CHAPTER TWO
Later that night Byron and Ella went out for dinner with a couple friends of theirs. Aria stayed home and made dinner for her and Mike, but the latter of the two was nowhere to be found. Aria hadn't seen her brother since he got home from school and then left an hour later. Ella had told Aria about what was going on with Mike and his acting out lately, but there wasn't much to go on. Neither of their parents knew what exactly was going on or causing it. Aria figured it was a phase. A 14-year-old boy thing that he would get over and laugh about later in life.
It was around 7:00pm and Aria was making homemade pizza when the doorbell rang. She dried her hands on a towel and walked over to answer the door. When she opened the door, she saw Jason DiLaurentis for the second time that day.
"Hey," she greeted with a small smile on her face.
"Hey back," Jason said. By the tone of his voice she knew something was wrong.
"What?" she asked, "Is everything okay?"
Before Jason could answer, Mike stepped out from behind him looking extremely guilty.
"Mike, what's going on?" she asked, but he just walked past her into the house, "Hey! Mike!" she called after him, but he ignored her, "What's going on?" she asked Jason and he told her what happened.
"He broke into your house?" she asked.
"He never got in, actually. Caught him at the window," Jason said, "The house was dark. I'm guessing he thought no one was home."
"I'm really sorry. He's-He's never done anything like this before," Aria said, "Thank you, for not calling the police," Aria said.
"Don't worry about," Jason told her.
"I really don't know what to tell you," she said, "If I tell my parents they are going to flip out," Aria told Jason, "But if I don't then he's—" she was conflicted on what to do. She didn't want her parents to freak out and get mad at Mike, but Mike had tried to break into Jason's house. She shouldn't just ignore that.
"Aria, don't," Jason interrupted, "He knows he's been busted."
"Um…why didn't you call the police?" Aria asked.
"I've seen enough cops at my house for one year," Jason told her. Aria didn't really know how long Jason had been back in Rosewood, but she could only imagine how many had been bothering him since he had been back.
"Well, uh, my parents left me alone for dinner and Mike probably won't be joining me, so would you like to come in and eat something?" Aria asked, "I made pizza. I just have to put it in the oven. It shouldn't take long to cook," she told him.
"I guess I could use something to eat," Jason said. Aria moved over so he could walk by her.
"Just let me put this in the oven really quick," Aria said, "Do you want something to drink? Water or soda or whatever this weird juice is?" Aria asked, "I seriously have no idea what this is," Aria said. Jason appeared beside her and she showed him what she was referring to.
"I have no idea what that is either," Jason laughed, "I'll just have some water," he told her. She handed him a bottle of water and she took her own.
"Do you want to sit in here or wait in the living room?" Aria asked Jason.
"We can stay in here," he said. They walked to the other side of the island in the middle of the kitchen and sat in the chairs. Aria's feet dangled a good two feet off the kitchen floor.
"So, how have you been?" Aria asked looking at Jason, "Minus everything that's going on right now," she said.
"Pretty good," he told her, "I took my senior year off college and went to rehab. I got sober and went back last year to finish my last few credits," he said, "Nice shirt by the way. I knew you stole it."
"I did not, you gave it to me," Aria said, "But that's awesome, Jason. You look good. The last time I saw you was in your kitchen. I was waiting for Alison and your friends were trying to get me drunk. Okay maybe not that, but they were giving me drinks when they knew I was way too young," she said, "Then you and I sat outside for a little while until I went over to Spencer's."
FLASHBACK
When Aria walked around the side of the DiLaurentis' house to go to the Hastings' she ran into the person she had been looking for. Alison was leaning against the side of the house as if waiting for Aria to show up.
"Ali, I've been looking for you," Aria told the blonde who looked beyond pissed off.
"When?" Alison asked.
"I came over here, so we could go to Spencer's together," Aria reminded her.
"Must've forgotten," Ali said looking at her well-manicured fingernails.
"Well, do you—"
"Are you fucking my brother?" Alison asked her blue eyes boring straight into Aria. Aria glared straight back at her.
"No," Aria said, "What would even make you think that?"
"You've been acting kind of strange lately," Alison said, "That and the fact that you were hanging all over him. You were basically sitting on his lap back there," Alison gestured to where she had been sitting with Jason. Where he was still sitting, "You know that would be illegal, right? I'm just trying to help," Alison said. Aria rolled her eyes and walked around Alison.
"I'm not trying to fuck Jason, Ali," Aria said, "We're friends. And maybe you should take some of your own advice. I've seen you with Jason's friends," Aria told her, "You talk to me like I'm some sort of slut for hanging out with Jason, but what are you doing with Ian?" Aria walked off without even waiting for a response.
END FLASHBACK
"Alison got so mad at me because she thought you and I were sleeping together," Aria told Jason, "I told her we weren't, but I don't think she believed me. Not that I'll ever know. Or care really."
"I was 21 and you were 15," Jason said, "That would have been fucked up."
"But it happens all the time," Aria said. She didn't want to mention Ali and Ian. Ian who was older than Jason. Or Ian and Spencer. Luckily, the timer on the oven went off.
"I'll get it," Jason said, "Wouldn't want you to break your little pixie legs getting off that chair," he joked.
"Shut up," she couldn't help but laugh. She was tiny, and she owned it. Aria heard her phone go off in the other room, "I'll be back in a sec. Do you want to attempt to get Mike to come eat or just leave it alone?" Aria asked, "I know he won't listen to me right now."
"Just go get your phone," Jason said. Aria walked to the living room where her purse was on the couch. She saw she had a text from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN: It would still be illegal, you know. -A
Aria put her phone back in her purse before joining Jason back in the kitchen.
"He's not hungry," Jason said, "Which is a damn lie because he's 14 years old and all teenage boys do is eat. But just leave him alone. He'll be fine."
"Except for the breaking and entering thing," Aria said as she started to aggressively cut the pizza into slices.
Aria met up with Hanna, Spencer, and Emily outside of the principal's office the next morning after getting her class schedule. She had classes with each of them and only one where none of them were with her. Her first class was History and she shared that class with Emily. Hanna and Spencer were on opposite ends of the school.
"So, how was Germany?" Emily asked, "Any cute boys to go back to?"
"A lot of cute boys. None to go back to," Aria said.
"Any cute girls?" Emily asked obviously for herself. Aria laughed.
"There are cute girls in Germany. Blonde haired blue-eyed girls," Aria told her, "And tall."
"Only because you're short," Emily said.
"Probably," Aria said, "But there were some girls there taller than you and my cousin Anja who is 5'9". But my cousin Ansel, all the girls love him. He's like 6'5" with blue eyes and dark blonde hair," Aria said, "Anja's friends wanted to come over all the time just to see Ansel. But he was in his room all the time. He was the one who taught me to speak German for the most part. So, I gave him an excuse to be unavailable to talk to Anja's friends when they were over. So he owes me."
"Yeah, to be stampeded by beautiful girls is awful," Emily said, "Anyway, are you ready for that dinner tonight?" she asked.
"I guess so. It's just a dinner with my parents' friends and co-workers…and Jason." Aria said.
"Jason?" Emily asked, "As in DiLaurentis?"
"The same one," Aria replied, "Is something wrong with that?" she asked, "He's not going to kill me, Em. We're having dinner at my house. The two of us had dinner at my house last night and I'm still alive right now," Aria said, "I did get a strange text though. I swear only Ali could have sent it though."
"Aria, we are going to have to get together after your dinner tonight. I'll let Hanna and Spencer know," Emily said, "We didn't tell you a lot of stuff while you were away because we didn't want to get you involved, but you are now, so we have some explaining to do."
"I don't know if I'll be able to, but let me know when and where," Aria said.
Aria couldn't stop thinking about what Emily had said earlier that day as she was helping her mom get ready for dinner. They had cooked dinner, set the table and were now only waiting on their guests.
"Mom, Dad, can I spend the night at Spencer's with the other girls tonight?" Aria asked, "I haven't seen them at all until today and we just want to catch up."
"I suppose since you don't have school tomorrow you can go stay the night," Ella said, and Byron agreed.
"Just as long as it's okay with Veronica and Peter," Byron said.
"Spencer said they were going out for the night, but Melissa would be home, and Melissa is fine with it as long as we don't get too crazy."
"That's fine then," Ella said.
Then the doorbell rang.
CHAPTER TWO: JASON-Re-posted
