1.17 - The Confrontation
Aria rushed quickly out of Spencer's house. This was the second text that she had gotten from -A about Stefan and she was already freaking out, "Why does everything in her life never work out the way it's supposed to?" she thought as she approached the Rear Window where she promised to meet Stefan later.
Suddenly, she heard familiar voices yelling coming from behind the cafe. Aria looked over with a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened - it was Stefan and Damon.
"I'm not going to lie to Aria for you anymore, Damon!" Stefan yelled, fanning his arms in the air, "I can't do it! You have to tell her because she's too important to me!"
Damon stared with a fierce glare, "I asked you to do one thing for me, Stefan," Damon whispered forcefully "and she's my sister. She means more to me than you'll ever know," Damon's eyes began to change color, his skin crinkled - he was about to destroy Stefan as he previously sworn that he would do. Stefan returned the same fierce, vampire glance.
Aria ran out and put her arms out in the middle of them, "What are you guys doing?" she looked at both Stefan and Damon in an angry, worried tone. She stared at Damon, "What's wrong with your face?!"
Damon's face returned quickly to normal, "Aria! What are you doing here?" Damon glared at his sister - pleading her to go home.
"What am I doing?" she yelled back at her brother - turning to Stefan, "Stefan! What's going on!?"
Stefan attempted to put his arm on Aria's shoulder but she moved away from his hand, "Damon, just tell her," Stefan replied in a serious manner.
"Tell me what? What?" Aria's eyes had begun to tear up. After getting that text from -A and hearing her brother and boyfriend argue, she could barely keep herself together, "Just tell me, Damon, please please!" Aria whimpered.
Damon looked at Aria, his angry look had softened at the sight of his hurt sister - he hated seeing her like this, "Aria. You have to promise not to tell anyone," he whispered back to her - putting his hands on Aria's shoulders, trying to comfort his little sister.
Aria looked at Damon, "Why did your face look like that, Damon? Just tell me the truth, I'm tired of you treating me like a child," she replied with an intense whisper.
Damon closed his eyes and looked at his sister with the same vampire face that she had seen a few minutes ago, "Aria. I'm a... vampire."
Aria quickly stood back, "What? What are you talking about?" she shouted at Damon in disbelief, "I knew all that drinking would go to your brain eventually," she turned around and shook her head, "We need to take you to a hospital because you're not making any sense!"
Stefan looked back towards Aria, "Aria, it's true," he replied.
Aria turned back around, "Oh! What? Because you're a vampire too?" she said sarcastically. However, once she saw both Stefan and Damon look at each other with confessional glances, she knew she already had her answer, "I can't bel-"
Stefan and Damon rushed towards her at vampire speed, "Aria. I'm not really your brother," Damon replied, "Well, long story. I sort of am. We're more like distant cousins really," Damon chuckled nervously.
Aria glared at him, "This is not funny Damon. If this is a joke, I swear," she began to back away slowly from Damon and Stefan.
"Aria, do you remember that day when Spencer took us on a tour of the Rosewood Falls Historical Society, and I got all nervous after people were looking at some old photographs and you said 'Hey Damon! That guy looks sort of like you,' Well...that was me. So no, what I'm telling you is not a joke. I'm 152 years old, and I am descended from one of the distant Montgomery family lines, and Stefan and I, well, we used to be friends until we got turned -,"
Stefan nodded his head and looked downwards, ashamedly, "It's true, Aria," he looked back up, worriedly, "Aria - I wanted to tell you,"
Aria glared at Stefan and Damon. -A was right. She didn't even know who these two people who were standing in front of her were anymore - "So this isn't a joke?" her eyes were full-on welling up and she knelt to the ground - crumbling under pressure, "I just- I can't. You've been lying to me my whole life..." - Aria couldn't even finish her sentence.
Damon and Stefan rushed towards her but Aria stood up quickly as soon as she saw them coming, "No! Stay away from me! So what have you been doing? Did you just see me one day and decided, yeah! I wanna be her brother, you sick-"
Damon looked at Aria, "No, I just wanted a family! I've been running for centuries and centuries and I just didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't lie to you about that Aria, we are a family,"
"No. Were not, Damon," she glared at him - then turned to Stefan, "and you- You told me that you never would lie to me, and I thought you could never hurt me, so I really don't understand -," her words began to bubble over each other.
Stefan rushed to Aria and held her hand, "Aria, Damon told me to keep his secret. I may have lied to you, but I never lied about my feelings for you. I came to Rosewood Falls to confront Damon- I never thought that I would meet you or that I would end up falling for you,"
Aria looked at Stefan with a scared looked on her face. She looked back at Damon, "Well, you both can forget that you've ever met me," she replied defiantly, "From this point on, we've never met. You both have never existed and I never want to see you both again!" She exchanged glances with Stefan and touched his face. She couldn't bear to leave him especially but she knew that it was the right thing to do.
"I'm going to stay with Hanna," Aria said to Damon, "You can get your stuff and leave."
Damon looked back at Aria with a hurtful glance. Her words hurt him more than any kind of break up he had ever experienced. He had lost his family. Now, he was alone. Completely alone.
Aria ran away in tears. She felt as if her heart had physically broken into two pieces. She had lost so much in one day. She began to run through all of her memories that involved both Stefan and Damon: "How could she have been so stupid," she thought. She squinted her eyes in disbelief. She couldn't bear to lose anything more in her life.
Spencer sat in The Grill. Her eyes staring blankly at the unfinished cup of coffee in front of her as she tried to contemplate the text that she had just received from -A. Suddenly, she saw Emily walking past her, holding bags of take-out in her arms.
"Hey, Em," Spencer called back to her, "Can we talk for a sec?"
Emily approached Spencer hesitantly, "You okay, Spence?" she replied.
Spencer smiled to herself, "We need to talk about Jeremy," she said. Spencer was never afraid of confrontation. She always had to know the truth about everything. No matter how much it might hurt her.
Emily's eyes widened, "What about him?" she said anxiously.
"Em. I have an almost genius level IQ, I know that Jeremy likes you, and I'm pretty sure, deep down you like him back," Spencer replied as she looked at Emily with pleading eyes.
Emily looked down, "Spence, I didn't know he liked me, I wanted to tell you right away when he kissed me, but-,"
Spencer stood up, "Wait! You guys kissed?" she yelled, as she began to collect her backpack and books off of the table, "I just thought you guys like each other, I didn't think you would stab me in the back, Em! You couldn't even tell me to my face!" Spencer stormed out of the Grill.
Emily ran after her, "Spencer wait, please!"
Spencer whipped her head back around, "No! I've always told you the truth Emily! Even if I thought that we wouldn't speak for a couple of days, I always depended on you! The fact that you would hide something like this and not even have the decency to tell me is just utter crap," Spencer yelled, shaking her head - she couldn't even think of an eloquent comeback she was so upset. She now had lost not one, but two best friends.
"Spencer! I didn't ask him to kiss me! He just did! As soon as it happened I just ran away, I didn't even know how to deal with it!" Emily yelled back as she crossed her arms in a matter-of-fact way.
"Well, you should've ran to me and told me, 'Hey Spence, Jeremy kissed me, I think I may like him back. Is it okay... blah blah blah?" Spencer replied as she mimicked Emily's voice, "As my best friend you should have told me! You get it? You should have told me Emily!"
Spencer turned and ran away from Emily. Emily tried to follow her but ultimately gave up. There was no way of reasoning with Spencer at that moment. She hadn't even spoken to Jeremy after that kiss. She had to rush to Jeremy's house. She couldn't bear to lose anymore of her friends.
Both in their respective bedrooms, Aria quickly packed up her stuff in boxes. Spencer sat on her bed - crying in disbelief over Jeremy and Emily's indiscretions. Suddenly, both of their phones went off. Great. Just what they needed another text from -A:
"Secrets, secrets are no fun. Don't say I didn't warn you. You can't trust anyone. Maybe next time you see them, you could deliver them a message for me. Kisses, -A"
