Spencer POV
"Ali I know it may be hard to talk about, but we need to know what happened." Spencer said trying to get through to Alison who had hardly spoken or moved since she got there.
"Spence what do we do? Should we call her mom?" Arya said coming to stand by her.
"NO!" Alison said finally coming out of her shell shocked state scaring Arya.
"Please, don't call her. Please!" Alison begged us tears building up in her eyes before finally falling. She curled into herself on the couch and began sobbing. Arya and I immediately went to her side to try and calm her but nothing seemed to be working.
"Spence?" Arya looked at me and I turned my gaze to her, to find a blurry figment in her place. I hadn't realized in all of the commotion that I had been crying too. I wipe the tears from my face take a deep breath before pulling myself together.
"Arya watch her for a second." I said turning around heading to the kitchen counter where my phone laid.
"Where are you going?" I heard Arya call after me, but I was on a mission. Easily finding the blue case on the counter I head towards my phone and dial the third contact on my list.
"Hey, it's me. Yeah. I need you to come over. Please, it's Alison. I can't explain it all right now please just come. Thank you." I place the phone back on the counter before leaning on it myself.
"I hope she gets here soon."
Emily
After receiving Spencer's call I throw on some clothes and pack a bag to stay over. I run downstairs and straight into my mother.
"Where do you think you're going at this time of night?" She says looking at the bag in my hand.
"Mom I have to get to Spencer's now." I say trying to push past her. She grabs my arm.
"Since when? You didn't tell me you girls had a sleep over and I think it's a little late for you to be going over there. You'll see Spencer at school."
"Mom, no it's an emergency."
"You teenagers think everything is an emergency. Now give me your ba-". I step away from her and closer to the door.
"Mom this is serious. Spencer wouldn't have called if it wasn't. Please I promise to call you in the morning. I just need to make sure everything is okay. Please, mom." She looks at me for a long time, at least it felt like that knowing I was here and not with Alison when she needed me.
"Okay, go but don't for-". I didn't hear the rest of her sentence as I ran out the door and started walking towards Spencer's house. Probably not giving my mother any reason to feel satisfied with letting me go.
On the way to Spencer's I reflect on the seemingly never ending night. Should I stop and turn around? Could I take another encounter with Alison after we just went through? Could I face Alison knowing she knows exactly how I feel, but doesn't want to be with me? No Emily that doesn't matter I tell myself. Her not wanting to be with me doesn't mean I have the right to be a shitty friend. A text message pulls me out of my thoughts.
From: Smarty Pants
Hey, we're inside the barn. Are you close?
To: Smarty Pants
I'll b right there.
I clench my jaw before making my way to the barn door and heading inside. The moment I enter I see Aria and Spencer standing in front of a curled form on the couch. The moment they notice me they crowd around me.
"What happened?" I whispered. Not taking my eyes off of Alison. I can't remember ever seeing her this broken.
"We don't know she just came here crying. We tried asking her questions, but you know Ali it's hard enough to get anything out of her on a normal day let alone whatever going is going on with her today". Spencer finishes in a rush of whispers. I just nod my head before putting my bag down by the door.
"Can you give me a minute alone with her." Though it came out of my mouth as a statement rather than a question.
"Yeah, we'll be in the room in the back. Come get us if you need anything." Spencer starts to walk towards the room noticing a second later Aria wasn't following her.
"Aria?" She calls out to the girl. And for the first time since arriving I notice Aria hadn't said a word. She too was stuck looking at Alison.
"Aria?" Spencer says again this time putting a hand on her shoulder. This seems to wake her up.
"Yeah. Sorry, I've just never seen her like this. Honestly, I never thought I would." It's understandable. Ali tends to cycle from cold indifference, indifference, flirty, and somewhat caring (only towards the girls and me) around everyone as if they were the only emotions that existed.
"I know munchkin." Spencer says putting her arm around Aria. "Come on." She pulls Aria with her towards the back room. I wait until I hear the door close before approaching the couch. I get on my knees until my face is inches from her own. Her eyes are closed and her arms are wrapped around herself. I slowly lift my hand towards her face and begin to waive away the tears.
"We have to stop meeting like this." I say though my voice is still but a whisper. I heard something between a snort and a whimper. And the shatter pieces I called a heart seemed to break into even more pieces. I didn't think possible. I heard a shaky inhale before she said "This is only the second time. I don't think that makes it a trend just yet."
I give a short laugh before replying "I guess your right. But I don't think I want this to be a trend with us." My voice breaks at the end. It's been a long day. Too long. She opens her eyes and my breath catches. Those blue eyes. Those sad blue eyes.
"Ali what happened?" I ask her pushing some pieces of her blonde hair back behind her ear. She doesn't answer. I give her a couple of minutes before beginning to ask the question again only to hear her tragically beautiful voice answer.
"Em?"
"Yeah?" I whisper back.
"You remember how you asked me that question after we played never have I ever?" She said looking me directly into my eyes.
"Yeah. I-I said that I had been honest with you so I asked you to be honest with me." She nods as I finish speaking.
"You told me something incredible tonight-" I start to pull away because I didn't want to think about that right now. I needed to focus on Ali. I can grieve a relationship that never happened later. Being close to her definitely wasn't helping.
"Please." She whimpers grabbing me and pulling me closer than we were before. "You told me something incredible tonight. And as much as I want to tell you what's wrong Em I can't I just can't. So I'm begging you. Please don't ask me again because I'll have to lie to you. Please don't make me lie to you. Em plea-" She doesn't finish her sentence as she starts to sob. I pull her closer to me until her head is on my shoulder and rub her back. I'm not sure how long we laid there before she lefty's her head off my shoulder.
"Em?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you…. lay with me?" I sigh in response. "Ali-"
She cuts me off "I know it's not fair to ask, but I need you." I look at her before standing away from her.
"Em?" I walk away towards the linen closet and pull out a blanket. When I return Alison is no longer on the couch but standing.
"Em what's-" I stop her by raising my hand in the air. I turn and walk towards the door leading outside. Before completely exiting I turn to her holding my hand out for her to take. She doesn't hesitate and grabs it. I pull her into Spencer's yard and stop when we get to a particularly lush part of grass. I let go of her hand and start to place down the blanket I had in my other arm. Once done I lay down and invite her to do the same. She does and goes five steps further by laying on top of me. She breathes deeply and closes her eyes resting her head in the crook of my neck. "Thank you Em." Her warm breath hits my ear and neck sending shivers down my body. Shivers she had to have felt, but made no comment about. Well at least she's not repulsed by me. She moves her head so that she's able to see the stars. "Do you remember when we came out here when we were younger and looked at the stars?" She asked softly. "No" I lied. Because of course I remembered. How could I ever forget? She doesn't respond, but I have a nagging feeling she doesn't believe me.
After a while I notice her breathing stabilize and knew she had finally fell asleep. I stare at the rising sunrise knowing we'll have to get up soon. The tears that had been building in my eyes since the moment I saw Ali again had decided to come out greet this new day. A shed a tear for Alison never being able to say how she feels? I shed a tear for my now deceased heart? I shed a tear because I always dreamed of holding Alison and watching the sunrise. I'd look down at her, push her hair out of her face and kiss her awake. She'd push me away complaining about morning breath, but I wouldn't care because every kiss with her is… perfect. I shed many tears over this.
I didn't realize how long I was silently crying until I heard a door open and Spencer call out "Em? Ali? You out there?" I quickly wipe away my tears and hope they blame the redness of my eyes on the lack of sleep, which wouldn't be completely untrue.
"We're-" I say with a squeaky start. I cough a bit to clear my throat. "We're back here Spence." I begin to gently shake Alison to wake her up.
"No. Five more minutes." She tries to burrow her face more into my neck with little luck.
"Come on Ali. We have school. My mom will kill me if I'm not there." She sighs but reluctantly gets up. Spencer and Aria's shadow cover us. "You slept out here?" Spencer says with a confused face.
"Yeah-" I started but was cut off by Alison.
"That's kind of obvious isn't Spencer." She stands and begins to dust herself off.
"She didn't mean anything by it Ali" Aria begins. "When we didn't see you guys inside we got worried." She finishes.
"Well I think you both have more to worry about with your families than me." She says in an scathing tone. I sigh because here we go again. Alison shows a little vulnerability and has to make up for it by being ten times more mean. She starts to walk away.
"ALISON!" Spencer yells her arms crossed. Aria stands there with a hurt expression. I'm not sure what the family comment meant, but I'm sure it wasn't anything good.
"What?" She turns around with a fierce look on her face.
"What? What? What the fuck do you think Alison?" Spencer says getting closer to her. Oh boy. "You come to my house in the middle of the night bawling your eyes out with no explanation and now you act like a major bitch?" I start to stand wanting to diffuse the situation before it got any worse. "Guys I-" But was cut off by Alison "A major bitch Spencer? I'm the biggest bitch you know and don't you forget it. Actually maybe I should get your mom if you're starting to forget things. All those pills you take may finally be getting to you." Spencer immediately turns pale and backs down. Alison just smirks. I catch her eye as she begins to turn around. Her smirk falters only for a millisecond before for she walking away toward her house.
Aria tries to approach Spencer, but she shrugs her off and walks toward her house slamming the door.
Aria looks at me "What is happening?"
I wish I knew.
I arrive at school after a completely awkward car ride with Aria and Spencer. Both seemed to be contemplating Alison's words. And to be honest I was too. What did she mean? Was Spencer taking drugs? She doesn't seem the type. But I guess no one is the "type" until they are. I walk toward my locker only to see someone standing there. You got to be fucking kidding me. Did I do something I'm not aware of? Maybe run over a family of animals? Or a homeless person? Why else would I be punished so heavily these last couple of days? I'm reaching my limit and I'm scared about what happens when I get there.
As I get closer to my locker I can make out the little smirk on Ben's face. I wish I could tear off along with his face. Damn between him and Noel my need to commit violence has quadrupled.
I walk up to him leaving a large gap between us. "What do you want Ben?" He just laughs. And I mean who even laughs like that. I didn't know laughter could be so creepy until I met him.
"Oh right you don't know." He says with a big smile.
"Don't know what Ben? I know you have trouble with words but I'm hoping you could say this before I miss all my classes." His smile drops. HA you egotistical bastard.
He takes a step closer and I take noticeable step back. He smirks again. "Well, your mom called mine this morning saying she was concerned about you for a while now. You know they're church buddies so they talk about things like that or whateva. She said you ran out in the middle of the night with barely an explanation."
"That's not what happened." I said crossing my arms. Well, okay maybe it did happen a bit like that but he didn't need to know that.
"Your mom is worried you might be involved in something scandalous. But don't worry I know how much of a prude you are. So I know it was nothi-"
"Does this story have an end." I said cutting him off. He clenches his jaw and takes a large step towards me getting into my personal space.
"Yeah there is. Your mom thinks you need more positive influences in your life. So she invited me and my mom to dinner tonight." He finishes with a large smile.
"She did what!" I clench my fist ready to go off on him when I hear a commotion behind us. The crowd starts to part and I can finally see what caused such a response. Alison is walking hand and hand with Noel."
What the hell. I must've said that out loud because Ben responds "They're Facebook official now. Noel said Ali texted him this morning." But I was with her this morning, which means right after she left me she texted him. It shouldn't surprise me, but it does. It shouldn't hurt so much, but it does. I start to walk away when I feel a strong grip on my arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" He begins to drag me closer to him. But a gentle hand on my shoulder stops my progression.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Toby said with a growl. Ben lets go immediately. Our group knows Toby is a big teddy bear, but most people still fear him. Ben especially after being beat up by him.
He lets go and begins to walk away. "See you tonight's Emily." He throws over his shoulder and I almost vomit. The bell rings, but instead of walking towards our class Toby pulls me into a hug. Okay after my dad and Alison, Toby definitely has the best hug.
"You okay? What did he mean by he'll see you later tonight? Do I need to beat him up again?" He says quickly. I manage a chuckle "You've been spending too much time with Spencer." He laughs, but my smile slips away remembering this morning. Did he know or suspect?
"Em?" He asks in a soft tone.
I grab his arm and begin to drag him towards our class. No small feat. He looks like he wants to protest.
"We'll talk later okay?" He still looks like he wants to protest, but nods and lets me drag him into the classroom. During class I receive a note to go see the coach after class. Toby looks at me with a questioning look but I just shake my head. Once the bell rings Toby offers to walk to the locker room. I just push him in the direction of his next class. He laughs and shakes his head before walking away.
As I get closer to the locker room my hands begin to sweat, my heart rate increases and a feeling of nausea overwhelms me. My head starts to pound. I take a couple of shaky deep breaths before entering the locker room. I go to the coach's office only to see the whole swim team there.
Well shit…
A/N: Hey guys! Thank you for everyone who responded. I'm happily surprised so many people wanted me to continue the story. It's been a while since I've written so I apologize if it's not quite up to standard. I'm also writing on my iPad atm as my laptop decided this was the right time to die on me. So I apologize for any mistakes. Please leave a comment and tell me your thoughts on this chapter.
Corny joke of the day: Why shouldn't you write with a broken pen?
You ready for this…. Because it's pointless HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..
Okay, I'll go now.