❝ we all eat lies, when our hearts are hungry ❞
Halle Brewster made a promise she would never tell the secrets of the summer Alison DiLaurentis went missing. Only now, someone else was doing the telling - something Alison never got the chance to do...
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One Year Later
HALLE BREWSTER SAT IN the front seat of Eric Kahn's car. They had just pulled up outside her family home, the second to last house on Bridgewater Terrace, before the road curved. It was a street for the few that had plenty — one of the richer neighborhoods in Rosewood. The cute Suburban houses were pristine, all spaced out and elegantly posed; each with its own look about them.
All but one.
The end house.
A Victorian-style home — curtains drawn; flowerbeds empty; the porch bare. It wasn't like the rest. Haunted, the DiLaurentis house hadn't been same since the day Alison went missing. The house was vacant, of people and life. It mirrored the empty place scorned in Halle's heart where Alison DiLaurentis once was. That night she lost Alison, Halle broke.
"Halle? Halle?" Eric's hand landed on his girlfriend's thigh. Her attention switched from the house to him, her giving him a questioning look. From the moment they pulled up, she hadn't been paying any mind to the boy next to her. She saw that house and only that house. "You zoned out, you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah, just looking at Ali's," said Halle. A small, barely visible smile appeared on her face. Nowadays, it was the most Halle could muster; she didn't smile anymore, not really.
Eric gave her a sympathetic look and her thigh a comforting squeeze. "I know today is hard for you," said Eric. "With Ali still missing, and her parents selling the house," he let out a breath, "I can't believe it's been a year." Eric saw the frown upon the pretty brunette's face and sighed. "Look, if you don't wanna be here, we can leave. We can go back to the cabin, extend the weekend."
"I can't, I have school tomorrow," Halle said.
"I can drop you off," replied Eric. "We can even leave early and grab a coffee before." He flashed her a grin. "My treat."
Halle smiled softly back at him, her lips together. "I don't know what I did to deserve you," she said sweetly. "But I can't, I promised my mom I'd be here for this dinner."
"She's really going ahead with this, then?" Eric asked her, and Halle nodded as a response. "Hey, I can always stay, have this dinner with your family," he offered kindly.
She shook her head, no. Halle reached up her hand and cupped his cheek. "I don't even want to have this dinner. I don't want to put you through, too," she said. Halle reassured her boyfriend with a loving smile — still, a closed lip one — and she then she kissed him.
Eric smiled into it. He loved her and she loved him. At least, that was what Halle told herself and told him. She did really care for him. Eric was good; he was safe and she never would had gotten through the year without him. So, in a way, Halle never lied when she said she loved him because she did have love for him. She loved Eric — Halle just wasn't sure if she was in-love with Eric.
