“Hey,” she said bashfully, suddenly not sure what to say.
“Hey,” Noel said back.
There was a long, strange pause. “Are you okay? Are you going to prison?” she blurted out, before he could slam the door in her face.
Noel shook his head. “They dropped my charges. My dad hired a good lawyer, and after all the Ali stuff . . .” He waved his hands. “I got a slap on the wrist, had to pay some fines, that sort of thing—and, I mean, my family is really pissed.” He made a face. “But I’m free. And it looks like you are, too.” His mouth twisted into an almost-smile.
“Yeah,” Aria said, her eyes filling with tears. Suddenly, she felt overcome with . . . well, she wasn’t sure what. Shame, maybe. And also gratitude. And simple exhaustion. “I’m so sorry, Noel,” she said.
He held up his hand. “I’m the one who’s sorry. You guys were going through so much, and you were so paranoid, and you were right to feel that way. Have you read any of Ali’s confessions? She’s crazy. She doesn’t just talk about that journal, she talks about assembling an Ali Cat army and then killing some of them when she had no use for them anymore. Everything you guys worried about, everything you were running from, all those crazy fears no one believed? It was all true.”
Aria nodded shakily. She knew it was true. She’d lived it.
Noel took her hands and squeezed. “And as for what you said in Holland—look, you have to know that I don’t care about Ali anymore. I don’t love her, I don’t think of her, I don’t anything. All I think of is you.”
Aria’s heart did a little flip. “Okay,” she said, head down.
“We’ve been through too many cycles of getting mad at each other over Ali and reconciling. Our argument in Holland proved it. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“I don’t, either,” Aria said quickly.
“So I guess I need to know.” Noel took a deep breath. “Do you forgive me for Ali? In your heart, for real?” He stared up at the clouds. “Because I’m sorry, Aria. I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything I should have. I’m sorry I was involved with her at all. If you don’t forgive me, that’s okay. But I don’t know if we can be together, you know? It wouldn’t feel . . . right. You’d always be mad at me, deep down. I’m just wondering if we can just . . . start over. Like it never even happened.”
Aria sank down onto the stone bench next to the fishpond. The fight they’d had just before they were arrested swirled in her mind. It was a hard thing for Aria to let go of—the fact that he’d sympathized with Ali for so long, kept it from Aria.
But that was exactly what Ali wanted: to remain in their consciousness, to be an obstacle between her and Noel even from behind bars. It was the perfect A strategy, actually: manipulation and mind games from afar, with Aria’s own self-sabotage leading to her downfall.
Aria squared her shoulders. “Yes,” she said. “Let’s start over. I’m done letting Ali take away the things—and the people—I care about the most.”
Noel grinned. “I love you, Aria Montgomery,” he said, and kissed her softly.
Eventually they just leaned their foreheads together, staring into each other’s eyes. Aria glanced at the T-shirt he was wearing. All at once, she realized it was his lucky Nike University of Pennsylvania tee he’d had for years. It was the same shirt he’d had on the day she’d re-met him in Rosewood when her family had returned from Iceland.
She paused to reflect on that day. Noel had tried to strike up a conversation with Aria, but she’d blown him off, thinking there was no way he could have had a crush on her. She’d felt so . . . above him, she supposed, assuming he was just some Typical Rosewood who lacked culture and style. Totally not her type.
Boy, was she wrong. Who knew they’d be here in a few short years?
Then Aria remembered the internet search she’d done in the car, just before coming over. “I have something for you.”
“For me?” Noel looked confused.
Aria pulled up the email on her phone and showed him the screen, which had a logo for Japan Airlines. Your upcoming itinerary, it read. Noel’s brow furrowed, but he scrolled down. The email was a confirmation for two seats on a flight to Tokyo, leaving next week.
He looked up at her. “Really?”
Aria nodded excitedly. “My accounts were unfrozen, and I’ve sold a few more paintings. I thought you and I could take that trip to Tokyo we were talking about.” She peeked at him shyly. “If you still want to . . .”
“Of course I’ll go!” Noel said, throwing his arms around her once more. “We’ll do everything we talked about, right? Touring the pagodas, eating sushi, the skiing . . .”
“Except no international incidents,” Aria advised. “No hiding in hotels.”
“No sneaking off trains,” Noel agreed.
“No strange men arresting us in dark alleys.”
Aria giggled. Looking at Noel again, she felt a rush of love. All at once, things really were right. “It’s a date,” she said, and kissed him again.
33
SPENCER EMBRACES IT ALL
The following evening, Spencer and Wren sat next to each other at a long dining table in the Rosewood Country Club’s formal dining room. The sun was setting, the outside lights cast a pretty pink glow against the ninth green, and Spencer’s skin tingled every time her knees bumped Wren’s. Melissa, Darren, Spencer’s mother, Mr. Pennythistle, and Amelia were there, too—and, interestingly, so was Spencer’s father. Both of her parents were on their best behavior—for good reason. It was a celebration of all kinds of things: Melissa’s pregnancy, her engagement, and, most of all, Spencer’s exoneration. They had a million things to be thankful for, and what better way for the Hastings family to celebrate than with dinner at the club?