Whispers in the Dark
- Chapter Thirteen – Young Blood
Cory looked over and smiled at Jason as he pulled to a stop outside of Spencer's house. It had been a few days since Ian's funeral and she'd gone out with him every night since then, even though her dad thought she'd been spending time with friends since they were finally allowed to be around one another.
"Thanks for tonight." She smiled as she spoke, "I had a really great time."
"I did too." He said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her lips, which she eagerly returned. Even though they'd been having to sneak around, things just felt so right to her when they were together and the closer they got the more it seemed like they hadn't even spent a year apart.
Pulling back from the kiss he arched a brow as he asked, "Is there a reason I'm always dropping you off at one of your friend's houses and not your own?"
With a nervous laugh she leaned down and picked her purse up from the floorboard and tried to downplay the situation as she said, "It hasn't been every single time…"
"It has." He corrected, watching her closely as he added, "Yesterday, I picked you up from Aria's and dropped you at Hanna's…"
Sighing in defeat, she leaned back against her seat and rubbed her face as he turned sideways in the seat some to get a better look at her in the pale glow of the streetlights.
"What's going on?" He asked, his voice soft and quiet as he waited patiently on a response from her.
"It's just… my dad doesn't really know that we're together. I've kind of been lying to him about being with my friends these past few days." She whispered out an admission and looked over at him with an apologetic look.
"Don't you think he should hear it from you though?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… Rosewood is a small town and he's going to eventually find out." Jason pointed out to her.
"I know, but you don't understand…" She complained turning sideways in her seat and looking at him as he said, "Then explain it to me."
"My dad doesn't just not like you… he pretty much hates you." She blurted out without even thinking before her eyes widened and she apologized, "I guess I could have found a better way to say that."
Blowing out a heavy breath he shrugged, "No, it's okay… no sugar coating needed, you got the point across."
She frowned and quickly said, "If I could just get him to listen to me… he'd know how different you are and how far we've both come. But he shuts the conversation down before I can even start it –and I don't know how to make him see that we're not bad for each other, that it's not really like before."
He nodded, knowing her dad probably hated him because he blamed him for Cory's life spiraling out of control with drugs and drinking, and he blamed himself for that too.
Normally it wouldn't bother him so much, but he could see how much it was affecting Cory to the point that she was lying every single day about where she was.
Shrugging he offered, "Maybe we could try talking to him together?"
"No way!" she exclaimed, shaking her head back and forth, "That's the worst idea ever… if he sees us together, it's going to be some sort of seeing red, blind rage thing where he won't hear a single thing we're trying to say."
"Okay, well do you have a plan?" He questioned, wondering if she'd been working on a solution to the problem she hadn't even really shared with him, until he'd flat out asked what was going on.
"Yeah, totally…" She lied, giving him an innocent smile as she admitted, "You just keep dropping me off at my friends' houses and we avoid tables by windows when we go out to eat."
"You realize that's only going to work for so long, right?" He pointed out, with one eyebrow raised higher than the other.
"Hopefully it will work until I can make him see what I see in you." She said quietly, smiling softly as he cupped the side of her face in his hand before pulling her face back to his.
If she'd had the option she'd have stayed with him for as long as possible, but she'd promised Spencer she'd help her fold the pamphlets for an upcoming fashion show and knew she was already running late.
Regretfully pulling back from the kiss, she breathed, "I have to go."
But as she turned back towards the door to open it and get oud of the car, he stopped her, "Oh, hang on a minute."
Looking back at him she saw him reach into the back seat floorboard and when he pulled his arm back he displayed a wooden box which she immediately recognized from Alison's room.
He handed it to her and she opened it to see the white and yellow swirled candle in the pink holder that she'd left at Alison's memorial when she went missing. The same one that had fell out of the trashcan and rolled down the driveway to her feet the night she learned Jason was back.
"The candle…" She breathed as she looked the holder over to see the crack that had been down the side was now barely visible and was sealed up.
He watched her as he said, "I sealed the crack up and tried to polish over it… no more slicing your fingers up."
"I just thought you threw it away that night." She admitted, her eyes meeting his as he shook his head and said, "I saw how much it meant to you… I wasn't just going to throw it away. I'd been trying to fix it."
She ran her thumb over the pink glass and smiled, thinking if her dad could just see this side of Jason; there'd be no way he couldn't like him.
"Thank you." Cory said sincerely.
"I found that-" Jason nodded to the white wooden box with golden painted on decorations sitting in her lap, "In a box of Ali's old things in the basement, I thought you might want it."
"I do." She quickly answered, setting the candle back in it and closing it back as she tucked it in her purse and said, "I love having things around that remind me of Alison."
"I'm still sorting through a bunch of boxes and I haven't even started on the attic." He explained, looking down for a moment as she grabbed onto his hand and intertwined their fingers, "But when I come across more of Ali's stuff, I'll put it to the side for you –if you want."
"Yeah." Cory nodded, "I'll take anything of hers that you don't want."
They both sighed when her phone started buzzing from her purse again, for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past few minutes they'd been sitting there.
"Spencer?" He guessed as she took her phone out and shook her head correcting, "Hanna this time."
Her eyes drifted to the house as she sighed, "They're probably watching us from a window right now…"
"Yeah…" He said, "I got the feeling they weren't exactly happy about us either."
"What gave it away?" She laughed.
"Well, for starters…the other day when I dropped you off at Emily's house –she was waiting for you on the porch, with her arms crossed over her chest like you'd missed curfew or something." He laughed, but it was the truth. It felt like everywhere he looked someone was giving him a judgmental eye.
"My friends are just… protective." She defended, as she leaned over kissing him again before whispering, "They'll come around, just give them time."
Opening the door she stepped out of the car and leaned in to grab her purse as he asked, "You sure? I'm really starting to feel like it would be less intimidating if it was your dad waiting up for you and not your friends."
Playfully she rolled her eyes before thanking him again for fixing the candle and then she headed inside of Spencer's house where her friends all met her right inside the door. None of them particularly happy about her being out with Jason, but Spencer was the most unforgiving of all since she was currently worried she wouldn't get all of the pamphlets folded in time.
Once they all got some drinks and snacks, they went up to Spencer's room where everyone started to quiz Cory about her date with Jason until Aria brought up the more pressing matter of why A would show them the rest of the tape with Alison and Ian.
"To keep us distracted for when the next attack is launched…" Hanna guessed, but Emily had a different theory as she said, "Or to tell us there's more to what happened that night."
But even knowing Ian wasn't the last person to see Alison alive provided little comfort to Spencer, who was still having some nightmares about the bell tower. Shivering she reminded them, "Guys, Ian tried to kill me in the bell tower to get back his perverted videos, and he went after Ali for the same reason."
"Yeah, but A just had us so convinced that Ian killed Allison." Emily sighed as Cory said, "There's like two miles from the kissing rock to Ali's house… and we have no clue what happened from there."
"Right." Emily nodded, "Did she turn off the camera and walk home in the dark –alone?"
"Someone could have been waiting for her and surprised her when she got home." Hanna offered up another idea.
"Like who?" Aria sighed but Spencer wasted no time pointing fingers as she called out, "Like Ian! Just because he didn't kill her at the kissing rock doesn't mean he didn't do it an hour later."
"I'm with you Spencer, there's a huge chance Ian really did kill Ali." She didn't say it out loud, but for Jason's sake she really hoped it was true because she knew how much of a relief it was for him to finally have proof that he wasn't responsible. But there was another possibility that was terrifying, which Hanna pointed out, "If Ian didn't kill Ali… could it have been A?"
It was a topic no one really wanted to think about, a scary as hell thought because A knew secrets about all of them and seemed to be everywhere all the time. Always one step ahead.
As the room fell quiet Hanna realized she'd said the wrong thing and quickly recovered, looking to Aria as she asked, "So, uh, did you invite Ezra to the show?"
"No, he's out of town presenting a paper at a conference." Aria smiled proudly as she spoke.
"Did you invite Caleb?" Cory asked the blonde.
"Why would I?" Hanna questioned, not looking up from the pamphlet she'd been folding.
"Because you kissed him!" Spencer pointed out as Emily asked with raised brows, "How was it?"
"Well, I wore the total wrong gloss. You know the kind that looks wet but is actually really sticky?"
"Ugh, yeah… the one where wads of hair gets stuck to your mouth." Emily sympathized and Aria laughed, "It's all fun and sexy till someone hacks up a hairball."
"Please keep folding!" Spencer ordered, "I needed these done yesterday and I've already missed a million committee meetings."
"It's just a few meetings, it's not like they're going to kick you out." Hanna groaned as she grabbed another paper to fold.
"Yeah, they really might." Spencer admitted under her breath.
"Speaking of boyfriends…" Aria said, then glanced to Emily as she added, "And girlfriends… Cory, did you invite Jason?"
"Not exactly, he's probably going to be there anyway though since Mrs. D gets back to town tomorrow…" She explained, then quietly breathed, "My dad says he probably won't be able to make it, which I'm sort of counting on since he's still nowhere even ready to get used to the idea of me and Jason as friends… let alone as a couple."
"It's so weird Ali's mom is stepping down from the board." Emily softly said, and Cory nodded, "Yeah, but Jason says she really only joined because of Alison… you guys know how much she loved the fashion show."
They all smiled as they thought of their late friend before Hanna said, "Am I the only one having a problem sitting here and pretending to be fine with Cory and Jason."
"No, you're definitely not." Emily chimed in and Cory shot her a look as she said, "Can you please just be happy for me? I'm happy for all of you."
"I don't even have a boyfriend." Hanna argued, but they all knew it wasn't true. She and Caleb were pretty much back together, Hanna just didn't want to see it or admit to them.
"Do you guys realize this is the first time we've all had boyfriends/girlfriends?" Aria asked, smiling at her friends.
~(The next day)~
Cory rushed into the door of the restaurant, frowning when she saw her friends we're already there with Alison's mom and she was the last one to arrive.
"Hey guys." She greeted then looked to Alison's mom as she apologized, "I'm sorry I'm late, I thought I had enough time to make a stop at the new boutique that opened around the corner, but then I couldn't decide on these two bracelets-" She continued to ramble, then stopped as Alison's mom stood up and smiled at her.
Taking a deep breath she stopped rambling and smiled, "It's really good to see you, Mrs. D."
"You too, Cory." She replied as she hugged the teenager and reminded her, "But I told you before that you can call me Jessica."
The rest of her friend's exchanged looks behind them, they'd been sitting in an awkward silence waiting for Cory to show up, but the moment she arrived Alison's mother seemed much happier than before –and she'd never told any of them to call her by her first name. But Cory had been friend's with Alison before they were and between her friendship with Alison and her relationship with Jason, she'd spent a lot of time at the DiLaurentis house.
As they sat down at the table, Hanna scooted over so Cory could have the seat next to Jessica DiLaurentis –a seat none of the others really wanted.
"Are those the bracelets?" She questioned looking down to Cory's embellished wrist.
"Yeah." She nodded holding her arm out as she looked over and flashed her group of friends an apologetic smile, she knew none of them really wanted to even go to this lunch invitation. It wasn't that they didn't like Mrs. DiLaurentis; it was more that she'd always been intimidating –they were never quite sure how to react around her.
Cory on the other hand, had gone away to spa trips and weekend get-aways with Alison and her mother. For a while she got along better with Alison's mom than she did with her own mother.
Looking closer at the bracelets, Mrs. DiLaurentis pointed to the thinner silver banded one with alternating pink and opal gemstones as she smiled and said, "I think Alison, would have loved that one."
Her eyes widened slightly as she brought up her deceased daughters name unintentionally and made the lunch date even more awkward.
Looking back down to the open menu in front of her she observed, "They've made some nice changes…"
"Yeah." Spencer nodded, trying to smile.
"Cory, what are you going to get?" Mrs. DiLaurentis asked, looking at the brunette teenager.
"Probably the Chinese chicken salad." She admitted quietly, knowing it was also Alison's favorite dish to order from that restaurant.
"Alison's favorite." She smiled at her as she spoke, before using the stirrer stick in her Bloody Mary to keep the contents mixed up.
Cory nodded and started to ask what her friends were getting but Spencer spoke up first, "You must be really happy that Jason's moved back."
"Happy?" She scoffed as she rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand as she added, "I don't even think of that as our house anymore."
"Actually…" Emily spoke up, eyeing Cory for a moment before she announced, "We all thought Jason moving back was kind of odd."
"Not all of us." Cory corrected, as she cleared her throat then thanked the waiter who'd brought her a glass of ice water.
"Jason came into some family money, and it's his choice on how he wants to spend it." She explained, taking another drink from her glass as she added, "He definitely marches to his own drummer, both my kids do."
Her smile fell as she corrected herself with the correct tense of the word, seeing as how one of her kids was no longer among the living, "Did."
The table remained quiet, none of them really sure what to say or do. Realizing she'd just made things worse, Mrs. DiLaurentis stood up as she said, "I was going to wait until after lunch but now I'm thinking…. Why wait?"
She passed out white boxes to each girl before bringing the last one to Cory as she took her own seat and watched them with an expectant expression.
All of the friend's opened their boxes as Mrs. DiLaurentis asked them, "Did Ali ever show you these?"
"Ali picked all of these out." Emily realized as she remembered the day Alison showed the friends all of them.
"She did and it's a shame that she won't get to wear them…" She said, blinking back tears.
Aria dropped the lid back onto her box and pushed it away some as she thought of how creepy it seemed to be sitting down to a lunch with her dead friends mom, with her dead friend's clothes being given to them. Nothing felt right about it.
"You know, I gave so much away so fast… Ali's father thought it would help, but there were certain things I just couldn't. And when I heard that the four of you were doing the show, I thought wouldn't it be nice if Ali's dream could be realized at least by her best friends?"
"I… um, I guess I don't really know what you're asking…" Spencer awkwardly pointed out and Aria asked, "Mrs. DiLaurentis… are you asking us to wear these?"
"In the fashion show?" Emily questioned.
"Ali would have loved it. You know, it's the five of you who are keeping her memory alive." Mrs. DiLaurentis admitted before asking, "Please, say yes."
"Of course." Cory nodded, speaking for herself and all of her friends, even thought it was clear by the invisible daggers cast her way when she looked to her friends that they all weren't on board with the plan.
After eating lunch, Alison's mom excused herself to the restroom and Hanna said, "I can't do this… I won't."
"Why not?" Aria asked.
"Because it's freaky and weird. We can't just march around in her clothes… it feels like we just buried her." Hanna complained and Emily who didn't have the heart to say no to her late friend's mom said, "Hanna, she didn't even wear them."
"Well she tried them on, freaky enough."
"Hanna, It's going to be a tribute to Ali. Some pictures of her and a few of her favorite songs… I really think Mrs. D needs this, or else she wouldn't have asked."
"I get where she's coming from." Aria nodded, but Hanna still wasn't sold as she breathed, "Well, she needs to go back."
"You don't need a degree to see that the woman's in pain. She ordered a second Bloody Mary for her desert." Spencer sighed, scooting down in her seat as he kept an eye on the restroom door.
"Yeah, that was her dinner." Hanna pointed out.
"She was sober enough to run it by the board and they agreed to it; so I 'll let the student committee know." Spencer said before she looked around the table and asked, "Can you guys gather up some photos of Ali?"
"Shouldn't we run the pictures past her mom?" Emily asked and Hanna said, "Well, if we do… I vote we send Cory for that one."
"I don't know if she's up to it." Cory frowned then said, "But… if you guys can round up some pictures, I'll clear them past Jason."
"Yeah." Aria agreed, "It would probably be easier for him to handle emotionally."
"Shh." Spencer warned as she saw Alison's mother headed for their table again.
As Jessica DiLaurentis sat down she asked, "What do you girls think about desert? I thought I'd order another drink before I left."
The friends exchanged looks, knowing that there was no way they could turn her down over her fashion show tribute idea. She was obviously still in a lot of pain and missing her daughter, this seemed to be a way of keeping Alison's memory alive –and they were going to have to go along with it.
A/N - Thank you guys for reading chapter 13, I hope you all really liked the chapter.
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I owe a huge thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter: lijahsgirl, SmellYourScentForMiles, RHtach89, xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, Momsen-xxxx, xxxRena, Cassie-D1, emisonluvr4ever, Guest, Libra, BloomingBlueMoon85, Lucy Greenhill, Nicole1024, and Lends. ^_^