CHAPTER 9

SYNOPSIS: As the winter time approaches in Rosewood, relationships heat up... In an attempt to move on from Ezra, Aria gives in to Noel's latest attempt to pursue her. When Alison returns to school, she and Emily struggle to keep their hands off of each other during school hours. Despite Sean trying to make amends with Hanna, she chooses to jump into a heated situation with Caleb. Spencer and Toby are more than happy after their reconciliation. Bianca's more than afraid when a certain guy wants to get together with her.

"How long do we have until your parents come home?"

"Long enough."

Toby chuckled and placed his hands on Spencer's cheeks, pulling her closer so she was laying directly on top of him. His hands slowly roamed downwards from her cheeks, reaching her lower back. He reached the hem of her sweater and began to roll it upwards so it came off. Their mouths finally separated as he fully pulled her sweater over her head and tossed it on the floor of her bedroom.

"God, I love this... I love being with you again," he quietly said, gazing into her eyes longingly. "I've missed you so much, Spence... you don't even understand how hard it was to be away from you."

She pressed her forehead to his and closed the distance between their mouths briefly.

"No more talking. We have to make up for all the lost time, and it's going to be hard since we have school tomorrow," she joked, and started to toy with the hem of Toby's t-shirt.

His tongue slowly brushed against Spencer's bottom lip before sinking into her mouth, which she gladly accepted. In between their endless kisses, he flipped them over so that he was on top. After getting his pants off, she threw her legs around his waist. He perked his head up suddenly, and tried his hardest to reach onto the floor to get his wallet out of the pocket of his jacket.

"Sorry," he apologized, stroking her arm gently, and holding his wallet in his other hand. "I had to get... you know."

She laughed, nodding her head and placing her arm over her forehead. She took a deep breath as she watched him fumble through his wallet in the search for a condom. The search, however, seemed unsuccessful, which was extremely disappointing, considering how far they had gotten into it.

"God damn it, I, uh, Spence, I don't have anything," he shamefully admitted.

"What? Did you use it all on Margaret?" Spencer bitterly joked, turning her head to the side.

"Stop it," he groaned, and rolled off of Spencer so that he was on her side instead. "We never slept together, you know. The furthest we got was making out, if it makes you feel any better."

"It doesn't. The mental image of you sucking face with Margaret is not appealing. And the fact that I don't get to go any further with you now is very, very disappointing," she sighed.

"Alright, well, maybe your parents have something?" he suggested, scratching his head. "I could go out to the store and buy some if you wanna—"

"I'm pretty sure my parents aren't like that anymore. And if they are, I truly wish they weren't. God, I wanna get that idea out of my head entirely!" she laughed, running her hand down Toby's chest. "Plus, if you did go to the store now, my parents would probably be back before you got here." She leaned her head on his chest instead. "But, don't worry about it, okay? We have other ways of spending time together besides... sleeping together."

"I know, I know," he sighed, but his eyes flickered down at his boxers. His cheeks flushed red, and he scratched his head nervously. "I do know that, but, uh, I'm kinda struggling to get out of the mood for it."

"Well," she smirked. "Luckily for you, we can do other stuff."

His lip quivered as Spencer climbed up on top of him and crawled south. She guided his boxers down to his ankles, and reached over to touch his very-awakened member. She bent down and let her tongue touch his cock while the other gripped his balls and gently massaged them. Truthfully, she had never given a blowjob before, so this was a first. Toby excitedly moaned, instinctively gripping onto the pillow from the pleasure he felt. He used his free hand to hold her hair up so it didn't get in the way. She thrusted her head repeatedly, trying to go down as far as she could. She went a little further down than what she was capable of, causing her to gag, but Toby continued to reassure her that she was doing great.

She hoped that what she was doing was working, because she kept fearing that she wouldn't be able to get him to climax. She tried even harder by increasing her head-thrusting speed, and continuing to massage his balls throughout. Upon hearing him release an extremely loud moan, she hoped that signified that he was going to climax, and stopped sucking on his member. Instead, she stroked it with her right hand, leaving her left hand to massage him.

"Fuck, Spence," he panted, stretching his legs all the way back. He felt such a heat throughout his body, and he knew he was going to orgasm.

The warm welcomes from the group were enough to keep Alison busy from the minute she arrived on Rosewood High School's campus again. She had stepped onto the campus with Emily by her side at first, but was quickly stolen by numerous people welcoming her back. Obviously, there was lots of talking going around about how she was back, as there were many people who weren't her biggest fans before she went to boarding school.

Right when Alison got a free moment from the people hoarding her to greet her, Emily swooped in so they could at least have a little time to hang out before class started. She knew it was wrong to be selfish— Alison had been back for a good amount of time now, and had only been spending time with her. They had been hanging out nonstop since they jumped into a relationship, or whatever it was that they had.

"Sorry," Ali immediately said, scratching her head. "I really should head to the office now to get a copy of my schedule. I'm supposed to go meet with Principal Hackett." She paused, and looked up at Emily with a glow of suggestiveness in her eyes, and reached out to subtly touch her hand. "But, I'm not so sure that I remember this campus anymore, so maybe I could get my own private little tour from you later."

"Definitely," Emily responded. "If you have any questions at all, I'm here to help." She was so close to Alison and had so many urges to kiss her right then and there, but she had to restrain herself. They hadn't gone public yet, and they certainly hadn't even figured out what they were yet. She didn't want to mess anything up, so she took a step back and let Alison go to the principal's office, as planned.

When Emily turned around, she saw Jaime standing there with furrowed eyebrows.

"Jaime! Hey, it's been a while since we've talked, hasn't it?" she stated, scratching her head.

"Yeah, I haven't really been talking much with you guys lately. Everyone seems busy as fuck," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Especially you, Em. What's up with that? And was that Alison? As in the DiLaurentis that transferred to boarding school a long time ago?"

Emily nodded her head. "Yeah, that was her. She, uh, she transferred back. I've kinda been hanging out with her since she got back. We haven't hung out in a long time, so there's been so much to catch up on. I haven't been keeping up with the others much, either."

Jaime was in disbelief that it was purely hanging out. He always had suspected that Emily had at least a minor crush on Alison before she transferred to boarding school, but never pointed it out. He decided to drop his suspicions again and let things flow naturally, unless something really sparked his attention that made it seem like there was something going on between them.

"I should probably drop in and say hey to her sometime today," Jaime said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But anyway, I've kinda missed hangin' with you. Any chance you wanna go to the Brew after school with me today to grab a coffee and just talk a bit?"

Emily pressed her lips together; She was planning on hanging out with Alison after school that day, but she also knew that she did miss hanging out with Jaime, too.

"I kinda, uh, have plans," she confessed, causing Jaime's facial expression to drop. He nodded his head understandingly. "But really, I wanna hang out with you! I'll figure something out. We can meet up at the Brew after school. Count on that."

"Are you sure?" Jaime asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "You don't have to cancel your plans just for me, Em. We can find another day to hang out. Today isn't the only day that exists."

"Yeah, I know. But, the person I made plans with was Ali, so I think that it would be great if we all went to the Brew together today and talked. I'm sure you guys could use some time to talk, too. It'll be fun!" Emily exclaimed.

"That actually sounds pretty fun," Jaime smiled, nodding his head. "I'll see you after school today, then. Later."

"Later."

Despite Bret's pleas to stick with the plan and ask Taylor out, Noel decided to shift gears and focus towards getting Aria to go out with him, now that she was single again. He had the flowers and was super prepared to ask her out the previous week when Bret had first revealed that she and Ezra Fitz had broken up, but there were a lot of things that just made the timing feel wrong. One, she literally had just ended things with her last boyfriend, so he would seem like the ass that swooped in to ask her out before she was ready, and two, he kinda chickened out. Plus, he felt that Aria was worth much more than receiving a recycled item while being asked out: flowers that were supposed to be used to ask out another girl. So, he took the rest of the week off to let these things sort themselves, and came back that Monday prepared to ask Aria out with a fresh outlook on things.

He went to the store and bought brand new flowers, a completely different kind than the ones that were going to be given to Taylor. He mentally had practiced the scenario where he'd ask Aria out numerous times, so he felt confident on what he was going to say. It wouldn't be a spontaneous thing anymore where he'd have to make up how he was going to ask her out on the spot. Despite all this, he knew he couldn't solve the issue of her still trying to move on after her break-up. He understood that her previous relationship was quite serious and wasn't something she would easily be able to get over, but he also understood that she was a very desirable girl, so if he didn't act fast, the next Fitz would come in and win her over. Then, he'd have to stand in the corner and work his ass off to get over her once again, just like he did while Aria was with Fitz.

There, he spotted her before school. She was sitting on the steps near the doors with quite a thick novel opened up, resting on her lap. She seemed so focused on her reading, he almost felt bad for disrupting her. He tried to do it gently, so he calmly tapped her shoulder, and retreated his hands behind his back, where he was holding the bouquet of flowers that he had purchased for her. They were the most expensive in the store, so he was really hoping that she said yes, or these expensive-ass flowers would sit their to mock him until they died.

"Hey, Aria," he said as soon as she shut her book and looked up at him with such a sweet, adorable smile.

"Hey there, Noel. What's up?"

"Uh, nothin' much. What about you?"

Damn it, Noel, he thought. You're getting so fucking off-topic. This isn't what you planned. This isn't how the scenario went in your head, you fucking idiot. He tried to focus himself again so he didn't have to keep mentally cursing at himself. He needed this to go well, or at least to go as smoothly as he had it planned in his head, whether she said yes or not. He wanted to know that he gave it his best shot and did everything he could to get her, even if she rejected him.

"I was just reading this book by Toni Morrison. I went to the city library, and had a discussion with the librarian about her favorites, and she raved about this one. It gives such a powerful message about the social constructs of beauty standards. It's just... fantastic," she said, taking a deep breath. "Um, sorry for boring you with that. I know you probably don't care—"

"No, no... I'm interested," he smiled. "Maybe I'll read it sometime. I need a break from the classics we read in class all the time. They're a little too... classic for me."

Aria chuckled and said, "I actually like a lot of the stuff we read in class. Especially Gatsby."

"I've gotta admit, I did like that one, too. But the Shakespeare stuff can get a bit tiring," he explained.

"Yeah, I'll agree on that one. We've read the most work by Shakespeare, and there are so many other writers that have such powerful works. Not all of them are stuck in the seventeenth century!"

Noel chuckled again, and stared at the floor. He made good small-talk, but he needed to get the message across. He needed to get to the point. He needed to ask her out already! He felt more and more anxious every moment he stood there and didn't ask her out.

"So, uh, here's the thing. I've been, uh, wondering if you were free this Friday night..." he stumbled out, and felt stupid once he said it. He could feel his cheeks becoming redder as he stood there like an idiot. "Look, I'm just gonna go for it because... I've had feelings for you for such a long time, Aria. You don't even understand. I've never liked a girl for this long before, so you really are important to me." He blinked a few times, trying to focus himself. She just sat there with her heart racing. She knew what was about to come at her, and she wasn't prepared for it. Normally, she would be ready to say no to him. It was easier to say no to him because she could blow it off with the fact that she already had a boyfriend that she was committed too. But that wasn't the case anymore.

And yeah, she could easily blow him off again by telling him that she couldn't go out with him because she was still struggling to get over her break-up, but she didn't want to. The part that scared her was that she was really considering it this time. Maybe going out with Noel wasn't such a bad idea. She took another good look at him while he nervously stood there and tried to gather the words to ask her out. God damn, he sure as hell was handsome. She was always so invested in her relationship with Ezra that she had forgotten how handsome Noel was. Sparkling blue eyes, perfectly cut hair, well-dressed, bad boy-esque... he was something amazing. And to top it all, he was a great guy when it came to people he actually liked. And he actually liked her... a lot. No guy that she knew of had ever liked her for this long, and stayed committed in pursuing her. She couldn't believe his feelings stuck around all this time after she said no to him before. Going out with someone who truly felt that way about her didn't seem like such a stupid idea anymore. What was wrong with it? She was single, and knew that Noel could easily make her happy.

It would completely get her mind off of Ezra if she found a good relationship with Noel. She could actually move on. She could actually stop crying her eyes out over the break-up, like she had been doing since it happened. For the first time since her break-up, she was actually considering trying to get back into dating.

God, she hadn't even had a normal high school boyfriend yet. All the lying, hiding, and sneaking around that came with her relationship with Ezra made it so hard for them to be together. The whole forbidden love thing seemed more romantic than it really was. In all honesty, it sucked overall. Not Ezra. The forbidden part. She loved him, she just hated not being able to feel like she was his girlfriend. This was her chance for a relationship that made sense. A relationship that her friends and family could be proud of and know about. A relationship that didn't happen only behind closed doors. She really, really liked the sound of that. It was what she now knew she was looking for.

"Aria, do you want to go out on Friday night?" he asked confidently, but the nervousness filled his eyes immediately after. "I mean, only if you want to. I just think that if you gave me a shot, I could make you a lot happier than you think I could. 'Cause I, uh, I really care about you. I would put everything I've got into this relationship, and it would mean the world to me if you gave me a shot to prove that to you."

"Okay," she answered, and Noel's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Okay?" he repeated for confirmation. "Did you say okay?"

"Yeah. I'd love to go out with you," she clarified, and stood up from the steps.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, nearly dropping the flowers behind his back. Quickly, he pulled them front and center. "I totally forgot about these in all the craziness... but, uh, these are for you."

Her heart fluttered just a bit. She had flowers, and she could flaunt them around. She didn't have to hide the present he got her because their relationship was inappropriate. It wasn't. She could hold these all day, and nobody could say shit.

"That is so sweet!" Aria exclaimed while she put her book in her bag. "Thank you, Noel. I'm looking forward to our date."

Noel froze there in shock while Aria pulled him in for a long hug. She traced circles around his back sweetly before pulling back with a bright smile on her face. As the first bell rang, she adjusted her book bag so it sat correctly, and turned around.

"See you at lunch, Kahn," she turned back to wave briefly as she walked into the school building.

Noel's mouth hung open. He struggled to grab his phone from his back pocket, but he finally managed to. He quickly began typing a message to Bret.

SHE SAID YES.

Sean felt his heart pounding as he walked into the cafeteria during lunch time. He saw his ex-girlfriend sitting down at a table with her friends. He really needed to talk to her. He knew that he went berserk the other day before Hanna dumped him, and he didn't want them to be over like that. He loved her, and he was sure of it. He just needed to make her realize that he was a good guy. He didn't even know why he was getting so jealous and insecure over Caleb Rivers. That guy would never be able to steal his girl, right? Well, not that she was his girl anymore, but he planned on getting her back, so that would change.

Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to the table Hanna was sitting at.

"Hey," he greeted weakly, swallowing hard after he spoke. She gave him a judgmental look that clearly told him that she didn't want him to be there. Her friends looked away awkwardly, not wanting to be a part of the situation, either. "Look, I thought that we should talk about what hastily happened the other day. I don't want a silly misunderstanding to be the reason we're over."

"There's nothing to talk about," Hanna bitterly said. "I told you I'm done, Sean. We didn't work out. And when I look at it overall, I think we were over for a long time, but I was just too stupid to realize it."

"Hanna..." he muttered. "Don't talk like that. Don't say things you know aren't true."

"But it is true," she spat back. "I'm not interested in being your girlfriend anymore, okay? I just, I don't feel like we're a good fit. What happened that day was only the final straw that pushed me to come to that realization. I didn't break up with you because of what you did that day. I broke up with you because it made me realize that you're not the person I want to be with anymore."

"Fine," Sean bitterly said back, flaring his nostrils. "Make up shitty excuses for why you broke up with me. Maybe you should go fuck Rivers now, too. I mean, isn't that what you wanted?"

Hanna looked away, trying to ignore the comment.

"Please leave me alone, Sean. This is exactly what I meant. I can't be with somebody who acts like that!" she cried, shaking her head.

He decided to swallow his pride and just walk away. He couldn't take anymore of the humiliation of having part two of the break-up right in front of her friends, who were all making judgmental faces throughout the conversation. He really felt that he should have tried to have this conversation in private so she wasn't influenced by the fact that her friends were there.

"Damn," Spencer commented, raising her eyebrows. "You definitely aren't falling back into Sean's arms any time soon, are you? You're really done with him?"

Hanna nodded her head confidently.

"I can't see myself being with him in the future. I don't want to have a boyfriend just for the sake of having one," she explained. "We're just too... dysfunctional. We had a lot of good memories together, but that's not enough. And I've fallen back into his arms way too many times after he screwed up over and over again. It's time I just move away from that and take steps forward."

"Philosophical," Spencer laughed, nodding her head in agreement. "I get it... but any chance it has something to do with hacker-boy?"

"You mean Caleb?" Hanna asked for clarification. "He's not the reason that I broke up with Sean, okay? I broke up with him for the reasons I said. Whether or not something happens between me and Caleb down the road is a different story."

A smug smile appeared on Aria's face.

"Looks like you've got your answer, Spence," Aria said.

"Hey!" Hanna objected. "I'm just saying that it wouldn't be such a bad thing for something to happen between us. But my relationship with Sean is completely separate from my relationship with Caleb. I'm not saying I'm looking at the idea of being with him. All I mean is that if he were to be interested in me, I wouldn't turn it down."

"Oh, come on," Emily rolled her eyes. "Just make a move on him already."

"No way! I'm not the type to jump into things. I just got out of a relationship, is it really time to try and get into another one?" Hanna said.

"Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes going out with someone new is the best way to move on from your past relationship," Aria explained, a hint of nervousness in her voice. The rest of the girls' heads perked up in curiosity.

"Aria!" Spencer cried. "Are you going out with someone new after... you-know-who?"

"Don't shoot me, but... Noel asked me out, and I, uh, I said yes," Aria bit her lip as she answered. She was surprised when none of her friends reacted crazily. They all seemed pretty calm about the whole deal.

"I actually heard rumors that you and Noel were going out Friday. I guess the word travels quickly around here," Emily chuckled. "I was going to wait until you said something about it, and you did! But anyway, I don't think it's such a crazy thing. I was honestly a little confused to why you were sneaking around with Fitz while a great guy who's totally into you like Noel has been pining after you for ages. I think it's great that you two are finally going out! I was waiting for the day it happened."

"Any other relationship milestones that have been going on?" Hanna asked, winking over at Spencer. "Is anything firing up between you and Andrew? And any new girls in your life, Em?"

Spencer and Emily both glanced at each other at the same time to find out who would speak first. Emily fidgeted with her fingers for a moment. She couldn't tell Hanna or the other girls who she was seeing even if she wanted to.

"Umm..." she mumbled nervously. "No. I'm uh, single as ever. I'm not really looking for anyone, either."

"Suit yourself," Hanna shrugged. "And you, Spence?"

An adorable smile appeared on Spencer's face. She began to blush as she thought about the events of the previous night with Toby. She still hadn't told her friends that they were back together, so Bianca was pretty much the only one who had a clue about what happened. And for some strange reason, Bianca's big mouth hadn't gone around spilling the details about their reconciled relationship. Spencer figured that it was because Bianca was still trying to get back on her good side after what happened the first time around.

"Well, about Andrew... I sorta ended things with him last week," Spencer responded. "I don't think that relationship was meant for me. He's cute and all, but my interests are elsewhere. I have some other news, though—"

As her friends looked at her curiously to hear her news, Toby slid down onto the seat of the cafeteria table and wrapped his arms around Spencer. Her friends gave her unsurprised looks, as if they all knew this was going to come at some point.

"So, this is my news," Spencer laughed, wrapping her arms around Toby mutually. "We are very, very happy this time around, too," she added, gazing into his eyes lovingly.

"What a shock," Aria rolled her eyes playfully.

"That's cute," Hanna laughed. "I knew you two lovers would get back together eventually. I was rooting for Toby all along, just so you know. I only supported your thing with Andrew because I wanted you to be happy."

"Sorry to steal you from your friends, but uh, you should come with me. I wanna show you something," he smirked and reached to grab her hand and squeeze it. "Come with me?" he asked.

"Of course," Spencer smiled, and the two of them got up from the lunch table and began giggling as they walked away.

"What do you think he's going to show her?" Emily asked cluelessly, furrowing her eyebrows.

"His penis, duh," Hanna rolled her eyes and reached for her water bottle.

Suddenly, Alison appeared. She offered the girls a smile and sat down next to Emily at the table.

"Hey, guys," she greeted with that same smile that lingered. "Sorry, I had to go get a crap-ton of critical work that I'm going to have to make up. Hopefully this will be the last time that my teachers steal lunch time from me." Alison looked around and then asked, "Where's Spencer?"

"Off with Toby, probably getting a quickie," Hanna joked bluntly, causing the others to groan. "What? You can't tell me that I'm wrong, 'cause you know that's most likely what's happening!" She looked over at Alison and continued, "Yeah, they're back together now."

Alison nodded her head absentmindedly. It wasn't that she didn't care about Spencer and Toby's relationship... She easily would've been very happy for them if she didn't have serious things on her mind. She bit her lip while seating herself next to Emily. She couldn't stop thinking about her. But God, she couldn't do anything about it. Nobody knew about her relationship (or whatever the hell it was) with Emily. And it sucked, but Alison was so not ready to deal with her sexuality.

Nonetheless, she couldn't stop herself from wanting it. And nobody could comment on something that they didn't see... Naturally, Alison's hand crept onto Emily's thigh, gently massaging the bare skin exposed by her high-waisted, denim shorts. She noticed Emily swallowing hard when she touched her, startling by the spontaneous action. She was enjoying the way it felt, but at the same time was scared out of her mind that somebody would see. God, Hanna and Aria were like five feet away from them!

Alison's hand kept moving closer and closer to her crotch. She sneakily shimmied her hand into Emily's shorts, reaching a much more dangerous place. Emily waited until Hanna began a full-blown conversation with Aria about lipgloss before turning to Alison.

"Ali, please..." she begged in a whisper. "Not now..."

"I'm dying," Alison whispered back. "I can't stop thinking about you."

"You're the one who said that you don't want to tell people about us, remember?" Emily asked, still in her hushed tone. "I'm just trying to protect you. Not that we should be doing this in public either way..."

Reluctantly, Alison removed her hand from Emily's shorts.

"We're still hanging out after school, right?" Alison asked quietly, to which Emily nodded her head. The blonde smiled and commented, "Good, because I seriously need some alone time with you. This whole 'welcome back' thing has been overwhelming. I just want to see you." She tried her hardest to refrain from leaning closer to Emily. "What do you say we skip the Brew and go back to your place instead?"

Emily bit her lip. She had almost forgotten that she invited Jaime to come with them to the Brew.

"Ali," she said nervously. "I want to hang out with you alone today, but I... uh, I kinda invited Jaime to come with us to the Brew."

Alison raised her eyebrows.

"'Kinda'?" she asked, folding her arms. "Em!"

"Okay, not 'kinda.' I did invite him to come with us," Emily revealed. "You like Jaime, don't you? He's a really great guy! He's super funny! We'll have a lot of fun together."

"Yeah, he's fine and all, but... ugh," Alison groaned. She dropped the volume of her voice so it was even quieter, "I really want to be alone with you, Em."

"Well, right afterwards, you can come over to my house," Emily told her with a smile on her face. She made a daring move and reached over to take Alison's hand subtly.

Alison smiled and nodded her head.

"I'm holding you accountable for that," the blonde warned.

"Trust me, I want to be accountable for that," Emily laughed quietly.

After the final period's bell rang, Hanna was on her way out of school. She would've headed straight home, but she had a lot on her mind and wanted to go on a calming walk. A teen magazine article she had just read told her that a little bit of fresh air was the key to a healthy mind. Nothing that she hadn't heard from her mother, but the fact that it was coming from her favorite magazine was a more convincing argument.

She kept thinking about everything that happened. How she thought she had the perfect relationship with Sean... but clearly she felt something for Caleb Rivers, no matter how hard she kept denying it. Talking about it with her friends made her realize that she did want it to happen. But that wasn't what was troubling her mind the most... what was troubling her was that in all of her own romantic drama, she hadn't been there for Caleb. He was going through such life-changing things. God, his mother died, and she was too busy trying to focus on whether she should make a move or not.

They hadn't spoken much since Sean told him to stay away from her, so she wasn't exactly sure how to reach out to him. She kept thinking about what to do as she strolled towards Rosewood Park.

To her surprise, he was there, sitting calmly on the park bench, typing away rapidly on his laptop. Hanna's jaw quivered when she saw him sitting there. She wanted to talk to him so badly, but she wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to her after everything that happened. After all, her boyfriend (now ex) was just more drama added to the already-tough life he had.

Surprisingly, he smiled at her when he saw her. Hanna smiled back, taking slow steps towards the park bench.

"Hey," she greeted, offering an awkward little wave.

"Hey," he greeted back. "How are you?"

"Good," she responded. "You?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not the worst," he responded. "But, I have been better."

She gave him a sympathetic look.

Changing the subject, she asked, "Don't you need wifi to play your little hacking game?"

Caleb chuckled quietly and answered, "Yeah. I sorta hacked into the wifi of the house behind this park..."

"Caleb!" Hanna cried, yet laughed nonetheless.

It was a daring move, but she sat down next to Caleb on the park bench. After a moment of thinking, Caleb decided to shut his laptop and just talk to her. He knew that she wasn't to blame for anything that happened with Sean.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked cooly. "Coincidence that you're here, or did you follow me?"

He seemed to be joking, so Hanna remained calm.

"Shut up," she laughed, rolling her eyes. "I wasn't following you. I didn't know you owned this park, Rivers." She took a small breath and continued, "I wanted to take a walk. Things have been stressful, so... yeah."

"Stressful, huh?" he said. "What's up?"

"Trust me, it doesn't compare to what you've been going through," she told him.

"That doesn't make your problems invalid," he furrowed his eyebrows. "Come on... what's up?"

"Well, for one... Sean and I broke up," she confessed.

"Oh," he nodded, not exactly sure how to react... at least not in front of her. "Are you okay? I mean, I guess I figured. That explains why you're even allowed to be talking to me right now."

"Strangely, I'm very okay that we broke up. In fact, I broke up with him," she explained. "I didn't like the way that he was acting. Especially with how he treated you. That was not okay, and I wanted to make sure that you know that I had nothing to do with it."

"It's fine, Hanna," Caleb shook it off. "I didn't want to cause problems in your relationship, but clearly, I ended up doing that regardless."

"It's not your fault," she told him.

"I still feel like it is," he confessed. "But maybe it's Sean's fault, too..." he paused for a moment, biting his lip as he looked up and into Hanna's sparkling blue eyes. God, she was beautiful... He continued, "He got jealous when there's nothing to be jealous of... right?"

Hanna wasn't convinced, and neither was Caleb.

"You tell me," Hanna raised her eyebrows.

"Hanna..." he said quietly, his voice low.

Their eyes were locked intensely. Subtly, Caleb pushed his laptop off of his lap and on the other side of him. He wasn't sure of what his next move was going to be, but he was pretty confident on what he wanted it to be. He wanted to kiss her... slowly, deeply... he wanted to finally release everything that he had been feeling for her. He just needed to know if she felt the same way about him. It certainly felt that way... it felt like there was something huge between them.

Bravely, Hanna decided to make her move. She couldn't help the way she felt about him any longer. She had been lying to herself, her friends, and to Sean. She wanted this badly.

In just a second, she slammed her lips against his, grabbing at his shirt and yanking him closer to her. Without hesitation, he kissed back fiercely, pressing his hands against her cheeks, squeezing passionately. Before either of them could process, their tongues were in each other's mouths, kissing harder than they expected to.

Suddenly, Hanna pulled back, but she was not ready to let this moment go.

"You weren't planning on sleeping on this park bench tonight, were you?" Hanna asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I was..." he confessed, still holding onto her cheeks, breathing heavily.

"We can change that tonight," she told him in a hushed tone. "My mom is out of town, so..."

"Are you sure about—" he began.

Instantly, she nodded her head.

"God, I'm so sure, Caleb," she answered immediately.

"So, Alison... what made you come back to Rosewood?" Jaime asked.

"Many reasons," the blonde responded absentmindedly as she not-so-subtly checked Emily Fields out, who was sitting right across the table, next to Jaime.

Although she didn't realize how obvious she was being, Jaime clearly did. He raised his eyebrows, slightly disturbed by the situation. He didn't even have a sure answer on what was going on, but he was pretty confident that the looks they were sharing were more than friendly. Hell, Alison was definitely checking her out. And to be honest, Jaime felt a bit pissed off that he was even invited to this Brew hangout. He felt like a third wheel.

"You know what? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Jaime rolled his eyes, getting up from the table.

Emily and Alison halted their games. Immediately, Emily grabbed Jaime's arm.

"Wait!" she cried. "What's wrong?"

"Seriously, Em?" he rolled his eyes. "Don't pretend like you haven't noticed that I'm a fucking third wheel tonight. I get it, you two are super close. But next time, just don't invite me if you guys want to spend time together."

"No, we do!" Emily argued. "Jaime, we do want to hang out with you, okay! We just haven't seen each other in a long time, so we got a little caught up. We're both happy to have you here."

"Are you, now?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked over at Alison.

"What? Why are you looking at me?" Alison asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Of course I'm happy that you're here..."

"Yeah, doesn't feel that way, but whatever," Jaime sighed. He looked over at Emily, "Hey, can I talk to you... alone?"

"Um, sure," Emily responded reluctantly, although Alison looked quite annoyed with the situation. Emily gave her an apologetic look as she got up from the table and followed Jaime elsewhere. As soon as they were alone, she asked, "What is it, Jaime? I already said I'm sorry for making you feel like a third wheel... you're not."

"I know I am, so you don't have to bother trying to lie to me," he rolled his eyes. He sighed and continued, "Look, I know there's something going on between you and Ali."

"What?" Emily asked, surprised that he picked up on it. Although, she immediately blamed herself... they were not careful at all today. Not being able to tell people about their relationship made it so hard to keep her eyes off of Alison, and definitely made it hard to keep her hands to herself.

"Don't play dumb," he shook his head. "It's unnecessary. You know I'd never judge you for who you like. I know she hurt you in the past, but if you've forgiven her, then who am I to stop you?"

"Jaime..." she sighed.

"No, Emily, just listen," he continued. "I think it's great that you're with someone. But, is she asking you to hide your relationship? Because that's why you broke up with Paige. Remember?"

She sighed again, trying to look away from him.

"I know, I'm just trying to be patient with Ali—" she began.

"You'll be patient with her, but not Paige?" he asked. "What is it with this girl that'll make you give her special benefits that you won't give to other girlfriends?"

"Jaime... I love her, okay?" she confessed. "I've been in love with her for a really long time, and I've tried to run away from it, but I can't anymore. I've been wanting this for so long, and I finally have it! Is that so hard to understand?"

"No, it's not," he sighed. "But don't give yourself and everything you believe in up just because she's got you blinded."

"It's not like that," Emily argued. "You don't get it. She's grown up with homophobic parents who'd never make it easy for her to accept herself. And people at school would give her hell because she's Alison."

"And you think it was gonna be easy for Paige? Her dad's homophobic as hell—" Jaime started.

"Jaime!" Emily yelled. "I know that what I'm doing is hypocritical, okay? But it's not the same thing. She's going to tell people. We're enjoying the time we're spending together right now. I really want this to work, and if that means sacrificing a little, then I'm in. We're taking things slow, not labeling anything... just being happy together."

"Well, all I want is for you to be happy, Em," Jaime nodded his head. "I'm sorry, okay? If you're happy with her, then who am I to judge?"

"Thank you for understanding," Emily nodded her head.

"Of course," Jaime smiled. His smile faded when his phone buzzed. He sighed when he looked at the text message he received. "Shit, I gotta go... not that this was very great for me, anyways. Being ignored was not the highlight of my day, but whatever." He chuckled, "Yeah, uh, Bianca's spamming me nonstop. She's got some new boy drama."

"When will that girl quit it?" Emily laughed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry about today... but thank you for coming."

"Gladly," he smiled. Before he turned around, he added, "Make good choices with your lover. Don't have too much sex."

Emily rolled her eyes playfully and said, "Shut up."

As she walked back to the table, she couldn't help but wonder if Jaime was right about how hypocritical she was being. Nonetheless, she shook it off and sat back down at the Brew's table across from Alison.

"What did he want to talk to you about?" Alison asked.

"Nothing important," she lied, scratching her head. "He was explaining some new Bianca drama to me... he had to leave to go help her."

"Oh, okay," the blonde nodded her head, but didn't exactly seem too convinced.

"Finish your coffee up and we can finally get going and have that alone time that you wanted so badly," Emily suggestively spoke.

Alison tried to stop herself, but she laughed anyways. And inevitably, she drank that coffee so fast that she almost burned her tongue off.

"Look, you don't have to jump into bed with every cute guy that comes your way," Jaime rolled his eyes.

"I can't help it!" Bianca cried, running a hand through her hair. "I don't know, I just... I feel like..." she swallowed hard for a moment before continuing, "...like I'm not good enough sometimes. So, it just gives me validation when a guy wants something with me. And yeah, I probably should tone down the promiscuity, but that's the only way I know to use to make sure guys stay interested."

"Wrong, I'm pretty sure they become less interested once you've given them an all-access pass to your special lands," Jaime began, rolling his eyes slightly. His face softened once he looked over at Bianca's face. He continued, "...the point is, you don't have to throw yourself at a guy and make everything about sex. Why don't you try letting him get to know you instead? 'Cause he wouldn't leave if he got to know the real you."

Bianca swallowed hard, but nodded understandingly. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand.

"He's gonna be here soon," she announced.

Jaime nodded his head, "I'll take that as my cue."

As he spoke, he stood up from her bed and put his jacket back on. Before he started leaving her bedroom, Bianca grabbed his arm and gave him a serious look. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Thank you," she suddenly said. "...for coming over, and for helping me... and for basically being there for me throughout all my bullshit. I mean, I know I've been a huge pain in the ass, especially lately."

"Don't worry about it," he smiled. His seriousness soon turned changed to a lighter mood, "Apparently I've become a fucking softie lately. I've gotta get my game back on." The both of them laughed as he spoke. After a little more silence, he nodded his head again and said, "Well, I don't wanna deal with an awkward situation where he sees me on my way out as he comes in, so I better rush outta here. Good luck."

"Don't you worry this time. I came prepared."

Spencer couldn't help but burst out laughing when she saw her boyfriend standing in her doorway holding a brand new box of condoms.

"Do you know what would've happened if my parents were home and opened the door?" she rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, what you should be imagining is your dead body, because my dad would definitely murder you."

"They're working late, and I am very happy to see you," he told her, and then leaned closer to kiss her lips chastely. "You look beautiful, as always."

"Shut up," she looked away, trying to hide her smile.

"No, I'm serious!" he laughed. "I keep asking myself how the hell I got so lucky... I still haven't found the answer."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were just trying to say all the right things to get laid," she smirked, yanking at the collar of his shirt so she could kiss him again, only this time, with a lot more tongue. While Toby was trying to focus on kissing her, he kicked the front door shut simultaneously.

He pulled back for a moment to joke, "Well, did it work?"

"You are the worst, you know that?" she laughed, and pulled him closer so she could start kissing him again.

Turns out, it did work, because Spencer started leading him up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I already told you that I'm so sure about this. Why? Are you not?"

"No, I'm sure. I can't even tell you how much I want this."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I just... I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. I want you to be sure."

"Well, Caleb, here's my goddamn consent."

She pushed him back down against her bed, slamming her lips against his roughly, all while running one of her hands down his bare chest. His t-shirt had already been discarded on the way into her bedroom. Hanna used all her willpower to release him for a moment so she could sit up and pull her top over her head. She smirked at him, feeling powerful as she watched the expression on his face. He looked so under her spell... so amazed by everything she was doing.

Sitting in her bra on top of his already-hard member while watching his marveled expression almost made her forget that she was... a virgin. He was looking at her as if she was so experienced.

And suddenly, Hanna remembered that she had no clue what to do. As sexy as she could be in the foreplay, she sure as hell didn't know all the mechanics of sex. She took a deep breath, leaning back in and kissing him fiercely, trying to bring the same boldness back, and it seemed to be working. Caleb let his hands wrap around her back, moving towards the clasp of her bra. He didn't take his time while making his way to unhook it.

Her bra slowly dropped down, exposing her perky breasts, which Caleb found irresistible. Immediately, he brought one of her breasts to his mouth, sucking on it not-so-gently. He freely allowed his tongue to explore her nipple.

"Hey! Thanks for letting me come over."

Bianca smiled back at him. She let him come inside, and then shut the door behind her.

"Of course," she nodded her head. "I was really glad to hear from you, you know."

"I'm just glad you answered me," he chuckled, scratching his head. He sighed before continuing, "Look... I know things are weird because I kissed you while I was dating Paige and all that..."

"It's okay, Jack," she stopped him. "We all make mistakes. And it takes two to kiss. Plus, I've made my fair share of horrendous mistakes since starting school here, so who am I to judge?"

Jack began walking closer towards her. He stopped when he was just a few feet away.

"Truth is, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since we kissed," he confessed, staring right into her eyes.

Bianca felt herself melting. She stared back into Jack's eyes. She started losing control already. God, she wanted him so badly... It didn't help that he kept taking steps closer and closer to her, only making her want him even more. Finally, he just leaned in and kissed her slowly, cupping one of her cheeks with his hand. The other hand remained coolly in his pocket.

When he pulled back, a smile formed on his face.

"I'm not sorry about kissing you this time..."

Bianca looked up at him with worry in her eyes when he said this. He was looking down at her so sincerely and deeply. She was forgetting everything that Jaime said about hooking up with a guy before things even got started. Because goddamn, she wanted to do more than just kiss Jack right now.

"You okay?" Jack asked, furrowing his eyebrows with concern. "Bianca?"

"I'm more than okay," she answered. Her serious expression finally changed, and an equal smile formed on her face.

She grabbed Jack by the shirt and pulled him back in for another kiss, this time not nearly as gently and slowly. This time, it was rough and aggressive, filled with heat and passion. She kept one hand on his shirt, while the other began exploring through his hair. He immediately got the message that this was about more than just making out, and moved his lips lower to her neck, kissing it all over.

When he started kissing her neck, Bianca couldn't control her moans anymore. She wanted this with him so badly. She was aware and afraid that Jack would possibly lose interest in her if they slept together so early-on in their relationship, but she didn't know if she could wait.

Jack broke it off for a second, throwing his shirt over his head and letting it fall to the floor. Bianca smirked and licked her lips once his shirt came off, as his very chiseled chest was revealed, only turning her on more.

"Do you wanna do this?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Hell yes," Bianca responded, running her hand down Jack's chest and crashing her lips against his again.

They began making out once again, while Bianca pushed him further and further towards the couch in her living room. She didn't even have the patience to take him up to her bedroom to fuck. It had to happen now.

Emily was practically massaging one of Alison's breasts while kissing her neck thoroughly. Her whole body got excited at the sound of her girlfriend's loud moans, which were a great compliment to how well she was doing.

Finally, Emily brought her lips back to Alison's mouth once she had finished. After a few seconds of sweet kissing, she finally pulled back and laid down next to her instead.

"That was... fun," Alison laughed quietly, turning on her side so she could look at Emily.

Emily turned on her side as well, so that she was facing Alison.

"It definitely was," she agreed, nodding her head. She couldn't help but smile while staring at the blonde. She tucked one of those blonde strands of hair behind her ear for her. "God, how do you still look so beautiful right now?"

"Shut up," Ali blushed, trying to hide her smile.

"I don't want to shut up," Emily laughed. She bit her lip while her eyes flickered down Ali's face and scanned it. After that brief moment, she leaned in and pecked Ali's lips chastely.

"What was that for?" Ali asked curiously after the peck ended.

"Just because I love having you here," Emily gushed, trying to stop the butterflies in her stomach. "I'm really glad you're in my life again, you know."

Alison couldn't help but grin like a fool as she listened to Emily gush about her. She scooted closer to her girlfriend, cuddling up to her. She rested her head in the crook of Emily's neck, pressed against her.

"It's crazy how things change, isn't it?" Ali said, sighing happily.

They stayed that way for a little bit, just cuddling up and enjoying each other's company. Finally, Alison pulled back slightly and looked over at Emily.

"Hey... are you sure that what Jaime said to you back at the Brew was just... nothing?" Ali asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Because, you know you can tell me whatever it is, right?"

"No, it really was nothing," Emily lied, scratching her head. "Unless you're super concerned about Bianca Branson's love life, then it's nothing."

"I don't even know her," Ali laughed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well then, it's nothing important to you. Don't worry about it," Emily told her, feeling guilty the more she spoke. "Come here," she said, trying to change the subject.

Alison did as told, and came closer to Emily. Emily leaned closer and pressed her lips against Ali's, getting her mind off of the subject of everything Jaime said to her at the Brew.

Things were going quickly, and the foreplay was coming to an end. Caleb was starting to pull off the last piece of clothing that was stopping them from getting into it: his boxers. Hanna already felt intimidated when she looked at the bulge poking out of Caleb's boxers. He kissed her briefly before completely removing his boxers. He smiled at Hanna before he pulled her closer for another kiss.

Hanna didn't know how she was going to do this. She wanted to do it... have sex with him, that was. But she had no idea what to do. Obviously, this was her first time. She didn't even know if this was Caleb's first time or not!

"Hey, are you okay?" Caleb asked, furrowing his eyebrows in concern.

"I'm fine..." she muttered, but he still didn't seem convinced.

"Hanna," he said. He reached over and grabbed her arm. "You don't have to lie and say you're okay if you're not. I'll stop if you don't want to do this."

"No, I want to do this," she told him, and that was the honest truth.

"Then what's the problem?" he asked, stroking her arm sweetly. "You can tell me, Hanna."

"I don't know... what if I'm not good at it?" she confessed, looking up at him worriedly.

Caleb chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?" Hanna demanded, feeling ashamed now.

"No, no... I'm not laughing at your concern," he told her. He cupped her cheeks and smiled at her sincerely. "You don't have to worry about being good, okay? You're perfect. If I suck, that's a different story... but, you don't have to do anything. It might hurt a little bit at first, but I promise, I'll be gentle. This is about making you feel good."

Hearing him talk to her like that made her lose a lot of her fears. She felt like she could trust him in this situation, and that made her happy. She felt safe. She relaxed herself and assured herself that she could trust Caleb. She could barely believe how understanding, sweet, and patient he was being during this situation. She knew that Sean would never be this way with her. Something was different about Caleb Rivers, and she loved it.

"Are you ready?" Caleb asked her, still smiling sweetly.

"Yes," she nodded her head, smiling back at him.

After putting a condom on, Caleb came back to her. He held her waist firmly, finding her entrance. Still smiling at her, he slowly pushed himself inside of her for the first time. Hanna immediately erupted into a cry of pain when he pushed in. He reached over to find her hand as he pushed in the second time, squeezing it gently.

"I'm right here with you, Hanna," he told her.

When she heard him speak again, and calmed herself down. He kept it up, and it just kept getting better. She was obviously no expert when it came to sex, but it sure felt like Caleb was good at this.

"Wow..."

"Yeah, wow..." Bianca bit her lip, looking over to her left and seeing a panting Jack laying down. His bottom half was covered by the blanket, while his sparkling, sweaty chest was freely exposed.

"I'm surprised that you wanted to hook up," he confessed.

"Well, I couldn't help it," she sighed. "I really like you, Jack, and I... I get it if it's unappealing now because we hooked up on the first date, or whatever this is."

"What?" Jack furrowed his eyebrows. "It's not unappealing."

Bianca raised her eyebrows, slightly taken back. She still felt like he was just saying it to be polite, since she called him out on it.

"Is that really what you think of me?" Jack asked, feeling a bit hurt. "Bianca, I called you because I really like you, too. I'm not just gonna go away because we hooked up." He turned over to face her, and placed his hands on her cheeks. "In fact, I really wanna see you again sometime," he told her.

"You do?" Bianca asked, shocked.

"Hell yeah!" Jack laughed, nodding his head. "And I agree, maybe this thing happened a little too fast, but I guess we both couldn't help it." He leaned in and pecked her lips sweetly before continuing, "But, maybe we can change the course of this thing. Maybe you'll let me take you out on a real date sometime?"

"Really?" Bianca grinned. "I mean, I would love that!"

"Sweet," Jack grinned back. "It's getting late, so I probably should head home now, but I don't regret this at all, just so you know. I'm more than happy that it happened. And I'm very excited to take you out for real. I'll definitely call or text you soon."

"Okay," Bianca bit her lip.

She smiled as she watched Jack get out of her bed and start re-dressing himself.

"Peace out," Jack waved at her before he walked backwards out of her bedroom.

Hey, guys! I know it's been a while since I've updated this story, but I hope you all will continue reading. I'm pretty pleased with where the Haleb storyline took itself in this chapter. And I definitely have more to come with the Emison situation soon. I've got some fun ideas on where to take this Bianca/Jack relationship, too. I think I'm going to leave Spoby alone for a bit, as there's already a lot going on with the other couples, and I don't want to unnecessarily divide them right now. They'e in a good place, so I'd like to just let them be until the other tension resolves with other pairings.

As for Noel and Aria, I had more in store for them in this chapter, but it was already getting too long, so I have to push it into the next chapter instead. And I also had to leave behind some plots I had in mind for Bret and Lauren, but those characters will definitely be touched upon in the next chapter as well.