How it should've been Chapter 14 Bachelorette Party
A/N: I've been battling severe writer's block (yadda, yadda, yadda) and the biggest challenge I have is over-thinking things. I have so many different plot lines criss-crossed in my mind, half-spewed ideas strewn hell-west and crooked throughout my apartment and hard drive, I don't even know where one story ends and the next one begins. I have severe anxiety about getting facts backwards of plot lines out of order, and it's so severe it makes writing stressful. Anyhoo, I'm rambling.
It was down to two weeks before Spencer & Caleb say "I do." Spencer's mind was full-on racing 110% of the time. Veronica's insistence on hiring a wedding planner caused more problems than it solved. Somehow, Melissa had convinced Veronica it was necessary. Cori was a nice girl, a little crazy sometimes, but completely not necessary. Hanna had a mild meltdown when Cori showed up to the caterer's. Spencer went along with the wedding planner because she was sick of fighting with Melissa every step of the way. Melissa did not take well to not being in the wedding party, and so she inserted herself wherever possible. Melissa insisted that Spencer's asking Hanna to help with wedding planning was meant to be a slap in the face. That Spencer wanted to rub Hanna's face in the fact she, not Hanna, was the one marrying Caleb. Spencer really couldn't handle the drama, and Melissa was going out of her way to sow discord amongst the bridal party.
All on her own, and without Melissa's help, Aria's mind seemed to be in a constant state of disarray. There was the book to worry about on top of planning the details of Spencer's wedding (yes, there seemed to be a lot of people planning, but there are a lot of details to worry about, right?). And Jason. Every morning Aria woke up next to him, she had to pinch herself to make sure she was really awake. That this was not some sort of dream.
Things in Rosewood were, to put it lightly, tense. On top of Melissa's passive-aggressive power trip, Alison was back in town. With Nicole. The whole town was one big powder-keg, just waiting to explode.
On this particular Friday, Spencer, Aria, Lilly and Robin all took the second half of the day off. The plan was to head to Rosewood, spend the night at the Radley, then take off for Philly in the morning. Mona, Hanna and Emily met them at the bar for Happy Hour at 5 pm.
After the traditional "oh my god, it's so good to see you," "I'm so excited for your wedding/bachelorette party," etc., the Bridal Party pushed together two high tops in the Radley bar area. Shortly thereafter, a thin brunette in 5" stilettos walked over to take their order.
"Kelly, I have no idea how you can serve in those fabulous shoes," Hanna commented with mock jealousy. "I mean, your balance, amazing, how do you do it?"
"It helps that I don't have tree stumps for legs, Han," Kelly replied jokingly. Emily rolled her eyes at the typical banter. Apparently, Hanna and this Kelly girl were good friends from fashion school or something.
"So what'll it be tonight ladies? I hear someone's in the mood to let loose," Kelly winked at Spencer, who returned a quirked eyebrow and puzzled expression.
"I don't know if I'm in the mood for it, but I think it's expected," Spencer replied. "I'll have some kind of pink fruity drink I guess. Surprise me."
"Oooh, I love the 'guess this drink' game!" Aria piped up with typical Aria excitement. "Surprise me too!" 'Guess this drink' was something Carl the bartender at the Skellar liked to play. It all started one evening when the crew was closing the bar down in the middle of the week. Robin had just gotten a promotion and they all went out to celebrate. Carl was bored and Aria was indecisive, so he made her close her eyes while he made a drink for her. Then she had to guess what kind of drink it was. There was no real prize, except for a high five from Barney, a wink from Carl or a free drink.
Just as Kelly delivered their second round of drinks, Mona's eyes got wide. A low "uh oh" was muttered and Spencer turned to look in the direction of Mona's gaze. Alison. Nicole. Melissa. "Motherfucker," Spencer said under her breath. The three unwelcome ladies, if you could call them that, sauntered over to the bridal party.
"Oh, Spencer it's so good to see you! I wish you told me you were going to be here. I had to hear about the festivities from Alison," Melissa spoke with saccharine sweetness.
"You're not welcome for the festivities," Hanna stood up, nose-to-nose with Melissa. "None of you are," she glared at the other two bitches.
"Last time I checked, the Radley was a public establishment," Alison spoke with daggers flying from her pupils. "And it's not every night I can find a baby sitter for our twins," she turned and glared at Emily.
"Oh you mean the girls that have the DiLaurentis nose and Caulderone eyes?" Emily spat back.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lilly piped up. "We're not here to fight. You're welcome in the bar, but not at this table."
"I never go anywhere without my hockey stick," Robin spoke up belligerently, going all Canuck, ready to lay the smack down. "You want to step outside, eh?"
Kelly had set their drinks down and walked quietly back behind the bar. Moments later Toby stepped out from the kitchen area, wiping his hands on a towel. He'd been helping Ashley Marin out after her kitchen crew quit unexpectedly.
"There a problem here, ladies?" Toby brought back the menacing grin he'd perfected in high school but never had to use often anymore.
Melissa raised her eyebrows. "I don't know, your ex-girlfriend is marrying your best friend. Your best friend's ex-girlfriend is a lesbian now," she spoke with an air of self-importance. "I'd say things are just peachy-keen in this tiny, incestuous town. Now how 'bout you go fix me a martini, garcon?"
"You need to leave," Toby said authoritatively. "You too Alison and Nicole. You're only here to cause problems and I won't stand for it."
"I'd like to speak to the manager," Alison complained in a slightly whiny voice. Some things never change, thought Emily at the sound of her ex-fiancé's voice.
"That's me tonight. Ashley has some business in the city," Toby replied.
Alison rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever. I don't want to give my money to this disgusting place, it's obviously still crawling with crazy." With that the three unwelcome ladies left in a huff.
"Wow, what the fuck?" Spencer asked rhetorically. "Thanks for doing that Toby," Spencer smiled at her ex.
"No problem, Spence, let me buy you all a round of drinks," he replied. "No one's driving anywhere tonight, right?" It was more a statement than a question.
Saturday morning, all of them nursing slight hangovers, the girls met up in the Radley dining room for brunch before catching a train into the city. Aria had arranged for a low-key day in Philly, followed by an extravagant evening.
The train arrived shortly before 1 pm, and the girls stashed their overnight bags behind the hotel desk before heading out to walk around the city. The girls just kind of floated around the city for a few hours, stopping here or there for a drink and then a late lunch. Around 5 pm the girls headed back to their hotel to get ready. There was a hot new dance club opening, and Aria had managed to score the crew VIP tickets. On top of that, the bridesmaids all chipped in to rent a party bus, which was essentially a stretch hummer tricked out with strobe lights and a minibar.
When the pimp mobile, as Hanna called it, pulled up to the new club at 8 pm, Robin groaned about the line snaking halfway down the block. Aria, however, grabbed Spencer's arm and led her up to the front of the line. "Follow me, ladies!" Aria called, trying to keep her drunken shenanigans to minimum to prevent her from being barred.
"Hold up ladies," spoke a tall man with slightly curled black hair, blue eyes and a full sleeve of tattoos on each arm. The name tag just above Aria's eye level said Chad.
"Well hello there, Chad," Aria cooed flirtatiously, feeling extra bubbly from the champagne they'd just drank. "We're on the list – Aria Montgomery."
After looking Aria up and down with an appreciative glance, Chad's eyes scanned the list quickly and after locating the name, he stepped aside to let the girls inside. "Enjoy yourselves, ladies." The line of people were not impressed.
The girls found their way to the back of the club, and up the staircase leading to the VIP area. The loft was crowded, but they could move around and hear each other talking. Also, bottle service.
A blonde, somewhat goofy-looking guy stepped up to the table and introduced himself as Preston.
"I am going to be taking care of you sexy ladies this evening. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask," he said with a wide smile. "Of course, I do have boundaries as laid out by the PALCB and this fine establishment," he added with a wink.
"Great," Spencer said. "Let's start out with a round of shots! Jager everyone?"
"Oh my god Spence," Hanna, who'd had more than her fair share of gin that afternoon, blurted out. "Why not just Roofie us?"
"Calm down, Han," her girlfriend cut in rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "We don't all get blackout drunk on one shot of Jager."
"So 6 shots of Jager and a Shirley Temple?" Preston asked with a grin, then winked at Hanna as he turned towards the bar.
A few hours later the entire wedding party was out in the middle of the dance floor, holding nothing back. Hanna's arms were wrapped around Emily's neck as her hips swayed seductively, while a handful of frat guys blatantly ogled them. Robin was getting frisky with a cute brown-skinned guy named Sonny. Mona and Lilly doing some sort of dance that looked choreographed but wasn't.
After about 45 minutes of intense dancing that left the girls dripping in sweat, Aria spun around Spencer's left hand and stopped dead in her tracks. "I think I recognize that girl!" Aria exclaimed excitedly as she ran over to the girl with the dirty-blond ponytail. Spencer rolled her eyes and turned back towards their table. By the time she returned, Hanna was sitting on Emily's lap with her arms around the brunette's neck. Mona was animatedly telling a story to Robin and Lilly about who knows what.
Spencer felt lucky to have such a group of friends. "I love you guys," she gushed. It was as much Spencer talking as it was three shots of Jager.
Across the dance floor, the skip in Aria's step slowed as she approached the familiar girl. Aria was suddenly very nervous. She hadn't seen this girl since spring break of her junior year of college. Since before the Ezra thing happened. It felt like a lifetime ago – she was so carefree during that time.
"Paige?" Aria asked as she tapped the girl on the shoulder.
The girl turned slowly, trying to place the voice. When she saw the petite brunette, the stern expression was replaced with a huge smile. Paige reached down and picked Aria up in a bear hug. "You look amazing!"
The blonde on the other side of Paige cleared her throat. Paige set Aria down and turned to the other girl.
"Julia, this is my friend Aria. She's from Rosewood as well," Paige spoke nonchalantly, despite Julia's scowl and Paige's forgotten feelings resurfacing. "Aria, this is my girlfriend Julia."
Aria smiled at Julia and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you." Julia replied with a tight-lipped smile and excused herself to go to the bathroom without shaking Aria's hand.
"Sorry about that Aria," Paige said as her girlfriend stalked away. "Things have gotten rocky with us in the past few weeks. To be honest, I don't think we're going to last much longer. But that's neither here nor there. How the hell are you doing? Last I heard you moved to Boston."
"I am living in Boston, working for Umbrella Publishing. I'm actually here tonight with Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Mona, along with a couple girls from Boston," Aria replied. "Spencer is getting married in two weeks!"
"Toby?" Paige asked.
"Caleb, actually," Aria replied, eyes wide as if she was hearing the groundbreaking news for the first time herself.
"Wow, so Spencer is marrying Caleb and Hanna is still friends with her?" Paige was surprised. Then "where's Alison at? I thought she and Emily were engaged or married or something."
"Well this is where things get weird," Aria began. "Alison broke up with Emily after Mr. DiLaurentis died suspiciously and started dating the cop investigating his death. Hanna and Caleb split up after Charlotte's funeral, when he moved to DC. After that, Emily and Hanna got together."
Paige's jaw dropped. "Wow," she replied. "That small town just keeps getting smaller. Are you seeing anyone these days? Noel? Please tell me not Ezra."
"Oh my god, no, not Ezra," Aria replied quickly. "Or Noel, that was just a one-time thing when their lacrosse team was spring training in Florida," Aria couldn't help but smile remembering the crazy weekend she shared with Noel in Savannah a few years ago. "But I am dating someone - Jason DiLaurentis."
"That's great, you look so happy," Paige smirked at Aria's face, all hot and bothered thinking about either Noel or Jason. "Relationships can be brutal," Paige said, bringing focus back to the present situation. Paige hadn't had a stable relationship since Emily, and that was amateur high school stuff. "But we're out to have fun, so let's go get drinks!" Aria caught a glimpse of Julia giving her the evil eye as she stalked off down the stairs. Paige was in a potentially volatile position, so Aria opted not to fill her in on getting left behind.
An hour passed before Aria realized she had forgotten all the girls she came with. There was surprisingly a lot to catch up with Paige on. After giving a brief summary of her book, Aria leaned against the table, looking up at Paige as she heard about Paige's new head coaching gig at East Stroudsburg University. That's where she'd met Julia, who was the women's soccer coach. She supposed it was a jock thing.
"Oh my god, Paige?!" Emily ran up behind Aria, wrapping her ex-girlfriend in a hug. Hanna followed with a dumbfounded look on her face. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I was out with my girlfriend, but I think she left," Paige didn't seem to care. "Who are these fine ladies?" Paige asked, eye Lilly then Robin.
"I'm Lilly," the cute redhead said.
"Robin," the dark haired girl said. "And you are?"
"Paige," she replied. "I went to high school with these girls," motioning toward the rest of the bridal party.
"She also dated Emily for a while," Hanna added without any malice or ill will in her voice. "Well someone had to introduce the elephant in the room before it got weird," Hanna replied as Spencer and Aria looked nervously at her.
"It's true," Emily agreed. "But it was a while ago, we don't hate each other or anything."
"Well, it's nice to see you all again. I've got to hit the head, as they say," Paige sounded nervous all of a sudden.
"Me too, I'll walk with you," Aria started bouncing from one foot to the other. She didn't actually need to pee, but she suspected neither did Paige. As Paige turned towards the bathroom, Aria linked arms with her and started skipping.
"Did anything ever happen between Aria and Paige?" Lilly questioned when the pair were out of earshot. "The sexual tension could be cut with a knife between those two," she shook her head in amusement.
The Rosewood girls turned their heads so quickly they probably gave themselves whiplash. "No way," they cried in unison.
"I wouldn't put it past Aria," Robin said. "Not that we've known each other for long, but I've gotten a bisexual vibe from her more than once."
Spencer thought back to how close Aria was with Sophia. "It's possible I suppose," she said. "But she's absolutely head-over-heels for Jason now."
As the main party dissected the topic of Aria's sexual preference, the pair had made it too the bathroom line. Aria's arm dropped from Paige's and their hands met. Before she knew it, Aria's back was up against the wall, and Paige's lips crashed into hers.
The details of the wild weekend she spent with Paige in Key West the summer after junior year came rushing in. Aria had taken a drive to get away from the memories of Ezra. She'd been sitting alone on the beach, nursing a bottle of Johnny Walker.
"Aria?" she turned, wondering who the hell had found her. Was Wes out trailing her for Ezra again? Aria might have to take out a PFA against the entire Fitz family, she though.
"It's Paige!" Aria was confused as hell, but stood up to welcome her friend's ex-girlfriend to her lonely spot on the beach.
"Wow, it's good to see you!" Aria tried to muster excitement, but failed miserably.
"What the hell happened to you?" Paige was suddenly alarmed. Aria looked frail, had massive bags under her eyes. Before she could stop herself, Aria poured out the grim details of Ezra's attack. The scotch helped her get the entire story out without crying, but made the sob-fest all the more intense when Paige gathered the broken girl in her arms.
After about 5 minutes Aria had managed to get herself under control. She found herself wrapped tightly in Paige's arms, comforted for the first time in months. Aria took a deep breath and looked up into Paige's warm eyes. Paige returned her intense gaze and before either could stop themselves, the two were lying on the beach, bodies entwined, moaning, completely lost in each other.
They were brought back down to reality when a group of college-age guys walking past started whistling and cat-calling them. Aria sat up, suddenly feeling very exposed. Paige turned to yell at the guys. "Nothing to see here, get the hell out of here and go drool over some skanks you might have a chance with!"
"Fuck you, dyke!" the tallest bro yelled, flipping the girls off.
Another of the guys held is hands in front of his pelvis and rocking his hips suggestively. "You don't know what you're missing."
This triggered Aria's memory of Ezra's abuse, and she started hyperventilating.
"Get the fuck out of here," Paige stood up menacingly, and the douchey guys took off down the beach. "I'm so sorry Aria," Paige took the girl in her arms again. "Do you want to get out of here?"
"Yes please," Aria looked up with red eyes, breaking Paige's heart.
"Come on, I'll take you back to my room," Paige put her arm around Aria's shoulder. Aria got a tingling of excitement in her stomach.
After their brief make-out session, Aria and Paige returned to their friends, each glowing in a way they hadn't been when they left. Lilly quirked her eyebrows at the rest of the group, as if to say, "told you so."
"Well, I think I need to go find a way home now. I've got a girlfriend to fight with," Paige said breaking the tension. "It was good to run into you all." She squeezed Aria's hand, looking into her eyes, saying I love you without words.
"Well, I think I need to go find a way home now. I've got a girlfriend to fight with," Paige said breaking the tension. "It was good to run into you all." She squeezed Aria's hand, looking into her eyes, saying I love you without words.
A/N: Aria has a very complex history related to the abuse from Ezra. I wanted to go into that more deeply, but I don't think this is the story to do that in. Hopefully you've enjoyed this penultimate chapter! One more to go, and I won't keep you waiting too much longer. Thanks for reading?