A/N: In this chapter, you'll see what I meant when I said that I'm going to tie basic things in with the episodes, as well as the Emison moments, but I'm not going to try to keep all of my A stuff nearly exactly the same. :)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!
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"Have you talked to Ali, lately?" Spencer asked the three of us.
"Em and I hung out with her yesterday," Hanna answered, and I nodded in agreement. "Why?"
"I think she's really worried about A," Spencer answered.
"Has she gotten any others texts that we haven't?" Aria questioned.
Spencer shrugged. "She didn't say, but she's acting like she thinks we're never going to be able to get out of all of this."
"Well, should we talk to her about it?" Aria asked. "I know she's been dealing with A for a lot longer than we have, but we've been doing it together all of this time. We've learned to get past the initial fear, haven't we?"
I shook my head. "We learned to get over the initial fear when it was Mona, maybe even when it was Shana. We have no idea who this is now, and whoever it is just blew up Toby's house, so I think we're playing with someone else here."
"I thought everything around here was going to start getting normal again," Hanna muttered.
"Hey guys, what are we talking about?" Ali asked, suddenly approaching us all.
"How life sucks," Spencer answered. It was the end of the school day, and we were all standing outside of the school.
"Yeah, we probably all need to get our minds off of all of this shit. Can any of you guys hang out?" Ali asked, and she looked specifically me. I avoided eye contact.
"I don't think so," I answered.
"Spencer and I are going to Radley," Aria said.
"Why?" I demanded.
"Bethany Young, the girl who was buried instead of Alison, was a patient there. We're going to see what we can dig up," Spencer explained.
Ali nodded and looked to Hanna. "I can't. I really need to work on this project with Travis, and—"
"If you're going to see Caleb, Han, you can tell us," Ali interrupted. Hanna scowled, and everyone was quiet for a moment.
I finally spoke up. "I've gotta go. See you all later." I started off toward the parking lot, and heard the rest of the group behind me breaking apart. I heard feet go in different directions, and then footsteps right next to me. I looked to my right to see Alison. I wasn't surprised. "I can't hang out."
"I know," Ali answered, "but are you going home? Can I get a ride?"
"Sure," I agreed, sighing slightly. She followed me to my car and got in the passenger side. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I asked her, "How are you holding up? Spencer said that you're worried about A."
Alison gave me a bit of an alarmed glance. "I just… I don't know what A wants."
"What do you mean?" I asked carefully.
"I got a text," she answered slowly.
"What did it say?" I asked, a little bit impatient now.
She took a small breath. "It said that everyone was losing interest in me and wanted me gone. Specifically, you four."
I gave the blonde a sideways glance. "That's crazy. We just got you back, we don't want you gone."
"Em, why did you tell me that you thought I should leave Rosewood before?" Ali asked. I shook my head.
"I didn't actually want you to, Ali. Paige told me that Mona was planning on making your life a living hell, and I didn't want you to go through that," I explained.
"I've been through living hell, Emily," Alison reminded me. "Anyway, it sounded like you wanted me gone then. And I'm pretty sure that Hanna isn't ecstatic about me being back. I'd imagine that Spencer has got some qualms as well. Aria, too. I did so much shit to all of you."
I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Finally, I managed to get out, "Yeah, but, you were still always there for us, in your own way."
"Well it clearly wasn't good enough," Ali muttered. I began to feel a little guilty about avoiding her. She was going through a lot of stuff, and all of the feelings between us aside, I should've at least been there for her yesterday.
"Why don't you come over?" I suggested, trying to get rid of my guilt.
"Thanks," Alison said, giving me a half smile. I returned it, but then locked my eyes back on the road. We were just coming up to my house, and I pulled carefully up into the driveway. We got out and headed inside, bypassing the whole of my house and going straight up to my room.
When we got there, I decided that we were going to talk about A and about Alison's concerns that no one wanted her here. "Ali," I started, "if A is trying to make you think that none of us want you here, he or she is doing it specifically to make you want to leave. You can't listen to those texts you get."
"I know," Alison agreed, nodding. "I don't want to admit this to the other girls, but I'm actually really scared about what A is capable of. I know I was out of the full blast of it all when it started for all of you, but did ever notice how A started out small and just seems to get bigger? Now A blew up a house that we were practically right next to."
I nodded. "I know, it is a pretty daunting thought. But as long as we all stick together, we'll be fine."
Alison took a shaky breath. "If you say so. Hey, can I stay over tonight, please? My dad is going to be out really late."
I hesitated for a few seconds. Last time we had a sleepover, we hadn't just slept.
"Please Em, we'll just sleep, I promise," Ali insisted.
I nodded. "Yeah, of course you can sleep over."
We decided to watch movies to try to get all of the A stuff going on out of our heads. We turned my TV so that we could watch the movies from the bed instead of the window seat. We didn't talk or kiss or anything, and I was a little grateful for that. I still wasn't exactly sure where I was supposed to be with Ali. I didn't seem to have a problem trusting Ali except for when it came to feelings. It was understandable, since she had played with my feelings for a pretty long amount of time.
On the other hand, I had always thought that when she said things like I was her favorite, or that she wanted to go to France with me, things like that, I thought that she was just saying them to mess with my feelings. Had she really always meant those things? It would make sense now, since she told me that she did after all have feelings for me. I thought about asking her, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to bring up that topic.
When the last movie ended, I lent Ali some sweats and a tank, and then we both got changed, facing away from one another to avoid things being too awkward. In the past, neither of us would've cared about changing in front of each other. Hell, we used to stand completely naked in front of each other after we showered in the locker room for swim.
Now, though, after we'd kissed like that in a bed, it seemed like a new unspoken rule was for us to not look at each other without clothes anymore. Once we were both changed, I flipped off the lights and we climbed under the covers of my bed.
As we laid there, I knew that I would not be able to sleep. At least not until I talked to Ali, even though I'd just told myself earlier that we weren't going to bring this topic up. I couldn't help it.
"Ali?" I whispered, hoping that she was awake.
"Yes?" she asked back, and she sounded just as awake as I felt.
"When you used to tell me all that stuff… like I was the only one who really understood you, or how you wanted to go to France with me forever," I started, trailing off a little bit.
"Did I mean it?" Ali asked, wondering if that's what I was trying to ask.
"Yeah," I breathed out, before biting my lip hard. I knew what I wanted her to say, but I was worried that she wasn't going to say it.
"Every word," Alison promised, saying each word with emphasis, like she wanted me to know that she wasn't lying, not this time.
AAA
I took a deep breath after I said that, because I was starting to feel a little anxious. Emily was finally asking me about this, but I didn't know if she would believe me or not. And I didn't know if her knowing that stuff would actually make us any closer to talking about what we felt for each other now.
"Why did you want me to think that you never liked me?" Emily wondered.
"I was scared. Not to mention that I was also a bitch," I answered. As badly as I felt like I should lie to answer some of these questions, I knew that I couldn't. Not to Emily. I'd promised both her and myself that I wouldn't lie to her anymore. I planned on sticking that promise.
"What were you so afraid of?" Emily whispered.
"I don't know, but I'm still a little afraid of it," I admitted, also whispering.
We were both silent for a moment, and I began to feel a little uncomfortable, not knowing what Emily was thinking. "Thank you," she finally said, "for answering me honestly."
"Of course," I said, before readjusting my sleeping position a little bit and closing my eyes. Suddenly, I felt really tired, and my eyelids dropped down over my eyes. I sure hoped that Emily wasn't asking anything else, because I was out of it in a few seconds, falling asleep.
I woke up to Emily's school alarm with a groan. It was my fourth day back at school today, but the idea of going to that place was still giving me a twisted feeling in my stomach. I'd rather just stay home all day.
I woke Emily up with a nudge, and she groaned as well, reaching over to her side table and shutting off her alarm. "I'll get ready and we can stop by your place before we go to school so you can get ready."
"Well I have everything I need here, except for a change of clothes," I admitted. So we took turns in the bathroom and did our hair and makeup and got ready to go. After Emily was dressed, we got in her car with our school stuff and she drove first down the street to my house. I got out, telling her that I would only be gone a minute, and hurried inside.
The house was dark, so I guessed that my dad had already left for work again. I just went straight upstairs and changed into a cute outfit, adding a yellow scarf as well. Once I was sure that I looked amazing and would have Emily swooning, I headed back downstairs.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, the darkness around me started to feel a little eerie. I swallowed thickly and started toward the front door, freezing in place only when I heard a noise somewhere off to my right. I couldn't see anything, but it was really dark.
Suddenly, something hard slammed into my back, and I let out groan of pain as I fell forward. Whoever had swung the thing dropped it carelessly, and it knocked something else over, causing a loud clanging noise.
I thought the person was going to leave, but he or she grabbed my scarf and pulled me up, before using the thing to choke me. I was pretty sure that nearly my entire life had flashed before my eyes before I heard someone else run into the room.
This new someone attacked whoever was attacking me, and I fell onto the ground, gasping for air. I barely heard what was going on around me as I took in gulps of air. I didn't know what was even happening until Emily had me wrapped in her arms on the floor. "It's okay," she whispered, and I clung to her as a few tears left my eyes. "It's okay."
We stayed there until I could breathe properly again, and then Emily led me outside and back to her car. Instead of heading to school, though, she turned around and brought me back to her place. "Where are going?" I choked out.
"We're not going to school today," Emily declared.
"But then people will know that's something happened," I argued. Emily shook her head, telling me that I couldn't argue my way out of this. I sighed. "I guess I can just tell them that I was really missing my mom today."
Emily's mom had left the house since we left, so we were the only ones in the house as Emily led me upstairs and to her room. "Should I get the other girls?" Emily asked me.
I nodded. "Might as well."
She sent out a text—probably an SOS text—and then set her phone down. "Are you okay?"
I swallowed carefully and forced a nod. "I'm fine."
Emily gave me a look that told me that she knew I was most definitely not fine.
"If we're not going to school today, I'm going to sleep until the girls get here, okay?" I decided.
"Of course," Emily agreed with a nod. I laid down on her bed and closed my eyes. Forcing the images of my dark house out of my mind, I let myself fall asleep.
You saw what I mean? I wanted everything with Emison that happened in the last episode to happen in my story, but I had to adapt it for the story, you know? :)
Like ittt? Love ittt? Hate ittt? Leave me a quick review and tell me what you thought! If that's not your cup of tea, you are welcome to PM me instead, or as well :) Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back! :) By the way to anyone on Twitter who got tweeted by Sasha last night, congrats :) I didn't, but you know, you can't expect her to see and answer every tweet :)
So, probably no story updates tomorrow. My older sister, brother in law, and two of my nephews are coming down tonight from where they live, and they're staying with us all day tomorrow. Normally I would still have time to update, but I'm also having a nerd movie day with some friends tomorrow while my family is here. So after my friends leave, I'm back to helping with babies and hanging with the fam :) Hopefully some updates on Sunday, and if I'm feeling like they'll happen, I'll post my update schedule on Twitter.
I think I'm gonna start doing that. Before I write every day, I'll tweet and say what stories I plan on updating that day and in what order. I did it today and I felt like quite a few people saw it. Handy idea eh? :P
When school starts by the way, I may only be able to update one story per day. That means that I may have to set up a specific schedule again, like an order. CD, RIMS, SOWK, IDDA, something like that. Or maybe I'll just have to decide depending on what I'm feeling for the day. And actually, CD will probably be over by the time school starts again. .
Okay, time for something random! The song Shake It Out by Florence+TheMachine... well I've always been obsessed with the Glee version bc Naya and Amber and Jenna and yeah *heart eyes* and it always made me feel better when I was sad. Anyway, then I heard the original version, and I love them both equally, but the original is just like... it gives me chills and makes me feel like I'm floating. Kind of like Never Let Me Go, also by F+TM... if you haven't heard her stuff, go listennnnn! If you've read WDCT or NLMG then you've seen the lyrics to Never Let Me Go, but omg listen to it and Shake It Out. PERFECTION. :)
Okay, I'm done wasting your time :) Have a great day my loves! I may have to go sneak a snack before dinner, I'm soo hungry haha :) Please review c: