First, let's clarify Spaleb = DIDN'T HAPPEN.
Second, I own nothing - all credit goes to PLL writers and creators.
Lastly, please let me know if you think I should continue with this story. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
"Honey, all I am saying is that they say this storm coming in is supposed to be really bad. I just wish you would at least think about staying at the hotel." Hanna rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to reply when she is cut off by her mother once more "It would really be just for my piece of mind Han. That way I know you will be safe and taken care off if it gets as bad as they say it will."
News channels were saying it would be a storm unlike any they had seen recently. They were calling for inches of torrential rainfall, lightening and straightline winds which if she didn't already have a plan, would've made her a little nervous staying at Lucas' loft alone. Of course it would be the weekend that her mother was out of town on business, which meant Ashley would go overboard protective mother on her. Hanna knew didn't matter how old she was, her mother worried all the time but it's not like she had never given Ashley a reason too. With past that she had with an anonymous stalker, being kidnapped and held for weeks on end and all the other terror A had put them through when they were teenagers, Ashley would always worry more than any mother should.
Swapping the phone to her other hand, she reaches across the aisle and grabs a box of pancake mix off the shelf "Mom, it will be fine. We are all going to stay at Ali's…her dad insisted on installing one of those things that turns the power back on when it goes off.." she stops to think of the word when her mom pipes up.
"A generator?" she asks, no doubt with a smirk on her face.
Hanna huffs "Yeah, that. Anyway…" she says as she flips the box over to read the writting on the back "He installed one before he moved out and left Ali the house. So we are all going to stay there. It's gonna be just like any other sleep over we've ever had….just, this time we can actually buy alcohol instead of sneaking it away from our parents. There is nothing to worry about." she tries to reassure her mom as she tosses the box into the cart and continues down the aisle.
Reaching into her purse she pulls out her shopping list and a pen, jotting down CHARDONNAY in big, bold writing and underlines it twice before tossing it back into her bag.
Ashley sighs on the other end of the line "You say that…but if I remember correctly this IS the same group of girls that had a sleepover one time and ONE OF THEM WENT MISSING!"
Hanna stops pushing the cart in the middle of the aisle "That was one time…a LONG time ago. I really wish we could all move past it." She jokes, givimg her mother a reassuring chuckle.
"Hanna…"
"Mom, seriously it's going to be fine. You worry too much.. We are just going to hang out, drink LOTS of wine, veg out and watch movies. We won't go anywhere and we won't let any strangers into the house. Promise."
"What if-"
"No what it's. It's going to be fine. We will be safe, I promise." she stops, giving Ashley a moment to let her words sink in to ease her worry some. "We have been saying we were going to hang out ever since we've been back and we haven't had a chance. It will do us some good to kinda shut everyone out and spend some time together catching up before we start the rush of wedding planning."
She turns the cart down the aisle with several different bottles of wine and sighs, grabbing a bottle in each hand and putting them in the cart before turning around and grabbing two more.
"Have you told them yet? About Jordan?"
Hanna sighs at her moms prying "No, I haven't. Things have been a little off since...they have just been off so it hasnt felt like the right time to bring it up."
So much had happened since she had been back in Rosewood and she knew her mom could tell that it was taking its toll on her, even if she didn't know exactly what had happened.
"Don't you think you should? I really wish you would talk to someone about it...and those girls have always had your back, I'm sure they will help you work through it." Ashley asks and this time her voice is filled with more with concern.
"Yeah, I will tell them this weekend." she says as she places her elbows on her cart and pinches her nose to edge off the tension headache she can feel forming already. "I'm about to check out at the grocery store mom, can I call you back when I'm done?"
"Sure honey. Please be careful and let me know when you get to Ali's. I love you."
She screws her eyes tighter closed "I will mom. Try to relax and not worry, the beaches in L.A. are awesome...go have some single lady fun while you're there. I love you too."
She hangs up the phone and tosses it back on top of her purse with her shopping list and runs her hands through her hair. She knew her mom was right, she did need to talk about everything going on that she had been dealing with silently. She needed advice on what to do and where to go from here, and if she knew anyone that could give her advice, it was the four girls that she had been through everything else with.
She glances down at the ring that sits in her purse and picks it up looking at it closely. She had bought it weeks ago in place of her other ring, the two carat sparkler she had given back to Jordan in New York when she had called off their engagement. The same ring she used to stare at constantly when he had first proposed to her but could barely look at since Caleb had pulled it out of his pocket and gave it back to her when she escaped AD's torture. The ring wasn't the same after that, but nothing was ever the same after Caleb. He destroyed her in every way possible when he came around - most of the time without even realizing it. He could walk into a room and make her stomach tie up in knots. He was the first guy she had ever genuinely loved...and he was also the first person to genuinely break her heart.
It had been years since she had seen him - which was the night she walked out of their apartment in New York, thinking that they had just had a fight but came back to an empty apartment and his cellphone. She had spent countless nights crying herself to sleep, going through all the emotions of being sad, to being pissed off and back again. She eventually pushed him as far as she could out of her mind, just so that she could go on about her daily life without tears - then she met Jordan.
It is a lot easier to put someone in the back of your mind, when they aren't staring right back at you and when she opened that door at The Radley and saw those deep brown familiar eyes staring back at her everything inside of her changed instantly; and everything she thought she wanted in life didn't make sense anymore. She did love Jordan she knew that she did...but she loved him so differently than she did Caleb, and that's what had messed with her head the most.
She tosses the ring back in her purse and grabs two more bottles of wine before heading towards the check out line. She smiles at the woman behind the register as she starts to sit all her items on the counter. The woman glances down at the now 6 giant bottles of Chardonnay in front of her and chuckles.
"A little storm party I'm assuming." she says and she begins to scan the bottles and place them in bags.
"Something like that." Hanna answers with a smile and she hands the woman her ID "Just me and a couple of girlfriends gonna wait it out together." She slides her ID back into her wallet and pulls out cash handing it over to her before grabbing her bags and refilling her cart.
After she has loaded up her car with groceries she checks her list one more time to make sure she has everything before she puts it in drive and turns out of the parking lot headed towards Ali's house. On the drive over she begins going through in her head how to bring up the fact that she's been lying to them for weeks about Jordan. By the time she has pulled up at Ali's house and put her car in park behind Aria's, she has decided that she will just approach the situation with "We've called off the wedding." rather than diving straight into "I kinda-sorta-maybe think I could be still in love with my ex boyfriend who I walked out on 3 years ago for a job." and save that for when she had a lot of wine in her system to help her cope with all of the tears that are bound to follow.
She hops out of the car and grabs her overnight bag, pillow and teddy bear from the passenger seat before heading towards the porch. When she reaches the door Emily swings it open just as she reaches for the handle
"Hey Em." she says shocked as she jumps back away from the door startled that she opened it so quickly "Sorry I'm late...I got caught up on the phone with my mom in the grcoery store so it took me a while.." she says before she even registers the uneasy smile on Emily's face "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" Emily says as she reaches out and grabs Hanna's arm and pulls her through the doorway and shuts it behind her as she whispers "I am so sorry Han. Please dont be mad at us, this got totally out of hand."
"What did-" she asks confused as they round the corner and she sees Aria standing next to Ezra and Toby and Spencer sitting beside each other on the couch. They all smile at her with the same uneasy smile that Emily gave her when she first walked up to the door.
She hears a door open and shut from another room and then its there - she feels the shift and knows before she hears him speak.
"Hey Ali, I checked everything out and it all looks good to me. Pretty high tech piece of machinery you got there...looks top of the line so we should be good." he says as he looks up from his phone and his eyes fall instantly on hers. Dark browm to light blue. "Hey Han." he says, never blinking.
She swallows hard and then whispers a reply of "Hey...Caleb."
Everyone watches them as they stand staring each other.
She can already feel the hairs on her neck standing on end. She swallows hard and she knows there are two storms coming, but she only came prepared for one.