41 - First Job, Surreal Blob

Emily and Alison watched the girl expectantly, waiting for her to say her name as they each shook her hand in their turn. She looked pretty confident meeting her boyfriend's family, but Alison still couldn't fathom why Jason would bring his new girlfriend, who he had been seeing for less than a month, to meet their family. Maybe their relationship was more serious than she'd initially thought.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Jason?" Jessica's voice came blaring from the kitchen. Alison closed her eyes momentarily in exasperation, praying that her mother wouldn't scare Jason's girlfriend away. Her family was pretty terrifying as it is, but they could at least try to make a nice first impression. Her mother came into view, smiling widely. Her Stepford-wife lifestyle was displayed clearly to anyone who laid their eyes on her; the high-end clothes, jewelry and make-up she was wearing made it all but obvious.

"Hello, there," Jessica greeted the new face, observing the scene in the room, "who's your friend, Jason?"

"She's my girlfriend, mom," Jason said, rather embarrassed. Alison nearly chuckled at the sudden awkward air around Jason, his girlfriend and Jessica.

"Oh, forgive me, dear. I'm Jessica," she said with a bright smile, extending her hand, "Jason's mother."

"I figured just as much," the girl smiled just as widely as she shook Mrs. DiLaurentis' hand. "My name's-"

RING RING RING

The landline phone produced the loud ringtone and everyone just about jumped a foot in the air. Alison and Jason exchanged a glance as they recognized the familiar ringtone - it was the preset sound for whenever their father called - knowing their mother was somewhat obligated to answer it, since Kenneth didn't usually call during business trips unless it was important.

Jessica laughed fakely as excused herself, walking straight to the phone and waiting until she got in the other room to start talking. Alison was used to the secrecy, it has always like that with her parents. They were always so tight-lipped, and though she had been raised by them and supported pretty much the same amount of secrecy in her own life, or at least up until recently, even she couldn't realize what they were hiding from her and Jason. But, if they bothered so much to keep the two siblings in the dark, Alison wasn't really sure she wanted to know.

"Anyway," the girl drew them back into the conversation, her strong yet feminine voice reminded Alison a lot of herself. "I'm Cece. Cece Drake." she finally said.

"Nice to meet you, Cece," Emily smiled kindly. Alison found it endearing, the way the brunette would be so polite to new people she met. She was so well mannered.

"Likewise," Cece returned her smile instantly.

"How about we watch a movie and order some pizza?" Jason asked everyone with an agreeable grin, hoping they would accept the idea because he preferred watching a movie and not talking, rather than having to sit around the table and speak to one another. He couldn't risk Alison asking Cece all sorts of personal questions, he knew how his blunt and tactless his sister tended to get.

The girls seemed to agree with the suggestion and they were about to head further into the living room, but not before Jessica walked back into the room. "I apologize deeply, but I'm going to have to go run some errands. I'll be back later. It was a pleasure to meet you..." Jessica trailed off, waiting for the girl to say her name.

"Cece," she completed with a smile.

"Cece... is that a nickname for something? Charlotte, perhaps?" Jessica asked in genuine interest.

"No, just Cece," the young woman responded with a polite grin.

"Oh, well, what a beautiful name. I expect to see you around." Jessica grabbed her purse from the table and turned to the door, "Goodbye, children. And girls, don't stay up too late, it's a school night."

Alison rolled her eyes with attitude, "Whatever, mom."

When she was gone, Alison was allowed to ask herself the question that has been bothering her ever since Cece got there. 'Cece Drake, why does that name sound so familiar?' Alison questioned in her head.

She turned to Cece, "Where did you say you were from again?"

Emily frowned lightly, not understanding the concentrated look on Alison's face. Did she have some sort of problem with Cece? If so, she was good at masking it. Emily simply found Cece to be charming and nice, and quite polite herself.

"I actually just moved back home from Paris," Cece remarked nonchalantly, as if she hadn't been living in Paris for the past two years as a successful designer.

The instant realization on Emily's face was palpable. She stared, shocked as she could be, at a fancy attire-wearing, rich-as-hell, ear-to-ear smiling and politely-speaking Cece Drake. She finally understood what Alison was getting at. "Do you happen to know Mona Vanderwaal?" Emily couldn't help but blurt out curiously.

"Mona? Yeah, she's a very good friend of mine, our families are close. How do you know her?" came the even more astonishing response.

Emily gaped at Alison who only smirked devilishly, knowing she was right all along about who Cece really was and how they knew her already.

"She's a friend of ours, too," Alison supplied cautiously.

"Oh," Cece answered with a simple smile, but as her eyes switched between the two, a thought came to her head. "Wait," her blue eyes widened slightly. "If you're Emily and Alison, as in Mona's friends, you're the-"

"Yeah," Alison and Emily said in unison and nodded, and the three girls burst into surprised laughter.

"Care to explain what's happening?" Jason demanded, wearing the most quizzical of expressions. His eyes searched an answer in their eyes for this strange situation.

"Well, Jas, I think Emily and I already know Cece, but we didn't know that we... knew her," Alison answered slowly, trying to explain the situation.

"Uh huh, makes perfect sense," Jason rolled his eyes sarcastically at the cryptic response.

"When Alison and Emily were in Paris, Alison called me because Mona gave her my number," Cece took her turn. Jason turned to her, intrigued. "Alison wanted to plan a surprise for Emily for their anniversary, and she had all of the ideas, she just needed help for them to be executed somehow."

Jason nodded, "Okay?"

"Cece was introduced to us by Mona, and she helped me get the whole plan in motion by pulling a few strings and calling some people to help prepare," Alison unraveled further. "And we didn't-"

"-know it was her because you've never met her before," Jason concluded, shaking his head as he couldn't believe the incredible coincidence that was right in front him.

"Small world," Emily uttered with a chuckle, trying to relieve some of the newly built stress in the room as the rest chuckled in agreement.

The next few minutes of conversation served as the time Alison and Emily thanked Cece incredulously for all she had done for them, and after the woman had assured them that it was her pleasure, they all sat down as they argued about which movie to watch. But, Jason quickly got sick of the dim-witted fuss and pulled Cece to give her a tour around the house, leaving the girls to pick a movie.

Emily pressed the arrow button on the remote as she switched between movies back and forth on Netflix. "How about 'Annabelle'?" she asked casually.

"How about no," Alison shook her head, wide-eyed. "I heard that this movie is really scary."

"Well, it's a horror movie, that's what it's supposed to be," Emily chuckled, causing Alison to give her an unamused look that only made the brunette want to laugh. "And besides, I don't see you having any other ideas," she teased.

"Have you ever watched Fifty Shades-"

"Ali, no, we are not watching Fifty Shades of Grey with your brother and his girlfriend," Emily replied in a stern voice.

"But-"

"Nope."

"Well, we're not watching that stupid horror movie that will give me nightmares for the next month, either," Alison argued desperately.

"Please," Emily jutted out her bottom lip and gave Alison her best puppy dog look. She might melt from a every single smile or wink Alison gave her, but she could pull off a look to get Alison to agree for her own intentions as well. Like the one time a few days before they've fled to Paris, when Alison had mentioned several times how tired she was and dismissed Emily when the brunette shyly asked her if she wanted to... Yeah. Emily had pulled off that exact same look; eyes completely unguarded, full, pink bottom lip slightly forward and even more, she grabbed Alison's hands in her own. The blonde's knees had turned to Jell-O in an instant. Of course she agreed, and she ended up falling asleep after Emily, as she was too full of adrenaline from their activities to even think about sleeping. Emily knew it was wrong because Alison was tired as hell at the time, but she was merely satisfying her own hunger for the blonde. Besides, she didn't see Alison complaining.

Alison sighed meekly, "Emily..."

Emily kept the same look on her face, strictly because she knew Alison was about to fold like a lawn chair.

Alison closed her eyes and exhaled deeply then groaned loudly, "Ugh, fine, okay."

Emily squealed softly and pulled Alison into her arms.

"At least it's not The Notebook," Alison muttered under her breath as she held onto her girlfriend.

When Jason and Cece joined them, announcing they'd ordered the pizza, they pressed play on the movie and leaned back in their seats, each couple on a different couch.

Alison soon shifted to lay on the couch, her head falling gracefully into Emily's lap. She pressed both her arms together and folded them, resting her head on them as she faced the TV, using her hands as a makeshift pillow. She relaxed only when she felt Emily's fingers running through her well-groomed blonde locks, caressing the tender hair and every once a while tucking a fallen strand behind the blonde's ear. Alison was on cloud nine. She whimpered soundlessly and shivered, feeling Emily's fingers massage her scalp.

She eased into her position and just as she felt as though she could fall asleep on the very spot, the first scream in the movie cut through her ears as she flinched. Emily giggled softly at her dramatic reaction before leaning down to kiss the blonde's cheek. Alison closed her eyes contently and hummed, knowing she'd rather bear this entire horrible scary movie just as long as Emily kept doing what she did. The screams and other disturbing noises from the television concerned her no more, and she blissfully kept her eyes closed, not daring to fall asleep and miss a second of Emily's dainty love.

Halfway through, after they had eaten their pizza, the blonde got sick of her hands not being able to wander due to the two other people in the room, so she straightened herself up and turned to her girlfriend. "Em, could you come help me make some popcorn?"

"Wait, Ali, it's the best part!" came the childishly enthusiastic response, making her roll her eyes at the brunette's endearing innocence.

Alison stayed back while Emily finished obsessing over her favorite scene, then the brunette smiled at her and led them over to the kitchen, leaving Jason and Cece to their own devices.

Once they were out of sight, tucked away at the spacious DiLaurentis kitchen, Alison turned to her. "Finally, I have you," she sighed, grabbing her by the two sides of her jacket, pulling her closer.

"You always have me," Emily answered with a small smile, her voice genuine.

"Good. I thought I'd lost you to some bitch named Annabelle," Alison wittily retorted, causing them both to chuckle as Emily closed the distance between them.

Alison crashed her lips into Emily's, and the brunette moved to trap her between herself and the counter. Alison tangled her hand in Emily's hair and drew her closer while the brunette's hands settled on Alison's hips. They kissed passionately, synchronizing the turning of their heads and mirroring their lips' movements.

Emily's hands traveled up Alison's sides slightly, and slipped under the hem of her shirt, her fingers trailing patterns on the smooth skin on the sides of her stomach. Alison shivered at the sensation, and Emily smirked into Alison's mouth when she felt goosebumps forming on her skin.

"Wow, ladies, am I interrupting something?"

Emily and Alison parted away from each other quickly, turning breathlessly to face Cece who stood at the doorway with a teasing smile on her face. They glanced quite sheepishly at each other, somewhat embarrassed as Cece made her way to the fridge and grabbed a soda.

She hastily recognized the look on their faces as she trotted back out of the room with grace. "Don't sweat it," she called over her shoulder, "you two make a cute couple."

They turned to gaze at one another, bursting into mirthful laughter as the blonde buried her head in Emily's neck, the brunette kissing the side of her head.

Later on, it was Emily's time to go home after she had received a barrage of anxious texts from her mother about the late hour, much to her amusement. Alison walked her over to the door, thanking her for being there to, essentially, grill Jason's new girlfriend, while the brunette assured her that she had fun.

Alison hugged Emily tightly, kissing her on the cheek.

"Good night, Em," Alison smiled as they parted gently.

"Good night." Emily gave her a grin of her own, turning to walk away.

"Good night what?" Alison added in a playful tone, making Emily turn back around on the very last porch step.

"Good night, babe," Emily chuckled and rolled her eyes, shaking her head in amusement as she began trailing down the street in the direction of her house.

"That's more like it," Alison called out, beaming in satisfaction.

XXXXX

"Are you sure about this, Emily?"

"Yes, coach Fulton, I'm sure," Emily answered in confidence along with a nod.

"Okay, well, I'll inform Paige. It's very nice what you're doing," the coach smiled tenderly at her and left, forsaking Emily in the girl's locker room. The brunette took a few moments to fully comprehend what she had just asked the coach to do. She prayed that she had made the right choice and that this wasn't an insanely colossal mistake.

Earlier that day, Emily had innocently walked to the restroom during chemistry class, which she shared with Toby. She had entered the stall and locked it behind her, then heard someone coming into the bathroom. She immediately recognized Paige's voice, but the girl was talking to someone on the phone. It had sounded like she having a heated conversation with someone, and whoever it was, was seemingly scolding her. Only when Paige had said the word "dad", Emily realized she had been talking to her father.

"Yes, dad, coach said Emily Fields is the anchor this season," Emily heard Paige say with a sigh, but there was a panicked edge to her tone, as if she was deeply fearful of her father's reaction. Emily couldn't blame her - she had met Paige's father once when he came to a meet. The man was as terrifying as... well, she couldn't say as a monster because he simply was a monster.

A loud wave of shouting came crashing through the phone, making Emily flinch, even though she was inside the stall. The brunette couldn't actually tell what Mr. McCullers was yelling, but she understood that the man was far beyond angry.

"I'm really sorry, dad," Paige's voice wavered and by the sound of the sniffling and whimpering, Emily could tell she started crying.

Paige's dad's screaming became louder and clearer, and Emily could make out a few words; "worthless", "stupid", "lazy", and those were only some of them. She suddenly felt unmistakably bad for Paige, even though she knew the girl had tried to drown her. When Paige finally hung up the phone, Emily thought about going out and comforting her, but the girl was out of sight before she could move her feet and do anything.

So, later on in the day, she went to the locker rooms where she found the coach, and asked her to share the position of anchor with Paige- Emily will be anchor for half of the meets and Paige for the other half, alternating each meet. She had even consulted her friends about it, and even though Alison said a clear no at the beginning, Emily told her about what happened in the bathroom and Alison slightly softened like Emily knew she could, ending up somehow agreeing.

The coach was hesitant at first; she knew Paige had the skills, after all, she was the second-best swimmer on the team after Emily, but because of the incident, she didn't know if she could agree.

After Emily coaxed her for a good five minutes, throwing in truthful arguments about how plenty of new girls had joined this year and they needed to boost up the team's level which was dropping because of the newbies' lack of skills, the woman finally gave in and tentatively agreed, and Emily felt her guilt level slowly lowering, but only slightly.

Sharing the position didn't stop her from feeling zealous about this upcoming season. She would just have to be anchor every second meet instead of every single one, which she didn't mind all that much. She knew she had more things to do, but for Paige... swimming was it for her, her main focus and her father's pride, and she felt so bad for the girl. She only wished Paige would thank her and they could put the drowning behind them. They were on the same team, after all. They needed to get along.

XXXXX

"Are you ready?" Ezra queried eagerly. He turned off the engine and took the keys out of the ignition, turning his head to observe Emily, who was clearly the opposite of ready. The girl was fidgeting in her seat, Ezra was pretty sure that her left eye was twitching and in addition, the swimmer didn't appreciate him asking her the same question over and over again when the answer was beyond doubt, no.

"I'm just nervous," Emily responded quietly, fiddling with her hands. For a second, she wished Alison was there, the blonde always seemed to know what to say to calm her down. Not that she didn't want to thank Ezra for his attempt of being the calm one between the two of them, but Alison just had a way with words that never ceased to make Emily feel all light-headed.

"Don't be, Emily. Just be yourself. If they won't hire you it's their loss," Ezra reassured, patting her shoulder supportively. Emily turned to flash him a very small smile, but Ezra took what he could get, "See, you're smiling already."

Emily chuckled lightly and nodded to herself in preparation, thankful that at least Ezra was there. She couldn't rely on the blonde to absolutely always be there, Alison had a life of her own, after all, but Emily knew she had her friends by her side. She couldn't help but feel her heart warming in her chest in excitement as Ezra smiled at her and she imagined how all of her friends would be proud of her once she got the job, especially Alison.

She knew she was currently acting a tad bit dramatic, like this wasn't a job interview for The Brew but for NASA and Google combined, but she just couldn't help it, it was her first ever job interview.

Emily and Ezra finally exited the car and walked up to the popular coffee shop. As Ezra opened the door, the bell above their heads chimed, and the fact that Emily found that sound so familiar because she has been to this place many times was somewhat comforting for her.

They sat at a table near the large window that was the front wall of the coffee shop, and looked out onto the street. There was a sign next to Emily's chair that stated, "Job Interviews Are Being Held Today. Please Take Your Seat And Wait For Your Turn."

They waited uneasily in their seats, using this time to talk about their day, relieving some of the tension as Emily laughed while Ezra told her about how Caleb had almost spilled his entire lunch on him that day because Hanna had walked in wearing five-inch heels.

"Ezra Fitzgerald?"

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at a dark-haired woman holding a clipboard. Her dark-blue fitted jeans and white button-up made her look professional, but the bright smile she was supporting made them immediately like her.

"That's me," Ezra stood from his seat, politely shaking the older woman's hand.

"Please follow me, Ezra," she requested, turning quickly and walking towards a brown wooden door that Emily had never actually noticed was there, leaving Ezra to follow only a beat behind. He turned to give Emily a smile and she smiled right back, trying to convey him 'good luck' with her eyes.

Soon, he was gone, and she was left anxiously waiting in her chair, not bothering to look at the time because she knew not even a minute had passed from when the two left, but it felt more like fifty. She was gazing down at her hands, oblivious to the fact that, a few minutes later, someone was hovering above her and casting a shadow on her.

"Emily?"

Emily's eyes lifted in surprise. "Paige," she acknowledged.

Paige cleared her throat awkwardly, "I just came back from detention...the coach told about what you decided, and I just wanted to say, um, thank you."

Emily nodded slowly. She was pleased that Paige was thanking her and not yelling at her for going behind her back to talk to the coach.

Emily gave her a faint smile, "No problem."

Paige stared at the ground for a few full moments before picking up her head slightly and looking into Emily's eyes. She quickly darted her eyes away though, and Emily wondered why Paige was so antsy around her. Emily surely wasn't a very intimidating person, for the better and the worst. Maybe what Alison had said about Paige's crush on her was correct, after all. Emily didn't really mind. She was flattered at most, but she had a feeling Paige already knew her heart belonged to one particular blonde - who happened to be Paige's worst enemy.

"Emily, I'm so sorry about what I did at tryouts, I... I wasn't being myself," Paige said in a remorseful tone, looking at the ground once more.

"I forgive you, Paige, it's okay," she wondered if she should tell Paige about what she had heard at the bathrooms earlier that day but then decided against it.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Paige asked nervously, her cheeks turning red. The girl pointed to the empty chair that had been occupied by Ezra up until he left, which reminded Emily, how long did this freaking interview take? Will hers be this long?

Emily smiled sadly at her, "Actually, I have a job interview right now, so I-"

"Oh, that's fine. I guess I'll just see you around school then," Paige shyly remarked and left the area, exiting The Brew. Emily frowned to herself once she realized that Paige walked out empty-handed. The brunette wondered if the girl had entered The Brew just because she'd seen Emily there and decided to casually act as though she had already been there.

Finally, she saw Ezra coming out of the back room where the interviews were supposedly being held, shaking hands with the same woman who interviewed him. The lady then sauntered over to Emily, her black heels clicking against the floor, reminding Emily of Alison, which also reminded her to call the blonde straight after this. "Are you Emily Fields?" the woman asked, her composure as steady as a rock.

"Yes, ma'am," Emily answered swiftly, being her best self since this was a brand new person she was meeting. And from the looks of it, it was bound to be her boss. Hopefully, at least.

"Follow me please," the woman asked, turning on her heel.

Emily got up and trodded behind her. As she walked past Ezra, he gave her a pat on the shoulder and an encouraging smile, but Emily was still walking on her tiptoes, feeling like the room was abruptly shrinking in. It was going to be her first interview ever, and she didn't understand how Ezra could be so relaxed about the whole thing. Maybe because he already had a job once, at Mrs. DiLaurentis' company. He had merely quit because he wanted something that demanded fewer hours since he was taking on a full load at Rosewood High this year.

They entered a small room where the interviews took place. It was nothing fancy, just a couple of chairs and a nice-looking desk, but Emily felt as if she was being inspected for everything she did, even though it was merely a barista job. It was still a job, nonetheless, she reminded herself. Her first one. And from what she'd seen over the years, coming over here and watching the people who worked at the coffee shop, it wasn't an easy one by any means. Rosewood was a small town, though, it wasn't like she had unlimited options.

She sat down in front of the woman, both of them sitting on opposite sides of the table as her interviewer quickly wrote something down in her clipboard. Emily wondered what she could've written before they'd ever started.

"Alright, Emily, let's get started, shall we?" the woman kindly asked. Emily smiled at her in return but it felt a little forced, her nerves taking over once more. "I'd already received your basic details that you left in the form you had filled out a few days ago, but as for right now, I'm going to ask you a series of questions."

Emily nodded, looking at her in anticipation. She tried to shake all of the annoying thoughts from her brain but her mind got the best of her and continued to rattle with all-around questions. She ended up leaving her brain to its own thoughts and concentrating on the interview at hand.

"Have you ever had a barista job before?"

"No, ma'am, I haven't, but I'm all up for learning how each thing works," Emily replied calmly, and she had no idea where she had suddenly gotten that random boost of confidence from.

"That's good. Now, let's picture a situation really quickly," the woman offered, placing her clipboard face-up on the table separating them. "The scenario is; you've mistaken a costumer's order and he's now getting frantic and angry. What do you do?"

"Well, the customer is always right, and I wouldn't want this particular customer to leave, or any customer for that matter, so I would remake his order, or if he insists, refund his money," she answered smoothly out of seemingly nowhere. Her mind hadn't even processed the question before her mouth rushed to answer, which she took as a good sign because if she had over-thought things, and wouldn't have even gotten a proper sentence out of her mouth.

It wasn't that she's had a barista job before, she was just answering logically, picturing herself in the situation.

The woman didn't answer, but Emily noticed she had a pleased look on her face. Or at least, that's how she read it. Just like after every other answer, her interviewer wrote something down in her board, then continued to the next question.

"Do you have a good memory, Emily?"

"I'd say I do, yeah," Emily said in a gentle voice. The last thing she wanted was to sound cocky, but she did think that she had a relatively good memory. The woman wrote down the answer and then asked a few more semi-generic questions that Emily expertly answered, before the women placed the board on the table, intertwining her own fingers and putting her chin on top of them.

"Let me be frank with you, Emily," she said seriously and the brunette straightened up in her chair. "We're currently having a shortage on staff around here, especially since one of our employees, Maya, had quit out of the blue merely yesterday."

Emily nearly choked at the sound of the girl who had hit on her the other day. The same girl she had called out for being sexist and treating women wrongfully. She'd had no idea the girl had quit, and truthfully, she'd even forgotten that the girl was working there.

"So, I'm going to tell you what I told your friend, Ezra," the woman continued, "I would like to hire you right away. You seem fit for the job, your details check out and your politeness indicates that you'll do great with customers. How do you feel about starting right now?"

"Right now?" Emily's eyes widened in an overwhelmed manner.

"Yes. You both haven't gotten the general tour and training just yet, but one of our employees, Angie, could do that for you. It won't take long." she promised. "Monday is a fairly busy day, Emily. The clock is ticking. What do you say?"

"Uh, sure," Emily answered hastily.

"Fantastic. Well, I have a few more people to interview, Angie's already out there waiting for you so she could give you and Ezra the basic training," the woman stated as she rose up to her feet. Emily nodded dumbfoundedly, then thanked her quietly and turned to leave. She needed to march up to her friend and have him explain everything that just happened because this was a tad shocking. She had never heard of a place that hired employees after only a few short questions, and not to mention on the same day! "Oh, and one more thing," the woman called out. "You'll have to wear uniforms."

"Okay," Emily agreed easily. She didn't mind. She almost laughed as she pictured what would've happened if Alison had started to work there and was requested to wear uniforms instead of her own clothes. It would've been extremely entertaining to see the blonde rant to the manager, she was sure.

However, the blonde had now begun working for her mother's company in order to help Jason upon Cece's request - Cece had asked Alison to help her brother out due to her feeling that Jason was taking too much workload on himself - and being the boss' daughter, nobody truly expected her to wear a suit or something of the sort. Jason only wore a suit because it made him feel important, he had told Alison.

She exited the room and went to find Ezra. He was sitting at the same table as before. "Hey," he greeted with a simple smile. "That girl, Angie is gonna give us instructions, but only at the end of her shift appearantly, so we have to wait about twenty minutes or so till she's done." he explained.

Emily nodded, "She said something about uniforms?"

Ezra and Emily walked over to the back room and grabbed two pairs of uniforms - one at each of their sizes, each one fit specifically for men or women. Not that there was much difference between the two kinds, by the looks of it, Emily mused as she scanned over their uniforms.

Once they were both changed, they sat back down at the table near the window wall and waited for that Angie girl to finish her shift. "How crazy is it that we were just hired right away?" Emily thought out loud, staring into the distance in consideration.

Before Ezra could respond, someone knocked on the window nearby, making them turn their attention briskly. Alison and Aria smiled and waved at their startled partners from outside the coffee shop. Alison gestured with her hand for Emily to come outside while Aria went inside The Brew to meet Ezra. Emily gave Aria a small hug as she passed her by, then went outside to her girlfriend.

"Hey," she called happily as she approached closer. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to work actually, and Aria and I thought it would be nice to stop by and check in on how your interview went," Alison explained, grinning at her girlfriend. Her eyes traveled down Emily's body and she frowned slightly at the sight of clothes that were clearly not the brunette's. "What's with the outfit?" she raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow in amusement, referring to Emily's new uniforms. It was a white button-up, black pants and red suspenders.

(A/N: Imagine Emily's Radley bartender uniforms).

Emily chuckled, taking the time to explain everything that had happened at the interview, how the manager hired them right away and told them to get dressed, how Maya had fortunately quit, and how her own shift was starting very soon.

Alison laughed lightly, examining Emily up and down. "Babe, you're literally the only one in the world who actually looks good in work uniforms," she complimented. Emily smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Are you okay?" the blonde inquired upon seeing the change in her girlfriend's behavior.

"Yeah, just still a little nervous. It's my first real job jitters and all," Emily answered truthfully, her heartbeat quickening just from thinking how many screw-ups she can cause on her very first shift and she hadn't even started yet.

Alison sighed and moved closer to her, grabbing the two sides of Emily's collar and adjusting her shirt before pulling her towards her. "You'll do great, okay? I promise you," she said, her voice turning serious and encouraging.

Emily huffed and nodded reluctantly. She peered inside the coffee shop, rubbing her lips together nervously. Surely twenty minutes were going to pass soon and Angie needed to instruct her and Ezra. "I think I should go. I feel like that girl finished her shift already," she concluded.

She turned to give Alison a warm smile and a hug before turning and going in the direction of the entrance. When she was out of sight, Alison thought she was gone, and she pouted to herself, but then the brunette came back into view.

"I forgot something," Emily let out.

"What?" Alison looked around, thinking the girl had forgotten her phone or something of the sort.

"This," Emily cupped Alison's face and pulled her close, crashing their lips together in an intoxicating kiss. Their lips molded to perfection and Alison attempted her hardest not to moan at the sudden, yet superb feeling of Emily's lips against her own. When they pulled away, Emily panted huskily against Alison's lips, "Thank you for coming."

Alison wrapped her arms around Emily's neck, all of a sudden feeling playful and smug. "You know you never have to ask twice to make me come." She leaned in to whisper in Emily's ear, "And you know which come I'm talking about."

Emily pulled away in the blink of an eye, "Alison DiLaurentis!" she said with a shocked expression while the blonde burst into amused laughter at her own sexual comment. "I'm gonna go before you continue with what you call jokes," Emily laughed, turning to leave.

Alison quickly gave her a bold smack on her ass, "Nothing's gonna stop my girl!"

"I don't know her!" Emily shouted playfully in return with her back to Alison, walking away.

XXXXX

"Yes, Em, everything here is great," Alison assured her girlfriend once more as she switched her phone from her right shoulder to her left one, the flat device resting between her cheek and shoulder while she organized her desk in the office she's received. Yes, she had received an office, and yes, being the boss' daughter definitely had its benefits.

"Are you sure? I could stop by on my way home from work," Emily's worried voice filled Alison's ears.

Alison swore she could hear the tiredness in Emily's voice. "No, Em, it's not even on your way home. Just go home and rest, okay?"

"But-"

"No buts," Alison tried her hardest to not make a sexual comment. "I'll be fine, Caleb and Toby are here keeping me company and Jason is giving me a ride home. You've had a long day, so I just want you to go and get some sleep," the blonde added, concern evident in her voice. She was slightly amused by how they were both distressed over seemingly nothing, it was that kind of small things that made her love their relationship so much. "Promise me?" she continued when Emily didn't answer.

"Yeah, I promise," Emily sighed in defeat.

"Good," Alison looked up to see that Jason was gesturing her over, just as she finished inserting some files into the top drawer of her desk. "Em, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you, too, babe, sleep tight," Alison said softly. She hung up, quickly going over to Jason's side, walking past a clock that showed 9:47 PM. "What's up?" she asked, almost as exhausted as Emily had sounded over the phone.

"Can you do me a huge favor and organize these by date?" he asked, pointing to a pile of files. His eyes looked at her pleadingly.

"Yeah, sure," Alison sat down, starting to file the documents by their stated dates.

"I'm just making a few quick phone calls and then we'll go home, okay?"

Alison nodded, not picking up her head from the papers. She didn't mind working in the company and helping Jason, she was just extremely tired and had wrongfully assumed that her first day would be easy, which it wasn't. Still, it was pretty worth it to share a workplace with her friends and brother, and have an office all to herself.

A faint knock on the door interrupted her work. Caleb and Toby entered Jason's office and stood next to his chair, where Alison was currently sitting.

"So... how was your first day?" Caleb asked teasingly.

"Exhausting," she breathed out with a slight chuckle.

"Welcome to our world," Toby laughed and she slapped his hand lightly with a paper folder, making the two boys chuckle.

"We're gonna head out," Caleb informed her, "are you gonna ride home with Jason?"

"Yeah. I'll see you guys tomorrow," she smiled, turning back and finishing the document filing.

"See you," they called out in unison as they left the blonde at the office.

Jason returned to the doorway of his office several minutes later once Alison was done with her task. "Ready to go home?" he asked, getting out his keys.

"Yes," Alison practically shouted in exasperation as she got up from his chair and they both laughed at her dramatics as Jason led them out.

In the meantime, near the town square, Emily and Ezra prepared for exiting The Brew, tired as all hell with their uniforms still on. Apparently, they had to take them home. Emily had a strange feeling her dad was going to joke about how her uniforms looked like something out of his wardrobe.

"You know, someday, I would want to have something like this." Ezra said, referring to the coffee shop. "Or a bookstore," he added as he gathered his belongings and got ready to leave for the next people to take over their shift.

"You could combine them," Emily offered with a hopeful smile. She could definitely see Ezra owning a place like The Brew in the future.

They exited the shop together and Ezra drove Emily home. She thanked him before slipping into her house for a much needed, sound sleep.