49 - Killer

Alison sat with her back against the headboard and her legs stretched out on top of Emily's bed. The brunette was sitting in front of her on the edge of the bed, anxiously going through a packet of yellow, rectangular cards. All of her notes were written there for the presentation tomorrow. She had borrowed the flashcards from Spencer, who had loads of them, of course, and had written the notes with Alison.

The blonde's pack of notes rested aimlessly on the bedside table and she peeked at them, uninterested. Sure, she had gone through them a few times already, but that was enough. She knew Emily was only re-reading them a million times over because she was nervous about presenting their Great Expectations project to the class.

She frowned a bit in confusion at that. It surely helped that all three of their closest friends were in the same class as them, and that their teacher was nice, so what was Emily so worried about?

"Ali?" the softest voice she'd ever heard interrupted her thoughts. She lifted her eyes to meet concerned brown orbs. She could practically just see a million and one different thoughts running behind the brunette's eyes.

"Emily," she remarked back simply as she sat up straighter on the bed.

"Do you want to go over the cue cards one more time? This time will be the last one, I promise," Emily nearly pleaded, looking straight into the blonde's eyes but dropping her gaze to the cards in her hands ever-so-slightly.

"Do I want-" Alison paused in the middle of her rhetorical retort, sighing in exasperation. Of course she would go over the stupid cards if that was what Emily wanted, she would do anything that the brunette asked her to do, but she had a feeling Emily didn't want to go over them, either. When they had read over their entire presentation earlier, it sounded perfect, no further work needed to be done, but Emily was relentless.

It clicked in Alison's mind that it must've been Emily's occasional stage fright. The brunette tended to not like being in the spotlight and having everybody's eyes on her, which was a tad ironic because she was dating the most popular girl in Rosewood, was in the most popular clique at their school, and was the star of the swim team. Not to mention that she was so naturally beautiful that people's eyes seemed to always gravitate towards her.

The blonde realized then that she needed to help Emily get over her fear, show her that being in the spotlight could be fun, at least every once in a while, and that presenting in class could be a piece of cake with the right approach. She knew that it would make standing at the front of the class so much easier for Emily in the future.

She edged closer to Emily, grabbing her girlfriend's hand and bringing it up to her lips for a moment. "Do you remember what I told you before we went on that rollercoaster in Disneyland Paris?" Alison asked softly.

Emily cracked a small, amused smile, "You mean, 'Let's just go on that ride so that we can get out of here because I can't wait to see you change into your-'"

Alison pushed her shoulder playfully and Emily laughed despite herself. "Cute," the blonde rolled her eyes sarcastically with no actual bite in her tone. "I was talking about that other thing I told you."

Emily's eyes met Alison's skeptically. "Fear is all in your head?" she concluded. Ironic, coming from the girl who was scared of horror films, the brunette snickered but kept it to herself.

Alison nodded seriously, rubbing her thumb soothingly on the back of Emily's hand, "Yes, exactly. And that is one hundred percent true. You can do this, babe. I'll be right by your side. What's a little presentation next to a double loop-the-loop rollercoaster?"

Emily gazed into Alison's baby blue eyes, wondering how she had gotten so lucky. Her girlfriend was one of the only people who could help her get over her fear, perhaps even the only person.

It was easier said than done, obviously, but when she pictured standing in that English class the next day and presenting the paper with Alison next to her and her three best friends sitting in front of her amongst the rest of the students, she suddenly wasn't so scared anymore.

She made a quick list in her head; why would she be scared? Was she presenting alone? No. Were none of her friends with her in class? No. In fact, four of them including her girlfriend would be there, and there were several other friendly faces in the class. Was the teacher mean to students? Not even close.

She sighed in relief. Why had she been so nervous, anyway?

She turned to Ali who was watching her with the most lovable expression on her face. Emily grabbed Alison by the side of her face gently and pulled her into a slow kiss. She dropped the cards on the floor as she climbed on top of Alison on the bed, and the other girl welcomed her freely.

XXXXX

"Emily, how about you start us off?" Mr. Fitz called out to the brunette from the front of the class. He was busy erasing the board, not noticing how Emily's head popped up in panic and her eyes practically bulged out of their places.

She looked to her left, finding Aria's encouraging smile. It helped her a little bit, but that smile wasn't dimpled and bright, it wasn't Alison's smile. She looked around the class, trying to spot the blonde's face but coming up short. Where the hell was she? Emily was going to kill her girlfriend.

Emily gulped, nodding shyly, "O-Okay." She fumbled with the papers in her hands, scolding herself mentally for being so stupidly nervous, but she couldn't help herself. Alison suddenly wasn't there to present the project with her, which she still didn't know the reason for.

Aside from having to present their work by herself, she was silently freaking out about the blonde. If her girlfriend hadn't told her ahead that she wasn't coming, that eliminated the option of her being sick, which lifted a huge red flag in Emily's mind. Did Alison have some sort of emergency? What was so important that she couldn't send Emily a quick text, informing her that she wouldn't be able to make it? This wasn't like Alison at all.

She advanced quickly to the front of the class, realizing that she had probably drawn enough attention to herself by taking her sweet time gathering the papers at her desk. She bit her lip nervously, letting her eyes zoom in on Hanna. Her best friend never seized to make her feel better and this was no exception. She could do this, she couldn't depend on Alison for everything. With this short burst of confidence, she lifted the papers up to her mid-stomach, just high enough so she could read.

"Do you happen to know where Alison is, Emily?" Mr. Fitz asked absentmindedly from his desk, marking down attendance.

Emily shook her head slightly, ducking her head, "No, sir." Only her friends noticed the sad undertone to her words and exchanged concerned looks between them.

"Alright, well, you're free to start with your presentation whenever you're ready."

Emily nodded once more, taking a deep breath and keeping it. She looked down at the paper and began reading, praying that she wouldn't accidentally stutter. "We chose to do our project on Charles Dickens' book, Great Expectations-"

The door was ripped open, cutting Emily mid-sentence. Her eyes lifted to see the blonde she had wanted to see at the doorway. Alison's eyes landed on Emily's, but the brunette couldn't read her expression. Was it... mischievous?

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Fitz," Alison stated, not taking her eyes off of Emily's. Not waiting for his further commentary, the blonde strode purposefully to the front of the class, gently dropping her bag on the floor and hugging the nervous expression out of Emily's face. "Are you okay, baby? You look flustered," Alison cooed quietly, and Emily resisted the urge to stare at her like she'd grown a third head, because, where the hell had she been?

As per usual, the room erupted into whistling and catcalling, courtesy of the few guys from the football team that were in their class. Hanna, Spencer and Aria hastily shushed them, but Emily and Alison paid no attention.

"Alright, class, settle down," Mr. Fitz requested impatiently.

Emily was, for once, relieved that Alison was there but also curious and angry as to why she wasn't there in the very beginning. "Where have you been?" she asked nervously as she purposely parted from Alison and looked into her eyes.

Playfulness danced in Alison's eyes, and usually, it was a given, but Emily had no idea why the blonde was being whimsical when Emily had thought she could have been in trouble, or worse.

"You'll see soon," Alison promised, winking at Emily, making the girl even more perplexed.

Despite the sudden puzzlement, Emily had to involuntarily admit that she already felt better with Alison around, and she noticed herself becoming less and less nervous with the blonde right next to her.

"Emily and Alison, would you care to continue?" Mr. Fitz asked carefully, noticing that their conversation was obviously private, but even more, that his the rest of his students seemed to be more invested in what was going on between the two girls than the presentation.

Alison parted from Emily, turning to look at Mr. Fitz. She had always wondered how it was possible that her English teacher resembled her friend, Ezra, so much. Aria had joked around a couple of times about how she should get Mr. Fitz in the same room as her boyfriend, but Alison genuinely thought that was a tremendous idea, because there was literally no way that those two were separate, different people. She made a note to herself to ask Ezra if he had any relatives that closely resembled him and were teachers.

"Yes, Mr. Fitz," Alison complied, glancing at Emily from the corner of her eye. "I hope you don't mind, but we brought some... visual aid."

The blonde turned to the door, much to Emily's surprise, shouting, "You can come in now!"

A number of guys - that everyone in the room recognized as players from the lacrosse team - walked in. Sadly for them, no one really noticed who they were, everyone was too busy with the hilarious view in front of them. The guys were all dressed head-to-toe in costumes inspired by the Great Expectations movie, and anyone who had read the book or watched the movie could've easily recognized who was which character. They walked to the front of the classroom and crowded around Emily and Alison. The abrupt look of astonishment on the brunette's face almost made Alison want to burst into laughter.

The guys soaked in people's entertained stares and didn't even budge when some of the students took out a phone to photograph them. They didn't mind it at all, they are some of the most popular guys in the school, and even if people made fun of them, they knew how to play it down and still make themselves look cool, even the guys in the women's costumes.

"Why are they dressed like that?" Emily whispered in Alison's ear as the class observed the 'characters'.

"We wanted to reenact our favorite scenarios from the book, remember? But then we dropped the idea, because we didn't think we would find anyone to play the characters," Alison murmured back with a chuckle as she watched the class' positive reaction to the guys, especially the guy that was dressed as older Pip, in a suit and all - he had almost every girl in the class fawning over him.

"But, how did you get them to dress like that?" Emily asked in befuddlement. She truly didn't understand, those costumes were ridiculous, why would anyone agree to this?

Alison turned to her, folding her arms. "Well," she started casually, "I know some things about them that they don't want other people to know. In exchange for my silence, they have to do this," she gestured to the costumes.

Emily's eyes veered to her in pure shock and a hint of disappointment, but the twinkle in Alison's eyes hadn't passed. "I'm kidding! I just paid them 20 bucks," the blonde reassured truthfully. "I'm not going back to the person I was and you know that," she said seriously.

Emily searched Alison's eyes for the blonde's honesty, and looking into the blue orbs, seeing how they widened in fear of Emily actually thinking the blonde was a monster, she knew Alison was telling the truth. The brunette visibly relaxed, nodding, "I believe you."

Alison flashed her a small smile, giving her hand a squeeze before turning to the class. The girls spent the next ten minutes presenting their work. They read their paper about character analysis in turns then walked to the side of the class and watched as the guys attempted at acting out scenes from the book. Some were actually not that bad and some were hilarious to watch, but Alison could tell the class was having fun from their presentation. But what was more important, was that Emily was satisfied with it, and looking at the brunette as she laughed while some guy tried to act out Estella in a ridiculously high voice, she knew she was in the clear.

"You are still so dead," Emily whispered, as if reading Alison's mind.

"I know, sweetie," the blonde answered with an almost fond smile.

XXXXX

Alison finished zipping up her black-and-white Nike sports jacket, exiting her house and closing the door behind her. The afternoon air was chilly as it wrapped around her body like a blanket, but she tried her best to overlook that as she began making her way down to Rosewood High.

She didn't know how or why people came up with this ridiculous notion, but apparently, some of them thought that she just happened to be fit without the actual part of going to a gym or ever working out. She would've practically laughed in their faces were she a part of the conversation. Sure, she didn't go there practically all the time like Emily did, but she did head there at least twice a week. A body like Alison's deserved work and she chose to regularly maintain it.

As she eventually entered their school's much-developed gym, almost all eyes immediately landed on her. Most of the people there at the moment were members of several sports teams around the school or cheerleaders, since they were the ones who went almost every day, but she ignored the usual gawking and the awe-filled stares as she made her way to the treadmill.

When she got there, she lifted her soft hair up to a tight ponytail, looking around as she did so. She recognized nearly all the people there, some more and some less, it was pretty much her duty as Queen Bee and former-tormentor. She even thought she saw Noel for a second but decided to drop it, agreeing that she would say hello to him later on if who she'd seen was even him.

She got up on the device and adjusted the settings, taking off her jacket to reveal a black, skin-tight gym crop top. As she was about to start, her eyes wandered over to the weight lifting area. Some guys were there, and some girls too, but her eyes caught the girl who was bench pressing in the corner. Her eyes lit instantly, the same way they always did at the sight of this person.

She quickly took her phone and her jacket and walked over to the brunette, stopping just in front of her. Emily didn't notice her just yet, and it gave the blonde time to adjust to the fantastic view in front of her. The brunette was wearing a blue Sharks tank top, and basically looking like a goddess as she struggled to lift the weight higher up. Her breathing was rigid and Alison's breath hitched, suddenly feeling in need of a cold shower.

Moments later, Emily placed the bar of weight back in its place and sighed deeply, gathering her breath. She closed her eyes and brought her hand down to the ground next to her, coming back up with a small towel she had blindly looked for. She wiped the light sweat off of her forehead and Alison bit her lip as Emily's top traveled slightly up her waist, exposing bits of her tanned, toned stomach. The nympho side of Alison wanted to run her fingers up and down Emily's abs as though her life depended on it.

"Ali?" Emily questioned breathlessly. The brunette's hoarse tone brought even more inappropriate thoughts into Alison's head and she found herself guiltily looking down to meet Emily's eyes.

She hastily fixed herself, smirking devilishly at the girl, "So that's how you get your arms so toned."

Emily let out a small chuckle at her girlfriend as she sat up. "That and boxing."

"Boxing, huh?" Alison replied in a flirty tone.

"Yeah. Coach said we could pick any activity we want at the gym as long as we report her our progress. Actually, I'm going over to the boxing area right now."

"I'll walk with you," Alison offered, almost desperately. Anything to get her more time with this sexy, adrenalined Emily.

The swimmer nodded, gathered her things and got up, kissing Alison shortly on the lips as a more proper greeting. They started walking in the direction of the boxing area. "Are you here to work out?" Emily asked casually.

"Duh," Alison answered nonchalantly as if it was obvious.

Emily giggled, "I'm just asking because I've never seen you around here."

"I guess we usually come at different times," Alison responded truthfully.

The brunette nodded, adding, "Where are you going to be? I'll take you home later."

Alison's heart fluttered in her chest, the same way it did whenever Emily offered to do thoughtful things for her. "Probably by the treadmill area," she answered.

Several moments later, when Emily's breathing finally restored to normal, she turned her head to the blonde. "It's weird," she stated.

Alison looked at her curiously, "What's weird?"

"I remembered those weights being a lot less heavy," Emily frowned in confusion. "I think this trip to Paris cost me my swimming career," she joked. "From the amount of junk-food we ate, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Don't be ridiculous, Em, you're insanely strong," Alison assured, her hand landing momentarily on Emily's forearm, itching to climb upwards and grasp the brunette's strong bicep.

Emily came to a stop in front of the boxing rings, and turned to Alison. She chuckled, teasing, "Now who's being ridiculous?"

She left it at that, walking to the corner to get her boxing gloves. She slipped one of them on, heading back to Alison. "Can you hold that for me?" she asked, handing the blonde her remaining glove. Alison nodded, accepting the glove and holding it out for Emily to wear. The brunette slipped her hand inside and Alison fastened it around her wrist securely.

"Do you mind if I just-" Alison started hesitantly, gesturing to the bench right next to Emily's punching bag. Emily looked at her in surprise. Why would Alison want to stick around just to watch her punch some bag? She nodded nonetheless, and Alison took a seat on the bench, crossing her legs and looking at Emily expectantly.

Emily looked around, searching for somebody to hold the bag for her. Usually, there was an instructor there, but today, it seemed to be empty. Probably because it was mid-week and some people didn't have time to go to the gym.

Emily turned to Alison shyly, "Actually, can you-"

"Oh, I can leave if you want-" Alison said quickly, accidentally mistaking what the brunette was about to say.

"No," Emily grabbed her hand softly, effectively keeping her in place. "I just meant to ask if you could hold the bag in place."

Alison's mouth parted slightly in astonishment. "Sure," she spoke weakly, approaching closer. She scolded herself for being essentially pathetic, but it was just hard to try and restrain her attraction to the girl in front of her, especially at a time like this - she had long ago recognized the fact that Emily in a working-out state was just phenomenal. The blonde finally stood behind the bag so that it separated her and Emily. She held the bag on both sides and watched Emily expectantly.

Emily's cheeks turned faint crimson as she lifted her arms into position. For some reason, she felt shy working out in front of Alison. It was usually just her and the instructor here, and she didn't really know him that well so it wasn't awkward. He just helped her with the technique a little bit, but other than that, they barely spoke. Around Alison, though, she felt as if there was something to be said, and she was suddenly a lot more aware of her surroundings.

But Alison could read Emily like an open book. She peeked her head around the sack, a sweet expression on her face. "Baby, you have nothing to worry about. I've seen you punch some guys, I know you've got good technique." She sinfully leaned even closer to Emily's shy smile, saying with a sultry tone, "Plus, I know you're good with your hands."

A low chuckle escaped Emily's mouth as Alison restored to her position behind the sack in satisfaction. The blonde always seemed to know how to calm her down. Emily took a breath, raising her hands back into a boxing position, protecting her face. She punched the bag once, and Alison's gasped a bit as she stumbled back at the force invested from Emily's side.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked in concern, stopping her motions all at once.

Alison readjusted, holding the sack once more. "Yeah, you just caught me off guard. Wouldn't want to be the one who pissed you off," she finished with a hushed mumble.

Emily still heard it though, and smirked in silence as she took position and punched some more. Alison simply couldn't help but allow her ears to zone out and take notice of the way Emily groaned a little every time she swung her arm. Her eyes widened as her mind went back to how Emily was making similar sounds in previous activities in the past. Why did anything Emily did turn out so sexual in her mind? She figured she couldn't blame herself. The brunette was extremely seductive when she wanted to be and was breathtaking without even trying - she would know. Thinking about it like that, it was somewhat obvious that intimate thoughts kept making their way into Alison's brain.

She had to take a step back from the amount of force behind the next punch. It wasn't because Emily had hit harder, it was only because she was simply too caught up in her thoughts to notice that she was barely holding the sack anymore.

"I can stop if you want," Emily remarked breathlessly, noticing how Alison was barely able to hold the punching bag.

Alison shook her head quickly. No, there was no way her own stupidity was going to stop her from seeing Emily working out. It turned out to be much more pleasing than she had initially thought. "It's okay, really, I just drift off often."

Emily's arms dropped by her side. She bypassed the heavy sack of so she could see Alison more clearly, standing in front of the blonde. She reached out, wrapping both her arms around Alison's waist, bringing her closer, both of her hands still gloved.

"You wanna talk about it?" Emily asked tentatively, leaning down slightly so she could be in eye contact with the blonde.

Alison brow dipped in amusement. There was nothing wrong.

"Nothing to worry about," she waved it off, wrapping her arms around Emily's neck and pulling her even closer. "I was just thinking about how I need to come down here when you're working out more often."

"Why?"

She smirked, realizing the brunette was truly oblivious, "Are you kidding me? It's an extreme turn on. I mean, remember when you came back from your jog when we were in Paris? I have never seen a person sexier than you, Emily Fields."

The brunette shrugged with a small smile, "I have."

Alison tilted her head with a shit-eating grin, "And who is that?"

The shy smile and copious blushing that radiated from Emily didn't stop her from leaning down slightly and quietly uttering in the blonde's ear, "I'm looking right at her."

Alison shook her head with a loving grin. "Such. A. Dork." she emphasized each word with a soft jab to Emily's shoulder.

Emily laughed as her eyes lifted to the same ocean blue orbs that had become her all-time favorites long ago. "I love you, too," she said playfully. She pulled the blonde closer by her waist and tilted her head to drop a kiss on Alison's forehead. The action was so endearing that it made them both close their eyes contently. Alison opened her eyes to find Emily's brown ones. She smiled at her girlfriend and Emily echoed her grin affectionately.

They spent the rest of the afternoon working away at the gym, and Alison had to admit, while it usually felt like a task to come up to the gym, it truly was enjoyable when Emily was there with her. She was thinking that she could actually start having fun with this whole fitness thing. It was just one of the many things Emily had taught her.

XXXXX

"Great job, DiLaurentis," the coach praised her after she had scored yet another goal at their late afternoon practice. It was edging towards night-time, and Alison was just eager to get this practice over with. Field hockey was fun, for sure, especially when she was one of the only two sophomores in the school's varsity team, but honestly, Emily had volunteered to pick her up at the end of their first practice of the year, and Alison much preferred spending time with Emily over all of the sweaty girls currently running up and down the field.

She felt as though this week had been overly congested with sports. First, she had worked out with Emily at the gym, then this practice the next day, and at the end of the week, Emily's first meet of the year was coming up, on Friday night. She had already made plans with the girls to go, and she was actually excited for it - anticipation building inside of her to watch her mermaid cut through the water in a way that gave professional swimmers a run for their money. She smiled slightly at the thought as their coach walked them through another play.

On the other side of the school, Emily looked down at her phone. Alison's practice was scheduled to end in seven minutes. She had gotten there early, excited to finally be driving her shiny, new car around, and there wasn't anything urgent she needed to do at the school, so she felt her feet advancing themselves towards the field.

"Cassie, that was a blind pass!" she heard coach Anderson roar at some poor girl who looked rightfully scolded as she wiped sweat off her forehead. Emily approached closer, leaning her shoulder on the archway that separated the hall to the locker rooms from the field itself. She couldn't spot Alison out on the field, but from where she was standing, she didn't have a full, clear view.

She walked over to the bleachers and climbed up a few metal steps, before taking a seat on the uncomfortably cold bench. It was freezing outside, and she felt infuriated at the coach for making her girlfriend - along with the rest of the girls in the team - train outdoors in their regular uniforms, a shirt with their last names printed on the back and pants, both short. Then again, it wasn't like swimming, where they could train inside, and Emily knew the girls were probably not that cold anymore, considering they had just had a full practice of running around and warming up.

Her eyes flickered across the large field, having trouble finding Alison between all of those girls, especially while they were all wearing the same uniforms and running around, not making it any easier for Emily to see their faces. Spencer was also a part of this team, being the only other sophomore besides Alison, but unfortunately, she couldn't make it to the very first practice due to some family event she had told them about.

Emily was glad the blonde had thankfully talked to Jason about not working that specific day so she could get to practice, and from what Emily heard, Jason had told her she didn't need to work there anymore because he had finally fully taken the reigns on his part of the company, while simultaneously loosening up on the workload he took upon himself. Somehow, he managed to make it work.

Emily's eyes shifted towards the girl currently leading the ball. She was dribbling it with what seemed like practiced ease across the field, and was running quite fast. Emily averted her eyes to the goalkeeper, who actually seemed a bit scared for her life at the moment. Emily gaped as the ball moved to the corner of the goalposts, and the girl who had just scored finally lifted her head at the sound of cheering from her teammates.

It was Alison.

Emily's lips drew into a proud smile, and she clapped along with the other girls as Alison accepted the good words from her coach, who for once, seemed impressed. Then, he finally whistled, telling everyone they had a good practice and dismissing them.

Emily walked down the stairs of the bleachers and looked forward, finding Alison's eyes. She folded her arms over her chest with a smirk as she approached the blonde in steady steps. She took her sweet time getting to Alison, who hadn't moved an inch from her spot in the middle of the field, waiting for Emily to get to her with a smug grin plastered on her face. The coach was gone, as well as the other girls who had probably scurried off to the locker room to leave. The brunette stopped right in front of her girlfriend.

"I take it you had a good practice?" Emily raised her eyebrow in question, her eyes flashing in the entertainment Alison's practice had offered.

Alison wore the same expression, catching her breath silently from all of the running around, "I take it you had fun watching it?"

Emily's smirk turned into a soft smile. "I did," she affirmed gleefully. "You were great, Ali. The coach obviously adores you already."

Alison finally took a step forward, and reached out her hands to toy with the sides of Emily's jacket. She looked up into Emily's chestnut eyes. "Well, I guess everybody's just drawn to my natural charm." she said in a playful, cocky-like tone.

Emily grinned a bit, looking down at the ground and nodding to herself, "I guess they are. I know I am."

Alison only smirked pleasantly in response, brushing a bit of dust off of Emily's shoulder. "I like leather jackets on you," she commented quietly as she eyed her beautiful girlfriend in the piece of clothing.

Emily looked down at said jacket, then at Alison's clothes, and she was about to say that she liked Alison in field hockey uniform but then, as a breeze flew by and a shiver ran down her spine, she remembered it was very cold outside. Her eyes widened, "Ali, you must be freezing!"

She quickly stepped back, much to Alison disliking, and shook off her jacket, wrapping it around the blonde.

"Calm down, Killer," Alison smiled up at her, her dimples popping against her cheeks, "I was warm enough just by standing next to you."

Emily was glad she had worn a long-sleeved white v-neck under her leather jacket - she had to thank her mom for insisting that she wore two long layers of clothing - and she took Alison's unusually cold hand in hers as they finally began walking out of the field. Emily's head turned to peek at Alison, still blushing faintly from the compliment, "Really?"

"Yes, Em." Alison looked at her in such adoration and affection, that the corners of Emily's mouth naturally twitched up at the expression on her face.

They strode all the way out of the field and stopped in the locker room just to pick up Alison's bag, then they headed to the parking lot towards Emily's car.

During the ride back home, much to Emily's dismay, Alison commented about how she absolutely hated new car smells. Before the brunette could react though, she added a flirty comment about how lucky she was to have Emily in the car too, because her incredible scent compensated on the new car's.

When Emily dropped off Alison at her house, the blonde exited the car with her field hockey bag slung over the shoulder and walked around the front, stopping next to Emily's window. She knocked on it, gesturing for Emily to roll down her window. The brunette did, and Alison folded her arms over the space of the window separating her and Emily.

Alison looked at her with endearing eyes, reaching out and cupping her cheek. "Thanks for the ride, Em."

Emily placed her hand on Alison's forearm to keep her in place, noticing how goosebumps rose on the blonde's skin. It gave Emily satisfaction, knowing that she would never lose this effect on Alison. She took the hand on her cheek and held it in her lap, secretly trying to warm it up. "You were great at practice today. I'm proud of you," she said softly. Alison sighed, she was so damn cute.

Alison lifted her hand to Emily's face once more and allowed her thumb to ghost over the smooth skin of her cheekbone, before leaning in and kissing Emily's lips shortly but longingly.

She pulled back, only to have the brunette pull her back in, and she giggled a bit before bringing their lips together once, kissing Emily slowly, love pouring out of her freely.

She hummed happily as she eventually retreated, looking into Emily's chestnut eyes before letting out a quiet, "Night, Em."

"Night, Ali."

Alison walked over to her door, noticing that Emily hadn't driven away just yet. The girl was waiting for her to get inside her home safely, even if it was unlikely that in the small distance between Emily's car and the front door anything would happen. She smiled a bit at that, at the fact that Emily cared for her this much. She was so in love, it was pathetic and glorious all at the same time, and she could practically feel her heart doubling in size over the small gesture as she finally headed inside, prepared to take shower that would assuage her aching muscles.