It Reminded Me of You--Emison
“Em, I’m home!” Alison called, locking the door behind her. Even after all this time, she was always careful to lock her door.
“In the kitchen!” Emily called back. Alison breathed in the scent of Emily’s cooking. It had greatly improved since high school, and it was now one of Ali’s favorite things to come home to.
“How was your day?” Emily asked, giving her wife a peck on the cheek. Alison gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Oh, the usual. Tenth graders who think their lit teacher is out to get them. Eight years olds who haven’t grasped how to kick a soccer ball,” she said with a laugh. Emily rolled her eyes.
“Dinner will be done in fifteen minutes,” she said. Alison left the room to put away her school bag and coaching gear. She hesitated, looking at the present she’d bought for Emily. She’d picked it out earlier that day, but she wasn’t sure if it was the right time to give it to her. Emily tended to be uncomfortable with out of the ordinary gifts. Their anniversary was in a month… But she couldn’t wait that long. She picked up the box and went to join her wife in the kitchen.
“What’s in your hand?” Emily asked, noticing Alison toying with something.
“I, uh, I got you something,” she said, her usually smoothness gone. Emily’s eyebrows knitted together as she mentally went through important dates that she might have forgotten. When she couldn’t come up with anything, she frowned.
“What for?” she asked. Alison shrugged.
“It reminded me of you,” she said simply, trying to pretend it didn’t matter. In truth, she thought it would break her heart if Emily didn’t like it. Emily raised an eyebrow, but accepted the box. She opened it, and gasped.
“Oh, Ali, I love it,” she exclaimed, staring at the necklace. It was a simple gold chain with a gold disk dangling from the end. I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be was engraved on the disk. Emily’s eyes filled with tears.
“I can’t believe you remember this,” she said, taking the necklace out of the box.
“Of course I remember! That was our first kiss,” she said. Emily smiled, the memory fresh in her mind.
“Will you put it on me?” she asked. Ali nodded and unclasped the necklace before putting it around Emily’s neck and redoing the clasp.
“We wasted so much time. I wasted so much time,” Alison said regretfully. Emily turned around to kiss her.
“Maybe… Maybe we needed to go through all of that to realize how much we loved each other,” she suggested. Alison gave her a sad smile, but didn’t say anything. Emily knew that her past relationships had ended much better than Ali’s. She was glad to have loved Maya and Paige. They weren’t regrets, they were a part of her past. But she knew it was hard for Ali to feel the same way about her history with Rollins.
“At least we’re together now,” Alison said finally. Emily nodded and kissed her again.
“I really love the necklace. Thank you,” she said. Alison smiled.
“I’m glad.”
BEEP.
“Dammit! Shit, shit, shit!” Emily exclaimed, rushing over to the oven. She sighed, looking at the burnt mess.
“Well, we’re not having lasagna tonight,” she said with a sigh. Alison put her arm around Emily’s shoulder.
“I’ll go order take-out.”