Days flew by since I arrived in Rosewood and every night I awoke with different nightmares about how things might have ended differently if no-one found us in the dollhouse or if all those times A tried to kill us worked. I found myself passing the time by going for a run every day and restarting my hobby (photography) and sometimes talking to Ali. I hadn't realised how much she had changed since high school until we finally left everything behind. It was a good change.
She smiled a lot more; was a lot kinder too. And she was always trying to see the good in people nowadays, like she saw in Charlotte. But me, well let's just say that we don't completely share the same views. I told her about my decision to move away from Rosewood to Central City; she thought it was a good idea and that it'd help me work past any problems I still had. We talked about Iris and Barry too and how she was struggling to cope with Barry's accident which was understandable, after all, it's not everyday you get struck by lightning and end up in a coma. It was nice talking to Ali after everything and our friendship was a lot better in comparison to when we were teenagers. It looked like some good things had happened after all of the situations we'd gotten into. We spoke about Hanna's engagement and what we thought the wedding was gonna be like and I can honestly say that I was gonna miss Ali when I was in Central City, I mean I missed everyone anyway, Emily, Hanna and Spencer but when you see a friend after a long time and know you won't see them for a while just makes it harder to leave, but my mind was already set and I was leaving soon anyway. Tomorrow to be exact, Iris and Joe (her dad) had already set everything up meaning that they had turned Barry's old room into a temporary one for me and all of my things had been sent over. All I had to do was catch my plane on time and everything would be peachy! I had already packed my bags and started to say my goodbyes to everyone, Mom, Dad, Ali and even Toby. I ran into him while getting coffee and we started to talk. It was strange at first, I mean he was Spencer's ex but he was a good person. I'm surprised I never spoke to him while he was dating Spence, I mean there were plenty of opportunities but neither of us thought to take them. In the few days I spent at Rosewood we became good friends and I even met his girlfriend Yvonne, she was great and they seemed happy but at the same time I couldn't help but be slightly hostile towards her considering the only other person I'd seen Toby with was one of my best friends. But other than that, things were good. I was at home right now making sure I had my camera equipment packed away properly in my bags. I texted Iris to let her know all my stuff was ready and she replied saying that everything I had sent over had arrived and was in my room waiting to be unpacked. We said goodnight to one another and I got in bed excited to finally see Central City. And with that I fell asleep with dreams of the future.
*Skip to the morning*
My eyes fluttered open as I began to wake up to the sound of my alarm. I stretched my limbs hearing my back crack and let out a sigh of satisfaction. I got out of bed and started to tidy up, changing into my outfit for the day and started to do my makeup leaving my hair in soft curls.
I grabbed my bags and checked the time in my phone. It was 8:30am and my flight left in four hours, I had to leave soon. I took my things downstairs and walked into the kitchen to pour myself some cereal.
"Morning Dad." I said sitting at the counter as Dad shuffled in tiredly.
"Morning honey." He yawned back.
"Where's mom?" I asked. She was always awake before Dad and she wasn't down here yet.
"I think she went out for some groceries." He replied grabbing a bowl for his own cereal.
"Oh."
We continued eating, making small talk until Mom got home.
"Hey honey, you're up!" She said giving me a hug.
"Yeah, I thought I'd get up early so I could catch my flight on time." I said hoping my happiness about moving wouldn't upset them.
"When does your flight leave again?" Dad asked.
"Um, in 3 and a half hours." I said checking my phone again.
"Do you want us to drive you there?" Mom asked. I looked up at her awkwardly realising I'd forgotten to tell her I already had a ride.
"Um, I'd love you to but Toby already offered and I said yes..." I admitted my face scrunching up in apology.
"Toby? As in Cavanaugh?" Mom asked confused.
"Yeah, but I can tell him you guys are taking me if you want?" I said pulling my phone out to text him.
"Oh, no you don't need to do that!" Mom laughed making me put my phone down.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Of course!" She said with a reassuring smile.
"Okay, that's good then because he'll be here in 20 minutes." I said jumping up and walking into the living room.
"20 minutes? Have you got all your stuff ready? Your bags?" Mum asked running after me to check I was ready.
"Yeah, I've checked multiple times." I walked over to the door as I heard it's bell ring. Opening it I saw Ali standing there.
"Hey, you ready for today?" She asked smiling as I pulled her into a tight hug.
"Yeah, I'm a little nervous but excited too!" I replied smiling back at her.
"Hey Alison, you alright?" Dad asked seeing her in the room.
"Uh, yeah I'm fine Mr Montgomery, how about you?" She asked casually.
"Good, I'm good."
"So are you here to see Aria off?" Mom asked.
"Actually, Toby's gonna drop me off at Welby seeing as it's near the airport." Ali mentioned looking at me.
"Oh that's good. Well, we'll just leave you two in here, don't forget to say goodbye to us when Toby gets here!" Mom said with a stern look on her face.
"I won't." I laughed as they walked away. We sat down on the couch waiting for Toby to come.
"So what're you gonna do when you get to Central City? I mean have you sorted out a job yet?" Ali asked to fill the silence.
"Um actually, I hadn't thought that far into things yet. I was thinking of checking out their local paper and seeing if I wanted a job there or maybe something related to photography, I mean I got a qualification in it when we were in school so I could use that to get a job." I told her thinking about my job options. "But I could talk to Iris and get her to help me out." Ali nodded her head agreeing quietly.
"Speaking of jobs, I still can't believe you went back to school!" I mentioned raising my eyebrows with mock surprise. Ali began to laugh at the new conversation topic, "Neither can I. I mean, I worked so hard to get out of there and now I work as an English teacher!"
"Who would've thought? I don't think I'll ever get over this." I joked making us both laugh. As we began to calm down there was a knock at the door.
"That must be Toby." I said going to open the door. Opening it I saw Toby standing outside with a grin on his face.
"Hey!" I greeted him with a grin as he leaned down to give me a hug.
"Hey, I got you these." He said pulling out a box full of little gifts.
"Toby, I said no gifts." I scolded softly.
"Aria, I don't care." He replied mimicking my tone. I squinted my eyes at him before letting him in the house.
"Hey Ali." Toby said awkwardly as Ali stood up to say hi.
"I'm gonna go tell my parents I'm leaving, I'll be back in a minute." Ignoring the awkwardness, I left to find my parents talking in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in their hands.
"Hey, Toby's here. I thought I'd let you know before I left." I mentioned standing in the doorway. Mom and Dad got up and walked over to me.
"I can't believe you're leaving already! You've been here less than a week." Dad said clutching my shoulder with a watery smile.
"My little girl, all grown up." Mom said equally teary.
"C'mon guys, I'm sure when Mike left you weren't like this. Besides, I'll come home to visit and I'm sure you guys will come over to see me." I said trying to be optimistic.
"Yeah, you're right, it's just you're the oldest and Mike moved out before you and now that you're leaving that means the both of you are officially adults and don't really need us anymore." Mom explained letting the tears flow.
"Mom, I'm always gonna need you. Both of you." My eyes brimmed with tears as my voice thickened heavy with sadness.
"Yeah, I know." She replied pulling me close.
"Well, uh, you best get going or you'll miss your flight." Dad said sniffing to hide his tears.
"I'm gonna miss you two." I told them giving them both tight hugs.
"We're gonna miss you too." He replied. I blinked back the tears as we began to walk into the room only to see Ali and Toby standing in the same positions with tension between them. Their eyes snapped up as we made our way into the room; they began to stand a little straighter.
"Hey, you ready?" Toby asked with a small smile.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I replied grabbing one of my bags.
"Be safe honey, and make sure you get there alright. Call us when you get off the plane!" Mom instructed as Toby and Ali grabbed the rest of my bags. "Don't worry Mom, I will!" I replied as we made our way to Toby's truck. We loaded it with my bags before getting in. I gave my parents one last hug before getting in with Ali behind me. We pulled out of the driveway, me waving at them before we took off towards the airport.
"So, where are you staying when you get to Central City?" Toby asked keeping his eyes on the road.
"I'll be staying with my friend Iris and her dad. Her foster brother moved out into his own apartment so they had a spare room for me to stay in until I find my own place. And Iris has been wanting me to move in for a while now. Barry, her foster brother, was working late in his lab one night and apparently there was this huge storm going on and he got struck by lightning and ever since he's been in a coma so she needs someone to talk to other than her dad." I explained seeing as he didn't know what I was gonna do yet.
"Oh wow. Let me know if he's alright, I mean, I have no clue who he is but still." Toby said shocked at what Barry had been involved in. "Yeah of course, maybe when you come visit he'll be alright and you guys can all meet. God only knows what Iris will do when all my friends come over, she'll be over the moon." I laughed thinking about her reaction to meeting new people.
The three of us talked for the rest of the ride until we got to Welby letting Ali off to see Charlotte. I hugged her goodbye and promised to talk soon before Toby drove off heading towards the airport once more.
"Aria?"
"Yes Toby?" I smiled.
"Does Iris know?" He asked carefully. He was talking about A and the dollhouse. My smile fell and I looked at my hands playing with them before replying.
"No, she doesn't."
"Are you gonna tell her?"He asked with caution.
"Well, I don't really want to but I will at one point. She knows that I don't want to stay in Rosewood and she won't stop asking why until I tell her and if I don't tell her then she'll find out on her own. And seeing as I still have nightmares about everything that happened, I'll have to explain to her and maybe even Joe why I have them." I stated nervously. I felt a hand around my shoulders rubbing my arm comfortingly. I looked at Toby to see him glance at me with concern in his eyes.
"It's okay to talk about it Aria. I know that when I was with Spencer she wouldn't say a word about it but when she began speaking about some of it, she said it helped. If you're not ready to talk about it yet though, then that's fine. But I'm here if you need me." He comforted.
"Thanks Toby." I replied, glad I had became such good friends with him. The rest of the ride continued in comfortable silence only breaking the contentment when arriving at the airport. We both got out of Toby's truck to get my bags.
"Alright, is that everything?" He asked looking to see if there was anything left.
"Uh, yeah I think so." I said looking at all my stuff.
"Okay, I'll help you get your bags and everything sorted and then I guess its goodbye." He said softly.
"Oh, Toby don't say that, it's not goodbye, we'll see each other soon and I'll make sure you visit me in Central City and if you really want, you can bring Yvonne with you." I teased as he laughed knowing I didn't hate her but felt uneasy around her.
"Thanks, I'll have to take you up on that offer!" He joked back as we made our way inside. We continued joking around until all my bags were sent off to the aeroplane before walking up to the barrier that I'd have to walk through that would stop Toby from coming with me.
"So I guess this is it huh?" Toby said shifting from one foot to the other.
"Yeah, this is where I leave." I said feeling tears in my eyes again.
"Hey, don't cry, I mean, nothing bad is happening, you're finally getting away from Rosewood. You can finally be happy and move on." He soothed rubbing my arms. "I know, but it also means that I won't be able to see all of you that often and I'll miss you loads." I replied shakily. "I know, I'm going to miss you too. But you'll have Iris and I'm sure you'll make more friends, I mean, you're Aria Montgomery, who wouldn't want to be friends with you!" He joked pulling a laugh out of me. "Well you better get going." Toby spoke as my flight was being called. "Yeah, call me soon alright?" I asked giving him a tight hug as tears started to flow freely. "Of course. Be safe Aria." He instructed as I started to walk away. "You too Toby, drive safe!" I yelled before passing through the gates and giving him one last look but this time with a smile and a small wave.
