Words: 1477
A/N: here's part 2 for you!
*present day*
A lot had changed after that night. You had gone home crying to Jason and instead of him saying 'I told you so' like you expected, he simply hugged you and told you it was going to get better. You swore you'd always listen to Jason's advice after that day, after all, he simply wanted you to live a happy life.
You had quite a few relationships since them, but none of them felt like your first love. You didn't know if it was you being awkward and difficult, if you never moved on or if this was completely natural.
You moved away from rosewood around the same time that the liars did. You decided to finish school out of the state, with your parents' permission, and then you went to university. Life was going well for you and yet in the back of your mind you knew you should visit home again. Alison was back and you had spent a long time apart. Charlotte was relatively new to the family and you wanted to at least get to know the real her. Your father was gone, off working and you missed Jason a lot, even though you spoke regularly. One weekend you decided to visit home.
You drove to your house, nostalgia twisting your memories so you only remembered the good ones.
"Jason, Ali, charlotte!" you called, as you saw all of them sat on the steps at the front of your house. They all smiled at you and greeted you. You got a warm feeling in your heart being back with your family again, yet your happy mood faltered when your mind wandered to the other people that lived in rosewood. Ali and charlotte entered the house, however Jason hung back, noticing the change in your expression.
"He doesn't live here anymore." He said reassuringly, knowing you never dealt with what happened, you simply avoided mike and (theoretically) moved on. You sighed, not quite relieved but not quite disappointed. You felt as though you needed to find out why he did what he did. But you were scared of what the answer could be.
You spent the day catching up with each other, until the evening when Ali invited you to a club that was holding a music event, just outside of rosewood. You accepted, wanting to spend some quality time together.
You arrived at the place, a huge dark building, like you would find on an industrial sight. A large sign was attached to the building, glowing neon. You walked straight in, not needing to show any form of identification to show your age to the body guard. Inside there were flashing lights everywhere and the floor vibrated to the bass of the music. You decided not to waste any time and headed straight to the dance floor. For what seemed like hours you jumped up and down to the music, until the songs started to turn slower. You moved your body around, shamelessly dancing against many people. Normally you wouldn't do this, but everyone was, and nobody judged or cared. People seemed to stay in pairs after a couple of songs, so you stayed dancing against the stranger behind you, enjoying the smell of the cologne he was wearing. The beat changed to something faster, making you stop grinding and turn around. You took a step back, pushing the person away.
"mike." You mumbled, your voice wobbling. Despite the music being loud, mike understood your feelings and before you could refuse, he dragged you to somewhere quieter so he could talk to you. You followed, slightly not believing that he was actually here.
"Y/n. I know you hate me. But when I saw you again, I couldn't stay away. You're so beautiful" he said, once you got into a quiet space.
"Mike...." No other words came to mind. It amazed you how little his appearances had changed over the years. Yes he had got manlier, but he still resembled the boy you had loved. The boy who broke your heart and shattered your self-confidence into a thousand pieces.
"I'm so sorry. That night I did the worst thing possible. I don't have any excuses for what I did, you don't deserve a lie, when I was in the wrong. I went up to my room and Mona was in there, she flirted and I don't know why but in that moment we connected." You nodded your head, hardly noticing the tears gathering in your eyes. You didn't want to think about how a sudden connection was strong enough to destroy everything you had built together.
"I never forgave you. I blamed myself. I spent ages wondering what I did wrong. We were having such a good night. I could finally express my love for you, and you go and express your love for someone else." you cried. He looked down, guiltily.
"What me and Mona had wasn't love. It was just a random attraction that was enhanced by my stupid teenage hormones and the alcohol. It was a mistake. One I've regretted for a long time. We were young. I was stupid. I tried to talk to you, to tell you how sorry I am. But I just couldn't reach you."
"I didn't want you to reach me. I didn't want to see you. I didn't want to talk to you. I thought if I ever met you again id slap you or shout at you. But now..." you reached a hand up to wipe away the tears that had escaped your eyes.
"Now it's feels so complicated" he finished. You nodded, thankful for the darkness so he couldn't see how puffy your eyes were and how wet your cheeks were. "Let me make it up to you." He asked. You looked to the left, taking a breath in. you knew it was a bad idea but you could feel your heart rate increasing at the thought. "I'll take you out on a date. One date. If you still hate me, if you never want to be friends, or anything more, you never have to see me again. I'll leave you alone. And you'll go away knowing that what I did wasn't your fault."
You stood silent, considering what he was offering. You could think of plenty of reasons why you shouldn't go. But when you thought about actually not going, you felt an overwhelming sadness.
"Ok" you answered, your voice breaking slightly. You knew that you could always change your mind, but you didn't want to miss the opportunity that you might someday wish you had taken.
You exchanged numbers and over the next couple of days you discussed where you'd like to go and when you were free. You decided to go out one afternoon, in his mind, this gave you the opportunity to spend a longer period of time together.
"Where are you sneaking off to? You aren't a teenager anymore, you're not going to get told off for leaving the house." Jason chuckled, walking towards the house as you were leaving.
"I'm, um, going on a date actually." You admitted, unable to come up with a good excuse that he would believe.
"Whose ass do I have to kick?" he said with a smirk, jokingly rolling his sleeves up and clenching his fists.
"No ones, I'm a grown woman, I'm going on a date, my idiot big brother will just have to deal with it." You laughed.
"I'm serious though, who is it?" he pestered, curiosity eating away at him.
"No one you know." You said quickly, continuing to walk down the stairs.
"You're lying. Is it toby? Caleb? Maybe that Lucas boy that followed Hanna around?" Jason kept guessing.
"No it's none of them."
"It's not mike is it?" you froze, if you said yes, you'd fall out. If you said no and he found out, things would be worse. But he didn't need you to answer, your silence was enough.
"Y/n... you know how this ends, you've lived it once and I don't know if you've forgotten but you were a mess after he tossed you aside. He cheated on you once, he will cheat again. Please don't give him another chance to ruin your life." Jason argued. Yet you didn't have the energy to argue back. You knew how this worked out. You had lived it before, but that didn't mean it was going to end the same way. It didn't even mean it was going to end. You were so conflicted you didn't know what to do. So you jumped in your car and drove, following random roads, not knowing where you were going. You text mike telling him you had an emergency to take care of and asked if you could reschedule. But for now you just had to escape and clear you head.