Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or these characters. Not written for money, only enjoyment.
This is not the last chapter but I thought it was needed for the ending. I hope you have enjoyed the story enough to keep reading.
Please don't be afraid to review. I appreciate them all including criticism.
It had been almost a full week since the showcase and random strangers, other students and teachers were all still telling the girls what a good job they did with the finale. They always said thank you and walked away feeling funny. Meeting at Emily's, "Okay I'm getting tired of the nice routine from everyone. Can't they just go back to ignoring us again?" Hanna asked frustrated.
"I know what you mean, but I think it helped Rosewood heal more than we realized." Aria said texting on her phone.
"Oh my goodness if you don't put your phone down or I'll run it over with my car." Spencer said making a grab for Arias phone. "Until we talked about it after the practicing the song for hours we hadn't even considered doing it for Ali, it was meant to be for us." She added succeeding in getting her friends phone only to be disappointed. "Here." She said tossing it to Aria after discovering she had been texting her Mom not Jason.
"I think we should just keep nodding and smiling. Eventually people will move on from what we did." Emily said looking at both Spencer and Aria, "What's with the phone thing?" she asked.
"Oh she thought I was texting Jason, when it was really my Mom." Aria said not looking up from her phone.
"She hasn't let it out her hand since Saturday so give me a break." Spencer said throwing a pillow at her happy friend.
"Hey Em do you think your parents would be cool if we spent the night and did a girls night?" Hanna asked.
"We can't do it here. My Dad is getting ready to go to back to Texas for a few weeks. So him and Mom want the house to themselves." Emily explained.
"We can do it at my house." Aria said putting down her phone, "Zack and my Mom are going out for their anniversary and Mike is staying at a friend's."
"I thought their anniversary was in November when they got married." Hanna said
"That's their actual anniversary. Zack says this one is for the first time he saw my Mom and the first date they had at The Brew." Aria said happily.
"No offense Aria, but your Mom and Zack are disgustingly cute." Hanna said making a kissy face at her friend.
"I know they are. But I love seeing my Mom happy and Mike has even opened up to him. It's like we're a real family." Aria said giving her laughing friend a hug. "So be at my house, say 8 o'clock."
Jason had spent most of the week with his Mom. It was the most time they had ever spent together in his life and it wasn't forced. After the finale of the showcase she had headed back to his house while he waited with Aria. When he had gotten home he found her sitting on the couch crying and looking at family albums he hadn't had the heart to throw out. She had turned and looked at him when he stepped inside and all she could say was how sorry she was and how she had been a horrible mother. That night he had connected with his Mom and he felt amazing about it, they were taking it slow and getting to know each other in their new lights. Jason was learning how to have no hard feelings towards her and his dad for how they had been absent from his life when he had been a teen and needed their help. Jessica DiLaurentis was seeing her oldest child in a new light. He had become a generous young man who cared about people other than himself. She couldn't help but be proud of the work he was doing at the school and how it was making him into a better man. Even with getting to know Jason as adult it did not leave her without regrets, every night that week when she would check on Jason sleeping she would wish she had done it when he was teen. Maybe they could have been closer and not lost so many years. Jason had been telling her that the past was in the past but she felt guilty about missing so much of his life.
Aria was setting up the living room when her phone rang. Happily she answered it when she saw that the screen said Jason, "Hi. How are things with your Mom?" she asked, missing him.
"Things are good. I just dropped her off at the airport. Want to do something tonight?" He asked dying to see his pink haired girl.
"Jason I would love too, but the girls are coming over a for a girls night. Rain check till tomorrow." Aria said sadly, she loved her friends but she wanted some alone time with Jason also.
"Tomorrow sounds great. Have a good time with the girls. Don't tell Hanna anything." Jason told her.
"I make no promises. She can be pretty insistent." Aria said laughing.
"That's true, but I guess she saw the only thing you could really tell her about so there's not much to gossip about." Jason said smirking.
"True. Be careful coming home and I'll see you tomorrow." Aria told him hating to hang up the phone.
The living room was perfectly set up for the girl's night. Aria had repositioned the TV and the couch to make more room plus brought down some stuff for face masks and everything. Arriving all the same time Spencer, Hanna, and Emily came in and settled in. They had movies, trash magazines, and junk food. It didn't take the girls long to settle into their routine of the girls nights they had been having since they were thirteen. Around 10 p.m. Hanna complained of being hungry for real food, so they ordered two pizzas and put on the face masks hoping that they would be off by the time the pizzas arrived.
Jason, Toby and Caleb were all at the pizza shop when the order came in for two pizzas. The guy at the counter had said the address out loud and Jason got an idea. Knowing that the new music shop was still open he headed over there giving Caleb and Toby instructions to get the girls pizzas. Walking over the music store Jason rented a karaoke machine for the night. When he got back to his car Toby and Caleb were waiting, "What is that?" Caleb said pointing to the machine.
"A karaoke machine. We're going to go join the girls at their girl's night." Jason said smirking.
Slapping his friend on the back, "I do love the way you think, Jason." Toby said as they all climbed in his car and headed towards Arias.
Hanna heard the doorbell ring first and jumped up to answer it, "The pizza guy is here." She yelled. "Make that the pizza guys." Grabbing the pizza from Caleb's hand she let the guys in.
"What do you mean guys?" Spencer said coming into the foyer. "Oh guys."
"Okay so Aria and I are hungry too." Emily said joining the small party. "Aria you're going to need to grab three more plates." She called to her friend.
"Why do we need three more…" Aria said coming out of the kitchen and noticing the guys. "Well I'm glad you all just decided to invite yourselves." She said smiling at the boyfriends and heading back to the kitchen.
"Is the party taking place here or can we come into the living room?" Caleb asked.
"Oh, come on in. We're just surprised to see you all here." Spencer said taking the pizza out of Toby's hand.
"It was Jason's idea." Caleb and Toby said in unison and pointing at the third guy who had been quiet.
Jason just smiled and moved past the group to the living room. "What are you carrying" Emily asked following him.
"I rented us a karaoke machine." Jason said setting it down, "I figured since well had such a good time at the showcase that we could do our own little show for each other." He said plugging it in and turning it on.
Aria had finally joined in on the fun and noticed the karaoke machine. "So who wants to go first?" She asked grabbing a piece of pizza.
All of her friends looked at her, "You arrived last, so that means you go first." Toby said laughing.
"Oh thanks guys." She responded with mock desperation.
The night was filled with laughter as the girls sang Spice Girls and the guys sang *NYSNC. None of the girls were mad that the guys had invited themselves, it actually made the night better because the guys let the girls put face masks on them. Soon they were done with the karaoke machine and a movie was put in. The party slowly turned from night to early morning and the friends started drifting off to sleep.
Ella and Zack came home to a drive way that had an extra car in it, they both recognized it as Jason's. Heading inside they found Aria and her friends all asleep in the living room. They both smiled at the sight, Emily had the couch all to herself, Hanna and Caleb were snuggled together under the window, Toby and Spencer were on the other side of the coffee table that was in front of the couch, and Jason and Aria were in front of the fireplace. Looking around they could tell that the group had just had a fun night of being together and that nothing had happened between any of the couples. Zack headed into the kitchen to start making breakfast for the soon to be stirring army while Ella stood for a few more moments and looked at Jason and Aria. She couldn't help but notice how her daughter was curled into Jason's side and how he was almost cradling her. It was the sweetest sight she had seen in a long time.
Soon the smell of coffee and fresh muffins had all of the friends waking up and wondering who was making breakfast. As a group they shuffled into the kitchen, most of them only half awake. Aria was the first one to fully wake up followed by Jason when they saw that it was Ella and Zack. "Mom, Zack, what are you doing home? I thought you were coming home later today. I was going to have the house cleaned up." She started to ramble.
Jason jumped in to the help, "Nothing happened last night. We all can promise that. Toby, Caleb and I were at the pizza place when the girls called in their order so we decided to crash the party. We just didn't intend to stay all night." He rambled as bad as Aria.
Ella just held up her hand to help the two out, "It's okay. We could tell nothing happened when we came in. We also don't mind that you boys stopped by. By the looks of the living room it looks like you all had a good time." She said pouring coffee into mugs and setting them on the table. The tired looking group of friends all breathed a sigh of relief and gathered farther into the kitchen grabbing cups of coffee and muffins and starting to chow down.
After breakfast Ella and Zack were amazed yet again when the group went back to the living room and put it back together without having to be asked. The girls picked up the trash and dishes from the night before while the guys did the heavy lifting of the furniture moving. Soon the living room looked like it always did and the friends all headed towards their homes to get some more sleep and clean up. Walking towards the front window Ella watched Aria and Jason.
Aria walked out with Jason. She couldn't believe he had crashed her girl's night, yet she wasn't upset about it. It had actually made the night better and gave them a chance to reconnect in a crowded environment. Jason leaned against his car after putting the karaoke machine in the passenger seat since Toby and Caleb were going with Hanna and Spencer, looking at Aria he pulled her to him. Once she was in his arms he nuzzled her neck dying to kiss her but not daring to since he could see Ella standing and watching them through the front window.
Tightening his arms, "Hmm I really want to kiss you but…" He said nuzzling Arias neck softly.
"My Mom is watching from the front window isn't she?" Aria asked putting her hand in his hair dying to kiss him.
"Mmm-hmm." Was all Jason could answer with, he was intoxicated by her vanilla smell.
"Well then." Aria said shifting so that Jason had to pull his face away from her neck.
His puppy eyes told her that he hadn't wanted to move but when she stood on her tippy toes and kissed him it didn't take him long to respond.
Ella wasn't surprised when Aria kissed Jason. The two of them loved each other and weren't going to let anything come between them again and Ella had to say she didn't mind her daughter being in love with Rosewood's resident bad boy heart throb.