A/N: Okay, here is the next chapter! Super duper sorry. I know I keep saying it but its true. I've been juggling school along with dealing a suicidal friend this past week who will only confide in me. Its been hard and I've putting things on pause for her so hence the delay on that. But its not an excuse! I'm so sorry about the delay and the one chapter. I'll get on top of this story again soon I promise! Oh, and I appreciate people PM-ing me to update this story. It helps keep my life (and butt) moving in gear - so thanks for that! Hope you all enjoy the chapter and give me some feedback on it!

Aria ran to Spencer's house after that, not caring that it was late. Texting her to come and unlock her backdoor, Aria stood there waiting.

That wasn't anything. It couldn't have been…it wasn't… What she just saw was not her boyfriend hooking up with his ex. It was not them having sex or doing anything promiscuous.

"Aria?" Spencer asked groggily.

With glossy eyes, Aria looked up to her best friend and shook her head. She couldn't believe how naive and stupid she was. Mr. DiLaurentis was right. She wasn't Jason's type and within the year he would be over her. Who knew it would take Cece Drake to come busting in their lives for that to happen.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Spencer immediately wondered when Aria bursted into tears. Taking the small girl into her arms, Spencer held Aria and listened to her cry.

Spencer took them into her house when Aria calmed down enough. She set up the other side of her queen sized bed for Aria and gave her some pajamas to change into. Aria wasn't exactly up to talking, still sniffling a bit, and for once Spencer didn't push. She comforted her friend and hoped the two of them could get some sleep. It was already almost three by the time they tucked themselves into bed.

"It'll be okay," Spencer said sympathetically. She had no idea what was going on and she hoped it wasn't with Jason. "Shh…"

Hugging Aria close, the two of them soon fell asleep.

"Aria?" Spencer groaned when she woke up. The sun was shining against her eyes and a phone was buzzing somewhere with noise. Rolling over to her other side, Spencer checked her phone and saw numerous texts from her friends. They were asking what was going on, how Jason could do that and telling Spencer they were coming over.

Rubbing her eyes, Spencer sat up on the bed to see Aria with a coffee cup in her hand, fully dressed and leaning near the window of her bedroom, looking out to the streets of Rosewood.

"Okay, what happened," Hanna said immediately barging into the room. Emily was only a few seconds in tow, looking to the both of them for answers.

"I missed something…" Spencer stated completely lost.

Aria had texted her friends while Spencer was sleeping telling them that she saw Jason with Cece. She needed advice so she gave a 911 to go to Spencer's house.

"Why are you still in bed?" Hanna wondered completely hyped up over this.

"I just got up Hanna. What's going on? Why are you all here?"

Taking the lead on that, Aria looked away from the window and down into her mug. "After work, I went to go see Jason and saw Cece come out of his house wearing a white button up shirt and a black bra. She had small mini skirt and Jason was topless; hair ruffled like he just got out of bed."

Spencer gaped, unable to believe this.

"I don't know what went down, I didn't go over there and ask, and I need your guys' advice," Aria murmured quietly.

Jason DiLaurentis, you are so dead Spencer thought to herself as her friends went into action.

Confrontation was not Aria's strong suit and when her friends came up with another idea of playing it cool and asking him what he did last night, she decided to go for it. He had been calling her a few times before school and she had ignored them because she was so unsure of what to say. As he called again though, Aria picked up with her friends right by her side eager to listen.

"Hey where are you?" Jason wondered. "Your cars out front. Are you at Spencer's?"

"Yea," Aria said with difficulty. All she could think about was him and Cece last night. The small clip of what she saw was replaying over and over in her head.

"Ar? Aria?" Jason called. Her friends quickly hit her showing she was zoning out from their conversation.

"Sorry," Aria said. "Spencer was moving in her sleep. I don't want to wake her up."

"Oh, okay," Jason said believing it.

"So…what did you do last night?"

"Not much. Did some paperwork for the Center, waited up for you. You didn't text me."

"Sorry," Aria said brokenly, "it must have slipped my mind. The sleepover at Spencer's was totally last minute."

"Are you still over there?" he wondered. Looking to her friends for their help, they quickly made up an excuse. Grabbing a pen and paper, Hanna swiftly wrote down what to say. "Yes, but…I'm about to go run out and get some doughnuts and coffees for us?" Aria said it more like a question, thinking that was the lamest thing to say ever. When did they ever eat doughnuts or get coffee from some other place than their homes?

Jason was silent on the phone clearly skeptical. "All the Hastings' have here is that weird super healthy food so Hanna and I were going to run out and get something."

"I could go grab it and bring it over if you would like. That way I could drive you to school…"

"Uh…no thanks," Aria said trying to seem like herself, "Hanna and I have to go in early and finish this science project we've been working on. But thanks."

"Aria, is something wrong?"

"No," she spoke trying to be as normal as possible. It was excruciatingly hard considering she was not even close to being fine and wanted answers without hearing the gritty truth of them.

Ask more about last night! Hanna wrote on a piece of paper. Taking the pen from her hand, Aria wrote back: How?

Spencer grabbed the paper then, quickly scribbling another thing she could say.

"So…when I was driving by to Spencer's last night, I saw your porch lights weren't on. Were you home?"

"Yea," he commented. "I was watching that old black and white movie that's on. What's it called? It's your favorite... To kill a mockingbird?"

"Yea," she swallowed hard obviously seeing how he was lying now. Spencer quickly got up from their small circle grabbing her laptop and seeing if it was playing last night on any station.

"Anything else happen?" she wondered. He paused for a second. "Not really." Smacking her lips together, her mind protested with anger calling him a liar. Looking to Spencer who was shaking her head after finding no results about the movie on TV, Aria crumbled further to the floor.

"I have to go," she murmured quietly. She wasn't sure if she could handle this deception further without breaking down. "I'll talk to you later," she added before disconnecting the line and falling to pieces with her friends.

"It can't be true," Emily said still in denial as they walked down the hallway. They were trying to help Aria be strong, but they weren't exactly sure how. She was surprisingly better after her shower at Spencer's. They heard her crying in there for a little while, but when she came out all dressed and ready to go to school, she was fine. She was obviously putting up a front for them and pushing away her emotions, but from what they could tell, she was doing a damn good job.

It was almost as if nothing was bothering her. She had the act down pat, gathering her things in the morning and grabbing a coffee in the courtyard before school.

"What explanation does he have?" Hanna challenged. They gave him the opportunity over the phone and he failed.

"Look, it doesn't matter," Aria said turning to her friends bravely. "I'll deal with it the next time I see him and call him out for it. It's done. I have what I know and I'll go from there."

"You don't have to you know," Spencer stated as they all circled around Aria's locker. "We can confront him for you. Or maybe do some more recon."

"No," Aria said shaking her head and spinning her locker comb, "you guys have done enough – thank you." It was real sincere and grateful sounding, but it also carried a hollowness. The girls could see that while she put up a great brave front acting okay, she was left emotionless and empty. They didn't like seeing her like that and found it hard not to try and help her when it was obvious she needed it.

Opening the small metal locker door, Aria found a small pink stuffed animal pig with white wings attached to him on the top shelf. Taking it in her hands, she felt around on the bottom of the heavy battery operated guy, and found a small black switch. Flipping it on Aria saw the pig's wings begin to flap like he was flying. Grinning like a fool, Aria went on her tiptoes in search of any note left for her.

Looks like you owe me that dinner now.

"Who's that from?" Emily wondered watching her depressed friend now go into full smiles.

Eric must have come home and snuck this into her locker Aria thought to herself. Curious to how he could have done it, Aria reminded herself to ask him that later.

"Not sure," Arai stated turning off the pig and putting him back in her locker gently. She gleamed with happiness at the toy, not being able to wipe the smile off her face. The gesture cheered her up and made her laugh at his persistence. He was good…

"Can I see the note?" Spencer wondered.

"Its nothing," Aria said shutting her locker. Suspicious, all three friends gave each other a look before moving onto a different topic.

The end of the day came quick and Aria made sure to continue to play it how Hanna and her friends wanted her to with Jason. She was cool as a cucumber, hoping he would give her a confession soon, but that was asking for a lot considering they didn't talk much. It was like they were both avoiding each other now, unsure how to play it. Ironically, they were both hiding the same truth from each other.

"So? Did you get the pig?" Eric wondered, slipping back into his normal routine of bring Aria her favorite coffee during her late shift at work.

Grinning in his presence, she nodded. "I loved it."

"Good, cause I'm still holding you to that dinner," he noted giving her her caffeine. Taking the cup from him, she lifted up the lid to her lips. "How was your trip? Did you end up getting that guy to come back with you?"

"It took a lot of convincing but I did," Eric nodded, "Rain should be getting looked at soon."

"Good," Aria chirped, taking some sips of her warm drink.

"How was the fort here without me?" he wondered glancing around.

"Just fine," she chuckled, knowing he was trying to get some sort of affection from her. "My little brother's been helping me out here, trying to get some work into his schedule, so I've had some days off."

"Wow," Eric said actually seeming surprised, "your brother's taking that whole man of the house for real now huh?"

The tables shifted and now Aria was surprised that Eric saw that. She thought it was only her. "Yea, he is. He's swamped enough as it is and being a kid…"

"I get it," Eric shrugged, "you still want him to have a life – not get stuck working."

"Exactly," she replied, impressed he could read that.

"You know, if he wanted, I'm sure he could come work for me – or well…not me per say, but at the Kahn ranch. We could use some help there."

"You actually own a ranch?" she asked more and more impressed about the money the Kahns had around here. A farm, a ranch, a stable – what's next?

"It's a good way to get income," Eric noted.

"Cause you all need more of that," Aria muttered to herself.

"True," He said taking the words with understanding. Eyes going wide, Aria felt guilty. She didn't mean for him to hear that. "I'm so sorry, I –"

"No, don't apologize," he said waving it off, "I know my family has a money. Trust me, I get it." Biting her lip, Aria went back to sipping her drink and keeping her trap shut. Here he was being this great guy offering Mike a job and then there she was slamming him and his family for all the money they have.

"Anyways, Mike cans till take the job. Its mostly dirty work so I would probably stick with this – helping you here – but if he wants to consider it, a slot is always open for him."

"Thank you," Aria smiled to Eric as they stared at each other.

"So…" she said with an interested look on her face, "Tell me more about your trip."

They talked for hours, making their conversation flow until she closed up the place and they walked to her car. Eric had done some amazing things while shadowing this veterinarian and persuading him to come to Rosewood. He not only had the chance to help birth a horse, but to also take care of the little one too. Everything he was talking about was amazing and Aria found him to be an amazing storyteller.

"So? Dinner tomorrow?" Eric asked as he opened up Aria's car door for her. Narrowing her eyes at him, still not completely into his boyish charms he gave to other girls, she shook her head and he acted hurt giving a sigh. "You're killing my ego."

"I'm sure it can withstand some rejection," she smiled.

"Pigs can fly Montgomery. I proved that to you. I believe you owe me dinner…"

Rolling her eyes yet enjoying his persistence, Aria nodded. A deal was a deal. "Fine."

"I'll text you," he stated as she sat in her car and he shut her door. Waving to him, she pulled into the street and drove away.

Dinner with Eric Kahn was quite the amusement. They pulled something together quickly after Laurel gave her most of her shift off. She was closing shop up early for the night to go to some conference and thought Aria could stop working too. So Aria called up Eric and told him she would meet him at one of her favorite places to eat. It was this old karaoke bar place right outside of Rosewood where Ella had taken her and Mike when they were younger. Aria used to love watching the people sing on stage and she hadn't been there in the while. They also had the best burgers and soda. Their ice was like little balls, different from most places, and it made the drink so much better.

"Wow, we are in Hicksville," Eric stated as he pulled up around the same time she did. Aria had to laugh. The place from the outside probably looked horrible, with not much around it, but it was the inside that was the best.

"Its not. Its really good, I promise," she said leading the way in. Checking out his facial expression when they walked inside, she could tell he approved. Telling the hostess two people, the man led them to a small table, right in the back of the place with a perfect center view of the people singing tonight.

"Alright, so you drag me out here and what? Now you want me to go up and embarrass myself by singing?"

"No," Aria laughed, enjoying herself how easy it was to shoot down his pick up lines and phrases. How could one guy be so cocky and flirtatious?

"They have really good food and I could go for a burger."

"A burger?" he asked teasingly. "Wow, I didn't know girls eat that."

Rolling her eyes, Aria opened up her menu and picked all the topics she wanted.

"So really…how'd you find this place?" he wondered after the waitress came by for their drink orders.

"My mom and dad used to take Mike and I here," Aria answered glancing to the man with a guitar singing on stage. "I don't even know how she found it, but I remember them having the best food."

"I don't think my mom and dad would ever step foot around here," Eric noted as he took a look around. "For a second, I thought I turned at the wrong place, but then I saw you getting out of your car and I knew I my driving directions were right."

Aria gave a small chuckle and her mind went to family. Both of them brought it up so nonchalantly, but Aria's family wasn't actually real.

"What?" Eric asked reading her sullen face. Shaking her head and pushing it away, the waitress came up again with their drinks and waited for them to order. Going first, Aria got the cheeseburger with everything on it except onion and Eric got about the same, but with no cheese.

"So, what are your plans for break?" Eric wondered. Mid winter was approaching fairly quickly and it was a good time to get away.

Shrugging, Aria bit her lip and thought about going to Oklahoma.

"Oh come on Montgomery," he teased, "you of all people must have something planned."

"Why would you say that?" she challenged.

"Because you and your clique? They are party people."

"Not true," Aria disagreed. "Maybe we were when Ali was around but now we are just normal girls of Rosewood high."

"Right," Eric replied light and skeptical.

"What are you thinking of doing?"

"I plan on heading somewhere warm. Don't know where yet, but I'll be there." Smiling again at his personality and vague plans, she seemed interested.

"Did you want to join me?" he asked with that playboy grin and flirtatious eyes. Shutting him down, she gave an unamused look and shook her head. "No thank you."

"Oh come on. If you aren't going to parties what are you going to do all break long? It's a week of freedom, especially for you. Go out and do something, oyu can't just sit around."

Biting her lip, Aria played with the straw in her drink. "I was thinking of going to Oklahoma."

"Oklahoma? What's there?"

Swallowing hard, Aria wondered if it was best to tell her secret to him. He seemed like a great guy but could she really trust him?

Glancing up to him, she saw how serious he looked. He was honestly curious, with no judgment or impatience on his face.

"Do you remember when we had to get our blood tested for my mom when she was in that car accident?" Aria asked him hesitantly. He leaned forward, giving her his full attention. Nodding, he waited for her to continue. This seemed to really bother her.

"Well, I found out I was O negative. It wasn't possible for me to have that blood type if I was their daughter…" Leaving the big open space for him to think about it and connect all the dots, Aria snuck a glance up at him.

"You're adopted?" he asked. Aria nodded, biting her lip. "I found out I was one of those children that was dropped on someone's doorstep."

"Wow," he said going to sit back in his chair. His face was shocked and clearly concerned for you.

"But then why Oklahoma? Is that where your real family is?"

Aria shrugged and looked down to play with her straw wrapper in her hand. "I did some research and found a family who recently moved to Oklahoma after living in Maryland for a while. Its not much to go on, and there are some other random details, but I thought that maybe I would give it a chance…"

"So you're going…alone?"

Aria shrugged again, adding the action of biting her lip to the other nervous habits she was doing. "I'm not sure yet. I haven't really told anyone else about it because I'm trying to keep it to myself, but I think I want to."

"Well…your secrets safe with me," he said with a kind smile. "I wouldn't go alone though. Maybe tell someone if you do decide to."

Taking in the advice she stashed it away in the back of her mind and looked back up to him. "Thanks."

"You know, if you want," Eric said as their food came, "I'll be your cover. You can still keep it a secret if you want. Just check in with me from time to time so I can make sure you're still okay."

"You would do that?" she wondered gazing at him with her head cocked.

"I'm not that bad of a guy," he teased. "And yea I would."

Liking the idea, she thought about taking it. It would be the best for everyone, especially her. There would be no questions or excuses of why she shouldn't go. She could figure out things for herself on her own time. But what was she supposed to tell her mom exactly.

Practically reading her mind, Eric looked up and watched her eat. "Jenna and Noel are going on this cruise for the break. They are taking a trip around the Caribbean I think. Just tell whoever it is that you are going with them. It shouldn't be that hard to buy."

"Why help me?" Aria wondered.

Eric shrugged, not answering the question. Narrowing her eyes at him, he put down his burger and put his hands up. "No need for the eyes of scrutiny Montgomery. I'm just trying to help. I'm your friend remember?"

"Have you ever really had a person just be your friend?" she wondered. Rolling his eyes, he went to say yes, but hesitated. "…Okay, so I haven't really had a friend friend, but it's a start right?"

"We can call it that," Aria teased.

"Hey! I'm doing good," he justified as they ate. Aria gave a laugh and went to tease him. "You've hit on me with every ridiculous pick up line and flirtatious quirk possible. I think you might want to try a little harder on being a 'friend'."

"No one said anything about not being able to flirt with friends," Eric said with a wink. "Maybe it's the reason I don't have any friends."

Aria gave a laugh and moved onto a different topic for the rest of the night. After paying for their check, the two of them walked out together. Aria had to go to work for her night shift and Eric was supposed to get home.

"I'll pull up all that information on my brother's trip for you in case your mom asks about it," he stated.

"Thanks," she smiled. Knowing she would see him later tonight, she got into her car and left for work.

"Here you go," Eric said coming into the shop hours later. He had a stack of papers in his hands, all about some Caribbean trip and a coffee waiting for her.

"Wow, this is really detailed," she said while looking it all over.

"I told you I'd find everything."

"Did Noel-…"

"Didn't ask a question," Eric answered for her, "he wasn't even home. I just made some quick copies and came over here to give it to you."

"Thank you," she said grateful. She had already scheduled her ticket for her trip to Oklahoma and in a few days she would be there.

"So this is really happening?" he wondered becoming serious.

"Yea," she said confirming it all. Telling him about her flight and what she was going to do from there, the two of them chummed around the store again before closing up shop and going their separate ways.

p.s. Thanks to the Beta teamezria53098