Aria closed her eyes and went through the events of the night. She couldn't believe it had all happened to her. It was something so special, so magnificent, and so unbelievable. Ezra Fitz, her teacher. Ezra Fitz, the most gorgeous and kind man in the world loved her. And she loved him. This kind of love, passionate and forbidden, was something she had only read about. Ezra was older than her but that wasn't even the major issue. The fact that Ezra was her teacher made everything so much more difficult. And the fact that there was someone stalking the every move of Aria and her friends made her love affair with Ezra even more fragile. And more exciting.
Ezra was everything Aria looked for in a guy. Kind, handsome, artistic. Ezra was like a Jane Austen or Bronte hero transported with a time machine to the 21st century. He was a gentleman. And since Aria had always felt mentally older than she physically was, the intelligent company of Ezra was just what she wanted. She admitted that when she first met him, she was totally smitten with his looks, but as soon as they started talking, she found so many similarities in their interests that the age difference felt like un-noticed. But as soon as she walked to her English classroom and saw Ezra there, in front of the board, she knew that if there was to be a relationship between them, it would not be easy.
Now, lying on her bed, Aria went through the events that had led to Ezra telling her that he loves her. He prepared her a romantic dinner in his apartment, the place that was now so dear not only to him, but also to her. They had talked about books, movies and poetry. Ezra had complimented her looks shyly. Aria loved how unsure and shy Ezra was around her. She also felt nervous once in a while, especially when talking about things Aria knew Ezra had more experience about. When compared to Ezra, Aria was still very inexperienced both mentally and physically. But still it seemed that most of the time, Ezra was the more nervous one. Aria liked to flirt with him, to make him blush. But she also liked how the compliments of Ezra made her feel like princess, like she really was special. What she did not like was the fact that she was not able to share any of this with her friends. The relationship with Ezra was too important to her. She did not want to trust the information about that relationship to anyone… But there was someone who knew everything, someone who was about to make everything so much more difficult.
As Aria was leaving Ezra's after the wonderful dinner, Ezra took her hand into his and she was about to open the door. Ezra took Aria into his arms and kissed her forehead gently. Ezra felt really insecure about the physical contact with Aria especially since he had no idea what kind of experience Aria had about it. Aria locked eyes with Ezra thus giving him the permission to go on. Ezra took Aria's face into her hands and kissed her lips first softly, then with more passion. When kissing Aria, Ezra felt so right, so lucky. He was kissing in his eyes the most beautiful girl in the world and this girl was kissing him back. Just as the kiss was getting more and more passionate, Aria moved back and was blushing.
"I really have to go now, I have been away for too long already!" Aria said, caressing Ezra's cheek with her palm.
Ezra moved closer to Aria, looked into her eyes, and for the first time in his life said those three magic words actually meaning them with this whole heart.
"Aria, I love you." Ezra said, looking passionately into Aria's eyes. Aria was startled but soon she smiled and said that she loved Ezra too. And she really meant it, for the first time in her life.
Aria kept smiling while lying in her bed. She still felt Ezra's lips on her own lips. She wanted to see him again, wanted to kiss him again, wanted to share all her secrets with him. But there was one secret she couldn't share with him. A secret that had been a part of her life for a long time now. And just as Aria was thinking of how happy she was that this secret, A, had not bothered her for a while, she heard her phone beep.