"Are you feeling better?" Aria squints and looks at her friend who is just lying beside her in bed. Hours passed, in which Aria had slept exhaustedly, while Spencer had eliminated the chaos in her apartment.

Aria nods timidly as a tear runs down her cheek, as if it had been waiting for Aria to finally open her eyes again. Spencer watches her friend closely. So far Aria has still not been able to tell her why she is so upset.

Spencer had tried to comfort her and simply sent her to bed afterwards because she felt, that sleep would help Aria the most. She looked completely exhausted and deprived of all her strength.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Spencer asks cautiously. In fact, it's not hard to guess what happened. But she isn't so sure about some contexts. For example, what role Jason plays in all of this.

"Ezra proposed to me." Spencer's eyes widen in surprise. Although it shouldn't be that surprising, after all the years they have been together and after all the ups and downs they have coped together.

"And you said no." It's not even a question, but more a statement. "I didn't say anything", Aria says quickly, though that fineness doesn't actually matter that much. "But that doesn't make it any better", Aria adds mumbling.

With a shaky voice Aria tells how Ezra had lovingly set the table and finally pulled out the small box and knelt in front of her. But she also talks about the man who suddenly jumped up and shouted at her and reproached her. So much so that she's just frozen in fear of him and waited until it's over.

Attentively, Spencer listens. Finally, she notices how her own heartbeat is accelerating because she is so afraid to ask the next question. "Direct question, straight answer, ok?", She says and looks at her friend demanding. Aria nods and her heart races fastly because she already knows what Spencer wants to know.

"What role does my brother play in all of this?" For a moment Aria is so surprised that she can't answer immediately, though she knows the answer because she has been thinking about him for weeks. She was surprised, however, that Spencer titled Jason as her brother.

Aria doesn't remember Spencer calling him that. She had always spoken of him as Jason. Aria can't suppress the warmth in her body and the smile on her lips at the thought that Jason has finally found a family.

"Seeing him again opened my eyes", Aria says softly. Spencer sighs heavily and turns away from Aria. Although she expected that this encounter has been the beginning of the end of the relationship between Ezra and Aria, Spencer doesn't know what to think about it. Thoughtfully, she stares at the ceiling.

"I was happy with Ezra. For a while. But what happened in all these years, what we both did to each other and I know that I made mistakes too, made our love break a little bit more every time, without us even wanting to admit it. He was my safety when I needed it and I told myself it was love and that it was enough to stay together."

As difficult as it is for Aria to admit that her love for Ezra has been gone some time ago, she still knows she has made the right decision. She had to end this relationship and as horrible as she has behaved the last weeks, she also knows that Ezra wanted to marry her for the wrong reasons.

"When I met Jason shortly before your birthday, that safety suddenly felt like a huge load. I haven't been so happy for such a long time and haven't laughed so carefree as I did with him that night. I knew that I wasn't so happy with Ezra and that I would never be anymore. Not after that time I spent with Jason in San Francisco."

Suddenly and abruptly Aria's story ends. Instead, she stares at Spencer startled, waiting for her reaction. Because she just slipped out that she spent time with Jason in San Francisco. She never told anyone about it. Not even Spencer.

Spencer didn't miss that. Neither what Aria said nor her look after it, which has betrayed her even more. "I know about it", Spencer says sighing. "Jason told me himself." Aria looks at her in surprise.

"Aria I'm sorry I stood in front of your door shouting at you while you couldn't explain anything to me with a single word. I don't think you are a bad person. You are my friend and not without a reason. For a long time, I was convinced that you would be a perfect match for my brother."

Aria's eyes are getting bigger and bigger as she hears the words her friend is saying. She would never have thought Spencer had even thought about it before. She never thought her feelings for Jason were ever so obvious as they were these days.

"But I picked up the pieces that you left behind", she says suddenly reproachfully, but Aria doesn't understand what she means. "After your time in San Francisco, of which I didn't know anything at that time, I told Jason, without even knowing what that information meant to him, that you were back with Ezra."

The sudden anger in Spencer's eyes scares Aria. Of course, she wondered how Jason heard about it and how he felt about it. Of course, she wondered, whether he didn't care or he was angry at her. In fact, she had even thought of him at more often that time than she probably should have.

"An hour later Jason called me again and asked me to come to him immediately. When I arrived, he sat crying and on the floor in front of a full glass of whiskey."

Suddenly, Aria understands Spencer's anger at her. Because suddenly she is angry with herself. How could she just leave him? She hadn't even broken up with him. She had a job offer and just left. That's even worse than a break up.

"He told me everything and that's when I hated you, Aria. I hated you so much because you hurt him so much, and I just couldn't understand you. You used him to make yourself a good time and then you went back to Ezra. This is the reason, why I didn't call you all these years. I was so disappointed in you."

Aria can't blame her friend. She is also disappointed in herself. She is disappointed that to this day she didn't know what she actually did to Jason. She was always afraid to know what he thinks about her now.

She was afraid she would find out that he didn't care about her. But she was just as afraid to learn that he suffered from hearing that she had returned to Ezra. "Why? Why did you go back to Ezra?" Spencer asks.

"I was convinced that I was making it too easy. That I should fight for the relationship with Ezra instead of starting a new one with Jason. Although it felt so good. I was convinced that Ezra and I are meant for each other and that he was my soulmate. I was convinced that love can't feel so easy. I thought it could just be love when it's hard and you have to fight for it."

Aria slaps her hands in front of her eyes and starts crying and sobbing violently again. The realization that she hasn't been with the right man feels so relieving and yet so hard at the same time. Because she is too late.

"My anger at you has only faded away, because Jason met Lauren and finally was happy and you left him alone. If I had known that you suddenly confess your love and he doubts everything, I wouldn't have invited you, Aria. I swear that to you."

As hard as Spencer's words are to endure, Aria understands every word so well. Spencer is right. She has to leave him alone. She missed her chance. She has to let him happy. Without her. Because he doesn't need her to be happy.

"I'll leave him alone, Spence. I promise you. He is happy, he wants to marry Lauren and I won't destroy that. I made a big mistake back then. Not only did I have a good time with Jason. I was happier than ever. But I was wrong and I know that. I have to live with it, Spence", Aria says with red-rimmed eyes.

"Good, because he's happy and didn't choose to run after you again, okay?" Spencer doesn't know if she's doing the right thing. In fact, she knows that her brother has much more doubts about whether he should really marry Lauren than she just admits. And maybe she should tell Aria exactly that.

But she doesn't have the heart to give her brother another reason to let him doubt. It won't be her who tells him that Aria broke up with Ezra. Because of him. Jason was so happy in the last few months. She can't tell him…

"Ezra said that Jason wrote me a letter", Aria says suddenly, after they both lay thoughtfully and silently in bed.

"Goddamn. That idiot." At that moment, Spencer knows it's too late to stop Jason from doubting...

I'm not so sure about this chapter but please tell me what you think and what should happen next?