-Aria's POV-
"Aria, come here!" I heard Ezra call from the other side of his apartment. I had been here nearly all day. I mean, the weekends were the only time we ever got any time together outside of school. I hated that. I wished things were less complicated in our relationship. Sneaking to his apartment so we could spend time together, always cooped up, never able to do anything spontaneous...
"Aria! hurry up!" I heard Ezra call again.
"I'll be right there!" I called back as I got up from my place on the couch. I walked over to the kitchen where Ezra was standing. He was staring down into one of the kitchen drawers. A look of angst on his face.
"What is it?" I said as I walked closer to him.
"Look." was all he said as he gestured me to look into the drawer. I gasped with horror when I saw what was there. A butcher knife, covered in blood. Beside it lay a folded piece of paper. I took the paper out and slowly unfolded it. On the inside it read "Got a secret, can you keep it, swear this one you'll save. Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave. -A"
I dropped the note as soon as I read it. I ran back into the living room where I left my pocketbook and took out my phone. "SOS. meet me at Ezra's." I sent to Hanna, Spencer and Emily.
I walked back into the kitchen to see if Ezra was still standing there. He was, but he had picked up the note from A and was reading it.
"A?" who the heck is A? Aria is there something you know that I don't?" he said, looking at me with a concerned look.
"N-No, there's not.." I choked on the words. I hated lying to him.
"So why were you so shocked when you read it? You looked afraid for your life."
"Just freaked me out, that's all.." I said as i tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Well, I think it's about time I call the cops." he said as he began walking toward the phone.
"No..." I said as I stood in front of him, not letting him pass by. "Not yet, I mean."
"Well what do you want me to do Aria? Stay here and finish the night pretending like there's not a bloody knife in my kitchen drawer?"
"Well," I said hesitantly..
"Seriously, Aria?" he said in an angry tone as he pushed past me and reached for the phone. Just before he dialed, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." I said, knowing it was either Hanna, Emily or Spencer.
I opened the door and smiled. "Thank God you guys are finally here-" I felt a lump in the back of my throat. The 3 people I expected to be standing there were not there. There were 3 people there, just 3 people I wished weren't at the door right now."
"Aria? What are you doing here?"
"Who is it, babe?" Ezra said as he came to the door and stood behind me.
"Oh my Gosh." he said when he saw who was at the door. "Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, Mike. So nice to see you all. Um, Aria was um, we were uh, looking over last weeks essay. Yeah, we never got any time to discuss it during the school week so I hated to make her wait, and since she was so adamant about it, we figured it would be ok for her to come over, for educations sake, of course. I think she was just leaving, weren't you, Aria?"
"mhmm" I said as I stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind me."
"What was that?" Mike said as he looked at me with a smirk.
"Yes, Aria, what exactly was that?" said my dad as he stared at me.
"It was exactly what just said. We were discussing the essay. I wasn't satisfied with the grade I got, so he said I could come over and we'd talk about it, which we did."
"Well are you ok? I mean he didn't try to mess with you or anything, did he?" my mom said as she looked me up and down.
"No, of course not, mom! he's not like that..."
"Ok. as long as you're alright." she said. "Well let me give these papers from school and we'll head back home."
"Ok" we all nodded our heads in acknowledgement.
"Are you sure this is the way to get to his apartment, Em?" I heard a familiar voice down the hallway say.
"Yes, Hanna, I'm positive."
"You think everythings ok with Aria?" said the voice of Spencer. "I mean she's never sent an SOS when she's been with Ezra."
"Are those your friends?" Mike questioned.
"Be right back, dad." I said as I sprinted around the corner, running right into Emily.
"Hah! told you I was right, Hannah!"
"Shhh guys. follow me." I said as I led them down the hallway until we reached the elevator.
"What's going on Aria?" asked Spencer.
"It's A. He's starting to mess with Ezra now. He found a bloody knife in his kitchen drawer and A left a really creepy little note to go along with it. I think it may be the murder weapon used to kill Allison."
"what?" gasped Hanna.
"I honestly think that's what it is. Remember the police telling us that she had stab wounds? Why else would A plant a knife somewhere if it wasn't the one that Alli was stabbed with? Ezra asked me if I knew anything but I had to lie. Letting him know anything about A could put him in serious danger.."
"We shouldn't be talking here.. Wait until we get to the car." Emily said in a nervous voice.
-Ezra's POV-
I scanned the room after Aria's mom left. Could someone have snuck in and planted the knife there? I walked into the kitchen. I stood there and took a deep breath. I need a break, I thought, as I opened the refrigerator and took out a beer. I walked over to the living room, sat down on the couch, and turned on ESPN. All of a sudden I heard a phone ringing. It definitely wasn't mine. It was a Taylor Swift ringtone. Not exactly my taste. I peered over the edge of the couch to see a pocketbook sitting there. "Aria" I whispered as I picked up the bag. She must've forgot to take it with her when she left. I scrambled through the mess and found the phone.
New Text Message - Unknown Number. Was what the screen read.
I sat there and thought for a minute. Would it be wrong for me to read this text? I mean, after all, I'd given Aria full access to my life. Why shouldn't I have full access to hers? Quickly justifying the action, I opened the text and read it.
"I can't keep your secret forever. Playing teachers pet will find you . -A."
I read the text several times before it really sunk in. Two things about this really bothered me. One, Someone knew about Aria and I. Two, whoever A was, they planted that knife in the drawer. It wasn't a random act. They meant to put it in my apartment. I had to talk to Aria about this. I ran out of the apartment, hoping to catch Aria before she got too far away.
-Aria's POV-
We all got into Emily's car and sat there for a while.
"Explain to me exactly what happened." Emily said as she turned around to look at me.
"Ok, Ezra and I had just finished eating dinner. He was cleaning up in the kitchen, and I was sitting on the couch. All of a sudden he called me into the kitchen and pointed down into one of the drawers. Inside the drawer lay a bloody butcher knife and a note from A. The writing of the note was in blood. and it read "Got a secret, can you keep it, swear this one you'll save. Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave. Signed, A. I think Ezra knows that I know something. And now I'm worried that A is messing with Ezra. Remember when I rounded the corner and ran right into you? That was because my parents were there, at the apartment. They just randomly showed up to drop off school papers, and I was the one who answered the door."
"Oh my gosh what did they say?" Hanna said, suddenly sounding very interested.
"Luckily enough for me, Ezra made up some dumb excuse about an essay or something. So I got out of it."
"Um. speaking of Ezra.." Spencer said as she pointed out the window of the car. There stood Ezra in the pouring rain. I rolled down the window and called out. "Ezra, over here!" He saw me and ran over to the car. He got in beside me and looked at me with worry in his eyes.
"What is it, babe?" I asked him as I took his hand in mine.
"A, who is A." he said, out of breath.
The four of us turned and looked at each other.
"No." Emily mouthed as she looked at me.
"We can't." mouthed Hanna as she shook her head.
Spencer just looked and me and shook her head, no.
"Ezra, that's not something we can talk about.."
"What do you mean that's not something we can talk about?" he said angrily. "This A person planted a bloody knife in my apartment and is sending you texts about how he knows we're together? Is this someone you know, Aria? Someone who you've told about our relationship?"
"No, I swear. The only people that I've told about us are in this car right now."
The rest of the girls nodded their heads in agreement.
"Well obviously this A person knows who you are, and who I am. I'm not going to be lied to, Aria."
All of a sudden my, Hanna's, Emily's, and Spencer's phones rang that we had recieved text messages. I took my phone from Ezra's hand and read the text.
"Just go ahead and tell him about me, girls. What's he gonna do? kill me? -A"
We looked at each other with looks of worry.
"Just tell him, Aria." said Emily. "He deserves to know.."
I started off, telling him all about Allison, and about our suspicions. Then Spencer chimed in and told all about Ian, and the church, and how we thought he was dead. And about Melissa being pregnant and Ian just disappearing. We told him everything we knew.
"So why on earth do you think this A person is trying to mess with me?"
"Because that's what she..he..it does. She plays with everyones heads. Trying to bring them into her little game." said Emily, with a disgusted look on her face.
"Well obviously I'm on your side. I know there's probably not much I can do, but if you need help with anything, I'm here." Ezra said, looking a little less worried.
"Thanks." said the girls.
"Thank you, Ezra." I said as I looked him in the eyes. He was so amazing. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have him.
"You're welcome, beautiful." he said as he gave me a kiss.
"Snap out of it, lovebirds." said Hanna as she rolled her eyes.
"Thanks for clearing things up, girls. See you all on Monday." Ezra said as he got out of Emily's car.
"We're all staying at Spencer's house tonight if you want to come with." Hanna said to me.
"Um, I think I'm gonna go with Ezra for now.. I'll be by later though."
"ok." they said as they drove away.
"Let's go upstairs and get out of this rain." Ezra said as he took my hand and led me back in the building. When we finally got back into the apartment Ezra gave me a towel to dry off with, and put on a pot of coffee.
"So what movie do you want to watch tonight?" he asked as he sat down on the couch beside me.
"I don't know.. It's up to you." I said as I scooted closer to him.
"We could watch a horror movie, or maybe a comedy?...hmm, how about a romance?" he said as he put his arm around me.
"Yeah,let's watch a romance." I said as I smiled up at him.
He smiled back at me. He had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.
"I love you, Aria Montgomery." he whispered as he tucked a piece of hair behind me ear.
I was taken by suprise. Did Ezra Fitz just say that he loved me? I looked at him for a moment and took his hand in mine.
"I love you too, Ezra Fitz." I said as I kissed him. It was the most meaningful kiss I'd ever had. Two people who really loved each other.
While we were still kissing, I heard my phone ring. I had just recieved a text. I figured it was my mom wondering where I was.
"Hold on just a sec." I told him as I took my phone out of my pocket. I opened the text.
Hey now, let's keep everything G rated here. There are people watching you.. -A.
"oh my gosh." I mumbled as I dropped my phone. I sprung up from where I was sitting.
"Aria, what's wrong? Ezra said, worriedly.
"He's here." I said.
"Who's here?" he said, still confused.
"A..A is here. and he's watching our every move." I said as I went around the apartment closing every window. You'd think that being on the 5th floor of a building would help with the privacy thing.
"He's here? Aria we have to get out of here. now." Ezra said as he tried to pull me out of the door. He twisted to door knob. It wouldn't open. He pulled, and kicked, and even got a running start and slammed his whole body against that door,yet it wouldn't open.
Then, Ezra's phone beeped. He took the phone out of his pocket, and I stood beside him so I could read what it said.
Come on now, is this any way to treat a guest? You're ready to leave, but I just got here.. -A
We looked at each other, a horrified look on both of our faces.
Then all of a sudden, there was a loud shatter. One of the windows in Ezra's apartment was shattered. We ran over and looked out to see what it was. All we could make out was a dark figure running away. On the floor by the window lay a huge rock, with a note attached to it. I picked up the rock and read the letter.
Sorry, I had to run. But since you couldn't get out of the door, maybe you'd like to take this exit? -A
"Ezra, I think it's time to call the cops." I said as I put the note in my pocket.