Cloverfield

14: A house is not a home

Emily and Alison walked to the DiLaurentises house together. It was a sunny, but windy day. She had let the blonde borrow her swimming jacket. Fortunately, practice had been cancelled today because Coach Fulton got sick. I mean, it wasn't good that she got sick, but it was good that she could hang out with Ali. Emmy didn't even have to tell her mom! Mama Fields would think she was in practice! When she'd told Ali she would do that, Ali had tilted her head back, as if not believing she could dare. But then Ali had smiled mischievously and said, I might be corrupting you.

Emily had just grinned and answered, "I might like it." She didn't know where that had come from, but after realizing it was from her mouth, she'd felt nervous. Was she... flirting? She thought Ali realized it, too, but her best friend had just smirked.

"I like that you like it."

If Emily had flirted... then did Alison's response mean that she flirted back? Emmy, maybe you're over-thinking things. Ali doesn't like you in that way. But the idea that she did made her heart flip. 

Alison opened the door to her house, instantly wrinkling her nose at the smell of incense. Even though Jason hadn't smoked since the party in the house, her mom still lit the damn thing. She heard Emily sneeze cutely and turned around. "Sorry about that." Sorry about a lot of things, she wanted to say instead. When Emily had snapped and called her out on insulting Maya, she'd been so scared of losing her. Alison had explained the thing with Ian, but that didn't mean Emily had forgiven her. And though Ali could beg for it, she'd decided to make it up to Emily. She'd tell her the truth. She'd opened up. "My mom always puts it on because of Jason's pot. But I really think she just likes it because it smells like her flowers in the yard. More like a corpse one, in my opinion."

Emily giggled at that. "I agree with you. It smells awful."

Alison threw away the incense through the window, landing on her mom's flowers. "Go back to where you belong."

God, Ali can be so dorky sometimes, I love it. Emily grinned, considering to tease the blonde about it, but her stomach had roared before she could decide.

Alison put her hands on her hips. "Looks like we got another situation to take care of." Then she ran behind Emily and pushed her to the kitchen, as if her body was a heavy statue.

Ali had made a big deal about what she was going to prepare for them, trying to impress Emily, but it ended up being something a six years old could make. "I'm actually a really good cook. It's just, nobody bought groceries."

Em winked at her. "Sure, Jan."

"I really am!" Ali defended and then took a deep breath. "As you can see, my family isn't around. It's been like this for years. So... I had to learn how to cook by myself."

Emily stopped chewing, suddenly feeling overwhelmed at the change of atmosphere. It had been so carefree...

"I didn't mean to upset you." Alison used to think telling Emily about her family life was a mistake, needing to keep up a pretty picture. But sometimes you just had to rip the canvas apart, not be like the rest of them.

"I'm okay... I just hate that you were alone when you weren't with us."

Alison shrugged, it was not like they could fix the past. But she didn't want to worry Emily. "Being alone sometimes isn't so bad. I'd take it any day over my dad's and Jason's screaming matches."

"If you feel... uncomfortable here, my door is always open." Emily made a small pause. "Unless Mama Fields gets mad at me."

Alison bent her arms on the table, resting her head on both her hands. "C'mon, who could get mad at you?"

"Well..."

Ding, dong.

Alison raised an eyebrow at the sound of the doorbell. "Did someone forget their keys?" She stood up, still confused, and walked to the backdoor. "Oh, hi, Noel! What are you doing here?"

He ran his hand over his drying hair and then placed it back in the pocket of his jeans. "I was wondering if we could hang out."

"I can't, I have a visit."

"Bummer. Raincheck?"

"Totally. Bye!"

"Goodbye, Ali Dee. Nice jacket, by the way."

"Oh, right, thanks." Alison had forgotten that she was wearing Emily's Sharks jacket, it read FIELDS on one of its sides. Even though it didn't have Alison's name on it, it felt like it belonged to her. She might borrow it for forever. It was so comfy and it had Emily's scent, it made her feel more at home than the house she was in.

Emily finally heard the door close and footsteps growing closer to her. She saw the blonde's face a little flushed. "What's up?"

"Noel wanted to hang out."

"You hanged out once and then he suddenly thinks he's your best friend?"

"Hey, how did you know we hanged out?"

"You were the only two missing students yesterday on History. I'm not dumb."

"He's cool."

He's an asshole, Emily wanted to say. I mean, Emmy knows how to choose her friends. She observes people first and tries seeing the best of them, but she just couldn't with him. But since Ali liked him, she wouldn't say anything. Plus, she just wanted to change the subject. "My mom could get mad at me for not obeying her. Or I could get mad at myself for disappointing anyone. I just don't wanna be the reason of someone's sadness. I rather be the opposite."

"For the record, you've never let me down. But you don't have to try please everyone, Em. I know you're some mermaid goddess, but you're still human. Sometimes it's okay to be selfish and not feel bad about it."

"But mom-"

"Can be wrong."