Emily rolled her eyes at Alison's demanding tone. "Always so dramatic and rude. Same old, Ali." Emily thought to herself. She knew she was right to keep her walls up. Alison hadn't changed all that much and the brunette intended to be careful around her from now on. She followed Alison inside, noticing that the blonde hadn't waited for Mr. DiLaurentis or her. She walked over to the counter, about to order when Kenneth touched her arm and smiled at her. "What would you like, Emily? It's on me." The brunette smiled and thanked him after ordering an iced vanilla latte and a bagel. She sat down across from him at a table, leaving Alison to cool off or whatever it was the blonde needed to do.
Alison finished her stuff off and picked up her phone, dialling CeCe's number. Thankfully the blonde had been back in town for a few weeks now. While walking past Emily and Kenneth's table, Alison spoke to CeCe carefully. "Yeah, we're at this service station, pick me up in like a half hour." She shook her head and walked outside, waiting for CeCe. She wanted to ditch the trip already, Emily was being unreasonable and she hated it.
Emily watched as Alison passed by her without even looking her way. She heard what the blonde had to say and frowned. Alison was already giving up and ditching her for someone else. "Figures. Should've seen this coming." She mumbled softly under her breath. She quickly finished her coffee and bagel and ran outside without saying a word to Alison's dad. "Running away again, Ali? Guess that's what you do best." Emily shot at Alison, crossing her arms over her chest and standing directly in front of Alison.
''Look.'' Alison stood up, her face inches from Emily's, a furious look on her face. ''You are all expecting way too much from me. I know my advances aren't the best, Emily. But you're the only one I could be myself around. If you're going to take that from me, I might as well do like everyone expects me to do and leave.'' Alison spoke and then sat back down, her purse beside her, her phone on her lap, ignoring her surroundings.
Emily looked back into Alison's blue eyes, the eyes that had captivated her from the moment she's seen them. She couldn't help but feel her heart melt a little by the way she could still lose herself staring into those eyes and seeing that cute little half smile Alison wore best. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I want you here, Ali. I do. Just no more lies and no more games. I can't take all of that anymore. But don't leave, please?" Emily's tone had softened as she tried her best to explain herself to Alison without coming off as harsh.
"Why the hell would I stay. It was your idea to make me come back here and all it's done so far is nothing good, it's not going to change. Anywhere I go, people want me dead. I'm tired of this." Alison sighed and flicked on her sunglasses that covered her icy blue eyes. "Maybe things were better when I was gone."
"Don't say that." Emily whispered softly, looking down at her feet. "I don't want you gone, Ali. I missed you. But it's hard to get used to everything again, especially when things have changed so much. But stay. I'll be here for you, always."
Alison narrowed her eyebrows as she cocked her head to the side. She looked over at Emily and listened to her supportive words. The blonde picked up her phone, once answered, she spoke softly. "Forget it, I don't need a ride." She hung up and stood up beside Emily. "Just accept that I've changed, if you can't believe it or even give me a chance, then maybe you shouldn't be here." Alison shrugged after she spoke, heading to the car.
Emily followed Alison over to the car and slid into the backseat. "I never said I wouldn't accept it, Ali. I just said that I need time, okay? This isn't easy for me either. I thought you were dead. Do you know what that's like? It killed me." Emily bit her lip softly to keep from letting tears escape. She hated to think about how she'd felt when the police had told her it was Alison's body they'd found.
"But I'm not dead, aren't you glad that I'm not?" Alison shook her head, upset. "If there's one thing I've learned while I was gone is that time means nothing. If you want something, you go get it right when you can before it's too late." Alison whispered to Emily as her dad jumped into the front drivers seat, starting up the car once more.
Emily just nodded her head. She had no response to Alison's question. Of course she was glad for the blonde's return but she wasn't glad for the confusing feelings and heartache that confusion brought on. "Well fine then, what is it you want, Ali?" She whispered back softly as she turned her head to look at the blonde.
''I don't.. *want* anything.'' Alison added, turning to face Emily and then placing her hand over her cheek to cup the brunettes' face. ''You haven't changed a bit, Em.'' Alison spoke softly and then took her hand away, not wanting to make Emily uncomfortable. ''I'm just really looking forward to Cape May, that's all.''
Emily smiled and let Alison do as she pleased for once, not fighting or questioning it. "Is that so bad that I'm still the same girl you left behind?" She questioned, her gaze still focused solely on Alison. She let out a soft sigh when the blonde dropped her hand, already missing the presence of Alison's touch.
''It's hard to explain I guess.'' Alison pierced her lips and kept her eyes on the brunette. ''I'm just happy you're willing to spend your summer with me. It does mean a lot to me even though I rarely show it.'' Alison admitted, she let her hand caress the side of Emily's knee as she spoke.
"You always seemed to have trouble expressing yourself out loud." Emily pointed out innocently. "Of course I'd spend my summer with you, Ali. I was hoping we could make up for all that lost time, kind of make some new summer memories since the last summer we had together wasn't exactly the best memory." She responded, already thinking of all the things they'd hopefully get to do together. Emily placed her hand over Alison's on her knee, forcing the blonde to keep her hand there instead of pulling away this time.
''Yeah, I do. Telling people how I feel is something that's out of the ordinary for me, I can't do it, I have a blockage inside of me that stops me.'' Alison blurted out quietly. Once she felt Emily's hand over her own, Alison relaxed her body and arched her back just a little to get herself comfortable. The smile on her face was bright, this was a good moment for her.
"I know, Ali and I don't want you to change for anyone. I mean I know you wouldn't anyway but I don't want to push you to open up. But I hope you can try, at least with me." Emily smiled softly, everything feeling so perfect in this moment. She gently rubbed Alison's knuckles with her thumb, as she continued to gaze at the blonde.
"Em..." Alison whispered to her. She looked at her dad who was in the front seat driving, not at all paying attention to what the two girls were up to in the back. "I'm just not used to being back here yet, I'm used to running away when I hear noise, this is still different." Alison flipped her hand so the palm of her hand was over Emily's, squeezing the brunettes hand.
"Hmm, yes Ali?" Emily murmured softly, feeling in a bit of a dreamlike state. She reached up with her free hand and tucked a loose strand of the blonde's hair behind her ear. "I know. It's going to take time. I still jump every time I hear a phone go off and every loud noise scares me when I'm alone. But we can't keep running forever. Remember what you told me? Together, we're stronger." Emily whispered softly, reminding Alison of her own words she'd told the brunette when she had decided to go back to school a few weeks before they'd gotten out for the summer.
"I guess you're right." Alison admitted. Now that her and Emily were in the back and her dad has his eyes carefully on the road, Alison unbuckled her seat belt and then sat in the middle right beside Emily, buckling up. She placed her hand between both of the girls' body and looked ahead at the road, the sun shining bright, Alison didn't speak another word.
Emily smiled, satisfied that Alison wasn't arguing with her point of view. She was also glad that since Kenneth wasn't giving them much attention, Alison wasn't really pulling away from her. To her surprise, the blonde sold to the seat closer to her. Emily took Alison's hand in her own, linking her fingers with the blonde's. She didn't mind the silence now when things were actually going well.