Hi everyone. I wrote this story a while back. I never finished it. I decided to try to finish it now, but I got to admit that I wanna redo it all because it is not good enough for my taste. Hope you like the new version.

Chapter One: Take My Hand

Emily's POV

I'm currently in Hanna's room. Actually, it will be my room now too for a while. My mother didn't want to be away from my father anymore and I wasn't ready to leave Rosewood. Lucky for me, Ashley Marin proposed that I stay with her and Hanna for the remainder of the school year. I had only one more box to unpack before I was officially done moving in.

"Are you done yet?" asks Hanna.

"Almost. It would've been faster if you had helped, you know." I reply with a grin.

"The girls want us to spend the night at Aria's like we used to do."

"Great, give me ten minutes and I'll be ready."

Hanna's phone rings to announce a text message. A single fuck escapes her lips. I look at her confused, scared that it might be A.

"Aria says that her parents don't want her to invite people over..." replies Hanna while leaving the room.

I look down at the box I was unpacking and take out the two last frames before setting them on a shelf. Hanna comes back shortly after.

"We'll do this here tonight, my mom agreed. She's going out tonight anyway," explains Hanna as she texts Aria back.

I look around the room to make sure that I am done unpacking. "Great, I'm going to take a shower."

Ms. Marin and Hanna had installed a bed in the corner of the bedroom. Hanna had made space for me in her closet and had emptied shelves for me to put my things on. She also made sure I had room in the bathroom. She has a lot of stuff. Looking around the room, I can see my things organized and in their place while her things are all over the place. I can already see it being a recurring theme in the room. Hanna is such a mess.

I lock the door of the bathroom behind me and take a few deep breaths. I'm happy to still be in Rosewood, but it is hard to realize that my parents are not. I miss them. I get undressed while trying to hold back my tears. I don't want to cry when I'm supposed to be happy. I feel stupid for missing my mom when she just left. I turn on the water and adjust it to the right temperature. I step under the stream. I always thought that there was something so relaxing about taking a shower. Simply the feel of the water against my skin is enough to calm me down. My tears start to run down my cheeks and get lost in the water sliding down my body. After a while, I stop crying and shut off the water. When I get out I look around and realize that I didn't bring any clothes. I wrap a towel around myself and walk out to go to the room I share with Hanna, it's empty. I put on underwear and a pair of pants and then drop the towel in order to finish dressing. Spencer walks in and stops dead in her tracks.

"Oh, shit!" Spencer turns her back to me.

I grab the towel quickly and bring it back to my chest as I apologize to Spencer. I hurry to put on a bra and a shirt and give her the all-clear. She turns back around.

"I'm really sorry." She's as uncomfortable as me.

Spencer is blushing more than I've ever seen her. She is usually so confident and... unapologetic. It's a bit disconcerting to see her like that, but it's also freakishly cute.

"Don't be, it's my fault. I should have locked the door."

"No, I should have knocked," argues Spencer as she looks down.

"Let's just forget it, yeah?" I suggest.

Spencer finally looks up and scans my face for the first time since she came into the room.

She clearly sees the traces of tears on my face. "Em, what's wrong?"

It's my turn to look away. I don't know how to explain how I feel and I'm not sure if I want to. I open my mouth to say something, but the words just won't come out. Spencer walks closer to me and grabs my hand. I want to look up. I want to lose myself in her eyes and forget everything for a while, but I can't find the courage to do that. She puts her free hand on my cheek and uses it to guide my face upwards. I breathe in deeply and let it out slowly before I find the bravery to meet her worried gaze. When she sees the torment in my eyes, she pulls on my hand and walks us to my bed, guiding me to sit down.

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm here for you." Spencer sounds so reassuring as she slides her thumb across my knuckles.

"It's nothing. It's silly."

"Your feelings are never silly."

I sigh, relieved that Spencer once again finds the right words to calm me down.

"I just miss my mom and dad and I feel guilty because I'm happy to be here with you guys."

"There really is nothing silly about that. You should never feel guilty for how you feel, Em."

I am always surprised by her wisdom. She seems so focused on her grades, college, and sports, but when she lets herself open up to people, it's easy to see how human she is. She also hates to be vulnerable, but with me, she's so sweet and supportive. She seems tough, and she is, but she has such a big heart.

"Thank you, Spence." I hug her.

"You don't have to thank me, it's what friends are for."

My heart sinks at the word friends, but I don't let it show. I can't. "Let's go back downstairs."

"Yeah, the girls are waiting for us, we are gonna watch movies!" explains Spencer enthusiastically.

Hanna and Aria are already seated on the couch, talking and laughing together.

"What did we miss?" questions Spencer as we take a seat on the floor to face the girls.

"Spence, are you okay? You seem flustered!" Aria asks Spencer.

Spencer looks down and I look at her. I have to admit that Aria is right. It looks like she still hasn't stopped blushing from what happened earlier. I had not noticed in my hurry to avoid her eyes because of my shame.

"Yeah, I'm just a little warm." Spencer clears her throat, obviously uncomfortable.

I smile at her antic and I try to meet her eyes to comprehend what's really going on. Surely she can't still be embarrassed for what happened. She did see my breasts, but it happened so fast. There's really nothing to dwell on here.

Hanna must have seen me smile because she hurries up and tries to grill Spencer. "What really happened?"

"Nothing," I affirm, which is somewhat the truth.

"You're hidi… Are you…?" Aria asked confused.

"No!" Spencer hurriedly replies.

"What is it then?" Hanna keeps on pushing.

A part of me is annoyed with her, but I'm also glad that their focus is on Spencer; it takes away any focus there could have been on the fact that I cried earlier.

"What movie are we watching first?" Spencer demands, avoiding the subject.

"I don't know, but maybe we could play truth or dare instead." Hanna proposes not so subtlety.

"Good idea!" Aria agrees with her instantly.

"Not if I'm not drunk," Spencer groans.

"Oh! What a perfect way for you to spill all your secrets," Aria smirked.

"Great," Spencer lets out unenthusiastic.

I was certain that the game wouldn't end well, but I have to admit that I wanna know too what's going on with Spencer. I won't admit it out loud, because if I have to choose, I'll always side with Spencer, but I'm glad for once that Aria and Hanna are pushing her to talk.

Spencer's POV

Hanna leaves to grab some beers in the kitchen. Ms. Marin doesn't really drink, so I assume they must be leftovers from one of her dates, which means that she probably won't realize that they are missing.

"Is someone hungry?" Hanna calls from the kitchen.

"Nope," Aria replies simply, making Hanna come back instantly into the living room.

"Who wants to start?" Emily asks.

"I will, Spencer, truth or dare?" Aria smirks at me.

"Dare," I answer, wanting to get out of answering stupid questions.

"Damn! I dare you to drink half of your bottle of beer right now, as fast as you can." Aria says, probably trying to get me drunk faster instead.

"Easy," I smirk.

"Hanna, do you choose truth or dare?" I ask when I'm done with my dare.

"Truth."

"Hum… What is your highest grade in school?" I question her even if I'm sure she doesn't care enough to know that.

"Only you would ask that kind of question, Spence, but I don't even remember."

"What did you expect me to ask Hanna? About your first time with Caleb? I don't give a fuck, though." I say sarcastically.

"Well, yeah. That's kinda the point of this game! And just so you know, it hasn't happened yet."

"Really?" I ask incredulously.

"Your turn," Aria tells Hanna changing the subject.

"Emily, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

The game is about to take another turn. Emily can't lie and the girls will tease us endlessly about what just happened upstairs.

"What really happened when Spencer went upstairs?" Hanna is smirking big time.

I knew it.

The words leave my mouth before I can even think about them. "Why do you really want to know that?"

"Why are you so defensive?" Aria picks up on my tone.

"I'm not," I chose to back down.

"Well, it seems like something is going on," Hanna states out loud.

"What makes you think that?" Emily inquires.

"First, Spencer went upstairs and we heard her swear… After you came down and she seems flustered. When Aria asked her what was going on Spencer said she was warm and you smiled. Plus, you are way too defensive about it."

"But it's really nothing," Emily interjects once again.

"Then you can tell us." Aria insists.

Emily looks at me and I nod. "Before you came here I took a shower and I forgot to bring my clothes to the bathroom so… I put a towel around myself and went to the room. I put my pants on and before I had time to put my shirt on, Spencer walked in." Emily blushes at the memory.

"That's all that happened?" Hanna questions.

"Yeah, it is," I reply.

"Wait! Did you mean to say warm... or horny earlier, Spence?" Hanna's jokes, making it pretty clear where she is going with the subject.

"It's already late, we should start a movie," I say avoiding the subject altogether.

Hanna puts the first DVD she finds in the DVD player: Insidious. I'm usually not scared of movies but ghost movies scare the shit out of me. Emily and I get up to sit on the couch with the girls. Since Hanna and Aria are occupying both sides of the couch, we sit in the middle. I'm between Emily and Hanna, while Aria is on the other side of Emily. It doesn't take long for the girls to be really focused on the movie, but I'm not able to concentrate so I turn my head a little to be able to look at Emily. What happened this afternoon was really awkward but I didn't hate it. I'm stuck in my head, reliving the scene and trying to comprehend how I feel. I've always found her attractive, this isn't news to me. But when I was reassuring her, all I could think about was how I wish I could kiss her.

I hadn't realized I was still looking at her until I see that she is watching me too. It seems like she is trying to know what I am thinking about. I look back at the TV just when something appears on the screen. I jump so much that I take Emily's hand and hide my face in the crook of her neck. Hanna laughs a little but she doesn't stop the movie so I stay in that position. God, I hate that kind of movie. I close my eyes and breath in Emily's smell. Damn, she smells good.

Emily's POV

I feel Spencer's breath on my neck and it feels amazing. It gives me goosebumps. I'm not sure if it's the air on my neck or the fact that Spencer is so close that makes me feel that way though. What's wrong with me!? She's my best friend it's not supposed to be like that! I try to pull away, but I don't want to. I know that I should. Samara's face appears in my mind, but even the guilt is not enough to tear me away from Spencer. It feels so natural. After that moment, I have to admit that I don't have a clue what happened next in the movie. Nor did I care. Once it's over, Spencer still doesn't move. I can tell by her breathing that she's not sleeping, but she doesn't seem to want the moment to end any more than I do.

"Is she sleeping?" Aria inquires.

"Yes," I lie, not knowing why.

I feel Spencer's smirk on my neck.

"Go put your PJs on while I wake her."

Our friends went upstairs and Spencer moves away from me. It takes everything for me not to pull her back.

"What just happened?" I question confused.

"Nothing happened. I was scared and you protected me." She winks at me and walks up the stairs.

We meet up with the girls.

"Who sleeps with whom?" Aria ponders.

"We'll take my bed and Emily can bunk with Spencer for tonight."

I want to tell them that they are incredibly lousy but I can't, the arrangement is suiting me too well.

"I'm going to go change." Spencer leaves the room, avoiding more teasing or questions.

Aria and Hanna look at me expectantly.

I'm officially annoyed. "What?"

Hanna is getting on my nerve with her misplaced curiosity. "What's going on between you and Spencer?"

Spencer comes back at this moment and I take my PJs and escape to the bathroom. I don't have an answer anyway. I know that nothing is going on between me and Spencer, but I also know that I dreamt a thousand times that there was. I just don't want to get my hopes up. Anyway, she's my best friend and I actually have an amazing girlfriend.

Spencer's POV

Emily leaves the room and the girls turn to me.

"Care to tell us why you are acting so weird?" Aria asks.

"As if you and Hanna are not?"

She just looks at me with her usual you know what I mean look. There is nothing going on except the fact that I saw my best friend's breasts and I can't get the image out of my head. Nothing's happening between us. It's just something not easy to forget. I cannot let myself read into it, Emily has a girlfriend and anyway, she would never choose me. Emily comes back from the bathroom and I'm relieved. She closes the door and the light and crawls into bed with me.

"Goodnight girls," Aria speaks.

I don't know how to act with Emily. I hate feeling her body close to mine and only being able to think about how I wish I could take her in my arms and smell her sweet perfume again. I can feel her arm resting against mine as we are sharing a twin bed. I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to fall asleep. It is not the first time that we share a bed, but it's the first time that it makes me so confused. I am not supposed to feel the way I do right now. Thank god for the dark because I'm probably still looking flustered. She moves a little bit closer to me and takes my hand under the covers. I'm a bit hesitant at first, but then I remember her crying earlier. She must feel so lonely even though we are all here. The first night away from home is bound to be the hardest. I rub my thumb on her knuckles to calm her down. It must soothe me too as I fall asleep soon after.

There you go, the first chapter. I'm so happy to work on that story again. I hope it'll make you happy too.