Happiness.
One word. Nine letters. Over seven billion meanings.
For one person, happiness may be winning that championship football game they pined after for years. For another it may be being with their best friends. Another person's happiness may be driving down the highway with their windows down, not a single care in the world.
Ezra Fitz's happiness was different. His happiness made him so miserable that scotch tumblers lay broken on the floor after long nights of drinking and misery. His happiness made him so miserable that the bags under his eyes seemed to never disappear. Ezra Fitz's happiness was Aria Montgomery, the doe-eyed girl who used to spend countless nights watching movies and making love on his couch, but now was doing the same with another man.
If Aria thought she could keep the secret of her new man to herself, she definitely was wrong. Ezra had seen her walking around town with the man named Jake, apparently the guy she met at a self-defense class. He'd also heard enough of Jake telling his friends at the local bar how good she was in bed. But he'd never heard Aria's story, he'd only seen how uncomfortable she looked with Jake as he pulled her into the movie theater to see "White House Down", a movie Ezra knew she'd never want to see.
And on top of all of Ezra's heartbreak, his relationship with Malcolm took a disastrous turn. A paternity test revealed Malcolm was not his son and that Maggie had cheated on Ezra in high school. The two of them then dropped off the face of the Earth, leaving Ezra with no chance to say goodbye to his "son". Usually he'd turn to Aria for advice (she gave the best advice) and then his life would return to normal. But now all Ezra had was empty apartment with no Aria and no Malcolm.
All the heartbreak had let Ezra back to place where it all began; Snooker's. He sat in the seat he sat in when he met his happiness, watching the old guitarist on the stage croon some corny love song. The bar was close to deserted, the only people being there were Ezra, the bartender, the guitarist and two guys talking in the corner.
"Rough night man?" A husky voice interrupted Ezra's train of thought. He looked up to the bartender, a man in his early 30's with a big beer belly peering over him.
"I guess," Ezra mumbled back, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can I get a scotch?"
"Sure." The bartender looked him over, noticing the weary eyes and untamed hair. "It's on the house."
He slipped the scotch across the counter, and Ezra greedily took a long swig of it. He wasn't supposed to be like this. Never had a girl controlled his emotions this much. When she was around, he felt like he was on cloud nine, and when she was gone he felt like someone pushed him off that cloud.
He took another swig of his drink, barely noticing the wooden door opening behind him and the soft clacking of heels walking across the creaky floor. He cringed as the bitter liquid scorched his throat and noticed a shock of brown hair a few seats down from him. As he tried to focus his somewhat blurry vision, he saw the feather earrings, big golden necklace and chunky boots.
"Aria?"
As Aria Montgomery looked up, Ezra slid his drink down the counter and took the stool next to her. He looked into her eyes and for a few moments there was radio silence, just Ezra taking in her face again. He felt like it had been years since he saw her, while in reality it had only been a few weeks.
"What are you doing here?" Ezra asked, watching her as she cracked each knuckle on her hand, a habit she did when she was nervous.
"Nothing," she mumbled, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I was actually just leaving." Aria pushed up from her stool, grabbed her purse and started to make her way to the door.
"Aria." Ezra pushed up from his seat and followed her to the door. "Can we talk?"
"I can't right now Ezra," Aria said, pushing the door open. "I have to go somewhere."
"Malcolm isn't my son."
Aria stopped in her place and turned back to face him. "What do you mean?"
"We took a paternity test. He's not my son."
A few moments passed and Aria still didn't say anything. "Look I know that you're seeing Jake or whatever his name is and that you don't want me helping you, but I needed you. You have no idea how many times I almost called you. It's taking every ounce of self-control I've had not to go back to you."
"Ezra-"
"You were the first girl that I really fell in love with. You're the first girl that I would do anything for. The last three months have been hell for me and the only way I can make myself better is by seeing you. And seeing you with a guy I know you would never date makes it even harder."
"Ezra-"
"I mean, since when would Aria Montgomery date a guy that hates black and white movies? I know I probably sound really fucking selfish, but I miss you. I miss us, Ar. I miss watching movies at 3 o'clock in the morning, I miss Chinese takeout in our apartment, I miss playing scrabble even though we always would end up fighting. I just-"
"Ezra. Listen to me." Aria grabbed his hand and pulled it into her lap, stroking his knuckles with her thumb. Ezra's bottled up anger and mixed emotions melted away at her soft touch. The two of them sat there together, the world around them blurring. Aria took a deep breath and gave him a soft smile. "I miss you too."
And with that Ezra leaned in to kiss her, their lips barely touching. He felt like it was the first time they kissed and pressed himself closer against her. Aria moved her arms around his neck to pull them closer and then the two were kissing like they used to again. Their lips moved slow and sweet against each other as they savored each other for the first time in months. Ezra pulled Aria up and the two waddled outside, trying to stay as close together as possible. The two finally made it to Ezra's car where he pulled away to catch his breath.
"Let's go to my place," he whispered, opening the passenger door for Aria. She eagerly stepped in and watched as Ezra got in the driver's side.
The car ride to apartment 3B was totally silent, but not the awkward kind of silence. Ezra held Aria's hand ride back and into his apartment where the two plopped down on the big leather couch that held so many memories.
"So what would you rather watch, 'The Phantom of the Opera' or 'The Scarlet Letter'?"
Aria smiled at Ezra and took both movies into her hands. "Can we watch both?"
"Anything for you," Ezra said, picking up "The Phantom of the Opera" and putting it in the cassette player. As the movies started rolling, Ezra wrapped his arm around Aria and placed a kiss into her hair. "I love you Aria."
"I love you too Ezra."
For some people, their happiness may be having sex. For another, it may be catching the perfect wave when surfing. Someone else's happiness may be getting into the college of their dreams. For Ezra Fitz, his happiness was Aria Montgomery. And even though Aria Montgomery may not want to admit it, she was back in her happiness' arms, and hopefully would never leave them again.