The morning after the dinner, the girls were planned to meet up with their friends at The Brew for breakfast. They all arrived at the popular coffee shop one by one at 9:30 AM and sat down to order. The only one missing was Alison, who had texted Emily saying she woke up late and would be there at 9:45 instead. It wasn't like Ali to be late, so the brunette knew she wanted to ask her about it.
It was 9:46 AM when Emily glanced up from her pancakes at the sound of the bell chiming as the door opened, finding a familiar blonde sauntering towards the table.
"Hi, guys, sorry I'm late," Alison said breathlessly to everyone. "Hey, Em," she greeted Emily separately before bending down to kiss her chastely, moving to occupy to the seat next to her.
"Hi, Ali. Why did you wake up late?" Emily asked curiously.
"Ugh, my mom wouldn't let me sleep last night after we got home. She kept going on and on about how good the dinner went and how cute we looked together," Alison rolled her eyes playfully but Emily could tell she was grateful in her heart. Alison set her bag down on the floor and greedily drank orange juice from Emily's glass.
"Ali," the brunette remarked, scandalized, though she didn't really mind her girlfriend drinking some of her orange juice.
"Sorry, babe, I practically ran all the way here once I saw I was late," Alison recovered with a kiss on Emily's cheek.
When the blonde jokingly reached for one of the blueberries on her girlfriend's plate, Emily lightly slapped her hand away with a fond smile, making Alison laugh in amusement.
"So, I've been meaning to tell you guys, my dad hooked me up with some tickets for the Maroon 5 concert in Philly tomorrow night, but I can't go to it, so I was wondering if you all would want them. He gets them as a benefit from his job, he can ask for as many as he wants," Noel asked the group and Emily wondered how he could make that offer so nonchalantly. It must be nice to have such rich parents, she wondered.
"Sure, I love Maroon 5!" Hanna answered enthusiastically.
"Yes, Hanna, we know," Spencer said dryly while rolling her eyes, making Aria, Alison and Emily chuckle hysterically. The guys looked at them in confusion so Spencer took the reins on explaining. "Ever since the beginning of summer, that's the only band Hanna's been listening to, it's just Maroon 5 on repeat. Good luck, Caleb," Spencer joked and received a playful push on the shoulder from Hanna.
"I'm not that obsessed," Hanna defended.
"Yes, you are," the four girls retorted in unison. Everyone laughed again and Hanna stuck her tongue out at them.
"Why can't you go?" Alison asked Noel inquisitively after the laughter died down.
"Well, my parents finally agreed to have dinner together and talk through some of their issues, but on one condition. They'll both come only if my brother and I go too," Noel answered. "But at least they agreed to talk, which is a good sign, right?" he added with a smile and Alison nodded, a small, understanding smile gracing her face.
After everyone agreed to go to the concert, an idea popped into Spencer's mind. "Oh, we should spend the night at my family's lake house. Make this into a road trip," Spencer suggested zealously.
"That's a great idea, Spence! We can leave today, spend the night at the lake house and then kill some time in Philly before the concert tomorrow," Aria added enthusiastically.
"Yeah, we can make it a group date kind-of-thing. I mean, we couldn't have done that if Noel was comi-" Spencer stopped mid-sentence when immediately everyone's eyes grew a bit wider in unease. Awkward silence filled the table at Spencer's statement regarding the fact that Noel was the only one in the table who was single.
"What?" Noel asked honestly and frowned as he looked at them.
"Nothing, you just, you don't have a girlfriend. We don't want to make you feel like you're the third wheel or anything," Spencer stated clumsily, trying to make up for her comment.
"Actually, I wanted to tell you about that. I met a girl at a party the other night, she looked super familiar but I'm not sure where from. Anyway, she's pretty cool and I can bring her to meet you guys before you go," Noel shared and Alison and Emily exchanged a suspicious look.
"Which girl?" Alison asked. Alison wanted Noel to be happy but she also wanted to protect him, she didn't want him running around with random girls.
"You'll see," Noel answered mysteriously and smirked.
'Who the hell could this girl be?' Alison asked herself, trying to scan her mind for girls who would fit Noel's description. She knew she had to find out who this girl was, but she also knew Noel well, and she recognized that he was a lot like her. Things usually stayed hidden until he wanted them found, which was why everyone's secrets were so safe with him. He was just like her in that sense.
"Ali? Are you okay?" Emily stopped Alison's train of thoughts as she called out to the blonde softly.
The blonde turned her head to her, "Hmm? Yeah, fine."
"Okay... I just asked if you wanted to order anything, or maybe you ate already-"
"Actually, do you mind if I just eat some of your food? I don't think I'll finish a full plate," Alison asked her girlfriend, giving her a puppy look.
"Aww, you guys eat each other's food?" Aria asked innocently, oblivious to the sexual innuendo in the sentence.
"Oh yeah, all the time. I eat some of hers, she eats some of mine. It's delicious." Alison finished and smirked while winking at Emily, ignoring Spencer's unamused glare.
Alison had lost some of her appetite already. She just wanted to go home and pack so they could hit the road faster and she could see the mystery girl already. It wasn't that she was jealous, like some people would assume, not at all. It was just that, ever since she and Noel had rekindled their close friendship, she felt that she wanted to protect him. Jason was by no means a perfect brother - even though there has been some positive change with him lately - and to Alison, Noel was like a brother she could choose. She would never see him as more than that and she hoped Emily knew that. She really hoped. As if she could read her mind, the brunette suddenly spoke.
"Ali," Emily started, catching the blonde's attention once again. "Should I be worried? About you and... Noel?" she said the last word quietly, almost whispering, so that the conversation wouldn't reach Noel's ears, who was busy talking to Hanna about the amount of people at the concert. Alison looked at Emily in shock and horror, searching for a sign that she was kidding. The brunette had that little dimple above her eyebrow, which meant she definitely wasn't joking.
"What? No! Ew, Em, he's like my brother!" Alison exaggerated her reaction a bit, but only to get her point across. She watched as Emily mentally relaxed and released a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Besides, why would I want to be with Noel, or anyone else for that matter, when I've got the Emily Fields right here with me?" Alison asked with a devilish smirk in her face.
Emily blushed and looked down at Alison's pink, heart-shaped lips. She gulped and bit her lip as she flickered her eyes a few times between Alison's lips and her ocean blue eyes. Alison took the hint and inched closer.
Their lips touched in a short kiss, which was innocent enough. Alison couldn't help herself, though, and cupped the brunette's cheeks, kissing her a bit harder as though to assuage her worries from before. She wanted to kiss Emily until her head spun and all she could see were stars, but sadly, they had to cut their kiss short, due to Spencer's threats.
"Hey, Emison! If you don't stop with the PDA parade right now, I'll barf my entire breakfast on you two," Hanna stated as she joined Spencer's warnings.
Alison parted away from Emily softly, only to take a good look at Hanna and Spencer's annoyed expression, before sneakily turning back to Emily. She leaned back in and kissed the brunette fully on the lips, before shifting closer to the brunette in the process. Alison decided she wanted to make her friends suffer for interrupting her previous kiss with her girlfriend, and allowed herself to claw Emily's buttom lip with her teeth and pull it.
They were physically pulled apart by Aria, who sat next to Emily. Even Aria, who was one of the couple's biggest admirers, thought their little display was a bit too much.
"Whatever," Alison said nonchalantly as she leaned back into her chair. "Jealousy is a disease, ladies," she wittily smirked as she grabbed Emily's hand and intertwined their fingers together, enjoying Emily's embarrassed face and flushed cheeks.
Everyone continued eating; Alison ate from Emily's plate after the brunette assured her that she didn't mind, Spencer tried to convince everyone to drink black coffee instead of orange juice, and the group explained to Ezra who Maroon 5 were since he didn't actually know. They each called their parents to make sure they could go, and when they got their permissions, they decided to split up and go pack their things. They agreed to meet at the guys' apartment at 17:30 PM so they could hit the road.
The group left The Brew and Alison walked home along with Spencer since they were next-door neighbors. "So, you and Emily sure seem happy with each other," Spencer stated in amusement as they waved goodbye to the group.
"Yeah, we are," the blonde remarked teasingly, then her voice turned softer and more genuine, "you and Toby seem happy too."
"Toby makes me really happy," Spencer agreed and Alison caught her dreamy smile. "It's crazy to think about it, isn't it? I mean, we've met the guys only a few days ago, yet it honestly feels like they've been in our lives forever. Like this was meant to be."
"We'll be friends forever," Alison let out with a mysterious smile. "Hanna will be a major fashion designer, Aria will be a best-selling author, Emily will be an amazing Olympic swimming coach, I'll be a world-class actress and you-" she laughed, noticing Spencer's grin as she absorbed her words, "hell, you'll probably be the president by then."
"With the amount of faith I have in all of you, I believe there's a good chance for all of that to actually happen," Spencer concluded with a wistful smile, causing Alison to crack one of her own. "But it's something we need to work hard for, and not just settle for hope," Spencer looked to the distance as she continued. "You know what they say about hope. It breeds eternal misery." Alison laughed bitterly at that, somewhat agreeing with the genius brunette's claim. "Hey, do you remember what I said to you that night after Noel's party?" Spencer asked hesitantly.
"When you threatened to hurt me if I broke Emily's heart? Yeah, I remember." Alison joked, though it had some bite in it.
"First of all, I never threatened to hurt you, per say," the brunette let out in true Hastings fashion and Alison rolled her eyes in humor, "and second of all... I now realize that I'm really sorry about that. I see how much you mean to Emily and how much she means to you. When she talks about you, her whole face just lights up, and it's pretty amazing to watch. I know she's not a joke to you. I guess my protective instincts had just kicked in and-"
"It's okay, Spence, I would've done the same thing," Alison said with a sad smile, knowing her history was enough to make anyone skeptic.
"No, it's not okay. I really doubted you and I just wanted to call you out on your bullshit, but you were being genuine. I think Emily would've slit my throat if she knew I'd talked to you like that," Spencer shared a knowing chuckle with the blonde. "She's so protective of you and it's like you bring her out of her comfort zone. Make her bolder and more strong. You're really changing her for the better, did you know that?" she asked with a small smile.
"No, she's changing me."
XXXXX
It was 5:28 PM, and Alison was sitting anxiously on the couch at Toby, Ezra and Caleb's apartment, fidgeting with a fringe hanging from a square pillow she held in her hands. She was ashamed to admit that she was truly clueless in regards to the identity of the mysterious girl Noel was bringing, and she hated not being in the know.
"Are you okay? You look kind of antsy," Aria plopped down next to Alison, handing her a glass of cold water.
"I'm fine, I just, I want to see who this girl is," Alison said as she gratefully accepted the water from Aria.
"You know, you acting like his older sister is refreshing to watch," Aria said with a hint of amusement. "But it's honestly good to see you like that, Ali. You clearly care a lot about him."
"Not just him, Aria. Emily, you, everyone in our group. You guys are the most important people in my life right now. You're my family," Alison said and smiled encouragingly at the short brunette. Aria's only answer was to hug Alison tightly, the compassionate side of her seeping through. Their friendship was at such a good place right now and she couldn't have asked for more from the blonde.
After chatting for a bit, Aria got up to help Ezra finish packing the last of his things. Alison looked over to Emily who was standing around, looking at a framed picture that was hung on the wall. It displayed Caleb, Ezra and Toby taking a selfie, and on the frame, the blonde could make out the words, "first day at the new apartment".
Alison smiled softly as she got up and walked over to Emily. She didn't say a word as she wrapped her arms around the brunette's body and embraced her in a hug. Emily took a few seconds to process before hugging the blonde back tightly. Alison rested her head in the crook of Emily's neck and a gentle sigh escaped her lips. When she pulled away, she said the one thing she never got tired of saying to Emily.
"I love you, Em," Alison said, bumping their noses togther and getting the girl to smile, "I really do."
"I love you too, Ali," Emily answered back just as honestly, cupping the blonde's cheeks and bringing her into a kiss. They kissed tenderly, but withdrew when they heard the front door swing open. Alison stepped back to look in the direction of the entrance.
Noel came in with a girl dressed in a turquoise dress, his arm wrapped comfortable around her shoulders. Alison practically gasped in surprise when she instantly recognized her.
"Oh. My. God."
A/N: Yaay cliffhanger! Who do you think Noel's mystery date is?