A/N: So since this story is actually going to be long, I'm trying to upload a bunch of chapters and get things moving. I hope you all are enjoying this story and would love to hear any ideas you have for the future. Hopefully I can mark this story complete fairly quickly. Thanks for all who have 'followed', 'favorited' or reviewed. It truly means a ton.
Hanna met Aria in the parking lot as they followed each other back to the Montgomery household. Showing Hanna the wreckage, she unlocked the front door and stepped inside to look at the mess.
"Wow, 'A' really did some damage on your house," Hanna stated.
"Yea," Aria sighed, throwing her keys down on the counter and shedding her stuff.
"And Jason really offered to fix it all up for you?" she asked curiously.
"Mhmm," Aria smiled to herself. "I think I was in such shock that he offered to help me out. I mean, could you imagine what my parents would have thought if I told them?"
"Have you talked to them at all today?" Hanna wondered setting her own things down.
"Not yet. My mom called last night to say goodnight. I guess Mike was supposed to meet with the therapist today for a full session."
"Does Jason know what's happening to Mike?"
Aria rolled her eyes and turned back to face her friend. "He's the one that caught Mike trying to break into his house. It kind of speaks for itself…"
Going quiet, Hanna glanced up at her the petite girl hesitantly. "Aria, I support you, you know that right?"
"I know, Han, and thanks for that. I honestly don't think I can take much more of Spencer."
"But you see her point don't you?" she asked as Aria came to sit down with her at the kitchen table.
"I do," Aria pushed. "But she wont see mine."
"There's a lot going on with 'A'. And I'm not using that as an excuse or anything – we have a lot on all of our plates – but I mean, we are also accusing Melissa of some serious things too. And that's her sister."
"Do you really think she still had something to do with all of this? There has to be other people involved too right?" Aria asked aloud, continuing her rant. "…It just…it doesn't make sense to me anymore. What's the purpose of this game? To have all of Rosewood think we are liars or total bitches? 'A' has had that one down for a while now."
"I don't even know," Hanna groaned with her head in her hands. Pulling out their books, the girls decided to do some homework to pass the time and worry they were feeling.
"Are you going to spend the night at Jason's again?" Hanna asked bluntly which surprised the heck out of Aria. "What?"
"What are the arraignments for tonight so I know? His place; your place…? Are you guys about to shack up a night at some hotel…"
"Hanna!" Aria protested.
"What?" she replied innocently to her friend, "I just want to know so in case anything happens I know where you are."
Rolling her eyes, Aria looked to her papers and shrugged. "I don't even know if he will want to spend the night or vice versa," Aria mumbled.
"What guy wouldn't want a chance to get in bed with you Aria?" Hanna asked. Stunned, the two girls began to laugh at what just was said.
"What's got you girls so happy?" Jason asked walking through the door.
"Hey," Aria said, beaming from her seat as she saw her boyfriend walk in her house.
"Oh just go kiss him," Hanna huffed as she watched the pair make oogily eyes at each other. Blushing, Aria got up from her seat, walking over to Jason who seemed to be walking over to her too and began kissing the heck out of him.
Rolling her eyes, Hanna glanced a way, but smiled at her friend's happiness.
"So what are you both up to?" Jason asked as her as Aria pulled away. "Just some homework. Hanna is meeting Caleb later for dinner so we thought we would chill here and watch you be hard at work."
Raising an eyebrow to his girlfriend, a spreading grin went across her face. "I have the sheets of glass in the car," he told her.
"Good," Aria chirped. Stealing another kiss from Jason, she let him go only to go sit back down with Hanna.
"I'll be back," he told the both of them, walking out the door once again.
"God, you look almost high," Hanna mocked with a slight tease.
"Hanna!" Aria said laughing.
Rolling her eyes, Hanna went back to her work. "It's good to see you happy though."
Aria beamed once again. "Thank you."
So as Jason came in and out of the house, doing whatever really needed to be done to get the windows fixed, while Aria and Hanna worked on their homework. Many times the girls would stop to talk about whatever reminded them of their day, but they never brought up 'A' with Jason around.
"Are you going to go to the college fair tomorrow?" Hanna wondered twirling her pencil in her hands.
"I wasn't really planning on it, but isn't it kind of mandatory since its during school hours?" Aria responded writing something down on her paper.
"I was thinking of going in late but my mom is taking some kind of fit saying its important to our future and helping us decide where we might want to go from here…"
Looking up with a raised eyebrow, Aria held back a chuckle. "That's...nice."
"Isn't…'you know who' going to be there?" Hanna asked, being a little more secretive than usual as Jason walked back into the kitchen.
Aria leaned over her papers, matching her friends posture with a louder voice. "You can say his name Han. Ezra might be there, I don't really know."
Sitting back up, she added nonchalantly, "It never really crossed my thoughts."
"Well, we can try and ditch together if you want," Hanna shrugged. Jason left the room again and when Aria's phone beeped, she read the message and immediately showed her best friend.
The battle of boys is on. One still trying to win over Aria's affection again and the other already getting it. Who will win? Watch my brother Aria, wouldn't want to see anything bad happen to you if you break Jason's heart –A
Closing her phone when Jason came back into the house, Aria gave Hanna a meaningful look and was silently panicking. The two of them stayed unusually quiet which gave Jason a heads up that he was missing something.
"What?" he asked the pair at the table. They were both looking at each other with these wide-eyed glances.
"Nothing," Aria said with that calm façade up again shaking her head quickly.
"We were just talking about… !" Hanna exclaimed like a light bulb went on in her head. Shooting her a glare, Aria shook her head to the blonde too.
"He's going to be at the college fair tomorrow…probably," Aria elaborated to Jason.
"Are you going?" he wondered, pretending like he didn't hear their conversation from beforehand.
"I don't know. Probably not," she shrugged.
"You could if you want," Jason shrugged to her. Although he wanted Aria to do what she felt comfortable with, he didn't like the fact that her ex was most likely going to be there, around her, when he wasn't.
Silence went around for a few seconds and Jason looked up to Aria. She was giving him a raised eyebrow. "You trying to get rid of me?"
"Hell no," he said with all honesty. Both girls chuckled. "I just want you to do what makes you happy."
Grinning from ear to ear, Aria stood up from her seat, walking over to her somewhat sweaty boyfriend. "You make me happy."
Looking down at her, he mumbled a quick "good," before putting his lips on hers.
"Ew, okay," Hanna said trying to get the couple to separate, "so Jason, are you almost done with the windows?"
With a few more quick pecks to Aria's lips, he glanced to her friend and nodded, "I have a few more things to do before polishing off the finishing touches but it should be done fairly soon."
"Okay cool," Hanna said packing her things after checking her phone, "it's almost time for me to go meet Caleb." Glancing to Aria, who was still making pretty eyes at Jason, Hanna began huffing – marching over to her best friend and tugging her hand to drag her upstairs. "Excuse us for a moment!" she called to Jason over her shoulder.
"Hey!" Aria said trying to pull away.
"Quit fighting me," Hanna snapped, bringing them upstairs to her room leaving a puzzled Jason. "What are you going to do about that 'A' text?" Hanna asked crossing her arms to Aria as they shut her door. "It seems like she knew exactly what we were talking about."
"Meaning she…he…them, whatever, were listening to our conversation somehow, "Aria sighed. "Ugh! I don't even know anymore."
"Aria, if you are going to get involved with him…more than you already are," Hanna muttered. "Then you need to be serious about this. 'A' seems like she's going to be out for blood if you break Jason's heart. Need I remind you how she hit me with a car?"
Hanna watched her best friends face begin to fall. "All I'm saying is that with the lies we are already keeping…"
"I have to tread carefully," Aria finished. The blonde nodded.
"I can do that Han," Aria said. "I can."
"Alright," Hanna sighed. Hugging her friend, she put an arm around her shoulder and went to bring her back downstairs, "that's all I want to hear."
"Okay then," Hanna announced walking carefully down the steps with Aria in tow, "then I'm off."
"Tell Caleb I said hi," Aria smiled sweetly.
"I will," Hanna said sweeping her bag off the table and swinging it around her shoulder. "Call or text me so I know you won't be home alone tonight. If you need me to, I can really try and convince my mom to let you crash at my place. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"I'll let you know," Aria blushed as she knew Hanna was obviously telling her in code to let her know if she would be sleeping alone tonight or if Jason and to tell her where.
"Okay then," Hanna chirped while stepping outside. "Bye Jason," she called as she passed him. Giving the signature Jason nod, both him and Aria watched as Hanna got into her car and took off.
"Did you two finish your homework?" Jason asked, coming up on the porch to see her.
"Almost," she smiled, craning her neck up to look at him as he came closer. Laying a sweet soft kiss on her lips, they both moaned in appreciation. Aria's hand came up to Jason's soft broad cheek, while Jason hugged Aria closer to him.
"Let me know when you're done? We can do something here or hang around back my place again if you're more comfortable."
"You sure you want to stay?" Aria asked now snuggling against his warm body.
"Are you kicking me out?" he teased squeezing her tight.
"Never," Aria blushed taking a peek up at him. "Just making sure you don't have to do anything that I'm taking you away from."
"Never," he replied, using her own words back at her. Setting his chin on top of her head, Jason and Aria stood there on the porch for what seemed like the longest time, just holding each other in peace.
"I need to go finish calc," Aria groaned in his chest. Jason let out a chuckle, kissing her head to make her feel better. "I'll probably be in the kitchen banging around so you might want to move to a different area to do that," he warned.
"Alright," she sighed, leaving go of him just a little bit. "Will you come get me when you're done? I'll move my things up to my room and finish them there."
"Sure," he said kissing her lips when they became face to face again.
Struggling with calculus was something Aria did a lot. She didn't enjoy the subject of math even though she was fairly good at it and she definitely didn't enjoy her old teacher Mr. Ringwold. He had been a teacher at Rosewood since her mother was a teenager and didn't exactly know how to teach anymore. So almost slamming her book shut, Aria called it quits on the last of her work and went to go take a break on her bed.
Math brought out the stress in her and Aria didn't know if she could take much more of that. 'A's warnings to her didn't necessarily worry her since she knew her and Jason were great together, but the threats did give her a few ounces of fright. She didn't like to be threatened or backed into a corner.
Unsure of what to do next since Jason wasn't finished in the kitchen with all his loud banging, Aria stood on her knees against the mattress and took out a book from her shelf above. Turning the pages, she found a new blank sheet and jumped off her bed to grab a pencil. It had been a long time since she had written music and missed it immensely. As a child Aria always remembered it was a good stress reliever. She could write for hours about her feelings and passion. It was jus like her other journal she kept except this one kept a rhyming tune.
Aria wrote in her music journal numerous times when she moved to Iceland and even strummed her guitar to some of the songs she had wrote. It was something she liked to do as a hobby and not many people knew about it.
Her guitar was in the back of her closet, which is why Aria probably had a hard time finding it. After tuning some of the strings to sound like they were right, Aria began to play and fiddle around with what she was hearing. Random lyrics were written down from time to time and soon parts of it started to flow together.
Jason wasn't sure what he was hearing when he stopped banging in the kitchen to make sure all of his finishing touches were in place. There was a soft sweet melody playing from upstairs and he wondered what his girlfriend was listening to up there. Dropping his tools to go investigate, he carefully walked up the stairs and heard the soft tune of the words.
"I'm imprisoned, I'm living a lie
Another night of putting on a disguise
I wanna tear it off and step in the light
Don't you, don't you?"
Realizing that was Aria's voice, Jason's eyes went wide and he made sure to be extra quiet when he moved to get closer.
"So now I'm knocking at your front door
And I'm looking for the right cure
I'm still a little bit unsure
'Cause I know,
Yeah I know"
She was playing guitar, it sounded like. To him, she sounded amazing, like an angel – or so he pictured as one. Her voice was so strong and smooth. It had that 'Aria touch' to it too – a twinge of happiness laced between the words.
"That most people see me as ordinary
But if you look close you'll find I'm very
Interesting and hard to know
You can never tell where this might go
'Cause I'm not your average, average person
I don't know much, but I know for certain
That I'm just a little bit extra, extra
I'm just a little bit extra ordinary"
He finally got to the place where he wanted to be – leaning right against Aria's open doorframe, watching her as she played her guitar (that he still didn't even knew existed) and hear her sing her song…
"I can see it from the spark in your eyes
You believe in all the things you deny
You wanna fly and leave your worries behind
Don't you, don't you?"
Many times Aria thought about Jason while writing all the lyrics down. Their lives had been centered around fear, and for the most part, it still was too; but here with Jason…hell, anywhere with Jason, fear couldn't get her – 'A' couldn't get her.
"Well now I'm knocking at your front door
And I'm looking for the right cure
I'm still a little bit unsure
'Cause I know,
Yeah I know"
And this song was not only about him. Yes for the majority of it, it was, but it also became about her too. Aria was not the girl like Ali or Hanna to always get the guy. Even Emily or Spencer seemed like a bigger catch than her. But when she was Jason, Aria never felt more special or important in her entire life.
"That most people see me as ordinary
But if you look close you'll find I'm very
Interesting and hard to know
You can never tell where this might go
'Cause I'm not your average, average person
I don't know much, but I know for certain
That I'm just a little bit extra, extra
I'm just a little bit extra ordinary"
So as Aria finished playing, she seemed to have never felt more free. She knew it was hard to start, running into problems when she went to mesh everything together, but the more she played, the more it told a story, and to her – the more it all made began to make sense.