Chapter 2


Emily wasn't having that sucky of a day. She met four people that she could possibly become friends with, and she always had Paige to talk to over the phone. Speaking of Paige, she received a call from her Danby girlfriend right when she arrived at her dorm. Hanna was giggling at her phone, probably texting her boyfriend Caleb.

***Phone Call***

"Hi sweetheart," Paige said, grinning to herself. "I've been waiting all freaking day to call you, babe! Danby's actually a really nice school. I still wish you were here with me, though. It pains me to think about not seeing you for most of the year. We feared it wouldn't work out like this, but I think we can make it work. I love you, and that's all that matters to me."

Emily smiled as she fell back on her bed with a sigh of happiness.

"I agree," she said. "Paige, we talked about this. You know I don't like the topic of being apart from you. It makes me sad. But I'd like to think that we can make it work, too. It seems like it'll be just fine. Look at us! We're already talking on the phone so much. We have time for each other."

"It was practically like a campus tour day," Paige reminded. "The heat of our college classes hasn't even been turned on, Em! You just wait until the work starts pouring in. We won't have any time for each other. But I believe in us. I always have."

"That's reassuring to know," Emily said with a smile. "I wanna talk, but I also want to spend the rest of my day getting to know the campus a little more. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Love you."

"You too, Em," Paige said. "Bye."

***End***

Hanna didn't even question her. She hadn't picked up on the fact that Emily was gay. If she did, then she didn't seem to care. She was probably too engrossed in texting Caleb to care, anyways. Emily smiled at the thought of all the great people she had already met—she'd met the outgoing Hanna, the flirty Spencer, the mysterious Toby, and the sexy Jason. She wondered if Jason had a girlfriend, and she didn't even know why she cared if she had Paige McCullers as her girlfriend. Hanna had a boyfriend, and Spencer and Toby were obviously having some sort of friends with benefits fling, or whatever they called it. So she was curious about Jason 'for that reason'.

***Class, Next Day***

Green eyes looked up at Emily. They belonged to Jason DiLaurentis. He smiled at her when he noticed that she was looking at him. His smile was so sexy, Emily thought. Why did she find it so sexy? He was just a guy, nothing else. There were plenty of sexy guys. So why did Jason catch her attention? It was too peculiar.

After class, the green eyes approached her. She swallowed hard, admiring his sexy walk towards her.

"Hey brown eyes," he said with a smirk. "Still afraid of me like yesterday, since I'm so buff?"

"Thanks for mocking me, cocky," Emily confidently said. She felt like the way he talked to her was so flirty, and she didn't even know why. Maybe it was all in her head, and she was just fan girling. "No, I'm not afraid of you anymore. It's all in the looks. You come up as a tough guy, but you're really just a softie at heart."

"Is that so?" he teasingly asked, raising an eyebrow. "I can't confirm anything, but I'd bet that you wanna find out, hmm?"

"Right," Emily sarcastically said.

"Brown eyes, you should join my friends and I today," Jason said, staring at her. "We're going to grab a bite, and I'm sure you'd like to make some buddies in college. They're a really nice group of friends. One of them isn't from this school, but she's a friend of mine."

"What makes you think I don't have other friends?" Emily asked.

"Of course you don't," Jason responded, smirking at her, "or you wouldn't be forcing yourself to talk to the guy that scares you. It's college, anyways. Whatever friends you had in high school probably aren't here now, unless it's some kind of miracle..."

***Hours Later***

Spencer groaned and pushed her head against the chair behind her. The work in front of her was just so frustrating. She sighed loudly, since her roommate wasn't in the dorm. She loved college, yet she hated it. The door cracked open, and she smiled when she saw her best friend enter the room. He placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Tense?" he asked.

She nodded her and responded with a small smile, "As usual. You always know. How?"

"I guess I just know you really well," he said with a smirk. "Relax, you don't have to take anything seriously just yet. We're going out with Jason tonight, remember, Spence? He's bringing some friends. You ready to go?"

She nodded, "I'm ready, Tobes."

He wrapped a hand around her waist and helped her up from the chair. They walked outside of the dorm hall. Jason was standing by his car, talking to Hanna Marin. The blonde female was giggling.

"Hey there," Toby calmly greeted. "Sorry we're late. This beautiful girl over here was stressing about some bull crap work."

She blushed at his comment, but just looked away.

"Spence, you know that nobody gives a shit anymore," Jason said, grinning. "This is college, not high school. You made it here, and you're done with all the studying and the statuses. It's time for us to live like adults!"

Spencer raised an eyebrow, "Oh really, Jason? This is a prestigious school, and not a place for fooling around. Of course the people here give a shit! College matters, too, if not more than high school. Why do you think we spent twelve years trying to get our brains to be fit for this place?"

Jason smiled, "This is why your mom wanted you to be a lawyer. You've got the skills."

"Okay, great discussion, but are we gonna go or what?" Hanna asked. "I'm starving, and I want to go out to eat. If we don't go, I'll just call Caleb and have my own kind of eating, if you know what I mean..."

"Hanna, you're nasty!" Toby laughed.

Hanna smiled at him, "Guilty and proud. Anyways, are we going or what, Jason? This is your freaking car, you can freaking start it!"

"Calm yourself, we'll be out of here in no time," Jason promised. "I invited this girl. She seemed like she needed a boost of her morales. I thought she could use some new friends, but she's still not here yet, so we're waiting for her."

"If she's not here, she's not coming!" Hanna yelled.

"She's coming, I know she is," Jason said with a smile. "She wouldn't ditch this. She knows how much fun she'll have if she shows up."

"Maybe fun isn't her thing," Spencer said.

"Who doesn't like fun, Spence?" Toby asked, chuckling. "You? I'm sure you'll have fun if I teach you how to have it."

Spencer raised an eyebrow, "Teach me, huh? I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a dirty thing."

"Maybe it was," Toby said with a shrug and smirk. "You don't know, do you?"

"How can I?" Spencer asked. "You never clarified."

"Cut it out, you two!" Hanna rolled her eyes. "Save it for the bedroom. God, would you guys just give it up and go out already?"

Spencer looked up at Hanna and said, "Friends don't have to go out. Han, we're just friends."

"Yeah, that's what they all say," Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Okay guys, I have friends waiting at the restaurant, and I don't wanna keep them waiting any longer," Jason said with a sigh. "The girl I invited from here probably doesn't wanna show up, so let's just go without her. I should have known that she wasn't coming."

The other three shrugged. Jason unlocked his car, and Toby opened the door for her and helped her inside. Hanna sat next to them, claiming she'd be monitoring their PDA. Jason was about to get into the driver's seat, but then he turned around, and there she was, looking gorgeous as she walked closer.

Emily Fields.

"I'd started to think that you bailed on us," Jason said with a grin.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Emily said, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I actually didn't know if I was going to come or not. I didn't know if you really wanted me to, or if you just wanted to be polite."

"Of course I want you to come!" Jason exclaimed. "You'll love my friends, and they'll love you. Guys, my friend's here! Introduce yourselves."

"Hi, I'm Sp—" she politely began. "Hey, didn't we meet the other day? You were walking into the girls' dorm hallway. This chick thought that I was dating you, Jason!"

Jason erupted into laughter, "Emily, how could you? We're half siblings!"

"I didn't know at the time..." Emily shyly said. "And I remember you. Spencer, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"That's right, I saw you French kissing that guy... what's his name..." Emily pondered it for a moment. "Wasn't it Toby?"

Toby blushed and looked up at her, "Oh, I remember you, Emily..."

"Dude, you French kiss my little sister for fun?" Jason turned to face Toby. "Not cool, man! What if I puckered up with Jenna? How would you like it if your buddy started French kissing your sister?"

"You wouldn't, because Spencer's amazing, and Jenna isn't," Toby said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, we weren't kissing for the fun of kissing, we were doing it because she was showing me her French kiss, dude. Calm down. She said she dated a guy who French kissed in high school, and I just wanted to see how that skill was!"

"Whatever," Jason said. "Hanna, be polite and introduce yourself to Emily."

"Wait, my roommate is named—" Hanna began, and turned around to look at the girl. "Emily, you're my roommate! I remember."

Emily smiled, "Hanna? I didn't know that I'd be seeing you here."

"Wow Jason, nice thinking," Spencer said, rolling her eyes. "You said you brought Emily here so she could meet new people, and look, she knows everybody here already!"

***Restaurant***

The friends sat down when they saw the other friends that Jason had called to meet them. A short, hazel-eyed girl with dark hair sat alone. Well, until Jason and his friends joined her. She smiled and gave Spencer and Toby hugs. She gave Jason the longest hug of all.

"Aria, we missed you so much!" Spencer exclaimed. "It's so great to see you again."

"Spence, I missed you, too!" Aria exclaimed back. "Who's your new friend?"

"This is Emily, I met her recently," Jason said with a smile. "Wow Aria, you look beautiful tonight. I mean, just wow. You're always beautiful, but even more so tonight. You look different than you did in high school, but it works on you. You look good."

"You look handsome, as usual," Aria said and smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Emily."

Emily's heart pounded. Aria and Jason were obviously close... too close. Not at the level of Spencer and Toby, but they were like friends with benefits. Could it be true? Were Aria and Jason an item? Emily didn't know why she kept caring if Jason had a girlfriend so much. She was supposed to be gay, she was supposed to be in love with Paige, and she was! So why did she feel so driven towards Jason DiLaurentis? She was jealous just looking at him talking to that girl!

Aria glanced at Spencer and Toby, whose fingertips were touching romantically. She grinned widely at the sight of her friends being so close. She had noticed their romantic friendship in high school, and was more than curious to know if they'd finally gotten together!

"So I'll assume that it's happened," Aria said, still grinning. Her friends looked at her, confused. "Toby and you... are together now? It seems clear to me, Spence."

"Aria, no," Spencer said, shaking her head.

"Then what's with the hand holding?" Aria asked.

"Friendly gesture," Toby said, shrugging. "We're not dating, I can assure you."

Aria was confused, but she just nodded.

"So you're Jason's girlfriend?" Emily suddenly asked, regretting her blurt as soon as it came out of her mouth.

Aria laughed loudly. Emily looked at her, confused. What, was Aria his half sister, too? Cousins? Mother? Had she made the same mistake she had made with Spencer and Jason's relationship? She felt defeated when she heard Aria laughing at what she said.

"Sweetheart, Jason's as free as a bird," Aria said with a small smile. "He's only an old friend. I have a boyfriend, fiancé, actually. His name's Ezra, and he's washing his hands in the restroom, darling. I promise you that I love him very much, so if you want Jay, he's all yours."

"No—" Emily began. "I... uh... I didn't mean that I wanted to have him, I was just curious!"

"Oh, alright then." Aria said.

There was a small smile on the edge of Jason's lips.

"Good evening, I see everyone's arrived," a guy said, stepping closer to the table. "Sorry, I was washing my hands before dinner. I'm Aria's fiancé—Ezra Fitz."