The English Teacher ➳ Emison

Chapter 26 | Thin Ice

Emily Fields was the type of person who gave a hundred percent of themselves to something. It served her as a great benefit, whether in the relationships in her life, her position on the swim team, or any other program she took part in, like her summer volunteering. 

She found it natural to give herself away for whatever cause was on the agenda. In general, she rarely acted selfishly. It always felt wrong to her. Caring for other people just made more sense. 

These days, she truly loved her life. Anything that posed as a threat to her current lifestyle was essentially jeopardizing her happiness. So, even though she realized her new decision concerning college was a tad extreme, and that it delved into the selfish territory she was mostly unfamiliar with, it was something she knew would maintain her bliss.  

Never had she been more invested in another person in her life than she was in Alison. She couldn't even imagine being more in love than right now. Never once was she bored in Alison's company, nor did she get tired of looking at her.

Emily could genuinely picture a very vivid, incredible future with Alison – but in order for that to happen, the college issue needed to be solved. That could only happen if California was no longer an obstacle in her way. 

It was late one night, while Alison was out on her family dinner, when Emily sat at her desk in her bedroom, looking down at the typed-out letter on her laptop screen. She had never felt such a mixture of certainty and ambiguity. Every time a memory arose in her mind that reminded her how much she had needed to push herself last year academically in school and physically in swimming in order to receive scores that impressed the scholarship scouts, another image snuck into her brain. An image of Alison and the future they could have together. 

It was the mental battle between the future that was planned out for her and the future she genuinely wanted. 

In the end, even a selfless person like herself knew which one would win. 

XXXXX

A silver Corolla navigated through the streets of Philadelphia, headed to its destination. Emily slowed the car to turn onto a side street, causing Alison to look around suspiciously. She still didn't know where they were going, but she figured it was starting to become her and Emily's thing during their dates – surprising the other person with the idea.

She was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a flowy white top – a more casual outfit than their previous dates. Emily's request for causal attire only made Alison wonder further what their date was aimed to be, and she kept on guessing to herself as she glanced at the brunette. Emily was dressed in her own blue denim and leather jacket over a gray top, her fingers intertwined with Alison's over the console.  

She'd told Emily earlier about everything that went down last night at that horrendous dinner with her parents. As messed up as the conversation around the dinner table was, she still found herself somewhat pleased that she had ended up attending. The only reason was that she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest after telling her parents about her and Emily. Sure, they didn't know the whole story, nor was she ever planning to tell them, but at least they knew she was dating someone - a woman, at that. 

The best part of it was that she had been right. She had outrightly predicted on her and Emily's first date that her parents wouldn't care about the discovery as long as she stayed quiet in front of their friends. It ended up being the skewed, messed-up reality. Truthfully, as long as they didn't try to meddle in her business, she had no qualms about it.

She reverted back to reality when she sensed the car's speed gradually declining. It was slightly odd, since from a simple look around, there was essentially nothing here. All she could see ahead of her was a grassy hill, but Emily stopped the car anyway, putting it in Park and cutting the engine.