I've Always Loved You. Always Have, Always Will - Emison

Chapter 7: Trauma

The next morning, Alison was asleep in Emily's arms on the sofa. Emily awoke from the sound of the kitchen door being opened and closed again after someone entered the house. Unaware of who it could be, Emily tried to get up off of the sofa as subtly as she could, not wanting to wake up Alison after such a stressful day yesterday.

As Emily crept her way out of the living room towards the kitchen she was anxious as to who she was going to come across, especially after yesterday with Elliot raping Alison. But Emily was slightly relieved to see the back of a girl she knew, getting a glass of water from the tap. Her long, blonde hair cascading down her back.

"Boy, am I glad to see you". Eliza jumped slightly from the familiar but unexpected voice she heard from the other side of the room.

"Coach Fields... what are you doing here?". Eliza asked as she was still startled by the surprise of Emily's presence and completely unaware of Emily and Alison's past. She had no idea why her coach was standing there. Has she done something else wrong she didn't know about?

Emily didn't how to respond as she was completely caught off guard, not only by Eliza's question, but her presence. The awkwardness was starting to build from the stark silence and the brief history Emily had with Eliza. Emily didn't know which direction to tread in this situation, so she just awkwardly went with the flow.

"Umm.. I came to see Ali yesterday... and we... ended up both falling asleep..". Emily spoke trying to think of a reasonable explanation or to make up a lie as she stuttered her words out. Emily's answer was vague but gave Eliza the impression that something was going on between the two of them. Eliza didn't press any further questions as she was too afraid to make this situation anymore awkward than it was already feeling within the room.

Eliza tried to think of a different topic to change their conversation to but she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be stupid small talk. So she decided, as both of them were alone, it would be the perfect opportunity to address the elephant in the room so to speak.

"I just wanted to say how grateful I am that you didn't say anything to the principal about what happened before". Eliza spoke nervously, feeling paranoid and hoping that she hasn't crossed any more boundaries. "...You know... about the note".

"Yeah, I know what you were talking about, and don't worry about it. Let's just put it behind us. You have great potential Eliza. You could go far in life and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I jeopardised that for you. I became a coach to help all my students, including ones like you. To be honest, I was surprised when I found out the note was written by you. I don't mean to stereotype or anything but I didn't think you'd be the type to like girls...".

"Nobody does". Eliza interrupted. "To be honest with you, coming out is a terrifying experience for anyone. But for me, I'm scared people might not accept it because I'm femme. They'll assume it's a phase that I'll grow out of it when I'm older". Eliza took this opportunity to open up about her sexuality. Something she has done with hardly anyone. She felt vulnerable for opening up to Emily. But she knew Emily was a safe person to share her thoughts to and hopefully receive some helpful parental advice. "When I was a child, I didn't know anyone who was gay, or even bi. So when my friends started talking about boys I was so confused and I thought to myself... I'm supposed to like... them? I wanted to like boys, I did. But I just couldn't see myself with a guy apart from being a friend or having a brotherly relationship with them. I just couldn't bring myself to go any further with a guy. I felt so alone and I thought something was wrong with me. Like I was incapable of loving someone else romantically. Then as I got older, my first crush came along and it hit me... Hard. I couldn't stop thinking about her. At first I thought I just really liked her as a really close friend, but then the more I thought about her, I would have dreams of kissing her and I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. That's when I had my 'wow' moment I like to call it and from that moment on I knew I was different. I just don't know how to tell everyone".