Crazier ➳ Emison (COMPLETED)

48 - Worth Your While

Emily placed the glass rectangular container of lemon cake on the dining table. Her ears strained to hear her parents talking casually upstairs. Nowadays, her father's home days arrangement wasn't so clear. In the past, he would come back only on particular weekends and that was only when he could actually make it, but recently, the army's been actually cutting him the slack he deserved, and since he was now residing in the Pennsylvania base, he had been coming home on some weekdays also. Emily couldn't have been more pleased about this kind of change, since she finally got to see her father more and he was still serving their country proudly and bravely.

She turned to see her parents bounding down the stairs, laughing sweetly. She smiled graciously at them, though she was still undeniably tired. After she had come back last night from a great night with her friends and girlfriend, her parents had practically begged her to tell them everything that had happened, and she couldn't find herself saying no. She had ended up falling asleep a little after 3 AM. She didn't mind it. In fact, she valued the fact that her parents took an actual interest in what turned to be one of the best nights ever. Besides, she had been dying to spill her guts when they'd asked her, and it just gave her another reason to talk about the amazing evening.

Her mother disappeared into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a tray of chocolate chip cookies she had made earlier that morning.

Emily walked up to her, taking the tray from Pam's hands and echoing the older woman's smile. Placing it down on the table, she turned to both her parents. "So," she started tentatively, getting both her parents' attention, "how come you're suddenly inviting Jason over for coffee?" A second later, she added, "Not that I'm complaining, I think it's nice that-"

"It's alright, Emmy, I understand what you're asking," Wayne assured. "To answer your question, yesterday was the first time we ever got to really talk to Jason. Well, without Kenneth and Jessica looming over him."

Pam nodded, "And while we got to talking, he had some very nice things to say about you and how he was glad to see Alison so happy."

Emily blushed with a small grin.

"So, we figured we wanted to get to know Jason better, and inviting him seemed like a reasonable thing to do," her father finished, taking a seat at the end of the dining table.

Emily nodded in understanding, gratified by her parents' answers. It was nice to see this trio being formed; her mom, her dad and Ali's brother, Jason. The three of them were - at least after all this time - supportive of her relationship with Alison and she felt very fortunate to be surrounded by all this love.

She was so invested in her thoughts, that by the time the doorbell rang, she didn't even jump a foot in the air like she usually did. Her parents did though, and while getting up to open the door, Pam muttered something to Wayne about replacing the horrid doorbell immediately.

When she heard a soft chat taking place, she stood up, waiting for Jason to walk in with her parents. Jason entered the room, giving Emily a short hug then taking a seat with her father at the table, shaking Wayne's hand with a grin. When her mother didn't enter right after, the brunette frowned in confusion. She walked further down the room, passing the wall that separated the dining room and the foyer.

She was surprised to see Alison conversing casually with her mother. She hadn't even known Alison was coming. She could've... helped her mother make more cookies, or something. The swimmer shook out of her trance when her mother called out to her, "Emily, don't you want to say hi to Alison?"

Emily picked up her gaze to see Alison smiling at her softly and her mother staring at her curiously. She nodded timidly in response, and walked up to the pair. When she was standing directly in front of Alison, her cheeks began painting themselves faint red. She turned to her mother, embarrassed, "Um, mom?"