Chapter 91*

Aria's POV*

"Thank you again for driving me." I said, tipping my head against Jason's shoulder as he pulled up outside of my house.

The street was pretty quiet, even the cops staying in their car. But I didn't know why I expected any differently, it was after 11pm. The missed calls from my mom was probably a sign that I should have been home sooner. Not that we were really talking right now.

"You don't have to thank me, Aria." Jason reassured, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of my head. "I'm always happy to spend time with you. Even if that means just talking through what all is going on right now."

I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face at that. It was reassuring to know that this wasn't pushing Jason away. Even when I couldn't tell him everything. My eyes closed, as I focused on the moment, blocking out everything around me. If I could make this moment last forever, I would. But as the seconds moved on, I realized that we would have to get out of the car. Or the cops would come to the window and ask what was going on. Once more the weight of constant surveillance settled back onto my skin and threatened to choke me.

"You don't need to walk me to the door." I assured Jason after I pulled away and saw him reaching for his seatbelt.

"You sure? I don't mind." his gaze caught on mine, before flicking over me in concern.

"Yeah, you should get home. That way maybe you can get some sleep tonight." I explained, leaning up and pressing my lips to his. He responded immediately, moving into me and deepening the kiss. When I felt the need to gasp for air, I pulled back. "Also if I don't get out of this car soon, I'm pretty sure the cops are going to come ask us what we're doing."

"I think they have a pretty good idea already." he answered with a laugh.

I could feel the heat spreading onto my cheeks at that. But I knew it was true. "Fair. You still on for breakfast tomorrow?" I asked, already reaching for the door handle.

"Absolutely. See you at 8."

I almost leaned back in for another kiss, even after I had closed the door. Instead, I pulled my purse over my shoulder and started for the front door. I glanced back to wave at Jason as he started to reverse from the driveway. And then headed inside.

The lights were on inside, and I heard laughter coming from the next room. Weirdly enough, a girl's laughter. My entire body locked up for a moment, panic flooding my brain as I waited for whatever was about to happen to pass.

"Aria, you're home." Mike's voice cut through the panic at the unexpected noises, and fear that somehow Charles had set something up in my house with the cops right outside.

"Are you okay, Aria?" a softer higher pitched voice than I was expecting continued. And I almost dropped my purse when I realized that Mona was in my house.

I blinked in surprise. Trying to understand what had just happened. Mona wasn't ever at my house. At least I hadn't seen her here in almost a year. Not since she and Mike had first started dating. And the bright lights of the living room filled with my sometimes frenemy was disorienting after the low light, comfortable car ride with Jason. I swallowed, my brain kicking back off after it had taken its random siesta.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting anyone to be up." I answered mostly on autopilot, and reached back behind me to lock the door. Something the two sitting in my living room hadn't done.

"Right, sorry. Dad had to stay late for a staff meeting, and I didn't have a car to drive Mona home tonight before you got back." Mike explained, like this was something that he had a normal plan for.

Was Mona spending that much time at my house? I felt like the air was squeezing from my lungs. If she had been here without me around, could she have been involved with getting the notebook into my nightstand? I couldn't take my eyes off Mona, watching for any signs of movement. Not trusting her an inch. It was like she had been summoned back into my life with the thought earlier tonight, and that feeling left me unsettled.

"I got to grab my wallet from upstairs. Will you be alright?" Mike asked, addressing the question to Mona, though he glanced at me briefly.

"Of course, no problem." Mona gave that sickly sweet smile of hers, and it felt like my blood was turning to ice in my veins.

Mike gave me one last look, as though checking that I was okay. And I felt my lips twist into a rough proximity of a smile. Reassuring my brother that this was fine, even if it felt like the floor beneath me was about to drop out. He nodded, heading up the stairs to his room.

"Look, Aria, I'm sorry about this. We really try not to interfere in your space. I just didn't have another way home tonight. And I wasn't about to ask Rosewood's finest for a ride home." she admitted with a shrug, looking away from me.

"Is this something that happens a lot?" I couldn't help the question, and could hear the harsh edge to my voice. "You coming over to my house? When my parents aren't home."

I could see the anger brim up in her eyes as she turned back to look at me. The set to her mouth as she settled in for a fight, the squaring of her shoulders.

"No, it's not." she snapped back, and her voice wavered just the slightest bit.

I wanted to get my hackles up, get into a fight with Mona about her not coming over to my house. Not being here when there wasn't someone supervising her. But as I looked at her, I saw the chinks in the wall that she was holding around herself. And felt the anger slide away. I could see the dollhouse still in her eyes. The way that I knew it was still in mine. See the haunted look she had on her face when we had first seen her down there. Remembered the desperate cries for help and for us to not leave her as she coughed in the smoke as we tried to escape from Charles.

Mona wasn't in league with Charles. Sure, there had been a time that she was close to a partner with him. But if she knew who he was, she would be making his life a living hell. Not helping him. I may not trust her, but I knew I could trust that at least.

"Mona, I'm sorry. That wasn't fair." I felt the fight drain out of my posture and moved over to drop into a seat across from her. She settled back onto the couch, where she had clearly been sitting with Mike before I got home. "It's just been a long day."

"No, it's not all on you. I know how sensitive you are about Mike and I's relationship." she acknowledged, starting to relax back in her seat. "I know you'd rather we not be together."

I opened my mouth, intending to lie and refute it. But I realized that I didn't hate their relationship. Not the way that I used to. Mike had been happier since I had dropped him over at Mona's to get her to talk to him again. And from the way that Mona was able to relax in the house, if she had any of the same reactions and fears as the rest of us after the dollhouse, he was clearly doing her some good.

"It might not be my favorite thing." I acknowledged, knowing that she wouldn't believe me if I was fully approving of their relationship. It did still ick me out that she was into my baby brother, after all. "But I know you make him happy. I just hope that means keeping him safe, as well."

I gave her a stern look, before softening again. I was too tired to pick a fight. The long interview with Agent Reid today, after the marathon conversation with Spencer's mom yesterday, and then the check-in with the girls left me completely wiped.

"Wow, you actually seem like you mean that." Mona sounded surprised, in a way that strangely didn't sound sarcastic for once.

"I do. And while I might have liked a bit more of a heads up that you were here. I'm kinda glad that you are." I admitted, remembering the conversation I'd just had with Hanna.

"What do you need?" she sounded resigned, and I blinked at the defeated note in her tone. Was that really how this always went? We only came to her to ask her for favors? And that's it?

"Actually it's more what you might need." I redirected, feeling guilt for how things had come to be with Mona. " You should probably get a lawyer. And see if they can get you a deal with the cops."

"What do you know?" the vulnerability I had just seen there was gone in an instant. The switch flipped and I was back to feeling scared around Mona. It all felt too easy to turn on and off, too contrived. And it made me question if the moment we had just shared was real, at all.

"Hanna's also gonna reach out, but we wanted to let you know that we have a deal with the district attorney. That they won't prosecute us for any crimes we might have committed over the last couple of years so long as we are completely honest with them."

"Seriously? Anything?" she asked, looking me up and down, clearly considering how honest we were going to be with the cops.

"Well, anything short of killing someone." I admitted, feeling uncomfortable to reveal that caveat. " So we're going to tell them everything."

"Guess it's lucky that the cops already know about Lyndon James then." Mona snarked, and I almost flinched at the sharp note in her tone.

"Yeah." I answered, uncomfortable at the turn this had taken. It felt like I was sitting across from A again, not from Mona. I took a breath, reminding myself that Mona wouldn't have let someone hurt her like that. She would have never allowed herself to be left to die like that, and there hadn't been another way out of the hole. "But you know way more than we do. So the cops might be willing to make a similar deal if you're willing to share everything with them."

She looked at me for a moment, considering me. Maybe trying to figure out everything that I knew, and what all I didn't. I was sure that the amount that I didn't know was staggering. Even at her most open, Mona had never admitted to half the things she knew, or how she did anything of the things that she did.

"When are you meeting with the cops? And are you seriously telling them everything?" she questioned, steering the conversation back on track.

"I had my first meeting this afternoon. The other girls are going in the next few days. And yeah, basically. I tried my best to remember it all, but it's been a long couple of years." I explained, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her about Spencer's timeline that she was putting together. But something held me back.

I watched Mona, seeing if there was some hint that she wasn't being honest with us again. I wanted to believe that she was on our side finally. And maybe she was, but there was so much mistrust between us. It was hard to overcome. Especially when my instincts were screaming to protect myself, my throat kept threatening to close up to keep the words contained. And I tried to swallow the discomfort down. There was a flash of something in Mona's eyes, too quick for me to understand what it was. If I thought Ali was bad to read, that was nothing compared to trying to figure out Mona.

"Thanks, Aria. I'm glad you told me." she at least sounded genuinely appreciative.

"Yeah, it only seemed fair." I dismissed with a shrug, feeling uncomfortable with the way that the topic had sort of petered off.

"I don't know that we're still playing under the rules of fair and unfair. Not after everything." she acknowledged, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "You didn't have to say anything, and now I have enough time to figure something out."

"You were down there way longer than the rest of us, Mona." I started, not sure how to explain why my anger had dropped down. It wasn't just that she also genuinely seemed to be at odds with Charles. But the way she had looked down there. How broken she had seemed. And the way she had shut down when we had all come back.

"Sometimes I think maybe if things had been different, we could have all been friends." her voice sounded wistfull, like she was really still hoping that this would be different.

"Mona, I…" I started, not sure how to continue this conversation.

"No, sorry. I don't mean to guilt you or anything." she apologized, and I felt my skin crawl just a little. Like she was tricking me somehow again. "I tormented you and the others. I get that. I know I hurt you. And that's not something that's easy to forgive. Much less forget."

"Mona, stop." I cut her off. "I can't speak for the others. Or even make any promises about myself. But maybe we can try to work through things."

She looked so hopefully at me that it made me uncomfortable, the potential to crush that hope once more and turn Mona fully back into an enemy. It didn't feel safe. Didn't feel like something that I could do. But I took a breath, hoping that even a small step would be good enough. At least at the start.

"Maybe we can start small. Why don't you and Mike join Jason and me for dinner before prom?" I suggested.

It was a bigger compromise than I wanted to make. But it seemed like it wouldn't hurt. Though Jason and I were already planning on doing something little just us before joining the others in a limo and going to prom together. This would be intruding on that little promise of peace that we had planned on.

"Wait, you don't know?" Mona asked, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

"I don't know what?" I frowned, blinking back at Mona.

"That we're banned from prom. I figured your parents would have told you already." Mona explained, and my body went rigid. "My mom got an email Friday that the school board doesn't think it will be safe. So we aren't allowed to attend."

"What? We're banned from prom? Are you serious?" I could barely believe that. It was bad enough that we had been told not to come back to school. At least the others had been, Mona, Ali and I were already taking the opportunity to finish out the year from home. But not being able to go to prom was ridiculous.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I really thought that your parents would have told you." she tried to backtrack, and her gaze darted towards the stairs as though waiting for Mike to come save her from the awkward moment we had just created.

"No, they hadn't. This is ridiculous." I could feel my face flushed with anger, and the need to move was starting to build up in my limbs. But I tried to contain it, my fists still clenched as I crossed my arms, holding it back.

"Yeah, not really surprising though." she shrugged, and I stared at her.

"How are you possibly okay with this?" I snapped at her, unable to understand how she was possibly so calm.

Mona stared at me for a moment, the intensity of the look uncomfortable. "I'm alive, Aria. Maybe it was different for you, and the others. But I didn't think I was getting out of the dollhouse."

I swallowed. Feeling the thick lump in my throat, one that felt too much like hands squeezing down on me. I opened my mouth to speak, but it didn't feel like any words could come out. Finally, I managed to get my voice working. "Yeah, I guess that makes missing out on prom easier to accept."

"Wait, Mom and Dad didn't tell you?" Mike asked, appearing at the bottom of the stairs and clearly having heard the last of our conversation.

"No, they didn't. Did they tell you?" I turned my attention to him.

"Mona told me. Since we aren't going to prom." he shrugged it off.

Was it really only me that this was bothering? My hands were itching to reach for my phone and text the others. I doubted they knew, considering no one had brought it up during check in tonight. Were all our parents hiding this from us? Or was Mona messing with me? It didn't make sense for her to try something like that. It'd be way too easy to check.

"I can't believe this doesn't bother you." I protested again, unable to wrap my head around this.

"It does, but that doesn't change anything." she dismissed again, and I looked over to Mike for some level of confirmation or sanity check.

He shrugged once more before answering. "No one cool goes to prom."

End Chapter*

So a bit of a shorter chapter this time, but I wanted to get something posted, even if it was a little disjointed from the previous one. Let me know what you think.