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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pretty Little Liars characters.
Together In Electric Dreams
Chapter 1: Wouldn't It Be Good
'The heat is stifling, burning me up from the inside
The sweat is coming through each and every pore
I don't want to be here no more
I don't want to be here no more
I don't want to be here no more…'
As the car slowed to a stop on the gravel drive of the Hasting's Lake House, Aria Montgomery, yanked out her headphones, wrapped them around her IPod and stuffed them in her bag. She sighed loudly and slammed her car door shut, letting her parents know, for the millionth time, that she really didn't want to spend her Labour day weekend there. She looked around, enjoying the peace before the others arrived. She leant back on the car kicking the gravel with her beat up, once white, but now grey, converse. She looked up when she heard a set of tires come to a halt and a car door slam. Her heart leapt when she saw him. His short hair dishevelled, his skinny jeans clinging to his tall, lanky frame, his brilliant blue eyes locked onto hers and she gave him a faint smile. She knew he wanted to be there as much as she did. He ambled over to her and nudged her foot with his equally dirty converse.
"Aria." He greeted, giving her a twinkly smile.
"Ezra." She replied, trying not to sound too flustered.
Ezra and Aria were best friends and they had been for as long as she could remember. They were neighbours first and foremost, both her parents and Ezra's had decided to move to the sunny suburb of Rosewood to start a family. It just so happened that they moved into houses next door to each other around the same time, and they became firm friends. Ezra was born first, a year after his parents, Dianne and William, had moved to Rosewood, then the year after Aria came along to proud parents, Ella and Byron. It was like they were destined to be friends; they were inseparable, there was not a day gone by in the last sixteen years where they hadn't seen each other. That was until this summer, when Alison changed everything.
Aria first became friends with Alison, Spencer, Hanna and Emily at elementary school. At first it was great, as much as she loved Ezra she finally had friends who could play hairdressers with her (Ezra's short hair was impossible to braid), and who she could watch Barbie princess with (She could only make Ezra watch it so many times). But as they got older, the dynamics of their group changed, it became clear that Alison was the leader of the pack and whatever she wanted, she got. She became fixated on becoming the most popular girl in school and as their popularity grew, Alison became more demanding and a strict set of rules were put in place to insure they didn't fall from the top. 'Never speak to anyone who's not as popular as you, always get my permission to date someone, make sure I approve of your outfit before you wear it.' Most of the time Aria ignored these rules, but Ali let her get away with it because Aria knew Ezra and that meant the girls had easy access to the older boys and if there was one thing Ali liked, it was an older man.
However, that summer something had changed. Over the past school year Ali had cultivated the ultimate super group to keep her at the top, the group consisted of the five girls, Ezra, Ezra's friend Hardy, Toby Cavanaugh, Caleb Rivers and Noel Khan. She insisted that the group did everything together that summer, Aria barely had time to breathe let alone sneak a day to do something with Ezra which didn't make her feel like her brain cells were dissipating by the second. She often wondered what Ali saw in her. She wasn't especially attractive like Hanna, or intelligent like Spencer, or sporty like Emily, she brought nothing to the table, except maybe Ezra and yet Ali still kept her around.
She began to resent Ali. All summer all Ali did was make fun of her; she made fun of her clothes, the music she listened to, the books she read, the movies she liked. This summer she truly had felt like the odd one out and she frequently cried herself to sleep wondering when she'd become so different from her friends, when had she become the outcast? She also resented Ali for her constant suspicions about the current nature of Aria and Ezra's relationship. Aria would always regret the day, when she was fourteen, and she confided in Ali that she'd starting feeling things for Ezra. Ever since then Ali took every chance she could to make crude innuendos whenever the pair were around. Of course the innuendos fell on deaf ears, Aria and Ezra were just friends and no matter how hard Aria wanted that to change, it didn't look like it would anytime soon.
And so Aria's summer had passed in a blur of days at the beach, parties at Alison's house and days just doing nothing, which had culminated at the Labour day weekend. After the past tension filled weeks she wasn't looking forward to spending a whole weekend in close quarters with Alison.
It was the Hastings annual Labour day weekend celebrations and the, Fitz, Montgomery, DiLaurentis, Fields, Marin and Khan families along with a few extras had been invited to spend the last weekend of summer at the Hastings lake house. The sound of Ezra's soothing voice brought Aria out of her thoughts.
"This weekend won't be that bad."
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to deal with Alison 24/7."
"You know it hurts me just as much as it hurts you when she makes fun of you like that right?" Ezra said solemnly.
Aria nodded. She did know how much Alison irritated Ezra, she would even go so far as to say that Ezra hated Alison. She would often see his jaw twitch with anger, which she found very attractive, whenever Alison spoke down to her.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I've just had enough of feeling like I don't fit in." Aria sighed.
"You don't fit in Aria, neither do I really, but that's what I like about you, you're not afraid to love what you love, and you won't like something just because everybody else does."
Aria smiled at his compliment, "I know, it would just be nice to be somewhere, where I felt like I belonged, that's all."
"I know." Ezra said gently, placing a stray strand of chestnut hair behind her ear, before quickly pulling his hand away as more cars crawled into the driveway.
Aria tried to hide her blush as the others ran over to join them. Ezra had been doing things like that a lot lately and she was trying not to think too much into it. She couldn't afford to get her hopes up.
"Who's ready for our last weekend of freedom before the hellhole that most people call school takes over our lives again?" Hardy asked slinging an arm around Ezra's shoulder.
"I can't believe summer's over." Hanna whined.
"It's a pity, I still had so much planned for us." Alison said cryptically.
Aria rolled her eyes, she'd known Ali long enough to know that whatever she was thinking couldn't be good. Their conversation was interrupted by a little person pushing through the tall (well in most of their cases), teenagers trying to get to Aria and Ezra.
Suddenly Wesley, Ezra's little brother burst through giving a bright, gap-toothed smile. Wesley was a late addition to the Fitz household. Aria had once recalled her mother saying he was a last ditch attempt to save a failing marriage, which although it wasn't very nice it was probably true. In any case much to everyone's surprise little Wesley did save Ezra's parent's marriage and 10 years later they had just celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary.
"Ezra, Aria can we go swimming now please?" He asked elongating the e, "Mom says it's okay."
"What a wonderful idea Wes." Alison said striping off her clothes to reveal the smallest bikini Aria had ever seen. "Come on everyone let's go take a swim."
Alison took Wes by the hand and started walking down towards the lake. All the boys immediately followed suit their tongues hanging out like dogs. Hanna, Emily and Spencer weren't far behind, leaving Ezra and Aria bringing up the rear.
"It's going to be a long weekend." Ezra muttered and Aria smiled as she had just been thinking the exact same thing.
Line Break
The afternoon wore on, Alison showed off, splashing about in the lake. Aria sat on the edge of the dock, she was never one for swimming. Ezra joined her, they shared inside jokes, they laughed and she actually felt happy for a long for the first time in a long time.
"Does it scare you?" She asked, "Going into your last year of high school?"
"Not really, I'm excited for the rosewood chapter of my life to finally be coming to an end."
"I'm going to miss you." She said softly.
"We still have a year together," He said placing an arm around her shoulders. "And then it's only one year until you graduate and join me in New York like we always planned."
"Yeah." Aria said brightly resting her head on Ezra's shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Alison eyeing them suspiciously, but she ignored her not letting anything ruin this fleeting moment of happiness.
They sat like that all afternoon and way into the evening, just watching the sun set and talking. They didn't even notice when everyone had retreated from the lake and it was just them left.
"Okay, okay I've got another one for you, what 5 songs would you take with you on your dessert island?" Aria asked, they'd been quizzing each other like this all afternoon, the games had varied from would you rather, two truths and a lie (which was incredibly had seen as they knew everything about each other), and now dessert island.
"I can't possibly choose just five, you go first it'll give me time to think." Ezra mused.
"Okay, um," Aria paused to think, "Fleetwood Mac Everywhere, The Smiths Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, The Human League Don't You Want Me, Simple Minds Don't You Forget About Me and uh, oh Prince When Doves Cry!"
Ezra smiled at her, "All those songs are super old, are you sure you're not really a middle-aged woman?"
"Like all of your song picks are from the last decade." She rebutted, nudging his shoulder.
"True, my list probably would just end up being a collection of The Beatles."
"We're just old souls I guess." Aria sighed.
"Yeah, we are." Ezra said taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. Aria thought her heart my stop beating at his touch. Okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but her heart definitely felt like it skipped a beat when he took her hand.
They sat like that for what seemed like an eternity, neither of them sure of what to do next. Thankfully for them, they didn't have to decide, as they quickly separated their hands when they heard Hardy barrelling towards them. They quickly stood up and starting running, meeting him halfway on the dock.
"There you two are, we've been looking all over!" Hardy exclaimed.
"We literally haven't moved all afternoon." Ezra said condescendingly.
"Well come on, we're all in the shed."
"The shed?" Aria questioned, raising her eyebrows as they hurried behind Hardy, her little legs struggling to keep up.
"Yeah, it's just used for storing stuff, but if we're in there then we're away from the parents prying eyes." Hardy winked.
Aria shuddered, she was not looking forward to another night sitting in a circle playing spin the bottle, where the bottle, miraculously always landed on whoever Alison wanted it to. She'd had enough of that at Alison's wild summer parties.
All eyes turned on them as they walked into the room. Hardy's description of a 'shed' had been very inaccurate, it was more like a small barn with an old rug covering the floor and a worn sofa up against the back wall. A small table sat in the corner with a speaker sat on it with music playing softly. Fairy lights had been hung from the beams and on all accounts it was actually quite cosy.
Alison gave them a chilling smile.
"Nice of you to join us." She sneered, "What were you doing that made you forget all about us?"
Aria gave her the best evil glare she could and repressed a blush.
"We were just talking, lost track of time." Ezra said joining the others on the floor. Aria joined him, trying to push away all her friend's suspicious looks.
Much to Arias relief, they weren't playing spin the bottle, or truth or dare or any other silly game, they were just talking, drinking and having fun something Aria was more than capable of. For once Aria actually began to relax, it was nice not having all her conversations dictated by Alison. Everything was going smoothly until Spencer tried to let Aria chose a song to listen to.
"Spence don't let Aria chose a song." Alison said sternly.
"Why?" Ezra questioned, always ready to jump to Aria's defence.
"Because she'd just chose a song that no one's heard of, I mean come on Aria it's the twenty-first century no one wants to listen to a depressing Smith's song." Alison said pointing to Aria's worn Smith's t-shirt, that was once her mothers.
"But that's not fair, it is her turn!" Ezra exclaimed.
"Ezra just drop it, it's fine." Aria pleased.
"No Aria, she can't treat you like this, Aria had to listen to all your songs that she probably hated, why can't she have one pick?
A hush fell over the room as Alison took a step forward calculating her next move.
"Look Aria, this whole vintage thing was cute two years ago when we thought it was a phase, but now it's just annoying. You're one of the most popular girls in school, because of me and popular girls don't listen to music or watch movies that no one's heard of, they're popular because they're relevant, and you're just not relevant anymore. I'd make a few changes if I were you or you might find yourself eating lunch on your own okay?" Alison posed the threat as a question, trying to make out like she was saying this because she truly cared.
Aria felt hot tears threatening to fall and so she turned on her heel and fled the room before anyone could see her cry. She ran and ran until she was standing right on the end of the dock. The water had a calming effect on her, but her tears continued to fall. God she hated Alison. Did everyone think that about her? Or was Ali poisoning their minds? Either way, that was the last straw she'd had enough she couldn't put up with Ali any longer she didn't care if she wouldn't be popular anymore she just couldn't be her friend, not after that.
She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't bother to turn round, she knew from the familiar tread that it was Ezra. He put his arm around her and she broke down again, all the frustration and loneliness she felt over the past few months coming out in one ugly go. He pulled her in tighter, into a proper hug, her salty tears staining his t-shirt.
"She's a bitch Aria, don't listen to what she said, you're so much better than that."
"Thank you," Aria sniffled "But what she said is true."
"What, no its not!" Ezra said shaking his head fiercely.
"It is, I'm irrelevant!" Aria cried, "I don't fit in, I don't belong!"
"Aria you don't fit in, in Rosewood that's probably a good thing, one day you'll be somewhere where everyone is different and that's celebrated, it's better to be your own person than an Alison clone."
"I know that, but argh," Aria screamed, "I still have two more years left in Rosewood, one of them without you and I just feel like I'm suffocating all the time."
She broke down in tears again, slamming her fists into Ezra's chest.
"I just wish I could be somewhere where I belonged." She screamed up into the sky, clutching Ezra's shirt.
Suddenly a loud clap of thunder sounded and lightning flashed across the sky and then rapidly everything went black.
Line Break
Aria awoke to the obnoxious sound of her alarm. With her eyes still shut she haphazardly threw her arm out to tap snooze on her phone, but she couldn't find it. Confused she opened one eye to see that her phone was nowhere to be found on her bedside table, in it's place was a dated alarm clock. She sat up and fiddled with the clock until she managed to work out how to shut it off. She felt like she was forgetting something big, she shook her head trying to remember but nothing came to her.
Aria took a minute to look round her room and she realised everything was different. Her bare walls were now cluttered with posters from magazines of Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy. On her desk where her laptop used to be, now stood a record player with lots of vinyl cluttering her shelves.
She looked down to find her usual night attire of a vest and shorts had been replaced by an oversized, off the shoulder, bright blue sweatshirt. White hot panic began to course through her veins. She jumped out of bed and sprinted to her closet throwing the doors open. She held back a shriek when she discovered all her clothes had been replaced with weird short skirts, crop tops, acid wash denim and neon. She took a deep breath and a step backwards, she jumped when she caught her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was relatively straight but she had a heavy side parting that was backcombed to within an inch of its life. It reminded her of the way the character Kelly Kapowski used to wear her hair on Saved by the Bell.
Aria heard noises coming from the kitchen and so she launched herself down the stairs, hoping to find some answers. Everything in her house was the same, but different. The décor looked a little dated and there were no chargers hanging out of the plug sockets and the TV which used to be sleek and streamlined now looked like a giant brick.
"Mom?" She called, her voice wavering slightly.
"In the kitchen." Ella replied.
Tentatively Aria crept forward and almost keeled over at the sight of her mother. Aria had always thought of her mom's style as relaxed, boho even, this was not what she was used to. Ella wore an azure blue pencil skirt and matching box jacket with shoulders so big they could've taken some's eye out. Her hair was set in a perm that was piled on top of her head. Aria felt like she was going to be sick.
"Aria honey are you okay, you look a little pale?" Ella asked walking over to feel her forehead, "You feel okay, you should get going or you'll be late for school."
Aria turned to go get ready, but a niggling feeling in her stomach stopped her. No matter how silly the question sounded she had to ask it.
"Uh Mom, what's the date today?"
"It's the 8th, Tuesday the 8th of September."
"And the year?"
"Aria?" Ella asked her voice full of concern.
"Mom, just humour me please."
"1987, it's the 8th of September 1987."
Aria felt like the floor had been pulled out from underneath and she was free falling. Her stomach felt like it was a giant knot. She stumbled backwards out of the room and scrambled back up the stairs, ignoring an anxious stare from Mike. She flung herself in her room and slammed the door. She rested back against the door and slid down until she sunk into the carpet. She put her head in her hands and tried to remember what had happened. She closed her eyes tight and image started to form. The Hastings lake house, fighting with Alison, standing on the dock with Ezra and then nothing, everything went blank. She pressed harder, but she was brought out of her thoughts by someone shouting her name.
She looked up and walked over to her window. Ezra was staring at her from his window. His hair was a little longer and pushed back, he wore a t-shirt that was slightly too big in a fashionable way and light denim jeans. He looked breath-taking like always. He looked at her helplessly.
"Aria!" He cried, "What have you done?"
I hope you guys liked that! I know it's a little different, but it's an idea that's been bouncing around my head for ages and I finally decided to write it. Drop me a review if you liked it and let me know if you want me to continue it :) Thanks for reading!