"Your mom asked the four of us to lunch...?" I text Jason, on my way back to my house to get dressed and prepared, no one goes to a meal with a Dilaurentis without looking their very best.
"Why?" He replies almost immediately as I pull in the driveway, I stay in the car to reply.
"I was hoping you would know."
"You'll see her before I do, she hasn't come to the house yet." I sit back in my seat and think about what that means, about the possibilities of what Mrs. Dilaurentis wants from us. I'm about to get out of the car when my phone buzzes again. "Do you want me to 'randomly' show up?" I smile at the offer but send back "No, thanks though."
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Lunch with Mrs. Dilaurentis meant using all of the manners taught to you since you were born, including proper posture, speak when spoken to, and know the proper answer to questions. Ali's mom was just like her, and knew everything Ali thought about us, and she didn't try to hide it. She immediately reminded Hannah to have a salad, and told Emily to keep her hair down more often, Spencer and I stayed in the back as we entered the restaurant to stay away from any old Ali comments. The conversation was slow at the table until Spencer found the courage to take advantage of the situation.
"You must be really happy Jason has moved back," She says, trying lure information out of her to find out why her dad was so mad.
"Happy? I don't even think of that as our house anymore," she admits.
"Actually, we all thought Jason moving back was kind of odd." Emily says, speaking for the other two but not me.
"Jason came into family money, and it's his choice what to do with it." I try not to squirm in my seat as the conversation continue on about Jason. I kept thinking about what Jason said about his parents at the funeral, realizing he was right. "He definitely marches to his own drummer, both of my kids do. Did." She immediately corrects herself and the atmosphere turns awkward again. "You know what, I was going to wait until after lunch but now I'm thinking why wait." She walks around the table and grabs four white boxes, handing one out to each of us. We all smile graciously and open the boxes, only to have our hearts race and smiles immediately drop. We recognized these dresses right away. Mrs. Dilaurentis asks if Ali told us about them, and we know that she would never keep something so fabulous to herself, she had to flaunt them at us. "You know, I gave so much away, so fast, my husband thought it would make things easier on me, but there were certain things I just - couldn't. And when I heard the four of you were doing the show I thought, wouldn't it be nice? Ali's dream could be realized by at least her best friends."
"I.. I don't really know what you're asking," Spencer says politely, but we did. We just didn't want to.
"Mrs. Dilaurentis, are... Are you asking us to wear these?" I ask, next to me Emily makes and almost inaudible whine.
"In the fashion show?"
"Ali would have loved it. It's the four of you keeping her memory alive." She looks at us with the puppy eyes Ali inherited. "Please say yes."
When Jessica gets up to pay the bill, we all try to decide what to do, but Spencer and I turn Emily and Hannah down, confirming that we have to do this, for Ali and her grieving mother. Spencer asks me to do the photos and I agree.
"Do we need to check with before we use them?"
"I could run them past Jason," I offer and get weird looks from all of them. "I mean it might be easier for him, emotionally."
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Picture This
रोमांसA short story following the successful relationship between Jason and Aria starting at Ian's funeral.
