The Difference Between Us // Emison AU

Chp. 11

"Emily?" A soft voice asked from behind them.

Jessica and the brunette turned to face Alison Dilaurentis who was standing in the doorway.

"Ah! There she is! I'll leave you two to it," Jessica said with a smile.

After she had strutted from the room, Alison and Emily stood in awkward silence, the blonde's eyes following Emily's every now and then towards the painting.

"You bought my work," Emily said quietly.

Alison shrugged. "I thought it was pretty."

"And how much money did you put in for it?" Emily asked seriously.

"Emily..."

"No, Ali. Spit it out. How much money did you put in?" Emily demanded.

After a couple of seconds in silence, Alison sighed. "I may have donated three hundred thousand-,"

"Ali!-,"

"Look, Emily. That's nothing to us. That doesn't even make my family flinch. Besides, it's my money and I've got plenty of it. And since the paycheck is split between you, me, and Jason, I got some of it back anyways."

Emily couldn't believe the blonde standing in front of her. Of course, she hadn't even known that Alison had purchased one of her paintings. It was the only one out of all of the paintings in the entire collection that Emily had done of Alison's eyes instead of Jason's.

And the one girl she never thought would even see it was the one who bought it.

If there was one thing Emily never understood about Alison, it was her constant confusing demeanor towards the older girl.

Emily bit her lip. "I'm here to pick up our paychecks."

Alison, who's left blue eye had begun to twitch uncontrollably, tried her hardest to smile. "I have them in one of my folders. Let me get them for you."

The blonde walked over to her desk which overlooked the city much similarly to the room they had drank together in and began slowly shuffling through the Manila envelopes.

"So... what prompted you to come here and pick these up? I thought you weren't speaking to me," Alison asked, feigning innocence.

"Oh, cut the shit Alison. Did you really think Jason wouldn't tell me you were planning on cutting our contract?" Emily asked, her expression appearing royally pissed.

Alison could feel the blood drain from her face. Out of embarrassment, upset, or both, she wasn't sure. "Em, look I can explain."

"I don't want to even hear it."

"But-,"

"You may be my boss Alison, but you have no right to torment me with your silly games. We may have a contract, but you proved today that even contracts are the easiest broken promises," Emily scolded.

Alison felt as though she were about to cry. "Can we please just talk about it? That's all I ask. If you don't want to hear me out, you can leave. But please. I'm begging you."

The blonde almost couldn't possibly believe the words that were pouring from her lips in that second. She had never begged anybody to do as she said. It was hard for her to actually acknowledge the fact that she was insisting on this girl's attention when the girl was HER client.

Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

After she noticed Emily had folded her arms across her chest, Alison cleared her throat. "Ezra and Aria were not my fault. My father has been trying to set me up with one of the Fitzgeralds for a very long time. Ezra just so happens to be the oldest.

"I was late to the gala because my father thought I would need to take him to show him the part of the company I was running. But then, he decided it would be best if I took Ezra out to dinner first. I guess he wanted it to be a bit of a 'first date.'

"And Ezra, finding out we were going to what he thought was my gala, took Aria because she is his assistant. But he wasn't aware of Jason's part in the gala because I'm paying Jason a little more than my father agreed to under the table. He didn't think Jason was going to be in attendance.

"I don't have feelings for Ezra. I did what I had to do so I could continue my branch of the company. Without my father's permission, until he steps down and leaves everything in my trust, I have to do as he says. Or he'll make sure I never get it. And my mother's plan will never be carried out."

"And what is this plan?" Emily asked suspiciously.

"To let Jason come home. My father is the reason he isn't allowed back here in the tower. But once my father is out of power and the company belongs to me, he can't do anything about it," Alison said matter - of - factly.

Emily went silent. She found herself feeling quite awful for how she treated the blonde.

"I'm sorry... I should've spoken to you about it," Emily apologized as she said down in one of the chairs facing the desk.

Alison went to the other side of the desk and sat down in her large squishy lounge seat. "Em, you didn't know. It's not your fault and I'm certainly not going to hold it against you. I want to apologize for threatening to rip up our contract. I just didn't know what to do... and I was scared I was going to lose you."

"You were?" Emily asked, slightly feeling the same butterflies begin to flutter around in her stomach.

"Of course. You're my only client," Alison joked.

Emily could tell though, that the other girl said what she did out of affection. It was a mask, but she certainly said it with a sense of deep caring. And Emily found herself eating it up as if it were candy.

"Why am I your only client?" Emily asked, curiosity now striking her.

Alison smiled. "Why would I need anybody else when I have the most talented artist in all of New York City right here?"

(N/A - Hey guys! I haven't written one of these in a very long long time!

I hope you all are enjoying this story. From the many comments I get, it seems like you do! To those of you who are just now becoming acquainted with my writing, welcome! And to the people who have been here since Home For Fall and are currently reading this story AND Vintage, thank you for being so dedicated!

You're all so amazing.

I have to ask though.

What do you guys want to see next? One or two people (if I'm feeling generous) will get to see their idea written out! So comment them below or PM me. Whichever is best for you guys.

May the best idea win!!

Love you all!

Xoxo

-EmisonClexa