Love ShAck, Baby
Part Two
Hanna plopped down on her bed, glad the school day was over. She'd be going to Spencer's for dinner in about three hours and she had to think of an excuse to tell Aria and Emily. The group hang-outs aren't usually split. Hanna would be fine with telling and explaining her new revelations to Emily, but was in no way prepared to tell Aria.
She went to where the diary was hidden, and went through it again. Her fingertip grazed the words about her and Mike. On impulse, she ripped out the pages about them, not wanting the girls – or anyone – to know her secret. It would just be too weird.
As she flipped through some more, she felt her jaw drop. There were frayed fragments left in the center of the book. Someone, and she'd put money on her suspect, had ripped out all the pages about Ezra and Alison.
The A + E, she prayed, please be there! She turned the pages furiously, wishing for it to be. It was barely noticeable and easy to miss. Hanna got to the page where it should have been, only to find more paper tears. Gone.
She hoped Spencer would just take her word, although it was a lot easier to prove ideas with evidence.
XXXX
Aria mindlessly channel surfed before finding some foreign flick on HBO. She glanced around her house. Her dad was still at Hollis, Ella was still abroad, and Mike was with Mona.
Aria wondered what her mother would think of Mike's new girlfriend if she was here. Ella was familiar with the workings of A and who A was. Well, one of them… Would she be happy that Mike had a girlfriend? Or would she be appalled Mike would even consider dating Mona after what she did to Aria.
She read the subtitles, trying to dismiss all of her thoughts. Those tries sure went to hell, though, when her phone buzzed.
From Jake: Please talk to me
Aria sighed and reread some of his previous texts which consisted of basically the same thing. She didn't want to be with him anymore, but she also didn't want to break up with him. Jake was simple, opposed to Ezra. Jake was go fish, but Ezra was Jenga or Operation. But, Ezra was a risky game she was more than willing to play.
Aria heard a key jiggle in the door lock and saw Mike from the window. When he stepped into the house, he was wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen on him.
Mike noticed Aria and gave her an up nod before trampling upstairs.
"Hey Mike?"
He replied by coming back downstairs.
Aria motioned to the couch cushion next to her and cautiously asked, "Can we talk?"
Begrudgingly, Mike came over and sat next to her. "What's this about?"
"Today, it was like the fourth time you've hung out with Mona in the last two days…"
"Why do you care?"
Aria's eyebrows shot up. "You remember what she did to me, right? To my friends? To Mom?"
"She's better now. She has been for a while."
"Still, you need to be… guarded."
Mike rolled his eyes and got up. "I'm finally happy, Aria," Mike stated. "And besides, I don't judge all the guys you like."
"No, you just punch them in the face," Aria mumbled.
"Fitz had it coming," Mike pointed out, "And that guy's pervy anyway."
Aria jumped, "What?"
Mike shrugged, "He's like, way old. And your teacher. Look, stop judging Mona, and I won't tell Dad about you getting frisky with Fitz."
For the second time, Aria's eyes grew bigger. "W-why do you say that?"
"You're a terrible liar. Poetry reading? Really?" Mike didn't give Aria a chance to defend herself or Ezra and trotted to the kitchen.
XXXX
Emily's grip was tight on Paige's hand as they walked through the Rosewood streets. Paige was walking her to work; Emily had a lot more shifts now that Zack was gone. Emily couldn't help but think of seeing Alison yesterday on this exact trail.
"Em, what's wrong?" Paige questioned.
"Nothing. I'm fine," Emily defended.
"No, you're not. You're jumpy and tense. What's the matter, really?"
"I can't talk about it now," Emily explained, thankful that the Brew entrance was a mere five steps away.
Emily had to tell Paige about her feelings for Alison, but she was trying to figure out how to get around that without spilling the "alive" news. Paige gave her a quick peck goodbye before turning around and heading to the library to study.
XXXX
Toby drummed the countertops as Spencer pulled garlic bread out of the oven. Cooking was just another one of her endless talents. Spencer pulled off her oven mitts and looked at the clock. Hanna would be here any minute. Why was Toby still here?
"What are you so anxious about," Toby interrogated.
"Oh, Hanna should be here soon."
Toby lifted his chin, "Ah, so that's who the mozzarella sticks are for."
"Yep," Spencer said, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Mind if I stay?" Toby asked. He noticed Spencer's hesitation. "Unless you don't want me to…"
"No, no, it's not that. Just…." Both Spencer and Toby turned their head to see Hanna come in the back door.
Hanna noticed Toby and waved. "You staying for dinner?"
"If I can," Toby murmured.
Spencer glanced over at Hanna at whispered, "He might be able to help."
Spencer turned back to Toby, who now had a confused look on his face. "Sure. You can stay," Spencer smiled.
"Only if you leave me three mozzarella sticks," Hanna added with a chuckle.
"Promise," Toby laughed.
Toby moved over a seat and made room for Hanna. Spencer pulled out two bowls from the cabinet and then served Alfredo. After everything was settled, Spencer sat in one of the chairs around the island across from Hanna.
Hanna was already on her second mozzarella stick while Spencer was absent mindedly twirling noodles. Toby looked back and forth before dropping his fork to his plate. "Ok, what did I miss?" Toby questioned. "Why did Hanna really come over?"
Spencer pursed her lips before saying, "Um, we have a new A suspect."
Toby's eyes grew bigger. Cautiously, he pried, "Who?"
Hanna ripped off the band-aid and blatantly said, "Ezra Fitz."
"Wait. Wait, that guy Aria's with? The teacher?" Toby sputtered. "I've never met him, but he seems…nice. At least from what I hear from Spencer. He helped you with the college essay, right?"
"Yeah," Spencer sneered. "Listen, did Mona ever… talk about him when you were helping her? Did she ever bring him up? Ever target him?"
"No… but we weren't exactly focused on Aria," Toby said, looking at the ground with guilt.
"Well, he's in charge. We think so anyway," Hanna huffed. "Red Coat – CeCe – was just a decoy."
"Wait, why do you think it's him?" Toby asked both girls.
Spencer turned to Hanna and added, "Yeah, why?"
Hanna took a deep breath before saying, "In the lair, I took a journal. I didn't know whose it was, but a journal made it so easy for Mona to torture us, so I thought it could help."
"Continue," Spencer demanded.
"I read through it a few days ago. The first stuff was about you, me, Aria, and Emily. Then there were a bunch of blank pages. After that there were a lot of entries about Boardshorts and Cape May. It never outright said Ezra Fitz, but it said enough."
"Like what?"
"He liked books. He went to Hollis for an English major. He had an on and off girlfriend. And, he had blue eyes…Wren and Wilden don't have blue eyes, but Ezra does," Hanna explained shaking her head, not wanting to believe what she was saying. "Then, on one of the last pages, there was a heart that said A+E. Not A+W, E."
"Well, can we see the diary? Do you have it?" Spencer begged.
"You can't," Hanna mumbled, "A – Ezra – got to it and ripped out the pages…"
"HANNA! Why didn't you hide it?" Spencer yelled.
"I did! Did you not see his surveillance equipment, though?"
Spencer rubbed her temples, fighting an oncoming headache, "Great. That's just great."
"Do you think I wanted the pages to get stolen? Because I didn't," Hanna argued. "Wait, what made you believe me in the first place?"
Spencer remembered, "You know how I told you I fought with A in the green house?"
Hanna nodded.
"Well, I had taken a pair of gardening shears and sliced his hand with them."
Hanna's mouth hung open and was very aware of where this was headed.
"I had kind of forgotten about it, but then I realized Ezra had a cut on his palm. The same exact place, Hanna…" Spencer trailed off. She really didn't want to believe Ezra was A.
She – they – all trusted him with their lives. She thought of all the times one of her friends or herself were alone with him. Spencer thought about when he tutored Emily. Was that because she was his girlfriend's best friend, or to find out stuff about Maya's death? Spencer remembered how Hanna had gone to his office after he told Ella and Byron about him and Aria. Hanna went to tell him how they were all rooting for him. Spencer had gone to Ezra, too, when she thought Jason was the danger. He wanted Ezra to protect Aria. The irony and all the situations were gut-wrenching. He seemed so… innocent, and naïve to it all. He acted like he never knew what an A was, when in reality, it was just an act. He was playing every single one of them.
Spencer wondered, though. Maybe it could be turned around. But, Spencer knew it couldn't. It was crystal clear he was Boardshorts. He can't get away with saying he was "protecting" them or was being blackmailed. Boardshorts was the person in charge, and you can't blackmail yourself. She wondered who knew. Did Mona? And, was Ezra A from the start? Was he supposed to meet Aria?
Aria. Spencer's heart broke more. Emily, Hanna, and Spencer would all be upset and have newfound trust issues, but Aria would be destroyed. When Spencer found out about Toby, she cracked. But, Spencer knew how much Aria loved Ezra and it was more than she loved Toby. Aria would probably kill someone to be with him freely, and Spencer didn't know if she'd kill someone for Toby.
And with Toby, Spencer knew he wasn't in charge. Spencer knew Mona was his boss. But, with Ezra, he was the boss. She thought back to Aria and felt tears sting her eyes. She thought about how sad Aria looked when Hanna even suggested him. She knew that Aria would find out sometime and Spencer wasn't looking forward to that. Spencer wasn't ready to practically look into a mirror of her past self. She wasn't ready for probably hearing Aria's heart-breaking sobs every day. She wasn't ready for the truth about Ezra's betrayal.
"Spencer?" Hanna asked quietly, seeing a tear roll down her friend's cheek. "Hey, you okay?"
Hanna got up and traced circles on Spencer's back. "What's wrong? What is it?"
"How are we gonna tell her?" Spencer cried wiping a stray tear with the back of her hand. Toby stood up and asked, "If you want me to leave or anything, I will. Or if you want me to help or anything…"
Spencer shrugged, exhausted with thoughts. "It's up to you."
"I think I'll head home," Toby stated. "I don't really know the guy, so…"
"I get it," Spencer interrupted. Toby gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head and exited the house.
Fifteen minutes of silence occurred after Toby left. Hanna and Spencer were both going crazy with thoughts. Spencer mindlessly scrubbed the plates while Hanna wiped them and put them into cabinets. After cleaning, both girls fell onto the couch beside each other.
"Are we wrong," Hanna whispered.
"I wish, Han."
After a quiet pause, Hanna chirped, "You know, I never did get how he got on the Halloween train so fast."
"Yeah. Aria hadn't called him. And how did he know someone was injured? And I was in between carts. There's no way he could drove along the tracks. I think I would've seen him. And there wasn't even a road next to the train."
"Wait, so you think he was on the train?"
"Maybe. He told Aria he couldn't go because he had a meeting for a job. No one has meetings on Halloween at night."
"I guess there were a lot of things we should've questioned that we didn't," Hanna said. "You wanna tell Em? I think she'll get it. She might even help. But, I don't think we can go to Aria until we have solid evidence."
"Yeah, you're right," Spencer agreed. "Aria won't believe us until we have him on tape."
Hanna laughed, "Yeah, probably… I'll call Emily. Her shift at the Brew ends in like half an hour, so I'll tell her to come over."
After Hanna hung up the phone, it was back to awkward silences.
"What's gonna happen?" Spencer sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"Aria. I was awful when I found out about Toby. I bet she'll be even worse. Ezra was her first love. She's going to be devastated."
"What if he hurts her?"
"He won't. He loves her."
"You think so? Ezra could have been playing her the entire time."
"He wouldn't have told her parents if it was just part of a game. No. No way. He loves her. No one is that good of an actor. They've been together for years. He'd do anything for her. I think he could just be another one of Alison's monsters."
"What's his motive?"
"Not a clue," Spencer exhaled, then laughed weakly. "Not one clue…"
