8 - You Make Me Crazier

The next few hours at the pool flew by surprisingly quickly. After the girls finished splashing around in the pool, tanning, eating fruits and talking random gossip, they decided to walk to Aria's house and get ready for their upcoming karaoke night.

Alison and Emily led the way while Hanna, Aria and Spencer trailed slightly behind. The three girls watched as their two best friends smiled while talking, occasionally bumping their shoulders and exchanging innocent touches. It was all very sweet, and it made them start a playful conversation between themselves about how they had predicted the future when they talked about Emison before they were an "official" couple.

When the group eventually reached Aria's house, they went up to her room and immediately started to fumble through her closet in order to find clothes for tonight.

It was 7:30 PM when they were finally ready to leave. They would've been done earlier if it wasn't for Alison holding them back.

The rest of the girls had found outfits to wear after trying them on and deciding that they were a good fit, while predictably, Alison was still making up her mind about whether to take a black dress or not. Spencer had also tried on that dress, but since it was long, Alison told her to pick an outfit that showed off her "Hastings legs".

"I knew you'd like this one, Em. Don't I look hot?" Alison faux-innocently asked as she turned around to face her friends. Emily was at a loss of words to the view in front of her. The most beautiful girl she had ever met, who surprisingly, happened to be her own girlfriend, wanted to know what she thought of her outfit, but truly, all she wanted to do at that moment was to make her way to Alison and kiss her until she couldn't breathe. However, instead, she went for a safe choice of words.

"Those feathers are really pretty."

It's not that Emily didn't think Alison was hot, because she did. Very much so. But the brunette didn't want to call Alison "hot" in front of her best friends. Yes, she knew that they supported their relationship. Hell, they'd made up a 'ship name' for them. Yet, she just wasn't bold or out-there like Alison, who used words like "hot" and "babe". Or at least not yet. She was shy, timid, innocent. Stuff that Alison definitely wasn't. And Emily was okay with that, she quite liked the fact that she and Alison were opposites, it just went to prove the famous saying.

'How does it go? Opposites attract?' Emily mused to herself. Her thoughts were cut off when she noticed Alison smirking at her and eyeing her body up and down. Emily felt herself fluster as the blonde turned back to the mirror.

Alison scanned her own body for a few seconds in the mirror before calling to the girls. "Looks like we've got a winner. Sorry, Spence," she winked playfully at the brainiac brunette.

The girls grabbed their belongings and headed to one of the many bus stations in town. They waited a few solid minutes before the bus arrived and then proceeded to climb on it. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people occupying the seats, and there were only four singular seats left that were scattered around separately.

Hanna quickly took a seat next to an old woman, Aria took a seat a few rows behind her next to a little kid, and Spencer was quick enough to snag a seat at the very last row, leaving Emily and Alison with only one seat.

Emily sighed to herself as she gestured Alison to sit, thinking she could just stand up even though the drive was longer than thirty minutes. Alison, on the other hand, had a different, much more pleasant idea in mind. She gently pushed Emily into the vacant window seat, which was next to a snoring old man, and gingerly straddled her lap. She did it very cautiously in order to not ruin her dress.

"Ali, what are you doing?! This man is - "

"Asleep, Em. He won't notice anything," Alison brushed it off and put her arms around Emily's neck.

Emily laughed nervously and Alison felt the brunette's body tense under hers. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and they weren't. The girls were busy as well; Hanna was playing games on her phone, Spencer was looking out of the window and Aria was talking animatedly to the little kid next to her.

Alison stole one more glance at the old man next to them, making sure that he was really sleeping, before leaning down and whispering in Emily's ear, "Why so tense, Em?"

Emily's face turned bright red as Alison gently bit on her earlobe. She could hear the old man mumbling something in his sleep but she didn't care anymore, she just focused solely on the angelic girl straddling her lap.

As soon as Alison leaned back, Emily boldly put one arm around the blonde's waist to pull her closer and the other around her neck, pulling her into a kiss. Her lips pressed hard against Alison's and the pleasantly surprised blonde swiftly responded by cradling Emily's cheeks and pushing her powerfully against the seat, earning a low, almost inaudible moan from the brunette that vibrated against her mouth in the most satisfying of ways. It made Alison want to have her right here, right now, and she regretted wanting to go to the karaoke place because at that moment, she just wanted the brunette in her bed.

They continued kissing softly, pausing every now and then to make sure no one was watching, and Alison could've sworn she saw Spencer smirking to herself in that back row, but she didn't want to ruin her moment with Emily, so she just let it slide.

Emily opened her mouth and allowed Alison's tongue in, and the blonde was just about to deepen the kiss, when the bus came to a steady stop and people started getting off.

Alison sighed in defeat as she stood up and grabbed Emily's hand. As they walked out the bus and waited for the other girls to step down, they noticed that same old man walking out with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Crap, I think he was awake," Alison whispered scandalously to Emily who was still in shock from that kiss on the bus.

"What? Who?" Emily asked nervously.

"The old guy," she said and nodded towards the elderly. He caught the two girls looking at him and winked sleazily.

"Gross!" the two girls looked at each other, horrified. Just when Alison was about to go there and give him a piece of her mind, the three other girls climbed out of the bus.

Emily pulled Alison's hand and prevented her from practically killing that old man with her words. The five of them started making their way towards the nearby karaoke club and Alison handed each of them the fake IDs she had gotten for the girls a while ago.

"We're so badass," Aria said as she observed the small card.

"Did you make these?" Emily asked Alison curiously, already knowing the answer.

"Where did you get this picture from? I look like my mother," Hanna stated, her eyebrow raised.

"That is your mother," Alison replied blatantly to Hanna.

They showed the fake IDs to the guard at the entrance, who, fortunately, allowed them in. Inside, there was an exaggerated amount of people, and the girls somehow managed to snatch a table somewhat near the stage just as some people rose from it.

"There's no way I'm going up there," Emily looked at the stage in dismay.

"Come on, Em, don't be a baby. We'll go up there together if you want," Alison stroked Emily's upper arm, making the girl nearly shiver. Emily gave her a soft smile and nodded timidly, still terrified of going up to the stage, but feeling more and more confident with Alison by her side. She knew the blonde would defend her if anyone were to make fun of her, and she would do the exact same thing for her, even though she had a feeling Alison wouldn't particularly need it.

They settled in their seats, when three dark-haired guys approached their table. "Hey, how's it going?" one the guys turned to Hanna, who gaped for a second at the attractive guy before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good," she answered with a dreamy grin.

He chuckled lightly, clearly interested in her. "I'm Caleb, this is Ezra," he pointed to a guy in a vest with a boyish smile, "and that's Toby," a guy with lighter brown hair and blue eyes waved. "We saw you over here and we were wondering if you would like to dance," he stretched his hand out to Hanna. Ezra gave Aria an inviting smile and Toby rubbed his hand on the back of his head as he sheepishly grinned at Spencer.

The girls beamed between themselves before looking at Emily and Alison for approval. "Go, have fun," Alison urged, giggling. The three girls grabbed the guys' hands and the Queen Bee could hear Spencer introducing them in the same way Caleb had introduced the guys.

Alison and Emily watched proudly from their seats as their three best friends danced with the newly-introduced guys. They seemed nice, and Emily was happy to watch her friends just loosening it up and dancing with the kind-looking strangers.

"They're so going to talk about it for ages, we might as well escape now," Alison quipped jokingly and Emily released a cute giggle that made the blonde's heart skip a beat.

Alison stood up and extended her hand for her girlfriend, who grabbed it gently and smiled wholeheartedly at her. Alison led them to the dance floor and they joined their friends.

It wasn't too long before they got tired of dancing to the music the DJ was playing, so they ultimately invited the guys to sit with them at their table, and the group struck up a flowing conversation. It was like they'd known each other for ages.

A loud noise that boomed through the microphone stopped their chat and they turned their attention to the stage. They noticed a tall, twenty-something-year-old man speaking to the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our new karaoke club!" The whole audience clapped enthusiastically. "Since this is our opening night, we have a surprise for you. You will all enter a raffle without pay, and the prize is a vacation to- drumroll-Paris!"

Emily and Alison immediately looked at one another and the blonde mouthed, "Remember?" Emily nodded and grinned shyly. She couldn't believe that the blonde cherished the day that they "studied" French together the same that she did.

"We will completely pay for the whole thing; hotels, events, Disneyland Paris, and you can invite as much as eight people! Oh, and it will last a week, the last week of summer!"

The crowd cheered loudly and Hanna shouted to the group, "How awesome would it be if we won? We're exactly eight people!"

The group nodded with matching smiles, since it was obviously what they were all thinking as well. They knew it was a long-shot, but since they were eight people who each got a card, the odds were actually quite in their favor. They already felt somewhat close to each other, even though they'd practically just met the guys less than a few hours ago.

From their many conversations that took place since they'd sat down, they learned that Caleb, Toby and Ezra were best friends and about to be juniors in Ravenswood High School, while the girls informed them that they were all best friends as well, adding in the fact that Emily and Alison were newly dating, and that they were all going to be sophomores in Rosewood High.

"So, let me introduce myself; I'm Harris, the DJ and the owner of this magnificent, new club," he continued as he gestured to the club with his hands. "And I know what you're all thinking - is this raffle even real? Well, let me tell you. I'm an innovative person and this raffle is the best idea I've ever had, which why I'm glad you're all here tonight and participating in it. I bought this place and fixed it up very recently with some of my trust fund money. Think of this raffle as a prize that I give to you for coming out tonight for the grand opening, it's not something that goes without saying. Okay, I'm nearly boring myself out. Now, who's ready for some karaoke?!"

The whole crowd cheered, "Yeah!" and banged on tables enthusiastically.

"Who's going to be our first victim?" he asked playfully, mimicking a witch's voice.

It all happened in a matter of seconds; It took only about five seconds for Alison to fearlessly stand up and pull Emily with her to the stage.

Now, Emily was standing awkwardly on the foot of the stage, looking more terrified than ever, glancing every now and then at her friends who gave her encouraging smiles.

Alison was looking down at a pamphlet that had a list of all the songs that were available in the club. She glanced every few seconds at Emily to make sure she didn't faint. She knew Emily was timid, but she just had too much fun pushing the brunette to her limits.

'She'll thank me later,' she mused to herself.

Alison looked back at the pamphlet and as her eyes scanned the songs, smirking when she spotted the perfect one. She pointed at it and showed it to both Emily and Harris, making the brunette smile thankfully. "I love that song," Emily finally said as Harris pointed out, "Great choice," and went to prepare the song.

"I know you do," Alison replied warmly to Emily. "You once told me it was your favorite," she finished, smiling at her girlfriend.

"Still is," Emily admitted, looking at Alison with an impressed expression. She prepared herself to sing, because she knew Alison wouldn't take no for an answer. The crowd waited patiently for the music to start playing as the girls rose to the stage.

Finally, Harris started the song and the two girls lifted their microphones.

"I'd never gone with the wind just let it flow, let it take me where it wants to go," Alison sang softly.

Emily put the microphone close to her mouth and gave her best attempt at singing as the screen showed the next line of lyrics, "Till you open the door, there's so much more, I'd never seen it before."

"I was trying to fly, but I couldn't find wings."

"But you came along and you changed everything." Emily completed.

Emily and Alison held heartwarming eye contact as they sang, inevitably smiling while listening to each other's sweet voices and moving of hold hands as they watched the audience starting to soothingly clap along with the song.

The three girls at the table with their possible boyfriends, pulled out their phones and recorded the whole thing. "We are so showing this at their wedding," Hanna said and Spencer and Aria laughed.

"You lift my feet off the ground, you spin me around, you make me crazier, crazier. Feels like I'm falling and I am lost in your eyes," they finally sang in unison to the pleasing sound of the song playing through the speakers.

Alison winked at Emily making her giggle through her singing.

"You make me crazier, crazier, crazier."

They continued like this until the crowd was already cheering, whistling, and even swaying to the idle music on the dance floor farther away from the stage. It was the first song of the night, after all, so everyone was listening and watching the performance intently.

They sang together, "Baby, you showed me what living is for, I don't wanna hide anymore, oh oh."

The two girls softly sang this way until the song came to a gentle end, and they smiled in thanks while the crowd cheered loudly. Just before they stepped off the stage, Alison's hand clasped around Emily's wrist tenderly, tugging her closer until she was able to press her lips against the brunette's. The crowd applauded even louder in response, and some wolf-whistlings were heard, but they simply couldn't focus on anything but each other.

When they finally did descend from the stage walked down to their seats, Emily blushed intensely at the feeling of everyone's eyes on her, especially after that kiss. She hadn't seen that coming, but she couldn't find it in herself to complain in any way, even though she knew they'd never intentionally made their relationship public until right now.

She thought over the past five minutes. Singing with Alison up on that stage was surreal, but she felt more alive in the past few days that she had in her whole life. Alison was doing a tremendous job at bringing her out of her comfort zone and she couldn't help but love the feeling she got from it. She knew she was ready to reveal her relationship with Alison to the world, because if this was how she felt merely a couple of days into it, she knew the best was far yet to come. She smiled as Alison sat down, taking the seat next to her before bending over and pecking Alison on the lips.

She leaned over to the blonde's ear, whispering, "You make me crazier, Ali."

Alison smiled softly at the girl before intertwining their fingers, "My pleasure, Em." She watched as Emily's grin widened, feeling her heart racing unsteadily in her chest at the sight, before leaning closer and whispering seriously, "Em, I'm ready to tell people, but if you need more time-"

Emily cut Alison off with a shake of her head. "I'm ready too, Ali. I know I am," she said back tenderly.

They smiled affectionately at each other before Aria chimed in excitedly, "You guys, that was so awesome!" The rest of the table made remarks of agreement and Alison squeezed Emily's hand in her own, the smile on her face broadening.

The night continued as the five girls sang "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, the three guys sang "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber and playfully kneeled in front of their potential girlfriends while singing, and Emily and Alison felt a surge of adrenaline, going up for another song- "Every breath you take" by The Police. Other people sang as well, and the night was treating everyone right.

As the end of the night approached faster than they would've liked it to, everyone in the room received raffle tickets with six numbers each, waiting patiently for Harris to say who had won.

"I sure hope you all had a great time tonight," Harris said as he settled on the stage, the crowd cheering and clapping in response.

"Now, it's time for what you've all been waiting for. I will read the numbers on the winning card one by one, left to right, and in the end, we'll find out who won. Please don't be upset if you didn't win, we're planning on having a raffle every now and then as well, as long as the turn up is as great as it is today, so you'll have other chances. Just keep coming back here and visiting us! Alright, let's get started," finished in a dramatic tone, drawing the tension in the crowd.

Everyone looked anxiously down at their cards. "The winning numbers are: 14, 26, 67, 80, 49, 3."

"I won!"