Reposting this cause it's being weird.
Here's another cause you guys are the best. Honestly, the reviews make me so happy. Also, just finished writing what is now my favorite Emison bed scene of this story so far. Get ready.
Hanna Marin had never been particularly fond of Alison. When the group had formed, she initially had felt flattered. But it wasn't long before flattery turned into fear. She had looked up to Alison ever since middle school, dreaming to be like the high school beauty queen. She had been the third to be included in Alisons' little band of friends. Spencer and Aria had come shortly before her. But now, she was sure that Alison regretted picking her.
At first, Alison probably enjoyed having her around as a mini-me, some little look-a-like that was obsessed with being just as cool as her high and mighty counter part. Alison had looked at her the way a kid looks at a new pet. She had put her on a strict diet, given her a makeover, and given her old clothes she hardly wore anymore. But as Hanna grew up, grew closer with the other girls, Alison had lashed out more and more at her. Sure, the two had tender moments where Hanna thought that maybe just maybe Alison cared about her sincerely despite all her bullshit. But she could never tell for sure- none of them could.
At first she was unsure as to what caused Alison to start hanging out with them aside from the fact that all five of them coincidentally had been loners in the best friend department. Spencer explained that her and Ali were in a lot of the same classes, homeroom, and generally just started to talk to each other. Once Alison realized she liked the competition with Spencer, they dragged the odd but adorably artsy Aria into the mix as a buffer. Alison found Hanna in detention one day and walked home with her and then began to call her one of the friends.
But Hanna had always thought that the queen bee had her own posse and plenty of people to choose from. Over time she learned that though everyone had looked up to and admired/feared the blonde, few people actually knew anything about her much less hung out with her. Hanna always thought Alison was weird in a way- she had handpicked each of them, and used them to her advantage. The friendship she had with the other three girls was very real, especially Emily. She just wasn't so sure about Alison, and whether Alison actually had a heart- which was exactly why Hanna was worried about the swimmer's well being.
She remembers the day when Alison met Emily, the last one of their group. It had been nearing the end of freshman year. Hanna had actually lived next door to Emily in elementary school, and their friendship wavered on and off throughout middle school and just faded in high school as Emily had long since moved and joined the varsity swim team and Hanna was plucked by Alison. The two still said hi and chatted briefly in the hallways and class. But school and sports and friends caused them to drift apart slowly until it was just nods of acknowledgement in passing.
The girls had been standing around Spencer's locker, and Alison turned to walk to class. She had made it to the end of the hall before an unsuspecting brunette had accidentally slammed right into Alison. Books dropped on the ground and Alison found coffee all over herself as she landed on the floor with the collider.
"God, watch where you're fucking going, clutz," Ali hissed sharply and as she stared at the mess around her on the floor and shook her head.
"I-I-I'm so s-s-s-orry," a quiet voice had stuttered and Alison rolled her eyes, annoyed at the timid shrewd who had just ruined her new outfit. But as she looked up she saw a worried face looking like a deer caught in headlights. Ali thought maybe the fall had knocked the sensibility right out of her because she could have sworn there was a bright aura around this tan-skinned beauty who was hastily trying to get all of Alison's books together. The girl got on her knees and started scrambling for the discarded items, and Alison sat there staring at her thin, lean arms and long brown locks and her face- god, Ali had thought to herself that she must have been in shock from falling because this girl was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. She shook herself out of it quickly.
"It's fine," she huffed and examined the damage on her shirt and jeans.
"I can pay for that," the girl added quickly. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to ruin your clothes, I really am sorry."
Alison wanted to roll her eyes- weakness wasn't really attractive to her. But when she saw the fear in bright brown orbs staring at her, she felt something stir inside her.
"Don't worry about it," she mumbled. "It wasn't your fault."
"Emily," Alison heard and both girls on the ground turned to see Hanna and the other two quickly approaching. Alison saw the quivering brunette out of the corner of her eye and wanted to will herself to make some snide comment to her, or at least prove she was indeed the Alison DiLaurentis- she had a reputation to uphold after all. But all she felt was pity.
"You know her?" Alison asked sharply to Hanna and noticed how nervous her three friends were. They knew that when Alison was wronged her temper flew off the handle pretty quickly.
"Ali this is Emily, we've known each other since like pre-school, she's the sweetest girl ever," Hanna spoke quickly as if trying to diffuse the situation.
"I'm so sorry," Emily blurted again. "I was on my way to see my Coach before class and didn't have a lot of time-"
"It's whatever," Alison said trying to calm down but maintain her air of cool status. "I didn't really like this shirt anyway."
Hanna and Aria shared a look knowing that it very well was one of Alison's favorite shirts.
"Are you Emily Fields? The only freshman on the Varsity swim team?" Spencer spoke up with curiosity.
"Yeah," Emily replied flustered and almost opened her mouth to apologize again.
"Impressive," Alison said grabbing her stuff and standing up. She noticed the way that Emily's eyes seemed to trail over her as she stood up too and only Alison was keen enough to pick up on the trace of awe in Emily's eyes mixed with fear. It was a different kind of awe though, and Alison had seen it before. It wasn't the adoring, worship kind of awe that Hanna had once- it was the kind of awe you got when you saw someone that sent shivers down your spine and made you breathless. She sneered. "An athlete who's not so good on her feet. Sounds like you're luckily better in the water."
"Ali," Aria scolded lightly.
"I'm just kidding," Ali said scoffed and yet couldn't tear her eyes away from Emily's beautiful lips. And those long, tan smooth legs- god Alison had only ever thought girls like that existed in fantasies.
"Again, I'm so sorry," Emily sputtered.
"Emily," she said sharply but eased up as she continued. "Don't worry about it. Seriously. Shit happens. You don't owe me anything. I probably should've watched where I was going."
What Alison didn't notice was the looks her three friends shared. Never had Alison controlled her temper so well.
She saw Emily open her mouth to apologize again and rolled her eyes, but she secretly loved how genuine this girl seemed.
"Look you can meet me at the Brew after school and buy me a coffee okay? And maybe it won't end up on me," she said nonchalantly. Emily nodded vigorously.
"Perfect, see you at 3," Alison said and brushed past all of them. Hanna offered Emily a sympathetic smile and followed after her friends.
"What was that?" she heard Spencer whisper to Aria.
"I'm not sure…" Aria replied, and they looked at Hanna who shrugged.
"If you have something to say, say it to my face," Ali said in a menacing voice turning around startling the three.
"We were just…impressed that you didn't rip her a new one for ruining your favorite shirt," Spencer quipped.
"It's not my favorite shirt," Ali snapped.
"It kinda is," Hanna piped up but the glare from Alison shut her up.
"Are you going soft?" Aria teased lightly and Alison would've lashed out at her if she wasn't the compassionate, kind one who irked her the least.
"No, I'd just hate for tomorrow's gossip to be 'Alison DiLaurentis scared Rosewood's prize swimmer into hiding," Alison shot back quickly.
"Okay," Spencer said defensively. "We were just wondering."
Since then, Hanna questioned the blonde's intentions towards her childhood friend. The three knew that Alison had a soft spot for Emily, over the years they had all seen it. But when Emily told her that Alison and her were dating, Hanna swore she would be the one to rip Ali a new one if Alison even hurt her friend a tiny bit.
And when Hanna showed up at Emily's house unexpectedly, she certainly was not enthused at seeing the queen bee answer the door.
"Oh, hi Hanna," Alison squeaked politely.
"Ali. Where's Emily?"
"She's taking a shower, what's up?"
"Are you the guard dog at the door?" Hanna shot back with a glare, her irritation flaring. Along with the other Ali-isms that she had been molded into over the years, a short temper was top of the list.
Ali stared before stepping back and making an exaggerated hand gesture signaling her to walk in freely.
"I came to drop off the hoodie she left in my car that day," Hanna said with narrowed eyes.
"She'll be out in like, five minutes tops," Alison assured, doing her best to not fight fire with fire.
"What are you doing, Alison?" Hanna asked with an angry glare. When Alison cocked her head, playing dumb, Hanna continued, "With Emily."
"Well I was helping her with her English homework-"
"You know what I mean. Why are you screwing with Emily?"
"Watch what you say," Alison hissed getting in Hanna's face. "I know you know about us, but there are matters far beyond your knowledge that play into the situation."
"Of course, everything's complicated when it comes to you and Emily, isn't it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I've woken up to multiple phone calls at all hours of the night about 'Do you think Ali is into me? Hanna I think she's into me! Hanna she drunkenly kissed me yesterday after the football game behind the bleachers, but then she went to a party with Noel, what do you think that means? Hanna I think I should tell her how I feel, do you think she'll freak out?'"
Alison grimaced and wondered exactly how many phone calls there had been and couldn't bear to think of Emily all heartbroken and confused.
"I remember the first time she brought it up, Alison. You know what she said to me?"
Alison kept her stony silence and merely stared the other blonde down.
"After only a few months of knowing you, she comes to me at my house and she's beside herself. And she goes, 'Hanna, I think something's wrong with me.'"
Alison's heart hurt, she never knew that she caused Emily so much confusion. Of course, she had her own sexual and identity dilemmas, but Emily didn't deserve that kind of pain.
"I asked her what was wrong. But I already had an idea. She would sneak these really longing stare in at you when you weren't looking, and I always prayed you'd never notice because I didn't want you to humiliate her. She started crying and telling me that she felt terrible and that she didn't understand why this is happening to her, but that she was so attracted to you and couldn't help herself."
Alison's jaw dropped. Emily had never told her any of this.
"I calmed her down and told her it'd all be fine, and that I accepted her and that she should just try to move on because clearly you were straight. Obviously, she didn't. There were so many late night texts, phone calls, and finally she came over beaming and goes 'Alison and I made out last night at Noel Kahn's party'."
Alison remembers that clearly. It was the first time she had the courage to goad Emily on to kiss her. They were in the backyard, getting some refreshing air away from the party, and she had given that signature smile she knew got her what she wanted. It was sloppy and drunk but Ali had enjoyed every second of it. But she pretended like it never happened the next morning.
"I never understood why she was so attracted to you until she told me that you would do little things like touch her leg, or smile at her longer, or say certain things. But every time you would just turn right around and prove her wrong. So I swear to God Alison if you turn right around and prove her wrong this time, I'll prove to everyone just how much of a bitch you can be."
Alison stood her ground, jaw locked and fists clenched. Their fiery intense stare was held for quite a period before Alison looked away and spoke.
"I picked you because you were weak and willing to believe anything I said, be anything I wanted you to. It was like having my own personal cheerleader. But that's all changed hasn't it? It's frightening Hanna how much you sound just like me."
Hanna wasn't expecting that kind of response. She just shook her head and walked out of the house in a rage. Frustrated, Alison sat on the stairs and tried to take deep breaths in and out. She knew it had been a bad idea to give the green light on letting Hanna know