CHAPTER ONE: YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN

Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily were all sprung across Aria's bed. It was quiet; anyone could almost hear a pin drop until Hanna broke the silence. "What are we going to do about Ian? We know that "A" knows that Ian's dead and that alone could be any evidence to plant on us. Remember, '"A is for Alison, not amateur."'

"You got that right." Aria continued, "'A' has something on us now and he or she or it, could use it if we mess up." Aria's phone rang and she looked at the number with one glance, but she didn't pick up.

Spencer took her stance. "'A' saved me for whatever reason. I could have been dead. Ian took the fall instead."

Aria's phone rang again for the second time and again, she didn't bother answering. It rang for the third.

"Who keeps calling you?" Spencer asked.

"It's no one," Aria quickly said as she fixed her hair with the hairbrush that she had been holding in her hand for at least an hour. Before she could say anymore, her phone rang again.

"Is it Ezra?" They all leaned toward Aria to see what her reply was going to be with grins on their faces as if they knew how hard it was for Aria to be with him; but frankly, Aria didn't even know if they were together or not. She remembered the last thing she said to him before she walked out the door leaving Ezra in the middle of the room with the door wide open. She remembered Jackie Evancho and if she had not broken off their relationship, Ezra, her boyfriend or whatever and her, would be married by now, probably living in Italy or something. She remembered that Ezra and Jackie could be seen together as a couple without them having to hide how they felt. Ezra was the only guy that she had fully trusted, yet he betrayed her. He took the job and Hollis knowing that Jackie was going to work there too. How could she believe him now? After all, he lied about the whole fiancé story and how he asked Jackie to marry him. Not that she was jealous; okay, she was jealous, but she loved Ezra and she really believed that Ezra did too. Maybe she took it a little too far. Maybe she could call him, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't.

"It's no one," Aria insisted.

"I have a feeling it's someone. Ezra. Ring a bell? What happened? Didn't you tell us that your dad was having a faculty mixer at your house? Is everything alright Aria?" Hanna touched Aria's shoulder assuring that everything was going to be fine – yeah, for Hanna maybe, but not for Aria.

"Jackie..." Aria started but Hanna interrupted her.

"She's working at Hollis?"

"No. She's BEEN working at Hollis. She was the teacher assistant there when Ezra and her..." Aria tried to cover up her tears, but no matter how hard she tried, she wanted to let it all out. But Aria had to be the strong one. Her brother needed her at a time where her mom and dad were sorting things out, and there was no way Aria was about to ruin that. For her brother, she had to at least try. No one could blame Aria for wanting to break down though. She saw her dad kissing Meredith, all of 'A's' texts, Ali's killer, Ian's death, her mom and dad living separately, and now, Ezra. It was a lot for a sixteen year old girl.

Spencer interjected, "Call him, Aria."

Aria dialed his number, one by one, one at a time. The phone rang for two seconds and then it stopped. Aria got nervous and she had no idea what she was going to say. "Ezra?" That was a start, but she didn't know what to say next. Her friends nudged her to put the call on speaker and she was in no mood to object.

"I tried calling you... and you didn't pick up. Is everything okay?" She had to admit that hearing his voice again was a good thing, but she didn't want to admit to him that calling him made her happy.

As much as she'd like to tell Ezra that everything was breaking down inside for her, she didn't have the nerve to. Aria was silent for a moment and then she spoke. "Everything's fine."

"We need to talk Aria. And now that we could be outside my little apartment... how about I take you out for coffee?"

Aria looked at her friends and they were nodding 'yes,' but Aria's heart was telling her different, but then she suddenly agreed. "I'd love that." Then, they hung up without a goodbye or anything more.

The rest of the girls got excited. "Coffee outside the little apartment? Sounds like an improvement." And - it was.

Aria went to that small coffee shop in Hollis and to be honest, she was happy... the happiest she had been for a long time. She heard her name being called and she turned around and standing few feet away, was the guy that she was in love with - Ezra Fitz. She wanted to run into his arms, but wasn't sure she was ready to be seen with him outside of his apartment. She wasn't sure if she knew what she wanted to say to him yet. She played this scenario over and over again in her head, and each time, it seemed perfect. Well now it was reality and if she and Ezra were meant to be, then she wouldn't mess up and she would play it perfectly like her imagination. She waited for a moment so that Ezra could catch up to her and they walked inside... holding hands like a real couple.

Looking back, Aria flashbacked to Ezra's apartment where she found the picture of Ezra and Jackie. Her heart sunk, but she was happy, and she wasn't going to let Jackie ruin it for her. She wasn't about to let Jackie ruin her moment with Ezra – especially now that she could be out in public with him and maybe go to Sea World, if she really wanted to. Back to reality now though.

She was sitting in a coffee shop with Ezra and there were so many things she wanted to say, but couldn't. Ezra loosened up the scene. "We need to talk."

"I know. You said that on the phone earlier." Aria leaned towards Ezra. "What about?"

"Us. You and me. What happened back at that faculty mixer at your house?"

"You KNEW that Jackie was working at Hollis." Aria realized that my voice was far beyond more than normal voice so she lowered it a bit so we wouldn't draw attention. "You KNEW that she was going to be there."

Ezra moved one seat over and took Aria's hand. "Honestly Aria, I had no idea she was going to be there." Ezra squeezed her hand. "I promise you there is no one that's like you Aria. Jackie was my past and now, you're my present and my future. You're the one I love."

Aria wished so desperately that she could believe him. Tears came rolling down her face. "You asked her to marry you Ezra. If she said yes, you two would be married and I wouldn't be a part of your life."

"But she said no. And if she hadn't said no, I would have never met you. There is no one like you and there is no one that makes me feel the way that you make me feel." Then Ezra kissed her... out in public where everyone could see, but he didn't care. He didn't care that people might report him. All he cared that he was with Aria.

A voice so familiar called Ezra's name, but they were too lost in the moment to recognize Jackie's voice. "Ezra?"

"Yes?" Ezra said without looking up, but then suddenly realized that Jackie was standing over them. Ezra's face was full of horror, but he tried to play it cool. "Jackie? What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to the university, so I stopped by for some coffee," Jackie replied with that perfect tone in her voice.

Her phone rang and she opened the text message. 'You didn't think that being out in the open would be easy, did you? -A.' Aria was terrified that she had to walk away and get some fresh air. "Ezra... I'm going to go."

Ezra grabbed Aria's hand before she had the chance to walk away. "No, wait. I'm coming with you."

Aria pulled away. "It's best if I go by myself." Then she walked out the door, but Ezra not taking a clue that Aria wanted to be alone, ran after her, leaving Jackie clueless in the middle of the café.

"Aria! Wait a minute..." Ezra caught his breath and finally caught up to Aria. "Can you at least for moment, not think about Jackie? I don't love her. I love you, Aria."

"I love you too but I can't help to think that you still have feelings for her. Can you blame me?"

"No, I don't blame you. You have every right to be upset and confused."

"I'm not upset or confused. I'm scared." Aria started to cry and Ezra took her into his arms and held her tightly.

"Scared of what? That I'm going to fall in love with Jackie again? I made that mistake once."

"You were in love with her?"

"I didn't mean it that way Aria."

"And you made that mistake once? What if I'm the next mistake?"

"You're not," Ezra assured her.

"How can I be so sure?"

Ezra kissed her. It was a long kiss. It was a kiss that any young girl would dream about in fairytales. "Now are you convinced? I could do that without caring that everyone might see us. My life is on the line by being with you Aria, but I don't care. I'd risk my entire life to be with you."

Aria wanted to believe him, but somehow, she couldn't. "Look, why don't we take things easy for awhile. I'm not going to force you to love me. If you love Jackie, you should be with her. You should be with the one that makes you happy. And if that's not me, then that's okay. I will always love you regardless if you love her or not. I just want you to be open about what your real feelings are."

Ezra took her hand. "I am honest with you Aria. I love you."

Someone from behind interrupted Ezra, "Excuse me. The university's that way and you're blocking my way." It didn't take long to guess that it was Jackie. Aria could still hear her voice.

Ezra spoke out first, "Jackie, why didn't you tell me that you were working at Hollis?"

Jackie turned around. "I thought you knew."

"I didn't. It's been over a year since we talked," Ezra started.

"I was going to talk to you over dinner tonight or tomorrow night..." Jackie looked at Aria and then back at Ezra, "but I see that you're busy."

The way that Jackie looked at Aria made her feel so small that she wanted to hide in a cave and never come out. It made Aria feel like a kid trying to live in grownup world. Well, she was a kid in a grownup world, but this time, it was different. She thought that living in a grownup world would be easy, but it was more like a train wreck to disaster.

Aria could feel the uneasiness in Ezra's voice, "Yeah, I'm busy." Ezra hugged Aria closer to him.

Aria didn't want to make Ezra feel uncomfortable as she thought he was that she had to say something. Aria held Ezra's hand and said, "Go Ezra," hoping that Ezra would say no and say that he'd rather spend the time with her.

But he didn't. Instead Ezra said, "Are you sure?"

Aria tried to grasp herself before she said anything more, "Of course." Aria looked Ezra in the eyes and tried to hold back the tears.

Ezra kissed Aria – this time a short kiss and he resumed his conversation with Jackie. "So what time? We need to catch up of a year's time that we lost."

"Tonight at seven? How about that restaurant across town?"

"Sounds good. I'll meet you there."

"Perfect. I should really get going now. I already wasted an hour of my time." Then Jackie walked away.

It was just the two of them now and Aria felt herself at peace, though she didn't know what to think. All that was running through her head was Ezra and Jackie having a nice conversation over dinner... without her.

Ezra saw the look in her eyes. "Are you sure this is alright?"

"Of course."

"Few moments ago you wanted to murder Jackie and now it's suddenly fine that I'm having dinner with her?"

"Will you stop?" She wasn't fine, yet he kept bringing Jackie's name up.

"Stop what?"

"Talking about Jackie. I already said it was fine. Can we leave it at that?" Her frustration at Ezra was heating up.

"You're not fine Aria. Why did you say yes?"

"Because I want you to be happy."

"I am happy. I'm always happy when I'm with you. You're the only one that I need to be happy. I don't need Jackie to fulfill that. She does completely the opposite. You're the only one that makes me happy." Ezra started to dial a number.

"Who are you calling?"

"Jackie."

"Why?"

Ezra told Aria to be quiet for a moment while he spoke into the receiver. "Jackie? I can't make it tonight. Sorry." Then Ezra hung up.

"What did you do that for?"

"I want to be with you tonight."

Ezra and Aria were still in the middle of the sidewalk and inside, Aria was happy that he called it off with Jackie. Aria whispered in his ear, "I want to be with you too."

Aria's phone rang and like suspected, it was 'A,' and she read the message silently to herself: 'It may be easy for now, but watch out. Reality is never as it seems. This bitch never leaves once I'm here. I'm watching. Beware –A.'

The chills ran down Aria's spine, but 'A' wasn't going to ruin her moment with Ezra. As she learned from her parents and back in Iceland a couple years back, there's only one chance and she had to live it like there is no tomorrow – like the world is going to end in the next split second. This was her moment and she wasn't about to let it disappear completely – not till the end of high school anyways, and that was more than a year away.