Thanks for all the follows/favorites. A special thanks to AFan, RHatch89, Savily, Hannah1796 for reviewing. It keeps me motivated. Hope you like this chapter and please tell me what you think!
Chapter Seven
Aria woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. All the lights in the house were closed so she didn't expect someone sitting in the living room in complete darkness.
"Avery?" Aria asked carefully. Avery jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, which even Aria more suspicious, Avery rarely got startled, nevertheless by her sister. She opened the light, the first thing she noticed was her older sister's puffy cheeks and bloodshot eyes.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Avery was sitting on the couch, her legs tucked in under her, she looked like a mess. Her hair was down and wildly curly instead of its usual calm beachy waves Avery put it in. She was wearing pale blue silk shorts with the matching pyjama top, all her clothes were crumpled, as if she was tossing and turning all night in bed, "Have you been crying?"
"I'm fine." Avery silently cursed herself for the way her voice came out. She cleared her throat. "Something wrong? Why are you up this late?"
"I went to get a glass of water." Aria ignored that quest and sat on the opposite side of Avery on the couch. "What's with you?"
"Nothing." She looked away.
"No, it's not nothing if you're crying over it." Aria said. "Is it Dean, did he-"
"Of course not." Avery shook her head. "Dean's perfect."
"Then what?" Aria asked. When her sister didn't answer, she leaned over to pick the phone from besides her. "If you won't tell me what's wrong I'll call Dean and have him fix it."
"You can't call him in the middle of the night." Avery said, though her hazel eyes held doubt.
"You wanna bet?" Aria raised her eyebrows challengingly.
Avery groaned, putting her face in her hands. "Since when are you such a brat?"
"Since you stepped out of that role." Aria rotated. "Now, come one. What happened?"
"Aria, I told you nothing." Avery got up, all traces of whatever vulnerableness wiped from her expression. "You hate me anyway, why does it matter?" She almost snapped.
"I don't hate you, Avery." Aria stood up on her feet as well, but Avery was already gone up the stairs. Her feet light as she walked to her bedroom. Aria sighed and went to the kitchen to get the water she came for in the first place.
You're making a mistake
-A
The note was stuck in the small gap of her car's window. Avery didn't even have to think about what was a mistake. Her relationship with Dean.
"No, no, no." She murmured, ripping the yellow paper apart to pieces. She huffed a breath when she was done and none of the anger or frustration faded away. She looked around to make sure no one in the street was staring at her, a few were casting her weird looks since, after all, she just ripped a paper to a million little shreds and threw it to the ground.
She jumped when her phone rang, relaxing when her sister's name flashed across the screen.
"Aria." Avery tried to keep her voice neutral, not giving away the mental breakdown she was seconds away from having. It didn't work since her voice came out raspy and breathless.
"Let me guess." Aria's voice was a little sarcastic, "You just got an A note."
The phone almost dropped from her hands, her fingers were shaking by the time she put it against her ear again, hearing Aria calling her name. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I said A." Aria said.
"Aria," Avery gulped. "I don't know what you got or-"
"Meet us at Spencer's." Aria hung up on her. Avery stared at the devise in her hands for a minute before shaking her head and scrambled to get into her car. She turned on the engine, her hand still unsteady on the wheel as she drove. She parked her car carelessly when she arrived. She marched to the door, not even stopped by Dean, who came out of the barn.
"Avery." He called but she didn't respond. "Avery." He went after her, entering the house. His hair was wet from his shower. He was surprised to see all the Emily, Aria and Hanna sitting besides Spencer. "W-"
"What the hell, Aria?" Avery said immediately, an expression on her face none of them had ever seen on her face.
"What's wrong?" Dean lightly touched Avery's shoulder.
"Dean, could you give us a moment?" Spencer asked, getting up.
"No, I don't think I can." He said.
"Show me the note." She held her arm out for Aria, tapping her foot impatiently.
"What note?" Aria asked.
"The one signed by A." She replied. "Now." Her eyes narrowed. The four teenagers' eyes shifted to Dean, who was standing behind Avery.
"I don't any note." Aria gestured for the other girls to get their phones out, all of them held them with the most recent A text they got.
"This isn't happening." Avery shook her head, grabbing Aria's phone and scrolled down, seeing all the A texts. "This has to be a joke."
"It's not a joke." Emily said, glancing uncertainly at Dean.
"When did this started happening?" Avery demanded.
"When I came back from Iceland." Aria said, "We all got the texts after."
"Some individual and some the same." Spencer said.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Avery inquired.
"We didn't tell anyone." Hanna said. Avery shook her head, as if this was a dream. She sat down on the sofa, Dean squeezed her shoulder before getting up to the girls.
"Who else knows?" He asked. Spencer exchanged a look with her friends, each of them nodding.
"Toby, Caleb, Paige," Spencer listed. "Ezra wrote a book about it."
"Ezra wrote a book about it?" Avery repeated in disbelief.
"It's a long story." Emily said. "How does Dean know?"
"I know because she told me." Dean said. He got a glass of water for Avery, she sent him a grateful look as she took it.
"I want the whole story." Avery said. "And don't miss any details. No missing parts because you feel like it. Not because it's your secrets and past." She spoke clearly. "Alright? I don't fucking care."
The girls' eyes widened at Avery, she rarely swore. Hanna was the first to sit down in front of Avery. By turn, they started telling all that happened. Alison and that night, Darren Wilden, Garrett, the NAT club. Mona, Toby. The Jenna thing. Everything.
"You're just kids." Avery protested when they finished.
"You were our age when you first started getting A notes." Aria defended. Avery's light eyes snapped towards her sister.
"How did you know that?" Avery said. Aria deflected, looking at the others for help.
"You forgot your phone the other day." Spencer said weakly. She awkwardly got up and handed it back to Avery.
"So, you went through it?" Avery accused. The younger girl nodded, a guilty expression on her face, she opened her mouth to say something to explain herself but stopped when she noticed the look on Avery's face.
"And, Aria." She turned to her little sister. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't tell me either." Aria said.
"Because you're my little sister." Avery stressed on the word 'little'. "Does Mike know?"
"No." Aria said. She sat down next to Avery, her posture defeated. "I'm sorry, okay?"
"Yeah," Avery nodded absentmindedly. She cleared her throat, getting up and stuffed her phone in her pocket. "I'm gonna go." She said in a clipped tone, avoiding everyone's eyes. "Dean, can you…?" She didn't have to finish her sentence as Dean already got up and grabbed her hand. They both walked out without a word, not until they reached outside her car.
"Avery." Dean pressed a kiss to the side of her head. She clung to him desperately, knowing what she had to do. Avery grabbed him from the back of his neck and crashed her lips roughly to his. The kiss was harsh and desperate, everything she was feeling.
"We can't keep seeing each other." Avery breathed, shaking her head.
"What?" Dean pulled back.
"We-"
"I heard you the first time." He said. "Avery, we don't have to do it because Aria's getting texts too. I'll help you. I'll protect you both."
"Dean." Avery moved to open the driver's door.
"Did you get another text?" Dean's voice was firm. When she didn't answer, he understood. "Show it to me."
"I can't." She said. "I ripped it apart."
"Then, what did it say?" He asked, crossing his arms when she didn't answer.
"That this was mistake." Avery said. Dean's hand cupped her cheek, his finger lightly running over her cheekbones.
"Does this feel like a mistake?" He murmured.
Her breathing was more deep now."No, it doesn't." She knew she was taking the easy way out. She was willing to take the risk when it was just her in danger. But, now Aria and her friends, and their friends were are at stake too.
"We'll figure it out." Dean's cool hands slid to her thin waist, pulling her as close as physically possible. "Okay? Together."
"Avery?" Dean knocked on her open door, leaning against it.
Avery probably looked as awful as she felt, she was still in her funeral dress. A knee length black dress with two thin straps. The reason she wore it was because Jenny had bought it for her. And since this was the last time she would ever see Jenny, she would make her wish come true to see her in girlie dresses.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked her. He didn't ask if she was okay, because it was obvious she wasn't. He didn't say the same thing she has been hearing for hours.
She looked up from her place on the bed, her eyes shinning with tears. Dean's expression was sympathetic as he breathed and entered her room, swiftly closing the door behind him. He nudged her gently so she would scoot over. He slid besides her, his arms wrapping around her figure and pulling her to his chest. Avery hid her face in the fabric of his shirt, silent sobs filling her chest. Dean shushed her softly, his grip tightening and his hand stroking her back so she would calm down. He tried to adjust his position, making her clutch his shirt tighter and whimper.
"It's okay." He whispered quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."
After a few minutes of more crying, Avery managed to gather herself together to form a decent sentence. "I'm gonna go sober."
"What?" Dean looked down to her, she was avoiding his eyes like she did when she was nervous.
"I'm gonna quit drugs." She repeated. "I understand if you don't want t do it too, I won't judge. Or maybe if you want to break up-" She was cut off by him pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"That's a good idea." He said, making her tense in his arms.
"Breaking up?" She asked quietly.
"No." Dean denied, earning a relieved sigh. "Going sober."
"Really?" Avery questioned. "You're not just saying that-"
"I've been thinking about it for a while." He said. "I'm almost a senior, Avery. I have to think about college. I can't go to my first interview high." He added. "And my dad will barely pay for anything, so I have to get extra grades and pump my score."
"You're serious, aren't you?" She sat up a little, not removing herself from his hold.
"I am." He said. "Are you?"
"Yes." Avery nodded. "We can together. We'll help each other."
"Can you come stay the night?" Avery asked Dean. They had both taken to sitting in her car, not yet leaving but not going inside either. "It's just-"
"You don't have to give me an excuse." He said. "Of course I will." His eyes were lighter in the dark car, he leaned over his seat and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "I'll just go get my jacket."
Avery caught him by his sleeve. "You can bring clothes, too. So Spencer's mom doesn't find you in the same ones as the day before."
"Okay." He kissed her one more time before getting out of the car, firstly going to the barn to get clothes for tomorrow and then the house for his jacket. The four girls were talking among each other in hurried tones, though they stopped when he entered the room.
"Girls." He nodded his head, going over to the chair he had hung his jacket over and put it on. Each girl was watching his movements, he raised an eyebrow at them.
"We feel bad about Avery." Emily explained.
"Well, wipe the guilty expressions off your faces, she doesn't like pity." He said.
"It's understandable." Spencer said. "We spent all these years worrying about A while she had been going through it way longer than us."
"What does A have on her, anyway?" Hanna asked. "She was always so perfect when we were young."
"Gotta ask her yourself." Dean grabbed the doorknob but turned his head in the last second. "And Aria," He said. "Talk to her. You both might have that little rivalry, but you went through the same thing. She'll understand." And with that, he left.