time and walked away.
And it kind of served to further irritate Emily. Because if Alison hadn't been decorating with them this afternoon and hadn't been with Elliott at the luncheon, then where the hell had she been? It just seemed like every time she thought she knew what Alison was up to, there was still another layer, and it was getting frustrating. She understood that Alison was engaged and despite feeling an attraction to her, Emily knew that there wouldn't be anything romantic between them. She was able to wrap her head around that. It was a bummer, but that didn't take away from the good conversation and chemistry that they had. She had figured that the two could still be friends seeing as they were likely to continue crossing paths. Now? She wasn't sure if she even wanted to pursue a friendship with this person.
And it wasn't like no one had warned her. Because they did. Multiple times. Emily just didn't want to listen. She wanted to believe in the girl that she thought she saw, but now she felt unsure if that person even existed.
"Let me guess..."
As if on cue, a sweet honeyed voice swept through her ears. She knew who it was right away, but she hesitated to turn around.
"That's your Mom..." Alison point her finger over Emily's shoulder so that it was in the brunette's vision. "Over there."
Emily finally turned around. She hadn't spoken to Alison for the entire party, so she was a little bit surprised at her sudden appearance. She was giving a half smile, but her dimples were visible in her cheeks and there was a shimmer in her eyes. Despite how today had played out, Emily still couldn't help but think that she looked sweet.
She glanced at her mother across the room chatting with Veronica Hastings and nodded to Alison to confirm. The blonde's smile widened. It made Emily finally open her mouth and engage. "How did you know?"
"Obvious resemblance," Alison told her.
Emily nodded. She didn't really feel like chatting.
Alison's smile faltered a little, seeming to sense the disconnect. "You look nice," she tried again.
Emily pushed her lips together in an attempt not to let a grin slip. Despite being a little peeved at the other woman, it still made her feel good to hear that. She'd put some thought into her outfit, not wanting to seem to casual in front of what felt like a formal family. She'd opted for a sleek black dress and heels to match. "Thanks," Emily shrugged a single shoulder casually. Alison stared back at her, as if waiting to hear the same, but it wasn't coming. Instead Emily asked, "Is your family here?" She'd seen the blonde hanging around her brother, Spencer, and their friends, but that was really it.
"My Dad is over there," Alison cocked her head to the right.
Emily looked in the corner and saw a thin man with white hair talking to two women that Emily didn't know. He had on a suit and tie and grasped a liquor drink in a high ball glass. She looked back at Alison and nodded in recognition. She could see the resemblance, especially in the eyes. She found herself wondering if the blonde's mother looked like her. She hadn't seen any women at the party with blonde hair. "And your Mom?" Emily asked.
It was subtle, but Alison's eyes widened for a split second. "No- she's not. She's..." The blonde shook her head, "Not here."
"Oh, okay." Emily nodded again, this time without actually understanding. She decided to shift the topic. "I met you're fiancé," she told her.
Alison pushed her lips together. "Yeah I- I saw you two talking."
Emily lifted a single brow. "Don't worry. I didn't tell him that you lied about where you were today." She intentionally hardened her tone.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Alison folded her arms.
"I mean he was so PROUD of the great work you did decorating. I couldn't let him down by telling him that you weren't here for any of it." Emily mouthed sarcastically.
Alison shrugged, "I set up that table in the corner with the pictures."
"Right, but you somehow were absent all afternoon when I was helping your aunt and cousin in your place."
Alison raised a brow. "Well no one told you that you had to do that."
Emily scoffed and shook her head. "Your family said that you were with Elliott. So where were you actually?" Emily folded her arms to mirror the blonde's.
Alison narrowed her eyes at Emily. She was clearly caught in a lie, even if it was one that she told to other people and not the brunette. Emily wasn't necessary trying to intimidate her, she genuinely wanted to know what the deal was. She was trying to be casual about it, but her attitude was evident, and Alison clearly didn't like it.
"Well?" Emily pushed.
Alison scoffed and shook her head. "That's none of your business." She let her eyes drift off of Emily and briefly surveyed the room. When she made eye contact again she had a smile plastered on her face, clearly fake.
Emily shrugged, "It's not. You just surprised me."
Alison cocked her brow. "How so?"
"Just that I knew you were manipulative. I didn't know that you were a liar too." Maybe it was the cocktail that she'd had earlier that was giving her the extra courage, but she decided to lay it all out there. She was pissed. A part of it was because she liked Alison and felt tricked. Another part of her was mad at herself for not listening to everyone's warnings.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" The fake grin was now replaced with her lips in a straight line and eyes narrowed as they were earlier.
"You know what you did, Alison," Emily raised her own brows.
"No," the blonde scoffed again. "I really don't."
If she wasn't going to own up to it, Emily had no problem doing it for her. "You know you invited me to lunch to be all nice and flirty to me and get me to agree to doing the work for this party that you were actually supposed to do."
"You think I was flirting with you?" Alison asked, almost incredulously.
"You were." Emily told her. It wasn't just the things the blonde had said to her that afternoon, it was how she'd said them. It was the smiles, and making eyes across the table. It was the arm touching, the voice inflection. Emily knew that she wasn't crazy.
Alison took a step closer and lowered her voice. "I invited you to lunch and bought you a coffee. That's it." She said the second sentence firmly, leaving no room for argument.
It didn't fool Emily, but she wasn't going to argue with the other woman about it in the middle of the party. She'd aired her discontent and was moving on. "Whatever you say," Emily narrowed her eyes just as Alison had done so many times and nodded. She picked up her appetizer plate and walked away into the party. She knew what she was dealing with now. Alison was apparently just as manipulative as she was good looking. And Emily would just have to get over that. She wasn't going to get manipulated again. Her guard would be up moving forward.
The front door swung opened about a hour later and Alison walked in holding a pizza box.
Ellie's eyes lit up at the sight of the pizza and she went flying off the couch towards Alison. "Aunt Ali, I want pizza!" She wrapped her arms around the blonde's leg before she made it to the living room.
Emily eyed her from the couch. Liam was next to her, laying back against the pillows and chewing on his taggies elephant. She didn't blame Ellie for running up to Alison like she did, but Emily still found it annoying. She'd spent the entire day taking care of and entertaining the kids when she was already exhausted while the blonde had been galavanting around Philadelphia doing god knows what. Emily wasn't dumb, she knew that Alison hadn't been sitting at a lunch table for over five hours. She didn't bother to ask where she was while they were on the phone. Emily didn't think she'd actually get a truthful answer.
And it sucked, because they were supposed to be working together. She thought that things were improving, but this behavior was a setback. She needed to be able to trust Alison and she just didn't.
"Hey," Alison walked into the living room with Ellie trailing her.
"Hey," Emily responded in a flat tone.
Alison stayed quiet for a minute and assessed the situation. "Everything... okay?" She finally asked.
"Yep," Emily replied. She popped the final letter of the word and hopped up from the couch. She bent down to pick Liam up, and the four of them walked in the direction of the kitchen. She didn't say anything else while Alison grabbed plates from the cabinet. She watched Alison sit Ellie down at the table with a slice on her place. Alison offered to cut it or help her, but the little girl was so excited that she just grabbed the cheesy piece in her small hands. Emily walked over to the counter and grabbed a few napkins. This was going to be a mess, but at least Ellie was happy.
She moved to sit Liam down into his high chair. He was a little bit young to try little bites of pizza, so Emily went to the fridge and grabbed a tupperware that had some food made for him the previous night.
"Do you want me to feed him?" Alison offered from her seat at the table.
"No, I've got it," Emily shook her head and sat down next to the high chair.
They women didn't speak to one another for the rest of the meal. Emily fed
Liam spoonfuls of food, while Alison stayed at the table with Ellie. She eventually broke down and pulled a slice out for herself as well. The pizza smelled good and she was actually really hungry.
"Can I watch the princess?" Ellie asked Alison when she was finished with her dinner. There was a cartoon show that they'd been letting her watch in the evenings on the IPad. Alison walked in the room to set it up for her while Emily ate her slice of pizza.
When she walked back in, the blonde started cleaning up the table. She walked the dirty plates to the sink, but didn't start the water. She turned to Emily and stared for a moment before finally speaking. "...Are we going to talk about it?" She asked.
Emily looked up at Alison. "Talk about what exactly?" She asked.
Alison folded her arms. "Well either you've taken a vow of silence or you're pissed at me."
Emily lightly pushed a few pieces of food back towards Liam that had ended up on the periphery of the tray. She watched the baby and let a few beats go by before addressing Alison. "I obviously haven't taken a vow of silence."
"So you're pissed at me." Alison deducted.
"Can you stop saying that in front of him? He's going to be talking soon. Do you really want his first word to be 'pissed'?" She asked.
"You just said it too!" Alison pointed out, almost incredulously.
Emily closed her eyes and shook her head. She was being petty. She knew it. She took a long breath and stood up when she exhaled. "I'm going to get him cleaned up," she redirected and lifted the baby from his high chair.
Alison stood in place for a minute, eyes wide and brows raised. When Emily didn't offer anything else, she huffed out a breath and walked into the living room to join Ellie.
Emily took her time wiping down Liam and the high chair area. She knew that she would need to talk to Alison later, but she just didn't feel like doing it right now. She peered into the living room and saw Alison on the couch with Ellie. The little girl had snuggled up to the blonde and rested her head on her as she continued to watch her show. Alison had gotten back to work upon walking in the door, being there for the kids and splitting the work with Emily. It was encouraging, but Emily still felt unsettled. She needed Alison to be a partner to her she just couldn't believe that she would be gone all day without communicating that to Emily. What if this behavior was just the tip of the iceburg? What if Emily started getting more of the work saddled onto her? What if Alison eventually just disappeared again? Emily needed her to know that what happened to today wasn't okay.
They didn't really speak to each other much for the rest of the night. When the time came, Emily took Liam to get ready for bed and Alison followed suit with Ellie to get her a bath and change her into her pajamas. Emily stayed downstairs while Alison was upstairs with Ellie. She only finally joined them when it came time to read before the toddler went to sleep. She let Alison the book to Ellie. One reason was that Alison was just a better story reader in general. The words floated around the room and she spoke with ease. The second reason was less practical. Emily was making a point that she'd done more than the blonde throughout the day. Alison needed to pick up her weight.
They tiptoed out of the room after Ellie fell asleep like they usually did. Emily expected Alison to retreat to her bedroom, but instead she trailed behind the brunette and followed her down the stairs. Emily sat down on the couch she usually slept on, and Alison sat on the opposite one. Before Emily could really come up with a plan, Alison started speaking.
"Can we talk about why you're mad at me now?"
Emily turned her head in the blonde's direction. She raised a single brow. Did Alison really not know why she was upset?
Alison blinked at Emily's expression. She let out a breath. "Look, I'm sorry that I was gone longer than I thought today. I really just lost track of time."
"You can't just do that, Alison," Emily told the other woman.
"I don't get it," Alison's brows pinched together. "Last night you were fine with me going to Philly. You were the one who said that I hadn't left the house in a week."
"Lunch," Emily stressed. "You said that you were going to lunch. Which would imply an hour or two. Not an entire day. An entire day after I was up all night driving Liam around."
"No one told you to do that, Emily," Alison snapped.
"Well there was no way that you were going to!" Emily fired back.
Alison took a quick breath through her nose and released it. "You know what," she stood up from the couch abruptly. "I'm trying. I can see that you don't trust me. I get that you don't even like me." She paused and shook her head. "But I'm trying... whether you want to believe that or not." She turned towards the steps and started walking.
Emily stared as she retreated, somewhat stunned at the outburst, but still fuming a little herself. "Where are you going?" She called in frustration.
"To bed!" Alison called back. She rounded the stairs and walked up toward her room.
Emily flopped back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. This wasn't how she wanted the talk to go. She wanted Alison to know that they were a team and one of the couldn't just go rogue. What if something had gone wrong with the kids and she needed the other woman? Of course her emotions got involved. Once things escalated, all bets were off for Emily. She had always been this way.
Alison was right about one thing, though. She was trying. Emily could see the effort. This wasn't five years ago. Alison was actually doing better with the kids than Emily had thought- though, that being said, the brunette had set the bar pretty low for her. She took several breaths and continued to study the ceiling.
Alison was also right about another thing. Emily didn't trust her. It wasn't that she didn't want to. It was just so hard to. It was so hard after everything that had happened years ago. It was hard when Emily recognized actions and behaviors that the blonde used to display. How could she trust that this wasn't going to end with Alison running away again?
At some point she fell asleep. She didn't change into her pajamas or set up the couch with her pillows and blankets. The physical and mental exhaustion took over over and she fell into a deep sleep.
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A/N- These two... why can't they just get along. Emily is having trouble seeing growth in Alison. The flashbacks will continue throughout the story and it will continue to be clear why she feels the way that she does now.
Hope you guys are still liking the story! Keep leaving your thoughts in the reviews. I love reading them all! Especially the long ones. Take care and stay healthy! Thanks!