So, they had been standing on his porch for what Aria guessed was about 10 minutes now, silently making out.

Because apparently she was that kind of girl now.

But it was so nice and his lips were so soft and suddenly any thought of anyone else flew out of her mind and all she could think about was how she was here with Jason.

Making out on his porch.

Christ.

"Wait, stop," She broke away, partially to fan down the flames of guilt in her stomach but also just to catch some air. "What are we doing?"

There was silence for a moment.

"What do you want us to be doing, Aria?"

He looked her directly in the eye though she was finding it difficult to regain composure considering what they'd just been doing. What was she doing? Did she really want this? Could this happen while things still weren't sorted out with Ezra? God, it was all so complicated.

"Aria?"

Then she did the only sensible thing she could think of.

She bolted.

/X/

Well, Aria was never going to listen to her mother ever, ever again. Now she definitely wasn't going to be able to look Jason in the eye for a long long time. Nor Hanna, for that matter, who often had a super human way of telling if you were hiding a saucy make out session. She would have to find a way to market that one day.

Going home wasn't an option now, she'd no doubt take out all her frustration on her family and that was never a good idea. Plus it would be the first place either Ezra or Jason would go to look for her, not that she thought either of them were going to. Aria contemplated heading back to Spencer's but there'd probably be just more questioning there. Hanna and Emily? She wasn't even sure Hanna had even gotten up by now and Emily was probably at swim practice, or trying to coax Hanna out of bed. Aria didn't know which was worse; jumping into Rosewood's severely underheated pool and doing lengths or trying to stir the wild beast at the risk of getting your jugular ripped out.

But where she could go? She didn't really want to hang around tons of people, milling around, getting on with their lives while Aria's was slowly spiralling into chaos at her own hands. Their smug faces were just too much to handle.

So she decided to do something she hadn't done in a while.

She was going to go visit Ali.

The cemetary was in convenient walking distance from Jason's house and Aria had arrived within a matter of minutes. It was completely deserted, bar an elderly woman hovering over a grave with some pale roses in her withered hands and a very affectionate young couple loitering in the background. Aria gave a disgusted scoff at the idea of anyone coming to a graveyard on a date. Ew.

It took her a few minutes to find Ali's grave, as she'd never actually visited on her own before. Previously she had just blindly followed others, like in every other facet of her life. Someone had obviously recently visited; new flowers had been set out and one of her favourite teddy bears had been placed on the tombstone. It gave the grave an eery quality, as if time had just stood still. Aria knelt down on the earth in awkward reverence, not quite sure what to say. She sat in silence for a few moments, scanning the text on the tombstone, but it didn't tell her anything new.

'Alison DiLaurentis; beloved daughter and sister and friend'

Hah.

Its strange what people say about you after you've died, mused Aria. To those who didn't know her, or perhaps knew her only as an acquaintance, unaware of her reputation, she was probably Rosewood's favourite daughter. The perfect all American girl; beautiful, bright, the darling of her parents' eyes. "Isn't that DiLaurentis girl sweet? I heard she just got back from spending a whole week with her Grandma in Georgia," But to those who who had the pleasure of dealing with her, she was so much more than a cliche. She was sneaky, manipulative, and it was so in her nature she often forgot she was doing it at all. Was she a beloved 'friend' of anyone?

"Well, you were never a beloved friend of mine," Aria managed to choke out.

Now, Aria, sweetie, you know that's a lie.

"Shut up, you're not in my head anymore. You don't control me anymore, Ali," Aria stated, more to herself than anyone else.

But I never really left did I?

Aria didn't respond but the voice in her head kept on going.

After all I'm everywhere you turn. In the people you meet, in the school you go to, in the relationships you have, in your homes...even in A. In fact, most of all in A. So you see Aria, you could never get me out of your head.

"Is it nice?" Aria blurted out, momentarily forgetting this was simply a conversation she was having with her subconscious. "Where you went?"

Its alright, though they only have decaf up here.

"...I miss you," Aria managed to stammer out. "You always could tell me what to do?"

Is this about you being naughty with teacher? Because you know I'll always voice my support for that.

"Sort of..." She trailed off. "Its just, I've started to like someone else, I mean, really like someone else,"

Really, Aria, my brother? And here I thought you had standards.

"He's changed since you..." Since you left she wanted to add.

Look, Aria I'll say this for the last time; people don't change don't really. You may think they have, hell, they may even think they have, but deep down, they're only the way society wants them to be. A leopard doesn't change his spots. Jason is still the same stoner loser who spent days smoking in his room, having one night stands who listened to, ugh, My Chemical Romance and genuinely loathing the very core of most people's existence. He's not going to change.

"He has changed,"

Oh wake up Aria and see that he never has, and never will.

"Look, I don't have to listen to you anymore, OK? You're not here anymore, and you never will be,"

Her head only responded with silence.

Well, she certainly hadn't come here to argue with her own internal version of Ali. This was no help, she was just berating herself. Hoisting herself up from the ground, she gave only last look at the tombstone below her.

"I wonder what people will say about me after I've gone," She murmured.

And before she could stop herself, Ali's voice in her head gave her a reply.

"Aria Montgomery; Liar"

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry about the wait! I've just started school again so everything's been super duper chaotic. And maybe its too late to rant about the season finale now but still. Grrrrrr. So much build up, coming to nothing. Grrrrrrr. But thank you once again for all the reviews, you guys are fantastic, you really are!