The Difference Between Us // Emison AU

Chp. 20

"You are WHAT?" Jason asked, completely astounded.

"Dating. I think," Alison said softly as she could clearly see her brother's blatant annoyance.

"Don't test me Ali. I don't find it funny."

"Nobody is testing you Jason. This is the truth. I love Emily and Emily loves me. And I know what I have to do. It's not desirable, but it's opened my eyes. Father is a dictator, not a leader. He's a businessman doing his best to destroy whatever he can. You need to help me. We can't let him," Alison begged.

Jason looked at her, his blue eyes wide as he stroked his beard. And Alison could see within them the one thing he had hidden for so long.

Fear.

"You're afraid," Alison realized.

Jason looked down towards the ground and grit his teeth. "Kenneth himself doesn't scare me. It's what he does that scares me. I have learned not to mess with him, Ali. He will take everything away from you before you even know you did something wrong. And unlike you, he doesn't give it back."

"And that's why we have to stop him. Mom and I have a plan. But you have to help. If not for us, then for Emily. Because she will be affected by the decision he makes," Alison said.

Jason nodded to himself. "Fine. But for Emily. I'll do whatever you need me to do."

* * *

"Hey," Alison whispered as she saw Emily painting another set of bright blue eyes downstairs in Emily's room.

Emily turned around to see the gorgeous blonde who looked as though she were completely stressed. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Alison's lower lip quivered as she shook her head. "No. But I want to be."

Emily set her paintbrush down and quickly moved across the room to hold the blonde in her arms. "Shh... I'm here."

"Em, we have to talk," Alison said.

Emily narrowed her eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"It's my father. It's the plan he's had for the suburbs. I am going to try to stop it but I can't promise that it's going to happen. Please just... don't hate me."

Emily brushed a loose strand of Alison's hair from her face and kissed her lightly on her swollen pink lips. "I would never hate you. Dammit, you drive me mad sometimes. But I could never hate you."

Alison smiled against Emily's lips and found herself perched in Emily's lap.

"Whoa... I'm sorry," a small voice squeaked.

Emily and Alison's heads shot up towards the sound and noticed Hanna standing in the doorway looking awfully embarrassed and somewhat drunk.

"H-Hanna," Emily stuttered.

"No... don't stop for me. I was just coming back to get my things and I'll be on my way," Hanna said, unable to meet the brunette's eyes.

Alison, feeling somewhat bad for the other blonde, cleared her throat. "I'm going to give you guys a few. You both need to talk things over."

Hanna looked up at her gratefully and blushed. "Thank you Alison."

"Anytime. And you can call me Ali. I wanted to apologize for what happened today. If there's any way we could put it behind us, I'd appreciate that," Alison said as she held her hand out to the other blonde girl.