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I desire you, Emily

Chapter Three:

The trip from the brew to Hanna's house took Emily less than ten minutes in her Toyota. Pulling up to the kerb, Emily killed the engine and took her keys out of the ignition, with one last glance in the rear view mirror; she checked her hair and makeup. Satisfied with her appearance, Emily seized the box of cake and opened her door. I hope they're not too pissed at me being late she thought to herself as she slammed the door shut, and flicked the button on the remote to lock her car.

Stepping up onto the sidewalk, Emily gazed up toward Hanna's bedroom window; there casually leaning against it, and looking right at her, was Spencer. It seemed like Spencer had been waiting for her to show, Emily flashed her a smile and headed for the Marin's front door.

Unable to sit and wait around like the others, Spencer had been distracted since Emily had sent Hanna that text earlier about being late. Her thoughts kept drifting from the magazine in front of her, so she'd made the excuse of needing to stretch her legs so that she could pace back and forth in front of Hanna's window, so she could keep an eye on the street below. Dammit, of course she had to look up and see me, ugh. Slightly annoyed that she'd been caught watching Emily from above, Spencer quickly disappeared from sight, and resumed her spot on Hanna's bed and pretended to read through another magazine.

Emily approached the front door and hit the buzzer. Spencer looked up as she heard the doorbell ring. "I'll be right back" muttered Hanna, as she slipped off of her bed, and flounced along the hallway to head down the stairs, to greet Emily.

Spencer felt sick, well, mostly annoyed. Fighting the urge to fly off of the bed, and head for the door, she glanced across to Aria, to see if she was paying any attention to her behavior. Oblivious, as usual, Aria dutifully studied a page of Boho looking earrings in the fashion magazine before her. Spencer chuckled internally, of course with the bird feather earrings…only Aria would be keen on those. Staying put, Spencer tried her best to look neutral, yet underneath her fake exterior, her stomach was anything but settled. Why do I have to feel like this about Em? Ugh Hastings, get your shit together.

Five seconds passed, the front door swung open abruptly and Emily was greeted with Hanna's annoyed face at the doorway. "Em, talk about taking your time with the cook, Spence has been driving us nuts up there. Oh, is that cake I spy in that there box? Hand it over immediately!" "Hi, nice to see you too, Han. Yes, that's cake, go right ahead, there's enough for the three of you" Emily said, as she gently closed the front door and followed Hanna into the kitchen.

The Marin's kitchen was huge in comparison with the one at her house, Emily often thought about how nice it would be to have a bigger, flashier house. She quietly watched as Hanna gathered up three plates, some cutlery and set about opening the box to divide up the cake that Emily had brought over. "So, its chocolate mud cake, there's a hidden ingredient, and Talia would like to know what you think it is, that is if you don't mind" Emily blushed as she said Talia's name in front of Hanna. Hanna flashed Emily a devious smirk "Sure Em, are you certain it's not just your opinion that she's after?" "Shut up and eat your cake Han, I don't know what you're talking about, we're just friends" Emily replied as she grabbed one of the plates on the counter and headed for the stairs to head up to Hanna's room and see her friends that were patiently waiting there. Hanna, two steps behind her, yelled up the stairs "watch out, hot piece of ass coming your way…not that she knows!"

Emily faltered and turned around to glare down at Hanna "what do you mean, Han?" Hanna laughed it off and pushed past Emily and into her room.

Emily walked the short distance across the room toward Spencer, gently sitting down next to her on Hanna's bed, not even noticing how distraught Spencer looked and said "here, take this, it's for you" as she flashed a shy smile. Hanna, not missing a beat, lent in towards Aria and put on her best imitation of Emily's sweet voice and said "here honey, have some cake" as she slid her plate across to her suggestively. Aria and Hanna burst into a fit of laughter, Spencer looked away, unable to decide whether she wanted to laugh or cry.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on Han? Emily fumed. Shit's about to get real Hanna thought to herself. Mission accomplished, now it's up to Spence to take it from here…if she has the guts to say something. Ignoring the fact that she'd just handed Aria a plate of cake, she tugged at the corner of her top and suggested that they leave Emily and Spencer to check out something in the den. Aria took her cue, hopped up and followed Hanna from her bedroom, silently glancing back toward Emily and Spencer on Hanna's bed. "Be back in a minute, guys" Hanna yelled as the two of them headed down the stairs, feeling very smug with herself. Thankfully Aria didn't bother to ask what that was about and followed Hanna to the den, where they plopped down onto a large leather sofa and flicked on MTV.

"So, do you mind telling me what that was all about, Spence? I saw you at the window. Is everything okay?" Emily said as she looked directly at Spencers big brown eyes. Struggling to form a coherent sentence while Emily gazed at her lovingly, Spencer looked away, resigned to the fact that she lacked any subtlety right now, while she was still fuming from Hanna's words totally dropping her in it. "Nice cake. Talia sure knows how to impress. I have to go Em, I'm sorry" and with that, Spencer pushed up off of the bed, and hastily walked away from Emily, leaving her in a haze of confusion. "Spence, wait up, we need to talk…please!" Emily called from the top of the stairs.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Spencer didn't even bother to turn around to acknowledge Emily as tears started to stream down her fair cheeks. Just as she was about to open the Marin's front door to escape, a slender, mocha skinned hand clutched at her hip, begging for her to turn around in its embrace. Slightly out of breath, from having raced down the stairs, Emily breathed "Please don't go, whatever it is, we can talk about. I care about you Spence, please talk to me."

Spencer knew there was no getting out of this, so she slowly turned around to face Emily. Emily's hand ghosted across Spencer's stomach and came to rest on the opposite hip as her friend turned to face her, neither of them wanting to break the intimate contact. She didn't care that she had noticeable tears on her cheeks, it wouldn't be the first time Emily had seen her cry, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Hastings you are screwed, god she smells so good! Being this close to Emily made Spencer want to lean in and kiss her friend so badly. Noticing that Emily hadn't let go of her hip, or moved back from her to create some distance between the two of them, Spencer shakily inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it out of her pursed lips. "I can't do this now, I'm still with Toby. I don't know how to explain, but I just need some time, Em." And with that, she eased Emily's hand from her hip, trying desperately to keep focused on leaving with some dignity intact and turned once more toward the door to leave. Emily hadn't uttered a single word. Shit, what just happened?

Spencer opened the door and stepped out into the late afternoon breeze, making a hasty retreat to the safety of her home. She needed time to think; time to work out how she was going to win Emily over. Talia's going to have her work cut out for her; I won't let her win so easily, Hastings' always get what they want.

Emily stood in the doorway, watching Spencer hurry across the street. Things were about to get really complicated, or so it seemed.