The rest of the night ran smoothly. Other than the fact that Alison and Emily would barely look in each other's direction.. it had been an easy night. The girls listened to music, played rounds of truth or dare, and played drinking games. Alison was shocked that no one noticed that throughout all of the activities, Emily and Alison hadn't spoken a word to each other. Specifically Spencer or Hanna. It never took Spencer long to catch on to something, but Hanna always seemed to pick up on social cues and situations quicker than anyone else besides herself. Maybe it was the alcohol that clouded her sixth sense. Whatever it was, the blonde was glad that no one noticed. Emily rejecting her stung. She would never admit to it, or to the situation in general, but ouch.

Aria yawned as she slumped back into the couch, "I'm tired guys."

Emily rubbed her eyes and nodded in agreement, "me too. What time is it?"

"You should know, you've been on your phone all night."

She was almost shocked to hear the reply come from Alison. The blonde hadn't spoken to her in hours.

Spencer ignored Alison and checked her watch, "it's 2:27. I think we should call it for tonight."

"I call dibs in bed with Spencer," Hanna claimed, jumping from the sofa chair.

Aria and Hanna went back and forth about who was sleeping with Spencer while Alison gathered a few blankets from the closet. If they were sleeping upstairs she figured that left her on one of the couches. She didn't mind sleeping on the couch. At least she was alone. But she wasn't really going to be alone. Emily would be sleeping on the second couch in the room just a few feet from her. Any other time that wouldn't bother her, in fact she'd prefer it. But tonight was different.

Emily watched Alison and Spencer grab blankets for the couches and before she knew it, she was alone with the blonde. Alison sitting on one couch and Emily on the other. She listened to Aria, Spencer, and Hanna laugh a few times before they settled down upstairs and she couldn't remember a time, ever, when she had wished she had been with them over Alison, except for now.

Alison laid on the couch and began wrapping herself in blankets, pressing herself into the pillows. After a few moments when Emily realized that Alison really wasn't going to acknowledge her she finally spoke. "Can we talk now?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

The reply was short but it was something she guesses. "You've been this way all night."

"Just go to bed Emily."

A sigh of frustration left Emily's mouth, "fine. Goodnight."

It was silent just for a moment before..

"Make sure to tell Paige I said goodnight too."

Emily groaned and sat up on the couch, "I am so tired of this. What is wrong with you? Is this about-,"

"Don't," Alison cut, "just drop it."

"No."

Alison raised her eyebrow at the swimmer. She was.. shocked. Emily had never challenged Alison before. "Fine, you want to know what this is about? This is about the fact that you're so obsessed with your new girlfriend that you don't even notice your friends anymore," Alison snapped.

"Don't notice my friends or don't notice you?" Emily fired back.

Alison's mouth dropped for just a moment before she regained her composure. It wasn't missed by Emily. In fact, it gave Emily just enough strength to continue standing up to the blonde.

Alison crossed her arms, "and what does that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means. Why can't you just admit it?"

Emily didn't even recognize her own voice as she spoke to Alison. There was confidence in her tone that had never been there when it came to the blonde. She had always been so weak to Alison about everything that this banter between them now was unchartered territory. Emily felt her confidence waiver when Alison's smirk pulled at her lips. Emily knew that smile. It was a smile that Emily had seen on Alison's face many of times just before Alison cut into whoever her victim was. If there was one thing about Alison DiLaurentis, you were not going to back her into a corner. And right now the blonde felt attacked. She knew what Emily was implying, and there was no way in hell that Alison was going to admit anything. "Why can't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?"

Alison slipped a sarcastic chuckle, "don't act like you're clueless, Emily. Do you look at all your friends the way that you look at me?"

The brunette felt her cheeks redden. It had been a secret, maybe a poorly kept one, but still a secret that Emily had felt... something.. towards Alison. She never wanted to admit it, not even to herself, because she always knew that Alison could never return those feelings for her. Before she started dating Paige, it haunted her every day to think about a girl in.. ways.. that she knew would never happen. And now to have Alison calling her out on it.. to have the blonde throw that in her face when she knew Alison would never return those feelings for her... it hurt.

A wave of anger flushed Emily once realization hit. Alison had been messing with her this entire time. This summer had been a game for the blonde. Alison's lingering hands, her sweet words, her body pressed against Emily's during many nights. Alison knew what she was doing. "Get over yourself," Emily scoffed as she laid down on the couch, wrapping herself in a blanket. She turned away from Alison because she couldn't stand to look at the blonde when she was like this. She could tell that Alison was in attack mode, her tongue sharp and eyes narrowed, waiting for Emily to say something that would make her prey.

"I'm glad that you found Paige. Really, Em, I am. You needed to find someone like you, someone who could return those feelings. I'm happy for you." There was a smile on Alison's lips but it didn't match her eyes. It was cold and though Emily couldn't see it, she knew exactly what it looked like. She had seen that smile plenty over the last few years.

"I'm happy for me too. Paige is amazing. I hope you know what that's like someday."

"Oh, honey, I know the feeling. Noel makes me happy."

Wait- Noel? Suddenly she felt nauseous. She had no idea that Alison was seeing anyone. Especially Noel Kahn. Emily shouldn't be too surprised. If anyone was going to be the It couple in Rosewood it would be Alison and Noel. But still it was.. a shock. She didn't know Alison was dating.

Green crawled up her throat. She tried her best to push it down because God knows she had no right to be jealous, but she...was. She was. Emily turned around to face Alison. "You're seeing Noel?"

Alison raised an eyebrow, "why? Do you care?"

"You didn't tell us."

"I didn't think that I had to. Answer the question."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why won't you answer the question?"

"I don't care, Ali, I just-,"

"You don't?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Whenever you want to tell me the truth, let me know. Goodnight Emily."

Emily laid dumbfounded while Alison turned her back to the brunette. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to feel. So she turned her back to Alison and threw the blanket over her head. Alison always found a way to win.

—

"Good morning sunshine!"

Emily woke to find Hanna sitting on top of her, pulling at the blanket wrapped around the brunette's body.

"Hanna, go away." She tried to pull the blanket above her head but the blonde wouldn't allow it.

Hanna shook her head, "no can do. It's already ten o'clock. We're up getting dressed."

Emily rubbed her eyes and opened them more to see Spencer and Aria across the room talking. "Where are we going?"

"Breakfast, so go shower. We all already have. We're just waiting for you and Ali to get ready."

Emily practically groaned to herself at just hearing Alison's name. Her brown eyes scanned the room to notice that Alison wasn't there. Emily figured she was probably changing in Spencer's room. At least that bought her time to gather herself before she had to come into contact with her.

Emily threw the blankets off of body and stood up to walk upstairs. She opened the bathroom door and nearly jumped when she saw Alison standing in possibly the smallest white towel ever made in the history of ever, wrapped around of her body, just barely covering the parts of the blonde that Emily had dreamt about.

She quickly looked away. She could feel her cheeks reddening within seconds, "sorry—, I was—I didn't know you were—,"

Alison glanced over at Emily as she tossed her wet hair back. A smirk pulled up from her lips, "Chill Em. It's fine. It's not like you saw anything anyway. Are you going to shower?"

Emily nodded, "um, yeah." The brunette felt…nervous. Being around Alison while she was half naked with only a thin towel covering her body made Emily feel.. things.

"I'll turn the water on for you." The blonde walked back over to the shower and leaned forward. Emily watched as Alison's already small towel seemed to get even smaller, pulling up high on Alison's thigh. Brown eyes grew wide as the towel kept rising, showing off the muscles in Alison's legs. The blonde stood back up and faced Emily once she cut the water on, "it's kind of confusing if you don't know how to."

Emily didn't reply, she just nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak when Alison was so... nude... in front of her.

Once Alison realized that Emily wasn't going to reply, she faced the mirror to begin examining her face. Emily shifted in her stance, "I, um, I need to get undressed to shower."

Another smirk tugged at the blonde's lips. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it before she spoke. Emily wondered what could have possibly been coming from those heart-shaped lips but she refused to ask. She just watched as the blonde gathered her clothes and walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind of her.

She released a sigh that she didn't realize that she had been holding once the door shut. She was in and out of the shower within minutes and once she finished washing her face, she reached for her clothes on the counter. Just as she began letting her towel slip, the door opened and Emily jumped, looking in the mirror to see Alison walking in. She quickly tightened her grip on her towel, pulling it around of her once again, "God, Ali. Don't you knock?"

The blonde let out a soft laugh, "why are you being such a spazz? We change in front of each other all of the time anyway, relax."

Emily turned around, the water on her wet dark hair flinging drops across the room, and noticed just how close Alison was to her. She held her breath as Alison stood directly in front of her, just inches apart. When Alison was this close to her, it wrecked her thoughts. Whatever control she had she could feel it quickly slipping away.

She watched as Alison took another step closer and reached around Emily, cornering the brunette in between her arms and the counter. Emily didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, she wasn't going to stop it. Not when Alison was so close to her that she could see her pupils shrinking.

Alison's arm slightly brushed against Emily's towel and if Emily thought that she was on fire before, it was nothing compared to now. The blonde leaned forward as she kept her eyes locked with Emily's. It took everything in the brunette to keep her hands pressed against her side instead of clutching Alison's waist.

Just as Emily's gaze fell to Alison's lips, the blonde suddenly leaned away, pushed herself off of the counter, and took a step back. Alison held up a silver bracelet, "accidentally left this."

A smirk that Emily was very familiar with pulled at the corners of Alison's lips. It was a smirk that let Emily know that Alison knew what she was doing. That Alison knew the power that she held. "I'll see you downstairs." And with that, she walked out of the bathroom. Leaving Emily with her back against the counter as she sighed.

Alison DiLaurentis was going to be the death of her.