No One Loves You (Like I Love You)
5 years ago Ezra Fitz made the biggest mistake of his life. Her words still echoed in his mind;
"There never was a happy ending for us!"
He'd grabbed her and kissed her, thinking that it would have convinced her to stay, but she still walked away – and he let her. Not a day had gone by since then where he hadn't regretted that day. What they had was meaningful, and he shouldn't have let that slip away so easily.
They'd had a love so strong and so secure, but now the only thing that was left were the memories. The feelings were no more, at least not hers it appeared if the wedding announcement in the paper was anything to go by.
She was getting married. He'd saved the paper the announcement was written in, and he'd looked at it every day since then the past few months. The words were still the same. She was still getting married, and to Jason DiLaurentis of all people.
He couldn't expect her to have waited for him, but despite the fact that she had broken his heart that fateful day years ago, his love for her had never altered. It would never dry and blow away, no matter how much he'd wanted it to at times. It would definitely have made things a lot easier if his love for her had been capable of vanishing.
It was sad to think that all that would remain of their love were the letters and pictures, but none of the feelings. If only there had been a shred of her love for him left, he'd be able to change the upcoming events then.
In less than two days Aria would become Mrs DiLaurentis, and Ezra would still be miserable. He'd still be in the same apartment he'd been living in ever since he moved to Rosewood. He'd still be an unemployed struggling writer. He'd still barely be getting by on what he made from his occasional tutoring gigs. He'd still live a loveless life, pining for the one who got away years ago, and who'd now be married to someone else.
He was stuck in love and the memory of them, but she'd moved on so easily. Aria had graduated from Rosewood High and gone to college in California. She had run into Jason over there, and they had begun a relationship. He was now a therapist, and she was an artist. Everyone thought it was about time when Jason had popped the question, and Aria had accepted. They had immediately set a date which was tomorrow in the afternoon.
Ezra was happy that Aria had found someone to love her, but he wasn't happy with the fact that it wasn't him. Jason couldn't possibly love Aria the way Ezra had? He couldn't possibly know her like Ezra knew her? He wasn't meant to be with her, Ezra was.
He'd had his chance. He had something good, and he blew it. He regretted the day he'd foolishly let her walk away more than anything. He wanted a chance to tell her that, and tell her how he felt. He wanted to convince her not to marry Jason, to run away with him instead, but Aria's feelings for him appeared to have subsided long ago so how could he do that?
He had to try! He had been stupid enough to let her go. He wouldn't be too stupid not to try and get her back. She had to know how he felt, and then she could make her decision; to be with Ezra or marry Jason.
He just had to figure out where to find her. With that in mind he removed his eyes from her wedding announcement, and decided that he should do something useful. He had to locate her whereabouts.
He looked around his apartment for the phonebook he knew was somewhere in the room, and he knew both her number and adress would be in there. Phonebooks were a thing of the past, but he still relied on them. They were yet to let him down.
It had hidden itself well, but he finally found it lying halfway underneath his bed. He pulled it out and started flipping through it to find her name. Unfortunately those things were alphabetized by the lastnames, and therefore finding her name would take some time.
Eventually he found her name; Aria Montgomery. She wasn't living too far from there, and hopefully Jason wouldn't be there, otherwise it could get awkward. They were getting married soon so they were probably spending the day before the wedding apart.
He grabbed the keys from the counter in the kitchen and rushed out the door. He was driving over to her place right now to tell her how he felt, come what may.
No one loves you like I love you
Her mother had informed her that her wedding day would be the most important day of her live, but despite that Aria didn't feel nervous at all. The thing she had with Jason had always been easy, and the fact that she wasn't nervous about marrying him told her that he was the one. If she had any doubt that he wasn't then she'd probably be nervous. She felt butterflies as if they were trying to escape her stomach, but surely they weren't nerves?
She was enjoying her last few days as a single woman in her apartment alone (if you didn't count her best friends who were there with her), and after the wedding she'd be selling it to move into Jason's house and create a home together. She tried to ignore the fact that it was her dead friend's childhood home, and instead she tried to look at it only as his childhood home, and then it wasn't so bad.
Her friends were helping her prepare for the big day. Everything was almost in place, at least the most important details were. Her friends had brought something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue with them that day which was in Spencer's opinion the most important thing.
They had brought a pastel blue silk ribbon to tie around the waist of her wedding dress, and that was her something blue. They had brought her a gorgeous veil from an antique store which was her something old. They had brought her a tiara that they had loaned from Spencers grandmother, her something borrowed. They had also bought her a bracelet with the charms A, E, H, and S so she'd always have them close to her, and that was her something new.
Now they were in the bedroom of Aria's apartment. The petite bride-to-be was sitting on the bed with Hanna who was painting her toes. Her blonde best friend thought it was important to know beforehand how her nails were gonna look like on the big day, and currently her nails had four different colors with six still to go.
Spencer and Emily had somehow squeezed themselves into the chair Aria had by the window. They were sitting halfway on top of each other, but that didn't matter. They were watching the interaction between Aria and Hanna with smiles on their faces.
"Personally, I'd go with the red," Hanna declared as she painted the nail on Aria's pinky toe (as she called it) red, "But I'm not nearly done so you might like something else."
Aria studied her toes. So far she had a silver big toe, and the one next to it was blue, yellow, and lastly blue. Hanna picked up the purple nailpolish and began to paint Aria's big toe on the opposite foot.
"I don't know," Aria said with a smile, looking between her friends, "I'm kind of digging the multicolored look."
"It's your day!" Hanna acknowledged, picking up the black nailpolish, and began on the next toe. "I just don't think Jason will be that eager to rip you apart then."
Spencer looked digusted with Hanna's choice of words. "Han, that's my brother you're talking about." She pointed out, almost gagging at the thought.
"That's the best thing about marrying Jason," Aria revealed, offering Spencer a loving smile, "My best friend is becoming my sister."
The girls awed, and Hanna painted the middle toe green. Spencer placed her hand over her heart as a way of saying 'I love you', and Aria did the same, and they shared a moment while the last two toes became pink and gold.
Aria had picked Spencer as her maid of honor, and that didn't mean Hanna and Emily were any less important to her. Spencer had been picked because of her significance to both Aria and Jason. Hanna and Emily would still be bridesmaids.
"Isn't it weird that in less than two days the first of us will be married?" Emily asked the room, and the friends nodded. It was indeed weird. They were still very young, and it was fast for one of them to get married.
"But nothing is gonna change!" Aria declared, and the others quickly agreed. "Just because I'm getting married doesn't mean I have to become a suburban housewife. We're still young, there's still fun to be had, things to be experienced, and we're gonna experience them together!"
"I have an idea!" Hanna announced, looking at Aria with plea. "You cancel your honeymoon, and stay here with us!"
"Gosh, I would love to, Han," Aria said, and shared a look with the other two, and it was a look that was often accompanied with the blonde being her typical self, "I just don't think Jason would agree."
"Men!" Hanna exclaimed, and stuck out her bottom lip. "Who needs them!"
"Probably not the best day to give that speech." Spencer said, but couldn't help smiling at their friend's silliness. "Aria is getting married tomorrow after all, and..."
Spencer was interrupted mid-sentence when a knock on the door was heard. The friends glanced at each other, sharing a confused look. Anyone they could think of that could be knocking were all there. None of them went to get the door because of their confusion, and after awhile another knock was heard.
Aria frantically blew on her nails for them to dry so she could open the door before the person outside left, but Emily took pity on her tiny best friend with the position she was in.
"I'll get it." She told Aria, and managed to wrickle free from underneath Spencer to go get the door. It only took a few minutes, and then she reappeared in the room. "I'm sorry, Aria. I couldn't get him to leave."
Aria shot her friend a very confused look, and then she carefully got up from the bed and left the room on her heels. It took awhile to get into the hall/kitchen/livingroom walking like that, and she wasn't prepared for who she saw when she got in there.
"Ezra..." She breathed out, and unconsciously placed her fingers on her lips as she reminisced the last kiss they shared. She quickly removed her hand when she became aware of what she was doing, and folded her arms across her chest for protection.
"Hi." He said lamely, struggling to figure out exactly what to say, but something needed to be said. "You look great."
"Don't do that!" She exclaimed, and it was a pure reflex on her part. "You can't just show up here unannounced and say stuff like that. That's not how things work."
He smiled softly. "I know." He then said as he searched her eyes for some sort of response, a hint that something was still there, but she was putting up a shield around her, and refused to give it to him. He decided to try and break it down slowly. "I saw the wedding announcement in the paper."
"That was months ago." She pointed out in monotone voice, and she looked at him coldly.
He offered her another soft smile. "I know. I should have been here sooner!"
"You shouldn't be here at all." She interrupted, "You have no right to come here. I don't know what your agenda is coming here, but any right you had to do that you lost a long time ago. You can't just show up here without any notice."
"I could go outside, and call you to let you know that I'm coming over?" He offered as a joke, but he could tell right away that she was far from amused.
"Why are you here?" She interrupted again, using a demanding tone of voice. He didn't reply right away as he contemplated what to say, so she repeated her question with a slightly raised voice; "Why are you here, Ezra?"
"Because you're getting married," Ezra explained as tears formed in his eyes. He was getting emotional sooner than expected, but the situation along with his love for her made him well up, "But there are some things I have to tell you before..."
"Don't do that!" She practically shrieked, tears forming in her eyes. Despite the tears, her guard was kept up by her folded arms. "Don't come here and say things like that."
"I haven't even begun saying the things I have to say." Ezra said, and took a step closer towards Aria, but she instantly backed away. "Aria, please listen to me."
He looked at her pleadingly, and she closed her eyes, and shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no..." She said repeatedly, mostly to convince herself as she kept her eyes shut. She refused to look at him. She refused to let him do this to her, to let him provoke these feelings that were supposed to have disappeared long ago.
Ezra sighed and tried once again to deliver the message he had intended to from the very beginning; "Aria..."
"NO!" She shouted before he even got the chance to construct a proper sentence. Her eyes were still closed, but the tears continued to flow. "I'm marrying Jason, and nothing you say can change that so just stop. Go away, I don't wanna hear anything you have to say!"
"Aria..." She could hear the affection in his voice as he said her name, but she refused to let him in. She refused to let him ruin everything. "I know you're marrying Jason, and I don't wanna ruin that if that's really what will make you happy, but there are some things you need to know before you marry him."
Aria kept shaking her head, her eyes still closed, and her arms folded. She wanted him and his words to go away, but she said nothing to prevent him from saying these things. She did nothing to make him go away.
"I know he loves you, anybody would. I don't know anything about your relationship. I don't know what you've shared or how well you know each other. I don't know what you have been through to get where you are, and how much you love each other, but I..."
"Please leave." Aria interrupted his speech, and her voice wasn't much louder than a whisper. She finally opened her eyes to look at him, and he could see the despair.
"Fine, I'll leave, but not until I've said what I need to say." He said, attempting once again to take a step closer to her. This time she didn't back away from him, but her body language tensed up more than it already was. "No one loves you like I love you. No one needs you the way I do! No one knows you like I know you. No one hears you the way I do."
"Please leave." She simply repeated, blinking rapidly to make the tears fade. He tried to wipe them away for her, but she backed out of his reach. "All of that may be true, Ezra, but that's not necessarily a good thing."
"I love you, and I can't live without you." He tried to close the gap between them once more, but she kept moving away from him. "I don't know how else to put it."
"I'm marrying Jason," Aria said, and mimicked Ezra's words; "I don't know how else to put it."
"Are you really gonna deny the fact that I still have a place in your heart?" Ezra questioned, and Aria avoided his gaze. "Can you turn away from the love that we share just like that? Doesn't it matter to you at all?"
Aria refused to let him get the better of her like he used to do in the past. He couldn't just swoop in, and knock her off her feet like he used to do. She wouldn't let him turn her world upside down. She had something good with Jason, and she wouldn't jeopardize that for someone who had continued to let her down in the past.
"Would you please just go away?" Aria tried pleading him once again. She wished her friends would hear the argument and come to her aid, but so far that hadn't happened.
Ezra refused to obey her pleas as long as he didn't hear her deny that she still had feelings for him. So far she'd asked him to go away, and maintained that she loved Jason, but she hadn't refused that she still had feelings for Ezra. It kept him hopeful, and it made him stay!
She locked eyes with him, trying half-heartedly to shoot him daggers with her eyes. Either she couldn't bear to, or this conversation she was having with him was seriously tearing on her. She didn't want it to be going on, it was the last thing she needed.
She just wanted to be free to live and love in peace. She wanted to marry Jason without any doubts or conflicting feelings. She didn't want Ezra to be standing in her apartment and professing his feelings for her. She needed that 5 years ago, and now it was just ruining everything.
"I can't do this, Ezra." She pleaded one last time, but he still wasn't budging, and a new batch of tears surfaced in her eyes. She couldn't handle all of these emotions so close to the big day.
"Say you don't love me, and I'll go away." He whispered as he stepped closer to her, and this time she didn't move away. He gazed into her beautiful eyes with affection. "Just say the word, Aria!"
"I can't do that either." She spoke softly, and he reached out for her hand, finally pulling her arms apart. He lifted it up to his mouth and kissed it. He kissed it multiple times, and began trailing kisses from her hand all the way up to her shoulder. His mouth searched for hers, and that's when she pulled away. "Don't!"
"I can't live with the knowledge that you'll never be mine, that you're marrying someone else. It's unbearable." He explained, his voice soft and caring, and she tried her best not to be sucked in again. "Every moment of every day I wanna see you, and I just wanna say how much I love you. I can't live the rest of my life without you. I know our past has been messy, but that's our past, and I wouldn't change it even if I could. I just wish we hadn't lost all that time, but I don't wanna lose anymore. I want us to have a future. I want us to have whatever you want so please choose me, Aria. No one loves you like I love you."
She shook her head, struggling to find the right words to say. Instead she walked past him over to the door and opened it, holding it for him. She couldn't deal with this. It was too much, and she just wanted him to go away.
"Please leave." She repeated those words for what felt like the billionth, and she avoided looking at him as he finally obeyed her wishes and left. She closed the door behind him as he left, and then she turned her back to the door to rejoin the girls in the bedroom.
However, she didn't get that far. She crumbled down in the sofa and began sobbing. Everything had seemed perfect so of course something had to go ruining it. Happily ever after just didn't exist in Rosewood, at least not for Aria and her friends it seemed.
She couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened, everything that Ezra had said to her about his feelings for her, and the fact that he wanted her to choose him over Jason. Any other day it would have been less stressful to think about, but he had chosen the day before her wedding of all days to show up on. It was pretty insensitive in her opinion.
But why was she even upset about it? She loved Jason, and Ezra's words shouldn't matter to her. It shouldn't throw her off that he'd made this big declaration of love. Sure, she'd probably always love him in some way, but that was only because he'd been her first love. It was past tense now.
Then why did she feel so funky? This was the last thing she needed. She would have been fine if she'd never seen Ezra again, but he'd succesfully managed to shake her up. It was so frustrating, and she hated that she'd almost given into him. She'd almost let him kiss her, and she loved Jason – she was marrying Jason. She couldn't deal with this, she didn't want to deal with this.
She grabbed one of cushions from the couch, and screamed into it in an attempt to make everything go away. It was a lost battle, but soon her friends rushed into the livingroom to aid their friend. Where were they fifteen minutes ago?
"What's wrong?" Emily asked as she sat down in the chair across from Aria, a worried look featuring her face.
Aria sat up in the couch, allowing room for Spencer and Hanna to sit down next to her. She sighed, and then began to explain to her friends everything that had just happened between her and Ezra, but she left out the almost kiss. Jason was Spencer's brother, and there was no need to make everything worse than it already was.
"But you love Jason. You're marrying him." Spencer pointed out when Aria had finished her tale. She was visually upset, and Aria could tell that she did right in not revealing the kiss that almost happened. "Ezra had no right to come here, and try to mess that up."
Hanna shook her head at their smarter friend, and then she said; "Spence, Jason is your brother. You can't be neutered!"
"So many things wrong with that sentence." Spencer said as she stared at Hanna with disbelief for few seconds, but then she turned her attention to Aria. "But seriously, what did he expect coming here? That you'd just drop everything to go be with him? That's all you ever did when you were with him; you sacrificed everything, but it was never enough, and now he wants you to turn your back on happily ever after? I'm sorry, that's not gonna happen. You'd be stupid to throw everything away for him."
"I don't think you're being fair now, Spencer. Aria is clearly upset, and you're forcing this decision on her." Hanna argued, "What if she wants to be with Ezra? They have always had this epic love story. Sure, it hasn't always been easy, but I always thought that they were endgame."
Spencer was about to open her mouth to retort when Emily interrupted; "Guys, you're forgetting one thing! However we may feel about this matter, it will only be Aria's decision to make, and we should stand by her."
Aria mouthed a thank you to Emily, and the taller girl nodded her head slightly as a response. If an argument had broken out between Spencer and Hanna, she wouldn't have been able to take it. They both had valid points, but in the end Emily was right. No one could make this decision for her.
She had a lot of history with Ezra, there was no denying that, but that was what it was; history. Maybe she was confusing that with the presence? Maybe what Ezra had awoken in her earlier was only the residue of an old feeling that belonged in the past? What she did know was that her feelings for Jason belonged in the present, and hopefully the future as well.
What Ezra had said was bittersweet. It was always nice to know that someone loved you, but she didn't need that from him. He had his chance, but he blew it, and now she had this great guy with none of that drama. It was a simple life, and that's what she wanted after everything she'd been through.
She sighed, offering her friends a tired smile. "I'm marrying Jason." She revealed, and Spencer, who sat next to her, cheered while hugging the dear life out of her. "I love him, and Ezra's words don't change that."
When she said it she felt content with it, and she was looking forward to her wedding tomorrow. She couldn't wait to be married to Jason. The jitters that anyone would feel before their wedding had disappeared, but Aria didn't view that as something alarming.
She put the incident with Ezra behind her, and spent the rest of the day having fun with a friends like they had initially intended to. Tomorrow she would marry Jason with her friends there beside her.
No one loves you like I love you
The antique veil was securely tucked to the tiara from Spencer's grandmother, and placed in Aria's hair that was done in loose curls for the day. She was nearly ready for the big day. She just needed some finishing touches.
Emily placed the charm bracelet the girl's had gotten for Aria around the tiny girl's wrist, locking it securely. Hanna took the pastel blue silk ribbon, and wrapped it around the waist of Aria's wedding dress, tying it with a beautiful bow in the back.
Spencer stood before Aria with her hands folded over her chest, feeling moved by the moment. The wedding hadn't even started, and the fierce girl was already blubbering. What wasn't she gonna be like when it actually did?
"You look so beautiful." She gushed, and the other two quickly joined in with speeches of how beautiful Aria looked, but they were talking over each other so it came out gibberish.
Aria chuckled lightly, thankful for the friends she had. "Thanks. I guess it's true what they say about brides then..."
Hanna shook her head. "No, that's not true! Has anyone ever seen the finale of Beverly Hills 90210 where Donna and David get married? Talk about an ugly bride! And the same goes for babies. That whole "all babies are beautiful/cute" crap. My ass! Most babies are rumplefugly!" She stopped her rant when she received some very saying looks from her friends. "But you look so beautiful, Aria. The rest of us shouldn't even bother wearing white on our wedding day 'cos you're so unbelievably gorgeous."
"Thanks, Han." Aria took her friend's hand and squeezed it lightly, and she grabbed Spencer's hand as well, and then Spencer grabbed Emily's, who grabbed Hanna's so they were standing in a circle together. "Thank you all for being there for me. I could not ask for better friends, and now we get to share this day together. I couldn't have done it without you guys."
They stood there in silence for awhile, appreciating each other's company, until Spencer finally broke it; "Would it be okay if I go to check on my big brother, soon-to-be-sis?"
Aria swung her arm in the direction of the door, a gesture that allowed Spencer to leave. She threw one last "you're beautiful" at their tiny friend, and then she was out the door, leaving the other three behind.
"Are you nervous?" Emily questioned as she stepped through the room, and sat down in the sofa that was placed in the bridal room of the church. Hanna quickly followed her example, and sat down next to her.
"Not really." Aria said, sitting down in the chair across from them with a slight smile on her face. "But that's a good thing, right? That I don't feel nervous?"
Emily nodded, offering the bride-to-be a reassuring smile. "It's totally a good thing. Maybe you don't feel nervous because you know Jason is the one."
"But shouldn't there be some butterflies in the pit of my stomach? Something that marks the seriousness of an impending marriage?" Aria continued to question. Her smile from before had vanished, and a look of concern now featured her face.
"Not necessarily..." Emily began, but was interrupted by their favorite blonde.
"Hogwash!" Hanna exclaimed, and Emily glared at her warningly, but she ignored it. "Marriage is a big step. It's until death do you part, and if Aria was really with the one then there should be butterflies, and she'd be freaking out as we speak at the thought of the giant commitment she was about to make." The look in Emily's eyes intensified, but Hanna just carried on her rant; "Look, Em, Aria just told us she doesn't feel nervous about marrying Jason, and you already gave her the fairytale version, that everything is cookies and sunshine, and that's why she doesn't feel nervous, but please allow me to be the realistic one here. Let me offer her an alternative version; that she might not be nervous because she knows that Jason isn't the one, and then the commitment isn't as big as if she was venturing into it with her soulmate. If Jason was the one, she'd be feeling all sorts of butterflies, jitters, tinglies, and whatever else comes with it."
Aria took in every single word of Hanna's rant, and they shook her up to an extent where she didn't know what was up, and what was down anymore. Could Hanna be right? Or was Emily? She was so confused.
"Ezra and I almost kissed!" Aria blurted out in an attempt to get rid of all the confusion. Spencer wasn't there at the moment so it was a safe place, and maybe if she talked it through with Emily and Hanna, it would relieve her somehow. Her friends had very different reactions to that piece of information; Emily's eyes grew wide with shock, and her jaw practically hit the floor; Hanna, however, smiled in the weirdest possible way, almost knowingly. "Well, he tried to kiss me, but I stopped him."
"Why would he try to kiss you in the first place?" Emily wanted to know, looking at her sternly. "People don't just kiss people out of the blue, so what the hell made him think that it was okay to try and kiss you?"
Aria felt very ashamed of herself when she started to mumble her explanation in the hope that Emily wouldn't hear; "He might have said that if I could tell him that I didn't love him, he'd leave, but I couldn't so he didn't. Things happened, and then he tried to kiss me."
She might have tried to keep her words as muffled as possible, but Emily still heard them. "Things? What things?" She continued to question her smaller friend fiercely, and in that light she reminded Aria so much of Spencer.
"Things, okay?" Aria exclaimed angrily, shooting the athletic girl a harsh look. "It doens't matter. I'm sure that what he triggered were past feelings, and I didn't say yes to him. That's what matters! I wanna marry Jason, I really do, but I just figured that I could be honest with my best friends without having one of them point fingers at me."
Emily sighed. "Fine, I'll drop it."
Tension formed in the room, and Aria willed it to go away so she said; "I actually wanted to ask you guys something very important before the wedding." She had peeked her friends' interest, and they both sat up straight, listening intently. "As you know, I'm not on the best terms with my family after the Ezra thing so I don't exactly have someone to give me away, and I was wondering if one of you would like that promotion?"
"Emily should do it!" Hanna quickly said, refusing the offer. She didn't believe that Aria was marrying the right person, and she'd feel fake giving her away then.
Aria looked at Emily expectantly, hope glinting in her eyes. "But I'm gay, and this is a church, and traditionally..." Emily spoke softly, the insecurity streaming through her voice.
Aria interrupted her friend's shaky rant, her eyes and voice oozing with the confidence Emily seemed to lack; "Call me a rebel then 'cos I want you to do it."
Emily mumbled incoherently, but somewhere in the midst of the incohesive mess, Aria was certain that she heard her taller friend agree to do it. Aria's face lit up like a christmas tree.
"Maybe we should let Ted know about the changes?" Hanna suggested from her seat, and Emily quickly agreed. They stood up from the sofa, gave Aria a brief hug, and then they left the room to complete their task.
Aria now sat alone in the room with her pre-wedding thoughts. There still wasn't any nervousness in regards to marrying Jason, but there was a lot of confusion to the fact that there weren't any 'tinglies' – as Hanna had put it. Her mind was a jumbled mess to say the least.
She shouldn't be this confused when the wedding would race out the stables in a short hour. Was Hanna right? Was Emily? She knew where Spencer stood; stubbornly insisting that Jason was the one no matter what you told her, and maybe she was right, too?
But Aria was already at the church, she was in her gorgeous wedding dress, sitting in the chapel while she waited for the wedding to begin. She was set to marry Jason. Maybe she wasn't as confused as she thought? Maybe she had it all together, and was doing the right thing?
Jason was amazing. Granted, he fell for her when she taken, but he hadn't known that. It had been difficult to watch his heart shatter completely when he found out, but he remained as her friend. When things crumbled with Ezra, he'd been a shoulder to lean on, and slowly Aria began to feel what he was feeling.
Taking the leap to date him had been difficult. He was her murdered best friend's older brother, and their eyes were so similar. It frightened her, really. But then he looked at her so caringly, a way Alison had never looked at any of her friends, and then it wasn't difficult at all. It turned out to be easiest thing she had ever done, falling in love with Jason.
He had a past that wasn't squeaky clean, but so did Aria. She hadn't cared about who he was, what mattered was the incredible human being he had transformed into. In his spare time he helped troubled teenagers who had the same struggles as he had at that age, and the way he cared about each and every single one of those kids was probably what she loved most about him.
He was indeed caring, and he showed that to her every day. He loved her with all his heart, and slowly hers forgot that it had once been broken. The pieces puzzled back together, and it was finally whole again. The past, the feelings she'd had, her broken heart were like flowers in a big field that had dried, and blown away to a place where they seemed silent and so small.
It was just her and Jason, and the love they shared. There wasn't any of the drama she'd experienced in previous relationships, only their shared devotion for each other. She wouldn't say that it was perfect, nothing was, but it was pretty damn close, and she loved that.
A year ago Jason had proposed to her, and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that the right answer was 'yes! Oh, my God, yes!'. So they started planning the wedding, and Aria allowed him to have his input. She'd never been the bridezilla type of girl. Hanna probably would be, but she wasn't. Aria had wanted an out-door wedding, and she hadn't been keen on wearing white. She'd wanted to wear a lavender, flowy dress, but then Jason had expressed how important a church wedding was to him, and how he would love to see his bride walks towards him all dressed in white, so she had changed her mind.
She was wearing a white dress today, wasn't she? Instead she found a different way to incoperate the lavender, and her three best friends were wearing lavender bridesmaids dresses. Hanna had thanked her earlier for actually putting them in pretty dresses as she still 'had nightmares about the brown sack she wore at Isahell and her dad's wedding'. There was really nothing to thank her for; Aria had never been a fan of sticking the bridesmaids in something hideous to make the bride look more beautiful. That didn't matter to her.
So maybe she was confused, but one thing she knew for sure was that she wouldn't have put that much effort into her wedding if she didn't love Jason. She did love him with everything her tiny body could muster, and maybe she wasn't nervous because everything with him had always been easy? She chose to believe that.
Satisfied with the conclusion she had come to, she stood up from the chair she'd been seated in, and made her way to the right side of the room where a mirror hung on the wall. She stopped in front of it, taking in her appearance.
She wasn't wearing a long princess gown as she felt she'd be drowning in fabric then. She was wearing a white dress that went to just below the knee, but somehow it still seemed very big to her. The upper part of the dress was strapless and tight, while the skirt of the dress resembled a tutu in some way, and around her waste was the pastel blue silk ribbon that Hanna had neatly tied into a bow. No, she didn't feel like a princess in that dress. She felt more like a fairy, and if Hanna was there she'd have pointed out that she was the size of one as well. The tiara she wore, and the beautiful veil princessed it up, and she smiled at her reflection.
She'd never looked as beautiful as she did now, and she didn't care what Hanna had said earlier; every bride looked beautiful on her wedding day.
Her mind was elsewhere as she was still admiring herself in the mirror, but she heard a faint knock, and the door that opened and closed behind her. She assumed that her bridesmaids had returned from their little mission.
"Have you told Ted about the changes?" She asked them absentmindedly, her back towards the door. But the person who replied wasn't either of her friends, he wasn't even female.
"I don't think that's my place." His voice said, and it belonged to someone she knew. With a startled gasp she turned around to face him, and there he stood; Ezra. "Hello, Aria."
It took her mere seconds to become wound up by his presence. She was upset... No, downright furious! "Okay, showing up yesterday was one thing, Ezra, but this is my wedding day." She said, and she took the same position as the last time he saught her out; she folded her arms across her chest, and looked at him with eyes that were piercing with anger. "Do you even care about that?"
"I do care! That's why I'm here." Ezra explained as he stepped closer towards the object of his affection, and unlike yesterday Aria wasn't backing away. She was as close to the wall as she could possibly come.
"Don't start with that 'no one loves you like I love you' crap again. Your words would be wasted!" She informed him, sounding as unimpressed with him as she looked, but he ignored her words, and took another step closer. "I love Jason, and I'm marrying him in half an hour. You said what you had to say yesterday, and it didn't change my mind. What could you possibly have to say now that could?"
She sounded very upset with him, and her tone told him that her mind was set, but something in her words made him think that she did want him to try changing her mind. He couldn't explain it, he just had this feeling.
"Well, you've already vetoed 'no one loves you like I love you', even if that statement couldn't be any truer." He said with a subtle smirk, but that seemed to upset her further as she was now shaking her head rapidly at him. "I've made so many mistakes with you, more than I care for. I lost you because I was stupid enough to let you walk away, and I shouldn't have, but despite that the feelings still remain. I think yours do, too."
She stared into his blue pools, her own hazels glinting with the tears she tried to deny. She shook her head again, willing him to go away. "No, I've suppressed them."
"Suppressed means that they're still there at the root of somewhere you don't wish to recall, but if you find that place within yourself, you'll see that your heart still beats strongly for me." He said poetically, but the only thing it earned him was another headshake. If she wasn't cornered, and if she wasn't in love with Jason, what he'd said to her could be considered romantic. She saw it as rude.
"I don't wanna look within myself, Ezra." She argued, "You broke my heart. You allowed me to sacrifice everything for you, and then you crushed me. My parents aren't here today as a direct result of those sacrifices, and it's my damn wedding day. Do you honestly think I'd pick you over Jason?"
"But yesterday you said..."
"Nevermind what I said yesterday!" She interrupted, and he jumped back at the startling volume her voice hit. "Yesterday you spoke to a young woman who was about to make a life altering commitment, and had so many butterflies in the pit of her stomach that she almost couldn't stand it, and then you left, and the nerves left with you. She was confused about what that meant, but now I don't feel confused anymore. I know now that the confusion was my version of pre-wedding nerves."
He felt her slipping away so he made a rash decision, and took the last few steps towards her, crashing his lips onto hers in the hopes that she would respond, and realize that her future lied with him. He did get a response, but not in the way that he'd hoped.
A loud smack was heard, and before he'd sensed what had happened, his cheek started throbbing with pain. He backed away, and stared at her with disbelief. She had slapped him so hard that there already was a red mark on his cheek.
She looked into his eyes, hazel meeting blue, and in that moment she knew that any feelings she'd once had for him had fully disappeard, and her heart truly belonged to Jason DiLaurentis.
No one loves you like I love you
The wedding had begun. Hanna had walked down the aisle, and Spencer had just walked through the doors to the church to follow the same direction. Emily would be next, giving Aria away, but the tiny bride wasn't there.
She knew when the wedding would start, she was the bride after all. Emily found it odd that she wasn't there yet, but she was Aria, and maybe she was just cutting it really close, and doing the wedding with her own weird style.
Emily peeked through the doors, and saw that Hanna and Spencer had gotten to the alter where Jason was also waiting, probably nervous and excited at the same time. No one deserved a happy ending more than him if you asked Emily.
She closed the door as the Wedding March began playing from the organ, and she had expected Aria to come running at that moment, but she didn't. The organ player stopped pressing the keys of his instrument when he realized that the bride had missed her cue, and after a little pause he began playing it again from the top. Still no Aria.
The music died out again, and at that moment a tiny flash of white came racing towards her with a bouquet of blue lilies safely tucked in one hand. She stopped in front of Emily, out of breath from the run.
"Sorry," Aria said through her heaving breaths, looking apologetically at her taller friend, "I had to get rid of my pesty past, but you were right; Jason is the one for me." Emily broke into one of the biggest smiles that Aria had ever seen on her, and that made the bride even more excited to marry the guy of her dreams. "Let's get me hitched!"
Emily peeked through the door again, and saw that the guests were gossiping amongst themselves about what could possibly have happened to the bride, and at the alter stood her friends with Jason. They seemed worried, but then Jason noticed Emily, and she gave him a thumb up.
He cued the organ player, and the Wedding March was played for the third time, and this time a bride stepped through the doors, her free arms linked with her former bridesmaid who was now giving her away.
When she reached the alter, and faced Jason as the ceremony began, it became evident that he was moved to tears at the side of his love in her wedding dress. The sight of him with tears in his eyes brought tears to Aria's as well.
They had chosen not to do their own vows at the wedding. They had the rest of their lives together to tell each other how they felt, today was merely the beginning of the rest of their lives.
Ted, the guy who was marrying them, had gotten to the point where he questioned Jason if he'd take Aria for better or worse, sickness or health, and so on... As long as they both should live.
"I do!" Jason said confidently, but very moved by the event as the tears of joy in his eyes became stronger.
Upon hearing those simple words from him, the butterflies reawakened inside of her, and it felt like she was bubbling over with joy. Then Ted turned to her, and gave her the very same questions to which she could only reply; "I do!"
Rings were exchanged, and they were pronounced man and wife. Jason looked into Aria's eyes with more affection than she'd ever seen, and then he kissed her for the first time as her husband, and her heart soared with love.
"I love you." He whispered in her ear, and placed another tender kiss on her lips while the guests in the church, her two best friends, and her new sister cheered the newlyweds on.
Ezra had been wrong. No one loved her like Jason loved her, and no one loved Jason like she loved him.
No one loves you like I love you
Disclaimer; Let's get this one out of the way; I don't own Pretty Little Liars, but I desperately wish that I did!
Dedication; I have written fics for different fandoms, and it has always been a habit of mine to dedicate one-shots, chapters, or stories to someone. I've written a few PLL stories, but haven't yet brought the dedications with me in this area. However, I'm doing that now. I'm bringing it back. With that said, I'd like to dedicate this one to the first one who reviews this work of fiction. So First Reviewer, this one is for you :).
Now onto my actual author's note; I will start with a little backstory, bear with me please ;). The idea for this story came to me awhile ago after the finale of season 3, and the Ezria break up. It's pre-Ezra, the jerk, and very much pre-Alison, The Girl Who Lived (and yes, that was a Harry Potter reference, dearies).
I always intended for this story to have a happy ending for Ezria, but as I was writing the second Ezria scene I changed my mind. To that I would like to use a phrase that many politics pride themselves on; you have a stand until you take the next. So this turned out to end happily for Jaria (which I'm also a great supporter of. I'm a supporter of anyone who treats Aria right, really). After that statement you must be thinking; but Ezra certainly hasn't treated Aria right. And to that I can only agree. He hasn't, but I haven't been as big of an Ezria fan as I used to be. Not due to what has happened in season 4. No, my dear readers, I have to take you back to the middle of season 3 where Aria confronted Ezra about Maggie, and he threw A in her face. Since then my heart hasn't beated as strongly for them as it used to. It still beats for them, but not quite in the same way.
Now, I know that you must be disappointed that I changed direction in this, having originally intended a happy Ezria ending to which I must refer you to an Ezra quote from season 2; Life isn't always romantic, sometimes it's realistic! However, I have a proposition for you... If you want me to, and if I get enough reviews urging me to, I will write an alternate ending that ends as originally intended.
Lastly, I would like to thank you lovely lot for reading this, and it would mean the world to me if you reviewed :).
Laters,
AK-tutti :)