When Emily walked downstairs after she finished getting dressed, she was met by her friends waiting on the couches. Her eyes floated to Alison and it was almost painful how beautiful Alison was. Emily had spent the last twenty minutes replaying her moment with Alison in the bathroom in her mind on a loop.

"It's about time, Em. I'm starving," Hanna stated, the first one to look up to see Emily half-way down the stairs. She caught Alison's gaze and quickly adverted her eyes to another blonde. One who didn't make her think about things that she probably shouldn't.

"Alright lets go. I'm pretty hungry too," Aria said, pulling her keys from her pocketbook.

Naturally, Spencer found her way to the passengers seat, Hanna flopped in the middle row of the SUV, reaching for the aux cord, and Emily climbed to the back row. She would normally sit in the middle row with Hanna, choosing what songs to play and listening to Spencer passenger seat drive, but she wanted to zone out for a few minutes. She couldn't get Alison off of her mind, and being with the blonde wasn't helping.

Much to Emily's surprise, Alison followed Emily to the back row. She shot Alison a look and raised an eyebrow. Usually she'd prefer this, time alone with Alison to get the blonde to herself. Emily loved to get Alison's sole attention, but not today. After Alison shot Emily's nerves to hell before noon, she needed time to relax before getting too close to Alison again.

The blonde noticed Emily's expression and raised an eyebrow of her own, "What? I always sit back here."

Oh yeah. Alison did normally sit in the back. She liked to watch the other girls when they couldn't see her. Weird? Maybe. But she was a people watcher. It was how she learned about them.

She threw a mischievous smile at Emily as she was getting settled in her seat beside of the brunette. Out of the two seats in the back row that were open, of course Alison would choose to sit in the seat directly beside of Emily's. "Why are you back here? Did you miss me?"

Emily tried to keep her expression neutral as she watched the playful twinkle in Alison's eyes. She didn't trust her voice so she just shrugged.

Alison buckled her seat belt and brought her eyes back to Emily, "how was your shower?"

Emily's thoughts went back to Alison standing almost naked in front of her, wrapped in that damn very, very small towel. Emily took in a deep breath before she answered. The smell of Alison's perfume began to cloud her thoughts. "It was fine."

She jumped when Alison placed her hand on top of hers, "sorry for walking in on you. I totally forgot about my bracelet. It won't happen again."

Emily looked down at Alison's hand on top of hers. The brunette shifted in her seat and brought her eyes back up to Alison's, "yeah, it was no problem."

Alison said nothing as she smiled at the brunette. Emily couldn't read what Alison was thinking, but she knew the blonde was thinking about something. She could see it in Alison's eyes.

As Aria pulled out of the Hastings driveway, Alison leaned back in her seat and removed her hand from Emily's. The swimmer almost frowned at the loss of contact but she managed to keep her lips pressed together. She tried to distract herself from the blonde by scrolling through social media, rearranging her apps, and even counting the yellow dashed lines in the road as they drove, but nothing seemed to work. She couldn't stop her eyes from floating to the girl beside of her.

Emily finally zoned into Aria's, Spencer's, and Hanna's conversation about how they needed to go shopping for clothes as soon as possible. Of course, Hanna wanted to makeover everyone, but that conversation fell silent to Emily's ears when Alison suddenly put her legs in Emily's lap.

"I have a knot in my thigh, do you think you can massage it out?"

Emily could hear the flirtation laced in those words. She knew that tone all too well. It was sweet and wanting and it made Emily want to give Alison the world if the blonde asked her in that voice. Her eyes ran over Alison's bare legs sitting on top of her own. Emily was pretty sure there wasn't a part of Alison that wasn't perfect. Alison was the most beautiful girl that she had ever seen. It was.. frustrating at times.

Emily slowly put her hands on Alison's legs, allowing her fingers to lightly graze Alison's skin. This probably was a bad idea. She was certain it was. But it was so hard to deny the blonde. "Where, uh, where is the kn-knot?"

Alison tugged Emily's hand forward to glide it across of her thigh. "Here."

Emily sighed when Alison's hand left her own hand alone on the blonde's bare thigh. She knew she shouldn't be feeling like... this over Alison. Not when Emily had a girlfriend.

She's just a friend, Emily reminded herself. Friends help other friends. She took in a deep breath and tried to focus on just helping Alison. That's all this was. Just a friend helping another friend get a knot out of their leg. Emily had knots all the time in her back from swimming. Surely this was... normal?

After a moment, Emily's fingers started to massage Alison's thigh in good rhythm. Alison watched with hooded eyes as Emily pressed into her skin, rubbing out her muscles with her thumbs. Sure, it was true, Alison did have muscle soreness in her thighs from working out with Spencer to prepare for field hockey, but she couldn't deny that it was the only reason why she asked Emily to help relieve her. Maybe Alison wanted to feel Emily's hands on her. Maybe Alison wanted to feel close to the brunette after pushing her away last night.

Emily gripped the inside of Alison's thigh to get a better hold on her leg and it almost made the blonde jump at such intimate contact. She wanted this, yeah, but she didn't know how much she wanted this. She didn't realize that Emily's touch would make her feel this.

Emily flicked her eyes to the front of the car. No one was paying them any attention. They were all too caught up in their conversation about the upcoming school year. She looked back down at her hands that were dangerously close to the hem Alison's jean shorts. She almost couldn't believe that she was touching the blonde in a place that was so.. personal.

"You feel good Em."

Brown eyes whipped to Alison's. Instantly Emily felt a pull in a place that she knew should have been reserved for only her girlfriend, but she couldn't help it. Not when Alison was talking to her like this... in a voice that Emily only heard Alison use with her before. A voice that was warm and wanting and made Emily want to melt into a blonde hair blue eyed puddle. How Alison did this to her, she couldn't understand. Emily told herself to look away, but damn if she could…or damn if she even wanted to.

She watched as Alison's eyes dipped to her lips and fuck. The blonde was right there. Alison's thigh underneath her hand, legs thrown in Emily's lap, and lips just a stretch away from her own. Alison was so beautiful and soft and right there.

"Ali?"

Alison jerked away from Emily, pulling her legs off the brunette's lap and sat forward. Emily could see the quick moment of panic that flushed through Alison before she regained her composure. "Yeah, Spence?"

Emily tried to calm her own nerves while Alison talked to Spencer, but she didn't know how on Earth she was going to be able to do that when she just had her hands on Alison's thighs and the blonde was looking at her lips like she wanted nothing more than to taste them. She leaned back into the seat and tried to get lost in the conversation happening in the car but eventually said screw it because the only thing she wanted to get lost in was the blonde sitting beside of her.

—

"I think that was the best burger I've ever had in my life," Aria claimed, throwing her napkin over her plate.

Hanna took one last bite of her fries, "easily the best food in town. I think I could eat a thousand of these fries."

Spencer groaned, "I won't be able to move because I'm so stuffed. I ate way too much. I should've ordered a salad."

Hanna took a sip of her water, "you'll be fine, stop being so dramatic. You loved every minute of it."

Spencer wiped her mouth with a napkin, "yeah? Well let's see how dramatic I am when you have to lift me back into my house because I'm in a food coma."

"Was everything okay?" The girls looked up to see their waiter smiling at them. Or wait- no, he wasn't smiling at them, he was smiling at one of them. Emily stopped herself from rolling her eyes. He hadn't been able to stop looking at Alison since the group was seated.

"It's perfect," Alison replied. Emily looked to see Alison return a smile to the waiter. Now Emily rolled her eyes. The smirk on Alison's face annoyed her more than it probably should have.

"Great, I'll be back with your checks." He held gaze on Alison a bit longer before turning back and walking to the front of the restaurant.

"Oh my God, Ali, he's so into you and he's so cute," Aria grinned.

Alison shrugged and played with her straw in her water, "maybe he'll give us a discount."

"Maybe he'll give you a discount," Hanna flatly replied, "he hasn't looked at any of us but you since we got here."

Alison slid her eyes to Emily. The blonde could see that Emily was frustrated. Was that maybe a little jealously sported on her face? She wanted to chuckle at the brunette. She found it cute. She couldn't stop herself from pushing it just a little farther. She wanted to test Emily's boundaries.. she wanted to see how much Emily cared. Suddenly the waiter became much more appealing to Alison. "You're right, he's cute. Should I get his number?"

"I'm sure he will leave you his, it wouldn't be the first time," Aria laughed.

If looks could burn there would be a hole in the table from Emily's brown eyes.

A smile turned at Alison's lips. Oh yeah, jealously was definitely cute on Emily. She turned her attention to the swimmer, "is everything okay? You seem pretty tense."

"I'm fine. Just ready to leave."

Alison's smile started to tug wider on her lips. She couldn't contain her amusement at this point. Seeing Emily turn so green over her was maybe making up for all the times she's heard the word Paige come out of her mouth the last month. Maybe.

"Don't worry Em, Ali's boyfriend is on the way back with our check," Hanna replied.

"He kind of sucked." It slipped before Emily caught herself. Her eyes flashed up to look at the group to see if anyone heard her.

"I don't think so," Alison replied.

Of course Alison heard slid her eyes to the blonde, "I bet you wouldn't."

Alison titled her head, "what does that mean?"

Aria and Spencer shared a look. Spencer had been able to tell that something had been... off between the two girls within the last twenty-four hours, but she didn't want to pry. Not yet. Alison was already hard enough to get information out of and Emily usually told the girls what was wrong when she was ready, so she didn't want to push. Not unless she needed to.

When the waiter showed back up at the table Spencer sighed in relief. "Here are your checks when you're ready."

He eagerly smiled at Alison when he reached the blonde, completely oblivious to the tension that was brewing at the table.

Alison dropped her glare from Emily to smile at the waiter. When she took the tab from him, she brushed her fingers against his and lingered for a moment before pulling her hand away. "Thank you."

Emily felt her frustration rise watching his dopey smile grow stupidly larger. God it was annoying when boys drooled over Alison. And maybe even more annoying watching Alison flirt with them.

The girls handed the waiter their cards and cash and he shot Alison another smile before bouncing off to the register.

"You have guys wrapped around your finger, huh? Do you play with them for fun?" Spencer joked, hoping to ease whatever tension was among the group.

A playful smile spread on Alison's lips, "maybe, but who said this one is for fun?"

"If he gives you his number you should definitely invite him to Noel's party," Aria said.

"So Noel can get jealous? He's like in love with Ali," Spencer replied, "not a good idea-,"

"Who cares about Noel? He's a douchebag," Hanna cut, "I say bring the waiter hottie and make Noel jealous. He's the one who acts like he's this womanizer or whatever. Make him sweat. Show him who's really in control."

Alison and Hanna shared mischievous grins and Alison loved this side of Hanna. The blondes of the group were definitely the troublemakers, and to say they loved the role was an understatement. Hanna pushed Alison to be more reckless while Alison pushed Hanna to be more bold. A recipe for disaster? Maybe. But it was at least always a good time when the two were involved.

When the waiter returned with their receipts and change, he handed Alison hers last. Emily noticed the number written on the back of the receipt and scoffed. She was the first to get up from the table and pushed past him, her shoulder knocking against his. Spencer quickly stood up and pulled a twenty out of her wallet, "sorry about that." She was the first to follow Emily out of the restaurant leaving Aria and Hanna at the table with Alison.

Hanna couldn't help but to notice how uncharacteristic Emily had been today. "What's going on with her? Something is definitely wrong, right?"

"Do you think her and Paige are fighting?" Aria pondered.

Alison shrugged as she got up from the table, when the waiter smiled at her she winked at him on her way out. She had no intention on actually using his number, but boy did he fall into her trap all too easily.

Boys… what suckers.