"Ms. Fields, may I get you anything else?"
She lifted her head from her phone and looked at the flight attendant standing above her. Flying private had become a luxury as of recent and she enjoyed it so much more than she ever imagined. "No, thank you. I'm okay."
"Please let me know if you need anything," the blonde attendant offered as she flashed a smile before turning on her heel. Emily Fields returned a smile, watching her walk away. Yeah.. blondes were definitely her weakness. They had always been for as long as she could remember. She was certain there was a particular blonde to blame for that.
Guilt flooded the brunette. She shouldn't be thinking of her. Their relationship ended four years ago when they were both twenty-one, entering their senior year of college and they hadn't spoken since then. She didn't take the break up well, even though she was the one who ended things. Emily was head over heels in love with the blonde to say the least. After they broke up, she spent a great deal of her senior year crying and moping around about her loss of her first love.
After a few months, Emily fully devoted herself to swimming to keep her mind off of her break up, spending hours training in the weight room, running around her college town of Gainesville, and doing countless laps in the pool. The brunette was the top female swimmer in the nation and was being scouted professionally by talent agencies. Her accomplishments were already elite. Her freshman season she broke multiple records at the University of Florida and across her division. It was no surprise when she was offered a chance to try out for the national team to represent the United States at international meets. Since then her career skyrocketed and she became the face of women's swimming at tender the age of nineteen.
Now, three years out of college, Emily was a worldwide known professional athlete living in Los Angeles. Her schedule was constantly booked with training, meets, events, and meetings. She had a life that she dreamt of as a child. It was hard to find a flaw. She had her dream job, was wealthy, lived in a multi-million dollar home, had successful and supportive friends, and was in a year long relationship with the most loving, beautiful supermodel.. which is exactly why Emily shouldn't have been thinking of her previous blonde girlfriend.
"Ms. Fields, we are about to depart from Los Angeles to take off en route to Philadelphia. It is now 6:07am and the estimated time of arrival will be in exactly five hours and six minutes, landing at 2:13pm eastern time. Please fasten your seatbelt and enjoy your flight."
Emily reclined her chair and put her earphones in. A five hour flight meant a five hour nap that she normally wouldn't be able to take with her excruciatingly tiring schedule. She checked her phone one last time before she closed her eyes.
I have one last photoshoot and then I'm leaving for the airport. I'll see you soon babe! Have a safe flight, text me when you land. I love you, xo.
Emily smiled and typed a quick message back to her girlfriend before putting her phone on airplane mode.
I love you too. See you soon.
"I cannot believe how famous you are now. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you are the Alison DiLaurentis," Hanna Marin grinned at her long time best friend before taking another sip of her strawberry daiquiri.
Alison DiLaurentis pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and turned to Hanna. "Oh whatever, you're so much cooler than me and you know it. Your designs are on everyone these days. When are you finally going to give me something to wear on a red carpet?!"
It was just after 3pm and Alison, Hanna, Spencer Hastings, and Aria Montgomery were laying out by the Rosewood Country Club pool. Spencer's parents rented out the place for the afternoon so that they could get alone time. Privacy was now hard to come by any time Alison was involved.
"We haven't been together in so long, how have we let so much time slip by," Spencer stated, "especially us, Ali, we share a brother."
"Ooo, speaking of Jason, did you invite him to the wedding Aria?" Hanna mischievously smiled, eyeing her tiny brunette friend.
Aria sat up on the other side of Spencer to get a better look of Hanna, "I did actually. Jason and I are good friends! That was years ago. We've both clearly moved on."
"Yeah, he moved on to your mom, Hanna, remember?" Spencer laughed.
"Spencer, shut up—,"
"Alright, ew, that's enough talk about our brother's sex life," Alison stepped in, "back to less disgusting and more important topics, I seriously can't believe you're getting married Aria."
"Are you kidding? I thought they were going to get married while we were still in high school," Spencer chuckled. A smitten smile fell on Aria, "well, what can I say? We're in love."
"Blah, blah," Hanna said, flinging her hand in the air dismissing Aria's lovestruck comment, "trust me, we all know." Alison tossed Hanna a smirk, "you sound a bit bitter over there. Are you mad because Rivers hasn't proposed yet?"
Hanna took another sip of her drink, "nope, I'm too busy for marriage at the moment. I have a company to maintain."
"I'm a lawyer, Ali is an actress, Aria works for a international publishing company, and Emily is a professional athlete. I think we're all busy," Spencer replied.
"Work is great but love should never have to be scarified," Aria agreed.
Hanna rolled her blue eyes, "mushy squash. While you guys fall in debt after your weddings and honeymoons, Caleb and I will be falling in piles of money. And speaking of Emily, where is she?"
Aria glanced down at her phone to check the time, "she should be here soon. Her plane left at nine our time this morning."
Alison tensed at Emily's name. Emily was the only girl out of her friends that she hadn't kept in touch with, and rightfully so. When the two broke up four years ago, it destroyed Alison. She canceled multiple auditions and call-times just to lay in bed and cry. It took almost a year before the blonde pieced her life back together.
In the four year span after their split, Alison went from just another girl trying to make it in Hollywood to becoming an A-list celebrity. She landed a Vogue cover, won an Oscar, and was nominated for a Golden Globe award. She was a young fresh face in Hollywood and it seemed like the world fell in love with her in just a blink, just like the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, a professional NFL team.
Jackson Dylan was the showtime young quarterback in the NFL who fell for Alison the moment he laid eyes on her at a club opening a year ago. The two met and it was a whirlwind romance. Within six months Jackson proposed to Alison. Their engagement had been the talk of the entertainment world and the media couldn't get enough of the superstar couple. They were one of Hollywood's favorite pairing, but as Alison thought about seeing Emily for the first time in almost three years, her stomach dropped as she twirled the diamond ring on her left hand.
"Have you spoken to her lately?" Spencer tore Alison away from her thoughts as she shook her head in response, "not in three years." The sadness in Alison's voice didn't go unnoticed by her friends. The girls always thought Emily and Alison were going to get married, everyone who knew them did. They were magnetic and seemed to compliment each other perfectly. While Alison was feisty, Emily was calm. When Emily needed reassurance, Alison would give her confidence. Emily grounded Alison and Alison helped Emily take flight. They were two people who just fit, two people who balanced each other out.
"How do you think this week is going to go?" Hanna asked.
Alison shrugged her shoulders, "honestly, I don't know. So much has changed in the last three years and with Jackson coming for the wedding, I—I don't know."
"Is he coming with us to Bora Bora for the honeymoon trip too?" Aria asked.
"No, he has to report to spring training. He's leaving the morning after the wedding," Alison replied. Hanna shifted in her seat and looked at Spencer, who knew exactly what Hanna was thinking. Aria's honeymoon trip was extended to her friends and their significant others. Without Jackson, Alison would be left alone. To make matters worse, Emily would not be attending the trip alone. Spencer took a breath before delivering the news, "Ali, I don't know if you know, but—,"
"I'm here!"
The four girls whipped their heads to see Emily walking out of the pool house and towards them "Emily fucking Fields!" Hanna shouted, standing up to rush her best friend. When she reached her, she jumped on top of Emily, and thankfully the brunette had no problem catching her excited friend. She beamed as Hanna wrapped her arms and legs around the tall swimmer. "It's good to see you too, Han."
"You're never allowed to go this long without seeing me ever again," Hanna demanded, letting go of Emily and being set back down on the ground.
Alison's stomach flipped. Emily was painfully beautiful. She had matured in the face since the last time the blonde saw her four years ago. She didn't have a baby face about her anymore. Her features were sharpened in only the best ways possible. Her hair was a bit longer and just barely a few shade lighter than her natural dark hair. Alison figured it was probably from the sun, maybe all the chlorine, but whatever it was, gone was the girl Alison had known. Emily was a young woman. A stunning, beautiful, completely breathtaking young woman.
Each step closer Emily and Hanna took towards the three girls, Alison felt herself grow more nervous. One hundred questions suddenly flooded her as she watched Emily greet Spencer and Aria. Did she look okay? Was she prettier than when Emily last saw her? What would Emily think of her? Did Emily watch her TV show? Did Emily even care about her anymore? Alison couldn't remember the last time that she was this nervous and she was in the entertainment business for heavens sake. What was wrong with her?!
She watched as Emily's eyes turned from Spencer to meet her own. Emily's mouth parted before she pressed her lips back together. Her brown eyes widened as she took in Alison for the first time in years. Alison could have sworn, that for one moment before Emily blinked it away, she saw the same love struck gaze that Emily looked at her with for years.
Emily made her way to Alison as the blonde sat up and stood from her pool chair. This was the moment that Emily had been thinking about since she received Aria's wedding invitation. She knew the wedding would be the event that reunited them, but she didn't know how it would happen. She had countless dreams about this moment. She wondered if be awkward or natural, if they would get along or argue. Would it break Emily all over again or would she feel nothing at all? The closer she got to Alison, the more she realized that everything she thought she would feel would fall short to what she was actually feeling now in the moment. She thought she would feel over Alison, moved on to another blonde who took up all the availability in her heart so there was no room left for anyone else.. but maybe.. maybe she was wrong.
"Hi," Emily's welcome came so softly the girls barely heard her. She opened her arms to greet Alison as she did the rest of her friends. She didn't want to treat Alison any differently or make the situation awkward, but she couldn't help but to feel incredibly different being this close to Alison again after so long.
Alison took a step into Emily, wrapping her arms around of the brunette's waist. "Hi." She closed her eyes as Emily's familiar scent invaded the air around her. It was the same perfume she had when they were together. Alison hadn't smelt that fragrance in years. It almost made her lightheaded. She felt two arms wrap around her neck as Emily's head laid against her own.
Emily tried to ignore how Alison's body shuttered in her arms upon contact or how good the blonde's hair smelt. She especially tried to ignore that Alison was practically naked against her.
Her finger absentmindedly ran through a lock of Alison's hair and for a brief moment, she was taken back in time. The feel of Alison in her arms again was natural. Her fingertips grazed the blonde's bare shoulders and she felt Alison's hold around her waist tighten with the slightest pull.
Alison was the first to let go, she had to. The blonde took a step back from Emily, knowing she couldn't think straight, in multiple phrases of the term, if she was that close to the swimmer.
Hanna wanted to laugh at the tension that fell upon the group, but instead she stepped between the girls and threw one arm around Emily and one around Alison, "now that everyone is here, we can officially kick off Aria's wedding week! Last one to the bar pays all the tabs!"
Cheers came from Spencer and Aria who started making their way to the pool house and Alison slipped out of Hanna's arm to pounce between the two, locking her arms around of Aria's neck and Spencer's waist, "let's have the week of your life, Mrs. Almost-Fitz!"
Emily's eyes fell to Alison in her bikini. Alison had always been easy on the eyes, but after not seeing her for years, it felt like her beauty impossibility multiplied. Alison was breathtakingly stunning.
She felt a soft smack against the back of her head. "Wrong blonde," Hanna whispered, patting Emily on the shoulder.
Busted.