A/N: Hey folks, sorry for the last few months being away. Life got a little in the way, but I'm back now and will hopefully be able to keep up a weekly schedule again.
**Chapter 20**
***Aria's POV***
"I've noticed you've been taking a lot of pictures lately." My dad said, having come into my room and was now examining my camera.
"It's been nice to focus on something other than me." I said, giving a shrug.
He put the camera back down on my desk before turning his attention back on me. He seemed like he was struggling about whether or not to ask me about why I had turned away from writing, it had been our shared interest for the past few years and now I couldn't stand to even look at my journals, not since I had bitten the bullet and dropped them into a box that lived under my bed. He moved over, taking a seat at the foot of my bed.
"Tanner called. Now that Andrew Campbell has been released, she's really anxious to talk to you girls. I pushed it off for a few days." He informed me, watching my face before continuing. "I understand if you don't want to talk to a professional about it yet. But I want you to know, when you're ready, I'll be here if you wanna talk."
"I don't want to talk about it." I responded sharply, I didn't understand why people couldn't get that I didn't want to talk. I felt like I was on repeat with this conversation. My muscles were tensing, ready to make a break for it. It was like a grater against my nerves everytime someone asked me to talk. Chipping away at the wall that I was working so hard to keep separating me from it.
"Not now, but maybe someday." He continued.
"No, not now, not ever. I don't want to talk about it. I just want to forget about it. Move on with my life." I said, getting up from my place near the window and moving towards the door. I couldn't calm my need to move, to not be frozen in my agitation. The room was closing in around me, but the door was open still.
"Do you wanna do something? Just the two of us. We could go see a movie or head to a museum." He offered after a moment, making me turn back towards him, my testiness was turning more to claustrophobia at the offer. I needed to make space.
"I've actually got some time scheduled at Hollis' photo lab." I replied. "I want to get these developed."
"Do you want me to drive you?" he asked.
"No, I can drive myself. No worries." I told him, beginning to pack up my larger purse which was big enough to hold my camera.
"Alright. Let me know if you need anything." He assured before heading out of my room.
I let out a sigh of relief when he left, brushing at my face to make sure that there were no tears on my face. I took a moment to calm myself down, I was okay. I was safe. The window was open still, letting fresh air into the room and helping me calm down. Just then my phone chirped. I pulled it out, finding a text from Hanna.
-Hanna: Meet over at Spencer's.-
I threw my bag over my shoulder before heading down the stairs, at least I had given my dad an excuse so that he wouldn't be too paranoid when I left the house. He hadn't been too happy about my outing this morning, though when I had explained that I had just been out to coffee with Jason he had calmed down. Apparently, Jason was someone who he trusted. Maybe because he was still working as a counselor at Rosewood, or he remembered how helpful Jason was when Mike was acting out. I called out that I was heading out and left the house. I made the mandatory pit-stop at the police car, telling the officer that I was heading over to Spencer's. He nodded and made the usual call over the radio while I walked over to my car.
I pulled up outside her house, heading to the door where Spencer let me in. She led me into the kitchen, passing me a cup of coffee, which I was slightly concerned about because of how strong she always brewed her coffee, still I took a drink, enjoying the hot liquid. The others were already seated around the counter, sipping at their drinks.
"So are we sure that Charles is dead?" Emily began, diving right into the thick of it.
"I did some searching online, I couldn't find a record of any obituary for a Charles DiLaurentis, not in the last fifty some years." I admitted to my snooping around on the computer this morning after my coffee date with Jason. Before my dad had come in to talk, I had been working through trying to find a death certificate. With no luck.
I flinched internally, knowing that I shouldn't use words like that about Jason. Not even in my head. I wasn't going to be dating, not for a while. Not until I had forgotten about the whole thing, how it felt to be in that bunker. How his hands on my hips, breasts, in my hair had felt. I closed my eyes as I took another drink of the strong coffee, trying to erase my thoughts. My face scrunched up at how bitter it was. I stood up, going over to the fridge and grabbing out the creamer. Thankfully, they had lots of creamer, maybe because Spencer brewed the coffee around here more often than not.
"I did some digging too. Apparently, Radley was bought by some big company, their records are stored at this huge data center." Spencer shared, drawing me from my thoughts.
"It's not like we can just go in asking for Charles' file." Hanna retorted.
"No," Spencer began with a smile. "but I can go in and ask for mine. That way we can find out if they still have them, or if they've been shredded."
"So we'll go to the data center." I clarified. "We should leave from the Brew. That way the cops won't wonder where we are."
"Take multiple cars to go there, then one car over to the data center." Spencer declared.
We all seemed to be in agreement, when Hanna's phone rang. She rolled her eyes at the persistent ringing, obviously debating whether or not to answer the phone. "Who is it?" Emily asked her.
"Caleb." Hanna said with a frown. "I should take this." With that she headed out of the room, answering her phone with a huff.
"Are you okay?" Emily asked Spencer, who was fidgeting with both her phone and her coffee cup at the same time.
"Yeah, just been a little jumpy since we've been back." Spencer rationalized.
"Things have been pretty rough for me too." Emily admitted, looking down into her coffee cup.
"What about you? Have those pills been helping?" Spencer asked me.
I ran my hand through my hair, brushing it over to the side before looking at Spencer. "No, all they did was give me a massive headache. I threw them out." I responded, thinking back to watching the pills swirl away down into the sewer.
Just then Hanna came back in, glaring at her phone as she walked back over to us. She looked up, seeing that we were all quiet and gave a weird look. I just smiled at her, not wanting to bring up that we were talking about coping with anxiety.
"We should all head over at different times, maybe swing by our houses first so that the cops don't get suspicious." Hanna said slowly as she walked up to the countertop.
"I'll head over first." Emily announced, before grabbing her bag and heading for the door. "Aria, why don't you wait 10 minutes and then head out too."
I gave a nod, before drinking more from my coffee. Emily headed out the door, while the rest of us stayed in the kitchen.
"What's going on with Caleb?" I questioned Hanna, deciding to try and find out what the look was about, even if I only had 10 minutes.
"He's just being overly clingy. It's amazing he let me out of his sight this long." She said with a sigh. "How are things with Ezra?"
"I haven't really been seeing him a lot, just the other day when I hung out at the Brew." I admitted.
I finished off my cup of coffee before looking at the time on my phone, it looked like I needed to head out in a few minutes. Taking the mug to the sink, I rinsed it out before grabbing my purse up from the counter.
"I'm gonna head out now." I announced, giving a weak smile to the girls before heading out.
I waved at the police officer, who climbed out of the car when I walked down the driveway. I looked confused at him, surprised that he had gotten out when he saw me. Maybe Emily had tried to leave without checking in and that's why he got out to talk to me.
"Where are you heading?" he questioned as he walked over to me.
"I have some shopping to do downtown." I answered with a smile.
He nodded and headed back to his squad car while I went towards mine. I took a moment to steady my nerves before turning on my car and heading over to the coffee shop.
**End Chapter**
