I don't think I've ever felt so passionately about a story as I do this one. It's going to be different than anything I've really ever written and I hope all of you enjoy what I have to give and go along for the ride with me.
I have to give, and probably will be giving even more, thanks to Lyndsey. You probably read her fabulous story "Stepmother at 17". I don't think I could've mapped this thing out without her help.
Please review! It would mean so much to me! Follows and favorites are great, but I love to hear your feedback!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. I wish I owned Aria and Ezra.
The pursuit of real happiness was the only thing that rested in the mind of Ezra Fitz on the April 20, 2014. His ultimate search for inexplicable glee didn't end with a boatload of money, nor did it end with a claim to overwhelming fame with a published book and a huge movie company owning the rights to his work. His quest ended with getting his life back on track – in fact, the moment he was free of his damned orange jumpsuit and concrete walls, he could get his life to start anew again. At the now tender age of twenty five, Ezra hadn't envisioned his life to turn out the way it had so far.
He hadn't planned on breaking away from home and changing his name.
He hadn't planned on teaching in a town so small that secrets ran amuck.
He hadn't planned to involve himself in a clandestine affair of the heart.
He hadn't planned to be in jail for a year.
And Ezra Fitz certainly hadn't planned on falling headfirst and totally in love with seventeen year old Aria Montgomery almost the moment he graduated from Hollis College. He hadn't planned on giving up his first stable job for her in order for them to be together nor did he plan on going to prison because of her.
Going into Snooker's Bar and Grill on that fateful Labor Day of 2011, a fresh faced and somewhat heartbroken young man had gone in with a hankering for a glass of scotch to numb the harsh reality of the real world setting in. Graduating from college was an accomplishment all on its own, but the sugar coated days of schoolbooks and teachers was really over. Ezra could remember himself as the curly headed young man who only wanted a glass of scotch to ease his mind.
Instead of walking out with a slightly buzzed mindset, he walked out with a bounce in his step and the number of a pretty brunette that he spent an otherworldly hour with in the dirty Snooker's bathroom, her perched on the counter and the sink running from their jolts of movement.
Ezra saw the same fresh faced young man in front of a high school classroom with zeal to start his first day of work. To land a teaching job right out of college was a major kudos on his part. He could still remember the tie he wore – a striped one with various shades of blue and grey that brought out his eyes, or so Aria had told him once. His own jaw dropped presently with the memory of seeing the same pretty brunette sitting over towards the windows.
It was that pretty brunette that inevitably became Ezra's world in the matter of days. Even with the constant secrets and the messy breakups and the miscommunications, Ezra Fitz's world seemed to orbit around Aria Montgomery. The happy times always seemed to outweigh the bad ones.
Memories of vegan takeout that he would scarf down just because she loved it and movie night coin tosses that always ended in some form of a heated debate and then very heated activities in between the sheets where what he clung to with each passing day. For the whole year, Ezra had hoped Aria would make a single visit. Except, the wishing that he'd see her gleaming hazel eyes gazing back at him through the glass towards him seemed to dull with every passing day that she never appeared. Completely out of character, Ezra said his prayers at night with pleas to see her face at least once, but she never came along. The only wish he could hold onto now was that the minute he walked through the gates towards his freedom, Aria would be standing there waiting for him.
The tally chart in his journal listed today as being Day Number One hundred-thirty four. Ezra didn't care much about the month, nor did he care much about the seasons that seemed to go blustering by at a snail's pace. He only cared as to how many days it had been since he was locked away and how many it would be until he was let out. Visiting hours had always been something of enjoyment and disappointment all wrapped into one. Being the genuine person he was, Ezra liked to see the glimpses of smiles on various inmates faces towards seeing their loved ones.
But his loved one never seemed to appear - only his mother from time to time until he shooed her away or Hardy.
His quasi-best friend and lawyer found it silly that Ezra seemed to sit on some grand egg of hope that Aria would come waltzing in past security in a pair of stacked heel boots and a chunky necklace. On day Number One hundred-thirty four, Hardy showed his badge to make his way towards Ezra's small visiting station. A small, hopeful smile rested on the blue eyed man's lips, eyes flitting behind Hardy to see if anyone would be following in suit.
"Ezra," Hardy spoke in a solemn voice as he sat down in front of him. It was all the other man needed to know that his hopes had been let down for the one hundred- thirty fourth time.
"Fitz," called a gruff voice. Ezra looked up from the cement floor and towards the voice where the burly security guard waited for him. "You're up." The jumpsuit felt too itchy and the walls and bars of his cell felt too constricting. He could feel his heart banging against his chest cavity towards the close ability of being free of the damned place.
In truth, Ezra was scared to go back into the real world, just like he had been upon graduating Hollis. It was one thing to have an open relationship with someone eight years younger than him. It was another when majority of the town know knew that said relationship had started while he was Aria's teacher. Visions of rotten tomatoes being thrown his way and boos sounding from every which way while he walked around the small town of Rosewood played over and over in his head. It didn't matter how unrealistic it was – the honest fact was that the world was cruel. People only saw things for what they were in black and white. They didn't care about anything that was underlying. The people of Rosewood wouldn't care that he and Aria were madly and passionately in love. They would only care that they began a relationship while he had been an authoritative figure.
Ezra scoffed as he went into the small changing room where Hardy had left him a bag of clothes the night before. It was graduating college all over again. Except this time, he was graduating from jail.
When he looked in the mirror, Ezra no longer saw the fresh faced new teacher that he'd once been. A twenty five year old wasn't supposed to look as weathered as he did. There were wrinkles under his eyes that shouldn't be present until he was at least forty. Ezra was supposed to look happy and in love, but all he could see in the reflection back at him was a man with unruly hair, a five 'o' clock shadow, and a look of nervousness that couldn't be erased with the strongest of erasers. With trepidation, he changed out of him grimy orange jumpsuit and into a pair of jeans. The material felt almost foreign to his skin, as did the cotton of his white tee shirt. Ezra was used to the coarse material of his regulation clothing. Such luxuries like normal clothing were unfamiliar to him after a year. Ezra rubbed a hand over his prickly chin, stomach churning.
Would she be there? It was the question that Ezra repeated over and over to himself as he emerged from the stall and went through the necessary requirements to check out. The real world coming at an impeccable speed and Ezra wasn't sure if he was ready to be blown over by it. Rosewood seemed like a realm of abnormalities. The young man didn't want to dive back into it – he wanted to run.
Taking a deep breath as he got the final step, Ezra pushed open the door from the prison, feeling a ray of sunlight filter onto his face. He took a deep intake of breath, fresh air filling his lungs. It had been one of the greatest things Ezra had felt in a long time. Exhaling, he squinted, trying to look ahead. A small gathering clustered around the gates – family for the previous inmates to take them home. From where he stood, he could make out Hardy and his mother.
He could also make out a small brunette with a large pair of sunglasses standing nearby. It was all he needed to take off into a large gait, surpassing those taking their cautious time to get to their family members. Ezra had built up some muscle from doing mundane tasks around the prison – they had a bit more physical work to do rather than just reading, although he preferred that option from time to time. Working out allowed him to burn off pent up frustration due to the lack of information Hardy had given him about Aria over the course of three hundred-sixty five days. It was enough to drive a man crazy.
His gait turned into a sprint the closer he got towards the very end. "Aria," Ezra called out between huffs of breath. "Aria, you're here!" His voice was joyous, jubilant, and full of unbridled energy that Ezra seemed to be lacking only minutes before while changing in the small, cramped room made of cellblock. "Aria!"
Pressed up against the cold bars of the jail gate, Ezra could make out Hardy coming towards him at an alarming pace with a disapproving glare. Ezra's eyebrows knitted together, lips parted to call out Aria's name once more to grasp the small brunette's attention.
"Ezra," Hardy spoke at a hushed volume once they were within speaking distance. "It's not her." It explained Ezra's confusion as they brunette broke into a run much like his own minutes before in the direction of another inmate who ran towards her just as much.
His blue eyes flitted downwards for a moment, trying to push back unshed tears. Ezra didn't look at his mother who seemed to hold back in going forth towards her son. He didn't look at Hardy who had a sympathetic expression on his face. He didn't look at the couple beside him, the man now free and walking off with his lips pressed against his girlfriend's. Ezra didn't look at anyone – if he cried, it would save at least a shred of his dignity.
The cruel and honest fact lay straight in front of his face. Ezra Fitz hadn't been hardened by a lifestyle in prison for a year. If anything, his days on end in solitude made him more of a romantic with lush ideas of unsent letters to Aria flitting around in his head and a grand reunion of her waiting outside for him on the day he was set free. She would run to his arms much like she'd done in the past, rain breaking out overhead. Ezra was seal his mouth to hers in what would be a kiss derived of pure passion and longing. Nothing else in the world would be able to feel quite like it.
A moping, hopeless romantic he was, and yet his arms were empty except with the exception of pushing back the gate to be set free. "Right," Ezra mumbled. "She's not here." Four little words could mean so much. It was those four little words that seemed to shake Ezra Fitz's world and separate his dreams from reality. Dejection spread all throughout his body like a potent plague – Aria didn't want him. Maybe she didn't love him as fully as he'd thought she had.
With a shattered heart, Ezra waited for the gate to be pushed back. "C'mon, Man," Hardy spoke softly. "You'll be okay."
But Ezra wasn't quite sure if he ever could be anymore. The pursuit of his own happiness seemed even more out of reach than it was while he had been behind bars.