Emison being all cute and shit.
"Tonight?"
Alison looked at Emily as she listened to Spencer ramble on the phone about a sleepover for the five at her house. Emily shrugged as Alison raised an eyebrow as if to ask Emily if she was okay with a sleepover.
"Sure," Ali said nonchalantly to Spencer on the phone. "We'll be there. Me and Emily. Yeah we're at The Brew eating lunch right now. No Spencer, I'm not studying, unlike you I don't feel the need to study a week in advance for some dumb test. I'll see you tonight."
Ali hung up with an exaggerated sigh and shoved her phone in her pocket.
"I swear that girl is more strung out than a coke addict," Alison grumbled as she sipped on a latte. "She's more hooked on caffeine than Hanna was on cookies."
Emily nodded, her head somewhere else. It had started raining outside, and the dreary weather had Emily feeling unsettled. Too many complex thoughts ran through the swimmer's mind. Was the beautiful blonde just playing her once more, afraid of losing her number one admirer? Emily wanted to believe that even Alison wasn't capable of such deception. Besides, she had seemed beside herself last night. The swimmer couldn't get that haunted image of Alison's usually hard, unforgiving face crumbling to what seemed like a broken, scared little girl. Alison DiLaurentis wasn't afraid of anything, Emily thought. And it wasn't until the past few days that Ali had started to seemingly break, becoming weak in front of Emily and Emily only.
She watched as Ali sipped her latte, the queen bee's hands pressed tightly to the cup as she looked off towards the window. They sat in the corner of The Brew on a couch huddled together, away from the majority of the others in the café.
"I guess a sleepover could be fun," Ali said in no one to particular as she watched the rain. Emily could see the blonde's brows furrow in thought.
"Think Hanna's going to show up with a flask?"
"If she does, don't let Spencer drink any," Ali said in a low voice.
"Why not?"
Ali looked unsure as she glanced to make sure no one was listening. She looked back at Emily.
"This is a secret, Em," Ali told her quietly. "But Spencer has a drug problem. And if she mixes these drugs with alcohol things could get really messy fast."
"What? What drug problem? How do you know?" Emily asked with wide eyes.
"She takes performance enhancing pills, I know because I found her all strung out one night between our houses, and she kind of confessed. She made me promise not to tell anyone, and I haven't, not until now."
"Are you sure it was drugs?"
"Trust me Em, coffee may light her up but it couldn't get her that buzzed."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because maybe you can help me take care of her," Ali said softly. "She might drive me crazy and give me urges to kick her ass daily, but I don't want to see her broken either." Emily nodded slowly understanding their frenemy type of friendship.
"Besides," Alison continued in a hushed voice. "If anyone's good at taking care of others and showing sympathy and compassion, it's you, Em."
"I don't think I do anything that special," Emily replied softly.
"Two years ago, we were at Spencer's and I didn't bring a jacket because I had just quickly walked over. Well I started shivering, and you took off your sweater and just put it on me. You didn't ask, and I didn't say a word. Nobody noticed it, everyone was busy watching the movie. But I noticed it, and I never forgot it," Ali explained quietly. "You always just know what I need, and I never have to say a word."
Emily smiled shyly, not used to the strong genuine affection from Alison.
"You're shivering now," Emily noted as she glanced at Ali's shaking hands. Ali let out a light airy laugh and shook her head.
"I'm not, I'm just nervous," Ali admitted as she tried to will her hands to stop trembling.
"Why?" Emily's brows furrowed as she tried to figure out what was making the blonde so nervous. Ali noticed and laughed a little harder at the fact that Emily had no idea the effect she had on her.
"You make me nervous, Emily Fields," she stated and before Emily could even ask if she meant it in a bad way, she added, "in the best way possible."
"I don't know why," Emily laughed feebly.
"That's what I love about you," Ali said shifting her body towards Emily while staring at her with warm eyes. "You really don't know just how incredible you are."
Emily's breath caught in her throat. Ali was looking at her the way she'd always dreamed of. Blue eyes glistened with affection and shifted from Emily's wide eyes to her lips. Emily caught the hint but was unsure whether or not to lean in, she'd never come out to anyone but Hanna and Ali sure as hell made it obvious she wasn't ready to be out. And still, in the back of her mind was the lingering worry that something was off with Ali lately- and Emily didn't want things to go back to normal suddenly, leaving her helplessly fallen for the blonde and the queen bee high and mighty once more. Ali, however, was in her own world and bit her lip shyly and let out a soft laugh as she pulled back slightly and put her hand on Emily's knee apologetically.
"You're right, not here," Ali said.
"You always do that," Emily said, forcing herself to push away the bad thoughts as she let herself cover Ali's hand and settled against the couch. "You always know what I'm thinking."
Ali smiled but before she could reply, the doors opened and she saw Ian and Melissa walk in. Her whole body froze, she hadn't seen Ian since that night and she sure as hell didn't want to see him now. What she really wanted to do was go over there and hurt him, really hurt him, but she felt Emily's thumb brush over her skin softly and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"We can go," Emily said in a low voice noticing the way Ali looked like all the blood in her veins had frozen. She thought back to that night, did Ian really come onto Ali like she had drunkenly said?
Ali just nodded, shaken. She sighed as they stood up and made a subtle and quiet exit out of The Brew, at least for a few hours she had managed to push away the bad thoughts and haunting feelings.
X
"Hey Em," Aria greeted as she opened the door to Spencer's. The other four were already there and Emily walked in, eager to escape the storm outside.
"Sorry, my dad called so I was running a bit late," Emily explained.
"That's totally cool. Hanna just finished ordering pizza and we were about to start watching the movie," Spencer said smiling. Emily searched the room for Ali and saw her sitting on the couch. Ali smiled softly and subtly gestured to the spot next to her on the couch, and Emily went and sat next to her, but she kept her distance unsure of Ali's intentions.
"How's your dad Em?" Hanna asked from her comfy armchair.
"Yeah, is he okay?" Ali chimed in.
"He's good, he was calling to let us know that he'll be home in a week for a weekend," Emily said smiling.
"That's great!" Aria said excitedly.
"My mom's really happy," Emily added as she settled down comfortably. Spencer went to play the movie and turned the lights off.
Emily didn't like the weird space between her and Ali, but Ali seemed comfortable with the distance so she let it be. About fifteen minutes into the movie, Alison grabbed a blanket up off the floor and spread it across her and Emily, and subtly angled herself so that her head was resting on the couch arm and her legs were across Emily with her thighs resting atop of the swimmer's. Emily tested the waters and put her hand on Ali's thighs to rest there and watched as Ali's eyes fluttered and her mouth just barely parted to inhale at the touch. Satisfied, the two relaxed in that position until the pizza came and they sat up to eat. Out of the corner of her eye, Hanna noted the exchange.
The night progressed without anything too exciting. Aria updated the girls on her fling with Ezra Fitz, and Hanna ranted about Caleb's obsession with a new video game. Meanwhile, Spencer expressed her distress over missing Toby and how her parents were stressing over college applications.
Ali remained quiet, observing instead of participating. Every so often Emily would catch Ali gazing off out the window as if deep in thought. She wondered for the hundredth time if she was making the blonde uncomfortable.
When the girls went to settle in to sleep, Spencer and Aria decided to share Spencer's bed. Spencer offered the guest bed to Emily, who hesitatingly took it while Hanna claimed the comfy chair since she had already nodded off and Ali remained on the couch.
Emily saw that Ali made no protest or effort for them to sleep together, which disappointed the swimmer a bit but she wasn't about to make a scene. Instead, she stripped down into sleeping shorts and an oversized teeshirt and buried herself under the covers. Right as she was about to fall asleep, she heard the tiniest footsteps outside her door and her heartbeat naturally increased.
"Em, are you awake? I can't sleep," came a hushed whisper and Emily fought the impish smile that formed at the sound of Ali's voice.
"I was almost asleep," Emily teased as she sat up.
"Hanna is snoring just a little too loudly for me," Ali joked as she climbed onto the bed next to Emily who had scooted over to make room for her.
"Oh god, I hope I don't snore."
"Well even if you did, it'd probably be a lot cuter than when Hanna does," Ali said with a smirk. Emily had no comeback as she snuggled deeper under the blankets, shivering. Ali followed suit and laid on her back. "Em, I'm cold."
"Do you need another blanket?" Emily asked concerned as she made a move to get up.
Ali playfully rolled her eyes and stopped her, grabbing her arm lightly and pulling the confused swimmer towards her as she rolled onto her side so that her back was facing Emily. The blonde sighed contentedly at the feeling of Emily spooning her and the way their bodies fit together.
"No you dork, just keep me warm," Ali teased. "I just wanted an excuse for you touch me."
Emily's heartbeat increased even though she knew Ali meant that innocently. With courage that she didn't know she had, she said in a low voice, near Ali's ear, "You don't need an excuse to have me touch you."
Ali slightly shuddered in response to Emily's seduction that came out of nowhere. She also almost chuckled to herself thinking that maybe she was rubbing off on the brunette. Instead, she gripped Emily's hand on her waist tighter and slipped it just barely under her shirt so that she could feel Emily's touch on her soft tummy.
"Good, cause I love it when you touch me like that," Ali whispered as she felt Emily's fingers start to lazily trace patterns over her stomach.
"Like this?" Emily asked as she moved her hand and it barely slipped inside the waistband of Ali's sweats before Ali let out the faintest moan at the wonderful feeling of Emily's gentle fingers on her skin. Her touch didn't burn like so many others' who had pawed, clawed, and greedily grabbed at her. Ali didn't think anyone could be sweeter or gentler than her sweet Emily.
"Mhm," she hummed happily as she lay still like that with the brunette for a few minutes quietly. When Emily's tracing started to fade, Ali shifted and rolled onto her back so that Emily still laid on her side facing her.
"Emily Fields," Ali said in a sleepy husky voice, "I really want to kiss you right now."
Through the bright moonlight coming in through the window, Emily could see Ali's eyes had turned to a deep, dark blue and were focused on her face, flickering between her eyes and lips.
Emily was nervous, her heart was pounding in her chest. But as Ali reached up to gently place her hand on the back of Emily's neck and leaned in, Emily surprised both of them by closing the distance quickly and kissing Ali's soft lips. As her heart shaped lips moved deliberately against Emily's, all Emily could think was that she tasted sweeter in that moment than anything Emily could imagine. Ali seemed to kiss her so lazily, yet firmly, and as Emily shifted so that she was partly on top of Ali she slid her tongue over Ali's lips asking permission to enter. Ali gasped and parted her lips as Emily dropped her leg in between Ali's, and Emily kissed her deeply as her tongue maneuvered in a way that had Ali's hand grabbing Emily's hair in a fistful with her other hand digging into Emily's lower back before.
Emily never broke the kiss as she shyly let her hand barely slide up Ali's side under her shirt but it was enough to make the blonde twitch in excitement and unintentionally rock her hips up against Emily so that her center rolled against Emily's thigh. Ali's loud moan was swallowed by Emily before she pulled back while gently biting on Ali's lower lip. She glanced breathlessly to see the equally flustered blonde staring at her through hooded eyes as she caught her breath.
"Woah," Ali whispered with a lopsided grin as she ran her hand through Emily's long hair gently.
"Yeah," Emily agreed with a super shy half smile.
"Where'd you learn to kiss like that?" Alison asked, high off of the warm feelings only Emily could give her. "Wait, don't answer that I don't wanna know."
But the swimmer merely shrugged. "I've never kissed anyone like that," she mumbled quietly.
"Shy in the streets, sexy in the sheets," Ali wiggled her eyebrows playfully as Emily blushed a deep shade of red. "You're a natural, Em."
"Maybe we're just natural," Emily said, proud of her newfound confidence around the blonde. Truly, ever since she'd exploded at Alison and watched Alison plead for her, she'd become more comfortable being raw and real in front of Ali.
"Mmm," Ali hummed contentedly and pulled Emily down to her for a chaste kiss before burying her face in the crook of the swimmer's neck, enjoying the weight of her favorite girl on top of her. She inhaled deeply- Emily smelled like home- and sighed. "This is terrifying," Ali admitted while holding Em in a death hug on top of her.
"What is?"
"Dealing with my feelings," Ali explained. "But if there's anyone who I'd do it for, it's you."
She felt Emily smile into her neck which caused a huge grin to spread across Ali's face.
"Plus," she whispered into Emily's ear, "I love thrills." She pulled the brunette's earlobe into her mouth and nipped lightly, pleased as she heard Emily whimper.
"Ali," Emily groaned as she rolled off. "If you do that I…I don't think I'd be able to stop myself…"
"So don't stop," Ali said in such a husky voice Emily thought she could easily get off just from listening to Ali talk. The blonde turned towards her, trying to kiss Emily's bare shoulder.
Emily just laughed softly, letting her hand around Ali play with the long blonde hair, subtly hinting that she wanted to stop. Unused to that kind of rejection, even if purely innocent, Ali shrugged herself off of Em and turned over, assuming the brunette wanted Ali to leave her alone.
"What, no cuddling?" Emily asked playfully, sleep eminent in her voice.
"Whatever you want," Ali said, turning around and cuddling on her side into the swimmer who lay flat on her back. She draped one of her legs over the swimmer's, and nuzzled against her. She felt a light kiss placed on the top of her head. Before she drifted into a deep sleep, the blonde smiled thinking maybe this could actually turn out alright.