Hold Me Down

Chapter 15

Nothing good ever seems to come from opening her door to unexpected visitors and yet, Emily finds herself walking listlessly to answer the knocking. When she pulls open the front door, she's met with a surly looking Hanna glaring at her in the fading sunlight. Caleb stands somewhat awkwardly behind the blonde, offering Emily a smile and a wave in greeting. Emily cautiously sizes up the pair, shrinking back a little at Hanna's icy demeanor. Her stomach twists with nervous energy as she wonders what the couple could possibly want with her.

She gets her answer soon enough.

"Caleb's here to de-bug," Hanna explains curtly, brushing past Emily to enter the Fields' home. The blonde sweeps her eyes around Emily's living room like she's searching for something before huffing quietly to herself and rolling her eyes away from Emily.

Caleb brandishes his fancy chrome brief case for Emily to see and follows his girlfriend inside with a sheepish lopsided grin.

"Oh, right," Emily says, nodding slowly as Hanna's words click in her mind. She knew Caleb was planning on checking the other girls' houses for wires or recording devices A may have planted like he did at Alison's, but since she hadn't heard from anyone in a couple of days—not that she expected her friends to reach out to her after what transpired in Alison's room—she assumed she had been removed from the official de-bugging list as punishment for her heinous behavior.

"I'll start in the bedroom if that's cool with you?" Caleb asks as he pops open the briefcase and removes the frequency detector.

Emily shakes herself out of her momentary daze to acknowledge the boy. "Yeah, of course, go on up."

As Emily watches Caleb climb the stairs she's suddenly very thankful her mother isn't home so she doesn't have to explain why Caleb looks like he's ghost-busting her bedroom. She's also pretty glad her mother isn't around to hear whatever venom Hanna is about to spit at her.

With Caleb out of sight, Emily swears she can feel the temperature in the room rise as she's left alone with Hanna and the blonde's simmering hate for her. She can barely bring herself to make eye contact with her one-time best friend—her eyes bouncing awkwardly around the room as she tries to focus on anything but Hanna's grim expression.

The truth is, Emily has been preparing for this confrontation all weekend—she's had lengthy conversations with each and every one of her friends in her mind where she eloquently explains herself and emotionally expresses her regret. But those conversations were easier when they were one-sided—when she didn't have to face her friend's disgust and disappointment head-on. And despite having spent two days rehearsing what her next words to her friends would be, her mind is now completely blank and she feels woefully underprepared for this confrontation. What is she supposed to say to a girl who has previously voiced a very strong desire to take a golf club to the knees of the person responsible for hurting Alison?

Taking a deep breath and bracing herself for the worst, Emily glances up at Hanna and waits for the blonde to rip into her. But Hanna looks resistant, arms folded across her chest and hip popped to one side as she studies a photo of Emily with her parents that sits on the mantle.

As the seconds tick by, Emily grows more and more unnerved with the tense and awkward situation. No longer able to withstand Hanna's unique blend of disgust and indifference, she decides to bite the bullet and break the ice herself.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me," Emily says softly—so softly in fact, she wonders if Hanna has even heard her until the blonde is slowly turning to face her.

Hanna presses her lips together and shakes her head before speaking. "I didn't think I'd want to either."

"So what changed your mind?" Emily asks as she takes a seat on the sofa.