Thread: An Ironic Bond (Pretty Little Liars AU plot) - Redria x White

To say that they'd led an intense life wouldn't even be putting it lightly. The four girls had become much more than friends during an intensely dangerous handful of years over the course of high school, tormented by a common enemy only known as A. They'd since solved the mystery, eventually discovering A's true identity, bringing her to justice, and finally attaining some measure of peace. The damage was done, however. Some degree of PTSD, if you will. But more powerful than that was the bond that they had formed as friends. It could be said that they'd been through more than 20 adults' experience in their entire lifetimes, combined. In a way, they'd become a sisterhood of sorts, with a bond equaling that of true sisters. At least in loyalty. They would forever be in each others corner, no matter what. However, the effects on the group as a whole aside, there were differences between each of the girls in how they'd managed the stresses of such a life. Even five years after bringing A to justice, these effects would still have their hold on each of the girls, and would come roaring back with a vengeance once they'd gotten together for the first time since heading off to college. Aria in particular hadn't slept a full night since it all ended. Rather, she had simply learned to sleep with one eye open instead. Despite having no reason to believe she was in any danger whatsoever, she simply couldn't get over the fear of once needing to be alert at all times. It made dating, as well as building new friendships, impossible. Nobody understood her or where she was coming from, at least not where she had found herself attending school after moving away from Rosewood. It wasn't difficult for her to actually find a man to date, but many of them wouldn't even give her the time of day after the first date. Those that made it to two dates avoided her even more afterward. It wasn't because she opted to take things slow either - it was something about her behavior and mannerisms that was putting potential partners off. The same went for social interactions as well. Any attempts at fitting into a group of people or making friends at all were simply shut down, all for the same reasons as her luck with dating was so dismal. It brought her to the point of feeling like she needed to simply let it all go and fade into her past, but doing so was practically impossible. And so, Aria's four years of college were spent alone, both romantically as well as socially. It made her miss her friends back home far more strongly by the day. By the time she had graduated, she simply couldn't wait to go back home for a while, even with all the haunting memories it would surely bring back. And that moment finally did arrive - five years after they had departed in the first place. Despite the warm reunion, the girls knew that they couldn't ever have a normal life, and certainly not a normal friendship, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. They would have much to talk about in the way of stories that happened while they were away, but the fact remained that once the stories were told, they would be left with that one common denominator in the form of their traumatizing experiences. Because of that, they never truly hung out with each other all that much anymore. It would always lead back to memories which were best left forgotten. And so, they found their way into other circles of friends, at least all except Aria. Aria had felt alone for the first time in her life. Sure, she felt alone while away at school, but she was actually home now, and yet she felt the same way. It drove her mad, and she'd spent her time feverishly trying to think of a solution to her problem. Hanna, Spencer and Emily each had seemed to find success in their groups of friends, but the fact that they simply couldn't share the same circles had forced Aria to dwell on things until she found a solution. It was the only thing she could do, otherwise spend a life in solitude, at this rate. However, in her desperation, Aria would have a life changing epiphany - there was one person with whom she could feel understood by, as well as feel a connection with. She'd just never once considered it because she'd never once considered a love life with another girl, let alone with a known lesbian like her . Yet, it provided the solution to every problem she could see. Aria was convinced, albeit shockingly - Emily Fields was the answer to Aria's problem. Aria spent the following weeks unable to think about anything else. Is this the right thing to do? Am I sure about this? Those were only some of the thoughts racing through her mind, but she had always reached the same conclusion, which was that she needed to at the very least see if anything was there. And so, she finally set out to give this a shot. The worst case scenario would be that she's rejected by a friend who would be more than gentle in doing so. It would still sting beyond belief, but Aria was convinced that this was the right thing to do. She'd called Emily, and did her best to act the part like everything was normal, except for the fact that wanting to talk alone was anything but normal, at least these days. Maybe it was a mistake to go about it the way that they used to, but what was done was done, and now Aria was on her way to Emily's apartment. Taking a deep breath, Aria stood at the door to Emily's place. Well... this is it she said to herself, and with that, she knocked on the door. Butterflies in her stomach, she felt like a freshman in high school trying to impress some cute guy all over again. Even after everything they'd been through, Aria was in her most vulnerable state that Emily would soon see. Except... she never saw it. Aria simply couldn't manage to come clean to her. Instead, she played it off like she simply wanted to hang out. She found herself digging for excuses when asked why the other two weren't welcome or invited, but that didn't matter. Aria was far too fixated on assessing whether or not this all made sense. When she'd knocked on Emily's door, she was just so sure that she knew, but now she was second guessing herself. But, the opportunity to actually take the time to figure that out had unexpectedly presented itself to Aria - Emily was more than happy to look past the awkwardness that came with recalling the bad memories, because she could tell that Aria was struggling with something, and being there for her was far more important than any bad memories. As the weeks went on, and turned into months, they had spent a growing amount of time together. For Aria, it was like a breath of fresh air - she hadn't felt friendships' warm embrace in years. And even back when she was familiar with the feeling, she felt that this was somehow better. But she failed to see that she was a different person than back then. Not because she had finally tasted friendship again. Not because she had been affected by the worst years of her life. Rather, it was because she was in the market for romance as well as friendship, without actively thinking about it anymore. For Emily, it took some acclimating to what was certainly a new Aria, but once she had, she felt good about the fact that Aria had clearly been benefiting from her attention, and it was a drastic improvement from how she seemed to be feeling before they'd begun spending time together again. It went on, just like that, until Aria had finally had her moment - she finally realized that she was... happy again. It was exactly what she had longed for all this time. At that point, it didn't take much to look past the ironic truth that the one that made her happy just so happened to be another girl - her good friend Emily Fields. The decision was made, just as it was before, but this time she was far more sure of herself, and far more resolute because of it. And so, the next time that Aria called Emily, she asked if she could meet over a drink or two downtown. Arriving early, Aria waited in the parking lot. The butterflies she felt were similar to when she'd originally intended to have this conversation. The difference was that this time, she had surety on her side.