It was the summer before they were set to start college, the scars from the dollhouse were fresh and the memories from highschool were haunting but still the girls decided to throw one last party at Spencer's place before they all parted ways. Emily arrived early to find nobody was there, not even Spencer, Veronica let Emily in the house and told her that Spencer had gone to the store to get things for the party. Emily went upstairs and made her way to Spencer's room, she sat down on the bed and waited for the others to arrive. She knew that Hanna would be late as always, and that Aria had packing to finish and wasn't going to be there till later.
Ten minutes passed before Emily heard the sound of heels tapping on the wood as Alison made her way upstairs, she opened the door and saw Emily sitting there alone.
"Why hello there" She smiled as she sat beside her, Emily smiled back "So nobody else is here?"
"No, Spencer isn't back from the store, the others haven't shown up yet." Emily responded as Alison stood up and started going through Spencers boxes
"Are you sad that you're the only one staying here?" Emily asked
Alison turned to face her, "No, not sad" then she looked down "I mean i'm not happy about it" she let out a laugh "But i'm proud of you guys for following your dreams and escaping this place."
"But wasnt that your dream Ali?"
"What do you mean?"
"You always talked about leaving rosewood, running away with some boy and traveling the world" Emily laughed as she said it, it sounded like a kinda silly dream after everything they had gone through; it felt impossible to them all these years.
"Yeah" Alison smiled and walked closer to Emily, standing in front of her "It was...but after being chased away from here, being unable to be at home with my family because of A, well now i think my dream is just to have a normal life without having to be running from someone."
"I get that" Emily smiled sadly, thinking of everything Alison had been through.
"What's your dream Em?" Alison asked as she sat beside Emily on the bed
"I don't know" She laughed
"Oh come on" Alison shoved her a little "Yes you do, what do you want more than anything else?"
Emily choked a little on that question, she knew the answer of course, it was always right there; right in front of her, but she couldn't tell the truth because even after all of these years she still didn't know how Alison would react to it.
"Em?" Alison pushed, her smile made Emily want to just say it and without thinking she did.
"You" Emily breathed out "I want you, I love you..." She lost her voice on those last words, and when she looked up and saw Alison's wide eyes she couldn't help but feel like she made a mistake. "Fuck" Emily mouthed as she quikly got up and made her way to the door
"Where are you going?" Alison asked, but it was too late, Emily was out the door and headed down the stairs.
Emily sat on the ground with her back against the kissing rock, tears in her eyes and she thought about what she had just done, what she had said. She knew that Alison knew already, I mean for fucks sake everyone knew, but saying it to her face just felt different and she was so worried that Alison didn't feel the same, worried she would lose the one person she loved more than anything else. She stared at her hands as she picked grass from the ground, wondering if Alison would tell their friends what had happened when they got there,wondering if Alison would bring it up when Emily eventually went back, if she went back.
"The kissing rock huh?" Alison giggled as she approached Emily "I knew you wanted to kiss me, but running away and leading me here seems a bit extreme; you could have just asked"
"How did you find me?" Emily asked, looking up into those big blue eyes
"Oh come on Em" Alison smiled as she leaned down to Emily's level "I've known you a long time, i like to think i know you pretty well"
"I shouldn't have said that...before" Emily said as she looked at the ground
"Was it true?" Alison asked with a smile
"What?" Emily asked, surprised by the question she looked back up at Alison
"Was it true?"
"Yeah, i mean..." Emily started
"Then i'm glad you did" Alison interrupted, her fingers now tracing Emily's jaw line
"You are?"
"I love you too Em" Alison whispered as she leaned in closer, Emily meeting her halfway for a soft and slow kiss.
About an hour or two later Emily And Alison arrived at Spencer's place a little disheveled but happier than they had ever been before.
"Wow look who finally decided to show up" Spencer rolled her eyes jokingly
"Yeah and i thought i was late" Hanna laughed
"Yeah well for future reference, don't have sex at the kissing rock unless you want to have to go home and get new clothes that aren't covered in dirt" Alison giggled and all the girls eyes went wide, including Emily.
