"Aria, can you please sit down for a moment? I really don't know why you're so nervous. It's my wedding", Spencer tries to point out to her friend how unfounded her nervousness is.
Aria stops walking abruptly and her head shoots up. She looks at her friend, as if she has just been caught by doing something forbidden. "Sorry", she murmurs, "but after all, I'm your maid of honor. I'm allowed to be nervous as well. I'm just so happy for you and Toby", Aria replies smiling.
She knows herself that she hasn't said the whole truth. Spencer smiles slightly at her friend. She also suspects that a very different person makes her go weak at the knees and decides to test her theory.
Spencer turns to the big mirror and pulls at her hairpin, which holds the veil in her hair as she begins to mention her brother quite casually. But in each individual word, she observes the image of Aria's face and her reaction.
"I hope Jason will make it on time. He had an appointment last night which he couldn't cancel. That's why he could only fly this morning. I don't want to walk to the altar alone", Spencer says. Grief mingles in her voice at the last sentence. Her father, who was supposed to lead her to the altar, died of a heart attack a year ago.
Spencer could see how the name of her half-brother enlarged the panic in Aria's eyes. Aria was getting more restless in her chair. Now Spencer is sure why Aria is so nervous. "You haven't seen him for a long time, huh?" Spencer asks. She knows she doesn't have to say his name for Aria to know who she is talking about. Aria shakes her head silently but frantically.
Alison had told Spencer what she knows about their half-brother and their friend. After the night of Jason's party the paths of the two hadn't crossed each other. They haven't actually seen each other for six years.
Jason had gone back to university and was hardly seen in Rosewood after Alison's supposed death. Only when Spencer and Jason had learned that they were sharing their father, Jason had come back to Rosewood to visit his sister. But Aria had never seen him, since his visits were usually very short and he seemed to avoid her as well.
Alison, after it was exposed that she was not dead, followed her brother to New York, and after Spencer graduated, she left Rosewood, too. Even if he had been to Rosewood again, they probably wouldn't have met. Aria had also moved to Los Angeles to go to college.
This didn't mean that Aria hadn't regularly asked her friends about Jason, but the prospect of seeing him again is different. Although she can't explain it to herself why she is actually so nervous after six years at the thought of meeting Jason again.
But an hour later she is actually afraid that Toby next to her can hear her heart beating at the altar. She feels the blush rising in her cheeks as Jason leads Spencer to the altar. When Jason sees Aria standing at the altar in her beautiful dress, he smiles at her slightly. But Aria saw this tiny movement in his face, as if his smile has been destined only for her. Aria smiles back before she looks down embarrassed.
"Would you like to dance?", Aria hears him saying behind her. Aria turns around after feeling his warm hand on her right shoulder. When she looks into his green eyes, she is almost frightened. How could her have escaped that he had gotten up? She couldn't keep him out of sight all day long.
"Y-yees", she stutters. Aria gets up from her seat next to Alison, with whom she has just been engrossed in a conversation and follows Jason to the dance floor. Behind her back, she can't see the grin with which Alison looks at the two.
As much as everybody maybe think of her, that she wants to prevent a relationship between her brother and one of her friends at any price, so much is she really glad about the fact that the two obviously never really got over her feelings for each other.
Alison has seen the same look on her brother's face only one time before with only one woman - and that was six years ago. And she knows her friend too well, so that Aria isn't able to pretend she doesn't care about him anymore. Aria is a very self-assured woman. Only when she likes someone, she becomes nervous and insecure.
As Jason's hand lays on her back, she realizes how a shiver runs down her spine and how she gets goose bumps all over her body. With trembling fingers she reaches for his hand, which he holds to her. She hardly dares to look into his eyes.
My God, it's been six years. He probably didn't think of you anymore. When she puts her left hand on his upper arm, she dares to look at him for a second, and she regrets it as she realizes how her nervousness seems to amuse him. She tries to calm down just a little when she hears his voice in her ear.
"It's nice to see you again. You look stunning in this dress", he whispers into her ear. Aria holds her breath. Immediately her heart begins to race again. He does it on purpose! Aria is ashamed for the fact that it seems so obvious how insecure she is at the moment. At the same time, she can't believe that he is making fun of her. Because this can be the only reason he is saying compliments like that, isn't it?
Jason looks much better in his suit than she remembered him or he has looked in the photos of his sisters that they have shown her. He and her reaction to his mere presence at this wedding are so intimidating that she isn't able to say a single word. Instead, she smiles at him embarrassed and turns her eyes away from him, so he can't see how much she blushes now.
"Hey", Jason says as he steps out of the terrace door of the house and sees Aria sitting alone in one of the armchairs. "Can I sit down with you?" He asks, pointing with his hand to the free chair beside her. "Sure", Aria answers smiling. For a few moments they just sit in silence.
It feels unreal to sit next to him. She had hoped to see him again, after the summer in which she had confessed to him that she likes him a lot and he had gone to college again. But it was as if he was trying to avoid her consciously.
She tried to forget him. She tried to persuade herself that she was a teenager and that what she felt for him was nothing special. But her weak knees, her fast-beating heart, and the goose bumps, which he still causes her with every word, makes her doubt.
When Aria notices that still no one said a word, Aria takes the floor. "It's nice to see Spencer and you so close with each other." Jason smiles. "Yes, I wouldn't have thought that I would like to have more sisters", he replies, laughing. Aria also laughs heartily at the thought of the quarrels between Jason and Alison.
"I remember Spencer always wanted to have a big brother. She didn't get along with Melissa very well at that time and whenever Ali complained about you, Spencer said she would like to change Melissa to you if she could", Aria shares a memory with him.
"Really?" He asks. Aria nods. "It's strange to know you've always been her big brother", she notes. "Yes, but at least we know it now", Jason tries to see the secrets of his family positively.
Aria nods in agreement as a breeze streaks her naked shoulders and she begins to shiver. "Are you cold?" Jason asks worried. Without waiting for her answer, he gets up, puts down his suit jacket and holds it to her. Aria bends her body forwards so that Jason can slip the jacket over her shoulders. She stops breathing as she can feel his fingers on her naked skin. "Thank you", she says softly. Jason responds with a smile before he sits down again.
"And your boyfriend didn't have time to come?" He asks casually, looking out into the garden. Aria suppresses a grin. Does she only imaging it or does he really seem to be more interested in the answer to his question than he pretends?
"No, there is no one", she answers. Jason just nods and tries to show as little relief as possible in his face. After a few moments without asking the corresponding counter-question, he asks offended:
"Are you not interested?" Aria looks at him irritated. "What?" "Where my girlfriend is?" He helps her out. Aria laughs. "I'm sorry. It's just ... two of your sisters are still very good friends of mine. So I'm well informed", she explains to him about her apparent disinterest.
Now Jason is laughing. "I understand, you asked them about me", he tries to embarrass her. Aria laughs. She doesn't know why she is suddenly so quick-witted. Just a few hours ago, she completely unsettled by every word he said. But now she stays cool and self-assured. "You would like that, huh? No, I haven't asked them. But your sisters are very talkative and proud when it comes to their big brother", she replies with a smile.
Jason smiles, too. For a few minutes, Aria and Jason are sitting next to each other. But this time it is not an unpleasant silence. Instead both of them wallow in memories, unknowingly that the other one thinks the same.
"Jason, can I ask you something?" Aria asks in the silence of the night. "Sure", Jason replies without hesitation. "Do you think ..." But then she leaves the courage. Aria doesn't dare to ask the question that she wants to ask so desperately.
"Oh no, forget it", she says, shaking her head to get the question out of her mind again. "No, please ask me", Jason asks her hoping that she is also still thinking about him.
Aria sighs. "Do you think you made the right decision?" She finally asks the question quickly, before she loses the courage again. Jason doesn't need to ask what she is referring to with this question. He had thought about it countless times.
"I have no idea. I really don't know", he answers honestly. "I try to think that my decision was reasonable. But I can't answer you to this day whether it was right or wrong." The two look at each other long silently before Hanna steps out of the door. "Here you are. Come back in. The party is inside."
Aria doesn't know whether she should be happy about the sudden appearance of her friend or whether she is actually angry. She has enjoyed being alone with him. But she has no idea what she should reply to his last words. She doesn't really know what to say. Does he regret his decision? Does he regret that he refused to give them a chance?
Jason gets up from his chair and holds out his hand to Aria. She reaches for it and doesn't let go until they have entered the doorway.
What do you think will happen? I am really looking forward to read your reviews :)
