I hope this chapter sounds alright. With it being so long I kept losing focus while revising it.

Emily wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't just keep sitting in her room wishing this would all go away. It was time for her to take action; time to be rebellious.

She had never been one to defy her parents. Being their perfect little daughter, she never did drugs, drank, or had sex, but now only one of those remained true and Emily planned to commit that third act of defiance if it was the last thing she did before her mother dragged her out of Rosewood.

Emily tiptoed down the staircase and stopped at the door to listen for her mother. She could hear her talking on the phone in the kitchen. Emily took a deep breath and opened the front door. Without waiting to see if her mother had heard her, she started running as soon as her foot hit the porch.

Before she knew it, she was standing outside the side door to Spencer's house. Through the window she could see Spencer, Aria, and Hanna sitting around the kitchen counter. Emily opened the door and walked in.

"Emily!" Spencer exclaimed and ran over to hug her. She squeezed her tightly until Emily pushed her away, looking over at the other girls.

"I told them."

Emily looked at Spencer and smiled, "Oh.."

With that, Spencer pulled Emily into her body and kissed her.

Hanna and Aria looked at each other, still a little in shock.

"Should we leave you two alone?" asked Aria.
"Yea, you guys probably want to finish what you started earlier," Hanna chipped in.

Emily looked at the other girls and then down at the floor, a little embarrassed.

This didn't phase Spencer who became all-business, turned to the girls, and said, "No, you can't leave yet. We still need to figure out what we're going to do. Mrs. Fields will freak when she finds out that Emily is gone and this is going to be the first place she looks."

"About that.. She might've heard me leave. She might even be making her way over here as we speak."

"Oh great. Don't you think you should've mentioned that first Em?"

Being the calm voice of reason, Spencer told Hanna, "Calm your tits," and informed them of her plan, "I'll take Emily to the motel. You guys need to be in your houses when Pam comes looking for Em so you can say that you haven't seen her. If she asks you where I am, say I'm with Toby."

Emily raised her brow. "You really want to make her think you're straight?"

"Being with Toby doesn't mean I'm straight," Spencer responded and then said to the girls, "Meet us at the motel after dark."

"This is... cozy," said Emily as she looked around the motel room.

Spencer half-smiled and handed Emily a bag. "I grabbed some clothes for you."

"Thanks."

In the silence, Emily remembered her mission. She was ready to lose her virginity and now was a perfect opportunity. She threw the bag on the floor, grabbed Spencer's hand, and pulled her into the bathroom. Emily reached into the shower to turn it on. As the sound of the spraying water masked the quiet of the room, she began undressing herself.

Spencer stood there in awe, watching her. She had seen her friend naked before, but this time was different. This wasn't one of their innocent sleepovers. This time Emily was getting naked just for her.

Fully undressed, Emily stepped into the shower and beckoned for Spencer to join her.

"Emily, are you sure about this? Yesterday I was acting impulsively. Now I'm realizing that this might be happening too fast for you. Your first time should be special and I don't want you to be doing this in spite of your mother."

"I thought this was your first time too."

"You asked me if I had done 'this' before. This is my first time doing stuff with a girl."

Emily turned off the water and folded her arms in an attempt to keep warm. "You've slept with a guy?"

"Yes. Ian." Spencer looked down at the bathroom tiles in shame. "It was stupid. I know that now." She looked up to see that Emily wasn't judging her.

"I think I look for comfort from all the wrong people. First with Ian, then Wren, Alex, and now Toby. Each of them came into my life in times when I needed some validation and when they left it didn't bother me in the slightest because I didn't care about them. I do care for Toby though. He's an amazing guy. I just realize now that I don't want him the way that I want you."

She was exposing herself more than Emily was exposing herself standing there in the nude. Emily loved seeing this side of Spencer.

Spencer noticed that Emily was shivering, so she pulled her out of the shower and held her.

"You're getting me all wet," said Spencer. Realizing what she had just said, they both looked at each other and laughed.

As she stood there in Spencer's arms, the questions that Emily had asked herself only a day ago came to a fore.
What made this thing she had with Spencer so different from her other relationships?
Did she love Spencer more than just a friend?
What is love exactly?

Emily smiled into Spencer's shoulder. "Everything is falling into place. It all makes so much sense now."