Thank you for the comments and favorites! ILoveJariaAndJapril27 requested for a Spaleb scene, I hope you'll enjoy it!
Jason DiLaurentis hung up his phone when yet again he heard the iphone operator tell him the voicemail box of the person he was trying to reach was full. He'd been back in the U.S., living with Nicole in New York City, for three weeks. Nicole Francesca had transformed from an opinionated, deep-thinking friend-turned-lover to a superficial Barbie, as if trying to force her southern roots straight through the concrete of the New York jungle. Jason was nearing the end of the little patience he had left of her. His plan was to go along with fantasy in Ethopia to pass the time, despite how guilty he felt, but then separate when the Corps mission was done. However, Nicole refused to go anywhere but with him.
The Carisimi group was doing well, and amidst the unreturned calls, texts and emails to Aria, he had been in close contact with the mayor of Boston. In a few short days he was planning a long weekend in Boston to scope out the available building space and hopefully find Aria. When he reached out to her family and friends all they could say was Aria had gone off the grid for a while to deal with a difficult work client, and offered no help in finding her. It seemed a bit strange that someone would have to go to such extremes to deal with a difficult client, but he knew the Hastings had an unlisted home number to prevent disgruntled clients or offenders from finding them. Little did he know Aria wasn't just dealing with a difficult client, but had a predator without a restraining order back in her picture.
Meanwhile, back up in Boston….
"Hey Spence, can you come in here for a sec?" Caleb called out across their new apartment from behind the bedroom door, smiling as he heard her groan in protest. They'd been moving and rearranging boxes for what felt like weeks, even though they'd only been in the apartment for a few days.
"Yes honey?" Spencer answered as cheerfully as possible and peered around the corner trying to gauge what sort of major project Caleb had started on. His style of moving was a bit haphazard for Spencer's liking and it had been a stressful morning. And then there was the apartment-warming party due to begin in less than 8 hours. Spencer was only a tad high-strung that morning.
"I found something strange in one of the boxes," he replied with a befuddled expression, holding an old faded blue jewelry box – the kind with a pop-up ballerina that plays music when opened.
"Oooooh," Spencer squealed a bit uncharacteristically, momentarily forgetting about the massive amount of work she had planned for the rest of the morning. "I forgot I had that! Melissa gave that to me for my 8th birthday! I wonder was sort of nonsense I have saved in there."
Caleb took a deep breath as Spencer approached with child-like excitement. He held the nearly-antique jewelry box out so she could examine it, while nervously clutching a smaller box in the left pocket of his hoodie. This was the moment he'd been psyching himself up for all week long. Caleb could hardly believe it'd only been a week since he walked into the boutique with Ted last Saturday, to pick out the perfect piece of jewelry for Spencer. Instead of jewelry, he rather felt as if he was in possession of a ticking time bomb. While Spencer busied herself searching her time capsule for any sort of memorabilia from second grade, Caleb took another deep breath, causing Spencer to glance up at him mildly annoyed for interrupting her trip down memory lane.
"Spence, these past few months in Boston have been amazing, " Caleb began with a concentrated effort to hold his words steady. "Remaining friends when you left D.C. was the right choice at the time, but after you left I had never felt so alone. That's the reason I applied for jobs in Boston, so I could be near you," he continued his speech nervously.
Spencer's attention had been taken fully from the jewelry box as she pondered why Caleb was all of a sudden getting sentimental. He didn't get that way when they'd moved in together in D.C.
Caleb then pulled her in for a hug he whispered "I love you Spence," as he softly kissed her cheek. "You're my best friend and I love spending time with you. In fact I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"I love you too," Spencer replied before Caleb's words had begun to sink in. Then, suddenly, the world stopped turning as she watched Caleb get down on one knee and pull a box out of his pocket. "I'm hoping you'd like to spend the rest of your life with me as well. Spencer Jill Hastings," he said as he opened the box to present an upside-down diamond ring, " you marry me?"
"Yes! Oh my god of course I will!" Spencer squealed again, as Caleb held her left hand and slid on the diamond onto her finger and kissed her hand.
Spencer wrapped her arms around Caleb's neck and brought her lips crashing onto his. She ran her tongue across his bottom lip, coaxing his tongue to dance with hers. Caleb responded swiftly, grabbing her hips and gently sliding his hands up her sides, toying with the waist band of her jeans. Spencer's hands found their way up under Caleb's shirt, and quickly pulled it up over his head to reveal rock-hard abs. Soon all their clothes were scattered across the bedroom floor and Caleb pulled Spencer on to their queen-sized bed. Spencer laid on top of her new fiancé, as she ground her hips to spread her excitement onto his leg and gently fondled his balls. Caleb responded to Spencer's touch with a loud groan, "oh fuck Spence, I won't last much longer if you keep teasing me like that." Spencer just smiled into their kiss as she looked down at the sparkling rock on her hand.
Caleb turned onto his side to get the upper hand on Spencer and began kissing down her neck as he gently pushed her onto her back. When he got to her breasts, he grazed each nipple gently between his teeth while tweaking the other deftly between his fingers. Spencer, powerless to his ministrations, laid back in ecstasy as Caleb continued to move south after he satisfied himself with her breasts. Caleb looked deep into her eyes as he kissed his way down to Spencer's core. He solemnly ran his tongue through her slit from back to front 4 or 5 times with his Saturday morning stubble adding to Spencer's excitement. When he could tell Spencer was about to lose her mind, Caleb focused his attention on her clit. With his tongue working magic on her clit, Caleb inserted a finger to rub her G-spot and bring Spencer screaming over the edge.
After holding his finger in position for a few moments as she rode out her orgasm, Caleb moved up to kiss Spencer. While she caught her breath, Spencer gently began rubbing Caleb's cock. Soon he was on top of her, inside of her, and rocking his hips slowly to allow Spencer to get adjusted. Propped up on one elbow, Caleb softly fingered her sensitive clit as he sensed Spencer's second wind coming on. Spencer tried to keep kissing Caleb, but she could barely hold herself together when Caleb began fucking her with everything he had. He dipped his finger into her wetness to fully lubricate her orgasm button and increased his speed until they reached mutual orgasm.
On the other side of town, Aria would have rather been anywhere on such a beautiful Saturday morning than sitting inside her favorite coffeeshop sipping a cappuccino as she and Liam worked through some notes, dreading the arrival of Ezra. Aria still couldn't believe that piece of scum was back in her life, and no one she worked with except for Liam knew the truth of their relationship. Aria had asked Jillian more than once to take her off the project, though not in those exact words.
"There's probably someone more objective than I, to work on this project," Aria mentioned nervously after their first meeting with Ezra on this second book. "Maybe Sophia?"
"Oh Aria, I know it's probably intimidating to work professionally with a former teacher, but we're all adults here," Jillian replied. "In fact, Ezra values your opinion especially and has requested you remain the lead contact for this project. You can make a name for yourself if you play your cards right." Jillian added a wink at the end of her statement for good measure.
Aria hung her head slightly, "Ok, I guess if that's what needs to be done, I'll do it."
"Oh Aria, don't be so dramatic. I think you'll do fine, especially with Liam. You two seem to work very well together, and I'm quite impressed at how professional the both of you are," Liam's good looks did not escape Jillian, despite their age difference.
So there Aria was, ruining a perfectly good Saturday with Liam by meeting with the monster she just could not seem to escape from.
Not too far away, on the day after meeting with the Boston mayor regarding office space for a new Carisimi chapter, Nicole dragged Jason to a small diner that was set back from the road with an outdoor seating area across from a cute little coffee shop. Jason would have preferred driving back to New York early – he even promised Nicole they could go out to the fancy sushi bar 'd been wanting to go to. When he told Nicole he'd be traveling to Boston for the weekend for work, she insisted on accompanying him. Thanks to her insistence on following him around on his work trip, there had been no way to even begin tracking down his true love. Jason now just wanted to leave before Nicole got too comfortable in this new city. He was already kicking himself for getting involved with her in the first place, and the longer he waited to break things off the harder it would be. But goddamn it, why had Aria been avoiding him? Maybe she was still mad about him leaving for a year? And now, even if he did find Aria, it would be mighty hard to explain Nicole. Oh, she was just a fling that happened when I missed you…and now she won't go away. That conversation would certainly not end well.
Jason absent-mindedly ordered a Rueben sandwich with kettle chips while Nicole ordered a chicken sandwich with a half bowl of chow-da. As soon as their waitress left Nicole began to drone on again about how much she loved Boston and couldn't imagine a better place to start their life together. Their food came and went, and though the food wasn't awful, because Jason had zero appetite he didn't really enjoy it.
"So do you want to go tonight?" Nicole asked for the third time, trying to break through the dense fog around her boyfriend's head.
"Back to the city? Yeah, that sounds great," Jason replied, looking up from the credit card slip he was signing.
"No, silly, the party," she replied flirtatiously, as if she hadn't the slightest clue Jason was not really interested in spending time with her anymore.
Jason had no clue what she was talking about. What sort of party is she imagining? "What party?" he dutifully asked.
"Don't you remember me telling you about it last night when I got back?" She was fairly intoxicated when she got back last night, Jason remembered.
Nicole had left Jason's potential new office Friday afternoon in a huff because he insisted on getting work done for the Carisimi move rather than going out to play all afternoon. As luck would have it, Nicole stumbled upon Barney and Ted at the Skellar that fine afternoon, when Barney had a wicked hankering for Cajun. They spent the afternoon hanging out in the bar flirting shamelessly, but when Barney tried to take Nicole back to his place she demurely said she wouldn't sleep with a guy on the first date. Despite striking out, Barney was on the hook, thinking she was only in town for the weekend, and Nicole was so pissed at Jason she had neglected to mention him.
"Our friends just moved in across the hall from me," Ted jumped in, then mentioned an apartment-warming party the next day. "Maybe if you're still in town you can stop by?"
Ted was playing the casual wing-man with a secret intent of getting his own hands on Nicole before Barney did. Nicole certainly seemed more Barney's type – air-headed and ditzy – but she was fun and seemed to be putting on a show for Barney. Ted could tell she had some sort of deep side that she'd buried behind the superficial persona she'd adopted since moving back to the States. Her transformation to holier-than-thou Peace Corps worker irritated Jason to no end, but appealed to Barney, who pretended that beneath the suit he was a like-minded tree-hugger, intent to make the world a better place. Come hell or high water, someone was going to his hands on the not-so-sweet southern belle before the weekend was over.
"Oh, right," Jason responded thoughtfully. "Though if we're planning to stay another day or two I'd like to run back through the numbers I presented to the mayor yesterday and scope out the building space a bit more. You can join me if you like, but it sounds like the party would be more entertaining for you." He tried not to sound like an asshole, considering he was still tied to the girl for the time being, but hoped deep down she'd meet someone else. That would make it easier for him to look like the good guy in the end, and besides, he was hoping for some time alone to find Aria.
"Well if you're sure that's okay with you, I think I'll go to the party. That way I can get to know some people before we move up here," Nicole responded hopefully.
"Yeah, sure," he replied, standing up from the table. As they walked away from the diner, he caught a glimpse of a familiar-looking dark-haired guy walking into the coffee shop across the way and his heart started pounding.
Aria felt a weight slam down on her chest when she saw Ezra walk into the coffee shop. Liam reached out to gently squeeze Aria's hand, offering reassurance and reminding her she wasn't alone. Because Ezra had decided it would be best for his book to move to Boston, he did so with his girlfriend Maggie and their son Malcom; it was suspicious to no one except Aria and her two confidants, Liam and Spencer.
As she had anticipated, the torment began not long after Ezra moved to Boston. Aria had to change her number, personal email address and delete social media accounts after multiple messages from Ezra. He continued to insist they belonged together – or rather she belonged to him. Maggie, he said, was along to cover their relationship. Ezra tried to convince Aria to engage in another inappropriate relationship because it would be exciting for both of them – he told her the sex would be even better than before. Ezra made a habit of touching her whenever possible during their meetings. Merely brushing up against her arm made Aria squirm, and Ezra found that incredibly exciting. He even went as far as discretely pinching her ass whenever he got the chance. He told her how hot it made him to think of carrying on their secret relationship right under everyone's nose – her boss, her coworker, her roommates, even his other girlfriend and their son. When Aria started getting lewd naked pictures of Ezra she knew she had to change her number. The final straw was the video Ezra sent of him fucking Maggie after she'd passed out from drinking too much. Aria was afraid to tell anyone because Ezra threatened to spin the story that Aria was harassing him, and who would everyone believe? A young editor and former student obsessed with her attractive teacher, or a successful author with a picture-perfect family and a lot to lose? Obviously, he said, the public would believe the (in)famous Ezra Fitz. Aria would just look like a gold-digging whore. Or so he threatened her. She was too afraid to even tell Spencer or Liam – though they certainly had suspicions, neither one had any idea how terrifying it had become for Aria.
Ezra got his coffee and went to sit at the table with Aria and Liam, a little disappointed that Liam, the wall, and the table all stood in the way of his prey. Liam broke the ice as he brought up a section of the new book that he felt the tone was a little unnerving. Ezra's first book, Ostinato, he claimed was about the unchained melody of his relationship he had with a girl in high school, and his follow up book revolved around his idyllic view of what could be viewed by most as a dystopian relationship. He had given vague hints that the subject of his books was the love of his life, presumably Maggie, the girl he'd gotten pregnant in high school and recently reconnected with. Any relationship had its ups and downs, and what he described was a whirlwind of a pushy mother, hush money, a dark secret and finding the light. Liam began to suspect Maggie was nothing but a racket, a relationship front to hide the fact he was harassing a former lover & student, getting his rocks off over it, and making millions selling the book. Liam feared for Aria's well-being and in the week since Spencer moved out of their apartment he had been sleeping at Aria's. The first few nights he stayed on the couch, but Aria's fear of Ezra and the proximity of her daily interactions with him, had pushed her into Liam's comforting arms, and though they were not lovers, she had welcomed him into her bed the past few nights.
Ezra was not inclined to listen to Liam's thinly veiled accusations of his character's predatory nature, and looked to Aria for affirmation that Liam was acting as if he was jealous of the character. Aria stared down at her notes, remembering the last video Ezra had sent her before she changed her number, and tried to blink back tears. How could he think his superficial kindness, saccharine-sweet voice he used to elicit a positive reaction from her was believable? Because he is Ezra fucking Fitz, she thought bitterly.
"You know what," Aria replied, jumping in to the verbal brawl between her coworker and stalker as she continued fighting a losing battle with her tears, "I'm not feeling well today. Can we pick this up Monday? I had a really intense week at work and need some time to clear my mind."
"That sounds like a great idea," Liam quickly agreed.
Ezra looked at Aria with an icy stare but before he could say anything he heard his son yelling out to him. "Hey Dad, Mom's got some great news! I'm gonna be a big brother!"
"Yeah, Monday sounds good," Ezra replied, softening his expression before anyone noticed his threatening stare at Aria. "Besides, it sounds like I've got some great news to celebrate!"
Liam and Aria walked out of the café and headed back to her place. It was only 2 pm, so they had some time to relax before the Spencer and Caleb's apartment-warming part at 6.
Around 4 pm Aria and Liam walked into the Skellar for a drink before heading up to Spencer & Caleb's. It had taken a long hot shower, a vegan burrito from the Mexican restaurant down the street, and a couple episodes of Cheers to put Aria in the mood for fun after the hellacious meeting they'd had with Ezra. Aria knew Liam was picking up on her higher-than-normal anxiety around Ezra and that he was particularly worried when he'd seen her put her phone down the garbage disposal a few days ago; it was only a matter of time before she told him about Ezra's new abuse.
They saw their group of friends – Robin, Lilly, Sophia, Ted & Marshall sitting at their normal booth in the middle of the room, and after ordering drinks from the bar they joined in the pre-apartment-warming-party party.
"Where's Barney?" Aria asked, as if she didn't expect him to be acting out another outrageous scheme to get laid.
"At church, of course," Robin replied with an extravagant flourish of bringing her hands together and bowing in prayer.
Aria just quirked her eyebrows. This should be good.
"No, really," Sophia replied, unsuccessfully stifling her laughter. "He's been on a Cajun kick apparantly and the best way to find a good southern girl is at the local Baptist church."
"We met some girl Nicole in here yesterday," Ted joined in the conversation. "She just got back to the States from a Peace Corps mission in Ethiopia. Barney's trying to woo her by playing some innocent, peace-loving granola freak, and asked her to go to church with him to meet his father the minister."
"Barney's father is a minister?" Liam asked suspiciously.
"No, not really," Marshall explained. "His half-brother's dad is a minister. Barney's never actually met his dad and he harbors some crazy delusion that Bob Barker is his father."
Liam had no response other than shaking his head in amusement. Of course Barney thought Bob Barker was his father.
Around 6, everyone left the bar to head up to Spencer & Caleb's new digs. As soon as Aria brought the bottle of champagne to Spencer, the one Carl had been nice enough to keep on ice for her behind the bar at the Skellar, she saw the humongous diamond on Spencer's hand.
"Oh my God, Spence!" she shrieked, practically pulling Spencer onto the ground with her over-zealous reaction to the sparkly new jewelry on Spencer's hand. "Congratulations, I'm soooo excited for you! That ring is beautiful!"
"You're welcome," Ted interjected loudly, drawing surprised looks from the crowd before explaining, "I went ring-shopping with Caleb last weekend."
"Well you have fantastic taste," Sophia complemented as she too admired the diamond on Spencer's hand.
"Congrats, man," Marshall clapped Caleb on the back as Ted shook his hand.
"Let's pop the bubbly," Lilly said excitedly from the group of women now huddled around Spencer, admiring her ring and hugging her. "Why don't you do the honors, Caleb? You could ask Marshall to do it, but he'd break a window or give someone a black eye," Lilly added referencing some inside joke about an anniversary celebration of theirs gone awry.
"Sounds like a great idea, can you grab some cups, Ted?" Caleb responded. They'd just moved in and didn't exactly have a plethora of fancy glassware so Spencer had picked up some high-quality plastic drinkware for the evenings shenanigans.
Caleb poured while Ted passed the cups around. One bottle of champagne divided by 9 people didn't allow for high volume drinks, but enough for a toast.
"I'd like to propose a toast," Caleb began. "To our new apartment and my beautiful fian-"
"Don't worry kids," Barney interrupted as he made his self-aggrandized entrance escorting Jason DiLaurentis' girlfriend. "The fun has arrived!"
"…ce'." Caleb mumbled. Everyone else just stood awkwardly by, not sure how to proceed.
"Ooooh, champagne," Nicole spoke with a coy smile. "I guess your friends really were waiting for us to get here."
"You weren't really thinking of starting the celebration without us, were you?" Barney asked with mock hurt in his voice, staring at the dumbfounded crowd and wondering where his champagne was.
"Actually, Barney," Ted used his scolding voice. "You're late, and we're celebrating Caleb and Spencer's engagement."
"Well I never," Barney began theatrically, "we've been at church like good Christians." Ted just rolled his eyes.
"Cheers to the hosts," Marshall bellowed over Barney's antics. Everyone with champagne raised their cup before downing it like a shot.
"Who's your friend, Barney," Lilly asked with disgust, to get the elephant out of the room and ignore the little tart. Hopefully Barney was just here to parade the dumb bitch around before taking her back to her hotel, or alley, or wherever.
"This is Nicole Francesca," Barney began his overly-grandiose introduction. "She has just returned from a Peace Corps mission in Ethiopia."
Aria froze. Could this be the Nicole Jason spent so much time with?
"Spencer, wasn't Jason in Ethiopia?" Aria was almost too afraid to ask, not wanting to know this was the girl Jason had forgotten her over, and not wanting to let her true feelings for Jason show. Nobody in the room except Aria knew about her relationship with or deep love for Jason DiLaurentis.
"Ooooh, Jason DiLaurentis?" Nicole asked excitedly.
Aria nodded in despair, "he's Spencer's half-brother."
"Of course I know Jason! He didn't tell me his sister lived here – if I had known maybe I could've dragged him out with me tonight!" Nicole said excitedly before turning wistful. "He's sooo bogged down with getting his charity off the ground in Boston he barely has any time for me."
Ted and Barney turned their heads so fast they practically got whiplash. This sneaky bitch has a boyfriend?
"Oh, you're dating my brother?" Spencer asked, head reeling from all the excitement of the day.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. We were on the same mission in Ethiopia, and when we were done he asked me to move to New York with him," Nicole said, clueless as to the sudden interest in her boyfriend. "But once we got back State-side he turned a bit of a cold shoulder on me. I think it's just due to work stress.
"Where in New York do you guys live?" Aria asked as she poured herself a drink. Despite the hurt, she had to know what Jason was up to.
"We're kind of in the Hell's Kitchen area," Nicole was actually quite clueless as to where they lived, but she knew how locals referred to the area and wanted to sound like she knew everything about it. "But we're moving up here to Boston soon. Jason's charity group has grown so much over the past year they are looking to branch out. I can't wait to get out of NYC, the air is so much fresher up here!"
Aria took a huge gulp of the vodka soda she'd just poured and started choking when she heard Nicole say they were moving to Boston. What the fuck is she talking about, the air is fresher? Having Ezra around made it hard enough to breathe, what was she gonna do when the love of her life and his bimbo girlfriend moved to Boston?
"Oh hey," Liam was by her side instantly. "Are you ok?"
Aria nodded behind reddened cheeks as she fought to stifle her cough and hide the sudden sickness she felt. When Liam reached behind her to rub her back gently she leaned her head into his shoulder and whispered "thank you," quiet enough nobody could hear it.
"Barney's told me all about his job working for the NRDC, all the work he's doing to preserve the environment," Nicole began, enjoying everyone's attention. "What do the rest of you do?"
"I'm a kindergarten teacher," Lilly said.
"News anchor for Channel 1," Robin added.
"Architect professor, but you already know that," Ted said with a seductive smile, which looked absolutely ridiculous to everyone else.
"Law school," Marshall and Spencer said in unison.
"Information Technology," Caleb said.
"Aria, Sophia and I work for Umbrella Publishing," Liam added.
"Umbrella Publishing," Nicole replied quizzically. "Why does that sound familiar? Oh, I think Jason told me his sister's friend got a job there."
"That would be me," Aria managed weakly, almost shamefully.
"Is it true then, about you and Ezra Fitz? Did you really date the guy when he was your English teacher?" Nicole asked excitedly. "I'd bang him if he was my English teacher, god he's fucking hot."
Aria felt sick to her stomach.
"Oh my god Aria, you never told me you fucked Fitz!" Sophia interjected excitedly, certainly feeling her at least 5th Captain & Diet. "Is it awkward working with him now? Especially with that smokin' hot girlfriend he's got. Maggie I think her name is? Hot damn, I get in bed with both of 'em if I had the chance."
Well this is getting awkward, Aria thought, wishing she could just melt into the floor. Sophia's sexual prowess only came out when they were really drunk.
"Are you two still fucking, then?" Nicole asked bluntly.
"Hey, who wants a tour of the apartment?" Spencer jumped in quickly to save her friend.
"Nah, I'm good. I assume it looks just like Ted and Marshall's place," Barney said, enjoying the awkward conversation. "I want to hear more of Aria's love life and Sophia's bisexual bed-time stories."
Spencer glared at Barney as Caleb walked over and grabbed his arm to lead him through the living room.
"The furniture and art work is different here," Caleb growled at Barney as he pulled him along the impromptu apartment tour.
Spencer then turned to see the pain in Aria's face and she was downing another glass of vodka with only a splash of soda. After Caleb pulled Barney and Nicole away, Nicole refused to give up Barney's arm despite his attempts to escape, Spencer walked over to Aria and Liam.
"Do you want to go back downstairs to escape the awkwardness for a bit? After a few drinks I'm sure they'll find something else to talk about," Spencer asked gently.
Aria struggled to nod her head, as if the pain in her eyes was much too heavy to handle. With that, Liam offered his arm to Aria and Spencer took Aria's other hand in hers to lead her down the stairs. On their way out Spencer texted Caleb to let him know they were leaving. Presumably Caleb also knew about Ezra's abuse by now, and that Nicole's insensitive comments struck a raw nerve. Nobody knew the real pain Aria felt arose from Nicole's mention of Jason DiLaurentis.
Back down at the bar, Carl the bartender was a bit surprised to see Aria back already. Carl was a bit of a meat head on the outside, but had a soft heart and a particular interest in the tiny brunette escorted by her two friends.
"What the hell happened in the 30 minutes she was upstairs?" Carl asked Spencer and Liam somewhat accusingly when he saw the tears in Aria's eyes.
"She's had a rough week," Spencer began, "and that bimbo Barney brought upstairs struck a raw nerve and we had to get her out of there before she started drinking straight from the bottle of vodka."
Carl nodded in understanding. Aria was adorable and tons of fun but things could get ugly when she pushed her low alcohol tolerance. He poured a couple beers for Spencer and Liam then a Shirley Temple with extra cherries for Aria.
"Thank you, Carl," she said smiling shyly at the bartender. "I love extra cherries."
A couple hours later, Spencer decided she needed to head back up to her party, and Liam decided it was time to take Aria home.
"Sophia is going to be nervous when we don't return, but you can just tell her Aria isn't feeling well and I'll let her know when I get her home," Liam told Spencer as he guided their petite brunette friend towards the door.
"Ok, let me know when you get home too," Spencer said. "And take care of my friend," she added unnecessarily, waving to Liam and Aria.
As Liam and Aria reached the climbed the steps up to the street from the Skellar, Jason DiLaurentis arrived at the adjacent steps that led up to the apartment Spencer & Caleb had just moved into. Nicole had called him to tell him she was at his sister's place, celebrating her engagement to Caleb, and though he knew it would be awkward to see Aria with Nicole attached to his arm, he had to see her again after all the time they'd been apart. Jason needed better a picture of Aria than the last memory he had of her sobbing on the floor in the Philadelphia airport before he left to go to Ethiopia. He was certainly not expecting to see Aria stumbling up the steps with some other guy, and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Aria?" he asked, hoping Liam was not a serious boyfriend.
Aria turned to the sound of Jason's voice, as tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh hi Jason, if you're looking for your sister and your girlfriend they're up in apartment 3B."
"I'm Liam," Liam shook Jason's hand. "Aria's had a bad week and Nicole struck on a raw nerve when she brought up Ezra Fitz. I'm going to make sure she gets home safely, but everyone's having a good time upstairs." Liam had no clue he'd just witnessed the first interaction in over a year between lovers torn apart by unfortunate circumstances.
Soooo…..Spencer & Caleb are now engaged. Liam is practically living with Aria. Ezra is with Maggie again and continues to be a predatory creep towards Aria. Nicole is a cheap floosey, and somewhat delusional. How will the relationships evolve when Jason & Nicole move to Boston?
Thank you all for reading – I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave me a review if you have the time – I know it seems like every writer says this, but – it is really encouraging. Also, feel free to drop an idea you'd like to see incorporated!