The Case of You and Me

Chapter Five

Aria's POV 

Why can't I turn off feelings? I never want to date anyone again because of how bad that whole Michael thing went. But then I look at Spencer who is  so the opposite of Michael and I feel all warm. It's stupid, because all I should be thinking about right now is Liz. But, if I'm being completely honest with myself, Liz would be telling me to 'get some'.

No. I need to focus. I don't even know if this could lead to a relationship. Maybe we'll just be friends, and I think I'm okay with that. It's safer. Way safer. The point is, I like him. I'm just not sure which way it is, and I don't think it matters.

He's just so cute, smart, and unaware of how great he is. 

"Aria?" Spencer asks, waking me up from my thoughts.

Was I staring? "Yeah?"

"I've talked about the statistics behind where serial killers leave bodies to a lot of other people, and no one's ever looked at me like that while I was talking about it."

Crap. I've been caught. "I just like numbers," I scoff unconvincingly. He looks at me and he's a little too smug. "It's not about you," I tilt my head." He's smiling. "Dork."

Spencer looks away. "A dork you were staring at."

"You're reading too much into it." I mumble, looking away, "Shouldn't we be looking for evidence?"

"No, I'm looking for evidence, you're here for safety reasons."

"Got it," I start walking away, looking around the wooded area. "So if I find a dead body, or a bloody chainsaw or something, I won't say anything and let you find it yourself."

I guess my comment realize that there's no point in telling me to just blindly follow him around. "Just, stay near me and—"

My scream cuts him off. One minute I'm standing and the next I'm rolling down a sharp hill, missing a shoe. I land on my stomach, leaves in my hair, and a stinging sensation taking over my forearm.

"Aria!"

Spencer. This probably freaked him out. "I'm fine, just give me a second!"

I stand up slowly and start looking for my shoe. How did it even come off? While looking around, I notice it stuck under a thick tree root. I guess that explains the whole falling thing. And Spencer thinks I don't have any investigative skills. 

As I unwedge my shoe, I notice something has been buried under the tree root. A box. A wooden one. 

"Aria!" I look up, ready to throw my shoe at whatever murderer is coming to me, but I calm down when I see it's Spencer. He's smiling.

"What?"

"We've got to stop meeting like this." It takes me a minute to realize he's referencing the shoe.