No Escape

Not All is Fair in Love and War

The five friends eventually settled into an uncomfortable truce. Alison was the one who gave in, if only because she believed she owed them more than she could ever really repay. She had been a bitch, and she couldn't properly convince herself that they could ever do anything worse than what she had done for so many years. It was especially true since sometimes she would still slip, snapping at them. She would apologize, of course, a big change from when she never did that, but it was always a bad reminder of what had been.

Things were nearly seemingly normal when the day of the dance came. It was the Christmas Ball, and everyone had been talking about it for weeks. Things were still unclear between Alison and Emily. There were still a lot of things that were left unsaid between the two of them, but for the past couple of weeks they had become accustomed to the kind of relationship they once had before Alison left. There was a lot less controling from Alison's end, and lot more strength on Emily's. It was a fair relationship now, or so Emily would like to think.

They weren't 'together' yet. They had never talked about it, and the most they really did was hold each other's hand. It was difficult to move forward after the years of brokenness on Emily's part. There were still times when Alison would reach for her hand and it would take her a while to return the pressure unto Ali's hand, only because she was afraid Alison would be the first one to let go; times when she would end a hug too abruptly after remembering the rejection she'd experienced in the locker rooms. Alison was under no illusion that they were nothing but friends, and she hoped everything would change during the Ball.

And now she sat as Emily drove the two of them to the event. Alison could barely keep from staring at Emily. She used to be better at hiding it, but then that was a time when she wasn't even accepting of the fact that she could possibly be in love with a girl. She'd fought long and hard against it, and it was ironically being away from Emily that had convinced her that there was never going to be anyone else. She looked at Emily again now, and knew that part of her inability to hide it was the fact that she had almost died, again, because of -A. Life was too short to be keeping her feelings to herself.

"Ali, you're staring."

Her head snapped so fast from looking at Emily towards the road, she felt her neck crick. She lifted a hand to relieve the pain, and saw Emily try to hide a grin at her peripheral vision. "Shush," she muttered, even as her own lips threatened to smile.

"I didn't say anything," Emily reminded her, suddenly giving up on hiding her grin.

"Uh-huh."

"I didn't!"

Most of the conversation were like this now. Playful banter between friends who were aware that they could be something more, but were both laden with too much reservations to make the first move.

They arrived at the Ball and Ali again surreptitiously studied Emily through the rear view mirror. Then Emily caught her eyes, and Ali fought down the urge to blush. As if she could, she thought slightly annoyed with herself.

Emily only smiled at her, raising an eyebrow to let the blonde know she knew exactly what Alison was doing. "Let's go, Ali."

They exited the car and met up with the other in the party. Greetings were exchanged and compliments went around as they studied each others outfits. The males only stood letting the girls mingle, waiting to be alone with their respective ladies. After the pleasantries, they decided to separate for a while and meet up in an hour again.

Which left Alison and Emily at the meeting point. Emily didn't know what Alison was expecting out of the 'date'. It was the first time the two of them were out together in a public event. They could have easily been thought of as best friends when they went out shopping or to the movies. Emily didn't know if Alison was ready to show everyone that there was something going on between them.