Unforgettable (Emison)

Chapter 4: "The Past"

Alison's POV
The next day
"Hey Han, call me when you get this, it's important." I say quickly when I hear the beep. Why won't she answer her phone? Mona came by early to tell
me that Lucas is in hospital. She said, and I quote that he is "sick as fuck". I know Lucas would want to hear from her. Does he even know she's in rosewood? My phone rings and I answer it without looking at the caller ID
"Hanna?" I say urgently.
"This is Emily" I hear Emily's voice, she sounds confused. I sigh with frustration.
"Oh hey" I say, trying to cover up the impatience in my voice.
"What? Is Hanna okay?" She asks, starting to sound more worried.
"Yeah she's fine, Lucas is in hospital and I just wanted Hanna to know" I say, I hear Emily sigh with relief. "She's at work, she'll probably answer the phone when she gets back." Hearing Emily's voice calms me. I sit down. "Yeah you're right." I sigh. "So why are you calling?" I ask. That came out rather bitchy. There's a pause. "Sorry that came out a bit rude. What I meant was, are you okay?" I say, trying to make a recovery. "Yeah just wanted to ask if I can stay the night again." Her voice sounds relaxed. "Yeah of course" I say. "Okay great I'll be over later. Want me to stop by the Chinese and get takeaway?" She asks. I giggle. We always used to get Chinese when we would have sleepovers. Well, I would get it and call Emily out of the room so that we could eat it without the other girls knowing. "Definitely. Just like old times." I laugh again. Emily doesn't laugh. There's an awkward silence. "Look Em, if bringing up the past makes you uncomfortable-" Emily cuts me off. "No it's fine. I'm just not used to it" she says quickly. "Okay well my phones about to die. See you tonight." She hangs up quickly.
I can't figure her out. I really can't. It's starting to get on my nerves. Why is she so defensive about the past? We've gotten through it and it's not like I bring up things we don't want to remember. I bring up the happy memories. Well, to me they're happy memories. I guess to Emily, those memories hurt her.

Emily's POV
It's really hard trying to forget about what happened between me and Alison when she keeps bringing up those moments we would have together when we were younger.
The small moments that we would have, the ones I treasured the most throughout high school,
are the ones that I don't want to remember anymore.
It hurts thinking about it.
It really does. She hurt me. She left her mark on me and I just feel like that's what she was trying to do the whole time.

I put down my phone and sigh. Im in arias living room. Not much has changed. I hear aria upstairs looking for her flash drive which has her new novel on it, the one she was thinking of publishing. She wants to see what I think of it.
As I let my thoughts wander, my phone beeps in my pocket.
I pull it out.
Paige: I miss you.
I sigh. I hate doing this. I'm so confused right now. Do I even have feelings for Paige? I used to. But after that night, the night which I rather not talk about, I lost all my respect for her. I'm still with her because
I'm afraid of her.
I send her a heart emoji because I didn't want to type out the words "I miss you too" when I know in my head that being distant for her is making me realise things.
Aria stumbles down the stairs and quickly puts the drive into her laptop.
"I hope you like it" She says excitedly. God I love aria. She gets over excited about small things. I laugh and start reading it.
"Wow" I say as I read down through the first chapter. It's about Ezra. I can tell from the way she puts her words. The fact that the book is going to be called "Forbidden love" sums it up.
When I come to the end of the chapter, I start reading the last line but freeze and look at it again. "I love him against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement there could be"

"Did you get to that part yet?" I nod and plant a soft kiss on her lips. I love her.

I close my eyes for a second and aria looks at me. "Hey, hey what's wrong?" Aria says noticing that I'm staring into the distance clutching my arm to my chest.
"Yeah it's just the last line, you got that from Great Expectations didn't you?" I ask, my voice starts to break. I try to cover up. "Yeah I did actually, why?" She says, putting an arm around me. "It's fine I just remember Alison reading that line to me." I say, and that's when I break.
I bury my head into Arias chest and she holds onto me tightly. "Oh my god Em I'm sorry I didn't know" Aria says, sounding apologetic. I wipe my tears and sit up. Aria takes my hand. "You have nothing to be sorry for." I say and squeeze her hand. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Aria asks. I pause for a minute. "I can't look into her eyes anymore. Because I know that if I do, I'll get dragged into her trap, it's happened before and I can't let it happen again. I'm still in love with her. I can't deny it. I just don't want to get hurt again. Not after Paige." I say softly, tears rolling down my face. Aria puts her hand on my face and wipes away my tears. "Emily there's a difference between how Paige and Alison hurt you. Alison hurt you emotionally. Paige hurt you... physically." I wince at the physically.

"Come on Em." Paige says. Its dark outside and Paige is determined to show me her new apartment. We've come close, almost bestfriends. "Paige it's getting late and I have work tomorrow." I say, slowly walk away but she grabs my arm.
"Please I just want you to see it."
I feel afraid but I go along with it. Why does she want me to see her apartment? What's so special about it.
When we get to her apartment door she stops.
"I'm sorry." She says blankly.
"For what?" I laugh.
"This." She says quickly and grabs me roughly by my arm, opening the door and throwing me into the room.
I fall down. Too afraid to move. She comes closer.
"I've waited years to be with you." She smiles.
She bends down next to me. I feel my heart rate quicken. I'm frozen. I can't move.
She whispers into my ear. "I've waited years to touch you, to kiss you,"
She comes closer. I start losing control of my breathing.
"But Alison gets everything she wants yeah?"
I look up at her.
She roughly kisses me and I bang my head off the cold wooden floor. I scream in agony.
"Hush" says paige, putting a finger to my mouth.

"Emily?" Aria says. I look around and see that she has tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." I say, bursting into tears. Aria holds me. "I shouldn't have gone in to her apartment Aria. I shouldn't have." I cry into Arias shoulder. "Emily it isn't your fault. You couldn't have known." Aria says.
"Are you staying at Alison's tonight?" she asks. I nod. "Can you drive me while its still light out?" I say quietly. I feel aria nod her head.
I stand up and smile at aria. "I'm okay" I say reassuringly, helping her stand up. She throws herself onto me and hugs me tightly. "Em I know you're not but its okay" She whispers. I sigh. Aria was always so caring to me.
We get in her car and drive to Alison's house