"Em, Em, wake up. Emily!" someone's voice interrupted Emily's sound sleep making her groan quietly in frustration.
"Spence, try to wake her up, I'll wake Ali up."
The swimmer raised her head at the mention of Alison's name and opened her sleepy eyes to find an amused Spencer watching Hanna's begrudged expression.
"Ugh, finally, you woke up, Em! Now just Ali," Hanna declared as Emily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and tried to stretch, but was blocked by someone's arm. She glanced to her right to witness a peacefully-sleeping Alison, with her arm draped over Emily's stomach. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she remembered last night's events, letting out a happy sigh. It was like she could cross 'kissing Alison' off of a million different checklists, and it felt amazing.
Alison's face was merely inches away from the brunette's. Emily couldn't turn her head away to look at anything else other than Alison's graceful features. Her blonde hair was spread over the pillow and covered a part of her face, her pink lips were gently pressed together and her breathing was even.
She looked so innocent, which wasn't the label people usually tagged to Alison DiLaurentis. Emily took in the view in front of her as she grabbed Alison's wrist lightly, in order to try and move it away so she could get up, but was surprised to feel the blonde's grip around her stomach tighten, as if she didn't want Emily to move.
In reality, Alison had been awake for several minutes now, Hanna's loud voice no doubt shaking her out of her sleep, but she didn't dare to move an inch away from the position she and the brunette were in. She heard Hanna's tired voice trying to wake her up but she intentionally kept her eyes shut and her arm around the other girl's stomach. What could she do? She was selfish at all matters related to Emily.
She snapped back from her thoughts when she heard Emily settling her head back down on the couch. "Ali? Ali, wake up," Emily called out softly as she placed her hand on Alison's, and the blonde almost shuddered, scolding herself to somehow find a way to calm her beating heart. She still had to get used to being so close to Emily, now that she and the girl verified that there was something between them. The blonde lazily opened her eyes as if she had been sleeping the whole time and smiled softly at the sight of Emily. The brunette couldn't help but shyly smile back at her before looking at Hanna who was watching their interaction curiously.
"Good morning," Emily simply said as Alison moved her arm from around her stomach. The blonde didn't seem to notice that Emily didn't want her to move her arm, that she wanted to stay like that for the rest of the day.
"Good morning," Alison replied authentically and sat up on the couch as Emily did the same.
"Wow, you two woke up," Aria walked into the room holding two mugs. She handed a mug to each girl and they both took a large sip. Coffee was the cure for everything, Spencer once told them.
Spencer, Hanna, and Aria started up a casual conversation between them, and after the two other girls quickly finished their coffees and put their mugs away, Alison glanced at Emily, grateful that the attention was turned away from them.
"Did you sleep well?" Alison inquired, tilting her head as her hand found Emily's. The brunette's heart warmed once she heard the sincerity in Alison's voice.
"Yeah, I did," she answered, losing herself in blue, hypnotizing eyes. "Did you?" Emily asked, after a moment of silence.
Alison leaned forward and whispered slowly in Emily's ear, "It was the best sleep I've gotten in ages." Leaning back, she smirked when she discovered that the brunette's breathing hitched.
Emily shook her head lightly and found Alison staring at her with a mischievous grin spread across her face. She looked down, blushing hard, when she felt Alison get up from the pull-out couch. Gazing upwards, she saw the blonde's hand stretched out for her.
"I'm going to go get ready. You coming, Em?"
"Yeah, sure," she answered easily as she grabbed Alison's hand, and before they made their way to the bathroom, the blonde stopped in front of the three girls who were still talking between themselves.
"Get dressed, huns, we're going for breakfast at The Brew," Alison saw the girls squeaking and smirked to herself before looking down at her hand that was intertwined with Emily's. The blonde could only think to herself that this felt so natural, and that she didn't mind waking up like this every day.
She led Emily to the bathroom and locked the door behind them. "Alison, what are you-" before Emily could finish, she felt a pair of warm lips against her own and sighed when she felt Alison's hands on her waist.
She kissed Alison gently and warmly, and it felt beyond addictive. Emily's hands went up to Alison's face and cradled it. The kiss was soft, neither of them planning to rush it, they were both barely awake, after all.
After a few moments, Alison parted from Emily's lips with a smile. The swimmer couldn't help but wonder if she was still deeply engrossed in a dream.
"Now, that's a good morning," Alison finished and turned to the sink to begin getting ready. Emily only smiled shyly at Alison through the mirror, before doing the same.
XXXXX
Twenty minutes later, the five girls found themselves exiting the DiLaurentis' house, heading in the direction of The Brew.
"So, Noel Kahn is having a party tonight," Ali mentioned offhandedly and immediately everyone stopped their small-talk to listen to their unofficial leader.
"And we're going to that?" Aria blushed, clearly surprised that they were even invited to Noel's. Aria had the biggest crush on Noel Kahn all throughout middle school and everyone knew it. The small brunette didn't seem to mind Alison teasing her endlessly about it.
"Of course," Alison answered in a matter-of-factly voice.
"I don't know, Ali, we have a French test right when we come back from vacation, and a quiz in English Lit and-" Spencer was cut off by Alison, who couldn't stand another second of the brainiac's babbling.
"Spence, if you think for a second that you're not coming, then you're wrong, sweetie." Alison cut her off nonchalantly, like always.
Spencer, although usually talking back wittily, figured it would be best to simply stop arguing and Alison smirked when she heard silence, acknowledging her own triumph.
The blonde looked over to Hanna. "Sean's going to be there," she remarked and winked coyly at the other girl. Hanna's face lit up like fireworks when she heard her crush's name.
Alison understood that Hanna had a crush on Sean Ackard, she really did. But what was starting to annoy the hell out of her was that the other blonde simply never seemed to stop talking about his perfect hair or his abs.
He wasn't that attractive, Alison mused, her eyes drifting to Emily as if to compare between the two. Next to the swimmer, he looked like the dirt on Alison's shoes.
"Really?" Hanna asked excitedly. Emily smiled fondly at her best friend's enthusiasm. "Do you think he's going to notice me?" the bubbly blonde continued.
"Well, If you put down the bag of chips and move your fat ass to talk to him, then he might just notice you, Hefty," Alison replied coldly and rolled her eyes.
Hanna's eyes turned glassy and she bit her tongue as she tried to blink away the sudden tears that threatened to float down cheeks. Upon hearing Alison's harsh comment, Emily's sympathy towards Hanna rose immensely and she moved to walk beside her before giving her hand a tight squeeze and smiling at her weakly. Hanna sniffled a bit before smiling sadly back at her.
Alison noticed Emily moving from beside her to walk next to Hanna and looked at her in confusion. She saw Emily putting her arm around Hanna's shoulder while Aria rubbed soothing circles on the fuller blonde's back.
When she caught Emily's eyes, she frowned her eyebrows and gave her a what's wrong? kind of look. Emily simply shook her head in disappointment and looked away.
Emily despised when Alison made remarks like that, especially to Hanna. Hanna, being practically Emily's sister, had called her many nights in the past, crying about something the blonde Queen Bee had said to her. Alison knew how to hit Hanna's weakest spots, anyone's weakest spots for that matter.
"Han, I'm sorry, I was just kidding." Alison finally said after realizing why Emily got so upset.
Hanna mumbled, "It's okay," and smiled weakly, but Alison knew she was still hurt and that Emily was still mad because she refused to look at her.
She walked over to Hanna and side-hugged her before saying in a calming voice, "Han, you know how I get. I really didn't mean what I said and it wasn't funny. I really believe Sean would be extremely lucky to have you."
This time, Alison knew Hanna dropped the subject as she smiled at her with her typical cheery 'Hanna smile'. Emily's expression softened at hearing Alison's words as well, and the queen bee smirked in satisfaction. She hated when her mermaid was angry at her, though they could never really stay mad at each other for too long.
They finally arrived at The Brew and sat down to order. The conversation flowed easily between them as it always did, and when they ate, they talked about how exciting Noel's party was going to be and how many memories they could make tonight, all of Alison's insults quickly forgotten behind. After finishing her food, the blonde stood up.
"I need to use the bathroom. Em, will you come with me?" Alison asked sweetly as if she didn't know the answer already.
"Sure," Emily replied and smiled wholeheartedly at the blonde. She could never really say no to her. They walked into the empty bathroom and before Emily could even formulate a word, Alison was grabbing her hand and pulling her into one of the stalls. She locked the door behind them and looked at the brunette longingly while ever so slightly, biting her lip.
Emily gasped when she was abruptly shoved lightly by the shoulders against the stall door. Alison smirked sultrily as she watched Emily bite her lip involuntarily, enjoying this just as much as she was, before putting her arms around Alison's waist and pulling the blonde closer to her.
"I've wanted to touch you like that ever since we sat down," Alison whispered as she leaned closer to Emily. She was surprised by her own actions, if she was going to be honest, but something seemed to just kick in last night - some kind of deep hunger for the brunette that she had been restricted inside of her for far too long. And after they'd kissed last night, she felt that it was time to let that hunger out.
"I've wanted to touch you like that ever since I first met you," Emily replied without thinking, her eyes widening at her own words. 'Did I really just say that?' she scolded herself.
Alison smiled softly and put her arms around Emily's neck, pulling her into a short kiss that sent pleasurable chills through their bodies. "Me too," the blonde admitted tenderly. It was an honest statement, except for the fact that at the time, she hadn't known what it meant about her.
Emily gave her a small smile of satisfaction and leaned back into their kiss, this time boldly deepening it by entering Alison's mouth with her tongue.
She earned a moan from the blonde, a noise that boosted her confidence enough to hold tighter onto Alison's hips and turn the two of them around, pinning the blonde against the stall door. Alison smiled into the kiss. She loved this newfound bold, dominant Emily. She had only ever gotten to see this side of the brunette when the girl was swimming competitively, now that Alison thought about it. When Emily was with her swim team, she was more in control than in any other situation in her life, and suddenly, Alison was pleased to see the 'in-charge' side of the swimmer taking over.
They deepened their kiss even more but Alison broke the lip lock when she heard the bathroom door open. They both opened their eyes and breathed slowly, trying to keep quiet so they wouldn't be heard.
"Em?" they heard a familiar voice say.
Alison recognized Aria's voice and resisted the urge to huff to herself.
Emily covered Alison's mouth with her hand and answered, "Yeah, Aria?" The brunette suspected her voice came off as slightly bothered because she didn't really appreciate their friend interrupting her moment with Alison.
"Is everything okay? You've been here for a while and we kind of got worried."
Emily smiled shortly at the shorter brunette's concern. "I-I'm okay, Aria, I'll be out in a minute," she assured.
"Okay," Aria responded, before adding, "hey, where's Alison? None of the other stalls are locked."
Emily and Alison shared a simultaneous, wide-eyed look before Emily took her hand off of the blonde's mouth and answered, "She... saw one of her mom's friends and went to say hello to her, she'll be back in a minute." The brunette glanced down at Alison who was staring at her with a proud smirk.
"Okay..." Aria trailed off, sounding unsure of Emily's answer. The swimmer heard the bathroom door clicking and both girls sighed in huge relief.
Alison looked at Emily with a small smirk before placing a chaste kiss on her lips and unlocking the stall door, only to find Aria leaning against the sink with her phone in her hands.
Oh, shit.
At that moment, they saw a woman washing her hands and leaving the bathroom quickly. Simultaneously, they both realized that woman was the one who they heard open the door, and Aria never left. Emily was the first to regret ever leaving that bathroom stall.
Aria looked up from her phone and stared at them, confused. "I thought you said Ali wasn't here."
Both girls didn't know how to answer their best friend. Their mouths were left hanging agape until Aria spoke up again. "Wait, were you two were in the same stall?" she questioned.
"Yes..." Emily answered uncertainly, glancing at Alison.
"Okay, and why would you lie about it?" Aria asked and crossed her arms over her chest. Emily and Alison shared a wary look and Aria took the liberty to speak again. "Was I interrupting something?"
'YES!' Emily screamed mentally.
"Because I could've sworn I heard something like a kissing sound but that obviously wasn't-" Aria stopped herself when she noticed at the two girls widen their eyes even more and look down at their feet uncomfortably with their cheeks flushed. "Oh, my God," Aria breathed out. "Were you two... kissing?" she asked, obviously intrigued by her best friends' behavior.
Emily, who was completely shocked by the whole situation, wore a look of pure dread. Alison looked into Emily's soft brown eyes, then back at Aria, feeling her heart speeding up from nervousness, which she didn't tend to get around her friends. Yet, she couldn't help but remember that this was Aria, the artsy, compassionate one of their group. She could tell her what was going on between her and Emily, knowing the small brunette wouldn't judge.
'Screw it,' she thought spontaneously.
She grabbed Emily's left hand with her right one and intertwined their fingers. The brunette looked down in astonishment at the gesture.
Alison finally spoke up for the first time since she and Emily exited the stall. "Yes, Aria, Em and I were," she looked at her mermaid's lips, "kissing." Emily and Aria's jaws dropped and the blush almost exploded from the swimmer's cheeks.
"Wait... I knew there was something going on between you two but I didn't know it was this!" Aria stated in shock, looking at the girls' intertwined hands. "So that's why you've been acting weird around each other lately," the girl concluded.
Alison found Emily's eyes and winked at her. Aria couldn't help but instantly smile at the sight of the two of them. She had talked about Emily and Alison earlier that day with Hanna and Spencer, while the two were sipping their coffees. Hanna had mentioned how cute Alison and Emily would look together at the sight of the two of them all cuddled up on the couch. Spencer and Aria had found themselves wholeheartedly agreeing with her and the three of them jokingly started making up names for their "ship". They were pleased when they came up with "Emison", part-Emily-part-Alison, concluding that if Alison and Emily were ever to date, as unlikely as it was, they would name them Emison.
Aria, Spencer, and Hanna were only completely bantering about the whole subject, but as soon as the shortest brunette remembered the conversation she had with her two friends that morning, she smiled like crazy before pulling a very surprised Alison and Emily into a tight hug.
"Ugh, I love Emison!" Aria squeaked in joy and backed away from them, leaving them completely confused.
"Emi-what?" Alison asked, her eyebrow raised.
"Emison, Emily and Alison. You know, like celebrity ship names, Brangelina ring a bell?" Aria asked as if it was obvious. The three girls looked at each other for several moments before bursting into laughter.
After the giggles died down, a few beats of silence passes before Alison sighed and somberly looked at Aria straight in the eye. "Aria, you know you can't tell anyone about what we just talked about, right? Em and I aren't ready to tell Hanna and Spencer anything yet, but we will, soon." Alison squeezed Emily's hand in reassurance as Aria nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, I get it. You two still need to figure out what you're doing, it's alright," Aria said in a soft timbre, noticing Emily's appreciative expression.
Alison was simply thankful that she didn't need to pull a threatening tactic of some sort to get Aria to not disclose what she had seen. She let go of Emily's hand and instantly missed the warmth of the brunette's touch. The three girls then walked out of the bathroom, met up with their friends and paid the bill together, all while Alison kept her watchful eyes on Aria, checking if she would really stay true to her word. Aria seemed to be a great actress, since the moment they came back from the bathroom, she didn't mention a thing about it. Alison was pleased with the results of the events that had transpired at The Brew as they all exited the coffee shop and walked towards Hanna's house to rest before getting ready for the party.