.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜

♥ 𝒜 𝐵𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝓊𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒫𝒶𝓈𝓉 ♥

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜

As I drive home, after the longest first day ever, I see moving trucks at the DiLaurentis house causing me to swerve a little. Shit. There's no way- no, Scarlett, don't be naïve.

I pull over, jumping out to see what's going on. Movers are taking things inside and I almost trip on a stack on boxes next to the curb. Wait- they're not just boxes, that's Ali's stuff!

"Hey," I snap at one of the workers, gaining his attention, "Who said you could put these here?" I cross my arms waiting for an answer as he stutters before scurrying away. Smart.

I can't believe I even let the thought try to cross my mind. Of course they're not back.

They've had this house for sale ever since last year, when they abruptly moved after the incident. But the tiniest part of me had a sliver of hope that maybe they'd come back. But you know what they say about hope, it breeds eternal misery.

I glance at all the notebooks, metals, and other things of Ali's. I purse my lips. She deserves more than to just be stuffed away in some boxes and dumped at the end of her drive way.

I spot a picture frame being crushed by a pink binder and pull it out, quickly wishing I hadn't. It was a picture of me, Alison, and him. Ali's sitting on my lap looking at the camera picture ready as always but I look distracted, my eyes looking up at Jason towering over me. One if his hands rests on my shoulder as he's looking down at me smiling instead of the camera. I remember Alison's mom taking it before we went to a concert that was actually Jason and I's date while Ali did her own thing with her mystery boyfriend that night. I bite my lip, not realizing how hard until it stings and I feel the skin I ripped off.

"Hey! Do you want any of that?" A girl's voice snaps me out of my thoughts causing me to jerk and drop the frame. I let out an irritate sigh and look up to see a girl with a curly, short afro and a hideous orange tank top making her way towards me.

I ignore her, bending down to pick up the shattered pieces. Hmm, think it looks better that way. She speaks again. "Hi, I'm May-" I slice my finger on a shard as I carefully try to dust them off of the picture.

"Save it. I don't care," I cut her off, sucking the blood off tip of my finger. Fuck it. I just grab the entire thing, shoving it in my purse and stand.

The girl looks taken aback. "Oh-kay. Well, that stuff was in my room, take anything you want," She offers.

My jaw locks. It's not her room. It's Ali's. It's the one I've been playing in since I was four years old. The one I've had countless sleepovers in. The one I snuck into the night-

"I will, no thanks to you," I narrow my eyes.

"Guess I'll leave you to it then," She says slowly. "Nice to.. meet you?" She puts it more as a question then a statement since we didn't really meet.

She walks back over to the house as I feel my eyes start to prickle with tears. God, why! I fucking hate crying. Unless it's for one of my fav shows or a dog dies tears are pointless. Just a chemical reaction your body has to do to release endorphins.

I go to reach for one of the medals when my phone goes off. Argh! What now?

Poor delusional Scarlett. Did you really think he would come back for you? And here I thought you were the realist one. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be here.
-A

"Ali?" I gasp. No, it can't be. But- what if it was? She is the only one who knew. I stare at my phone as I hurry back to my Jeep and quickly pull into my driveway.

3rd Person POV

Emily stares at the DiLaurentis house as she approaches it only a couple minutes after Scarlett left. She glances over to Scarlett's house for a second before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. She notices the boxes, same as Scarlett, and picks up a metal reminiscing as Maya makes her way over.

"Do you want that?" Maya calls out before whispering to herself about how this must be the spot, having had two girls stop in one day, minutes apart at that. "Maya St. Germain, a.k.a. the New Girl," She quickly introduces with a wave, not getting the chance to do so before.

"I'm Emily. Welcome to the neighborhood," She smiles and hands Maya the basket of muffins her mom sent her with.

"Thank you," Maya accepts, "Wow, you're much nicer than the other girl that was just here," She comments.

"Other girl?" Emily asks.

"Yeah, uh, she had wavy brown hair, pretty tall, drive a Jeep," Maya lists off everything she could remember from their short interaction. "She never gave me her name, but she seemed very upset. I guess we're neighbors though," Maya trails off, looking over to the Mave's house she saw Scarlett pull into, though it clicked for Emily at Jeep.

"Oh yeah, that's Scarlett," She nods, chuckling slightly. She knows Scarlett isn't the most welcoming person.

"Friend of yours?" Maya pries.

"She was," Emily answers slowly. "We were both friends with the girl that use to live here a long time ago. Alison."

"That's all I get? No details?" Maya shows she's a nosey person.

"Uh, there were six of us who used to hang out, but we don't anymore," Emily keeps it polite and vague, though it was still more than what Scarlett gave.

Back to Scarlett's POV

I sigh, tossing my keys on the counter and see a sticky note. Huh, it's not like my parents to ever leave a note.

Don't forget about dinner tonight with the Hastings to meet Melissa's fiancé. Your father and I will be working late tonight, but Rose will be there. Send our regards and behave.

-Mom

Ah, makes sense. Of course they'll be no shows for the dinner, typical.

I crumple up the paper and head to my room, rereading the text over and over as I do before I start breathing heavily. I open up my window to get some fresh air before I have a full-blown panic attack, swallowing hard as I hear voices outside. Spencer and Melissa's voices to be exact.

"What do you think?" Spencer asks her.

"You have an eye for design. I absolutely love it," Melissa's voice rings out. A compliment from Melissa to Spencer? Wow, that's a first. I look out, seeing her walk out of the barn. Oh this should be good.

"Thank you," Spencer sounds very shocked.

"Honestly, when mom said you were converting the barn to a loft, I couldn't see it," Melissa continues. My eyes shift to the barn and my ears start to ring slightly. "But it's beautiful. Job well done," Melissa's commends, drawing me back in.

"Yeah, Spencer may not have an eye for fashion design, but she does for home décor," I finally chime in, startling both of them.

"Oh, hey Scarlett," Melissa waves.

Spencer turns around, shooting me a small smile as she tries to decide if she's insulted or not. "Uh, thank you?" Then she turns back to Melissa, "Well, I'm glad you like it."

"Am I interrupting something?" I ask amused.

"Not at all," Melissa smiles, "I was just telling Spencer I appreciate her letting us move in." Wait what?? Who's we?

"What?" Spencer shoulders drop as I'm sure her face does too. So she doesn't know either.

"Come again?" I cross my arms while making myself comfy on my window seat to get a front row show of the drama I've been anticipating to unfold.

"Wren and I are staying in the barn while we redo my place in the city," Melissa explains as if Spencer should already know this.

So that's Mr. Doctor Fiancé. "Interesting," I hum.

"I'm moving in for junior year, Melissa," Spencer argues. "That's the deal that I made with Mom and Dad. I got the grades. I did the internship. I gave up my summer because I wanted this," She sputters out her exhausting summer schedule.

She worked her ass off endlessly for this. I should know, I heard about it all summer long.

'Are you sure you're doing enough this summer, Scarlett? Have you heard of everything Spencer is doing?' My mother went on about.

But now, of course, Melissa is swooping in and taking it from her.

"Well, you'll just have to wait," Melissa speaks slowly to Spencer as if she's a child.

"Why can't you stay in my room?" Spencer  asks the dumbest question ever.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. That's the best she could come up with? She turns to me with pleading eyes.

"We're a couple, Spencer. We need our own space, and Mom and Dad agree," She reiterates. "Don't you agree, Scarlett?" She looks up to me. Ugh, I love the attention and all but don't drag me into this.

"But they promised me," Spencer stresses as some short but kinda buff, dorky-dressed guy walks out of the barn. I'm gonna assume this is Mr. Melissa. At least he's not bad looking, good job Melissa.

Melissa scoffs at Spencer as he speaks up, "Is everything okay?" Ohhh, and he's British? Very nice job then. Melisa wraps her arm around his. "I'm Wren," He introduces.

"Perfect timing!" I smirk gaining his attention. He looks up startled and confused. Spencer just crosses her arms. Fine, I'll take over. "I'm Scarlett. Their lovely cousin and eavesdropping neighbor," I introduce proudly.

Wren chuckles, smiling warmly now that he realizes who I am. "Ah, Rose's sister. Nice to meet you."

I roll my eyes. "That's me. Don't press charges," I wink.

Wren laughs as Melissa rolls her eyes and Spencer shakes her head slightly.

"I was hoping you'd be happy for me," Melissa turns her attention back to Spencer.

Spencer lets out a small chuckle, "Well, you know what they say about hope. Breeds eternal misery," She says bitterly before storming off.

Hey- I literally just said that not even a hour ago! Is cousin telepathy a thing too??

"Sounds like she was counting on the moving into the barn," Wren turns to Melissa.

"She was," I purse my lips causing Melissa to give me the side-eye. "But her highness came and overruled her." And with that I slam my window shut. That's enough of them until dinner.

~~~~

Author's Note: I am loving all the cute aesthetic-y pictures I'm finding for these chapters!!

What do y'all think of Scarlett's relationship with her cousins? Can't waittt for y'all to meet Rose.

See you at the next chapter 💋