𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔, 𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝒎. ¹

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶

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If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again

olivia stretched out her arms as she walked into the school building, she was preparing for the hockey game she had after school and had spent all night at the gym. this morning she planned on ditching school but she decided to bring another athlete some granola bars and juice for her swim meet later today.

when she walked to the pool, emily was just getting out of the water and she was talking to paige mccullers who shot olivia distasteful glare when she reached the girls. olivia just smiled, something that felt more bitter than it felt sweet. "hey em," she looked at her friend, "hey pigskin," her smile widened when she saw paige.

"olivia, you're still a bitch." paige crossed her arms over her chest, turning her gaze over to olivia who looked unbothered by the girl's comment. "i came here to see emily, if i wanted to see something ugly i would have just went on your myspace." olivia's retort was quick, "kill yourself." paige let out a chuckle as she bumped into olivia on her way to the locker room.

olivia rolled her eyes as she started removing emily's things from her bag. "what was that about?" emily's brows furrowed as she took the drink from olivia, taking a large gulp of it.

"oh sorry, sometimes my inner mean girl comes out." and the person who always seemed to trigger it was paige. "no, i mean, you called her pigskin." emily's words made olivia face her, made olivia's brows knit closer in confusion. she didn't know what took over her when she said that.

"my friend ally used to call her that," emily was the one crossing her arms over her chest as she awaited for a response from olivia who seemed to be pulling up blanks. "come on, i have to tell you something." olivia let out a harsh breath as she grabbed emily's wet arm, something that made her a little uncomfortable but she didn't care as she dragged emily away from the pool.

"i knew alison." when the words left her mouth, emily's mouth fell open. hanna was right, olivia knew alison and maybe spencer was right, maybe she was a. "we met last summer," olivia started, unsure of what she could say. "before she disappeared."

"you were friend with ally? and you never said anything about it?!" emily whisper yelled, watching as olivia's face flushed, "i couldn't bring it up," she felt slightly trapped, "i was visiting ezra and we met at a bar," olivia knew she had to be very careful with her words. "and we weren't just friends." suddenly emily knew why olivia was so red.

"you and ally went out?" she was slightly stunned at the news and if she was being honest, a little heartbroken. she had loved ally, she still loved ally and olivia knew. "for a few months," olivia shrugged it off, she and ally had spent almost every day together for three months and she cared about her, so much so that she would lie for her. "for months?"

"that's why i didn't want to tell aria, i didn't want to make things weird." olivia had even started lying to herself about not knowing alison, almost erasing the girl from her memory but it was hard when she was dating her best friend.

emily's eyes widened slightly, a pang of jealousy hitting her. it seemed like everyone was closer to alison than she had realized. pushing the feeling aside, she focused on olivia, trying to figure out why her friend had kept such a big secret from her. emily tried to keep her voice soft, despite her hurt.

"now you want me to lie to her? how weird would that be?" emily felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "i can't ask you to lie to her, just don't tell her, i want her to hear it from me." olivia had been caught, almost red handed and she had to confess to aria. she had been so upset about aria and ezra and she didn't want to keep something just as big from aria.

emily nodded, knowing that it was a difficult situation. She would have to keep this secret from aria until olivia was ready to come clean. "i won't say a word, but you need to tell her soon, okay? this isn't something you can keep hidden forever."

olivia nodded as she sniffed slightly, trying to ignore the feeling of tears pricking in her eyes. "i will tell her as soon as i can." she felt her heart racing in her chest as she took in a shaky breath.

emily noticed the distress in olivia's voice and saw the tears welling up in her eyes. she put a comforting hand on her shoulder and spoke with sincerity in a soft tone. "hey, it's going to be okay. aria will understand once she knows. just take your time and tell her when you're ready."

olivia let out a laugh and it sounded a little wet from her tears, "it's not that," she started. "ive just never really had a friend who was a girl before; you're really good at this." that wasn't what made her tear up either, it was ally. she had pretended to not know her for so long that she also pretended to not be affected by the fact that she was gone.

"im glad you chose me to be your friend," emily pulled the girl into her arms, feeling olivia rest her head on her shoulder. she knew why olivia was upset, she knew what it was like to lose ally. "i guess that four leaf clover worked because i got lucky with you," olivia bit down a sob as tears fell down her cheeks.

"you're not so bad yourself," emily teased back, maybe having a friend wasn't a bad thing after all.