Forever Emison

It's Always Been You

    "Emily?" I hear someone say, pulling me back into consciousness. "Em, wake up."
    "Ali? Hey, what are you doing here?" I said groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
    She smiled at me and said "Just wanted to come see how you're doing." She was looking at the books spread out in front of me. "Doing some late night scrapbooking?" she teased.
    "More like taking a late night stroll down memory lane," I replied, still not fully coherent. I sat back on my hands and tried to open my eyes a little more.
    Her eyes lingered on something next to me. I thought she was looking at my hand--although I'm not sure why she would be looking at my hand--so I looked down and realized that the picture of us was sitting right by my pillow, face-up.
    "Shoot!" I mumbled, scrambling to hide it before she realized what it was.
    "Em," she said very gently, sitting down on the bed next to me. "What's going on?"
    She definitely saw what it was. Damn.
    "I'm sorry, Ali. I can't imagine what you're going through right now. The last thing you need is to stress over my problems, too," I said, feeling defeated.
    "Hey, Emily, no..." she cooed, as though she were trying to soothe a baby. "You can tell me what you're going through. I'll always be here to take care of you." She pushed my messy hair behind my ear and put her hand on my arm to comfort me.
    "What are we, Alison?" I wimpered.
    "What do you mean?" she asked innocently.
    "I mean that we had a moment the other night and I don't know what I should think of it. Do you like me or did you just need comforting? I'm just so confused about everything right now and I don't need something else eating away at me." I said sadly, looking down to hide the pain on my face. "I just want to figure out what this is."
    "Emily. Please don't get sad over this," she said, sniffling.
    I looked up at her to see that she was crying. One silent tear after another, slowly cascading in a waterfall down her pink cheeks. I wiped each one away with a single finger and waited for her to answer me. She looked down at her hands, fidgeting nervously.
    "Tell me what you want this to be," she said.
    "Ali, I don't know how you feel but... I love you."
    Her head shot up and her face had a strange mix of disbelief, confusion, and... relief? She stared into my eyes, not saying anything.
    Finally, she said "Emily... Y-you what?" She was completely dumb-founded.
    I remained staring into her eyes as I answered, "I love you, Alison. I've loved you since we were kids. Since I kissed you in the library. Since all those sleepovers when you would give me little compliments, but never any of the other girls. I loved you even when you were gone. I've loved you since we found you in Ravenswood after two years of thinking we'd lost you. I love you, Ali, and I'm sorry but I can't change that." I choked on a loud sob, but caught myself before letting another one slip through my lips. I looked down, embarassed because I knew I was about to hear something I didn't want to.
    Ali grabbed my chin and pointed my face back at her so we were looking in each other's eyes again. "Don't you ever apologize for your feelings. Don't you ever doubt me like this," she said calmly.
    "I-I don't underst--" she interupted my words with her lips. She kissed me softly, slowly. It was the most sweet, the most gentle, the most genuine kiss we have ever shared. It lasted a life time. I didn't want it to end, but she eventually pulled away. I looked at her beautiful face and she was crying again, but this time, she didn't look sad. "Wha--" was all I could manage to say.
    "Emily, I love you, too."