Whispers in the Dark

- Chapter Nine –Comfortable Liar

Cory thanked the barista at the counter and took her coffee over to a small table near the large set of windows.

She sat down and thought to herself how strange it felt to be sitting at The Brew by herself; she was almost always there with at least one of her friends. Spending separate time from them was harder than she'd thought it would be; ever since she'd moved back they'd all been inseparable and now it was treated like high treason if they got caught on the phone together.

Looking down to her phone she started to debate whether she should text someone and see if they had time for a coffee before school, as far as she knew their therapist wasn't monitoring cameras at local teen hangouts –but then again you can't ever be sure.

"Morning."

Looking up from her phone, a confused look spread over her face as she said, "Good morning, Jason…"

He looked around for a moment before pointing to the empty chair across from her. Taking a drink of her coffee she shrugged and nodded, letting him know the seat wasn't taken but she also wasn't sure why he even wanted to sit with her after the way he'd treated her and Spencer the night before.

She watched him from over the lid on her coffee cup, waiting for him to say something –preferably an apology for trying to scare an answer out of her.

"I was kind of surprised to find you here alone. I remember when you guys were completely inseparable." He finally said, trying to make conversation as he looked down to his own coffee.

"Yeah, it's not exactly by choice… our parents seem to think some time apart will do us all some good." She admitted, rolling her eyes hardly able to believe her dad had gone along with the plan when he knew how much her friends meant to her.

Sighing and knowing what he needed to say, he cleared his throat as he started to say, "Listen… about last night-"

"Which part of last night? The part where you threw a rolled up newspaper at a poor little dog or the part where you were moments away from trying to shake me down for an answer to your questions?" She cut in, with raised eyebrows letting him know she wasn't going to make this apology easy on him.

He looked down and hid the small smile he got at realizing how much he'd missed being around her. It wasn't until after he'd gotten clean and sober that he'd really started to realize how much he cared about her and missed her, but by then it was too late. Her family had already moved away from Rosewood and he'd started looking at Ivy League schools.

"All of it, but for the record that little dog has been hassling me all week." He joked and try as she might to keep a straight face, she smiled.

"I know it looked bad." He finally admitted, "I had no right to act like that towards you, it's just after so long of wondering what happened to my sister… then finding out she's dead, I need answers. And when I heard you guys told the police Ian confessed, I thought that's what I finally had. But a maybe, isn't really good enough."

"So you think we're lying about what happened?" She questioned, trying not to look hurt.

"I didn't say that." He quickly cut in, "I don't think you're lying, I'm just not entirely convinced that it was Ian who killed Ali."

"Well, I am." She asserted, swallowing hard as their eyes met and she admitted, "I was in the church that night with Spencer, and Ian pretty much tossed me around like a rag doll. And that wasn't the first night he'd made a comment about what happened to Alison that didn't sit right."

He nodded, seeing how much she believed her own story. It was almost enough to make him believe it too but not quite.

"I'm sorry… I know you guys were friends." She breathed, looking down to the table.

"That was a long time ago… and honestly looking back, I don't think I really had friends –just people who used me to get wasted." He admitted, pulling in a deep breath as he continued, "Not that I can even be sure of that; most of what I remember I wish I could forget."

Cory nodded, she knew that feeling. Maybe not to the level he did considering he'd spent years in an alcohol and drug induced haze, but she could still relate from just the time she'd been living that way.

"But look at you now… clean and sober." She smiled at him as she spoke, proud that he'd been able to clean his act up.

"Yeah, with a blurry past of regrets." He quietly said before he looked at her and added, "There's things in my past that I'm not proud of… quite a bit of that has to do with you…"

He had her full attention as she raised her head and her gaze landed on him, her hazel eyes full of worry; wondering what he was getting at, was he trying to say he wished nothing had ever happened between them? She swallowed hard and rubbed her sweaty palms on the sides of her dress, she'd just been starting to realize how much she missed him and wasn't sure she could handle it if he made some comment like that to her.

"What do you mean?" she pushed, needing him to finish what he was saying –even the outcome scared her. Maybe the not knowing really was worse.

"I don't even think you'd had a drink before you started talking to me." He pointed out thinking back and feeling guilty about how bad her life seemed to spiral out of control once they'd gotten involved. "I've always been the guy who manages to break everything I touch… you deserved a lot better than that –better than me."

"Jason…" she sighed, shaking her head back and forth, "Don't do that… don't blame yourself. I don't blame you." She admitted, cupping her hands around the disposable coffee cup and appreciating the warmth on her palms.

"You sure about that?" He questioned, drinking down the last of his coffee.

His eyes met hers and she felt the familiar flutter in her stomach that always seemed to happen when he was around her.

Nodding she raised her eyebrows in question, wondering why he had such a hard time believing that.

Running his tongue over his bottom lip, he debated whether he should really bring up what was on his mind. Finally, he sighed and pointed out, "It's not a big deal… but after you moved –I did try to call you. When you never picked up or even texted… I just-"

"That wasn't my choice." She cut in, "My parents took my phone before…" Her eyes widened slightly and she looked down to the table, she'd almost slipped up and admitted that she'd been to rehab.

It was frustrating, knowing that he wouldn't judge her and would even be able to relate and she couldn't even say anything to him about it. Swallowing hard she wondered at exactly what point in her life lying and hiding things around the clock became her new normal.

"Before what?" He asked, seeing the sudden change in her behavior.

"Nothing." She lied, as she reached over and pulled her school bag and purse up from where she'd left it on the floor and apologetically said, "I have to get to school."

Feeling like he already knew the answer, but decided it was worth a shot to ask anyways he offered, "I could take you, I'm headed that way anyways." It was a lie, he had no reason to be going in the direction of the school, but if it meant stealing a few extra minutes with her –it would be worth it.

"No, that's okay. Thanks though." She stammered out as she turned to leave, but only made it a few steps away from the table before she paused and closed her eyes. Looking over her shoulder she admitted, "If I could have called you back… I would have."

Before he got the chance to respond to her, she quickly left The Brew and started her walk towards the school.

~()~

"Sorry I'm late." Cory apologized as she walked into the girls bathroom at school where they were supposed to meet before their classes.

"Cor, we all left early so we'd get a chance to talk." Emily reminded her as she finished washing her hands and threw the paper towel into the trashcan.

"Not that you missed much, just a lot of hiding in the stalls. We've got to find a better place to meet… maybe somewhere with a fan." Aria explained with a wrinkled noise as Hanna pulled a bottle of perfume from her purse and spritzed the air around the group of friends.

"Good luck, we're going to have to dig a tunnel under the school or something." Emily sighed as she looked around, her stomach was always in knots now that she was possibly just mere weeks away from leaving Rosewood. Her dad got stationed for a year in Texas and her mom wanted them all to move there with him.

"Not with those hands…" Hanna said to her with wide eyes, "you need some serious moisturizer." She continued, before reaching into her bag and retrieving a bottle of lotion as she explained, "This cost more than my purse."

As Emily opened it to put some on her dry hands, Cory saw the label and beamed, "Can I use it too, I love that stuff."

"Sure." Hanna smiled.

Spencer tried to assure Emily that the letter she got from the scout wasn't that bad, but she knew it wasn't good enough for her parents. In order for them to even consider letting her stay in Rosewood to finish school would be if they had a commitment from the university. But the best Danby could do was write a letter showing they were interested in her and that she might fit the criteria to be offered a scholarship.

"It means a lot that they even took the time to write the letter though, doesn't it?" Spencer questioned.

"Not good enough, my mom needs more than a maybe letter. She needs something that says, 'We want her, don't take her out of Rosewood. Don't move her to Texas' this won't cut it." She sadly said as she thought of how her mom had already packed up the kitchen.

"Em there are other colleges." Aria tried to be hopeful and Spencer backed her up, "And other scouts will want you."

"When? My mom's already packed up the entire kitchen and keeps telling me how much I'm going to love the rodeo."

Shrugging Cory walked over to the mirror as she fixed her lip gloss and nonchalantly said, "So give her a letter that is more than a maybe."

"How?" She scoffed, "Unless you've got some strings to pull at Danby… I'm stuck."

"No, I don't have strings… but I do have a computer and you've got the envelope he handed you the letter in the college crest." Cory said, as she watched her friends in the mirror behind her own reflection.

"You're saying she should write a fake letter? Promising a fake scholarship?" Aria asked, her brown eyes wide as she stepped up beside her.

Nodding Cory scrunched her wavy hair and nodded, "Yeah, I mean come on… Emily's the best swimmer on the team, of course they're really going to offer her a scholarship."

"I think it's a great idea, I could help your write it." Hanna smiled, thinking this might be their best plan to keep Emily around.

"No…" She shook her head, "I can't just lie to my parents about something this big, I can't."

"Then don't think of it as lying; you're just …pre-telling the truth." Cory argued, turning to face her as she adjusted her purse and school bag straps on her shoulder.

"Pre-telling the truth?" Spencer asked with raised eyebrows, knowing that was something Alison used a lot when it came to lying. She'd excuse it by theorizing that it was going to happen anyways.

"You sound like you spent way too much around Ali." Hanna agreed, but also had to admit she was fully on board with the plan. If it was her mom trying to move her away, she'd do what she had to –to stay.

They heard talking right outside of the door when the halls started to fill with students, they were down to just about 5 minutes before the bell was going to ring. Time to go back to pretending they didn't speak to one another.

"Let's do this later." Aria reasoned, as she also used some of the moisturizer that Hanna had.

"Um, what about after school?" The blonde questioned as he put the bottle back in her purse.

But her hopes were dashed when everyone had an excuse; Spencer had field hockey, Emily had swim practice, Aria was starting her extension course at Hollis and Cory's dad was picking her up from school for an early dinner.

"Great, everyone has a life except for me." Hanna complained, her voice had a slight whine to it as she slouched her stance in defeat.

"I hardly call getting lunch with my dad, having a life. Besides… weren't you going to the mall with Mona?" Cory asked her.

"Stealing moisturizer isn't a hobby."

Spencer turned to her with wide eyes as she gasped, "You stole that?"

"No." She rolled her eyes, "It was a sample."

"Uh, Hanna… newsflash the bottles with the little 'tester' stickers, those aren't free samples." Aria filled her in, but the conversation was cut short when the door opened and one of their teachers walked in.

Silently, they all went their separate ways as Hanna stepped up to the sink to wash her hands, Spencer and Emily walked into empty stalls and Cory and Aria spilled out into the hallway, immediately getting separated by the busy morning bustle of students.

~(That night)~

"Hello?" Cory answered her phone, after lying about who was calling her and excusing herself from the living room.

"Where have you been? I've been calling for hours." Spencer scolded, letting out a painfully loud sigh into the phone and making her friend cringe.

"What's going on?"

She went into her room and shut the door as she listened to Spencer frantically explain that on her walk home from school she'd stopped by Jason's to see if Toby was there. He wasn't, but she saw a male figure moving around in the upstairs which she thought was Jason, until he'd walked up behind her to ask what she was doing there.

"I'm telling you… Melissa keeps leaving on foot to see someone and the only reason Jason would have to lie about living there alone would be if he was harboring Ian." Spencer reasoned, as she said when she looked back to the house the curtains were closed when they'd been open only moments before.

"Maybe the wind blew the curtains over the window?" Cory suggested, plopping down in her computer chair and kicking off from the floor to make the chair spin.

Spencer looked around her own bedroom before sighing heavily and exclaiming, "The curtains were closed, Cory!"

"Okay, I'm just saying… I really don't think Jason would be hiding Ian. Not after everything we told him…"

"Are you not listening to me? Someone else is in that house… I saw them and it has to be Ian. Which means there's a murderer living next door, my parents are in New York and all I have to defend myself with a hockey stick!"

Cory rubbed her eyes as her friend's voice grew louder with emotion until she was practically yelling into the phone.

"I'd ask Toby to check it out since he's working there, but if I tell him anything he's going to barge in there trying to act like a hero and end up getting hurt." Spencer admitted; now pacing the floor of her bedroom.

"So what are you saying?" Cory questioned.

"We need to figure out what Jason's hiding… but for tonight I'd settle with you coming to stay over."

"You know I can't do that… my dad would want to know where I was going this late and it's not like I have other friends I can lie and say I'm staying with them." She apologized.

"Then I'll come over there… your dad loves me." She pleaded.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. He thinks this separate time crap is a good idea… he even told me this might be a good time for me to branch out and make some new friends." She admitted.

Spencer walked over to her window and looked at the DiLaurentis house before the words sunk in and she paused, "New friends? What's wrong with the friend's you've got?"

"I don't know." Cory shrugged, "I gotta go… just make sure you've got the doors locked."

"What? No… we have to do something. I can't just stay here." She whined, "I saw Jason walking around Ali's old bedroom a few minutes ago… it's so creepy!"

"Oh my god, Spence… then stop spying on him." Cory sighed shaking her head before saying she had to go again.

It was barely 5 minutes later when her phone went off with an incoming text from Spencer:

'Jason's putting newspaper over the windows, something really bad has to be happening over there… HELP.'

Standing from her computer chair, she grabbed some clothes out of her closet and tucked them into a bag before she went downstairs. Spending 10 minutes explaining to her dad that she had to stay the night with Spencer because she was helping her get caught up in her classes and there was no other way they could get their studying done.

Stepping outside in the cool night air, she pulled in a deep breath before texting her friend and letting her know she'd be there in a few minutes. It wasn't that long of a walk to Spencer's house from the new house they'd moved into.

For such a quiet night, it was a very noisy walk –inside her head at least.

She didn't believe for a second that Jason had Ian in the house, but several other things didn't make sense either. Like why was he going to such great extent to keep prying eyes out, what could he possibly have to hide?

Just as she was one street over from Spencer's she grew aware of the sound of an approaching car, looking behind her she saw a dark car with dark tinted windows slowly driving behind her –with their headlights off.

Her heart started to race in her chest and she could feel the muscles in her legs starting to tighten, ready to aide her in a fight or flight situation.

Looking back in front of her she tried to ignore the car, hoping whoever it was would just go away and leave her alone. But as the car picked up just a bit of speed and stayed right with her, she knew that wasn't going to happen.

Even though it was a cool night, her clothes were starting to cling to her body from breaking out into a cold sweat.

The car was staying just behind her, and she was moving at a normal pace but all of a sudden it felt like everything was moving too fast to process and before she even fully understood what was happening she was clutching onto her bag strap and racing for her friend's house.

The car sped up with her and she had a horrible, sickening, sinking feeling in her stomach. A familiar feeling that came with being watched and followed and now she wasn't even sure where to go, if it was someone dangerous who was following her she didn't wanted to lead them right to her friend's door but she had nowhere else to go.

Hearing the roar of the accelerator behind her, she fearfully jumped to the side in case it was someone trying to run her over like A had done to Hanna, but luckily the car sped off not turning their lights on until they were turning onto the next street.

"Cory, oh my god… are you okay?" Spencer asked as she ushered her friend inside of the warm, large house.

Once she was sat down on the couch, and Spencer put some water into the kettle for them to have some tea she explained about the car following her and the pair sat in silence, neither of them sure what was happening.

Just as the kettle started to whistle, Spencer jumped up and Cory nearly jumped out of her skin when the door opened behind her.

"Sorry." Melissa said with a laugh, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh… uh, Cory just came over for some help with her homework." Spencer quickly lied, knowing her sister had also been told about their group of friends separating.

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret." She said before turning to Cory and saying, "I'm not so sure about the neighbors though… maybe you shouldn't have parked out front."

"What? I walked here…"

Melissa's forehead lined with confusion as she said, "Then who's car is right out front?"

Spencer and Cory both bolted out for the nearest door and around to the front of the house, but there was no car there.

Hearing footsteps behind them, they looked back to see Melisa approaching them as she asked, "Who was it?"

"Don't know… we didn't see a car." Spencer shrugged.

Turning to the older Hasting's sibling, Cory nervously asked, "Why'd you think it was my car?"

"Well, on my way to a doctor's appointment I passed your new house a few days ago and saw the same car parked outside."

The color drained from the teenagers face as she wondered who it was. The first thought that came to mind was A, but that wasn't really A's style. She hadn't gotten any texts from them, taunting that they were watching her.

The closest to that was someone kept calling the landline at her house; when her dad answered they'd hang up, but when Cory answered whoever was on the other end of the conversation just stayed quiet and breathed until she hung up.

Picking up on Cory's uneasiness, Melissa pulled her sweater around herself and said, "Let's go back inside… you can help me look for my wedding ring."

She nodded and followed Spencer inside as she tried to convince her older sister to sleep in the house instead of the barn that night; a suggestion that Cory whole heartedly backed. Neither of the teenagers really wanted Melissa's company but it was better than trying to sleep in the house by themselves.

A/N- I hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter. ^_^