To Protect Each Other ~ A Haleb Story

Burning Like Fire

A/N: WHO ELSE IS LIKE SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: THE PERFECTIONISTS? Oh my god. I am so happy that Freeform picked it up because it means that it'll most likely be on Netflix. This is going to be a very action filled chapter in celebration for The Perfectionists.

Caleb's POV...

"You sure you don't want me to go get some food? There's nothing here." I asked Hanna as we arrived at my apartment after our little school mishap. She dumped her bag on the couch and turned to me.

"I don't want you to go." She said. She sat on the back of the couch when I noticed her eyes were clouded with tears.

"Hey..." I put my hands on her shoulders, "what's wrong?" I asked her.

"Did anyone see me in the hallway at school?" She asked.

"No I don't think so." I told her, truthfully. I probably wouldn't have noticed anyone else in the space around us because I was too focused on Hanna. But if she did she would have panicked. "Why?"

"Because everyone's gonna think I'm stupid. Standing up to someone and then breaking down less that two minutes later." She explained.

"No they won't. And they can't anyway because no one saw you." I assured her as I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm just a huge hot mess." She whined. I just looked at her, "See. You're not even denying it." She said.

"Because you're my hot mess. My very, very hot mess." I joked and she giggled. Placing a kiss on her forehead, I pulled her to my chest and whispered sweet nothings until she was relaxed enough to continue her day.

●●

1 week later...

Hanna's POV...

"Hey Aria." I smiled when I walked into her room, "your mom let me in. You ready?" I asked as I pulled out all my math equipment required for our much needed study session.

"Yeah, just about." She pulled out her pencil case and opened her book. "What are we starting with?"

"Math." I bluntly said.

"Yeah... sounds good." She giggled. For the next hour or so, we studied for our upcoming math exam, talking about upcoming things in our lives. From food, to fashion and even new books which are coming out - which obviously I didn't begin the conversation of - We had a great time considering the circumstances of why we were together.

"Oh my god! I remember in second grade I was walking being him in the hallway and LITERALLY, I saw shit falling from the leg of his pants. He obviously couldn't make it to the toilet in time!" We broke out into hysterics of laughter.

"Ewww! Aria that's so disgusting!" I said but still couldn't contain myself. "We should be studying, you know."

"Whatever..." She said, knowing I am the last person to even care about studying. Out of nowhere, her nose crinkled up and I could even hear her sniffing, "can you smell that?"

"Smell what?" I asked, desperately trying to locate the source of the so-called 'smell'.

"That."

"What?"

"That."

"WHAT ARIA?" I shouted, getting continuously more frustrated. Looking very confused, she finally evaluated.

"Burning. I can smell burning." She said.

"Maybe your mom is cooking something and left it in the oven or something." I tried to come up with a valid explanation as I couldn't now also smell the revolting smell.