Empty Gold

Chapter 20: Hold Me Down

Pepe whines for attention from Alison's bed as the blonde moves about the room, organizing and tidying. The blonde shushes him kindly, ruffling his fur as she coos quietly for him to behave. He lets out a little whimper before his ears flop down and his eyes close, and she smiles softly at his adorable form, so trusting of this space and of Ali.

Alison dusts lightly along the side table by her bed and can hear Cece's voice in her head now—"Alison, stop cleaning!" But the blonde can't help it, she really does enjoy cleaning and she especially enjoys cleaning her new room. It's hers and she can't get over that not so tiny detail. It's only her second day being back in the house but Hanna had dumped a ton of little items in there for her, donated personally by the designer. Namely clothes, hygienic accessories, a mirror, and other tiny things that weren't furniture. Alison remembers a quick mention about going shopping for furniture, but she doesn't dare to ask Hanna, the designer has already been so kind and Emily...well Emily had barely been present yesterday.

The brunette had greeted her politely, helped move some of the stuff from Hanna's room, then...disappeared. Everyone knew she was in her room, but nobody bothered to ask her to come back out and join them when they had dinner together and Alison gathered that this has been going on for a while now. It felt strange, eating without Emily in her own house wasn't the strange part, it was knowing that Emily didn't want to be with them. Or maybe she did, Alison didn't understand why Emily remained in her room if she did want to see them all but either way no one had pushed the swimmer.

Ali's brand new room is a little empty but Alison doesn't mind. It smells lovely thanks to a few candles Aria passed on to her and Ali set up by her bedside. The daylight streams in and lights up the place with sunlight. It's beautiful, the whole room is lovely, but Alison feels like something...someone is missing.

A quiet knock at the door sounds and Ali tilts her head examining the wood, expecting it to open after the alerting knock, but it doesn't. Perplexed, she hears, "Ali? Can I come in?"

Emily. She recognizes the brunette's voice instantly and scrambles to her feet nervously. The brunette hasn't been seen by any of them since yesterday morning, and she's a bit caught off guard. She supposes that must be why her stomach feels like there are butterflies flittering about in them, because she's so surprised.

Ali hurries and pulls open the door, she comes face to face with the athlete who is standing in shorts and a sports bra while holding a decent sized box. Emily's hair is braided to the side and for once she doesn't have bloodshot eyes or bags under them. Alison thinks the swimmer looks really nice like this, make up free and relaxed. Those butterflies in her tummy flitter even more and Alison chalks it up to the pleasant surprise.

"The door was unlocked," Alison shyly comments as she opens the door all the way. Emily gives a weak smile as she shakes her head. Pepe raises his head and drops his mouth open as he pants and seems to grin at Emily. The swimmer loves how loyal of a companion her rescue dog is to Ali, it's quite fitting. Emily had empathized with the orphan dog because she herself felt like one, and now she's glad Pepe can help someone else feel a little less lonely.

"This is your space. No one comes in unless you give them permission, okay?" Emily's voice has a hint of that warmth, that Emily Field's charm that Alison has come to adore and she finds herself a bit caught off guard before she nods appreciatively. "You never have to let anyone in here who you don't want. It's your safe space."

Emily pulls a key from her pocket and places it on the bedside table.

"The door locks," Emily tells her gently. "Aria has a spare in case something happens."

Emily clears her throat awkwardly not wanting to get into what could possibly happen. She's just covering all the bases as far as Ali's safety and comfort is concerned.