The next evening after recovering from their scare at the cemetery they went over to Emily's and folded programs. The group hadn't really had much of a chance to talk about everything besides the other night. Since the fashion show was coming up, it made Spencer busy and things with Aria's family, made her busy too. So each of the girls were dealing with their own lives and dramas – boyfriends, ex- boyfriends, and family all raveled in one.

As they talked on Emily's bed folding programs Aria's phone rang.

"Oh Ezra?" Spencer gleamed.

Aria gave a forced smile and all the girls laughed a bit. She had not disclosed her ending relationship with her English teacher to them and she preferred rather not to right now anyways. It was Jason DiLaurentis who had texted her and if she was to ever admit that to them, Spencer would be flipping out. Whatever was going on between Ali's older brother and her was to remain between them. They would be informed of anything important of course, but right now, he just wanted to talk.

"Guys, I'm going to go take care of this," Aria said holding up the back of her phone while sliding off the bed.

"Tell Fitz we said hi," Spencer teased as the other two laughed. Aria put on another fake smile, keeping quiet with her head down while walking out of the room and away from the house.

Jason had pulled up his car towards the curb across the street from Emily's. Glancing back at the house to make sure none were around to see her, Aria walked towards Jason and his car with the slightest smile.

"Hey," she said, feeling that fluttering feeling in her stomach.

"Hey can we talk for a second?" He asked her.

"Sure," she replied hesitantly, looking back to the house to make sure the girls were still inside and not lurking around. Getting into his car, she took a breath and then turned to him.

"Look, yesterday at the funeral, I probably said some things that I should have kept to myself," he said while carefully looking at her.

Somewhat surprised, and a little hurt, she thought about his words. "I thought that…you felt better knowing it was Ian?" she asked trying not to think of herself in that equation. Did he not mean to open up and tell her those things? Was he trying to say something to her and she wasn't getting it?

"I did, I just…I don't think that should really be getting around," he said with a sigh.

"I wont tell anyone," she said furrowing her eyebrows. Did he really think of her that low? But of course, she did tell her friends. Was that what he was trying to say? Jason swallowed hard, looking at her with such serious and grateful eyes.

His stare felt so intense that it made Aria fumble on her words. "Uhh, I mean, I kind of owe you anyways right? After how you helped out with Mike, it's the least I can do – I kind of owed you one." He gave a smile of his own to that and Aria's heart lifted. Silence passed amongst them for a few seconds and she wasn't sure what to do.

"I should probably get back," she said looking to the house. "We are folding programs for the fashion show tomorrow."

"Ah," Jason said with a knowing look. His shoulders went a bit stiff at that and he tried to give her an understanding look.

"My mother is coming in tomorrow. Her last event before stepping down from the board," he said nodding.

"Isn't she the board?" Aria said slightly laughing. Jason gave a small smile to that but then looked away while talking. "She was on it for Ali really. The fashion show was what Ali lived for."

As Jason looked back to Aria, Aria's eyes fell and she felt a pang of sadness for her dead best friend. Finding a way to hide her emotions, Aria turned towards the door and gripped the handle.

"I should go," she said softly. Giving him the smallest of smiles, she pulled on the lever and slid from the leather. With one last look to Jason, she pulled herself together, holding her torso and walked from the car.

She walked back into Emily's house; walking upstairs to try and prepare herself for the questions her friends may ask her. Was she ready to tell them that she had broken it off with Ezra? Was it appropriate or the greatest time?

Crap, now she was sounding like her ex. It was the reason she had broken up with him in the first place – timing.

"Hey, so what did Ezra have to say?" Spencer teased when Aria reappeared.

"We broke up," she said bluntfully.

"What?" All the girls asked shocked. Aria gave a forceful laugh and kept her arms wrapped around herself. "Yea."

"Aria, I'm so sorry," Hanna said with sad eyes.

"No, its okay," Aria quipped, "I'm the one who did it."

"What?" they all shouted again in shock. With mouths agape Aria knew she was in for the long haul of questions.

"Is this because of Jason?" Spencer asked with narrowed eyes.

"No," Aria answered hesitantly. It wasn't right? He wasn't the one who made her disappointed inside or seemed to be letting her down continually. He wasn't even the one asking for a secret relationship (or a relationship at all really).

So sitting back down on the bed with her phone in her lap, she picked up the paper program and began folding it. While doing that, she explained to her friends how it wasn't working out. She was tired of hiding and sneaking around. And now, especially, with his ex-fiancé entering the picture, working with him at Hollis, she couldn't do it. She wanted to be his and she wanted to be public, but he couldn't and wouldn't do that for her.

"Okay, but then why did Spencer bring up Jason?" Emily wondered confused.

"I talked to him after the funeral," I explained.

"Yea, I said be careful," Emily shrugged.

"He told me how he didn't remember anything from that night when Ali was killed."

"What?" Both Hanna and Emily said with wide eyes.

"He was high and drunk that night," Aria explained, trying hard not to cower from the looks her friends were giving her. "Spencer thinks that Jason might be 'A' or working with whoever he…she…they is/are."

"Aria!" Hanna scolded.

"We can't just go around accusing people!" Aria exclaimed back. "We just did that to Ian and look how that ended up – he wasn't the killer. We've done it to both Toby and Caleb before too and they haven't been in cahoots with 'A' either. I don't think Jason did this you guys."

"But he's hiding something," Spencer said slowly and carefully as if she was trying to get it through her head.

"Maybe," Aria shrugged, trying not to protest some more, "but I don't think it's as bad as what we think it is."

"And if it is?" Emily wondered carefully.

Aria shrugged. There was just something inside of her that didn't think it was Jason. Of course, to her friend's eyes, she was now somewhat involved with Jason and had biased feelings towards him. It was a lose/lose battle; there was no fighting with them.

"Just be careful okay?" Hanna said reaching over to pat Aria's knee. It was her acceptance to it all. Appreciation washed over Aria and she let out a small sigh of relief.

"We don't need you being checked into the hospital too," Emily stated with a small smile. It was her way of saying alright too but same as Hanna – be careful. Aria let out a laugh and nodded. With that, the topic was dismissed and things went on…

The next day was Saturday, the time of the fashion show. Around 10ish, Aria was called over to Spencer's.

"He was yelling?" Aria asked as Spencer and her talked about her dad.

"Yelling yelling," she replied.

"What do you think was going on?" Aria wondered. Mr. Hastings was always the one to protest and pick a fight but he was never the one to make a scene about it. Him yelling at Jessica DiLaurentis, Ali's mom was something to really reflect upon.

"Do you think my dad knew I was on the other line and hung up when he was talking on the phone with her?" Spencer said with her fingers tapping against the counter nervously.

"Did he bring it up to you?" Aria asked.

"No, but I mean, I kind of tried and he lied to me – to my face Aria."

"What do you think he has to hide?" she wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but I think the question is what is going on with Jason?" Spencer said laced with concern and bitterness. "What is he hiding?"

"What if he's not hiding anything," Aria sighed. She was getting real tired of this same old fight only with different words.

"Aria, he told me he was living alone but there was someone in that house. I know it – I wasn't imagining it."

"Okay well, maybe it was someone – but it wasn't Ian."

"So then who?" Spencer challenged. "Or what? He's hiding something."

"Maybe he is, I don't know. But Spence, you have to admit, the guy is going through a hard time. Maybe he just does all these things, like covering the windows or fixing his old house to keep him sane. It could be how he copes. I mean it must be hard coming back here right? Maybe he's just trying to deal with things. Who knows how he really feels."

"Well apparently you do," Spencer muttered before taking her mug of coffee to her lips. Aria tried to push away the wave of embarrassment by covering it up with an eye roll.

"I'm just trying to be human Spence. I want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt instead of accusing him like we did with Toby and Caleb."

Spencer sighed and then turned to her computer. Her and Aria were going to get nowhere with this topic. Aria could be so stubborn and get too involved with things to not see the obvious. If Spencer had to, she would prove it to her best friend that Jason DiLaurentis was somehow dangerous or involved with 'A'. He was covering something up and she was going to find out what.

"I just got an email from Ali's mom," Spencer blurted out while going stiff. Putting the Jason thing aside, they both seemed curious. "What do you think the email says?" Aria wondered peering over to towards the laptop screen.

"I don't know! I'm too scared to open it," Spencer exclaimed rigid. Aria had to agree with her in the slightest. With 'A' still around, they were all scared as heck, even to breathe, and with Jessica DiLaurentis trying to get in contact with them, something had to be up.

As Spencer babbled on with worry, Aria's phone beeped too. It was an email from Mrs. DiLaurentis also. Being brave, she clicked it and read what it said.

"Why does Ali's mom want to have lunch with us at 11?" She asked Spencer, who had stopped rambling on to watch her. Both of their eyebrows arched and they pondered the thought.

'We'll all be there,' Aria quickly replied on her phone to Jessica's email, as Spencer called Emily and Hanna.

It was awkward to say the least, to see Mrs. DiLaurentis in person. With a Bloody Mary being the first thing the woman ordered and the instruction to keep them coming, all four of the girls shifted in their seats and glanced to each other.

"So what are you getting Hanna," Jessica asked, already slightly tipsy.

"Um…" she answered clearing her throat, "Chinese chicken salad."

"Alison's favorite," Mrs. DiLaurentis smiled. All of the girls looked away from the mother at that and Aria swallowed a lump in her throat.

"So we were surprised that Jason is back," Spencer said starting off another conversation. Aria shifted in her seat a bit, not liking the start of this.

"We couldn't believe he moved back into your old house," Emily added.

"I don't consider that our old house anymore," Mrs. DiLaurentis said looking to her Bloody Mary. "Jason had recently come into some family money and decided to move back here. He marches to the beat of his own drum, both of my kids do – did," she quickly fixed. A wave of awkwardness and gloom spread across the table. With Jessica's presence, the absence of Ali seemed really true. It was painstakingly so and none of them liked that.

"Well, I was going to wait, but what's the point?" Mrs. DiLaurentis said getting up from her seat. She wobbled in a minor way, her legs seemingly like jelly if you looked close. As she walked towards the other end of the table, all heads' turned to her. The woman pulled out long white boxes for each of them.

"Go ahead and open it," she said staggering back to her seat. Watching her carefully, they did as instructed and found dresses. They were Ali's.

"She would have wanted you all to wear them for tonight," Mrs. DiLaurentis said, finishing off her second Bloody Mary and starting her third. The girs' heads swung from the adult back to look at the dresses. This was crazy. Ali would never had wanted them to wear these. She practically cursed it.

The look on Mrs. DiLaurentis' face seemed so happy and full of pride; the girls had a hard time saying anything.

"Ali picked these out herself," She said with watery eyes. "It's sad to think that she will never have the chance to wear these."

A punch to the gut hit Aria and she felt sick to her stomach. Closing the box as Jessica continued to talk, she carefully and inconspicuously pushed the box away from her. She didn't want any more reminders of her dead friend – this was enough.

"When I heard you four were going to be doing the fashion, I thought it would be perfect," Mrs. DiLaurentis said looking to each and every one of them. Hanna, Emily, and Spencer all seemed to be too stiff and shocked to talk, and it was Aria who looked to the woman first.

"Mrs. DiLaurentis, are you trying to tell us you want us to wear these tonight?" Aria swallowed hard, trying to get her head wrapped around this. All of the girls looked to each other and knew it was getting harder and harder to say no.

"You girls keep her memory alive – the four of you together…please, say yes?"

All of the girls subtly looked at each other, each trying to put a smile on their face.

"You can get back to me," Mrs. DiLaurentis said. Aria opened her mouth to speak up and say they would but it was hard to do such a thing when each of them were trying to get their heads wrapped around the situation.

After the woman left, the four of them as a group talked about it.

"There is no way in hell I'm wearing this dress! No way!" Hanna said.

"Why not?" Aria tried. She had felt so bad for Ali's mom. The death of her daughter was killing her and she could easily see that. If the dresses would give the woman some closure, Aria would do it.

"Because its freaky!" Hanna exclaimed, trying not to be too loud.

"It's a tribute," Emily sighed.

"Put some pictures together, her favorite song and there you go," Spencer said slouching in her seat.

"Its just too weird. These are Ali's," Hanna said.

"She never actually wore them," Emily said sadly.

"Well she tried them on! It's good enough for me," Hanna sighed.

"Hanna, we can't just say no. Look how hard it is for Mrs. DiLaurentis," Aria sighed.

"Jessica already passed this with the board so I'm sure it's already done you guys. Its not like we can really say no. I will just have to tell the fashion committee about this."

Hanna folded her arms and scoffed. "So what? Now we have to pick out pictures of one of our best friends? It feels like we just buried her!"

"Please don't tell me we have to run those passed Ali's mom," Emily said, looking a bit sick. All went quiet.

"…I can run it passed Jason," Aria spoke up, "I'm sure he could tell us what to use and not to."

"Are you sure you want to go over there?" Emily asked now concerned about her friend's well being.

"I'll have him meet me somewhere…like the school courtyard," Aria shrugged. She could feel Spencer's eyes on her and she shifted in the slightest, trying not to look at her.

"Well, its better than running it past Mrs. DiLaurentis," Hanna grumbled.

So it was settled then. Aria was going to meet Jason and go over pictures…