Hello good people who read this! How are you guys doing? Good I hope. We are back with another update finally! Just one thing I should mention, this chapter will be extremely short, BUT it is very relevant to where this story is going. I guess you could call it a highkey important filler? Anyway, I promise you the next few chapters will make up for it. Happy reading!
Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.
She still has as much pep in her step jogging up three flights of stairs as she did at the gym all day. Taking two steps per lunge, Emily finally reaches her own apartment's hallway, out of breath and slowing down before coming to a stop in order to rest for a few moments. Currently, all she could think about was taking a quick shower and finishing her night off by lounging on her living room couch with a nice, scary movie and a bowl of cereal.
When she finally caught her breath, she looked around, examining the interior of the building she's lived in for months now. It was old – that much she could tell; probably older than herself, from the looks of it. She studied the hallway's walls and concluded that it sure as hell endured a lot of damage over the years. The building itself wasn't that big, and really, neither was the apartments that the building contained. Emily's apartment in particular was incredibly small, but it was perfect for her and suited her single-living needs with some space to spare. Although the building was an okay size, it could definitely use some sprucing up.
Breaking herself out of the slight trance, Emily began to fish around in her unorganized purse for the key to her door, mentally cursing at herself for never cleaning it out. How do people use huge purses without going insane, she thought; she could barely keep her's, as small as it is, clean. Finally locating the key and sticking it into the lock, she turned the doorknob and walked inside, sighing in content when she realizes that she's finally home after a long day – or so she thought as she looks up to see Hanna relaxing on the couch, eating a bag of cheesy puffs.
"Did I miss something here?" Emily moved her finger back and forth between Hanna and the television.
"I got hungry and lonely so I used my spare to get in." Hanna replied nonchalantly as if it were no big deal – which it really wasn't; Emily was pretty much used to it by now.
"So, are you going to share the sofa or leave me standing here in my own apartment?" Emily joked. With that, Hanna stood up, eyes never leaving the TV as she did so.
"Em, we seriously need to get out and go do something. No offense, but your apartment's a little too small to have fun in." The blonde stated bluntly as she turned the TV's volume down and faced Emily.
Emily furrowed her brows at the statement, "hey, I have fun in here." She was slightly offended, but it was Hanna; what more could she expect?
Hanna wrinkled her nose before responding, "Not the kind of fun I wanna join in on." Her reaction earned a chuckle from the brunette.
"Let's do something fun and make it a girls' night instead of just watching TV," Hanna beamed. Emily looked away and sighed. She was really looking forward to watching that new scary movie she rented. Before Emily could protest, Hanna continued, "And I know you were just going to plant your ass on that couch all night and watch some lame gore-fest, but I, being the good friend that I am," the blonde placed her hands over her heart before inhaling deeply, "won't let that happen." She finished and shot Emily a cheesy smile – no pun intended. Good friend my butt, part of Emily's mind shouted, however she lightly laughed at her best friend's antics.
When Hanna saw the wheels turning in Emily's head, she grabbed her hands and pulled on them. "Please, Em. We haven't spent any time together in a while," she whined.
Within seconds, Emily had gone from slowly shaking her head to nodding in response.
"Fine, but we are not playing any of your games again, Hanna. I mean it." Emily held her finger out, sternly pointed at the blonde. Hanna rolled her eyes at how serious Emily was acting at the moment, considering she wouldn't be acting nearly as serious with a little alcohol in her system.
"Okay, Mom." Hanna mocked in a deep voice. Emily scoffed before stretching and heading into the small kitchen.
"So, what did you have in mind? The movies or... what?" Emily inquired over her cereal bowl as Hanna walked in.
"I don't know. Maybe..." Hanna trailed off, leaving Emily a bit curious as to what exactly the blonde was thinking.
Before getting further into their plans, Hanna's unexpected visit began to register in Emily's mind. "Where's Caleb, by the way?" She recalled Hanna briefly saying that she was lonely.
After a few seconds, the blonde's attention snapped back to Emily. "He left on some unexpected business trip earlier and won't be back for a few days." She puffed out her cheeks. "Speaking of which... can I stay here in the meantime? I get needy easily." Hanna asked.
Emily playfully rolled her eyes before responding. "Oh, you don't say?" She laughed when Hanna shot her a pointed look. "Of course you can. Stay as long as you want." Emily smiled at the mere thought of having her best friend stay with her for a few days; it had been a while since they hung out for longer than only a few hours.
Hanna let out an audible – and slightly odd – giggle, causing Emily to glare at her, waiting for an explanation.
"Do we get to share the bed?" She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.
Emily chuckled. "Keep doing that and you'll be staying on the couch."
The two managed to make their way to the living room couch while making small talk before Hanna proposed an idea for the night.
"You know what would be fun?" She pursed her lips to contain her excitement. Oh crap, here we go, Emily thinks.
The brunette slowly tilted her head to look at Hanna out of the corner of her eye. "Hmm?" She hummed, already guessing what this idea is going to be.
"We should go to The Radley," Hanna practically yelled.
"Hanna, I'm tired and –" Emily attempted to come up with a solid excuse, but she was interrupted by the front door swinging open and slamming shut.
"What the hell, Alison? I'm going to have to change my underwear now!" Hanna breathed out, clutching her chest and trying to recover from her own high-pitched scream. Emily looked down, already dreading the question that was about to come next.
"And when did you get a spare key?" Hanna squinted at the key that Alison was dangling from her finger. "I thought I was the only one with a spare." She looked between Alison and the small piece of metal. Alison looked away from the two, attempting to come up with a good reason as to why she had a key to Emily's place, but she couldn't seem to formulate anything believable, so she simply ignored Hanna's question altogether. Meanwhile, Emily sat frozen on the couch.
Alison looked back towards the two on the couch and asked, "What are you guys doing?"
Hanna flashes them both a wide and mischievous smile. "I was about to take Emily to The Radley, to see if she'd score with someone tonight."
Alison's face drops for a split second before plastering on a tight smile, refusing to let her emotions show in front of the other blonde. Emily groans; she knows exactly where this is going – and it's not going to end well for her. But, sadly, there was nothing that Emily could do or say to stop Hanna. First off, it would look suspicious that Emily jumped completely off the bandwagon right as Alison found out, and two, once Hanna gets going on something, she won't quit. So, reluctantly, Emily simply bites the bullet while sitting back to watch the situation unfold.
"Hanna, I told you that I'm tired from working all day long. Can we please just stay in?" Emily attempts to change her best friend's mind, but it doesn't work.
Hanna stares at Emily before rolling her eyes. "Suck it up, Em, you'll be even more tired once we get back… and that's if you leave with me." Hanna winks and Emily swears she can feel Alison's anger radiating from where she's sat on the sofa. She watches Alison shift uncomfortably in her spot near the door after Hanna's smug remark. I just wanted to watch movies and eat cereal, Emily thought.
Alison threw her purse over her shoulder and made her way closer towards the door. "You know, I should probably head out," she said rather coldly. "I have a stack of papers to grade and if I don't start on it now, I'll be up grading until four and Elliot hates when I come to bed that late." Alison pauses to laugh but Emily knows the blonde is really pausing to make sure that the message was received; play with fire and you get burned. She looked towards Emily with a small – and slightly sad? - smile on her face before speaking again, "You should go out though, Em... Maybe you'll find someone other than a blonde."
With that last statement, she slammed the door shut and, little to the brunette's knowledge, Alison had left hurt; she had left seconds before allowing her tears to fall as she rapidly walked down the hallway. Emily looked at Hanna, who had her mouth hanging slightly ajar, until she caught glimpse of Emily's gaze and attempted to look unfazed.
"So, Em… how does The Radley sound now?" Hanna let out a small laugh, trying to diffuse the tension that still lingered throughout the room.
"Han, I'm really, really tired," Emily stressed. "I just want to lay here and watch TV until I fall asleep," she finished. She knew she would be in deep shit tomorrow with the fuming blonde who had just left, so Emily just wanted to relax while she still could – or try to, at least.
"Yeah, yeah. That's fine. I'm going to go take a shower and then we can watch that gross movie you rented." Hanna cringed before shuffling awkwardly to the bathroom.
Before Hanna could get too far, Emily stopped her by calling her name. When she looked towards Emily with full attention – almost as if she was about to be scolded for something – Emily softly smiled at her. "Thank you for letting me plant my ass on this couch all night."
Hanna let out a laugh before responding, "Don't get used to it, Emily Fields. I'm getting you out of this apartment sooner or later… willing or not." She promised as she sent a playfully stern look in Emily's direction on the couch, earning a raised eyebrow from the brunette. When Hanna started exiting the room once again, Emily muttered to herself, "It definitely won't be willing."
"I heard that," came Hanna's sing-song voice from the bathroom. Before getting into any more trouble, Emily simply rolled her eyes and unknowingly got lost in her thoughts.
Emily sits on the edge of the couch, silently, absentmindedly sighing. Tonight was supposed to end quietly; she thought about how she planned on a calm night with herself and no problems. She loved Hanna to death and Emily's thrilled to have her best friend stay with her for a few nights – that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Emily couldn't vent to her best friend; she couldn't just flat out explain to Hanna what's going on and why Alison reacted the way she did; she couldn't ask Hanna for advice; she couldn't do anything but bottle everything up and hope it dissipated eventually. Emily began to run a hand through her dark hair, wondering what is going to happen next. Alison didn't even give her the benefit of the doubt, Emily thought; after all this time, doesn't she trust me? Emily slowly leaned her back against the couch. She knew that there wasn't a positive vibe when Alison stormed out earlier – quite the opposite, actually. If there was one thing that Emily hated, it was upsetting Alison and she could only imagine how upset the girl was right about now. Although, this time, Emily feels like she's messed up a lot worse than any time before.
I just wanted to watch movies and eat cereal, but I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now. Same Em.Do you guys like the story so far? I feel like this chapter will start to get the story rolling y'know. Also I wanna know, what do you guys think of Rollins? Do you like him or hate him? I think he's an interesting character as of now, and as you learn more about his and Alison's relationship, you might change your opinion on him.
Now to answer a question-
Drea82581- Alison can't exactly leave Rollins. The reason why is because when Emily left for Cali, she also left Alison. Once Alison gave up on Emily returning, she found someone new, which happened to be Rollins. So basically, Rollins was there when Emily wasn't, and Alison is afraid that if she left Rollins to be with Emily, Emily might leave her again, therefore leaving Alison all alone again. And yes, Alison is very independent, but she sure doesn't like being alone.
Also forgot to mention, we'll be updating every weekend, so be on the lookout for that. Again, the next few chapters will make up for the short update. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, review, follow, and favorite!