Ezra felt a wave of relief wash over him as he stepped into one of the few places he felt familiar with. Here, along with Hollis College, were the only places he had ever spent a lot of his time as a student in Rosewood. He made his way to the jukebox and quickly chose the next song, shaking his head and feeling rather pathetic as he walked back to the bar. The bartender had just set the scotch in front of Ezra when his song of choice began to play throughout Snookers Bar. Perhaps Ezra should have been more ashamed of drinking alone at a bar and wallowing in self-pity as The Fray played softly in the background but he felt he deserved it. His entire world had just collapsed around him and he didn't have anywhere else to go. Other than being told he was a teacher at the local high school—he wondered what could have possibly changed in his senior year of college to make him want that—Ezra was still missing the details on three crucial years of his life. How was it possible to completely forget three years of your life? What if he had big plans for the next few years? What if he had met someone after Jackie? What if he fell in love? The thoughts ran on a constant loop in Ezra's mind. He wanted answers but he didn't know of anyone who he could trust to give him the right ones. Everyone he knew was long gone; they moved on from their lives in college and never looked back to the quiet, small town that Ezra, for some unknown reason, chose to stay in. He hadn't ever felt this lonely in his life. So, if he was going to be alone he might as well have good music, however pathetic, in his ears and alcohol in his blood.
Ezra turned his head when the woman three stools to his left let out a sad and heavy sigh as the chorus started. He bit his lip, unsure whether talking to this girl was the right thing to do considering he was completely unaware of what was currently happening in his life, but before he knew it something was drawing him towards her and he couldn't help himself.
"Are you okay?" Ezra asked, more eager than he hoped to have sounded.
The woman snapped her head towards Ezra and her breath caught in her throat. Ezra may have realized that she was staring at him in a way strangers aren't typically prone to do but he was too absorbed in the hazel eyes that just met his to notice. He was enchanted by her long lashes and chocolate brown hair that fell in wavy locks just below her shoulders. After what seemed like an excruciatingly long silence to her, but a far too short one for him, she spoke.
"Yeah, I'm fine sorry. I just really love this song," she responded, offering Ezra a smile that, along with her melodic voice, immediately melted his heart.
Ezra smiled to himself and began to feel slightly less shame for his choice. "B-26," he said to himself, louder than he meant to, and the girl let out a shaky and breathy laugh.
"Yeah... It brings up a lot of memories," she said, her smile and eyes turning distant.
Ezra felt a sting as she brought up memories, since he was lacking many of them. "Good ones, I hope?"
She stared at him again, forcing a smile, and his heart began to flutter. "Mostly."
Ezra smiled, and he didn't know exactly why he was smiling, but something about this girl made his heart leap like never before—it scared him. He'd never been affected by someone so quickly before. His eyes tore themselves from hers and he glanced down, catching a glimpse of a notebook trapped between her arm and the table.
"You write?" he asked curiously, taking his drink and sliding to the stool next to hers, hoping she wouldn't find the move too forward.
She followed his eyes to her notebook and nodded, smiling sheepishly. "It's quiet here in the afternoons so I've been coming here to write a lot lately, but it's nothing special, mostly personal."
Ezra's smile grew even wider and he shook his head. "Wow... One of my professors used to say that if you're writing for yourself that's pure passion."
Her expression immediately fell and she held in her breath.
Ezra's eyes widened. "I—I'm sorry, did I say something?"
She shook her head and the smile returned to her face. "No, no. I was just having a moment..."
"It's fine," he assured her, although he was thoroughly confused as to what she meant by 'moment'. "So... Does the beautiful and mysterious writer have a name?"
She blushed and placed a couple strays of hair behind her ear, looking up into his sparkling blue eyes with a shy smile. "Aria. Aria Montgomery."
"I'm Ezra Fitz. It's nice to meet you, Aria," he said, testing the feel of her name on his tongue. It rolled out of his mouth effortlessly, like he'd said it a million times before. "I write too, but usually for Hollis competitions—I mean, I used to... Maybe you'd let me read some of your writing sometime," he added.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her notebook and she laughed. "Sometime..."
Aria sat at her desk, gnawing at her fingernails—a nervous habit she'd taken up after the incident. It'd been three weeks since the rooftop. Three weeks since he fell unconscious and has since failed to wake up. Three weeks since Aria found herself questioning everything she thought she knew and everything she thought she wanted. She counted the days, knowing that with each one passing the hopes of seeing him alive and well again were dwindling. She knew there was still plenty of time for her to be optimistic, but Aria had quickly learned that she wasn't given much room to be hopeful in her life. Still, she wished she could have the same positive thoughts in her head that he would if the places had been reversed. A knock at her door startled Aria out of her head and she glanced up to see her mother leaning against the doorway.
"Aria..." Ella said cautiously.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Aria asked, immediately sensing Ella's worried tone.
"Spencer just called. She wants you to go over."
"Mom...?"
Ella sighed deeply. "Ezra woke up today," she said softly and Aria's eyes lit up. "I think you should go see Spencer," she added.
Aria laughed in disbelief and set down her pen. "What? No, mom..." Aria stood up and began walking out her door. "I'm going to see Ezra—"
"Aria!" Ella snapped, surprising Aria and making her turn back. "You should go see Spencer," she added in a sad whisper.
Aria stood still as her mother passed by her and walked down the hall. Her jaw was dropped slightly in shock. She rarely ever heard her mom sound so harsh and it frightened her. Why didn't Ella want her seeing Ezra? Why was Spencer the one who knew that Ezra was awake?
Aria opened Spencer's front door and peered inside. "Spence? It's me," she called out as she stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Aria?!" Spencer asked, running down the stairs and capturing Aria in a warm hug.
Aria stepped back a few feet from the impact but quickly wrapped her arms around Spencer in response. "Hey, what's going on? Ezra's awake? How did you find out—" Aria asked, panicked.
Spencer pulled back and nodded. "Wren called me this morning."
Aria lowered her brow. "Wren? But why would—"
"He knows that I'm your friend and he thought it would be better if I was the one to tell you..."
"Tell me what..."
Spencer bit her lip. "Ezra woke up—"
"Yes I know," Aria cut in, frustrated. "Which is why we should be on our way to the hospital right now, I need to see him—"
"Aria! I—I didn't finish," Spencer said sharply.
Aria stared back at her in confusion, licking her lips nervously. "What happened? You said he was awake, right? What could possibly—"
"Ezra is fine, he's fine... but, there's still swelling in his brain. It's not fatal or anything but..." Spencer trailed off.
"But what?!"
"He's suffering from memory loss..." Spencer said, her lip trembling.
Aria's face softened. "What?" she whispered.
"He has no memory of the last three years. He can't remember graduating Hollis, working at Rosewood High, the rooftop, Alison, the book, us... You."
Aria didn't say anything as she held her breath.
"He doesn't remember you..." Spencer finished.
Aria sank down onto the couch. "None of it? Everything we went through, everything we shared, everything we felt for each other? It's—It's all gone..."
Spencer sat down beside her friend. "I'm so sorry, Ar. I'm so, so sorry."
Aria buried her face in her hands as she began to cry, softly at first but soon her entire body shook with her sobs. Spencer held Aria, attempting to comfort her but not knowing how. Aria always told herself that no matter how much A threatened her relationship they could never take away the love Ezra and Aria shared, but now A had managed to do just that.
Aria's face grew distant again as she remembered the day when the most important times of her life were ripped away from her, crumbling into dust before her very eyes. Ezra wondered curiously what she was thinking about, knowing better than to interrupt another one of her 'moments' by asking. She eventually came back to reality to find him staring at her in a way that should have made her uncomfortable, but instead made her feel warm and loved. She held his gaze for a moment, enjoying the connection she felt to her past. She figured she must have been imagining the familiar look of adoration in his eyes, and she forced herself to look away. She was only seeing what she wanted to see. He didn't even know her, and without the book he had no reason to try. How could he possibly look at her the same way ever again?
Aria's eyes fell onto the clock and she gasped, "I'm sorry, I've got to leave. But, I'll see you around... Ezra," she paused slightly before saying his name out loud.
She stepped down from her stool and grabbed her notebook as she did so. She began to walk towards the door when she felt a hand gently reach out and grab her bicep. His touch sent a warm shiver down her arm and she held her breath again as he turned her shoulder to face him. He too felt the fireworks between their skin and didn't pull his hand away until she looked at him.
"S-Sorry," he stuttered, trying to recover from the spark that flew between them. "You forgot your pen..." he said softly, holding it out for her.
She never took her eyes off of him as she reached for it. "Thanks."
Aria began to turn around but his voice stopped her. "Wait—"
She looked back at him. "Hm?"
Ezra ran his hand through his hair nervously. "I know it's a little sudden, considering I just met you but... Did you want to come over for dinner tonight? I really only know how to cook pasta... Well we don't have to eat at my place, anywhere is fine but I—I want to get to know you better," he finished, his heart racing. He didn't know what had come over him. He had never been the type of guy to ask a stranger to dinner; in fact, he'd never been the type of guy to talk to one at a bar.
She smiled at him again and he wished she would stop. Ezra could feel his stomach drop whenever he looked at her. "I'll meet you at your place at seven," she replied with a slight nod, turning back towards the door once again.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when his voice stopped her yet again. "Aria?" She turned around again. "Don't you need the address?" he asked with a boyish smirk.
Aria mentally kicked herself and walked back over to him, chuckling. "I'll give you my number, you can text it to me."
He handed her his phone and she went to his contacts, quickly and discreetly changing the 'M' in his phone to 'Aria Montgomery'. He took it back from her and glanced down, smiling like an idiot at the name in his phone.
"See you tonight, Aria," he said. But when he looked up, she was gone.
A/N
thank you for all the reviews on my one-shot 2:30 AM, if you haven't read it yet you should! but anyways, pleasee let me know what you think of this story. I couldn't get the idea out of my head but im not very happy with how it turned out... lately i've been writing a lot but everything i write im not a fan of right now. so hopefully you guys can tell me what i can do better, i've got two other new stories that i'm working on at the moment as well so i hope to share those soon once i can figure out what's wrong with them. let me know what you think about this story and if i should continue it by leaving a review, or contacting me through my tumblr (ezrafitzgerld) or my twitter (ezriab26). thank you!