Pretty Little Liars Emily through the seasons (Season One Continued)

Alison [to Emily]: "A kiss is a kiss. I like boys. Trust me, if I'm kissing you, it's because it's practice for the real thing."

With Emily finally coming out and every one accepting it (both her parents and her closest friends) Emily finally feels like she can be herself however new issues occur when she has to admit to her three friends and a cop that she was in love with Alison  as more than a friend. However in Emily's defense Ali only further encouraged it/played up to it. Whenever Alison and Emily happened to be alone together (as we see in the flashbacks) Alison was always inadvertently flirting with Emily.
It seems however that Alison's flirting is mainly for her own gain, to keep Emily close and also a sense of control over never leaving the close knit group of friends. Although Alison could just be hiding how she too feels about Emily as when they share a kiss privately in the library she doesn't seem to detoured by it instead she seems to lean into it and even has a cute little smile after towards Emily. However being the most popular girl at school and basically ruling it with her intimidation tactics and snide remarks about those she didn't like. In my opinion Alison couldn't exactly start dating a girl and suffer ridicule at the hands of the others she put down so frequently, no matter how much the attraction may have been mutual, I feel Alison is fluid with her sexuality but would only ever do anything with a girl if it is Emily.

Paige [to Emily]: "We all know what team you really play for."

Emily and Paige were always an interesting pair. The two are on the swim team together and are incredibly competitive with one another, Paige more so than Emily as she wants to be the anchor on the swim team. The issue is they both tie for the best time although Paige tries to imply that Emily could be taking steroids or something stronger as she hasn't practised in weeks but is still able to keep up with Paige. Paige soon goes to extreme tactics and brings Emily's sexuality into the equation which only adds fuel to the fire and further encourages Emily to continue tying or beat Paige to being the anchor. Also she knows her friends will be supportive of the situation as they know
Emily is still somewhat getting used to the fact that she now differs somewhat from her friends.

Emily: (About Paige McCullers) She made a comment about me being gay.

      Spencer: I will destroy her.
     Aria: Can I help?

The interesting aspect of this rivalry/friendship is that Paige is only acting this way towards Emily because she envies her. To Paige, Emily has come out and been accepted by bother her family and friends, she has a great group of loving friends (well other than the fact that Alison is currently missing but she was a malicious bully) she's very attractive and had a lovely girlfriend. Whereas Paige is a closeted Lesbian (she may have come out sooner but Alison's constant bullying and belittling kept her from admitting her true feelings to Emily as well as her sexuality to herself) who is weary about the friends she keeps and tends to constantly push herself when it comes to swimming to please her parents especially her father. Paige's Father even goes out of his way to say that Emily is being prioritised/favoured due to her sexuality, which angers Emily as she knows she got where she is with swimming due to her hard work and by not giving up. This just humiliates Paige as she now fears her Father's reaction when she finally tells him that she too is gay.
Soon after a certain practise it all changes when Paige decides today is the day to come clean with Emily. Paige follows Emily to her car, gets in and kisses her before rushing off, leaving Emily perplexed and Paige shocked at her own actions. After the kiss Paige avoids Emily for a while, even going to drastic measures when it comes to her swimming routine just so she doesn't have to see Emily. Paige is unable to deal with the situation so takes the cowards way out and decides to pretend it didn't happen, Paige soon caves and asks Emily to meet her a pub in the middle of nowhere the two do Karaoke together and share a kiss at the end of the date but Paige soon makes it clear that she can't be seen together anywhere with Emily near

Rosewood. Paige doesn't mean to hurt Emily but she's not ready to come out to her parents yet. This leads to the brief if you can call it that relationship between Emily and Paige to coming to an early end. The two are so reunited again after Paige goes on a date with Sean and realises he's not what she wants. She knows she wants to be with Emily and that the date with Sean only further confirmed that, she was happy to hang out with him as a friend but as soon as he kisses her at the end of that date it feels all wrong and the date now seems like a cover up.

Paige: "You’re fearless." 

Emily: "I am so not fearless!"

Paige: "You came out!"

Emily: "I didn’t come out of the closet, I fell out, on my face. But, I’m out and whatever else happens I don’t have to worry about it anymore."

Paige: "If I say it, out loud… If I say, I’m gay, the whole world is gonna change."

Emily: "Yeah, it will. You wanna hear something funny?"

Paige: "I would love to hear something funny."  

Emily: "When I was trying to talk myself into being interested in boys, I would look for guys like you."

Paige: "Like me how?"

Emily: "The kind that would pull me up on stage and get me to sing, because I would never do that on my own."

After the two have a heart to heart things seem to be fine between them and they start dating. The only issue is that Emily is out and no longer cares what others think whilst Paige is still in the closet and fearful of what others will think and say about her especially her own Father. Paige tries to secretly date Emily but that only further infuriates Emily as Paige wants them to go on dates in a group in fear that someone might see them together and think they are more than just friends. Paige

then claims that she was looking up ways to come out to her parents to make it easier, she contacts a pride group. Which initially makes Emily proud but when she chickens out on the meeting Emily is left feeling disappointed. Emily isn't rushing Paige to come out but at the same time she is not going back in the closet to appease anyone. Emily in turn ends up speaking to the girl from the pride group and informing her of Paige's situation without giving away too much information. Paige turns up just as they are talking and gets jealous to which Emily decides she can no longer be in a relationship with Paige.