timeless [emison]

Chapter 1

"You may now kiss the bride."

Emily's eyes struggle to focus on the happy couple, even though she knows she's supposed to be happy for them. She's supposed to be cheering her best friend on. But instead, she's standing there as the lousiest maid of honor, staring at the floor instead of celebrating this.

The rest of the crowd is cheering for Alison, and they haven't even stood by her side half as long as Emily has. So, why can't she be happy about this?

Xxx

"Thanks for inviting me over to watch the movie with you guys, Elliot."

Emily stands there blankly, analyzing her best friend's husband from head to toe. She's never really gotten a good look at him. She usually tries to avoid it.

"Of course," he nods his head with a sweet smile plastered on his face. "We're always happy to have you over, Emily. Come on in. Mrs. Rollins is microwaving some popcorn on the kitchen."

He laughs at his own words, causing Emily to roll her eyes. Mrs. Rollins, it's awful. She hates the sound of. Alison DiLaurentis was so her. Alison Rollins is so... not.

Emily sits down on the couch, pressing play on the remote to start the movie. In a minute or so, Elliot and Alison both join her in the living room. Alison seats herself next to Emily, and Elliot seats himself next to Alison, sandwiching the blonde between her husband and best friend.

"Is this a good one?" Elliot asks, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth. "I've never watched it before."

"You haven't?" Alison questions, as if it insane to have never seen The Notebook before. "It's a Nicholas Sparks classic. Almost as iconic as The Titanic." She looks over at Emily. "Just ask Em. We used to watch it all the time at our high school sleepovers, by Spencer's request."

"Oh, don't blame it all on Spencer," Emily shakes her head. "You made us watch it when it was just you and me hanging out!"

A dimple forms on Alison's cheek when she hears this, smiling at the memory. She easily recalls the memories of being alone with Emily, snuggled up on her bed while watching a movie together. Just best friends, they were.

Elliot raises his eyebrows at the look he sees his wife giving her friend, but he shakes it off. Sometimes, he does wonder about their friendship. She seems to treat the other girls differently than she treats Emily, but he doesn't want to seem like the homophobic ass that jealously claims that Emily likes Alison, or something out of the blue. He knows that part of the reason that he's so weary about their friendship is that Emily is a lesbian. And he doesn't mean to be that guy, but it's a lot easier to worry about his wife and her lesbian friend than it is to worry about his wife and her straight friend.

He's also curious to why Alison keeps a photo of herself with Emily on the nightstand, but no photos with any of the other girls. He hopes and assumes that it's just because she and Emily were always the closest in the group— the real "best friends", if he might say.

Alison has never mentioned bisexuality in her past, so he hopes it's safe to assume that she is straight. He and Alison have known each other for a very long time; they formed a bond when he used to comfort her while they talked about Charlotte.

He tries to focus and watch the movie. Maybe he'll be in on the love for The Notebook if he can enjoy it like they do. But he doesn't really get it. It feels cheesy. Sometimes he feels like Noah shouldn't even get the girl in the end. What's so good about this broke guy? Why should he get the rich, successful girl?

It's only a matter of time before there is an intense love scene between Noah and the girl. They kissed in the rain, and practically pounced on each other in the bedroom. Elliot furrows his eyebrows, feeling uncomfortable. His peripheral vision travels to see how his wife reacts to the love scene, and she looks more interested in Emily.

He blames himself— he basically squished Alison in the middle. She's pressed against Emily's sides. Her hand rests on the floor, centimeters away from Emily's hand. Elliot swears he even sees Emily's hand move forward, nearly touching his wife's. He tries to ignore it and focus on the movie, but he doesn't like it at all. He fears that when the two of them see the couple tearing each other's clothes off on the screen, they'll want to do that to each other.

"Do you want some popcorn?" Alison whispers, leaning dangerously close to Emily. Emily can feel the blonde's hot breath on her cheek. She turns to look at Alison, and her heart pounds as she does so. She doesn't even know why she's so nervous about responding to a popcorn question; they're just so close to each other that it's scary.

"Yeah," Emily responds, nodding her head.

Alison's big blue eyes don't leave hers for an extra moment, and Emily feels like their eyes are lingering. Emily's eyes flicker down for a moment, scanning Alison. God, she looks so beautiful.

Alison reaches to grab the bowl of popcorn from Elliot's side, and exchanges it into Emily's hands. Their fingers graze during the exchange. Emily fights the urge to look up. She knows her eyes will be glued to Alison if she does.

In time, the movie finally ends. Elliot feels relaxed knowing that it's over.

"What did you think of the movie, El?" Alison asks, leaning her head on Emily's shoulder.

"Oh, yeah, it was good..." he lies, scratching his head. "I really liked it, honey. True love never dies."

Emily bites her lip. She wonders if Elliot and Alison have what is considered "true love".

"Em," Alison says, smiling. "Who do you think the Noah to your Allie is? Or the other way around, for you."

"Still haven't found her yet, I guess," Emily answers the question, breathing heavily. "Or at least I haven't figured it out."

"You're still not seeing anyone?" Alison asks, furrowing her eyebrows. "You've been back in Rosewood for a while. I thought the girls would be all over you again."

Emily shrugs her shoulders.

"I haven't exactly been looking for anyone too hard," she says.

Elliot bites his lip.

"You have been in Rosewood for a while. You've got no plans of going back to California?" he asks.

Emily's a bit startled. She feels like she's being chased out, even though he is the one that invited her here.

"Uh, no... not yet. I was going to go back to college after the egg donation, but we all know how that turned out," she sighs, staring at the floor. "I also have to figure out what I'm going to do with the eggs I have frozen at the Rosewood Hospital."

"Oh Em," Alison sighs, reaching over to take Emily's hand. "I'm always here for you, you know."

Elliot raises his eyebrows.

"Maybe I could loan you some money. I make a good salary. You could finish up your college with it," he offers.

"Uh..." she mumbles. "Thanks for the offer, Elliot, but I'm not exactly interested in taking loans. If I'm going back to college in California, I want to be debt-free. And I want to have earned the money myself. I'm in no rush to get back, anyway. Plus, I still wouldn't have figured out what to do with my frozen eggs."

Elliot nods his head. He doesn't even know why he feels threatened by this. He and Alison are married. He feels silly for being jealous of her closeness with her friend.