Pretty Little Liars: Paying the Cost

Chapter 16 of my Pretty Little Liars story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Yeah, well, who knows, she might be right and not just causing trouble.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars or its characters.


Season 1: Episode 16

Waking up, hearing the strange sound, Spencer felt nervous. She sat up in bed and turned on her bedside lamp, she looked around and saw nothing, the clock showed it was nearly three in the morning. She heard the noise again, this time pinpointing it's location as the kitchen. She stood up from bed and slowly, carefully, left her room and made her way downstairs. She was startled by what she saw. Melissa was sitting at the kitchen island, looking up at Spencer, eyes unfocused. That combined with the glass and bottle in front of her told Spencer all she needed to know, Melissa was drunk.

"Spencer...hey." Melissa slurred, smiling.

Spencer grimacing, knowing how Melissa could be when she was drunk.

Still she warily approached. "Melissa. Um, how much have you had to drink?"

"Oh, not that much." Melissa clearly lied. "C'mon, sit down, sit down, join me."

Spencer sat down, feeling awkward and uncomfortable, Melissa always got uncomfortably friendly when she was drunk. Still she hoped that if she did this, she'd be able to convince Melissa to stop and go to bed.

'Can't imagine how she'll feel tomorrow.' Spencer mused.

Shaking her head, Spencer saw Melissa drain her glass.

Melissa then turned to face Spencer. "Spencer, what the hell was up with Wren?"

"Wren, what…?" Spencer began, not expecting that.

"He was in your room, he was drunk...what happened?" She emphasised and asked.

Spencer felt unsure about this, but knew that another side effect of Melissa being drunk was that she was more likely to listen. So she told Melissa the truth, after which silence followed, Melissa was staring at the bottle, but didn't refill her glass.

"Well, that puts a new slant on things...You know we're over right, Wren and I, I broke off the engagement." Melissa revealed.

"What?" Spencer gasped.

Melissa did not elaborate however, but still it was enough and, with Spencer's help, Melissa got to bed. This allowed Spencer to go back to bed herself, her mind whirling as she did so with everything that just happened.

XXXXX

The next day, at school, Alison was deep in thought, pondering of the request Paige had made of her.

'Hmmm, the hardest part is to find a way for Maya to have an...excuse to be alone. Maybe some time after school, at night…' She thought to herself. 'It's like that saying goes, who you are in dark.'

That was when she reached Emily and Maya, talking together by Maya's locker. She then overheard something which struck her as useful.

"Still can't believe your mom invited my family and I to dinner." Maya was saying.

Emily smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

Maya pondered. "Hmm, I'm gonna need a good outfit, wanna make a good impression after all."

Alison saw her chance, she knew of a place that this would work for.

She stepped in. "Hey, sorry I couldn't help overhearing. You know Maya, there is a shop not too far that you could get the perfect outfit from. Better still if you go there about an hour and a half before close, they'll sell their goods for reduced prices."

Maya looked amazed at this and Emily was surprised, but Alison pressed on and told Maya the name and exact location of the store.

"That sounds perfect, Alison, thanks." She said, she then turned to Emily and asked. "You wanna come along?"

Emily shook her head. "Sorry, I can't, I've got stuff I need to do."

Alison nodded. 'That's what I'm hoping.'

To avoid arousing any suspicion, Alison offered to go with Maya, but to her relief, Maya politely refused. With that sorted Alison headed to her first class while Emily and Maya headed to theirs, with Emily musing all the while.

'Strange, why would Alison suggest that particular store?'

But she brushed it aside, there was nothing to worry about, she just needed to look forward to the dinner.

Later, at lunch, Alison grinned as she posed for Ryan as he used his camera, taking the final few shots for his photography project, the last part of his portfolio before he could present it to the teacher.

"There, that should do it." Ryan said at last, lowering the camera and setting it on the desk.

Alison smiled as she then moved closer to Ryan. "You did good work, I think you've really got something here."

"Well, thanks." Ryan said, his face heating up.

"I'm serious...oh and um…" Alison began.

She was smiling, getting even closer and soon their lips met. They continued kissing for some time, until Alison tried to slowly take things just a little further, getting intimate. Suddenly, to her shock, Ryan practically leapt back, eyes wide, breathing heavily.

"Whoa, no, not…" He blurted out.

Alison started too. "Ryan, what the…?"

Ryan shook his head. "S-Sorry, it's, it's nothing, I'm...I'm just not able to go through with this right now. There's a few, things in my past which I need to get straight first. It's just me, I've got some issues that need sorting."

Alison didn't say anything in response, but she hugged Ryan, doing her best to reassure him.

Meanwhile, at the cafeteria, Aria sat, downcast as she finished telling her story to the others.

"It's become such a mess now, my parents are separated and I don't know what's going to happen now." She finished.

The other girls were startled and horrified, Aria had just told them about her family issues, now aware that her dad had been cheating on her mom and that the truth had come out, with Aria caught in the middle due to her father asking her to keep things secret.

"Oh, Aria, that's…" Spencer whispered softly.

Hanna couldn't help but ask however. "Wait, how did you, how did you know about it before all this?"

"I...I saw him, Ali and I saw him...before she went away." Aria explained. "She encouraged me to confront him and I did. I don't know if she's aware that this was still going on…"

"I don't think so, I mean, since coming back she's not been doing most of her usual snooping for secrets. She's been more concerned looking for clues about the serial killer." Emily chimed in.

They all shared a look at that, but accepted Emily's point. At that moment however, Aria noticed Noel Kahn again.

'Urgh, dude, stop staring, so weird.' She thought with a shake of her head, then noticed. 'Huh, wait, Mike?'

She hadn't expected that, but there was her brother, talking with Noel as if they were old friends. At that moment, Hanna was distracted, by a text which, as she dreaded, was from A.

"Hope you mom appreciated getting her car back, I did you a favour there, you know. A"

Hanna's mouth went dry, did this mean what she thought it did, was A responsible for car-jacking her mother and then abandoning it.

XXXXX

With school over for the day, the girls were leaving the school, chatting together, once they got outside, Maya excused herself and hurried off.

"What was that about?" Aria wondered.

Emily just smiled. "Ali gave her an idea where to get the perfect outfit for dinner with my family, she's probably gonna get ready and head over there as soon as she can...or lie in wait till she can get the deal."

"Oh." Hanna noted. "I know that store alright, nice choice."

At that moment they spotted Alison and waved over to her. She smiled back and returned the wave. Before they could approach however they saw a car pull up, they recognized it at once, it was Jason. Sure enough there he was in the drivers seat and Ali quickly got in and they were surprised, wondering why Ali was getting picked up by her brother today when she normally walked home. But they had already driven off and they were left to go home themselves, Spencer did not go alone however as Tony had joined her, the two of them heading to the Hastings home to work on their project some more.

"You okay, you look pretty, stressed?" Tony asked, worriedly.

Spencer shook her head. "It's nothing really, just a lot of...family stuff that's been bothering me."

"Oh…"

Tony wasn't sure if he should ask or not. But he soon found out that it wasn't necessary for him to ask. For they had just arrived at the Hastings house and saw Wren leaving, with all his belongings, while Melissa stood on the front door step, watching him go with a glare, the sight instantly left Spencer conflicted, with mixed feelings.

XXXXX

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Jason asked warily.

Alison sighed. "I was asked to get proof, one way or the other, regarding Maya. This is the only way to do it without arousing too much suspicion."

They were both sitting in Jason's car, in the parking lot of the store Alison had mentioned to Maya. It was late, the sun was down, but the siblings still waited, armed with a video camera and a regular camera, both of exceptional quality to make sure they got the clarity they needed.

"And you really think she's going to show up here?" Jason queried.

"Yes, I specifically suggested this store, dropping the hint at the reduced price deal at a specific time to give us time to set up." Alison explained. "It's not time yet, but she'll be here...you see anything odd regardless?"

Jason shook his head as he looked around, wondering if this was a fools errand. But regardless, Alison had requested his help and he didn't want to refuse her. After a lengthy silence, Ali suddenly startled her brother.

"Why were you calling Radley?"

He turned to her, sharply. "What?"

"You called Radley Sanatarium, they called back asking for you, but wouldn't say anything to me, not even to pass on." Alison explained. "Why?"

Jason shook his head. "It's nothing."

Alison glared, angry. "Oh right, because you call a mental hospital for no reason, Jason-"

"She's here." Jason cut her off.

Alison reacted at once, her anger forgotten as they readied their cameras as Maya indeed arrived in the parking lot.

They watched and got their pictures and video as Maya crossed the parking lot, but she didn't go inside the store, instead she made her way close to the side of the building where, from the shadows, a sketchy looking guy emerged and began talking to her for a while. As they watched, a transaction took place, Maya paying the man and the man giving her something in return.

"A drug deal?" Jason noted.

Alison wasn't impressed. "It's already well known Maya smokes weed, this isn't...oh, pay dirt."

She was startled by what happened but continued to get the shots needed, as did Jason. For Paige was proven right as, at that moment, their transaction complete, Maya and the man suddenly got closer and kissed.


End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.