Please, Fix Us

CHAPTER 5: Hymnals

And we don't know what we're waiting for
And we don't know the truth anymore
And we can't see clearly through the fog
So we end up chasing ghosts

Outside these walls we're criminals
They chase us down, we're singing hymnals
We tried so hard to cope
We fell so many times, we learned to climb without a rope

HYMNALS BY GRIZFOLK

Andrew was a little stunned when he made his way to the doorstep of the Montgomery home. He never thought he would go to her house. She was a cute, popular girl. And of course, he was sort of friends with Spencer, but he and Aria had only spoken once, when they exchanged numbers and worked on a European history project during sophomore year, and then once again during senior year when they worked on a physics project together, always by teacher-pairing force. They were supposed to meet at the Grille, but Aria had quickly changed her mind, in case Ezra was out at all. She didn't want him to see her. Not until she figured her college situation out.

"I'm a little surprised you called me over," he confessed as the door opened.

"Do I get a hello?" Aria joked.

"Hello," Andrew laughed, adjusting his glasses. "Since when did the nerd get called over to hang out with a pretty girl?"

"You're not just some nerd, okay?" Aria told him.

"Feels that way," Andrew said, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, come on! How much do you want to bet that you only invited me to meet up with you because you want something school related? People call me to the rescue for school help. To lend notes, to help tutor them... you name it, I've been used for it."

"Now you make me feel like shit for asking you to help me with my college applications," Aria said, biting her lip nervously. "If you don't want to, you can turn and walk away now. I don't want to be another person using you, if that's the way you're going to feel if I ask for your help."

He stood his ground and said, "It really is fine. But maybe, after all of this is over, you'll hopefully still treat me as a friend. That's all that I could ask for. I'd be glad to help you with your college applications, if you agree to my one term."

"Hey, that's totally easy, and not some big burden," Aria said, smiling and squeezing his arm. "Andrew, did Spencer use you?"

Andrew shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's not like we had some big hook-up. She didn't like me that way, it was obvious. She made it clear that she's with Toby, and it's staying that way. But, she still invited me over and flattered me, all so she could get my prescription pills. After she got what she wanted from me, there was no word from her. I ran out of pills to supply her with, and then she never called, texted, or invited me over again."

"I don't know why she would do something like that," Aria told him. "Well, I'm not going to be that way, I can promise you that."

"That's what I'm counting on," Andrew told her, stepping inside of her home.

"I don't know about you, but I had a lot of fun tonight, Spencer," Jonny told her, turning to face her with a big grin on his face. "It was a really good day for me. I don't think I've had this much fun since my travels. Now I finally feel that feeling of having fun again. You're a lot of fun to be around, you know that?"

She blushed and said, "Don't even second guess it. I had a lot of fun, too, no doubt about it."

"Good to hear that you weren't bored to death," Jonny said with a quiet laugh.

"Are you serious?" she laughed back, shaking her head slightly. "You saw the way I reacted to everything we did. I was having fun, I promise. In fact, I haven't had that much fun in forever. This whole drama thing started a couple of years ago, and I haven't had a free moment to have so much fun in forever. It's been constant investigating all the time. Even with my boyfriend. We had some good moments, but we'd keep playing detective all the time."

"That sounds a little sucky, to be honest," Jonny confessed. "But you deserved to have a good time tonight, and hopefully you'll let me show you another good time some time soon, because I'd like to do that again, for sure."

"So would I," Spencer agreed, smiling back at him. "Thanks for taking me out, and thanks for driving me home, too. But I forgot that your home is technically my home temporarily, too."

"No problem," he said, and she started to walk towards the door of her house. "Spencer! If you're ever bored, just give me a call. Or knock on the door of the barn, either way, it's only a second away, and we can have a good time."

"Of course," she said, nodding her head, and furthered towards the door of the house.

It was his last shot. His palms were getting sweatier, but he mustered up his courage.

"Wait!" he called. "I have plans tomorrow."

"Okay, that's all right," Spencer said, laughing. "This isn't some big commitment, Jonny. We don't have to hang out every day. If you have plans with your friends, I'm not chaining you to me. We both have our own lives, too, I get it."

"No, that's not what I meant," Jonny told her, shaking his head. "I'm not too busy for you. I have plans with my former college buddies, and we've been talking recently. I was raving about you, and they'd like to meet you, too. And I want you to come. It'll be really fun. We're going to this little pub place down street. It's a cute joint, you don't have to have any alcohol, and we can hang out again. It would be awesome if you would come."

She smiled a little before asking, "You raved about me to your friends?"

"How could I not?" Jonny said, smiling. "Their names are Nick and Augustus. They're funny guys. You might actually like them."

"Friends of yours are friends of mine," Spencer told him, half-smiling.

"So, can I expect to see you there?" Jonny asked.

"Sure. I don't think Toby will be calling any time soon for making plans, so I'm free quite often," Spencer sort-of-joked, and faked a smile. "Just check up about an hour before you're leaving to meet with your friends, and I'll start getting ready. You're only a door away, you know."

Jonny grinned and told her, "I'm really happy you're coming with me."

"And I'm really happy you invited me," Spencer said, smiling back. A real smile, not a fake one.

After the first day where Aria explained the procedure of what was going on, Andrew understood her situation. It was getting pretty late when she called him over, so he had to head home soon after, but they made plans for the next day. And the next day, Andrew returned to her house, just as they had planned. They began to look into the applications and letters sent to the colleges, to see where her errors and flaws were, and hopefully discover ways to fix those issues in time for more colleges to consider her.

"Your letters to the colleges are too forward," Andrew commented, shaking his head. "If we have a little more time, I can help edit these. Get out all the forward parts... what do you say to that, Aria?"

"I'm down!" Aria exclaimed, laughing. "Thank you for helping me, by the way."

"No problem," Andrew told her, sliding her college letter away from him. "Dinner break? I'm starving."

"I'll see what I have to eat downstairs. We'll probably have to eat quick. My parents are coming home soon," Aria said.

"Why does it matter if your parents come home?" Andrew asked. "Embarrassed of showing me?"

Aria raised her eyebrows and answered, "No... I never said anything like that, Andrew. Don't jump to conclusions like that, okay? You have to understand that I'm not embarrassed of you. I'm not ashamed of you. This isn't a secret. I want to be your friend, and I'm not using you. Stop thinking so poorly."

Andrew smiled and asked, "Why don't you let me take you out to the Brew? My treat. I heard that a former English teacher from Rosewood High made it into a totally decked out restaurant, so it's not just a little ol' quaint coffee joint anymore. There's full-on dinner there now. Let me take you out for dinner there. I'd like to check the place out, anyways. See what Mr. Fitz has done with the place."

"Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea," Aria quietly said, not wanting to have an encounter with Ezra before she was ready to explain the letter.

"You don't want to go out in public, either?" Andrew asked. "Aria, I don't know what you want me to think."

"Not like that!" Aria cried. "I'm not hiding you from the world, Andrew. It's nothing like that. What about the Grille instead?"

"So, the further the better?" Andrew asked, raising his eyebrows. "Forget me helping you. You keep telling me that you want some kind of friendship with me, but it's obvious what manipulation is happening here. You don't want anything except my help."

"That is not true!" Aria defended herself. "You know what? Fine. Let's go to the Brew. I'll prove it to you that this has nothing to do with you at all."

Jason was sitting on a bench outside of the Grille, unwrapping a sandwich he had purchased minutes ago. Around the corner of the street was Hanna, making her way to the older male. She approached him, arms crossed, clearly upset with him. He looked up, his blue eyed gaze meeting hers. Once he saw the look on her face, he looked away, immediately knowing exactly what this conversation was going to be about. Her mother.

"Nice to see you, too, Hanna," Jason sarcastically said, taking a bite of his sandwich and chewing on the bits slowly.

"My mom said you dropped by at our place last night," Hanna announced, arms still folded in anger. "Please explain."

"Well, you encouraged me to go down to your place and give her whatever shit she needs to hear, in order to accept the pastor man's proposal," Jason lied, scratching his head. "So I took those words to heart, and drove my ass down to your house. I tried to talk to her last night."

"Don't lie to me. First of all, she hasn't said yes to Ted's proposal yet," Hanna began.

"Trust me, she will. I know she wants to marry that man. If nothing's in her way, and by nothing, I mean me, then your precious mother will have herself a new husband in time. She and Ted are going to get married at this rate," Jason said.

"Look, I'm not stupid!" Hanna cried. "I know you didn't go down there to give your words of advice to my mother. She said that all you did was take one good look at her before running your ass off back home."

"Maybe I left because she was having dinner with Ted!" Jason snapped. "I wasn't about to interrupt her dinner with her future fiancee in order to have a chat about how she should disregard our one night stand so she can accept another man's proposal of marriage. Calm your tits, Hanna, I'll talk to her when I have time. And to be honest, I went there with the complete intention of making sure she knows damn well that she can accept his proposal. But when I saw her with that pastor man, honestly, I got jealous."

"You're jealous of my mom's boyfriend?" Hanna said, raising her eyebrows. "Well, stop! You can't date my mom."

"Since when did I need permission from a teenage girl to date a woman I want to date?" Jason asked, growing irritated.

She flipped a blonde lock of her hair and told him, "She's my mom, and she's in love with her boyfriend. Ted is a good man, and if you want to ruin that for her with your player ways, I can't let that happen. I care about her."

"Then wouldn't you want her to be happy?" Jason asked. "What if she's happy with me? Then, wouldn't you want her to be with me?"

"Shut the hell up, Jason," Hanna snapped. "Back off of her. She needs to hear you say that it's okay to marry Ted, or she'll never say yes, even though she and I both know she belongs with Ted. Everyone knows she belongs with Ted. He's her true love. I haven't seen her this happy since I was young, and she first got married to my dad. If you care about her, you'll just leave her alone!"

"I can't control how I feel about her," Jason declared. "And if she needs to hear me say she should marry Ted in order to do it, well, then I guess she's not marrying him, because I can't say that unless I really believe in it."

"Since when have you been afraid of lying?" Hanna asked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not. I'm just determined," Jason responded with a smirk. "This time, I'm not giving up on the woman I want to chase. I let Aria go, even though I wanted to keep pining for her, but not with Ashley. I'm going to grow some balls and tell Ashley how I feel about her. Maybe I can stop her from marrying Ted. You can call me daddy, Hanna."

"I freaking hate you!" Hanna yelled, but Jason just got up and walked away.

Spencer was stirring the coffee powder into the milk, when there was a knock on her door. She gave Jonny a smile before heading to go open it. Lately, she had been spending a lot of time with Jonny. It had been fun, though. When they hung out, it was like she didn't have to worry about A, or any of those other problems. She knew she would have to deal with Hanna's suspicion, her fight with Toby, and everything else at some point, but at that moment, she was just relaxed, hanging out with a good friend. Jonny was a good friend. A fun friend, too.

When she opened the door, she was shocked to see Toby standing there. He hadn't been over to her house in forever. She swallowed hard, glancing at Jonny before turning back to face her boyfriend. He scratched his head. Even he felt like he was in uncharted territory, even though he had been to her house a million times, for a million different reasons.

"Hi," he greeted quietly.

"Toby," she acknowledged, biting her lip hard. "What are you doing here? You made it seem like you were too busy to come over during our phone call yesterday." He had an apologetic look on his face, but that wasn't making up for how she felt when she hung up on that phone.

"I know, and I'm sorry, okay?" Toby told her, sighing.

"This time, when I say it, I mean it: sorry isn't good enough," Spencer said.

"I'm trying to keep my job. I want to protect you, and if us getting in this fight is going to enable me to get the answers we need, then I would risk it. I would risk anything to keep you safe," Toby told her, gazing at her with his soft blue eyes.

She flashed back to how frightening his blue eyes looked when they were fighting outside of Ezra's Brew. It reminded her not to fall for his tricks so easily. He could scare her like hell when he was pissed off.

To break the silence, he offered, "I want to make it up to you. Let me take you out on a date. Just us again. Can you come with me tonight to Buccali's?"

"No," she answered simply, glancing over at Jonny. "I have plans with Jonny tonight. We're hanging out."

Toby felt his chest harden, and he struggled to swallow, with a lump growing in his throat. He couldn't believe he didn't realize how he had just pushed Spencer into Jonny's arms! He had to win her back. He couldn't let this happen. He needed to fight for his girl.

"Then tomorrow night," Toby suggested. "Please, Spencer. I will do anything to be there for you now."

She felt herself falling apart. She needed to hug him so tight. She needed to kiss his lips, and cuddle with him, and cry in his arms, and laugh with him, and talk about life with him, and tell him everything she could... She just wanted to be with him again. He was giving her the perfect opportunity to be with him again, and she wasn't about to miss it. So she took it.

"Alright," she agreed. "Tomorrow night."

Toby grinned, pulling her in for a long kiss. She missed the taste of his lips. Her hands cupped his cheeks as they kissed, and she had never missed his mouth more than that moment. After their lips parted ways, he pulled her in for a hug, and she smiled as her head rested against his chest for a long moment.

"I love you, Spencer," he told her, rubbing her brown locks. "Please don't ever forget that, no matter what happens. I know I'm probably going to keep being a bit distant when work starts pouring in again, but I still love you."

"I love you, too," she returned the words, hugging him back.

Jonny felt himself getting a bit jealous. He didn't know why. He didn't exactly know if he had feelings for Spencer, but he knew that he didn't like it when she was happy with her boyfriend. He felt at ease when she was fighting with him, and he could be her hero. Jonny liked it when she was happy with him. He knew it was wrong to think, but he wanted Spencer and Toby to break up. He wanted his chance with Spencer. Just one chance.

"So, are we still on for tonight, Spencer?" Jonny asked, trying to cut their meaningful hug off.

"Yeah, of course!" Spencer exclaimed, pulling back from Toby. "The plan hasn't changed. Toby and I are having dinner together tomorrow night. Tonight is only you and me, Jonny."

"Awesome," Jonny said with a grin. "I'll call Augustus and Nick. I'll let them know that you can make it."

Spencer was flattered that Jonny had been boasting about her to his friends. It made her feel special. But with Toby, she felt special again. She felt special now that he was back, and ready to confront their problems, and ready to be with her again.

"I'm afraid that Jason is going to see my mom right now!" Hanna cried. "What if he is making out with my mom? He has an influence over women. He got Aria to fall for his tricks, and that obviously explains why she was so mushy and defensive of him about a year ago. He has an effect. How many girls have I seen him with? I can't let my mom be his next victim. I can't let him take away her happiness right now. She needs to be with Ted!"

"Hanna, I know how much you care. You're an amazing person," Caleb comforted her, giving her a small hug, "but you can't solve everything."

"I have to solve this," Hanna said, shaking her head. "Caleb, you don't get it. Jason can't date my mom!"

"No one said they're dating yet, and if your mom loves Ted, then everything will work out," Caleb told her.

"Fate doesn't always work out for me," Hanna reminded him.

"We don't need fate for that. Your mother can work out her romantic issues all by herself. She doesn't need her teenage daughter meddling, and I know she would appreciate that you're looking out for her, but I doubt she would be happy that you confronted Jason about what happened between them. More than once, too!" Caleb reminded, raising his eyebrows. "You have to remember that, Hanna."

"I just want him to stay away from her. Can't he go after a woman his own age instead of my mother?" Hanna complained.

Caleb cupped her cheeks and said, "We have bigger problems right now, sweetie. Your mom's love life is the least of our big issues. Don't you remember that Tanner and the Rosewood PD are hunting your ass down? Someone's trying to make you look as guilty as hell, and we can't fix it because of Toby. If we piss Toby off, then we mess with his relationship with Spencer."

"Look, I care less about Spencer and Toby's relationship than my chances of going to jail!" Hanna yelled. "I would gladly let them break up if it meant that I can save myself from going to prison. That's the truth right there, Caleb. Toby needs to stop himself. He doesn't own any of us. He's been a police officer for about three seconds, and now he suddenly owns Spencer and the rest of us? He can't do this."

"Hanna," Caleb warned. "We're not just breaking Toby's rules, we're breaking the law. We need to stop your framing in a legal way. The more illegal stuff we do to clear your name, the easier it's going to be for Alison's A minions to ruin your life."

"I know," Hanna said, sighing.

Caleb kissed her cheek and pressed his thumbs on her cheek before saying, "We're going to do all we can to save you, I promise. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. I won't now, and I won't ever."

Aria felt uneasy when she walked into the Brew with Andrew. Immediately, she saw Emily working at the counter.

"Sorry I pressured you to come with me," Andrew told her. "I was just was paranoid that maybe you only wanted to work with me for my help. I sort of wanted... wanted to go out as friends. I'm sorry, it was sort of stupid."

Aria put her hand on his arm with a smile and told him, "It wasn't stupid. All you had to do was ask, but it wasn't stupid. I'm fine with being here. I'm sorry about getting frustrated. It's just that, my boyfriend is going to be here, and we're in a fight, so I wasn't looking forward to running into him here. I wanted to avoid seeing him. It made it easier for me to just run away from my problems."

"Aria, if I've learned anything in life, it's that there's no running away from problems. No matter how far you run away, your problems are going to follow you. The only thing you can do is face these problems," Andrew advised. "But if you want to leave, we can go somewhere else. I'm sorry I pressured you into coming here, instead of anywhere else. I didn't know that you seriously didn't want to see him."

"Hey, it's not your fault. I didn't tell you, so you would have no clue," Aria reminded. "And no, I think I'm going to take your advice on this one. I might just have to face the problem. I'm going to see if I can find my boyfriend. Why don't you get us a table, and I'll go order, and look for him, too? What do you want me to get you?"

"A decaf chai latte would be nice," Andrew said with a smile, grabbing a bill out of his wallet. "It's on me, Aria. I told you it was my treat. Get yourself whatever you want, and don't worry about paying me back."

Aria accepted the money, but was surprised about how generous he was being. She made her way to the front counter, where Emily was working.

"Em, hey," she greeted, biting her lip.

"Aria, what are you doing here with Andrew?" Emily asked. "Ezra's been looking for you all day. He said you've been avoiding his texts and calls. Is that true? He really wants to confront you and talk to you about it."

"I know. I was afraid of what I might hear, and coming to terms about how I feel about the letter," Aria confessed. "Emily, do you know where he is? I just want to get this over with. And I'm here with Andrew because he's helping me with college. Talmadge isn't what I want. We're working on fixing things. And who better than the Andrew Campbell, right? Plus, he's a really sweet guy."

"Ezra's in the back room. But since there's no line, I need some help about my own love life," Emily told her, pulling out her cell phone. She opened to Paige's social networking page, where there was a photo of Paige and some hot blonde girl, kissing her on the cheek. "So, Paige can take this photo with some new girl, but she can't respond to my calls or texts. And I don't know what to do about it."

"If Paige is moving on, then maybe you need to try to do the same, too," Aria advised. "That's all I can say about it. It's a small bit bitchy of her to post that without answering you. Actually, it's a big damn bit bitchy! She shouldn't have."

"But she did. So what do I do?" Emily asked.

"If she doesn't want to respond, there's nothing you can do about it. Send her a confronting text, and then try and move on with your own life," Aria told her with a grin. "Have you spotted any new offers around?"

"The other day, I was telling you about how my co-worker Talia has been flirting with me, and the signals were growing stronger," Emily reminded. "I knew I wasn't being insane, because Talia asked me out, Aria!"

"Talia asked you out?" Aria asked, grinning. "Emily, that's amazing. I think you should accept her offer. All you can do right now is try and move on from Paige, only if you're ready to start trying again, and to start dating again. Besides, I think Talia's a really good catch. She's beautiful. And quite the talented chef! If you like her back, even a little bit, maybe it's time to give something new a go. Try something new."

Emily smiled to herself, glancing into the kitchen, where Talia was working, and looking as gorgeous as ever.

"Yeah, maybe I will," Emily said, nodding her head with a smile. "When I'm done working for the day, I'm telling Talia that I'd be glad to go out with her, any time that she's free."

Aria ordered her drinks from Emily, and started to walk back to the table where Andrew was sitting. She sat down, smiling as she handed him his chai latte. Then, she glanced over and saw Ezra exiting the back room. He glanced at her for a long moment, before calling her over.

"I spot my boyfriend," Aria confessed to Andrew.

"Go. Be brave. Face your problems," Andrew said with a grin.

Aria set her coffee down, got up from her seat, and made her way to Ezra. He folded his arms.

"Why haven't I gotten a response from you?" Ezra asked.

"I was afraid," Aria responded.

"But you came here with your little friend," Ezra said, nodding his head. "I get it. You're trying to spend more time with your school friends. You're trying to cram that part of the high school experience that you missed when you got involved with a teacher."

"Ezra!" she said, rolling her eyes. "I did what I had to do. I needed to get into some college, and I thought that was the only way to get into Talmadge... by convincing Jackie that I regretted you. I thought, maybe that would please her. But none of it was true, I swear! Not a thing I wrote was the truth. You know I don't feel that way about our relationship, or I wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Even if it isn't all the truth, I'm a writer, too, Aria," Ezra reminded her. "A writer can tell when another writer is writing with true emotions and feelings, and that's what I was detecting when I read your letter to Talmadge. Those emotions couldn't have come from a blank nowhere. I know something inspired that, and what inspired that was how you feel about our relationship, somewhere inside of you. At least a little part of you believes it, I can tell."

"Would I have liked to have experienced high school a little more? Sure," Aria said, shrugging it off. "But every moment with you was real to me. Every moment with you was worth it, and I wouldn't give it back for a silly high school experience. I had the real deal. I had true love. I have true love."

"There's a few months until you graduate," Ezra said, sighing. "And you deserve a high school experience. As much as there is left to have. You don't need a regretful relationship. I don't want to be the one to hold you back, and I'm not saying this in any way to teach you a lesson, or to show you who's in charge. I'm saying this because I love you a lot. I don't want you to look back when you're older and say, 'Yeah, I missed out on all of high school because I dated a teacher'. I know there isn't much time left, but I want you to have every second of that. I can't take away anymore of your time, or I don't think I'll ever forgive myself. Experience the world. Experience high school. Enjoy every last moment you have with them. I can't be the one who ruined your high school experience, I just can't. I love you too much for that. I love you, Aria. And that's why I'm breaking up with you right now. Because I love you enough to set you free. To set you free so that I don't hold you back in the time you have left."

Aria felt a tear escape from her eye, and she grabbed Ezra's hands before pleading, "Don't! Ezra, come on. This letter... it was a freaking mistake. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have never written it. Screw Talmadge, I don't even want to go there. You're not a regret to me. I love you so much. You don't have to feel as if you're holding me back, because I would rather spend every second with you, than with any of these other people."

"You're only saying that because you haven't experienced the rest," Ezra said, sighing and shaking his head. "I took that time away from you, Aria. Once you see what everything else is like, you'll realize that it was better than a relationship with me. You'll wish you could have all that time you wasted with me back. You'll see how true that letter was to you, you just don't see it now. But you will, in time."

"No, I won't," Aria told him, yanking his arm. "I don't want to be with anybody except you, why don't you understand that?"

"I'm not going to be the one that's holding you back!" Ezra yelled. "How many god damn times can I say it? I love you too much for that, I'm so sorry. Think about it. Think about all that you've done during high school. Ran away from A and their tormenting, and then spent all your time with me. You haven't had any time for clubs, teams, life, and experiences that you can't get anywhere else. People don't understand how much high school and college shape them. I can't let either of those experiences be ruined. Go live your life. Experience everything there is. Right now, go be with your friend over there. This started out as an angry confrontation, but now I know that I was the one who was wrong all along. I'm the one to be mad at. This is my fault."

Aria gave him a long hug and whispered, "Goodbye, Ezra. I love you."

Jason knew that his time was running out. Hanna didn't believe that her mother would take her time before agreeing to Ted's proposal, but Jason knew what was happening. And he had a gut feeling that today was the day that she would accept his proposal. He couldn't let it happen, though. And he would do the only thing that he knew had a chance of stopping it. Even though it was scary, and it was the one thing Jason DiLaurentis was more afraid of than anything... he would have to take a chance. Come to terms with his feelings, and say them out loud.

That's right. Jason was going to confront Ashley with his feelings. He drove his car as quickly as was legal to the Marin house. If he was lucky, Hanna would be out, hopefully far off at Caleb's apartment. All he needed was ten minutes with Ashley, maybe even a good damn five. Maybe even one! He just needed to say how he felt, and hope that Ashley's mind would change about saying yes. He parked his car quickly, and then sprinted to the door. He had a feeling that he was running out of time. A god damn gut instinct.

He knocked on the door rapidly. Ashley made her way, opening it. She half smiled when she saw Jason standing there.

"Jason," she mumbled.

"Ashley, I have something to say to you. Is Ted here?" he asked.

"No..." Ashley said, raising her eyebrows. "Jason, are you sure this is something you want to do right now?"

"As long as Ted and Hanna aren't here, then yes," Jason said. He sighed and swallowed hard before confessing, "I've felt lonely all of my life. I was the outsider. And then I thought my sister died. And a series of crazy events happened. I was in love with Aria for so long, but I was stupid, and I let her walk away from me. I let that go. I was so close to getting her. We were having this thing, but I was stupid, and she left. I've lost so many people that I have wanted to be with. And then you came along. So I'm not about to lose someone again. I care about you. And I don't know how you feel, but when we hooked up, it wasn't stupid to me. It was meaningful to me. And I'm just here to beg to you, don't marry Ted. I don't know how this is going to work with your daughter, and Ted around, but I'm willing to try. I've never been more willing to try. I'll do anything I can. Whatever I can! To make you change your mind..."

Ashley was trembling when she said, "Jason, I can't. You can't be doing this!"

"I know it's crazy, Ashley. But I did it. I've finally come to terms with my feelings. I've been so afraid of expressing my feelings to people I care about, but I finally accomplished myself," Jason said, proud. He took her hands and told her, "I will fight hard for you. I want to be with you, Ashley."

Ashley shook her head, pulling her hands back and saying, "No, it won't work. There may have been some unresolved feelings between us, but we can't happen! Whether or not Hanna is involved in this, I still love Ted. And I just got off of the phone with him a minute before you got here. I accepted Ted's proposal. I'm getting married to him soon."

And with that, Jason's heart dropped. He finally came to terms with how he felt, and got his heart broken. That was exactly what he was fearing when he decided to express his feelings to someone. He feared being heartbroken.