Pretty Little Liars

Chapter 29: Run, Run, Run

Since debate team ran late, Neah decided to get lunch with the group, chowing down pizza at Hot Head's Pizzeria, a popular diner in Rosewood with more varieties of pizza than there are on the color wheel. She trudges up the porch stairs, jumping at the sound of Tony's voice.

"You're coming home late," he says from the jungle green patio chair perched in front of the bay window. "If I didn't know you well enough, I'd think that you were up to something bad."

She teasingly smirks at him, fingering the strap of her messenger bag. "Well, if you knew me well enough you know that I'd come home at a reasonable time to not give myself away if I were doing something bad."

She would be lying if she said that she hasn't been thinking about their conversation all day during school. Feelings are complicated and they're often double-sided swords, sharp enough to draw blood in whatever way they can.

"Were you waiting up for me?"

"Yeah, I was," he admits shyly, shutting his phone off and slipping it into the pocket of his Nike hoodie. "We didn't have the chance to finish our conversation earlier."

Neah glances at the front door. Seems like all of the lights downstairs are flipped off so they might be safe for now. She sighs, giving him her full attention and gesturing for him to go on.

"I like you," he admits bravely. "And I think you like me. But under our familial circumstances, it seems like odds are kind of against us right now and I'm not sure our parents would be all to joyous if they caught us lip locking after a family brunch. Or anyone in this town, for that matter."

Neah shudders to herself but plays it cool, as she felt like this was going to be the outcome. "Don't sweat it. We can just keep pretending like nothing happened. I'm going for a walk."

"Wait, are you mad?" he calls out to her.

Neah shakes her head but she knows he can't see her, as she's already in the darkness, rounding the back yard. She feels pathetic to get emotional over this, as he's just a boy. A stupid boy who let her get stupidly attached. But maybe it's her fault for getting stupidly drunk and making stupid decisions. The last kind of girl she wants to be is the one that cries when being rejected. That is a level of weakness she doesn't want to be on. Life is stupid and so are people so what does she expect from all this?

Finding herself a couple streets over, Neah wanders to the place she used to go whenever she was down in the slumps: Ali's house. With its dark exterior and black shutters, Neah's eyes flicker to the garden Mrs. DiLaurentis used to spend hours perfecting. It's been shrunken down to shrubs and twigs, the newest residents neglecting it.

The muggy night feels all too familiar: the college party Ali sneaked she and the girls into, where they giggled over their fake ID's and blushed at the college guys they were surrounded by the whole night. It was Alison who walked Neah from her house to Neah's, holding her up by the waist as they took shortcuts to Neah's backyard.

"I like when you're trashed," Ali told Neah, laughing at her as Neah drunkenly waltzed into her backyard, the girls emerging from the woods that separated their neighborhoods. "You're way more flirty than I thought you'd be."

"I'm plenty flirty," Neah slurred. "I just like older guys, apparently. The boys we go to school with are so immature." She paused, nearly twisting her ankle in her wedges. "Although, there are a few hot ones that don't annoy me too much."

"Okay, one dude that you would totally do, drunk or sober." Ali played one of her usual games, a dig for information. She snapped her fingers. "Go."

"Benedict Cumberbatch," Neah said immediately, swooning up at the star-covered sky.

"He doesn't count, idiot."