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By the time Aria made it to her gate, the plane was already boarding. She sat on the floor by the tram in a daze for what felt like hours after Jason left. Aria was too heart-broken to watch him ride away so she kept her head between her knees until a security guard finally came over to see if she needed help.

"Are you alright miss?" the nice man whose nametag said DWAYNE asked the grief-stricken girl sitting on the floor crying. "Do you want me to help you find your gate?"

Aria looked up, embarrassed to be on the ground sobbing in the middle of a busy airport, and slowly nodded her head. Dwayne offered her his hand and she graciously accepted the assistance. "I'm going to gate A17, to Boston," she said.

Dwayne led her a short walk to the gate, where the plane was already boarding, and asked her if she would be ok. Aria nodded her head shyly and thanked the guard for his assistance.

The plane for the short flight from Philly to Boston was surprisingly small and Aria was lucky enough to have a seat in row one. Well, lucky in that she didn't have to fight her way all the way to the back, but unlucky because she was nearly the last one on the plane and could barely fit her carry-on into the overhead bin. As she sat down to buckle her seat belt, she could feel a growing pain in her chest, a pain that held her heart in a vice grip – threatening to crush it at any moment. The sobbing had subsided, but now she couldn't get the man she loved, the man she had let out of her head. I love you Aria. Be safe. The phrase kept repeating on a loop, and the words hadn't sunk in until after the tram car pulled away from the station. When she finally managed to look up it was long gone. No spoken good bye, no good-bye wave, no "I love you too." What have I done?

Aria didn't register she was intently reading the exit route strategy from the seat in pocket in front of her and hyperventilating until the stewardess captured her attention. "Nervous about the flight, miss?" the young lady named Carrie asked. "How about a glass of wine, on the house? Do you like red or white?"

Aria looked up, deer-in-the-headlights style. "Huh? Oh, yeah I suppose I'm a bit nervous," which was an only partially true, but an excellent cover so she wouldn't have to spill her guts about letting the man of her dreams slip through her fingers just moments earlier. "I guess a chardonnay sounds good, thank you," she said genuinely, through a forced smile. The flight went smoothly and the plane landed at Logan International Airport right on time for rush hour, 4:38 pm. Thankfully Aria's interview wasn't until the following day.

Once she made it to her hotel by 6:15 she realized she had neither eaten anything all day nor prepared for her interview scheduled for 10 am the next day. After checking into her room, she perused the room service menu only to find zero palatable vegetarian options. Looks like I have to face the world again she thought despairingly. The wine on the plane made that ride bearable, but being stuck in the cab during rush hour brought her back to nearly full-fledged panic.

Aria counted the squares on the linoleum as she ambled through the lobby of the hotel when a familiar voice echoed through the crowd currently evacuating the elevator. "Aria!" Spencer yelled with a smile, waving her hand wildly to knock Aria out of her dazed wandering.

"Holy shit, Spencer! What are you doing here?!" Aria shouted, genuinely happy for the first time since she woke up to Jason's smiling face earlier that morning, before she realized today would be goodbye.

"I'm here visiting BU law school, I'm thinking of transferring from Georgetown," Spencer replied. "How 'bout you? Do you still work in Philly?"

"No, the Philly gig was temporary, kind of like an internship. I'm here for an interview with Umbrella Publishing Company," Aria replied dejectedly. "Hopefully it goes better than the last few interviews I've had."

"Wow! Umbrella Publishing – that's huge!" Spencer was genuinely happy for her friend and felt awful for falling out of touch so quickly after the few weeks they were called to Rosewood for Charlotte's hearing and murder investigation. But she couldn't bear to linger in the town of terror once called home.

"Are you hungry Aria?" Spencer asked, concerned for Aria's rattled appearance. "I'm sure a good Portobello burger and some polenta fries would work wonders for you," Spencer continued. "Come with me, I know just the place."

Spencer did, in fact, know just the place for excellent vegetarian food, as well as a fine wine selection. They discussed Spencer's decision to move from D.C. to Boston, based around her ex-boyfriend with his new exotically-beautiful politician wife living in the same district. Aria lamented failing the last three job interviews she had in Philly, probably due to the distraction of Rosewood - the release, funeral and murder trial, as well as constant reminders of Ezra and the hell she had endured in high school. Nothing about Spencer's half-brother was mentioned. Nobody knew about Jason and Aria's short-lived, intense relationship, except for a few nameless people in the Philly airport that saw Aria's meltdown. Seeing Spencer was just the thing Aria needed that night. By the end of the night, Aria was chatting away happily, thanks to the distraction. Then Spencer put on her professional face and coached Aria for the interview. Deep down Spencer knew Aria didn't actually need the coaching, she just needed the confidence to be herself, which seemed to have slipped away in recent weeks.

After dinner and drinks, Spencer walked her petite friend to her room. Remembering her job interview Aria had limited her wine consumption, but Spencer had not. As the taller girl, Spencer felt it was her duty to make sure Aria made it home safely, despite Spencer being the one stumbling slightly.

"Thanks for tonight, Spence," Aria said to her friend leaning on her door frame while she fished the room key out of her purse. "Are you ok to get back to your room?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just one floor up and second door on the left," Spencer said with a wink before leaning in to kiss Aria on the cheek. "Go get 'em tomorrow tiger!" With that Spencer turned back towards the elevator, straightening herself out.

"Good night, Spence!" Aria called to her friend.

"Good night, Little One," Spencer turned around to blow Aria a kiss. Aria chuckled to herself as she watched her tough-exteriored friend's drunken attempts to flirt with her. Being around Toby must really be taking a toll on her. "Don't forget to call me after you ace your interview!"

Aria flicked on the light as she walked into her dark room. After emptying the bladder she thought would explode at any minute, she looked in the mirror. Today had taken a major toll on her, but a surprise night out with Spencer was her saving grace. She downed two cups of water, brushed her teeth, washed her face and slept soundly.

Two weeks after she started her new job in Boston, Aria was settling in to spend a quiet Friday night at home watching Netflix. Aria was scrolling through her phone app, debating Gilmore Girls or Friends, when she heard a loud bang on the door. She was not expecting anyone, so she was pleasantly surprised to open it and find Spencer holding a bouquet of lilacs and purple lilies and a gold "Congratulations!" helium balloon, yelling "Surprise!".

Aria dropped her phone and jumped into Spencer's arms, between the flowers and ridiculous balloon. "Oh my god Spence! I can't believe you're here!"

"Well lucky for you, I'm here to stay. I officially transferred to BU Law School so I could get away from Toby. Are you in need of a roommate?" Spencer snuck in her ulterior motive for visiting Aria. Boston was an expensive place to live and since she was transferring mid-semester (things were that bad being near Toby and Yvonne) apartments were scarce.

"Of course! I'd love to have you!" Aria was offered substantially more than expected from Umbrella Publishing, and sprung for a luxury two-bedroom apartment. "When do you start at BU?"

"I have a week and a half," Spencer replied, grateful for her gracious friend. "I'm just here for the weekend, and I can get the rest of my stuff from my room near Georgetown early next week if that's ok. Assuming you don't have any major plans I would be interrupting if I asked you to let me stay here."

"Of course you can stay! Team Sparia, together at last!" Aria was all of a sudden ready to go out and face the world outside of her apartment and work cubby. "You in the mood for a drink?"

Meanwhile, halfway across the earth, Jason DiLaurentis lay awake in his tent. He'd been in Ethiopia for a month, and while he was busy during the days, helping the poor community build itself up, he was briefly able to push Aria from his mind. But at night, after the others in the Corps fell asleep under their own mosquito nets, Jason lay awake remembering the times he shared with Aria. Their first night together. Her falling asleep on his shoulder while watching late night movies. The way she smelled. And then worst of all, the painful goodbye. Boarding that tram while Aria sat sobbing with her head between her knees was heart-wrenching. He had cried himself to sleep for days after that.

a/n: Today is day 4 of my 7-in-a-row posting challenge to myself, so I'm kind of in "automatic writing" mode with minimal editing. Hopefully there aren't too many errors. I think the last paragraph about Jason may seem a bit rushed. I'm planning to focus on Aria's life and what happened to her in Boston, but also curious about how Jason deals with his feelings for Aria when he's so far away. Liam and Ezra will be involved in upcoming chapters for angst, and I think it will be fun to see what happens when Spencer and Aria live together in Boston! Let me know what you think, if you have any ideas for scenes, I have a vague idea of how I want the story to go, but I love throwing in extra details when I can. After my 7 day posting crush I will begin posting longer chapters, but only once a week or so. I hope you enjoy the ride!