The cab pulled up in front of the swimmers dorms and Emily got out followed by a confused blonde. "Ok?"
"Trust me.. I will be right back." She tells Alison with a beseeching smile,
"Alright." Alison says as she sits on the bench to wait for the brunette.
She pulls her phone out and starts scrolling through some of the pictures she had taken at the Louvre and she couldn't help but smile at the one's of her and Em.
After a bit Emily walks toward Alison caring two boards of some kind and smiling from ear to ear. "I made you an offer to try out my hoverboard!"
"N-Now?!" The blonde asks panic lacing her voice, it was all fun when it was in theory but now. Now she is terrified of falling and breaking something or even worse, embarrassing herself in front of the brunette.
"Of course... unless you are scared?" The swimmer says in teasing tone.
"You wish Fields." She says as she stands up and grabs one of the boards. "Now, how do I do this?"
Emily smiles as she sets down the other board. "Ok, you are going to put one foot on at a time."
"How do I keep my balance?" She asks nervously.
"Here, grab my hands." Emily says as she holds her hands out for Alison to take.
She grabs the brunette's hands as she steps one foot and then the other on to it. "D-Don't let me fall..." She squeaks as she falters.
"I got ya... promise." She says as she helps steady the blonde.
"Now, try moving your feet and pressing them on the edge for more stability." The swimmer tells her as she loosens her hold a little. "There. Now lean forward with both feet lightly to go forward."
Alison does and Emily walks backwards gripping her hands a bit tighter. "Good, now to turn left tilt your right foot."
After a smooth turn, Alison tried to step off and the hoverboard shoot off and she start to fall forward. Emily quickly grabs a hold of the blonde before she has a chance to fall on her face. Their faces are just inches apart as they stare into each others eyes. It is so tempting to close the small distance but the fear of rejection stops both of them. Emily giggles, "And that's why you step off backwards."
Alison laughs as she takes a small step breaking the intense moment. "Can we go again? I think I'm starting to get the hang of it." She smiles as she gets back on the hoverboard.
After a bit more help from Emily and practice, Alison becomes more confident. "You're really get the hang of it!" Emily says with a dazzling smile.
"How about a race?" The blonde asks with a mischievous grin.
"And everyone thinks I'm the competitive one?!" She says laughing harder.
"Oh please... you don't like losing either." Alison says rolling her eyes.
"How about we ride around and just enjoy the nice weather?" She asks with a cute smile.
"Alright," She says like she is thinking "but you are just afraid I'll beat your ass... again" The blonde laughs with a dazzling mischievous smile.
"Yeah, sure lets go with that!" Emily says as she speeds off.
"Hey," Alison calls as she attempts to get on the hoverboard, "wait for me!" She yells as she steadies herself and speeds off.
They play around chasing each other and giggling for a bit before they decided to grab something to eat at cafeteria with some of the other athletes. They grab a few slices of pizza and find a mostly empty table to at sit. As they start to eat a familiar voice calls, "Hey Em... and Alison..." She says as she notices the blonde.
"Hey... Paige..." Alison says her name like it Is a curse word.
"Mind if I take a seat?" The brunette asks looking at Emily.
Alison bites her tongue as Emily shrugs and says, "Sure... I guess..." with a forced smile.
Paige sits down right next to Emily and gives Alison a pointed look. "So is this a date or?"
Alison opens her mouth to say something and Emily cuts her off, "N-No.. it's not a date..." She says blushing.
"Well then... how about we all hang out?" Paige asks with a hopeful smile. "We could play pool in the rec room..."
"That could be fun. What do you say Ali?" Emily asks her with a pleading look, not wanting the fiery blonde to start a fight.
"Sure, why not." She says sarcastically.
- x - x - x - x -
After a few friendly games Alison and Paige start to get competitive with each other.
"Okay how about winner gets $50?" Alison asks, wanting to make it interesting as she takes $50 out of her wallet and puts it on the table.
Paige thinks for a minute, "How about this," she says looking at Alison and Emily who has checked out and been watching some game on one of the big TVs. "Whoever wins... gets a kiss from... Em." She says with a cheeky smile as she adds her own $50 to the table.
Emily perks up at the mention of her name. "I do what now?" She asks curiously as she tears her gaze from the basketball game.
Paige smiles sweetly, "Winner gets a kiss... from you."
Alison can't help but smile a little and blush at the thought of getting to kiss the beautiful swimmer again.
"Sure..." The swimmer says knowing that Alison will win by any means necessary. She desperately wants to kiss the blonde but is afraid of being rejected yet again so she decides to seize the opportunity.
"Who breaks?" Paige asks as she racks the billiard balls.
"Be my guest." Alison says sweetly as she walks past Paige and rolls her eyes.
The brunette breaks and knocks in a stripe and the cue ball.
"Scratch! Ah, tough break." The blonde says as she fishes the cue ball out and proceeds to set up her shot.
After a pretty close game it comes down to Alison with two and Paige with one ball left on the table. Alison sets up her shot and was able to sink her last two solids and has a nice setup for the eight ball. As she bends down and lines up the cue ball Paige notices Emily checking out the blonde's ass and gets an idea.
Alison goes to make her shot, "Eight ball corner pocket." She calls and Paige loudly clears her throat to get the swimmer's attention and the blonde hits the ball harder than she intended to and it follows the eight ball into the pocket,
"Son of a... I call a mulligan!" The blonde yells starting to lose her temper at the smug shorter brunette.
"Oh come on Alison, obviously the best woman won." Paige says snidely.
Emily jumps up from her seat and stands between the two before they can attack each other. "Why don't we call it a draw?" She asks trying to diffuse the situation.
Before she has a chance to say anything else Paige grabs Emily and smash their lips together. Paige threads her fingers through the other brunette's hair and Emily stands there stunned. Alison misreads the situation as Emily liking the kiss since she didn't push Paige away immediately and starts to fume.
After the two brunettes pull apart Alison clears her throat awkwardly breaking the tension. "Um... I just remembered I have an early deadline, so I... I should go."
"Wait Ali! Please..." The swimmer says imploringly.
"It's fine Emily." She says coolly as she pushes past her.
The swimmer shrinks back at Alison using her full name again as the blonde runs out of the room. She turns around to look at the brunette, " Dammit Paige... Why did you have to go and do that?!" She asks incredulously.
"Come on Em... can't you give us another chance?" She asks in a pleading tone.
"After that little stunt you just pulled?" Emily says as she walks away from Paige and out the door in a huff.
- x - x - x - x -
Alison takes a cab back to her hotel and as she walks passed the bar she looks at it longingly. It would be so easy to just go in and drown her sorrows in shot after shot but thinking better of it she keeps walking to the elevators and pushes the button of her floor. She enters her room and lays down on the bed and desperately tries to calm her racing thoughts before falling into a restless sleep.
The next morning after making herself some coffee to help combat her tiredness from a mostly sleepiness night, she grabs her phone off the bedside table and dials Rita's office.
"Good morning Dr. Neary's office." A kind voice answers.
"Hey Julie, is Rita available?" The blonde asks with a shaky breath.
"Yeah, she is just finishing up with her first appointment. Can you hold for a second Alison?" She asks sympathetically.
"Sure, thanks Julie." She says with a bit of relief in her voice.
"No problem." She says as she puts the blonde on hold and smooth jazz starts to play.
Alison plays with the comforter on the bed and sips her cup of coffee while she waits. After a few more minutes Rita's familiar calming voice comes over the line. "How's Paris?"
"Unbelievable." She says with a huge grin.
"But that's not why you are calling. What's going on Alison?" She asks in an even gentle tone.
"It's about Emily." She pauses before taking a deep breath and Rita waits patiently. "Her ex, Paige, is here competing with the team also. Well when I was at Emily's first event I saw her and she was flirting with Em... And she crashed when we were at lunch and invited herself to play pool with us. I suggested we make a bet and Paige added on that the winner got a kiss from Emily. So long story short, I was going to win and Paige cheated and they fucking kissed!" The blonde says in despair.
"Did Emily kiss her back?" Rita asks calmly.
"Her lips were on Paige's!" She shrieks in pure anguish.
"I understand, but did Emily kiss her back?" She reiterates.
Alison thinks for a few minutes about the kiss. "No... not really. She kind of just stood there... rigid."
"Did you talk to her about your feelings yet?" She asks curiously.
"N-No..." She says guiltily.
"Well there is no time like the present." Rita says in a motherly tone.
"I'll think about it." Alison says slightly scared.
"Don't wait too long alright, my next appointment just walked in. Call me if you need anything." She says reassuringly.
"Thanks Rita." Alison tells her before she hangs up the phone.
- x - x - x - x -
Alison avoided Emily as much as she could by coming in at the last minute before the swimmer's events and leaving right after the results were posted. She couldn't stand to see Paige making goo goo eyes at Emily, it was nauseating. She knew Rita wanted her to talk to the brunette about her feelings but her doubts were eating her alive. The brunette deserved someone who wasn't an emotional mess and could easily turn into a manipulative bitch. And as much as she hated it, maybe Paige would be better for her.
x - x - x - x -
Emily had tried over and over again to talk to the blonde after her race but to no avail. She desperately wanted to explain to her that Paige means nothing to her but every time she finished her races the blonde had up and disappeared. She had considered calling or texting Alison but always thought better of it in the end. When the blonde was this upset it was better to wait it out and let her cool down first as to not make things worse.
- x - x - x - x -
As Alison sat in the stands of Emily's second to last event she could feel her resolve start to falter. She knew that she was irrevocably in love with the sexy brunette and she was prepared to fight for her if it came right down to it. She wouldn't give up till Emily told her there was no chance for them but even then she would never love someone like she loved her mermaid.
She is pulled from her thoughts as the crowd around her erupts and everyone is on their feet cheering. Alison stands to see what everyone is getting so excited about, Emily and another swimmer are neck and neck as they come to the wall. Everyone is waiting for the final results and the arena is so quite you could her a pin drop. It felt like an eternity when finally a voice came over the loud speaker.
"The winner by 0.01 seconds is Emily Fields, team USA!" The announcer says as everyone starts screaming and waving flags. It's the last event of the day so most of the other countries fans are making their way out.
After the remaining crowd starts to disperse Alison decides to wait for Emily and heads down to the locker rooms. She leans against the wall watching swimmer after swimmer exit, after what feels like forever Emily finally emerges in her USA tracksuit being the last person to leave.
Emily stops in her tracks when her eyes connect with turbulent blues. "So what did I do to have the great pleasure of Ms. Alison DiLaurentis presence?!" She asks pointedly.
Alison could feel the anger bubbling up, "First the damn blonde bimbo and now Paige?! Did you ever think about me?" She asks hurt.
"Do you want to know how much I thought about you when I left with that 'blonde bimbo'? The reason nothing happened was because when we were making out..."
"Em, please I don't..." She says interrupting the swimmer, feeling slightly defeated.
"No, no let me finish and while we were kissing I called her your name." She admits blushing as she looks away from the blonde. "And the other night with Paige..."
"Em... I'm sorry..." Alison tries to explain but she is at a loss for words.
"You ran off before I had a chance to say anything." She says feeling angry.
"I know... and I'm sorry. I just got upset." The blonde says fighting back tears.
"Why?" She asks imploringly, needing Alison to explain why she left so quickly.
"I just..." She says feeling shy suddenly.
"Please Ali... just be honest with me..." She says brown locking with nervous blues.
"I still have feelings... for you..." She mumbles not making eye contact. "But it's too late."
Emily stands there stunned, she can't believe she is hearing those words from the blonde. What did she mean by too late? "Are you talking about Paige?" She asks confusion in her voice.
Alison shakes her head yes not trusting her voice as tears prick the back of her eyes. She feels a strong hand reach under her chin and gently lifts it up to look into her tumultuous blue eyes.
"There is nothing between Paige and I." She says with steely determination. "Her feelings are one sided Ali, she kissed me and I froze. After you left I told her in no uncertain terms that we were over and there is no chance for us."
"But why?" Alison asks as a single tear escapes.
The brunette catches the tear with her thumb, "Because I have feelings for someone else."
She looks up at the swimmer hopefully, "You mean?" She asks curiously.
"I mean..." She says as she grabs the blonde's hands, "If that is alright with you?" She says with a smile causing her dimple to show.
"More than..." The blonde says with her trademark smile and dimples.
Emily tucks a stray strand of hair behind the blonde's ear as they lock eyes and they both lean in instinctively, their lips meeting in a chaste kiss. Alison wraps her arms around the brunette's neck and the swimmer grabs Alison hips as the kiss deepens. The blonde runs her tongue along the swimmer's lip seeking entrance and she happily obliges, their tongues meeting in a sensual dance. As they kiss the passion builds and Emily pushes Alison up against the wall and kisses along her jawline as the blonde shudders. "Em..." She moans as she runs her hands through Emily's hair and gently pulls the swimmer's dark locks.
As they break from the kiss Alison keeps her forehead on Emily's as they lock eyes. "As much as I love this..." She says her cerulean eyes sparkle mischievously, "If you keep kissing me like that I don't think I will be able to keep myself from taking you right here..." She whispers causing goosebumps to appear on the swimmer's tan skin.
"And that would be bad... why?" She says with a wicked smile.
"Because..." She says as she plays with the swimmer's hair, "I want our first time after so many years to be special and not rushed..." She says feeling shy all the sudden. "Will you go on a date with me?"
Emily's face lit up. "Of course... I still have one more event to win and then you promised a five star dinner, remember?"
"Of course I remember." Alison smiles as she kisses the corner of the swimmer's mouth gently.
- x - x - x - x -
A/N: Well it looks like this story is winding down, I think one more chapter should wrap things up nicely. Please leave me a comment, suggestions, and/or feedback, I love to hear from you all and read your thoughts and ideas.