"Please don't get any stains on the carpet! Or the couch! And Hanna for God's sake please use a napkin!"
Spencer raced around her newly renovated apartment, her brown eyes popping out of her head as she watched Hanna bite the cheese on her pizza. Aria handed Hanna a napkin while the blonde chewed on her pizza, "calm down Spence. I'm not going to spill anything."
Spencer sighed, "mouth closed. Please chew with your mouth closed."
Alison laughed as she watched Spencer stare down Hanna with stressed eyes. She didn't expect anything less from her most intelligent friend.
Spencer slumped down in her chair with a sigh, "I'm going to have an anxiety attack before the night is over." Hanna took another bite of her pizza, this time chewing and swallowing the piece before talking, "this was your idea!"
Emily finished her bite of brownie that Aria had made, "we can always go to my house and eat if you want." The girls heard something twist and pop and looked over to see Hanna washing down a slice of pizza with a beer. "We can't do this in the house," she grinned, her pink lips wet lips from the bottle.
Alison shot Hanna an approving smile, "hand me one."
Spencer eyed the two blondes, "you guys better not—,"
"Spill it. We know," Alison cut. Spencer slipped another tried sigh and stuck her hand out towards Hanna, "hand me one too. I'm going to need it."
Hanna smiled and passed the rest of the girls a bottle and waited for them to open their drinks. "Let's make a toast!"
The five girls leaned forward over Spencer's coffee table and touched the tip of their bottles together. Alison cleared her throat and flipped her hair over her shoulder, "cheers to you, Spence, for moving into this beautiful barn and turning it into a dream room. Cheers to all of us for having an amazing summer this year and finishing it out even better than it started."
After the girls toasted, Alison leaned back. Her eyes moved to Emily who sat idly on the other side of the couch. She watched as the brunette pulled her bottle from her lips and looked down. Emily wasn't too fond of beer but she would drink it to please her friends. Alison couldn't help the smile pulling on her mouth. Emily was so innocent and it was the most pure thing that she had ever seen. Sometimes she wondered how someone like Emily could even tolerate someone like herself. "Want some water, Em? Or maybe a juice instead?" Alison chuckled, speaking soft enough so only she and Emily could hear. It didn't matter anyway, Aria, Hanna, and Spencer were too lost in their own conversation.
Emily cracked a smile, "no, I'm okay. Beer is just.. not good."
Alison took the last swig of her drink and put down the empty bottle. She started to ask Hanna to pass her another drink but she could feel Emily's eyes still on her. She couldn't pass the opportunity. She just.. couldn't.
She slowly stood and bent over the coffee table, stretching out her legs and standing on her toes. Her tank rose, exposing her abs just enough to catch Emily's attention. Emily eyes dropped to watch the muscles in Alison's legs as she reached across of the table.
She would have testified that Alison was wearing the tiny pair of jean shorts that she had ever seen as they rose while she stretched, allowing Emily to see Alison's fully exposed thigh. God soccer workouts had done Alison justice this summer.
Alison sat back down on couch once she grabbed the bottle and looked at Emily to see the swimmer looking at her with dark eyes. She got exactly what she wanted but Jesus she didn't expect Emily to look at her in a way that made Alison want Emily to devour her whole. It almost knocked the breath out of her to have Emily looking at her like that.
Emily opened her mouth to say something when her phone started buzzing in her pocket. Without looking away from Alison, she grabbed her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. She almost considering ignoring the call because the look in the blonde's eyes was.. everything. "Hello?"
Emily tore her eyes away from Alison as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Hey Paige. No, it's okay. We're just laying around."
Well that killed any mood that was brewing between the two. Why was Pig-Paige, calling Emily right now? Alison was certain that Paige knew Emily was hanging out with her friends. Maybe someone is a little controlling..
Emily started nervously fingering a pillow on the couch as she lowered her voice, "yes, she's here." The brunette quickly looked at Alison before looking back down at the pillow in her lap. Alison raised her eyebrow at Emily, but decided to stay quiet. For now.
"I know, I'll make it up to you soon. I miss you too."
Alison wanted to roll her eyes and how she refrained, she had no idea.
"Goodnight." Emily put her phone on the table and avoided looking over at the blonde sitting on the couch with her. She could feel Alison's eyes on her. She was vividly aware of the bad blood between Paige and Alison. She knew of their history before she started dating Paige and she was reminded of it constantly now. If Paige wasn't making a snide comment about Alison, Alison was making one about Paige. It was exhausting balancing the two girls, but Emily managed. She cared about them both. In a perfect world, the two would get along. But Emily knew the odds of that happening were the same of Aria joining a sports team. None.
Emily finally turned to face Alison after a moment, "that was Paige."
Alison plastered a faux smile on her face, "yeah, got that part, thanks."
Emily sighed as she leaned further back into the couch, "I know you don't really like her but—,"
"I can't stand her," Alison scoffed.
Emily frowned as she watched Alison's demeanor change. She hated when Alison acted like this. One minute Alison could be one of the sweetest girls that she had ever known, her smile soft as silk and voice sweet as honey. But the next, Alison could turn cold and act like she couldn't care less if she hurt Emily's feelings or not. "Ali, this has to stop."
Alison rolled her eyes, "why are you pinning this all on me? She obviously doesn't like me either. Let me guess, she asked about me, didn't she?"
A look of discomfort fell on the brunette's face. She really didn't want to get in the middle of Alison and Paige drama. "What?"
"Paige. You said 'she's here'. That was about me wasn't it?"
Emily silently nodded. She looked over at her other friends hoping that she could catch their eye to pull her out of this conversation with Alison. Emily rarely wanted to be saved from any situation that involved the blonde, but when it came to Paige, Emily didn't want Alison near.
"Right, of course she did. She clearly has a problem with me but I'm the problem."
"She's my girlfriend, Ali-," Emily started but fell silent once Alison stood from the couch.
"Whatever Emily."
Hearing Emily call Paige her girlfriend made Alison's stomach turn. Emily watched as Alison made her way across the room, heading towards the door. For a moment, Emily thought that Alison was about to walk home.
Spencer, Aria and Hanna paused their conversation when Alison stormed by. "Where are you going? What's wrong?" Aria asked cautiously once noticed the irritation plastered on Alison's face. "Outside," Alison replied as she slipped out the door without a glance back at her friends.
Three sets of eyes landed on Emily forcing the brunette to shrug. She sure hoped they didn't expect her to figure out what was going on with Alison. As far as she knew, no one ever knew what was going on in the blonde's head.
—
"It's been fifteen minutes, should we go check on Ali?"
Emily lifted her head once she heard Alison's name. Since Alison had stormed out of the barn, she had been texting Paige and dodging questions about Alison from her friends. Paige had a nerve struck with Alison in attendance and the girls wanted to know what made Alison so upset. So Emily had spent the last few minutes talking about Alison in two different conversations and though Alison was her favorite topic, it wasn't at the moment.
Emily pulled herself from the couch and slipped her phone in her back pocket. "I'll see if I can find her."
"Do you want us to come with you?" Spencer offered.
Emily shook her head, "that's alright. I'm sure she's not far." She walked outside and wanted to roll her eyes at herself. It annoyed her at times how much she cared for the blonde. Emily always wondered why. Why did Alison have such a pull on her? Why was Alison always at the forefront of her thoughts? How did Alison drive her so crazy sometimes?
She called Alison's name a few times before she heard a response. "What?"
"Where are you?"
"Why does it matter? I'm not Paige."
"Alison," Emily groaned. Maybe Alison drove her crazy all the time.
Emily found a ladder hanging from a tree and followed the ladder to a treehouse in the corner of Spencer's yard. She had almost forgotten about that treehouse. Mr. Hastings had it built for Spencer and Melissa when they were kids. In middle school, the girls spent hundred of hours there. The bigger that they had gotten, the harder it was for all of the to fit comfortably in the house. Eventually after a few growth spurts, the girls had to relocate to living rooms and bedrooms.
She had to admit, she thought it was cute that Alison had made her way up to the treehouse. But she also found it concerning given that Alison had two beers and she knew the blonde was a bit of a lightweight. Alison would never admit it, but Emily saw that off of two beers, Alison's cheeks would turn pink and her eyes would gloss over just enough for her to notice.
She climbed up the ladder and pulled herself through the hole as she entered the treehouse, her eyes landing on Alison who was sitting in the middle of the floor, looking nothing short of an angel. "Why are you up here?"
"I didn't want to be around anyone."
Emily sat beside Alison on the wooden floor and smiled at the blonde, "you let me up here."
Alison brought her eyes to Emily and the brunette could have sworn they softened, even if just for a moment. "You don't count."
After a moment of silence, Emily spoke again. "Ali, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Emily would have rolled her eyes had it not been for the look in Alison's. She could tell that the blonde was struggling with something. Without realizing it, she reached out to touch Alison's leg for comfort, "Ali-,"
Alison jumped when she felt Emily's hand on her which caused Emily to quickly pull away from her body. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to—,"
Alison brought Emily's hand back to her thigh, "it's okay. It just took me by surprise."
Emily never noticed how soft Alison's skin was until now, with her hand pressing against Alison's thigh and Alison's fingers curled around her own, holding Emily against her. Emily allowed her fingers to relax against. She didn't know how given that she was anything but relaxed as her hand laid on Alison's thigh, but she did.
"What's wrong?"
Alison's eyes fell to Emily's lips and froze there for a moment, Emily almost becoming lightheaded at the scene unfolding before her. She watched Alison's eyes travel back up to face to meet her own eyes again. Conflict swirled in blue before Alison spoke again. "It wouldn't make a difference even if I told you."
"It might."
It was a whisper, but it was all the blonde needed to hear. Alison's eyes dropped once again to Emily's lips. Lips that suddenly looked so soft in the dim moonlight. Alison could feel the heat of Emily's palms pressed against her thigh warm the feeling driving her crazy as Emily looked at her in a way that Alison could only call as pleading. Like Emily was asking Alison to do something. To say anything.
Emily didn't notice herself leaning forward until she realized that she could see the sun freckles on Alison's nose. They only came out in the summer and Alison hated that she got sun freckles, but Emily thought it was insanely adorable. She found her freckles to be just another thing that made Alison even more beautiful. And now Emily was close enough to see them on her skin, lightly peppered across the bridge of her nose.
Alison's fingers gripped Emily's fingers that rested on her thigh. The blonde could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Normally when Emily was close to her she could control herself, but Emily had never been this close to her before. Not so close that she could see the shades of brown in Emily's eyes. Alison's eyes fluttered close when she leaned forward, her breath hitching when she felt Emily nose brush against hers.
Suddenly Emily jumped back when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Alison's eyes opened and she pulled herself away from the swimmer as she watched Emily pull her phone out of her jeans.
A strong wave of guilt flushed Emily when she saw Paige's name on her screen. Alison looked down to notice the contact picture lighting up Emily's phone and the blonde stood to create more distance between the two.
Emily stood up a second after Alison, "I've-I've got to go."
Alison looked back down at Emily's phone, "are you going to answer that?"
Emily ignored Paige's call and slipped her phone back in her pocket, "we should go back to Spencer's barn."
Alison raised her eyebrow at the brunette, "is that really what you want?"
She knew it was wrong, but Emily wanted to say no. She wanted to feel Alison's leg under her fingers and God she wanted to resume whatever they were about to do, but she couldn't. Not when she had a girlfriend. Not when she just almost cheated..
"I need to go," Emily replied.
She needed to get away from Alison. Far away. Alison clouded her judgement. Alison made her reckless. Alison almost made her cheat on her girlfriend.
Emily saw the pain flash on Alison's face before it went cold. Whatever the blonde was about to say, Emily knew she wasn't going to like it. Alison reached down and tossed the ladder back down the tree. The blonde lowered herself to the ladder and started climbing down, stopping to look back at Emily before she was completely out of the treehouse. "You chose this. Remember that."