I Loved You From The Beginning

Unexpected Guests

So far, everything was going smooth. Well, fairly smooth. Mike appears to be missing and when Nancy and Elliot brought it up, my dad just shrugged it off, saying he was on his way. Other than that, mostly everyone was getting along but I noticed a bit of tension between Jason and Ezra. Luckily, I seemed to be the only one who noticed it.

Just before dinner was ready, we heard the doorbell ring. "We're you expecting anyone, Aria?" My parents ask me. I just shrug, thinking they had invited someone else, but as they opened the door, I curiously peeked around the wall that separated the living room and the entrance, then my stomach dropped. There was Barry, Rosewoods well known police officer, standing on my front porch. "Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, I'm going to need you to come down to the station. It appears Mike was caught breaking and entering."

I felt like I could cry. He promised he'd stop. I looked over at Jason and when he caught my gaze, he gave me an apologetic expression. He seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

After assuring my parents that I'd be fine with dinner, they finally left, looking worried and slightly embarrassed. Putting on a fake smile, that I'm sure looked more like a grimace, I asked if anyone was ready to eat. Everyone ate silently. There wasn't much conversation going on as everyone was trying to avoid talking about what they just witnessed. Soon after dinner, Nancy and Elliot left, with the excuse of needing to check on their son. They thanked me for dinner, and quickly went out the door, which left only me, Ezra, and Jason. Wonderful.

They decided to stay a little longer and help clean up. While we were waiting for my parents to return, Ezra leaned against the counter and Jason went into the living room to sit on the couch. Ezra tried to talked to me, but all his attempts were useless as I was preoccupied with the betrayal my brother had done to me. I had to talk to Jason. He'd know what to say.

Excusing myself from Ezra, I waked into the living room with a pot of coffee and offered some to Jason. He offers me to sit next to him on the couch, knowing I wanted to talk. After a while of awkward, yet comforting, silence, I finally turn to Jason and quietly say, "He promised he would stop."

I could hear the sadness in my own voice, but didn't try to hide it. There was no need to hide how I felt around Jason. He would know if I was lying anyways.

"I'm sure he meant it when he said it," Jason offers. I stare off into space, trying to stop my unshed tears from falling. I felt as if I had failed trying to protect Mike from ever getting hurt, but I realized that I was too caught up in my own problems and mom and dad were too caught up in theirs to noticed how truly depressed Mike had become.

It was as if Jason could tell exactly what I was thinking and feeling, and he knew exactly how to help. He just held me. He put his arm around me and held my hand with his other arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I was too busy trying to get my emotions under control that I forgot Ezra was in the next room over, I also didn't realize he was spying on mine and Jason's moment.