Hastings' Cabin, June 2007 [Part II]
Aria and Emily were sitting on the porch steps while Alison stood in front of them; they were worried for their friends, who have been missing for over an hour now.
"Guys, there!" Emily said when she raised her head and spotted the two a few feet away from the cabin. She got up and ran off in their direction, along whith the smaller brunette.
"Hey what happend?"
"Hanna are you hurt?" they asked at the same time.
"Yeah, I tripped and I think I sprained my ankle" Hanna explained.
"Oh Hanna, you can be such a klutz…" Ali said affectionately. The others exchanged glances at this but didn't bother to say anything; Spencer glared her way once more before resuming her walk, still carrying the injured girl on her back, with their friends following behind.
She made her way inside the house and gently laid Hanna down on the couch. She then went to take some ice to put on her foot.
"Here" she said, handing to her friend the ice wrapped in a towel. Hanna took it and nodded in silent appreciation.
"Where is my mom?" the tall brunette asked Aria.
"She had some work-related stuff to do so she went upstairs. She said she'd be back before dinner" the shorty girl replied.
"Figures…" Spencer grumbled. "Ar, could you please keep an eye on Hanna, see if she need anything? Em, you too please. Alison, we need to talk" she declared with a no-nonsense tone.
"Yeah, yeah of course" Aria said puzzled.
"Sure thing, Spence. You snap your fingers and everyone has to obey" the queen bee in question challenged.
"And here I thought that was you, how silly of me!" the young Hastings snarled back. "I didn't want to do this in front of them but you asked for it. Listen Ali, you need to stop with your bullshit; I've had enough of you bossing and bullying people around. You don't need to be like this, you are better than this" she ended her speech with conviction.
Alison was stunned – they all were. In her heart she knew that Spencer was right, but she couldn't nor she wouldn't admit it. Still, those words stirred something in her. A part of her wanted to listen to that 'something' that was whispering to her to do the right thing; another part, however, simply couldn't bring herself to admit defeat. Proud is a dangerous vice. She found herself surprised when she realized that, during her inner struggle, her eyes met those of Emily. Sweet, naive, innocent Emily, whose gaze was pleading to stop this fight. "Which one?" Ali thought to herself; "the fight with Spencer or the one with myself?". She didn't know the answer. She didn't know if there was an answer at all.
"Honey please, don't talk like you know me, 'cause you don't", she finally replied.
At those words, she saw Emily cast her eyes down in disappointment: Alison had lost a chance to be a better person. The look on the tanned skin brunette's face made the young Dilaurentis almost gasp; she realized that she had just let down the one person who adored her unconditionally, the very same person who hold a special place in her heart. And that was unforgivable. In that moment she decided that, even if she wasn't to ever change, she could always try. For Emily's sake, if nothing else.
"Hanna, I'm sorry for earlier" she said curtly.
The blonde graciously accepted her apologies and the other girls smiled delighted. Apparently, the storm was over.
[Later in the night]
After patching things up, they spent the afternoon inside the cabin watching a movie, so that Hanna could rest her injured ankle. Just before sunset, they decided to set up a bonfire so that they could make s'mores. They ate and talked and laughed with each other, and generally had a good time. Any rancor left behind.
After such a long, eventful day they all felt pretty beaten, so Alison and Aria announced that they were going to sleep. Spencer, Emily and Hanna remained out; they were lying on the grass next to each other in a comfortable silence, looking up at the stars and enjoying the quietness of the night.
"Tonight the sky's beautiful" Emily sighed with amazement.
"Mmm" Spencer murmured in agreement; "Summer is the perfect time to go stargazing, you can see lots of planets and constellations" she informed.
"Do you know any of them?" the other brunette asked into the darkness.
"She's a nerd, of course she does" Hanna teased.
"Look" Spencer said, raising an arm and pointing at a bunch of stars "See those three stars? They're called Deneb, Vega and Altair. They're the brightest stars in the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila respectively, and together they form the Summer Triangle" she explained. "Their names come from Greek mythology, in fact each constellation has her own story. Do you want me to tell one?"
"Yeah…" both Emily and Hanna agreed, intrigued.
"Uhm, let's see…" the nerdy girl pondered, "So, Lyra there should represent the lyre, an ancient musical instrument wich the cantor Orpheus used to play; he was the son of Calliope, a Muse, and he was well known for his incredible ability. They said that he could charm even stones with his music. One day he met a beautiful nymph, Eurydice, and they fell in love and got married. Unfortunately, one day Eurydice was assaulted by a satyr and when she tried to escape from his vice grip, she fell into a nest of vipers and died because of their poisonous bite. Orpheus was distraught: he wanted her lover back, so he decided to descend to the underworld. Once there, he met Hades and played the lyre for him; the god was so moved by his music that he agreed to return Eurydice to the world of the living, on one condition: Orpheus should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. So they started walking and, as much as he wanted to, he did not look back. However, just before they reached the end of their path he couldn't help himself and turned around, and so Eurydice disappeared from his sight, this time for good".
"Wow, I actually understood less than a half of what you said but I have the feeling that was pretty sad" Hanna said after a while. "These Greek guys must've been very depressed to come up with a story like that", she considered.
"Yeah, it's possible Han…" Spencer chuckled.
"Hey, I think you knocked Emily out" Hanna pointed out.
They turned on their sides to face the brunette who was lying between them and, sure enough, she was fast asleep. They giggled at the sight, then a pregnant silence engulfed them once more.
"I think my father is going to leave us" Hanna confessed, completely out of the blue.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Han" Spencer said sympathetically.
"Yeah, me too. But I think it's for the best. I mean, they fight all the time, about everything. Me included"
"Han, don't you dare! I know what you're doing and you shoul know that this is in no way your fault"
"Then, whose is it?"
"Maybe theirs, maybe nobody. Sometimes things just stop working, doesn't mean there's to be a culprit"
"And when did you get so wise, if may I ask?" Hanna teased with a small smile.
"Hey, I've always been!" Spencer grinned.
"But seriously Han, you know that if you ever need something, anything, I… We are here, right?" the brunette hoped the blonde didn't catch her slip. She did.
"I know Spence, thank you" she smiled sincerely.
"You're very welcome" the brunette smiled back. "So, there's actually this other myth about..." she tried to distract her friend from her thoughts changing subject.
"Wooah, no no no you stop right there! I think I've had enough of this for the next ten years" Hanna abruptly cut her off slightly agiteted. "Besides I'm already sleepy, thanky you" she winked. "In fact, I think I'm going to sleep. Night Spence, good luck waking up Emily" she smirked and ran off to the tent, despite her ankle.
'Damnit, I forgot about Em! ' Spencer thought to herself. She resigned to the fact that she was going to deal with it alone.
An: Thank you all for reading and supporting this story. I would really like to know your thoughs on this chapter, doesn't matter if they're positive or not - well, at least not too much ;)
To TheMidnightSociety: You made a good point about Ashley! Actually, it is something that I intend to further examine in the next chapters, mostly when Hanna and Spencer finally get together. I'll tell you, from my point of view it's not so much that she doesn't care at all that her daughter might be into girls, but rather she brushes it off like some sort of juvenile, innocent crush, more platonic than anything. The fact is that she really like to tease Hanna and see her squirm under her stare :D But seriously, once she will realize that the feelings are really there and they are real, she's going to be like their number one fan, simply because she loves her daughter no matter what.
Okay, I'm gonna stop here. I think I bored you enough ;)