Hi, thank you for your kind words and liking this story from the beginning! It means the world to know you're still here with me for another story. Anyway, here the new chapter. I updated the previous chapter, adding some things, so please read again CH 01 before getting into this.

Can't wait to read what you think about this! See U soon!

My Mannequin

CH 02

What is magic? Is it something adults tell us as a kid to explain those things they don't understand? Or it's a gift the Universe holds for those who deserve a better life? If someone deserves magic in her life, that is Emily. The kind, pure soul who is always helping others has finally gotten some magic in her life. She has always believed in fairy tales and happy endings, but it's easier to believe it in paper than living it. Maybe that's why our dear Emily is still struggling to believe what her eyes can see and what her hands can touch.

"This can't be happening! I'm dreaming, yeah! That's it! It's a dream… A really realistic dream"

As hard as it is to believe magic exists and the Mannequin came alive. Emily cannot look away from the perfect view she has in front of her. Golden curls which smell like vanilla, porcelain skin so soft like the petals of a rose. And, those eyes! God! She was right, there were no more beautiful sapphires than the ones of her dear Mannequin.

The brunette cannot stop looking at Alison and vice-versa, the Mannequin cannot take her eyes away from her. The blonde is as surprised as Emily, one moment she was in this prison world where she couldn't do more than watch and now… now she's here, in the arms of the girl who has been her entire world for the last couple of years. And, she can finally feel what it feels to be touched by Emily. It's warm, it's smooth, it's everything.

Alison also can't understand what is happening or why but she is more concerned about the possible time limit this can last than trying to understand the reasons for her new existence. As a mannequin she had zero possibilities to do anything at all, but now she has an open window to infinite possibilities; so many possibilities, so many things to try that her brain is having problems catching up with the big list of all the things she wants to do as a human. But let's start for the most important and at the top of that big list, there's just one thing: Emily.

She was indeed an inanimate object, existing in an empty life without purpose or reason to be more than a mannequin when Emily appeared in front of her and changed it everything. From her eyes to the warmth of her smile, the brunette brought something in Alison's empty existence. She gave her a name, she brought light, joy, happiness to the grey life of the Mannequin, it was as if the Universe chose Emily to show Alison that life is more than just existing… so much more. So yeah, understand why she's alive and no longer an inanimate mannequin is not what it's important now, what really matters is that she can finally touch the face of the girl who has dressed her the last couple of years. The girl who gave her a name. The girl who made her feel something for the 1st time in her life.

Alison wasted no time and finally did something she always craved to do: Touch Emily. She slowly slides her fingers over her and it was more amazing than what she could have imagined, mapping Emily's face with her fingers, Alison smiles, loving the sensation of touching her caramel skin.

"I can touch you… I can really touch you, Emily"

The blonde is in tears, happy tears because touching Emily has always been a dream that she never thought it could become real. Her fingers move all around the face, softly caressing as the wands of new spring foliage.

"You're so beautiful Emily"

The brunette smiles, showing a little bit of blush on her cheeks and the blush just increases, covering her entire face when Alison leans over her chest, wanting to hear her heart. The blonde glues her ear to Emily's chest and smiles when she hears for the first time a beating heart. Her heartbeat echoed in Alison's ear as a strong melody, a steady rhythm that Alison wants to record in her memory forever. The accelerated heart of the brunette is pumping at its maximum and that's Alison's fault. Her closeness is more than what Emily can handle right now. Dirty thoughts pop up in Emily's mind and that activated an alarm in the brunette.

"Okay! Time to wake up!"

Emily puts water over her face, she slaps her face, she even hit her head against a wall, trying to find a way out of this supposed dream but nothing works. Nothing, and Emily has no choice but to accept the fact that Alison is here, really here.

"This can't be happening. I'm losing my mind. You cannot be the mannequin"

"Of course it's me, Emily! Look, you glued me here and here, and…"

The blonde starts to point out at her entire body but there's no trace of the glue, except the part of her leg where Emily didn't have all the fragments to put it as new. It was a tiny scar in the leg that Alison tries to use as evidence to prove she's the Mannequin but when she raises her leg to show a better angle of it, Emily immediately covers her eyes because she's watching too much of Alison, just like her roomie who chose this precise moment to open Emily's bedroom door.

"Em, what is all this noise? What is… Wow! Girl without underwear!"

"Hanna! Do not look!"

The brunette pushes Hanna out of her bedroom as she tries to make sure Hanna doesn't oversee the perfect body of the blonde.

"Stay here, do not move, I'll be back, Alison"

Emily explains as she closes the door, leaving Alison in the room as she tries to find a way to explain all this madness to Hanna.

"I didn't know you were seeing someone. When did she come in? I didn't hear the door this morning"

"It's not like that, Hanna"

"Hey, you don't need to explain, I was just passing through, I will leave you two to keep doing whatever you were doing…"

Hanna winkles an eye and gives her some thumbs up, to what Emily just rolls her eyes with blush on her cheeks. If she will want to find a way to make any sense to all of this, she will need more help than Hanna to figure it out.

"Hanna, do not leave, stay and call Spencer & Aria, tells them to come, I need all of you here"

"Is this your way to propose to us an orgy? Because I always wanted to experiment but, Spencer? Really? She's so stiff and..."

"OMG, Hanna! Stop thinking dirty okay! I'll explain everything when the girls arrive okay?"

Hanna nods, she has no clue what is really the big deal, nor why Emily steps into her room to take some clothes.

"Yeah, this will fit her"

Says Emily as she grabs a red hoodie, a T-shirt and some jeans. With the pair of clothes on the hand, the brunette walks back to her room when she finds Alison exactly the way she left her, with one leg flexed to step forwards and the facial expression of one girl who opened her mouth to say something but got frozen in time and space.

"What are you doing?"

"You said: 'don't move'... so I didn't move…"

"I didn't mean literally!"

The blonde looks confused and Emily chuckles because she finds it cute. The brunette makes a mental note to explain better her instruction for the next time. Putting the clothes of Hanna over the bed and getting out of her drawer a pair of new boxers so the blonde could use it as underwear, Emily tells her to put that on and she was getting ready to get out of the room, to give her privacy to dress but before she could get out of the room, Alison grips on Emily's shirt, stopping her.

"Is there a problem with the clothes?"

Alison doesn't reply, she just opens her arms and now, it's Emily the one who looks confused.

"What are you doing, now?"

"Waiting for you to dress me"

"What?!"

"Don't look surprised Emily. You always dress me, so… chop, chop"

Emily rolls her eyes, she can't believe that the blonde is ordering her to dress her. The brunette deeply exhales and she shyly starts to dress her up, trying to not stare too long.

"Why are you acting shy, Emily? This is not the first time you see me naked nor the first time you dress me up?"

"It's not the same"

Emily mumbles as her cheeks get red with blush. It's obvious that Alison is like a newborn, she will need to learn everything from A to Z. And, that's what Emily tries to explain to her friends once the girls arrive.

"Emily, did you eat the glue? Even me, I know that can mess out with your head"

The brunette rolls her eyes as Hanna insinuates she's under the effects of some possible intoxication for saying such things like 'hey! My mannequin is now a living girl!'. Emily knows how crazy this sounds and she doesn't expect her friends will understand it because to be honest, she doesn't understand what is happening either. But, she needs them to give her the benefit of the doubt at least.

"Please girls, I'm telling you the truth! Alison was the mannequin!"

Spencer, Aria and Hanna look skeptical to what they are hearing and Emily looks sad for not being able to make them believe. Alison has no clue of what is really happening, human interactions are also something new for her. The only thing that the blonde knows is that she doesn't like to see Emily sad; she needs to do something to fix that, but what? How to prove she was some kind of Pinocchio?

"Emily was not the only one who spoke to me…."

"Huh?"

The blonde starts to reveal some secrets that the other girls were 100% sure no one else should have known besides the Mannequin.

"OMG! You're the Mannequin!"

Now the girls believe and Emily smiles because she's not crazy after all. It's thanks to the blonde who stands by her side that her friends believe in her story.

"Thanks, Ali…"

"Who's Ali?"

Emily chuckles and explains what is a nickname. The blonde smiles and the explanation just opened the door to more questions.

"Wow, she's like a blank book…"

"Yes, Aria, everything is new for her. We need to teach her lots of things"

When Spencer brought up the subject of teaching, she was thinking about books, about history, about geography. No, about putting Alison in front of the TV and let her watch trash TV.

"Hanna, what the hell you're doing?!"

"Well, she needs to learn how to live, what better way to learn than watching the Kardashians…"

"Oh, hell no! Over my dead body you will pollute her mind!"

"You're not in charge here, Spencer!"

Both girls start to discuss about Alison's education and what would be best for Alison to learn first, Emily gets in the middle, trying to calm down the heating argument and as the brunette tries to mediate between Hanna and Spencer, Alison approaches the tiny brunette who's always talking about love just like Emily.

"Aria. There's something I want to learn and I'm sure you can teach me…"

"Really?"

Alison nods as she's getting ready to cross another thing from her 'To Do list':

Kiss Emily X (Done!)

Touch Emily X (Done!)

Love Emily

...

Yes, Alison's list is all about Emily, and there's nothing else that Alison wants to learn more than the best way to love her. Will she be able to do it?