Chapter Text
warnings: mentions of addiction/alcoholism.
------
The bell rang at the end of the last period, marking the school day as complete, and [Y/N] [Y/L/N] let out a heavy sigh. Half of the class was already out the door and [Y/N] quickly packed her things before exiting the classroom as well. As she got near her locker to grab her coat, her pace slowed as she noticed one of her best friends waiting for her.
"Han?" [Y/N] asked in surprise.
"There you are!" Hanna exclaimed as [Y/N] stopped in front of her.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" [Y/N] asked in confusion.
"Ouch," Hanna threw her head back dramatically, causing [Y/N] to laugh as she opened her locker.
"Okay, Hanna banana, I thought we were supposed to meet at Spencer's?" asked [Y/N] as she grabbed her coat and shut the locker before leaning against it to face Hanna.
"Yes, we were," Hanna nodded in agreement. "I wanted to wait for you though."
"I just… I figured you might not wanna walk in there… alone," Hanna explained further when [Y/N] seemed confused and the latter's expression fell as she understood what her friend meant.
Jason DiLaurentis was back in Rosewood to help organize his sister, Alison's memorial, and [Y/N] along with her friends were supposed to meet him after school. It was already difficult to accept that Alison was no more and it was harder planning a memorial for her. It all felt unreal.
On top of that, it was extra hard for [Y/N] to come face to face with the man she had feelings for. It started out as a simple crush on her best friend's older brother when Alison initially introduced them. Later on, [Y/N] couldn't help but develop feelings for Jason despite knowing that she probably shouldn't.
"[Y/N/N]?" Hanna's voice pulled [Y/N] out of her thoughts. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," [Y/N] smiled, nodding.
"Look, you don't have to do this," Hanna said, taking [Y/N]'s hand in hers. "I'll just tell the others that you weren't feeling well. Once Ja- he leaves, I'll text you and you can stop by Spencer's if you'd like."
"It's okay, Han, I can do this," [Y/N] replied, smiling softly at her friend's concern for her.
Hanna smiled back, and the two walked out of the school and towards Hanna's car. On the way to Spencer's house, Hanna kept chatting about various topics, hoping to keep her bestie's mind off of the upcoming meeting with Jason. Although [Y/N] responded, it didn't take long before her mind went back to the time Hanna had first confronted her about her feelings for Jason.
[Y/N], Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer found themselves in yet another college party Alison had sneaked them into with fake id’s.
Alison was nowhere to be seen while the other girls decided to stick together. In order to avoid any unnecessary attention, they sat in a corner and chatted among themselves.
That was when [Y/N]’s eyes fell on Jason, who stood by the bar with a bottle of beer in his hand. He looked like a mess, but she thought he looked gorgeous, nevertheless. The top few buttons of his navy blue shirt were left open, giving the perfect view of his tanned skin, and his silver chain hung rather crookedly around his neck. His denim jeans hung loosely on his hips, where his shirt was half tucked messily. His dirty blond hair was disheveled - a result of him running his fingers through the long strands throughout the night. His green eyes were glazed and unfocused as he scanned the surrounding now and then.
This was Jason DiLaurentis ever since [Y/N] had known him. He was either drunk or high along with his best friends, Ian and Garrett. On top of that, his parents didn’t seem to care about how Jason was doing, and Ali never left a chance to taunt and demean her brother. He was destroying his life, himself, and [Y/N] truly felt awful for him.
She felt like he could do so much better with life if he got help. She also couldn’t help but think that there was a different person underneath the rude and uncaring persona Jason displayed almost all of the time.
[Y/N] looked on worriedly as Ian dragged Jason off towards the back of the cabin and sighed to herself. She sometimes wished she could talk to Jason, but didn’t have the courage, thanks to his intimidating image.
“Hey, [Y/N/N]?” Hanna called.
“Yeah?” [Y/N] whispered. She was nervous that Hanna and the rest of her friends might’ve caught her staring longingly and worriedly at Jason.
“I need to use the bathroom, come with me?” Hanna asked.
“Yeah, sure,” [Y/N] replied, a little relieved.
“We’ll be back soon,” Hanna told the other three girls as she and [Y/N] stood up from their seats.
“Should we come with you two?” Spencer asked in concern. “I don’t like the idea of you two going around this place by yourselves.”
“We’ll be fine, Spence,” [Y/N] smiled in reassurance.
“Yeah. If we’re not back in ten minutes, send a rescue team,” Hanna stated mysteriously, causing [Y/N], Aria, and Emily to laugh while Spencer shook her head fondly.
“Let’s go,” Hanna told [Y/N], looping her arm around the latter’s.
The two girls made their way through groups and groups of strangers before finally reaching the bathroom.
“I’ll be here,” [Y/N] smiled at Hanna, leaning against the wall outside the bathroom.
However, her blonde friend pulled her inside the bathroom, making [Y/N] let out a yelp.
“Han, what are you doing?” [Y/N] asked in surprise when Hanna quickly locked the door.
“I need to talk to you,” Hanna said.
“Is everything okay?” [Y/N] asked in concern.
“I see the way you look at him, [Y/N/N]” Hanna said softly, causing her friend’s eyes to widen.
“W- what- who are you talking about, Han?” [Y/N] asked nervously.
“Jason, of course,” Hanna replied and there was no judgement in her eyes nor her tone.
[Y/N] opened her mouth and closed it, unable to come up with a reply.
“It’s okay, [Y/N/N],” Hanna said, standing next to her friend and wrapping a comforting hand around her shoulder.
“Am I that obvious?” [Y/N] asked with a defeated smile.
“For me, yes,” Hanna answered. “Have the others asked you anything about this?”
“No,” [Y/N] shook her head.
“And… how about Ali?” Hanna asked hesitantly. “Do you think she maybe knows?”
“God, no. I don’t think so,” [Y/N] sighed. “She would kill me.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Hanna said kindly. “You can’t help who you have feelings for.”
“It’s just a crush, Hanna banana,” [Y/N] chuckled softly. “I’m sure I’ll get over it, get over him, soon.”
“[Y/N/N], crush was last year when all you had was heart eyes for him,” teased Hanna, causing her friend to roll her eyes fondly. “Well, you still have heart eyes whenever he’s around. But, now, you look genuinely worried about him.”
“I- I don’t know,” [Y/N] shrugged. “I just… I feel bad for him. His addiction’s gotten worse since we met him, I feel. His family doesn’t seem to care about him and he doesn’t have the greatest set of friends either. I feel like he can do better with the right guidance. That’s all.”
“Do you think you can talk to him into getting help?” Hanna asked.
“Oh god no,” [Y/N] denied right away. “I don’t have the guts to go in front of him.”
“What, why not?” Hanna asked.
“There are so many things that can go wrong, Han,” [Y/N] replied. “One, Ali could find out and make the rest of my life miserable for even thinking of her brother. Two, Jason would probably laugh in my face if I went to have a heart to heart with him.”
Hanna smiled sadly and [Y/N] was quick to reassure her friend.
“Don’t worry about me too much, okay?” she smiled. “Like I said, it’s just a crush I’ll get over soon.”
“I’m right here if you need someone to talk to,” Hanna said back.
“Thanks, Han,” [Y/N] hugged the blonde. “I love you.”
“Love you more,” Hanna replied and tickled [Y/N] causing the latter to giggle as the two pulled back from the hug.
“Let’s go before Spencer marches in here looking for us,” [Y/N] said and Hanna agreed.
“You keep zoning out on me,” Hanna complained with a pout and [Y/N] laughed, shaking her head.
“Sorry," she replied sheepishly and Hanna rolled her eyes fondly.
The two girls arrived at Spencer’s house faster than [Y/N] would’ve liked.
“You ready?” Hanna asked her friend.
'Nope,' [Y/N] thought.
“Yep,” she replied to Hanna before they got out of the car and walked towards their friend’s house.
Hanna opened the door and moved inside the house first as [Y/N] followed behind quietly.
“There they are,” Jason said with a smile and [Y/N]’s breath hitched at hearing his voice after so long.
“Jason, hi,” Hanna greeted him with a hug. “Sorry, we’re late.”
“No worries,” Jason replied to Hanna before turning towards [Y/N].
“Hi Jason,” [Y/N] greeted Jason with a hug too, trying her best to ignore her thudding heart.
“Hey, [Y/N], it’s good to see you,” Jason returned her hug with a smile.
“Likewise,” [Y/N] pulled back from the hug and gave him a small smile before grabbing a seat next to Hanna.
“So, I was saying,” Jason began, standing on the opposite side of the island to face all the girls. “You girls have done a lovely job on the memorial. I might have done a thing or two differently. We can adjust along the way though.
“Here’s a copy of the program,” he said, handing the girls each a small booklet.
“I emailed you the program we worked on,” Spencer said, sitting straight in her seat.
“Right, I saw the draft,” Jason said nonchalantly. “This just fine-tunes it.”
From the corner of her eyes [Y/N] could tell Spencer wasn’t too happy with his words. Jason talked more about the program before he paused when his eyes fell on the photo of his sister.
“Is this the picture for the program?” he asked, his voice softer than before.
“Yes,” [Y/N] answered when no one else did and Jason’s eyes fell on her. “It’s everyone’s favorite.”
“It’s the one I would’ve chosen,” he replied.
[Y/N] nodded with a small smile and Jason returned the gesture before he looked away.
“I thought I’d be able to get my whole family out here, but at the last minute, my mom…” Jason trailed off with a sad sigh. “It’s crazy talking about this, isn’t it? When I think about Ali, I think of you guys. All of you in her bedroom, laughing and keeping secrets. Long time ago now.”
The girls remained silent as they didn’t know the right way to respond to him. This was actually the very first time they were all having a conversation with Jason in the first place.
The clock ticked as they talked more about the memorial- well Jason talked while the girls listened.
“Oh and I’m adding one more speaker to the program,” he said, writing down a name.
[Y/N] and Emily were the first ones to notice the name as they sat the closest to where Jason was standing. The two looked at each other with almost terrified eyes, increasing the other three girls’ anxiety.
“Jenna Marshall?” Emily was the first to ask, causing Aria, Hanna and Spencer to look at each other in shock.
“Wait, you want Jenna to speak at the dedication?” [Y/N] asked next, trying her best to not stammer through the sentence.
“That’s right,” Jason replied casually.
“Why?” Spencer asked suspiciously.
“She asked me if I could,” said Jason.
“Jenna asked to speak?” Aria asked, wanting to make sure she and her friends weren’t hearing things.
“Yes, she did,” Jason replied with a frown. “Is there a problem?”
“It didn’t occur to us that Ali and Jenna were that close,” [Y/N] added calmly, hoping to lessen the tension that was slowly brewing.
Jason turned to face her and he visibly relaxed, nodding in understanding.
“I didn’t know either,” he said. “Jenna called and told me that my sister was a lot of help to her after the accident.”
The girls looked at each other, silently wondering what exactly Jenna was up to.
“Well, concentrate on what you guys are going to say and leave the rest to me,” Jason said, packing his things, oblivious to the difficult situation he had put the girls under. “Now, I’m going to have a talk with Detective Wilden and find out why they still haven’t located Toby.”
“It’s good to see you girls,” he said with a polite smile and turned to leave. [Y/N] didn’t know if she was imagining things but she could’ve sworn that Jason passed her one last parting smile.
Spencer moved to walk Jason out and [Y/N] shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had more pressing matters at the moments, such as Jenna Marshall. Hanna checked her phone as they waited for Spencer when suddenly [Y/N]’s phone binged.
Aria and Emily looked at [Y/N] with alerted eyes while the latter nervously took out her cellphone. [Y/N] instantly frowned when she saw that it was Hanna, who had texted her while sitting right next to her.
‘DON’T LOOK AT ME,’ the text read.
‘And, he totally likes you.’
“Someone we know?” Hanna asked, facing [Y/N] with a teasing glint in her eyes and making sure her other friends couldn't see her.
“Is it A?” Aria asked nervously.
“Don’t worry, it’s just spam,” [Y/N] smiled at Aria and Emily, who relaxed at her response.
‘You’re a brat,’ [Y/N] quickly texted Hanna and the latter covered her laugh with a series of coughs.