Do You Think You Can Protect Her?
Being back in this high school, especially in the hallway near the principal's office, only brought up the memories Jason tried to erase from his mind. He couldn't count how many times he had to be sent here and for different kind of reasons. Of all scenarios that made him came back to this place, he never thought arranging a memorial service for his teenage younger sister was one of them.
Jason glanced around the empty hallway, hoping for the girls to arrive soon for their meeting with the principal. The sooner he could get this meeting started, the better. He had no desire to stay around this school longer than necessary. Being in this place only made him remembered what a waste of space he was at that time and now he always regretted how he was before. Jason sighed as he glanced at to-do list he needed to wrap up today. When he hoped for something to keep him occupied in Rosewood, Jason had never expected taking over the preparation from the girls would take this much of his time. Especially when he still had to find an answer to Alison's murder to appease his parents and making up with Bianca for disappearing on her.
Bianca.
She was the single thing that had kept him going the whole time he was away from Rosewood. The prospect of becoming a better person for her, the one that she so deserved, was the reason why he endured those horrible and lonely days. The agonizing pain when he suffered through withdrawals that almost made him gave up in first few days, the hopelessness he felt whenever the urge to drink or using drugs again came out even after he was out of rehab, and the everlasting regret he had for leaving her just like that. But he kept going, kept trying. All for her, for the one chance he might get to be with her again.
But now that he could see her again… Seeing how much she had changed, Jason couldn't help but still feeling he was still not good enough for her. That she needed, no, deserved a better one.
"Jason, hey. Sorry we're late."
Jason looked up to see Spencer and Emily were walking towards him. Without Bianca.
"Where's Bianca?" Jason and Spencer asked the same question at the same time, causing them to frown after hearing it.
Spencer glanced at Emily who looked confused as well. "Why are you asking me that?" she asked. "I dropped her off at her house after practice yesterday. She said she had a dinner date with you."
Damn it. He should've known something was wrong when he came back late last night with the house completely dark and Bianca was nowhere to be found. "No," he ran his finger through his hairs, frustrated. "I had an emergency last night and when I came home, she wasn't there. I thought she stayed over at your place." That was his first thought when he came into an empty house. He knew Bianca never fond of having dinner alone and judging how close she was to Spencer over the year, he seriously thought she came to Spencer's place for company and ended up staying there.
Which apparently was completely wrong.
Jason took out his phone and tried to call Bianca's number but it immediately went to voice mail. "Her phone's not on," he grunted. Where the hell was she? If she wasn't at home and not at Spencer's, then where on earth could she be?
Dread filled out his thought. What if something happened to her? The last time someone he knew was gone the whole night and couldn't be reached in the next morning, it was Alison and she ended up dead, buried on their own backyard a year ago. And that realization didn't calm his nerves at all. Not at all. Jason could feel his leg getting weaker at the thought of that same fate happened to Bianca as well.
"What emergency?" Spencer asked with a frown, to his surprise.
Did she not worry that Bianca could be in trouble?
But Jason seemed to ignore her question since he turned to Emily and asked, "can you reach Hanna and Aria? See if she went to their place?"
Knowing that he pointedly ignored her, Spencer then grabbed his phone away from him. She glanced at Emily who already took out her own phone. "Don't bother, Em, she must be with Noel and forgot to charge her phone," she said then turned annoyedly to Jason. "What emergency?"
Bianca and Noel?
Jason had no idea that Bianca was close enough with little Kahn to spend the night with him. So close that it was easy for Spencer, her best friend, to jump into that conclusion. His eyes narrowed at Spencer. She didn't even mention about Bianca's relationship with Noel when they talked in the phone few weeks ago. Then again, nor did Bianca and she had a right not to tell you, a whisper on his mind reminded him.
"Did you even tell her properly last night? Or did you just hide behind a text again?" Spencer demanded again.
"It's none of your business. Are you sure she's with Eric's brother?"
"It's my business if it concerns B," Spencer snapped back. "How could you do that? You cancelled lunch because you're stuck at the station, that we understood, but the dinner too?" she asked, staring at him in disbelief. "What could be more important than keeping up one of your promises to her? Are you seriously trying to get her back or not?"
"I am trying here, Spencer," he gritted through his teeth. "But I don't need you to breath down my neck all the time."
"Then stop being an ass! Do you have any idea how much you hurt her after you disappeared? I was the one who pick up her pieces and put her back together. It took me and her family almost a year before she was back to her old self! So forgive me if I'm trying not to let that happen again."
Jason glared at Spencer who didn't even flinch back and stood defiantly against him. She had no right accusing him like that. Not when she had no idea how much he tortured himself by leaving. She had no idea how many times he had his phone out, during or after rehab, staring at Bianca's number on the screen. How he tried to summon the courage to call her, to hear her voice, to tell her that he would be back soon and everything would be fine.
But he was scared, too coward to face the consequence. That Bianca moved on and didn't need him anymore─ just like what her parents had wanted when they refused to let him said goodbye to her and even made him promised not to call her anymore. So he put it off again and again. By the time he mustered up his courage, they found Alison's body and he had to focus on his family instead.
"I knew I heard your voices."
Jason and Spencer snapped out of their heated glaring match when the door to the principal's office opened.
"You should've just come in," Mr. Hartman said. "We've been waiting for you inside." Then he looked around. "I thought Miss Lexington is also joining the meeting. Is she coming late then?"
"Um, no, Mr Hartman. Bianca is focusing on her violin practice. She's replacing Shelly for our memorial day," Emily quickly answered before Spencer had a chance to do so. Seeing how pissed Spencer was to Jason, even though she also started to feel the same, it was better for her to answer first before Spencer made up an excuse to jab at Jason too.
"Oh, I didn't know she plays again. All right then. Jason," Mr Hartman greeted, extending his hand towards his old student. "It's good to see you back here. I'm really sorry about your sister. Alison was one of the brightest and most popular student I have ever since."
Jason nodded stiffly, even now he still couldn't get used to receive condolence about Alison. But still he shook the offered hand. "Thank you, sir," he said curtly, not wanting to linger around that topic any longer.
Just as he followed the others into the office, he found himself glancing at the entrance. As if in that very second, Bianca walked in and grinned apologetically at him before greeting him with a brief kiss, just like she normally did when she was late for their date.
Damn it, where was Bianca?
The meeting did nothing to appease the strain between Spencer and Jason. Instead it made Spencer and Emily more hostile against him. And it really wasn't his intention at all, despite what Spencer might suspect judging from the nasty glares she constantly threw at him even until now. He wanted the ceremony to be perfect, to give her sister what she deserved after what happened to her, just like what their parents wanted. A final parting gift to Alison, the one everyone loved and preferred.
But somehow it felt like everyone was against him being involved in the preparation. As if they didn't trust his intention to be back here.
And he couldn't really focus solely on the meeting. His mind kept wandered off to Bianca, wondering where she was, if she really was alright and with Noel like Spencer said. Which was why he tried to rush the meeting, cutting off any remarks he thought were useless. The whole time he was in the office, his hand gripped tight the phone on his pocket. He
"Well, that was painless," Jason muttered as they walked out of the office.
Beside him, Spencer just scoffed under her breath. And when Jason glanced at her, daring her to challenge him back, she just threw her face away from.
"Okay, if we're going to work together for this, we need talk, Spencer."
"Yeah, like I want to be the second Hartman," Spencer muttered, scowling.
Jason took a deep breath, trying not to blow up on Spencer at that moment. In one side, he was really glad that Bianca had someone that fiercely protected her after he left. But on the other side, he really was getting annoyed with how Spencer treated him. If anyone had any right to act like that to him, it was only Bianca, not her best friend. "I know he means well but this is something he had no expertise on. Is there a problem with how I handled the meeting?"
"There's no problem," Emily quickly interjected. "You're Alison's brother. Of course you should have the final say." She then glanced hesitantly at Spencer before mustering up her strength and said, "but you're not the only one dealing with this."
A sneer appeared on his face. "See, there's that close door again. The secrets of the girls cuddled up in Alison's bedroom," Jason scoffed. "Do you think that means you knew her better than I did?"
"No. It just means we knew her in a different way."
Jason was about to say something in response when he caught the sight of Bianca entering the hallway from the entrance on his right. He could feel the weight on his heart was partly lifted when he knew it was really her and she was alright. Nothing happened to her. She didn't disappear like Alison. When their eyes met, he saw how startled she was to find him standing there. Jason immediately frowned─ did she not remember that they were supposed to meet with Principal Hartman? But the way she alarmingly darted her eyes towards the entrance made another thought sneaked into his mind.
Did she intend to avoid him? Was she planning to bolt away now?
Jason took a step forward, to stop that chance from happening, but immediately froze when another figure entered the hallway. He recognized him immediately as Eric's little brother, Noel. Yes, he would recognize that little bugger anywhere. He still remembered the time he overheard that boy planned to make a move on Bianca and immediately threatened him before he did anything. His eyes narrowed when Noel bent down to murmur on Bianca's ear after noticing him. And his lips pursed tight when Bianca didn't protest when Noel put a hand on her and pushed her to walked towards him and her friends.
He really didn't like what just transpired in front of him right now.
"Forgot to charge your phone again, B?"
Jason almost startled when Spencer spoke up beside him. Even when he didn't turn to see her expression right now, he could swear Spencer must be sporting a satisfied smirk knowing that she was right earlier. He watched as Bianca then grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry," she said. "I realized it just now when we pulled on the parking lot."
Spencer rolled her eyes, "of course you do."
How often had this exact thing been happening between them?
"Jason."
His eyes darted back to Bianca quickly, surprised to hear her calling out his name. The corner of his lips started to lift upwards to form a smile when Jason caught the hesitancy in her eyes. He watched as Bianca glanced nervously at the others. Whenever she did that was when she wanted to talk something that she didn't want anyone else to know. And Jason had a sinking feeling it was about the lunch and dinner he cancelled on last minute.
They were going to talk about it sooner or later, he knew that, but he had hoped it would be more of a later. Not when he hadn't gotten all the answers he needed or else any explanation he could think of would sound like a poor excuse.
But the sentence that came out of her mouth after that was not what he expected.
"What is he doing here?"
At first Jason didn't understand who she was referring to. The only other "he" present there was Noel and pretty sure Bianca knew why that boy was here more than him. But then Jason noticed her eyes fixed on somewhere beside him, to the hallway full of lockers on his side. He followed her stare and found just who the "he" she meant.
Wilden led few policemen towards one of the lockers in the hallway, dangerously close to either Spencer's or Bianca's. The girls released the breath they were holding in when they saw it weren't theirs. But then Emily took a sharp breath when one of the officer opened the locker. She recognized the inside of that locker and before she could rethink what she was doing, Emily darted towards Wilden, ignoring startled shout from her friends.
"What are you doing?" she interrupted. "That's Toby's locker!"
But Wilden didn't really pay her any attention and just focused on rummaging Toby's locker.
Emily was about to say another protests when a hand grasped her shoulder, stopping her.
"Detective Wilden," Jason said in a cold voice, sneering at the word detective. Even after seeing that man down in the station, he still refused to believe that Darren Wilden got to be a detective in this town.
Wilden paused briefly. "Jason," he greeted back with the same tone as Jason, then turned back to the locker. "You'll find this interesting. We're having a look in Toby Cavanaugh's locker."
"Really?" Bianca spoke up, taking a step towards the detective. "Are you going to tell us that it's connected to Narnia too and he's currently hiding there?"
As much as he wanted to grab her and pull her behind him, away from the gleeful look on Wilden's face when he noticed her, Jason had to admit he was relieved that Bianca really wouldn't let Wilden pushing her around. Not that he didn't believe her stories before. There was a part on his mind that thought Bianca was just trying to get him out of trouble by making herself looked really tough and didn't need his help.
"Will you look at that. Rosewood's finest couple are back together," Wilden mocked. "He's a suspect, Bianca, hence why I'm searching his locker."
His eyes narrowed knowing that Wilden was to goad them, or at least him, but Jason refused to play into his game. "Well, your investigation better turn up more than Toby Cavanaugh's old gym socks."
Wilden raised his eyebrow. "You made it quite clear the other day that you weren't happy with the pace of the investigation," he said, back to rummaging the lockers and taking out things that might be important for the case. "You said you wanted action. I'm trying to give that to you."
Jason scoffed, "yeah you've got nothing. I realized that yesterday."
"Sometimes, Jason, we withhold information on the progress of an investigation to avoid any interruptions."
"The only reason you're tearing this kid's locker apart is because he's not around to object," Jason said dryly. "What a good detective you are, Wilden. Just what our town needs."
Wilden pursed his lips together and his eyes narrowed back. "Then did you know? Toby Cavanaugh called your sister's cell phone the night she disappeared. I checked the phone records. She took the call."
"Toby called Alison the night she died?" Emily asked, not believing with what she heard. It was already painful to hear that Toby, no matter what he had done to her in the Homecoming, was now a suspect just like what her friends concluded. But to know that he actually had a part on that night...
"He did," Wilden answered, staring at each of the girls. "Or somebody else did using his phone."
If that information didn't make the girls restless, then what Wilden said next definitely did.
"Oh and Bianca," he said, breaking off the silence he made. "I need to talk to you alone, about the thing I asked you before. The principal already gave the permission. Let's go."
Before Bianca could say anything, Jason put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "You can talk to her in front of me, Wilden."
"It's an official police business, Jason," Wilden smirked. "So unless you're her guardian, you can't take part of our conversation. Isn't this what you want? Us pushing through the investigation for your sister? Well, one way to wrap it up soon is that if we can talk to every person of interest in the case. And Bianca is one of them." Knowing that there was no way for Jason to stop him from taking Bianca away, his smirk widened as he motioned towards the direction of the principal office. "Bianca, shall we?"
There was nothing he could come up to argue that. Jason could only grit his teeth, clamping down his mouth, as he watched Bianca followed Wilden to the office he just left few minutes ago. When Bianca glanced back at him, looking really nervous and hesitant, he still couldn't find anything to say. Even when Spencer urging him to do something, that what Wilden did was not fair, Jason could only clench his fist as he tried to control his fist.
His hands were tied. He threatened Wilden and this was his retaliation. Fucking bastard.
Yesterday Morning
Rosewood Police Station
Jason looked around the station as he walked in, pointedly ignoring the pamphlet about Alison's disappearance on the board next to him. Apparently, a year did not change anything that much in Rosewood. The station was still the same, just like back when he was still a regular visitor. The atmosphere was a bit difference though, but maybe it had something to do with him being there. He was no longer the stoner kid who landed into trouble almost every week with the police. Now he was the brother of the girl who disappeared and found dead on her backyard.
"Yeah, hi. I'm Jason Dilaurentis. I want to meet with the detective assigned to my sister's case. Darren Wilden?"
As the receptionist called for Wilden, Jason glanced down at his watch. If he finished it in time, he should've had plenty of time to pick up Bianca and drove to Philadelphia for lunch. There was no way they were going to do their first lunch in Rosewood, under the watchful eyes of those who knew them. Too much pressure. Too high of possibilities someone would interrupt them and set awkwardness upon them again. When he looked up, how surprised he was to find one of his old friends walking in front of him in a uniform.
A police uniform.
Garrett Reynolds became a cop now.
He was wrong apparently. A year could make a surprising change in here.
"Jason?" Garrett stopped dead on his track, a similar shocked expression plastered on his face. He also didn't expect to see Jason Dilaurentis in the station. "Hey, how are you? Last time I saw you we were just graduated from high school."
Had he recovered from his shock already, Jason would have snorted in laughter hearing what Garrett just said. High school graduation party. As if. Last time they hung out was few weeks before his sister disappeared. Garrett, and Ian too, always had a problem for openly admitting their friendship with him. They were too afraid their reputation would be tarnished because of that. Then again no one wanted to be associated by a known drug user.
"Are you back here for good?"
"I just come for the memorial."
"Oh. Right."
It was really awkward seeing Garrett here and he had no idea how to change it. Which was a pretty common thing happening to him lately, he noticed. Their conversation back then were always about which parties they should go to on the weekend or their little secret club or right before Alison disappeared, how they ended up having a high schooler as their girlfriend. Now, neither of those topics seemed to be appropriate in a police station. "I didn't know you wanted to be a cop," Jason finally spoke up.
Garrett shrugged his shoulder. "Me neither. It's more like a spur in the moment."
Jason just raised his eyebrow. Out of three of them, Garrett was never the spur in the moment kind. He was always the cautious one, the one who never liked a sudden change. But then again, he was gone long enough to not being able to question him.
"Do you need something here? Is there a problem?"
The concerned look on Garrett's face seemed genuine enough for Jason. He was halfway deciding to invite Garrett for a coffee after this, to catch up with him, when someone interrupted them.
"Jason. I heard you're looking for me."
Darren Wilden didn't look different at all from the last time Jason saw him at one of the Kahn's parties last never liked it when Wilden was in the same parties. At first it was just because he was a cop but it grew after he started dating Bianca. Until now he never forgot what Wilden did that night. But since Eric was the one who invited Wilden so that no one in his parties would get into trouble, Jason could never do anything against it.
"Detective Wilden."
Neither Wilden nor Garrett missed the obvious animosity and disdain dripping in his voice when he greeted back. Garrett watched warily as Wilden led Jason into his office and closed the door shut. When he turned around to get back to his desk, it seemed that even everyone else could notice the tense air between those two. He sighed and glanced back at the closed door. Hopefully it didn't go as bad as he thought.
In the office, Wilden motioned the empty chair for Jason to sit while he walked over his desk and sat on the chair there. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He asked after Jason sat down.
"Let's talk about how incompetent and useless you are as a detective. Tell me what you've already got on the case."
Just like he expected, Wilden had nothing new on the case. Even with the declaration that there were actually works in progress, Jason knew it would come into a dead end. Just like countless PI his parents had hired to investigate the case. They couldn't even find out where Toby was hiding when they were supposed to be questioning him. A high school kid and the whole police force couldn't find him. Seriously. It really was a wonder to him how no one else seemed to complain about their incompetence. But then again there was no really big case in Rosewood before Alison's disappearance.
In front of him, Wilden seemed to get more and more agitated every second. Served him right. After what Bianca told him what he did since the funeral, Wilden should be glad that he didn't punch him right there and then. His parents was already stressing over the fact that their daughter's murderer was still on the loose. He was forced to watch them unable to move on, his father burying himself in the work and rarely coming home anymore, his mother drowning on sleep pills more and more everyday. The last thing he needed was to witness Bianca going on the same path with them.
"Oh right, I heard you're bunking with Bianca right now," Wilden suddenly changed their topic.
His eyes narrowed as he coldly replied, "what of it?"
"Mind telling your ex to stop interfering with the investigation? She's been withholding information from me."
"She has nothing to do with this case."
Wilden snorted at Jason's blind insistence. "Really? Then why can't she tell me what was she doing the night Alison disappeared?" The smug look he sported showed that he didn't miss the expression changed in Jason's face. "I know she wasn't with you the whole night. So what is she hiding from me, Jason?"
Flashes of memories appeared on his mind. He had tried to forget that part of the night ever since his rehab. It was blurry at best in his memories but it was enough to make him regretted what he had done. "Like I said, it's nothing related with the case," he said, gritting his teeth. "Leave her alone, Wilden."
But Wilden ignored the underlying threat and continued on. "I mean, she can't be possibly trying to hide your drug and drinking problem, right? It's not exactly a secret to all of us." He paused slightly to read his expression. "Don't tell me... Did she go out to buy more? Is that what she's been hiding?"
Wilden's expression remained unchanged even when Jason grabbed his suit lapels and slammed him against the wall.
"She never used any of that stuff and I never let her. You knew that already, Wilden," Jason hissed. "Stop being a dick."
"Yeah, right," he snorted, unfazed of the dull pain his back was feeling right now. "What do you know? Like you were sobered that night. I knew you just came back from Eric's party. Did you even remember what happened that night, aside from agreeing what Bianca said?" he sneered.
Jason froze momentarily. His mind flew back to the notes he got the next day after his sister disappeared as he eyed Wilden warily. Could he be the one that slipped those notes to him? Since Alison's body was found, he had been trying to find out the culprit, believing that whoever wrote those notes to him must have known something about that night.
"Or did you force her to lie for you, Jason? Or could it be, both of you were working together to get rid of Alison? You never really liked your sister before."
Rage immediately blinded his logic. He didn't care if Wilden was now a detective and it could get him in trouble or that Bianca already warned him to not lose control. But right now, all Jason wanted was to beat this guy up. Just as his fist was about to land into Wilden, someone tore him away from the smirking detective. His eyes narrowed when he realized it was Garrett and that he positioned himself between Jason and Wilden. At this moment, he really cursed the fact that Garrett was here.
"Whoa. Jason, calm down," Garrett said cautiously. He had heard loud thud when he walked by Wilden's office just now and quickly went in knowing how bad Jason's temper could be. It was a good thing that the door was unlocked because Jason would be in serious trouble for attacking an officer.
Wilden just straightened his suit nonchalantly and glanced to Jason who still looked fuming. "As always, you're so easy to provoke, Jason. It used to be Alison's favorite past time, isn't it, trying to get you into trouble with your parents."
Garrett quickly held Jason in place before he could even dart towards Wilden. He glanced back exasperatedly at Wilden. Why on earth did he keep provoking Jason? But then again Jason and Wilden never really got along before. Especially since not that night's incident.
"This is your last chance, Wilden. If you can't find anything, we will bring in more capable people and you can kiss your job goodbye," Jason spat as he shrugged himself away from Garrett's grip. "And leave Bianca and the girls out of it!"
Wilden scoffed hearing the threat. "Yeah, like you can do anything about it."
"Trust me, Wilden, I can and I will."
Garrett released his breathing he didn't realize he was holding when Jason finally turned around and left the office after a tense staring match with Wilden. He glanced worriedly back at Wilden who had murderous look on Jason's back. Not wanting to irk him any further, Garrett left the room without words as well. He caught a glimpse of Jason exchanged curt words with the sheriff before leaving the station. When he saw the sheriff sighed and walked towards Wilden's office, undoubtedly going to talk about what just happened, Garrett quickly took out his cell phone.
"We got a problem." He said when the other line answered, glancing around in case someone decided to eavesdrop on his call. "The situation might get worse than we thought. Jason just stormed here and tore apart the whole investigation. Now Wilden is really pissed off and I can't stale the investigation any longer. You need to get back here. Now."
Bianca had not said any words to him about her private talk with Wilden. Jason still couldn't forget how pale she was when she walked out of that room with Wilden looking thoroughly satisfied trailing behind her. And when he reached out for her, she immediately recoiled from his hand. As if his touch was now a poison to her. And it stung his heart when she chose to be comforted by Spencer instead. He was forced to stand still and watch as Spencer and Emily ushered her away from school with Spencer throwing a warning glance at him. Before everything went downhill, she always came to him whenever she wanted to vent off her problems.
And she completely avoided his stare when she came home even though they were clearly standing in front of each other, less than three feet away. He could only bit down his lips, stopping any words to come out, when she instead skirted around him to go upstairs to her room. Her housekeeper, Vanessa, was eyeing him suspiciously the whole time. No doubt she would notice Bianca was now avoiding him and probably inform her father soon. Which really terrified him right now. There was no way he could try making up with Bianca if her father was looming around them in the house, or worse kicking him out to the hotel once he came back.
Jason glanced at the crumpled notes he had since a year ago. Because of these, these blasted things, he ran away from this town, from her. Out of fear that he really had a hand on his sister's disappearance, and that Bianca could get dragged into this mess because of him. And now, with his sister's disappearance case now changed into a murder one, he had to come back, to find out the truth. Because if he didn't know what he had done that night, then how could he clear his conscience and reconcile with Bianca?
But how could he do it without getting her involved, without making her more suspicious?
He had cancelled both their dates for the sake of meeting PIs he hired out of his own pocket, in hope they could find something else. But none of them could find out what was really happening that night. And now he had no idea how to explain it to Bianca. Wilden had already suspected a hole in their alibi that night and the last thing they needed was him trying to use that hole to build a case against them. Against her.
Unable to stand around confined in his room with his mind starting to come up with worse and worse thoughts, Jason finally decided to approach Bianca's room. He hadn't heard her coming out of there since then. Right now, he still had no idea what to say if she asked about why he cancelled their date twice, but he knew he had to find out what Wilden told her earlier that made her flinched from his hand. He had to know because he knew he had to fix it somehow and soon.
"Bianca?" he called out hesitantly after she didn't answer his knocking. When she still didn't answer, Jason decided to try opening her door. With luck, it wasn't locked and he stepped in. His eyebrow lifted upwards seeing her typing furiously at her laptop. That was one sight he never saw before.
So he approached her quietly and touch her shoulder lightly. "B?"
How surprised he was when her shoulder tensed right away and she immediately slammed her laptop shut as she turned around to face him.
"Jason? What─ can't you knock first?" she asked irritably.
He frowned at her weird reaction. "I did," he answered, "repeatedly. We need to talk."
Bianca bit her lips as her eyes darted around, as if trying to find an escape route from him. "I should go practice more. Mrs. Findler said my fingers are still too stiff."
"Bianca," Jason quickly shot his hand out to grab on her arm before she could walk away from him. "You have to tell me. What did Wilden talk to you about?"
"It's nothing. He just being obnoxious like usual," she curtly answered as she tried tugging her hand away from his grip. "Let me go, Jason."
His eyes narrowed when he noticed she still didn't look at him. That was one way to tell that Bianca was trying to hide something from him. The hair twirling was another tell, which she did just now.
"J, let go."
"You won't talk or look at me," he pointed out, not wanting to back down. "Wilden must've said something." Jason sighed exasperatedly when she still refused to look at him. So he reached out to grab her shoulder and forced her to turn around to face him. "Don't listen to him. Whatever he said─ He's just trying to get even after I told him off."
That got her finally snapped her head up and glared at him. "Wilden's been harassing us since Alison's funeral," she said coldly. "With or without you here, he still would drag me to the office earlier. There's nothing you can do about it. Now let. Me. Go!"
Jason reluctantly let go of her arm because he knew she would scream out if he didn't and her housekeeper would come running in and she would tell on Bianca's father. That was definitely not what he wanted to achieve right now. A sigh of relief escaped his lips when Bianca didn't bolt away from him like he feared. He watched as she shifted on her spot, as if still debating whether to leave the room or not.
"Just tell me," he coaxed. "How can I protect you if I don't know what's happening?"
"I don't need your protection!" she snapped. "Certainly not from someone who can disappear on me again!"
The furious expression on her face faltered when Bianca realized what she had just said. And when she saw how Jason flinched hearing her words and stepped away from her, she knew she just said too much. "J, I─" Bianca stopped in the midway. Did she regret saying it out loud? Yes. Did she not mean it? No, not exactly.
And it was so apparent on her face that Jason immediately caught on that thought. He silently cursed his own hesitant before, for believing her mother that it was better for them to separate from each other for now. It was his fault that they got into this point and it took him this conversation to realize something.
There was no turning back.
They couldn't return to where they were before he left. And it was because of his own foolishness that he never really appreciated Bianca's presence his life until the morning after her sister's disappearance. He was the one who tore their relationship, him and his stupid drugs, not Alison. He had planted enough seeds of doubt in her heart to not trust him anymore.
"I- I'm sorry." Bianca spoke up again. "I didn't mean─"
"Yes, you do," he cut her bitterly. "And you're right. Who am I kidding? I was never dependable before and it won't change just because I'm sober."
"I did depend on you, J!"
Did. As in the past. As in she didn't anymore. What good would he know about it now?
"Jason," Bianca shot up and this time grabbed his arm willingly when Jason was about to make a move towards the door. "I'm sorry. I'm just used not depending on anyone else to protect myself and the girls."
He knew she was just trying to appease him, explaining why she said those words as reflex, but that only made him felt guiltier than ever. If anything, the girls shouldn't have to protect themselves against anything related to Alison. The adults should be responsible. His family should be protecting them because the girls had done nothing but trying to help find Alison since the first day she disappeared. The girls were the one who were most shocked losing their friend in such young age.
And now he brought more trouble to her because of what he did in the station.
"J?" Bianca spoke up again, her voice was filled with pleading.
Jason sighed and bent down to kiss her forehead. "You should get ready or else we'll be late for Spencer."
Did he choose the wrong thing by not letting her know he had to leave, just like what her mother wanted?
Bianca's House
October 2009
Not caring his mother's shout to get back and prepare to leave soon, Jason quickly ran out of the house. He had expected his parents to not being able to be around in this house any longer and be reminded of Alison's disappearance every moment. But he never expected it to be this soon. And to think they didn't even warn the girls that they were going to leave. Or at least Bianca. Of all the girls, she was the one who always visited everyday, helping around the house.
God. Bianca.
She was practically in their house for the whole day and just came back to her own house two hours ago. How could his parents wait until she left before telling him to pack up and go?
He had to say goodbye to her, explain her that he would come back soon to visit. That he wasn't going to leave her alone just because he didn't live in town anymore. They already made a promise─ to be there for each other forever. And he had no intention to break that promise. Never again would he broke his promises to her. Not after what she had done for him with this whole ordeal.
But then Jason froze as he almost reached her house.
How should he tell this to her? What if she thought he just postponed telling her until the last minute so she couldn't do anything about it? He couldn't bear seeing the hurt look on her face when he told her this. Nor could he handle hearing hatred on her voice when she screamed at him for leaving her. Jason was about to turn on his tail and ran away but then he remembered what she had said in the morning after Alison disappeared.
He had to tell her despite the consequences.
So Jason resumed his walk towards the Lexington house in the end of the street. He groaned when he saw her father's car in the driveway. Bianca's father despised him ever since Bianca introduced him to her parents. Not once did her father ever talked to him more than one curt sentence at a time. As Jason walked towards her front door, he desperately prayed that her father already fell asleep and wouldn't wake up until morning.
Jason eyed the doorbell nervously. He still hadn't figured out how to tell Bianca, especially with her weird mood swing lately. There were times in the day that she just snapped at whatever he said─ even if it was just a simple 'do you want sandwich?' or 'are you sick?'. Mustering up his courage, he raised his hand to press on the doorbell. Hopefully Bianca was still up and she was the one who opened the door.
Too bad he couldn't just command what was going to happen.
"Jason? It's very late. Is there a problem?"
At least it wasn't her father who stood in front of him. He would skin him alive for sure to visit his daughter in the middle of the night. "Hi, Mrs. Lexington," he greeted nervously. "Can I talk to Bianca please? It's really urgent."
Mrs. Lexington raised her eyebrow. "Any reason why you didn't tell her earlier? She's asleep already, Jason, and she's really tired."
"I know that and I'm really sorry for waking you up this late. But I really need to talk to her."
She sighed at his insistence, "I'm very sure whatever you're going to tell her can wait until morn─"
"We're leaving town tonight," he blurted, not wanting to waste another seconds trying to work around Mrs. Lexington without telling what was happening.
To say that Mrs. Lexington was stunned was understatement. In a flash, Jason was reminded just who exactly Bianca was taken from. "I beg your pardon?" she glared at him. "Why do you think I would let my daughter left─"
"No, no, no, Mrs. Lexington," Jason hurriedly said when he realized she misunderstood what he had just said. "I'm not taking Bianca anywhere in the middle of the night. It's my parents. They decided to move to DC tonight and I just find out now and..." He sighed and added quietly. "I just wanted to say goodbye to her."
"And you're coming with them?" Her eyes still narrowed at him, at his confusion.
Jason nodded nervously, "I─ I have to. They're─ I can't let my parents be alone right now." He braved himself to look straight at Mrs. Lexington, hoping she would let him in and talk to Bianca. But instead he was met with this unreadable expression in her face. And something told him that it was not a good one since she didn't even move an inch from her spot as she stared at him calculatingly.
"Maybe this is a blessing in disguise then," she finally spoke up, which only confused him even further.
"Mrs. Lexington?"
Bianca's mother sighed at him. "Her father and I... had been thinking. With this... problem about Alison, we think it's better if you both go on your own for now. We haven't talked about it to Bianca yet, but maybe this way will be the best."
Jason stared at Mrs. Lexington in shocked. It wasn't a surprise for him that the Lexingtons didn't really like their daughter dating him─ no parents would want someone like him near their daughter. But... "Can I at least say goodbye to her?"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Jason. You know how Bianca is." Mrs. Lexington seemed to notice the reluctance in his expression since she raised her hand to squeeze his arm rather comfortingly. It was rather ironic since she was the one who caused pang in his heart right now. "I was never against your relationship with Bianca because she needs to learn things and denying her from the start would only made her rebelled. But what Bianca needs right now was not this anymore."
"But─"
"Jason," Mrs. Lexington cut his plea. "Bianca has been bombarded with questions from police and press. Everyone in town whispers when they saw her. I think that's enough problem in her plate, don't you?"
Jason pursed his lips but there was nothing he could say against it.
"Good night, Jason."
And Jason could only stare as Mrs. Lexington stepped away from him and closed the door in front of him, separating him from the only person who genuinely loved him. He had no idea how long he stared at the closed door before he was able to move his legs and walk away from the house. Just as he reached the sidewalk, Jason turned around and raised his head to watch the second floor. Bianca showed him a way to get into her room without alerting her parents once. He was sure he could do it now.
But Mrs. Lexington's words kept ringing in his mind. She was right. Sooner or later people who pointed at their relationship and wondered if it had anything to do with Alison's disappearance. Not to mention the fact that he still couldn't remember the better part of that night. And those anonymous notes only made it worse. As much as he hated to admit, Mrs. Lexington was right. Bianca already had enough problems to handle at once right now. Jason clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to hit something, as he turned around and walked back to his house.
This wasn't fair. Just as he realized what was important to him and now it was snatched away from him.
Spencer stared at her guests with raised eyebrow when they came. When they scheduled this last minute meeting, out of the girls' insistence to grill Jason about what he knew, she didn't expect Bianca would also come. In fact, she never heard anything about her joining the meeting even from Bianca herself. Or that those two were civil enough to each other after the whole canceling date thing. Honestly, since when Bianca never told her anything anymore?
Bet she told Kahn everything nowadays.
"Where are the girls? Don't tell me they're late." Bianca commented as she looked around for their friends.
Her face pale slightly hearing the question. Bianca didn't know about the hidden reason behind this meeting. "Um, they haven't finished their speech yet," Spencer hastily answered. "So I told them to focus on it tonight."
"How about you? Are you done?" Jason asked.
Bianca rolled her eyes. "J, please. It's Spencer," she nudged him while throwing her best friend a grin. "Of course she finished it on the first day."
Well, they seemed very civilized to each other right now, Spencer noted. Having Jason stayed at Bianca's guest room seemed to be a good thing if they managed to reconcile this quick. She would have thought Bianca would hold onto her anger longer. It took the red haired girl longer than this to even talk to her and A had to be involved.
"I'm so thirsty. Can I make some tea, Spence?"
"Uh yeah, sure."
Spencer watched as Bianca made her way to the kitchen. They were already familiar with each other's houses that Bianca didn't need to ask which was where. She glanced at Jason who couldn't tear his gaze away from Bianca. The relaxed expression on his face told her what she needed to know about his feeling to her best friend.
"Did she tell you about Wilden?" Spencer murmured.
Jason glanced sharply at her. "No," he said after staring at her suspiciously for a while. "She didn't budge at all."
"She didn't tell me too," Spencer admitted, to his surprise. "Seemed like she only told Noel about it."
His eyes narrowed hearing that name was associated with Bianca again. How did little Kahn suddenly become the closest one to her? He didn't see that boy hovering around Bianca on the funeral. Yet he had heard twice about how close they were and even witnessed it that day when Wilden dragged her away.
"What are you two whispering there?"
Bianca's voice startled both of them that they almost fumbled on their answer. "PTA meeting earlier," they quickly said and heaved a relieved sighed when they answered the same thing. It would be more awkward if they had different answers.
"Oh. Did they make another suggestion?" Bianca asked as she brought two cups towards them and gave one to Spencer.
"Jason turned them down. Every single of them," Spencer said dryly, "just like he did with Principal Hartman."
Jason only rolled his eyes. Clearly Spencer still didn't like how he just came and took over the preparation from her hand. "Where's my tea?" he instead asked.
Bianca raised her eyebrow. "You don't like tea," she said flatly. "You said it was a horrible, poor excuse of a drink."
"Well I drink that horrible drink now."
And Jason immediately regretted his retort because Bianca's expression fell and her grip on the cup was tightened at once. He hadn't told her about his new favorite drink now to replace the old ones. Or the reason why he chose tea. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Spencer darted her stare between him and Bianca nervously. "I'll grab something else," he said rather loudly.
Bianca watched Jason moved to the kitchen with pursed lips before she turned around and sat on the sofa, pointedly avoiding glancing at him again. Spencer sighed and followed her best friend to sit on an arm chair next to her. She opened her laptop and went over the checklist for the memorial. Remembering the offhanded remark Jason made on their first meeting, she quickly checked for the weather forecast.
When she heard footsteps towards them, Spencer looked up to see Jason now sat next to Bianca with one of his hand holding a coke bottle. "You're right," she reluctantly said, "about the weather. Rain starting at midnight, continuing throughout the day."
Jason sighed and leaned back on the sofa. "I wished this was going to be outside, in the sun," he said, absentmindedly reaching out for Bianca's hair and twirled it on his hand. "My parents would've loved it."
"Not for me." Bianca said, "do you know how horrible it is to arrange the sound system? Every time I tried arranging it, my play comes out screeching noises. I hate it. At least the multipurpose room has a good one."
Spencer shook her head exasperatedly. Of course Bianca would make a remark like that. To her surprise, Jason also had the matched expression on his face. Her phone screen lit up and caught her attention.
Hanna: So? Anything?
She sighed and typed her reply discreetly. How on earth would she grill anything from Jason if Bianca was around? That girl would have picked up on it and immediately thought Spencer suspected him or something. And Spencer was not in the mood for losing her best friend again over Jason.
Her prayer was miraculously answered on the next second as Bianca's phone suddenly rang. She knew immediately that it was her mother since Bianca assigned special ringtone for her parents. Bianca quickly answered the phone as she motioned towards Spencer's room upstairs. Just as Spencer nodded, allowing her best friend to use her room to talk, Bianca immediately leaped up and ran upstairs.
"Her parents kept more tight leash on her since I arrived," Jason commented. "I heard her mother called three times already today."
"Obviously. I told you how she─"
"─I know," Jason cut her. "You don't have to tell me repeatedly, Spencer."
Had she not noticed the almost hidden grief in his expression, Spencer would have still pestered him about it. She didn't really pay attention that day in front of the principal's office since she was really angry at that time. Unable to say anything in response, Spencer instead stood up and walked over to the counter, grabbing the cup she left earlier. This was her only chance. Bianca was upstairs, busy talking with her mother.
She turned around, watching Jason closely. "Are you satisfied?" she asked.
Jason looked up, slightly surprised to hear her question. "Yeah," he finally answered after a moment of thinking. "How about you?"
"I'll just be glad when this is over."
He raised his eyebrow and glanced at the stairs. When he was sure that Bianca wasn't coming down soon, Jason stood up and walked closer to Spencer. He sat on the stool, tilting his head at her. "Are we still talking about the dedication or..."
"Both," Spencer admitted, knowing what was left on the question. "I guess."
"The dedication will be fine, thanks to you," Jason said assuredly. "And I lit a fire under the cops."
"Then you know about Toby and Alison?"
Jason turned completely at her, once again surprised with her question. Watching her expression closely, he had a feeling that these questions were already planned beforehand. It made sense now, that the other girls didn't come to the meeting and how surprised Spencer was when she saw Bianca standing next to him earlier. She didn't expect Bianca to come, not when she planned this 'questioning'. Jason chuckled humorlessly. "I didn't know. And Wilden shouldn't have told me," he then said, "but he was always easy to shake up."
"He seemed to easily retaliate too," Spencer pointed out.
"I guessed he's smarter than the last time i knew him," Jason shrugged, "but none of that matters. He had no hold over anyone."
Spencer glanced at the stairs again hesitantly. "Who do you think killed Alison?"
"Police like Toby Cavanaugh. If they can't find him, they'll start liking someone else."
The way he stared at her made Spencer squirmed on the inside. She didn't like how he looked at her right now. It was as if he was trying to say─ "just someone, or someone in particular?"
Jason raised his eyebrow, "does it really matter?"
Spencer frowned. "I thought you said you wanted closure," she said accusingly. "So you could move on and make a new life."
"My mom still needs pills to get to sleep, Spencer. When they don't work, you can hear her walking around the house at three in the morning," Jason said coldly, making the girl flinched in front of him. "You really think you ever gonna have closure? Aren't you and B always gonna be the friend of that girl who was murdered?"
Realization dawned upon her as she bit her lips. "Just like you'll always be her brother," she resignedly said.
"That's how people will see us. They solve it or they don't, that's not gonna change," he glanced at the forgotten mug on the coffee table, "So it doesn't really matter."
"She can't move on," Spencer murmured, knowing at least one thing that was running in her mind. "She loves you too much to just forget you and move on. She's waiting for you to make a move because she's too scared to do it."
Jason sighed. That was what he was afraid of. They were already in the part where both of them realized that they couldn't go back to where they were before but neither of them dared to do anything about it. Too scared to face the reality, too stubborn to believe it was over. "She will be fine as long as it goes away. She, and my mother."
"But what about justice?" she asked, weakly.
"You don't really want to bring justice into this, do you?" Jason countered back.
Spencer frowned again. "Why not? Alison was murdered."
"I remember hearing the two of you getting in each other's grills a couple time. Kept waiting for the cat fight, but never happened."
"What's that got to do with this? Bianca and Alison fought more."
His eyes glinted dangerously. "Yes well, Bianca wasn't there when the fire happened, was she?"
"Fire? What are─ Are you talking about the fire in Toby's shed?"
"Alison told me. How you said the five of you should all go over," he glanced at Spencer whose face now drained of all color, "and teach Toby a lesson. How you got the stink bomb and convinced the rest of the girls to back you up. How you even threatened Toby if he told the truth."
"Alison told you that?"
"She did, when she was trying to make up with Bianca. Said she didn't mean any of it to happen, that you lied to Bianca of what really happened."
Her eyes narrowed. "Did you believe her?" she demanded. When Jason didn't say anything, she knew what his answer would be and glared at him. "You're just like Alison, aren't you?"
"In some ways, when needed, even worse."
"Bianca wouldn't believe you," Spencer hissed. "She wouldn't let any of us gets involved in this mess more than we're supposed to. Do you really think after all this time, she would believe you over me, Jason?"
"She doesn't need to," Jason simply said. "She doesn't need to know everything to be safe."
And he would see her safe, even if she would hate him in the end. This was his only way to redeem himself, to make up everything he had done to her ever since they first met. He would not let Wilden or anyone dragged her into this mess.
Hello, hello, hello.
I hope you're still reading this story So sorry about this sparse update thing. I'm on my last quarter right now so I have to prepare for my defense in March. Hopefully you guys will be patient enough for the next chapter. I promise, after March, the update will be more frequent so bear with me for now okay? :')
Oh, and I also made few changes on previous chapters. Not exactly major ones, per say, but I add/remove few scenes just to make the story line clearer :)
Fhew, this is the first time I write a chapter mostly from a guy's point of view. I thought since we all see the story from Bianca's side, now we get to see inside Jason's mind why he did what he did. Really hope I don't butcher him off that much, though.
Thanks for the reviews from last one, as always :)
Hope you all like this chapter and don't forget to drop a review. Till next time!