Orange Is the New Emily

Ch. 9 - "What's your story?"

"Okay, goodnight, Emily."

Emily swallowed hard and shifted in her bed, laying on her back and feeling an unease wash over her, "goodnight Alison," she breathe out heavily.

x-x-x-x

No One's POV

Emily tried to sleep that night, she really did. But she was too perplexed by the blonde who lay only 5 feet from her to let sleep come and take her away.

Her thoughts ran rampant of the past 48 hours and she never would've imagined this is where she would be at this point in her life. How could she have seen this?

What was bugging Emily more however, was the collectedness of her new roommate. Alison was, after all, the one to barge into the bathroom and save her...right? That was no figment of her imagination. Knowing that, Emily wondered what could have made Alison seem so smug yesterday. Was that the right word? The odd look she had thrown Emily's way, plus the way she was speaking. Em only just met the girl but it did seem out of character.

So Emily tossed and turned within the narrow frame of the bed and kept thinking about how she was going to handle this. She wanted to say thank you, that much she knew for sure, but she didn't know how or when and what Alison's reaction would be.

Sleep didn't come but morning did and when the natural light started to illuminate the small living space Emily now occupied and shared, she sat up, rubbed her eyes and waited. For what she wasn't sure. Was there supposed to an alarm clock to start the day? Would someone come in and yell for them to wake?

Emily stared ahead of her and made the mistake of letting her eyes wander over to Alison. What was her deal? She heard things her first day hear, from other passerby inmates, even the guards and her counselor. They all had this tone in her voice, like fear and disgust combined, but from what Emily encountered, the traces of either of those were gone.

The blonde seemed to be sleeping soundly. She looked actually peaceful despite the thin mattress, the even thinner and itchy blanket over her and the flattened pillow beneath her head. Emily tilted her head and wondered if Ali was used to it by now. She wondered just how long Ali had been here.

Em kept her eyes trained on the hand that had fell sometime during the night out of the blanket, hanging out over the edge of the bed. Her fingernails were painted blue and Emily smiled. Blue was her favorite color and it looked nice paired beside the paler tone of Alison's skin.

"Ehem," Emily's observation was cut short when the blonde cleared her throat and waved the same hand Emily was staring at, "hello, you okay there? Oh do you want to stare some more?"

Emily looked up, slightly horrified, her mouth literally fell open in surprise and she was without anything to say.

Ali's face eased and she actually smiled lightly, "it's okay Emily, I'm only kidding."

Her roommate laughed mildly at the expression on her face and Emily smiled nervously, "yeah I- uh, I was just looking...um, that's a nice color." Smooth Em, she thought, real smooth.

Ali smiled in amusement and held her hand out in front of her, examining her own nails, "yeah I see you have a thing for blue don't you?"

Emily's brows knitted in confusion and she wondered what Ali meant. She looked up and she was met with the bright blue of Alison's eyes and she swallowed, Ali didn't think-

"The pictures Emily, don't look so freaked out." Alison got up from her bed, walking towards Emily and pointed at the pictures she had retaped to her new wall.

"You're wearing a blue top in both of these," she paused to tap them both, "you have a blue necklace in this," Ali glided her fingers over another, "and I'm assuming the car you and blondie here are leaning against is yours."