Another update! I felt guilty for not updating for so long so I wrote this, and I'm going to turn the system around, so instead of updating every Thursday or Friday, it's going to be every time I finish the chapter. Hope you like this! and please tell me what you think.
Chapter Ten
"Alison?" Avery knocked on her bedroom door. "You called you?"
The door opened, revealing the golden haired girl, she smiled widely at Avery before gesturing for her to enter. "I need your help with something."
"Boy advice?" Avery asked as she stood inside.
"Kinda," Alison walked to her closet and got out a handful of shirts and dresses and dropped them on the bed before going back for jeans and skirts.
"Okay." Alison breathed. "I'm meeting a boy-"
"Who's he?" Avery drawled in a teasing tone.
"And I can't decide what to wear." She ignored Avery's question. "Now my favorites are-" She pointed at two dresses then at a pair of dark ripped jeans and a crop top.
"You have it figured out then." Avery threw the top at Alison.
"No." Alison said slowly. "I still need to pick out shoes and jewelry and makeup-" When she saw Avery still wasn't wavering. "Pretty please?" She batted her lashes.
Avery sighed. "Sit down." She instructed. Alison smirked and sat in the chair in front of her vanity and played with a strand of her hair while she watched Avery pick out one of the pairs of jeans and a shirt.
"I'm leaning towards purple." Alison told her, she watched the older girl as she shifted through her closet from the corner of her eye.
"Fuck." Avery swore when she dropped a pair of black heels on her foot.
"You kiss Dean with that mouth?" Alison teased. Avery set the heels down and made her way out of the door, not putting up with the usual Ali crap.
"Avery," Alison called, getting up from her chair and followed the older girl downstairs.
Avery came down the stairs, ready to leave the Dilaurentis house, she bumped into Jason on the way, whose hand shot out to prevent her from falling face forward.
"Whoa," Jason steadies her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She shrugged it off. "I gotta run."
"Avery," Alison came down the stairs. "Don't be so sensitive."
"Alison." Avery spoke. "I'm not one of your preteens followers. You can't order me around. I'm not Aria or Emily or the rest of them. Okay?" Her voice was clear, for once Ali was silent as she listened. "I'm older, so if even for a second you think you have some kind of superiority over me, then you're wrong." She looked at Jason. "Bye, Jason."
"What did you say to her?" Jason asked his sister when Avery shut the front door.
"Does it matter?" Alison crossed her arms. "Go back to pining after her. We all know how good that's working for you."
Avery opened the door when she heard frantic knocking. Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer spilled in, anxious and halfway hopeful expressions on their faces.
"What?" Avery asked, she saw their eyes travel down her clothes; one of Dean's hoodies and shorts that were barely visible from the long hoodie, her hair was down and a little bit messy.
Spencer shut the door quietly, her eyes darting around the room as to see if anyone else was with them.
"Are you alone?" Aria questioned.
"Dean's here." Avery pointed to the hallway where her bedroom and bathroom were. "He's in the shower."
"Ali's alive." Aria blurted.
Avery's eyes widened. "What?"
"We talked to her." Emily said. "On the phone. She's a on the run."
"When did this happen?" Avery rubbed the spot on the side of her head that always seemed to ache when she was stressed.
"After the show. We-" The girls went on telling everything that happened, including Spencer and the bones.
"Okay." Avery breathed after they finished. "So what now?"
"We don't know." Hanna said.
"Okay." Avery repeated, she turned around herself before taking a deep breath and gestured to Spencer, who had been silent. "Sweetheart," She opened her arms to her, Spencer hugged her without hesitation, seeking comfort from the older girl who always looked out for them.
"Do you want some tea or something to help you calm down?"
Spencer exchanged a look with Aria, who shook her head in agreement.
"Is it okay if we don't stay?" Aria asked. "Our parents are probably worried about us. And Hanna's-"
"It's completely fine." Avery said. "Just get back to me. Okay?"
The four girls nodded and averted their eyes behind her, she turned and watched as Dean came out, with only wearing a towel hanging low on his waist.
"Aves, where's the-" He stopped when he saw the rest. "Hey." He greeted cautiously.
Aria's face scrunched up in disgust when she saw her sister checking him out, she looked at the others for help only to see them eyeing his muscles.
"I'm Hanna." The blonde stepped up first, holding a hand to him, he shook it back, the other holding the towel.
"Dean," He said.
"I'm Emily." She said but she didn't shake his hand as his body still dripped with water. He looked at Avery again.
"Where did you say my clothes were again?" He asked.
"In front of the closet." Avery replied. Dean nodded and smiled at the girls before leaving the room to get his clothes.
"So you talked to her, where is she?" She asked the four girls.
"Philly." Hanna answered. "We have to go there fast. Paige sent a tip to the police that Alison's alive."
"It's fine. You can go." Avery saw their fidgety movements and the repeated glances to the door. "Call me so I make sure you're all safe?"
"Definitely." Aria said, quickly leaning in for a brief hug, and before Avery could return the action, she pulled away and returned to standing with her friends.
"I'll see you soon." She said. "And if all works out. With Alison and unharmed." There was a string of mumbles of agreement then goodbye and the teenagers spilled out of the door one by one. Avery sighed as she closed it behind them and walked back to her bedroom, where Dean was just putting a shirt on.
"That's a shame." She leaned against the doorway, though her words didn't have the usual lust they held when she saw her boyfriend shirtless.
"What was that?" Dean questioned, referring to the strange meeting with the girls.
"If I told you; You might get in trouble." She said.
"What kind of trouble?" He asked.
"The kind with the police." She winced when she saw the look on his face. "Just listen first. Okay?" She waited until he nodded to continue.
"The girls are going on a road trip to Philly to get Alison." She explained, his eyes widened at the news, she herself was still shocked to the core. "Half knowing them, they haven't told anyone else, including their parents. So by tomorrow they'll be looking for them and-" She sat at the edge of the bed, sighing in relief when Dean seated himself next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder for comfort. "Obviously I won't tell on them."
"I won't either." He said quickly, looking her straight in the eye.
"It's okay. I trust you." She rested her head on his chest because of their height difference. She heaved a big breath. "I can't believe it."
"Alison's alive." He said as a statement, his eyes gazing to the ceiling.
"I mean until we hear the full story and see her for real, I don't think I'll let myself be hopeful." She said. "All that time on the run must have been terrible for her. And she's so young-"
"You were her age when A started threatening you." Dean spoke. She pulled away from his hold to meet his eyes.
"She had it much worse than me. I only got threats about exposing my secrets. She got death threats."
"Don't you see how messed up that is?" He burst out.
"Dean-"
"What kind of sick person would do that to a bunch of teenagers?" He asked rhetorically. "What did you even do to deserve that?"
"I started getting the notes the same time Ali did." Avery said, her eyes unreadable.
"No, I mean what happened right before that?" He said. "An event, an accident. Anything."
"Nothing really." She said. "I was on drugs at that time."
"Half of the school was doing drugs at that time. Why did A target you?" He pressed on 'you'.
"Because of my connection to Alison." She answered easily.
"It can't be just that." Dean's tone was slightly frustrated, as if he was about to understand something but couldn't. "Something that stands out." He said. "Maybe not, what happened in that week?" Avery bit her bottom, thinking over the question. She couldn't remember that week, it was insignificant as any other week in her high school years. She remembered shopping with Alison for her date with Dean, maybe family night. Alison and Spencer had asked her to come to their sleepover in Ali's house for makeovers. She vaguely remembered going to a party. That was as stretched as her memory got. She could recall the week Alison went missing but not any other week.
"I think I was too drunk to be aware of anything really." Avery swallowed hard. She did remember one thing about that week. "But I do remember one thing."
Dean nodded so she could keep going. "There's this night...it's completely gone from my memory."
"What do you mean by 'completely gone'?" he questioned.
"I mean there's a whole day I can't remember." Avery looked down and shook her head. "I don't remember waking up, talking with you. I don't even know if we hung out that day. All I know is that I woke at the middle of the night with one of the worst headaches ever and a hundred messages from Angela and Lori," she wanted to close her eyes when she thought about her old friends.
"And my Mom wouldn't talk to me for days." she continued with difficulty, Dean's arm tightened in protectively around her, bringing her comfort. "Even now, she refuses to talk about it." she chuckled bitterly. "I don't even know what I did."
"It's okay," Dean let go of her and kneeled down in front of her, taking both of her hands in his and bringing them up to kiss her knuckles. "I know you didn't do anything. Okay?"
"How can you possibly know that?" her voice cracked.
"Because I know you." he sounded so reassuring, so steady and strong and sure that she didn't anything wrong, and God, it almost hurt how much she loved him at that moment.
Dean then leaned up and wiped a fallen tear from her cheek softly. "Now," he spoke lightly. "What time is it? I have a surprise for you tomorrow."
"What is it?" she realized he was trying to get her to smile, and it was working.
"A surprise, you're gonna have to wait until tomorrow." he said. "But I promise you'll love it."
Avery bit her bottom lip, thinking for a moment. "What's special about tomorrow? It's just-" she glanced up at her alarm clock on her nightstand. "My birthday." she breathed. "Oh my God, I forgot it's my birthday."
"It's..understandable." Dean told her gently. "But anyway, I have plans."
"Don't tell me it's a surprise party." her face almost broke into a grin. "Please, no."
"It's not a surprise party." he said. "I know how you feel about those. It's something for just the two of us."
One thing she always loved about Dean; it's that he was like her, she never liked crowds and preferred silence over noise. Usually, on her birthday, he would take her to her favourite ice cream parlor, then drive up to the woods, where there was a spot looking over the entire town. Quiet and peaceful. Perfect.
"Now, come here." Dean broke her out of her trance. He stood up and held out his hand, pulling her up along with him. "I don't think I'm ready to go to sleep yet."
"Me neither." Avery agreed softly, she was afraid if she closed her eyes; she'll miss something important; a phone call from her sister or one of her friends. She didn't even want to think what she would do if Alison came home.
Dean left the room, mumbling that he'll go get his laptop, then came back after less than a minute and a half. She let him pull her to the center of the bed, sighing in content when he situated her between his legs, her head resting on his warm chest.
Avery took the laptop and placed it on her knees so the two of them could watch the screen comfortably. "What do you wanna watch?"
"You pick." Dean didn't even glance up, he was nuzzling his head in her neck, his nose buried in her hair. She shivered when his tongue peeked out to lick a bold stripe along her skin, and he chuckled when he felt her reaction.
They waited a few more minutes while the film loaded; Dean busied himself by trailing kisses along Avery's neck, then they moved to general kissing.
'Casablanca' started playing. "We used to watch that all the time." Dean commented.
"Yeah," she responded. "You made me see it the first time but after-"
"You couldn't stop replaying it every night." he completed for her, she looked up to him, a grin on her lips. "God," he breathed. "Why is it that every thing you do makes me fall in love with you all over again?"
She swallowed at his words and gently set the laptop aside, moving so she could straddle her boyfriend's lap. "Between us," she cupped the back of his neck. "you're the better person."
"That's impossible." he denied immediately, shaking his head as though the mere idea itself was beyond ridiculous.
"When you think about it, I'm the one who left you-"
"Don't." he stopped her firmly. "Kitten, if you even finish that sentence-" he closed his dark eyes. "I love you, okay? That's what matters."
"I love you too." she whispered softly, then shyly leaned up to kiss his lips lightly, she felt his lips break into a smile but he let her control the pace of the kiss. "Hey," she murmured. "We're living together."
"I guess we are." he smirked. "Just like we planned."
"I doubt this comes close to the New York penthouse we had our eyes on."
"First of all, it was a Brooklyn studio apartment," he said. "And second, I'll get it for you the moment we leave this town."
"Seriously?" Avery's eyebrows rose. "You really mean that?"
"Cross my heart and hope to-" she cut him by kissing him, distractedly closing the laptop and pushing it to the far edge of the bed. She giggled when he flipped them over. That night, he kept whispering promises of a better life to her. Everything they had ever stayed up at night to imagine.