A/N: I'm taking yet another moment to thank you guys: Cha, I get what you say about the long paragraph thing; it's hard, especially when you get bored in the middle xD. But I'm a long-paragraph person, I can't really help it. Sorry you marathoned both the stories! You should've gotten more sleep! Sora Yogami: I'm definitely a sucker for badass Emily and will try to deliver some of that soon ;). IxHeartxGlee: it's one of my favorite chapters too, I must say ;). In-due-time: thank you! I'm also a sucker for shy-but-controlling Emily, I guess you all can tell; and I have this strong conviction that Spencer's actually a total softie, so yeah :). lumos175: thank you too! unoriginalrhombus: believable is what I care about, so thanks a lot! As long as the characters sound like they should, that's a good sign for me. Maxi-Luca: :))) Thank you as always and go on with your great Spemily fic! :D socrplayr44: I already said thanks, but thanks again! And I promise I'll try to get more precise.
Alison was sitting on the edge of Emily's bed, delicately painting her nails in a striking pink color, when her phone beeped. She tried to reach out for it further on the bed, not very convincingly, until Emily noticed the posture and picked it up for her.
"Thanks."
Her striking smile mirrored the striking flash of her newly polished nails, but she had some trouble trying to manipulate the phone with her painted nails and gave it back to Emily to read the text.
"You read it, please. I can't really do it now."
Emily smiled back and opened the text. "It's Aria. She'll be here in five minutes."
"Why didn't she text you?"
Emily shrugged her shoulders in ignorance and continued searching for the picture she'd promised to find in the magazine. It was the picture of a model with a really cute haircut. She'd said she'd find it in order to help Alison get a new amazing haircut.
"Are Spencer and Hanna coming too?", she asked absent-mindedly, looking through the magazine pages.
"Shouldn't you know that?", Alison replied pointedly. "It's your place, not mine."
Emily raised her head. "Yeah, I should know, right?"
She took her phone from the table and saw she had a text from Hanna where she said she couldn't come today. Her mom was forcing her to go to the gym with her.
"Hanna's not coming. I don't know about Spencer."
"She told me she'd come later", Alison informed, looking intensely concentrated on a nail. The little finger was always the hardest to get right.
"So you knew?"
"She called me when I was coming", she said distractedly. "She had to do something very important for her dad." She turned around in frustration. "Can you do this one for me?"
Emily nodded and left the magazine aside on the bed, taking Alison's hand in hers delicately. However, Alison gave her a mocking frown and signaled the nail color bottle with her head, moving her hand away to continue looking at the yet unpainted nail.
"This one's always hard", Alison both complained and warned. "Remember to paint a stripe first."
Emily nodded again, gently rolling the bottle again to warm it more and then scraping the brush so the excess of polish would go off it. After this thoughtful operation, Alison finally offered her hand again, and Emily focused on the matter as she held Alison's fingers on hers.
"She's always late", Alison added while she observed Emily perform on her nail. "Doesn't care enough."
Intensely concentrated on Alison's nail, Emily still wondered if Alison was talking about Spencer or about Hanna, because it was Hanna who usually arrived late, not Spencer. Maybe she was referring to both of them in the same sentence.
"Spencer's always on time", she finally decided to say.
She was trying to keep Alison's hand and her own fingers steady so she wouldn't miss it. Alison would be furious if she failed. But she wouldn't. She was always good with this kind of stuff. She was good at holding a hand, especially if it was Alison's.
"I meant Hanna", Alison clarified, and Emily felt a somewhat more intense glance directed to her and not to the nail operation. "Spencer does care, except when her family's involved."
"Her family always gives her a hard time", Emily contributed.
Alison shot one of her mysterious, knowing smiles, which almost made Emily miss it for once, maybe for the first time. But she held herself together and steady.
"It's more than that."
"What do you mean?"
It was Alison who shrugged this time, indicating this might be just the type of secret knowledge she wasn't supposed to share with anyone else on earth.
"Han cares too", Emily observed, thinking about how Alison always gave Hanna a hard time because of her tendency to arrive late or to not arrive at all, "but Spencer cares too much." She thought about Spencer for a second, while she finished the nail and let go of Alison's hand with a silent sigh. "Basically about everything."
"Too much?"
Alison chuckled a little mockingly, at the same time making an extraordinary effort to move and recline against the pillows and the headboard without destroying her now perfect nails.
"Just… you know", Emily tried to explain, "she always wants to do everything, and she wants to do it right. Also with everybody she cares about."
"You think?", Alison questioned again. "Yeah, I guess Spence's like that, a little."
Emily reclined against the headboard too, picking up the magazine again to continue her search for the missing picture. Out of the corner of her eye she could sense Alison's glances and catch a glimpse of her somehow distracting blonde curls.
"She cares too much about being a Hastings", Alison continued, although Emily hadn't really answered her last comment. "She doesn't care too much about other things."
She blew her nails very softly.
Emily stopped looking through the magazine, deciding she'd probably seen it in another one. She reached for the following one in the stack of magazines she'd brought upstairs from the living room.
"I think she cares too much about us too."
"Well, that's because you're sweet, Em." Alison tilted her head a little in Emily's direction, still careful not to touch anything with her hands. "But you don't see her for who she is." She sent her a piercing look now and laughed, but not blatantly. "You probably think we'll be friends forever."
Emily smiled widely at her. "Yeah, that's exactly what I think."
"See? I told you", Alison winked in complicity. "You're just like that. That's why only you and I care too much."
Since she had never thought of it that way, Emily frowned. However, it was nice to feel only she and Alison were the first and the only ones when it came to a part of their lives, although she didn't say anything about it. It was true that Alison was always the first and the only one in everything; but it wasn't so common to find Emily right after her. She could take it, though; especially if it was about caring. She was good at that too.
Although she didn't totally agree, Alison probably knew more about Spencer than her.
"Don't look at me like that", Alison said, registering Emily's frown as a sign of her slight disagreement. "Spencer's a cool friend. She's loyal and she's usually there. She just won't stay in Rosewood forever, Em. I thought you knew that."
Emily was somehow relieved that was what Alison had meant. But it wasn't only that.
"None of us will stay in Rosewood forever."
"Hanna will", Alison said, looking away. "Maybe we will too."
"You think so?"
Alison laughed at Emily's sudden expression of concern.
"Aria will probably get out to become a rock star or something like that. We'll get free tickets for her concerts."
She laughed more wholeheartedly now, still not wanting to say anything about Emily's concern.
"And us?"
"We'll get out too", Alison took the previous words back and smiled, finally giving Emily what she wanted, "but we'll always keep in touch, especially us." The way she said it, Emily understood she referred only to both of them. "We'll be stars."
Emily smiled back. She did want to get out of Rosewood at some point too. But she wanted to keep in touch with her friends. She'd take them with her in her luggage if she could.
She would do that, in a way. Wherever she had to go. Wherever she ended up, her friends would end up there with her.
Hanna too.
Hanna would be a star too.
"So all of us will become stars except for Hanna?", Emily asked, feeling protective of Hanna again. To be fair, she wasn't totally sure she would make it out of Rosewood either. Aria was going to be a rock star and Alison was probably going to shine in anything she decided to do. Like Spencer. No, Spencer would shine in a different way, because she was the brightest one of all of them, so she'd definitely be the biggest star, although not in a movie-like, Hollywood-style sense like Alison. In a much more serious sense. In a really serious sense - solemn and grave. As for Hanna and herself, perhaps they didn't have as many chances to shine, but they would anyway. "We can be stars in Rosewood too."
That was her best conclusion.
If they were all stars, they'd shine everywhere, even in Rosewood.
"We'll be stars everywhere we go", Alison agreed, almost picking up on her thoughts. "You will be, that's for sure."
Emily shyly looked away to the window, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by her need to actually become a star in her own room, suddenly wondering if Alison was serious or was only teasing her when she spoke to her like that.
"We're all good at doing something", she offered. "And Spencer's probably the best."
"That's only because she tries too hard." Alison smiled a wicked smile and then suddenly became silent. After a moment, she spoke again. "But I didn't say Spencer'd be a star."
Emily left the magazine, giving up on that one too, and picked up the nail color, thinking maybe she should use that one too. How cool would it be to have the same nail color? Would that mean something? Would it make it that obvious?
"She's the one who's got more chances of becoming one", Emily replied like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
Alison mockingly frowned at her.
"What do you think she'll do?"
Emily gave it some thought, but she didn't have to go too deep into it.
"She'll probably be the first female President or the next Secretary of State", she laughed. "And she'll stop world hunger and war if she wants to. Or if her dad wants her to."
Alison laughed at that too.
"Wow, you have great expectations for her", Alison answered, stressing the words with a distinctively naughty tone. "Watch out, maybe she won't go that far."
The mention of the great expectations she had for Spencer made Emily shiver a little at the memory of the kiss she'd shared with Alison in the library. However, she tried not to think about it now, and looked at her wondering what she exactly meant when she mentioned it like that in normal, ordinary conversation, almost as if it didn't matter, as if they were talking about something else. But they were talking about something else. They were talking about Spencer. So she wondered too if Alison didn't have those expectations for Spencer herself. They were really close. They were very good friends.
"What do you think she'll do?", Emily shot the question back.
"Yeah, maybe", Alison answered, distracted with one of the pictures of the magazine Emily had previously discarded on the bed. "I think she'll do whatever her father wants her to do. She'll become a senator, or a senator's wife." Alison looked thoughtful for a second. "Although I'm pretty sure she's got her chances of becoming a senator's lover too."
She shot another one of her wicked smiles, as if she knew a lot about senators and about senator's lovers. But that had sounded weird. The way she said the word lover had sounded weird, like it hid second, third, fourth meanings behind. Spencer, a senator's lover? A senator's senator wife maybe, perhaps a senator's senator lover, but only a lover, as in a mistress? Emily couldn't really picture that. Spencer was too ambitious, smart and proud to become only that.
She was going to ask when Aria came in the room, her red-purple highlights shining as a reminder of her future rock-star condition.
"Hey, girls."
She left her purse on the table and came to sit with them on the bed, facing the two other girls from her place at their feet.
"Aria, we're talking about Spencer", Alison greeted in a straight-forward manner, always a little malicious. "What do you think? Will she be a star like us or just a senator's mistress?"
Aria seemed completely taken aback with the question, and her big eyes opened even more in surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
"Spencer", Emily repeated, still puzzled by Alison's comment.
"We just decided you're gonna be a rock star, Aria", Alison let out that piece of information. "And Em thinks we'll always be friends."
What did one thing have to do with the other? Emily supposed she hadn't reached that level yet; and Aria hadn't either, because she was still confused with Alison's comments.
"I think so too, Em", Aria finally agreed, picking up on the last comment. "We'll always be friends."
"Spencer too?", Alison asked, her eyes shining as they always shone when she was on to something, particularly a lesson that needed to be taught to her all-girl clique.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?"
"You're both too sweet", Alison smiled warmly, making sure her nails had completely dried before moving a little further away from Emily and approaching Aria on the bed. "I was saying Spencer's cool, but the moment she's out of here, she'll be out of here forever."
"Her family has a house here", Emily argued as if that explained everything. "She eventually has to come back."
Alison turned to look at her sweetly, but somehow she felt it as a slap because the hidden message was that she was dumb.
"I mean she'll be out of our lives", Alison explained. "It was good while it lasted. That's what you can expect of Spencer's friendship, you sweet ladies, and you better know about it now. She'll be here while she's here, once she's out, she's out forever."
Aria made herself more comfortable on the bed, laying face down and propping herself on her elbows.
"I don't agree", Aria thoughtfully said. "I think Spencer'll be a star and a senator. And I think she'll help us with a lot of stuff, and she'll get us positions in all the high places and we'll get rich thanks to her."
"I'll get Defence because of my dad", Emily laughed, still thinking Spencer would make it to the Presidency.
"She'll probably give you money", Alison smiled too, "if she still remembers you guys."
"Of course she will remember us", Aria argued. "We're not easy to forget. Right, Em?"
"I'm definitely not", Alison winked again, and stood up from the bed. "Em, I need something to drink. Where can I…?"
Emily stood up in a single instant.
"I'll get it. Aria, what do you want?"
"Just… whatever."
Alison sat down on a chair now, and Emily left the room in order to get lemonade, coke and some snacks her mom had prepared for her friends. In the kitchen, her mother was finishing some sandwiches too. That was sweet of her mom, so she approached her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. She stayed around while her mom finished, talking about some things and thinking about others that were still in her head, making her dizzy and sad, making her happy and sad.
Once everything was prepared, she walked up the stairs back to her room with the tray. She was still in the stairs when she heard Aria and Alison talking to each other, apparently arguing about something. She could hear Aria's tense, strained voice a little higher than normal, higher than the softer, richer, mellifluous tone of Alison's voice.
"I just don't think you should say that about her, that's all", Emily heard Aria saying.
"I'm not saying anything bad, Ar", Alison replied calmly. "I know her better than you do, and there's nothing wrong with it, if you know how to use it. That's all I'm saying."
Who were they talking about? Were they talking about her?
Emily's heart skipped many beats at once, just thinking Alison might have slipped something about her secret to Aria.
She couldn't deal with this now.
She froze.
Not now, not today, not at her place.
Not with her mother down the stairs.
"Well, I don't like it", Aria said again, "and I don't think you should say it."
"Just calm down, Aria, it's no big deal. You and Em could learn a lot from her and you'd probably make it out of here earlier too."
She stopped in front of the door, suddenly relieved. If she could learn from her, it was another person and they weren't talking about her.
Who were they talking about then?
"There's nothing good about being called a slut, Ali", Aria replied. "Not with the way you say it."
A slut?
"What do you know?", Alison said, this time with a really sharp edge. "She'll get out of here before anyone else, what do you care if she sleeps around with a guy or two if she gets to be a senator? That's all I was saying. Don't be a prude like Em."
A senator.
They were still discussing Spencer.
Was that what Alison had meant when she'd said Spencer would become a senator's lover? That she slept around, and she'd use sex - and love - and the promise of sex to gain access to power? But Spencer was powerful already - the Hastings were.
Somehow she didn't like the way it sounded, the same way Aria said she didn't like it.
Why did Alison say she and Aria could learn from it? To make it out of Rosewood by sleeping around with people? Was Spencer sleeping around with people? As if Spencer would ever need that. She had the brains, and the connections too.
She didn't think so.
Spencer was probably the most studious person on earth. She seemed also clumsy and kind of naïve when it came to boys.
She opened the door to her room, trying to balance the tray so it didn't fall off her hands.
"Why are you arguing?", she asked, knowing they wouldn't answer the whole truth and somehow still pursuing it. "Are you all right?"
"It's just Aria", Alison answered, approaching Emily to pick up a glass of lemonade. "She gets mad at me because she needs to feel independent and free." She took a sip of her drink, and offered another glass to Aria as Emily left the tray on the table. "Take it, Aria."
Aria took the glass and seemed to try to relax a little under Emily's inquisitive gaze.
"It's nothing", she said.
"I was just saying that Spencer's the kind who'll sleep around a lot so she can make it to the top", Alison explained, dismissive, "and she took it badly. Right, Aria?"
"Why would Spencer need to sleep around for that?", Emily asked, feeling the argument between them was absurd. "I don't think she'll ever need to do that. She's smart enough."
"Maybe she's not as smart as you think", Alison shrugged, sending a cutting glance to Emily but then removing her eyes from her. She got one sandwich for her and another one for Aria, who took it and immediately bit it. "Or maybe she'll just doanything to make it." She paused, taking in both Aria's and Emily's responses. "There's nothing wrong in wanting to make it to the top, and I know we're all gonna make it in a couple of years. I'll be the one to help you guys."
She turned again and offered a bright smile to both of them, although only Emily received it as a secret message.
"It may take us a little bit longer", Aria added, smiling already.
"But not too long", Emily smirked too.
The sandwiches flew in a matter of minutes and, when Spencer arrived, almost all of them had gone, so she had to go downstairs to the kitchen to ask Mrs. Fields for another one. She was starving after the tennis match she'd played against her dad and a client of his.
"How was the tennis match, Spence?", Alison asked when she came back from the kitchen.
"Good." She shot a lopsided grin while chewing on her sandwich. "I couldn't really help it. I won again."
"You always do", Emily summed up, sitting on her own bed to watch her friends.