CHAPTER FIVE
"So, how did lunch go?" Aria asked when Spencer called her the next day.
"It was okay," Spencer said, "Mrs. DiLaurentis gave us all dresses to wear for a memorial she wants to do at the very end of the show tomorrow night. We have one for you too," Spencer told her, "She didn't know you were back or you would have been invited, she told us."
"Exciting," Aria said sarcastically, "What kind of memorial does she want to do?" she asked.
"Just like a photo slideshow," Spencer said, "With the four of us on the catwalk because 'that's what Ali would want'."
"And who is putting this all together?" Aria asked.
"Well, I was thinking you could," Spencer said, "Since you didn't have to sit through that lunch you could just go through some photos and put a slideshow together with some nice music. Super easy."
"Don't you think Mrs. D would want to approve the photos?" Aria asked.
"Well, apparently you're all buddy buddy with Jason. Why don't you just run them by him?" Spencer said.
"We're friends, Spencer," Aria said, "It's not a big deal. And I wasn't here for it, but wasn't Toby an issue for a while? Why does Jason have to be?"
"Because he's creepy. He bought that house and lives there all by himself and doesn't ever talk to anyone," Spencer said.
"Maybe because people are awful to him and don't ever bother getting to know him before deciding whether they should get to know him," Aria said, "But, yeah, I'll run some photos by him."
"Thank you," Spencer said not acknowledging any other part of what Aria had said, "I'll drop this dress by your house later."
"Alright, talk to you later," Aria said. When Aria hung up with Spencer she texted Jason.
ARIA: Hey, are you busy?
JASON: No. Why?
ARIA: I just need some help with something if you don't mind.
JASON: What's up?
ARIA: I have to do a slideshow/memorial thing for the fashion show for Ali and I wanted help picking out photos.
ARIA: You really don't have to I was just wondering.
JASON: I'll do it.
ARIA: Thank you! Can I come over there? My parents have people over.
JASON: No problem.
ARIA: Okay. I'll be there soon.
JASON: See you soon then.
Aria got to Jason's house 30 minutes later. Instead of driving she there. It was too late to turn back by then. But she had her bag with her laptop and a book with some photos of Alison and the rest of the girls for her and Jason to go through.
She rang the doorbell and not long after Jason answered the door.
"Hey," she greeted with a smile on her face.
"Hey back," he said letting her into the house, "You cold?" he asked.
"No, why?" she replied.
"You're wearing a giant hoodie and sweatpants," Jason pointed out, "And did you walk all the way here?"
"Yeah," she told him, "And these clothes are comfortable."
"They swallow you. That thing goes down to your knees almost," he laughed.
"Where do you want to do this?" Aria asked glaring at him.
"Uh, the kitchen I guess," he said and led her over to the island in the kitchen where three chairs were lined up. The last time Aria was in this kitchen was the night Alison went missing. She was standing in this spot with Jason and his friends waiting for Ali to show up. She could also recall one time before everything with Alison happened that she was in the DiLaurentis house. They were usually at Spencer's or Emily's nobody wanted to be around Jason or his friends, but Aria remembered every time she was there.
FLASHBACK
(two months before Alison's disappearance)
Aria was the only one awake at 3:00am. She was a self-proclaimed insomniac. She always had a hard time falling asleep and when she finally did fall asleep it was in the early morning hours. Alison and Emily were in Alison's bed while Hanna and Aria slept on the floor in sleeping bags. Hanna was out cold, and it seemed like Emily and Alison were as well, so Aria got up and went downstairs to get some water. When she got downstairs she saw Jason was passed out on the couch in the living room. His shoes were still on and his hair was a mess. Aria took the blanket from the back of the couch and laid it on top of him hoping not to wake him. He didn't move.
She made her way to the kitchen and turned on the light. She walked over to the cupboard where she knew the cups were stored and opened it. The only glass in that cabinet was on the second shelf, which was too high for her to reach without help. But she had no help, so she was going to have to help herself. Aria stood on the tip of her toes and reached for the glass. She nearly had it when she slipped. She lost her balance and landed on her knee on the tile floor of kitchen while the glass fell to the marble countertop, shattering.
"Shit," Aria exclaimed trying to be quiet and not wake anyone in the house. She put her hands on the countertop to pull herself up and cried out in pain and fell back to the floor. Hundreds of tiny shards of glass embedded themselves into her hands.
"What the hell is going on in here?" a sleepy Jason asked looking around the room. At first, he didn't see anything, but then he noticed Aria on the floor and blood dripping from her hands.
"I broke a cup," she said gesturing to the broken cup on the counter, "I didn't mean to wake you up. Sorry," she apologized.
"Don't worry about the damn cup, Aria. You're bleeding," Jason said. He walked over, and he could hear glass crunching under his shoes. The glass spread far, "This can be taken care of later. How bad are your hands?" he asked.
"Oh, just a few hundred glass shards. No big deal," Aria said, "And I bumped my knee. But I'm okay," Jason only shook his head in disbelief.
"Grab on, I'm gonna carry you to the bathroom so we can get all that glass out and clean it up," Jason said, "I'll take care of the mess out there. How did that even happen?" he asked.
"I'm short," Aria shrugged.
END FLASHBACK
"Do you remember that time I broke a cup in here and blamed it on my shortness?" Aria asked him.
"Yeah," he laughed, "It took like two hours to get most of the glass out of your hands with my mother's tweezers."
"That hurt like a bitch," Aria said as she logged into her computer.
"Well, maybe ask for help next time," Jason said.
"Nobody else was awake," Aria reminded him, "Now shush. We have pictures to look at."
Jason didn't seem to care much on which ones Aria put in the memorial. He would ask where a certain photo was taken and when. Sometimes he would have to ask who some people were; friends of Ali's who Jason didn't know. They were also friends that Aria didn't know.
He did comment a lot on Aria's pink hair and how it was one of the only things he remembered from that summer.
"Did my mother ask you to do this?" Jason asked after a while.
"No, yes, not really," Aria said, "She told the other girls that she wanted to do a memorial thing and Spencer volunteered me to get photos together. Then I asked you. So, no she did not ask me. Spencer did."
"Alright," Jason said, "We'll go with that."
CHAPTER FIVE:PHOTOGRAPHS-Re-posted
