Summer 2015

"Lauren, are you home?"

Aria walked into her New York apartment after a day at her internship. It was a few weeks into summer break, and Aria been studying at NYU for three years, and her roommate Lauren had become a pretty good friend of hers. It seemed surreal to Aria every single day that only a few years ago she'd been practically pulling out her hair, stressing about how she didn't think she'd get into a school at all, let alone one that fit her as perfect as New York University did. Now, despite all of her worries, she had the full package college experience, but it was nearly over. She was rooming with a girl called Lauren, who she'd met through work over the past year at a cafe in a busy part of town. Aria quickly realized that the two went to the same school, and even shared a few classes. They realized that they liked similar music, but their main bond was the fact that they were both new to a town and a school where they didn't know anybody. She was no Spencer Hastings, or even a Hanna Marin, or an Emily Fields, but she was a friend nonetheless.

Lauren was pretty ditsy, though, it had to be said. She was also gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous, in fact. Her blonde hair was seriously long, Aria didn't even think that hair could actually be that long, or shiny. It was kinda ridiculous. Her number one priority in life was a cross between boys and her appearance, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For Aria, however, it meant that whenever they went out to lunch, or even just walking to a class, no one even looked her way. Every boy was instantly drawn to Lauren. It didn't reflect badly on her, though, not at all. Lauren was one of the most genuine, nicest people she had ever met. Her friendship group at college was very close knit. She had a few friends from classes and then friends of friends and then there was Lauren. If it wasn't for their mutual job, Aria had to admit that she would probably never have ever met a girl like her, but she was glad that she had. Despite her possessive attitude towards the bathroom and the amount of hours it took her to get ready, Lauren was a great girl, and Aria couldn't really wish for a better roommate for her college experience.

"Lauren?" Aria repeated as she took off her coat and dumped her bag on their kitchen table. "Hellooooo?"

No answer. Aria walked into the kitchen of their two bedroom apartment and threw her bag down onto the table. She'd had a tough day. Her internship at a local magazine had started off great. She had high hopes and her management team was great, they seemed really eager to let Aria write some pieces and try her hand at photography, too. However, it seemed that that was only to entice her in. Her most important task today, for example, was making coffee for everyone in the office. It was humiliating for Aria, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take of the redundant, boring tasks.

The air was ridiculously warm, which was expected for late June. It was a beautiful day in the city, but Aria was not appreciating the heat. She fumbled with the air con, balancing her iced coffee under her arm as she did so. She finished the job and allowed herself to sit down at the table, before taking off her light cardigan and sipping on her drink. She looked in her bag and pulled out her laptop, turning it on and loading up a word document. She scrolled through the various things she'd been working on for the past few weeks. Her aim was to build up some kind of portfolio, a display of work to use when she eventually tried to apply for jobs after college. That's the only thing that kept her sane at this internship right now. She had to get this experience under her belt so that she would stand out when trying to get something permanent. You won't be making latte's forever, she told herself as she fixed a typo and saved an article that she had been working on for quite some time now. She shuddered as she read the headline, but also felt a certain sense of relief for writing it out.

After a few minutes, Aria drained her coffee and shut down her computer, before looking over at the pile of laundry that Lauren was supposed to have put away today. She sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair, wiping at her damp forehead. It was too hot for this, and it wasn't her job, so she left it and started to look at what food the two girls had in for dinner. Just as she began to wonder where Lauren was (her first ideas were mani-pedi or off with a boy), the keys rattled in the door and it swung wide open, cutting off Aria's thoughts.

"Aria? Aria are you home?"

Aria spun around as soon as she heard Lauren's voice echo through the apartment. "I'm in the kitchen."

Lauren walked into the room and dropped a few bags onto the kitchen table. Surprisingly, they were all groceries. Usually it would be a few sturdy bags with designer labels printed on the side, so this was very different. Lauren had a panicked look on her face, and she was double checking a piece of paper in front of her, cross referencing it with items in the bags.

"Is everything okay?" Aria eyed her carefully as closed the refrigerator door. Lauren made no reply, too focused on the task she was currently undertaking.

"Lauren? Hello?"

She lifted her head and looked at Aria. "What?" She practically snapped, but quickly stopped herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just really stressing. Do you know how to make lasagne?"

Aria laughed. "I hope it's vegetarian," she said, winking at her. Lauren shot her a look but nodded.

"Of course! But seriously, do you?"

Aria shrugged. "Um. I think I made one in high school or something, but it's not that difficult. Do you have all of the ingredients?"

Lauren fiddled with the bags again and chewed on her lip. "Yeah, yeah I think so."

"Well, just search it online, it can't be too hard. I'll help you if you want?"

"No! No. I appreciate the gesture but I gotta do this myself, I need to prove that I can actually cook something.."

Aria laughed quietly to herself as Lauren began to put away all of her groceries, knowing full well that they would end up ordering pizza at midnight with a kitchen full of smoke.

"How come you're cooking anyways?"

Lauren paused after putting sheets of pasta into the cupboard. "Oh, shoot, I forgot to tell you. Okay, so, do you remember the date I went on last week? Well, I didn't think it had gone too well, I mean, we didn't have that much in common, but damn was he cute.. Anyways. Um, I ran into him today and I just took the plunge and invited him over for dinner tonight. I want you here, though. He's really smart and so I'm guessing he likes books like you do so if it gets awkward you can salvage the conversation and get me laid. Deal?"

Aria's eyes were wide with all of this new information, but she nodded slowly, not wanting to let her friend down. "Um, sure. But I don't wanna be third-wheeling.."

"Please, Ar! Please. I promise if it goes well and we get all romantic or whatever you can leave straightaway. Just excuse yourself, it'll be fine. And I'll give you a twenty to go and get some pizza or fro-yo or whatever you want! Pleeeeeease!"

Lauren was now inches away from Aria's face, holding onto her hands with her own.

"Fine."

And with that, Lauren dived onto her. "Thank you! Okay, now get out, I have four hours until he gets here so I gotta cook this."

"Fine, fine, I'm going. Good luck. The number for the pizza place is on the fridge if you need it."

Lauren gave her a glare but Aria just laughed and retreated to her bedroom.

Right on cue, the door buzzed at 8pm and Lauren's date had arrived. Lauren had dressed up fully for the occasion. She'd decided on a short, tight pink dress, which left very little to the imagination. She wanted to go all out and impress him after worrying that the last date they'd had hadn't gone as well as it could have done. Aria, not wanting to outshine her roommate, toned down her outfit for once. She wore black skinny jeans and an oversized sweater, keeping things casual.

"Oh my god, he's here. Okay, okay. How do I look?"

Lauren turned to her and smoothed down her dress. "You look great," Aria answered honestly. "I mean it. He's not gonna be able to take his eyes off you."

Lauren smiled and gave her a hug, giving Aria enough time to ask, "hey, what's his name by the way?"

"Just wait a sec, I'll tell you when I introduce you, it'll look better." Aria gave her a weird look and was about to speak up when Lauren shushed her and spoke.

"It's open," she said, buzzing her date into the building. His footsteps got louder as he approached their apartment and then his hands knocked loudly on the thin door.

Lauren looked back at Aria and smiled, and then opened the door.

Lauren smiled as soon as she saw him, and Aria hung back slightly, not able to see him properly yet. He was dressed smart, but casual. Aria noticed his dark blue denim jeans, and a smart dark green jumper. Lauren blocked his face, but she could see his shoes, which were pretty boring, standard black, and the bottle of wine that he held in his left hand.

"Hey, how are you?" She heard him say, and Aria froze, her whole body filling with a distinct feeling of coldness.

"I'm good, I'm good. Um, I want you to meet someone," Aria heard Lauren say, and alls Aria wanted to do in that moment was jump out of the window and get out of this situation fast. She heard Lauren make smalltalk with him about her but it was all blurred, she couldn't hear any of it as she backed away slightly.

"Aria? Where has she gone?"

This time it was him that froze. "Sorry, um, did you just say Aria?" She heard him say, the panic in his voice evident. He had realized the situation, too.

"Yeah! Weird, right? It means melody or something.. Aria?"

Aria was shaking as she slowly walked back into the hallway.

"Here she is!"

It was only then that Aria got a full look at Lauren's mystery date, from head to toe. She knew his outfit was awfully familiar, and his face was one that she had looked upon so many times before, his eyes ones that she had got lost in time and time again. His lips ones that she had kissed, and been kissed with a thousand times.

"Aria, this is Ezra, Ezra, Aria."

The two of them stood still, frozen and transfixed on eachother. It must have only been a second before Aria spoke but it felt like a lifetime. She saw Ezra open his mouth to speak so she quickly bit her lip and walked towards him.

"Hi, I'm Aria. It's nice to meet you."

Ezra's mouth opened slightly, and his lips curved into a small smile. He couldn't take his eyes off of hers.

"Ezra.." He said quietly, and their hands met in a simple handshake, but it was way more than that. As soon as they touched, as soon as their skin re-connected, memories and past-touches were all re-ignited in their minds. Aria quickly pulled away and looked down, breaking the contact and quietly coughing, trying to catch her breath. Lauren was still oblivious, and led Ezra into the kitchen. Aria could feel his eyes burning into her as he walked past her, but she continued to stare at her feet and lagged behind.

So check me out actually posting something for the first time in like fifty years hahaha. I know I have a lot of other stuff I need to update and/or finish but this is actually something that I have been thinking about for a while. It will be a longer story with different chapters, and I want to take my time with it.

Hopefully it is pretty self explanatory in terms of what is happening, but basically to clear up the basic plot, Aria is three years into college and hasn't seen Ezra since she left Rosewood for New York. They suddenly find themselves meeting again after all this time, and they struggle with how to deal with it! Let me know what you all think :)