Picture This

Chapter 2

"So uh, did you invite Ezra to the show?" Hannah asks, trying to step away from the constant talk about Ian and Ali. I relay my excuse I had worked on during the ride over to Emily's house.

"No he's out of town presenting a paper at a conference," I lie, not wanting to tell them he didn't want to come because it's too public for our relationship. "Did you invite Caleb?" I ask to deflect any follow up questions.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you kissed him," Spencer answers, we go into a short conversation about Caleb and Hannah, kissing, and lip gloss. Normal teenage conversations that calm us down. When my phone goes off, they all look at me, waiting to be reassured it's not A.

"Can I get it? It's just a text," I remind them, calming them down and letting us all go back to our short moment of peace.

"If it's from Ezra then yes," Spencer replies, her conversation with Emily about Toby and romance is droned out as I read the text.

"Can we meet? Now?" From Jason. "I'm gonna go deal with this," I tell them, getting up and grabbing my jacket. They don't say anything and go back to boy talk.

"Tell Ezra we say hi," Spencer jokes. I smile back but turn to walk down the stairs, wondering what they would say if I told them I was going to see our dead best friend's brother, who was becoming a close friend of mine.

I head outside and see Jason pulling up in front of my house, I jog over and look him over, trying to predict what he needs to talk about so urgently. Since our talk after Ian's funeral, we hadn't spoken in person but I had sent him two messages asking him if he was okay, both of which he replied yes to, leaving no room for a conversation so I stopped trying to be his support system. Now he texts me.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asks, and I recognize the guilty tone all boys have, so I get in, checking to see if the girls were watching, he follows my line of sight then looks down at his hands until I'm settled in his car.

"Look I said somethings after the funeral that I probably should have kept to myself," He tells me, not meeting my gaze. I think back to the night after the funeral, when we found out Ian might not have killed Alison, when I saw that film, I thought back to what Jason told me. Not because I think it was him, but because I didn't want him to find out so the burden he has been carrying the past two years would stay lifted.

"I thought you felt better knowing Ian con-"

"So did I but I don't want people getting the wrong idea, you know?" He has that tone Ezra uses sometime, that 'you are still just a kid, believe what I tell you.' I stare at him for a second, and he lowers his eyes, realizing he used it also.

"I won't say a word," I tell him. "Plus the way you handled things with my brother? I kinda owe you one." I give him a small smile that he returns. He watches me for a second, keeping eye contact and not looking around to see if other's were watching us. "I don't have the wrong idea, you know that, right, Jason?"

He nods, and looks back towards Emily's house. "I won't keep you anymore,"

"Yeah I better get back, we're folding programs for the fashion show." He nods in understanding, and looks out over the road.

"My mom gets in tomorrow, one last speech before she steps down from the board."

"I thought Jessica Dilaurentis was the board?" I joke.

"She only joined because of my sister, Ali lived for that fashion show." I nod in understanding.

"Ali lived for all kinds of fashion." Jason chuckles and nods. "Are you going to be at the show? With your mom, I mean." He nods again.

My phone goes off just as he is about to elaborate. "That's probably your friends wanting you back in there for help." I look down at my phone and see a text from Spencer telling me to come back. I show it to him and he laughs. "Ali always said Spencer was the one most like her parents, dedicated to the point of obsession."

I laugh and get out of the car. "I'll see you later,"

"Yeah, at the show," he says, "I'll come find you before it starts." I smile and nod, telling him goodbye.

The next morning I head over to Spencer's house after she sent all of us a text to come over, since she is the earliest riser and I'm the one that sleeps the lightest, I'm the only one that makes it to her house when she actually wants us there. She fixes us coffee as I sit at the island in her kitchen and listen to what she heard her dad yelling about last night, about Jason.

"Your dad was yelling? At Ali's mom?" I ask skeptically, no one yells at Mrs. D now, she is too fragile.

"Yeah."

"Why, did you ask him about it?"

"Yeah, but he like, lied lied."

"Why would he lie?"

"The real question is what's really going on with Jason." She starts, bringing up my memory of last night and at the grave sight. Everyone seemed like they were against him except me, I didn't seem to see the danger in him that everyone else did. She starts listing off all the sketchy things Jason has done and I start bating them away with logic and the little facts that we know.

"Alright, who knows what he's feeling right now," I tell her, wanting to know that exact thing more than anyone.

"Well, apparently you do," Spencer mumbles, making me roll my eye and sip my coffee, thinking it's too early to be hashing things out with Spencer. She looks towards her computer and opens her email.

"I just got an email from Ali's mom." She says, staring at her computer.

"What's it say?"

"I don't know I'm too scared to open it, do you think she knows I called her and hung up last night?" I start to comfort her and assure her that isn't possible when my phone goes off too.

"I just got the same email." Not as scared as Spencer, I open the email and read. "Why does Ali's mom want to have lunch with us?"