Reality Bites Me
"A sent this letter to my mum," Aria tells the four girls sitting around Spencer's living room in their pyjamas.
"You know it's not your fault right?" Emily reminds Aria, as Aria continues to stare at the letter in her hand, "its your dad's mistake totally."
"No it's my fault," Aria disagrees, her voice quiet.
"You did not hook up with her and then ask your kid to cover for you," Spencer says, placing the breakfast ingredients she had gathered from the fridge on the counter.
"Ali said I should've told my mum right after it happened," Aria informs them.
"Ali?" Emily repeats in shock, "Alison knew?" The four girls all look at Aria for her response.
"Yeah, she was with me," Aria says quickly, taking a nervous sip of her coffee.
"So Alison saw this Meredith person?" Spencer questions Aria.
"Meredith? Her name's Meredith, eww," Hanna comments, "that's not even a cute girl name, I'm seeing big pores and mousy roots."
"Hann," Spencer whispers looking at Aria, "I think it's a little too soon to joke."
"I'm sorry but if you're going to cheat, at least do it with someone who deep conditions her hair," she replies.
"Here," Spencer says, handing Hanna a bagel on a plate, "put something in your mouth besides your foot," she encourages Hanna.
Hanna turns to face Aria, "I'm sorry okay," she says her voice sincere, "all I'm saying is that when my dad left laughing sometimes helped. So did crying."
"My father hasn't left guys," Aria reminds them standing up to walk over to them, "I mean this happened over a year ago." All the girls look down unable say anything in fear of saying the wrong thing. "You think he's going to leave?" Aria asks at their continued silence.
"Look Aria, in my experience, if your parents have stuck it out together this long then I reckon they have a pretty good shot and if not," Kelsey says shrugging, "you always have us." Aria takes in her words, unable to say anything in return.
"Thank you guys, for staying here," Spencer breaks the silence, "I couldn't have been here alone," she admits to them.
"When's your family getting back?" Hanna asks her gently.
"This afternoon," Spencer replies, her words relieved.
"Aren't you going to clean off the mirror before they get here?" Aria asks, reminding the girls of the thing they didn't want to think of.
Spencer hesitates on the answer, "Want me to come with?" Emily offers kindly. Spencer takes a deep breath nodding.
"We should all go," Aria suggests standing up.
"You know what, it doesn't take five of us to clean a mirror, so why don't you four go and I'll just waiting here," Hanna says, swinging in her seat to face them.
Kelsey nods, "Excellent idea Hanna, stay down here alone," she encourages her, her voice teasing, "but just make sure to lock the door."
"Right, you spray, I'll wipe," Hanna changes her mind, walking over to where the others have just began to climb the stairs. They all stop to look back at Hanna as her cell phone chimes. "Well, the creature's back," she informs them, as the all huddle around her and her phone, "we should never have unblocked our phones."
Ever wonder what's going on when your back is turned? – A
"Open the attachment," Emily says, looking down at the video file that came with the message. Hanna clicks into, turning her phone as it begins showing the girls discovering the mirror and its writing from the night before.
"That's us," Aria breathes, "was that shot from inside your closet?" she questions Spencer. They all turn from the phone, their eyes drifting nervously up Spencer's stairs.
"A was watching us," Spencer says heading upstairs as the others follow nervously. Spencer looks back at the others as she pulls her closet doors open. The five girls all jump back and scream as something falls to the ground. They breathe raggedly as they fight to get over the shock.
Aria steps forward spotting something on the ground, picking it up, "Guys, check it out," she says, holding up the lipstick for them to see. She opens it up, twisting so the colour is revealed, she runs it across her hand marking it, then holding it up to compare to the mirror. They all share a look as they realize they match each other.
Kelsey run her fingers through her hair, ruffling it as she packed various things into her bag. "Hey Kels," her brother greets her as he steps into their lounge room.
"Hey," she replies, looking up at his serious expression and the way he twists the cell phone in his hand nervously. "What's up?" she asks cautiously, worried that whatever he was going to say would make her want to fight with him, which was something she was really trying hard not to do.
"In the interests in not ruining our tentative peace, I thought I should tell you that I've been looking for mum," he admits to her.
Kelsey took the news like a blow to the head, "Wow," she breathes, staring at him.
"That's it?" Troy questions as she remains silent.
Kelsey shakes her head, "I don't know what to say, I don't want to fight with you and I think if this conversation continues that is exactly what is going to happen," she tells him, grabbing her bag as she makes a move for the door.
Troy holds out a hand effectively stopping her, "Kels," he begins.
She shakes her head once more, "Thanks for telling me, I'm glad you did," she confesses, "but I just cannot go down the mum track, not now, maybe not ever."
"You seriously think that a blind girl broke into my house, that would take a lot more than a talking GPS," Spencer says as the five girls gather at her locker to talk.
"Well, I didn't say that Jenna was alone," Aria responds, not needing to name the person she thought might have been with Jenna.
"Let's not go to the Toby place okay," Emily speaks up in his defence.
"Why not?" Aria argues, "do you guys think her guide dog left behind his lipstick."
"Yeah, do you want to ask your lab partner what he was doing last night?" Spencer questions Emily, "like maybe he took a break from sitting on his porch pulling heads off squirrels."
Emily rolls her eyes as one of the teacher's approaches, "Spencer," he greets her, "sorry ladies I didn't mean to interrupt but I hope you're as proud of your friend as I am," he says grinning as he produces an envelope from behind is back, "congratulations, my instincts were right, this just makes it official," he tells her, walking away as Spencer stares down at the envelope in her hands.
"What's that about?" Aria asks as Spencer puts the envelope away.
"An essay contest," she tells them, shrugging it off.
"Wow Spencer, and you're not even going to open it, you win way to many things," Kelsey comments to her friend.
Kelsey leans against Noel looking upwards at the stars in the skies. "You alright?" Noel questions her, flicking a piece of hair out of face.
"Aha," she assures him, pulling her knees up to her chest.
"But you'd rather sit in a park than go home," he comments to her jokingly.
Kelsey laughs, "No I'd rather spend more time with you," she replies, pulling him closer as their lips met.
Noel smiles as they separate, taking her hand in his, "What's up? I know you somethings going on," he says, not allowing her to distract him.
Kelsey sighs, shaking her head slightly, "I should never have let you know me so well," she murmurs, "I don't want to go home because Troy wants to talk," she admits.
"Sounds ominous," Noel comments, squeezing her hand in comfort.
"It is," Kelsey agrees, "he's looking for our mother."
"And I take it you're not too happy about that," he says, as always able to guess her reaction.
Kelsey shrugs, "I don't know. I've never thought about it and I don't want to. There is nothing she can say that would make abandoning us okay," she explains to him, trying to voice the tirade of feelings she had. It was bad enough trying to deal with this A stuff, but adding this on top of it was too damn much.
"You not the less bit curious?" Noel questions her, study her features to try and gauge what was going on inside her head.
"Let me tell you a truth, curiosity didn't kill the cat, it was disappointment because that's all curiosity leads to, a whole world of disappointment," Kelsey informs him.
"I never picked you for one to scare easily," Noel says, causing Kelsey to sit up and glare at him.
"I'm not afraid," she snaps, before sighing, "maybe a little, its just what you don't know can't hurt you and I'm just not in the mood to deal with more hurt on top of everything," she confesses, her voice no louder than a whisper.
"You still miss Alison, don't you?" Noel questions her, causing her to close her eyes wondering if she wanted to respond to that or not.
"I tell myself I don't, over and over and over again, enough times to convince myself, but in the dark right before I fall asleep I know I'll always miss her and I hate it," Kelsey mutters, her remaining closed, because she didn't want to open them and see Noel's face. She hadn't been this open even with Alison, only with one other person and they had broken her and she was terrified it was going to happen again.
A/N - Sorry if this chapter is short again, that's just how it turned out. Thanks again for the reviews :)
LiLuLo12- Thanks for the review and Jason will be in the story after the next chapter :)