Hi! So this is a new story that Emily (dreamer241) and I (Jen, hannnarivers) will be working on together, alternating writers between chapters. It's definitely Haleb central, and based around the idea that Caleb, Ezra, and Toby are in the army. The five girls are all still friends, aged about twenty-three, and living in Rosewood. We'll find out how Haleb first 'meet' and all that comes along with that, and who knows… maybe it develops into something more? Anyway, here's the first chapter, hope you enjoy!

Accidental Introduction

"Please? Come on, just one more and then we'll go somewhere else, I promise."

Hanna sighed as she stood up and gave into her friend's request, straightening her black mini dress before begrudgingly heading over to the bar to buy another round of shots for the group. Aria clapped her hands excitedly as she grinned with a smug look on her face, earning an eye roll from Spencer.

"Always getting your own way," She murmured, taking a sip from her gin and tonic.

Aria slapped her arm lightly, "Hey, you'll thank me later when you're drunk."

Moments later Hanna arrived back at the table, armed with five shots of some neon orange liquid on a tray.

Slowly looking down at the drinks and then back up, Emily raised an inquisitive eyebrow and pointed a finger towards the glasses, "Um, what are these?"

Hanna stuck her bottom lip out and shrugged, "No idea," She began as she nudged Alison's side, encouraging her to shuffle over so that she could sit next to her at the round table, "They were cheap though."

Clearly that was good enough for Aria, who had already distributed the shots between the girls and was tapping her fingers on the marble table top impatiently. She picked up her shot glass and held it to her lips, widening her eyes accusatorily when the others failed to do the same.

Alison smirked, taking Emily's hand in one of hers and her drink in the other, "Here goes nothing."

All five girls braced themselves, Spencer looking noticeably apprehensive, before they simultaneously tipped the glasses back and poured the burning liquid down their throats. Sour looks graced the faces of everyone but Hanna, who was nodding approvingly at her empty glass with a contented expression, "Not bad."

She looked up and was met with nothing but disapproving grimaces as her friends silently disagreed with her.

"Hmm," Spencer mused, "Clearly your taste in drinks is as bad as your taste in men."

Hanna's expression immediately turned stoic as her friends giggled at Spencer's comment. "Hey, there was no need for that," Her face lightened a little, "However true it may be."

Reaching across the table, Emily took Hanna's hand in hers and patted her arm lightly with the other, putting on a fake pout of sympathy which earned a shriek of laughter from a very tipsy Aria. Hanna rolled her eyes but a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips as Emily sunk back into the sofa-chair, turning her attention to Spencer, "Speaking of men, how's Toby?"

Spencer immediately perked up at the sound of his name, reaching into her bag to pull out her phone. "He's doing great," She rambled excitedly, scrolling through her phone at the same time, "He's been sending me so many pictures lately."

"Pictures huh?" Alison teased, wiggling her eyebrows, "What kinda pictures?"

Spencer's head shot up and she narrowed her eyes disapprovingly, "These kind of pictures." She turned her phone around to reveal a photo of Toby in his army uniform, reaching down to pet a small white dog at his feet.

Emily audibly squeaked, taking the phone into her own hands so that she could see the screen better, "That is so adorable! You have the cutest husband."

Aria shuffled into Emily to get a closer look, "It is adorable," She agreed, nodding, "But not as cute as the one of Toby and Ezra together, show them that one."

Spencer snatched her phone away from Emily and spent no more than three seconds looking for the photo that Aria had described, "Easy to find, I added that one to my favourites album."

This time she placed her phone in the middle of the table as the other four girls leaned in to take a look, a chorus of 'ah's echoing around their booth as Aria and Spencer grinned proudly.

Hanna reached her hand out, pointing a finger at the third guy in the picture, who was standing alongside the fiancé and husband of her two friends. "Who's that?" She asked, genuinely interested, "He's cute."

"He was transferred to their training base in Florida a couple of weeks ago, I think his name is Caleb," Aria chirped, "He's going out to Iraq with them, and apparently he's a nice guy."

Spencer raised her eyebrows, "Huh, maybe your taste in men is improving."

The girls had a habit of letting their plans go awry and this night was no exception – three hours later and they still hadn't left the dingy club that they'd started their evening in. Though the setting hadn't changed, the atmosphere definitely had, as the floor of the club was now filled with sweaty, moving bodies and everyone was noticeably tipsier than before. While Emily and Alison were pressed together amidst the crowd of dancing twenty-somethings, Aria sat slumped back at the table with her head on Spencer's shoulder, only half aware of her surroundings as the taller girl rubbed her arm soothingly. She definitely still hadn't learned how to handle her alcohol.

With all her friends busy, Hanna had occupied herself by buying herself another drink, but now found herself bored as she stood in the corner watching drunk people stumble over one another. Sighing, she decided to walk back over to the table to join Spencer and Aria, and only then realised how tipsy she actually was. Those heels were definitely easier to walk in when she arrived.

Spencer's head shot round as she noticed Hanna walking towards her, a big grin spreading across her face, "Hey look who it is!"

Hanna could tell how drunk she was without even starting a conversation; drunk Spencer was a very happy Spencer, and right now she looked elated just to be in Hanna's presence. Sitting down and nuzzling into her friend's shoulder, Hanna smiled back as Spencer wrapped her free arm around her shoulders, "What's up with her?"

Spencer followed the direction of Hanna's nod until her eyes landed on Aria, "She's very veeeeeery drunk," Spencer explained, scrunching her face up, "It's a bit of a situation."

Aria's reaction was slow, but there nonetheless, "Hey!" She brought her hand to her head as she tried to stand and lost her balance slightly, only to have Spencer pull her back down, "I'm positively, totally, one-hundred percent perfect."

Hanna raised her eyebrows, "Somehow I doubt that."

"Look, I can even text, let me prove my non-drunkenness to you," Aria insisted as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, earning giggles from her friends.

Spencer grabbed the phone from Aria's hands as soon as she began her attempts to unlock it, "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Well," Hanna reached her arm out to snatch the phone away, "I don't think you should be trusted with it either missy."

The phone was still locked, and she could see that Aria's background was the photo of Ezra, Toby, and Caleb that Spencer had shown them earlier, but cropped so that only half of Toby and Caleb's faces were visible. "Why do you hate the other boys?" Hanna asked, genuine concern in her voice, "What did that, um, what's his name?"

"Caleb," Spencer chimed in.

"Yeah, Caleb," Hanna affirmed, "What did that Caleb boy ever do to make you cut him out?"

Aria giggled like a five-year-old as she tipped her head back and let out a loud sigh, "He's not my Ezra is he? So he doesn't need to be in it."

"Well that's rude," Hanna joked, shoving Aria's phone into her bag to keep it safe.

When she looked back, Spencer was staring at her with a smug smirk on her face.

"What?"

"You seem very protective of this Caleb boy," Spencer teased, "Maybe we should ask the guys to hook you up."

Hanna scoffed before taking a sip of her drink, "I'm good thanks, I think I have enough on my plate with you two. I don't need an extra drunk person to take care of when I..." Her words trailed off as she felt a tug at her side, and looked down to see Aria stealing her phone out of her bag.

"Aria!" Hanna grinned as she shook her head, "What are you doing? That's my phone, not yours."

Aria didn't reply as she typed furiously, a look of pure concentration on her face as her fingers slipped from the screen every so often.

"Aria?!"

Eventually she looked up with a sly smile on her face, "I'm just getting you started, don't worry Hanna banana."

Hanna's eyes widened as she shook Spencer's arm from around her shoulder and ran around the table to Aria's side, snatching her phone away as her friend giggled uncontrollably.

"What did you do?!"

"Nothing," Aria tried to reassure Hanna, reaching up to pat her head, "You didn't even give me a chance."

Shaking her head and shoving her phone into her pocket, Hanna walked back around to her seat and slumped down, gulping down the rest of her martini in one. "Are Em and Ali as drunk as you two are?"

"Crap!"

Hanna moved her hand straight up to her head as she threw her phone across the room with the other, desperately trying to stop the beeping sound that had just caused her to jump half a mile into the air. She was dis-orientated and it took her a minute before she realised that she was in Spencer's barn – they must have gone back their after they finished their night out, though she was having trouble remembering exactly how that night out came to an end. Emily and Alison were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Spencer, but Hanna assumed that she was still asleep in her bedroom. Aria, however, was asleep on the couch opposite Hanna, and still totally comatose despite the obnoxious sound that had filled the room only moments earlier.

Realising how dry her throat was, Hanna stood up carefully and made her way over to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and gulping it down in a matter of seconds. She caught sight of her reflection in one of the pans resting on a wooden shelf, grimacing at her matted hair and the smears of day-old make up across her face. "Good look, Han," She commented sarcastically to no one but herself.

Her phone was thrown half way across her room after their little 'disagreement' a few minutes earlier, and Hanna silently prayed that she hadn't smashed the screen as she walked over to pick it up. Sighing with relief when she realised that it wasn't broken, she pressed the home button to see that she had a new Facebook message. She furrowed her brow and began to pace as she desperately tried to figure out where she recognised the name from. How did she…

Hanna stopped in her tracks as the realisation hit her. Caleb Rivers. Caleb. That was the name of the guy in that photo with Ezra and Toby. Oh God. Why was he messaging her? Had she told the girls that she wanted them to hook her up with him? Oh God. Oh God. She threw her phone onto the couch and buried her head in her hands as she sat down next to it, too scared to unlock her phone and read the message. Spencer must know something about it, she thought.

Charging over to Spencer's room, Hanna banged her fists on the door and swung it open before she had even given her friend the chance to reply. She was met with a very dishevelled looking Spencer, who was half sitting, half laying in bed, and very confused.

"Why is he messaging me?" Hanna dead-panned.

"What?" Spencer asked cautiously, sitting up fully against the headboard of her bed as she tried to process the words that were being thrown at her.

"Caleb. Caleb Rivers. That guy in the photo. Why the hell is he messaging me on Facebook?!"

Spencer looked as genuinely shocked as Hanna was, which didn't fill her with hope, "He is?!"

"Yes," Hanna confirmed, moving to sit on the bed as she shoved the phone into Spencer's lap, "And I don't know how the hell he even knows who I am."

"I don't think he does know who you are."

"Exactly!" She was pacing back and forth again, "I need you to open it Spence, I can't do it, I'm too embarrassed. My passcode is six…"

"I know your passcode," Spencer interjected, "I've already opened the message."

Hanna's head shot round, "And?"

Spencer looked up, her eyes wide and her lips pressed together as she clearly tried to suppress a smile, "You might wanna take a look at this."

Grabbing the phone from her friend and desperately scanning her eyes across the message, Hanna felt her cheeks heat up as they turned a deep shade of pink, "Well I didn't send this!"

"I think that's pretty clear from the way it's signed, Han," Spencer teased, not even trying to hide her amusement at this point.

Hi Caleb! My name is Hanna ans I would really looooove to meet yoi. My frineds are with Ezra and Tobu. I think you are reallt hot and you should come slewp in my bed because I haven't haf sex in a really long time. Love Han (Arua).

Hanna had a face like thunder as she read over the message one more time, "Well 'Arua' is in for a world of pain."

Leaving Spencer to giggle to herself in bed, Hanna marched back into the living room and shook Aria's leg, hard. "Aria, get up."

Sitting up with a drawn-out groan, Aria rubbed her eyes with her hands and looked around the room, seemingly as confused as Hanna had been when she woke up. "Where are we?"

"In Spencer's barn. Why did you message Caleb?"

Aria could tell that Hanna was angry from the way she was tapping her foot as she waited for her to reply, eyebrows raised and her head tilted to the side.

"I didn't," Aria protested with a yawn, "I don't even know the guy."

"Yes," Hanna shot her arm out to shove the phone in front of Aria's face, "You did."

It took a second for her eyes to focus so that she could read the message, but once she had, Aria looked back up with her bottom lip between her teeth. A beat passed before she dared to speak, "Oops?"

Hanna's eyes practically bulged out of her head, "Oops? Oops?! I don't even know this guy, and you just messaged him out of nowhere practically telling him that I wanted to have sex with him because I haven't gotten laid in God knows how long? Jesus Aria!"

"Hey, but that's pretty impressive, I managed to find him on Facebook and message him while I was drunk," Aria smirked to herself.

"I wouldn't be too proud of that message," Came Spencer's voice as she leaned against the doorframe to her bedroom, "The spelling was absolutely appalling."

"You guys!" Hanna practically stomped her feet, "Why aren't you taking this seriously? He's friends with Toby and Ezra. I'm probably gonna have to see this guy in person one day! What if he visits Rosewood?"

"Chill Han, it's fine. The guys said he was nice, right? So maybe he won't think anything of it," Aria tried in an attempt to placate her friend.

"Yeah, what did he say in his reply?" Spencer chimed in.

"I haven't even read the reply!" Hanna gasped in realisation, reaching out and prising her phone from Aria's hands.

She scrolled down quickly and her eyes scanned over the message, the words finally allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

Hey Hanna! I don't think you meant to send me that message, but I appreciate it all the same. Ezra and Toby say hi by the way (don't worry, I didn't show them what you said, I'm not that mean). And I don't know what an 'Arua' is, but maybe you can enlighten me?

Caleb :)

"Well, at least he wasn't an ass about it."

Aria and Spencer crowded around Hanna as they read the message for themselves, looking up at each other and smiling once they'd finished.

"What?" Hanna asked, confused by their sudden onset of happiness.

"He used a smiley face! That's adorable," Aria squeaked, Spencer nodding in affirmation.

"I think he likes you," She teased, "You should write back."

Hanna narrowed her eyes and shook her head, "He doesn't like me, he doesn't know who I am," She replied, harshly, "But I'm gonna have to reply to apologise, aren't I?"

"Uh, that could be an issue," Aria spoke up, "Remember how I told you that they're all being relocated to Iraq? Well they left this morning. And they won't have internet access for at least a week."

"Great," Hanna ran her hand through her hair, "So 'I' make a complete ass of myself and don't even get the chance to explain what happened, or to say sorry."

Spencer stepped forward, rubbing Hanna's back, "You could always talk to him when I call Toby? I mean I don't know if I'll be able to, the reception's supposed to be pretty bad but…"

"I'm not gonna talk to him on the phone!" She interrupted, "Do you realise how awkward that would be? No. Not gonna happen."

"Send him a letter!" Aria piped up excitedly, tapping Hanna's arm, "That's so romantic."

Hanna's face was completely straight, "Aria, I am not looking for romance, I am looking to apologise. You get that? Ap-olo-gise."

"Might not be such a bad idea actually," Spencer spoke up, "Toby sent me their new address so you'd know where to send it to, and who cares if it's romantic, always a bonus if you can get a little extra out of this whole situation."

For the first time that morning, Hanna allowed herself a small smile. Maybe sending a letter wasn't such a bad idea after all – it was definitely better than speaking to some guy that she'd never met over the phone about her lack of a sex life.

"Well I'm not getting my hopes up on the love story front, but I might actually have to end up using your ridiculous idea," She chuckled lightly, "A letter just seems so old-fashioned, I may as well be sending him a carrier pigeon."

"That's my girl," Spencer laughed, rubbing Hanna's shoulder before she started the walk back to her bedroom, "I'll go and find you the address."

So there's the first chapter, I hope you guys liked it! We have such good things planned for this story, lots and lots of adorable Haleb to come, I promise. – Jen