Love, Secrets and War~

7. Surface Tension

A/N: Surprise chapter? Why not :)

Turns out that Aria let Jason carry me all the way up to my bed. She gleefully informed me of this information when she dragged me out of bed 10 hours later. No matter how much I wanted to curl up under the bedclothes and forget the world, and my subsequent humiliations of the day prior, Aria was adamant. Which is why I am currently sitting on the island in Hanna's kitchen, trying to keep awake as the others chatter around me.

"God you look like hell," Hanna points out, eyeing me head to toe.

"Gee thanks Han," I grumble. I start to pick at the loose thread at the cuff of the sweatshirt I'm wearing. "Way to kick a girl when she is down."

"I mean it's understandable. You did go through a lot yesterday afternoon... but I hear you had a knight in shining armour to help you out and take you to bed... shame you weren't conscious though..."

"Hanna!"

The blonde just smirks wider at my outcry. Looking at the other girls knowingly. "Oh c'mon... I was just voicing what everyone else was thinking."

I roll my eyes. Trying not to dwell on what she was implying. I haven't even had a proper date with the guy yet, she is definitely getting a bit ahead of herself there.

Mercifully, it is Emily who decides to change the subject. "Han is there any house rules that I should know about when it comes to our room?"

"I thought you were getting your own room?" Aria asks.

"That was before the pipes went off behind the walls," Emily supplies, taking a sip out of her coffee as she does so.

"They had to fix the pipes and put the wall back in, so we're roomies until then," Hanna adds.

"It'll be fun," Emily smiles.

Aria and I exchange knowing looks. Both of us knowing first-hand what it is like to share a room. They are going to want to kill each other within a week. Hanna's messiness is definitely going to get on Emily's nerves.

"It's gonna be like a sleepover that never ends..."

A small smirk dances on Spencer's lips as she senses that Emily is wary already about sharing a room with Hanna, so she chooses to change the subject. Leaving Emily's rule question disregarded. "Has Garrett called you about Ian's massager?" she asks quietly.

Emily shakes her head. "Not a sound."

"Guys, we dragged Garrett into this," Aria points out, "we've just gotta trust him."

"We're trusting him with Ian's $10,000," Spencer says, "could have used some of that to replace Melissa's ring."

"And if they traced the money from Ian to you? How would you explain that?"

"I just don't like waiting," Spencer confesses, her voice lowering a decibel or two, "and if we're too quiet, A will get bored and stir the pot."

"And if we say something A's gonna smack us down," Hanna responds. The blonde shakes her head. "I don't wanna walk into another A-stravaganza like that fashion show."

"God, the look on Mrs DiLaurentis's face..."

Emily's words cause the group to fall into silence as we all remember the pain on her face. It is like Medusa has personally imprinted the horror there forever. The world temporally saw through the façade of the DiLaurentis clan and saw the raw pain buried underneath. I will also never forget the pain and horror flashing through his eyes.

The doorbell sounds. Jolting all five of us out of our own thoughts. Hanna pushes off the side and makes her way to the door whilst Aria makes her way to the coffee pot for another refill.