DON'T BLAME ME.//J. DILAURENTIS.

4.

ophelia was A free for once.

no texts. no mysterious packages. she felt safe. she sat on the bus and watched as day turned into night. the bus was dead quiet, just how she liked it. soon enough, she reached rosewood and the weight was back on her. she lugged the suitcase down the dark street due to her brother having work that night.

a car drove past her then stopped. her heart dropped. she began to back up, as did the car. it caught up to her. the window rolled down but she couldn't see the driver. "oppie?" the familiar voice and nickname startled her.

"j-jason? you are back?"she blushed but he couldn't see it.

"yeah, get in i'll drive you home" she threw her bags in the backseat and hopped in the front. she looked at the stranger who she hasn't seen in a year. he gave her a hug. "look at you. feels like just yesterday you were following ali's every move." once he brought the name up, the car went silent. "where were you coming from?" 

"my aunt's place in new york." he just nodded, concentrating on the road. "where have you been? i haven't really seen you."

he just laughed. "well, i've seen your friends but just not you. i've just been doing work here and there." the silence filled the car. "so you must know about ian then, right?" she just stared at him, confused as ever. he bit his lip and sighed. "damn, you have been away for so long. he confessed to killing alison, then killed himself."

she was suddenly back in a downward spiral. all the times ian was around alison, filming her every move. trying to get her alone but ophelia was always there so ian had a resentment towards her. "can you a-actually drop me of at spencer's? i forgot they wanted me to stop by." he suspiciously nodded and drove her towards the house as she bobbed her knee up and down. 

he turned to her, a guilty look in his eyes. they pulled up to the house but before she could get out, jason lightly grabbed her arm. "hey, i am really sorry about-ya know. i was a dumb teenager and-"

"it's okay. i forgave you a long time ago, remember?" he nodded as she waved goodbye. "thanks again, it was great seeing you." she ran to spencer's backdoor with her bags in hand. "come on, spence. open up." she kept knocking until she appeared, looking excited to see her friend.  "why didn't you tell me ian killed alison? why did i have to hear it from jason dilaurentis? i thought you were keeping me in the loop of what the hell is going on with this A person? is ian A? d-"

"ophelia," spencer cut her off. "calm down. don't get yourself worked up and try to keep your voice down? this is still a raw subject in the hasting household. i'll call everyone over to sort this out, just sit down and breath. i'll make coffee." she put her head in her hands and sighed. ian freakin thomas killed alison? she thought he just had a weird obsession with her. 

ophelia and alison sat by the lake, tanning. well, ali was but ophelia had a book in hand. "god you are so boring. no wonder why my brother doesn't want to sleep with you." she tried to hide her blush but couldn't hide the embarrassment. SNAP. a twig branch in the distance scared ophelia. "come on don't be such a b-" another one interrupted her. alison searched the perimeter of where they were sitting. no one knew it but them. "did you tell the girls we were coming here today?" she shook her head no. "stay here." alison walked deep into the woods, leaving ophelia alone with her thoughts. 

five minutes and she wasn't back. "ali? come on this isn't funny?" she followed alison's path then heard alison grunt. "ali!?" she ran to find her best friend, thinking she was dying but instead found her pressed against a tree with ian thomas kissing her. "alison? w-what are you doing?" both turned around, ian rolled his eyes.

"what the hell did i say? stay back there." she walked over to her and forcefully grabbed her wrist. "see you, filmboy." she winked before pulling ophelia back to their spot. "you seriously need to learn how to grow up. i don't like babies in my group." she saw ophelia pout. "but don't worry, sweetie, that's why you have me. to make you less soft."

"o, you good?" aria spoke up. she just nodded, trying to forget all memories with ian. she examined the note left behind. something seemed off about the letter, like it was a clue. she sent the picture to her phone. "right now, all we know is that ian is A. so is mel-"

spencer slammed her hands on the table. "we can't jump to the conclusion that melissa is A!" ophelia saw how upset spencer was getting and put her hand over hers.

"guys! A is dead and melissa can't be A! no one has gotten a text since, right?" the girls nodded. "great. how about we calm down for the day, since i'm back and just order a pizza?" all the girls nodded in agreement as they sat down on spencer's couch. it felt good to say A was dead out loud. ophelia could finally breathe. 

until her vibrated in her pocket, not getting any of the girl's attention. she opened the text and held in her mumbled curse.

SO CUTE! JASON AND OPHELIA! MAYBE THIS TIME YOU WON'T MAKE A FOOL OF YOURSELF, 'PSYCHO BITCH'! WELCOME HOME, O! DON'T THINK YOU COULD GET RID OF ME THIS EASILY!

-A