Okay guys, I know I'm working on Falling Slowly (please go read it if you haven't) but I really wanted to write this AU story. I was inspired by an idea from another website, and wondered how it would play out if applied to Ezria. It's different but I hope you like it! PLEASE review!

Aria Montgomery logged onto to her HollisWrites account. The night before, she'd posted a new story and could no longer fight the anticipation of reading the reviews from other writers. HollisWrites was the University's online literary community where English major students submitted their works of fiction to be read by other students. Though she was still in high school, Aria's dad worked as a professor at Hollis and managed to get an account. He thought it would help develop her writing, and as long she could keep her age a secret, she could keep the account. So far, Aria had mainly stuck to the romance genre and much to her surprise, was one of the top writers in the field. The community of college friends that she'd made on the website gave her so much support, and it did wonders for her confidence. Unlike most kids her age, Aria knew what she wanted in life and she wasn't afraid to pursue it.

Braving herself, she opened up her latest story and began reading the reviews. It appeared that there was a really great reception, and people loved it. That was until Aria reached the very last comment-someone with the username "E" managed to make her heart sink with just a sentence:

E: I was cringing through most of this...you've obviously never been in love before.

Sure, Aria had received criticism before, but it was always constructive and kindly worded. This "E" character had no right to bring her personal life into a review like that. Who did they think they were? Aria clicked on their profile and discovered "E" was a male whose favorite poet was Ezra Pound, at least judging from the picture of Ezra Pound he had on his avatar. Besides that, there was no information indicating who he was, aside from the two poems he'd posted. Clicking on one, Aria read through and realized she had to read it once again-because it was that good. The poem was slightly too dark for her liking, but she grudgingly admit that he was a really great poet. Still, that gave him no right to attack her like that; maybe she was overreacting, but she'd never seen anyone write a review like that before. Making a rash decision, she decided to message him and let him know exactly how she felt about his little snide comment.

Ari.A: Hello there. Thank you for rude and tasteless comment on my story. I don't know why you read it if you were cringing so much, but thanks for that extra read that I can add to my stats. Have a good day!

She wanted to add "douche" at the end, but decided against it to her better judgement. Suddenly, her laptop pinged. "E" was online it seemed.

E: Someone's bitter ;). If you can't take it, don't put yourself out there, babe. Rule of life.

Aria fumed with rage.

Ari.A: Number 1, don't call me "babe" and secondly, you're a douche. Good day.

Aria got ready to log off, but he responded right away.

E: Don't leave yet, babe. I'm just doing you a favour. Don't you want to know why I hated it so much? Tsk, not the sign of someone who wants to take writing seriously.

Aria clenched her fist, but realized he was right. She did want to know what was so terrible about her writing. Jerk.

Ari.A: Why

E: Well, it's too ethereal and idealistic. Hate to break it to you, but love doesn't work like that.

Aria scoffed. Obviously she knew love didn't work like that, that's why fiction existed.

Ari.A: And I suppose you're an expert? Please, E, teach me more about love.

E: Thought you'd never ask ;). Name the time and place, and I'm there.

Aria blushed a little. What a typically egotistical alphamale.

Ari.A: Shut up. What's your name anyway?

He didn't respond right away, and Aria found herself slightly disappointed. Maybe she shouldn't have asked that. Just as she got ready to log off, she heard a ping.

E: Why do you want to know?

Ari.A: So I can find out where you live and kick your ass.

E: Kinky ;). If I told you any more about myself, you'd fall in love. You may refer to me as "E" or actually, I like "Your Highness" better.

You may refer to me...wow, could he BE anymore obnoxious?

Ari.A: How about I refer to you as "Douche?"

E: With a capital "D" too?! Babe, you flatter me.

"Aria! Come down for dinner, honey! Jacob's here."

Despite the fact that her best friend was over for dinner, Aria found herself wanting to talk more to the enigmatic douche that was "E". Sighing, she bid him farewell.

Ari.A: I have to go now. Don't leave me anymore mean comments, or I will find you.

E: Haha! Good for you, Aria. Best to get away before you fall in love with me.

Aria groaned. It wasn't the fact that he'd once again managed to sound full of himself, but the fact that he'd addressed her by her name for the first time. It made her heart flutter, which was ridiculous. How could a stranger calling her by her name get a reaction like that? Maybe E was right, she was too far into romanticism.

Ari.A: This isn't over yet, E. Good night.

With that, she logged off and went down for dinner. Her mom had cooked broccoli lasagne, Jacob's favourite. Her whole family loved Jacob. The two had grown up together, and had been best friends since the day he'd defended her in kindergarten when the class bully, Samuel, tried to pull her hair. Jacob was like a brother to her, and probably the only person besides her friend Kyiala who knew just about everything about her.

"Jacob!" She squealed, jumping into his outstretched arms. Jacob laughed as he playfully tousled her hair.

"Someone's happy to see me." He beamed.

Aria's mother sent her a knowing glance behind his back. For some reason, she had it in her head that they would end up together despite Aria's constant referring to Jacob as her brother. Rolling her eyes, she took a seat at the table.

"So, how'd the latest post go? Everyone love your story?" Her father asked as they all dug in.

Aria thought about E, and only managed a weak smile in response. It was crazy how you could get a million people telling you they loved you, and it only took one person to claim otherwise and break you down. Just because she now understood where he was coming from, didn't mean it hurt any less.

"Not exactly. I mean, most people liked it but one person told me they were cringing all the way through and that I knew nothing about love."

Jacob put his fork down. "What? Who the hell said that?"

Aria shrugged. She wasn't about to delve into her conversation with E, it felt too personal.

"Well, if you find out, tell me who and you know I won't hesitate to make a friendly visit to wherever they live."

Aria smiled, squeezing Jacob's hand to show her gratitude.

"Me too!" Her younger brother, Mike, jumped in. They all laughed and Aria found her thoughts drifting back to E. Jacob wasn't the only one who wanted to know who he was.

Later that night, Aria logged back on to see if he had messaged her since, and found nothing. She wondered if he was done with her, and realized she didn't want him to be. Suddenly, an idea came to her, and she opened up Google Docs.

The next morning, Aria rushed out of bed to check the feedback on her latest HollisWrites short story. Good thing it was summertime, because she'd stayed up the whole night writing it so that a certain someone could see it as soon as possible.

Unlike her usual stories, this one was a thriller romance. The response, though, was the same. Aria began to wonder if people actually read her stories anymore or simply left automated reviews. Maybe E was the only one who really paid any attention to what she wrote. What that thought in mind, she skimmed through the responses and couldn't find what she was looking for. Clicking on her inbox, she saw that there was one unread message. Sure enough, there he was.

E: You dedicated a story to me. How cute ;)

That's it? Aria thought. She'd stayed up all night writing a story about a girl who went insane and ended up killing the love of her life, a mysterious man named E. Sure, it was weird to write about murdering someone who was a real person, but somehow it was different with E. She knew from the dark poems he wrote that he would not mind being killed off in a story in the least-in fact, he would probably think it was art. Yet, she'd only written this story in order to aggravate him, it wasn't particularly her best.

Reading his message once more, she decided she wouldn't write back until he came up with a more appreciative response. In the meantime, she went back on his profile and noticed that he too had posted a new poem.

Her phone rang then and she almost let it go unanswered until she saw that it was Kyiala.

"Hello?"

"Girl, where've you been? I haven't seen you in two days! We need to hit the mall, summer's almost over."

Aria rolled her eyes. Kyiala was a shopping fiend, and they had in fact, just shopped a couple days ago.

"Kyiala, not today, please?" She begged, "I'm working on my writing."

Kyiala sighed, "You've spent the majority of this summer working on your writing, Aria. Come on, live a little. How about this? We don't have to go shopping, let's go to the beach instead. We can go shopping for cute guys."

Aria felt bad saying no, but going to the beach was the last thing she wanted to do on a cold day. It was late August, and before she knew it, Aria would be starting her senior year at Rosewood High. Senior year meant obsessing over college applications and joining as many clubs as possible and building her resume, which left no time for writing.

"Kyiala, I promise I'll go out with you tomorrow if you let me write today."

"Fine, but I'm holding you to it. Don't forget! And we get to do whatever I want."

Aria smiled in spite of herself-knowing Kyiala, that probably meant shopping. "Sounds like a plan."

Hanging up, she went back to E's poem. Like the others, it was beautifully written and sent chills down her spine. Aria could tell he'd spent sometime on it, even though it flowed naturally. She decided to leave a nice comment and noticed that he already had one from a girl named JackieO.

JackieO: Damn, that turned me on, E! I wouldn't mind you riding me like that little girl rode the balloon ;)

Aria was disgusted to say the least. How could someone take a beautiful poem like that and try to devalue it with a crude comment? Even though E had left her a less than kind comment, she made up her mind to show her appreciation for his work.

AriA: Have to admit...this is incredible, E. The right juxtaposition of evocative syntax and whimsical elements-honestly, a surreal experience reading this. The most impressive aspect is how you used that coalescence to amplify the pervasive sense of guilt to a terrifying degree.

Satisfied with her comment, she hit send just as another comment popped up under JackieO. It was a response from E.

E: Oh baby, I might just have to take you up on that ;).

Aria felt her mouth hanging open. He liked her comment? Suddenly, she felt like an idiot. Here he was, flirting with another girl, while she took her time to write what she thought was a meaningful response. Maybe he'd written the poem for the Jackie girl, maybe it was all sexual innuendo and she'd been too stupid to understand what it was really about. Quickly deleting her comment, she prepared to log off only to see that a new private message awaited her.

Almost too embarrassed to open it, she considered leaving it be but curiosity got the best of her and she clicked.

E: Thank you for that comment, Aria. It means a lot.

Her heart swelled. That was the nicest thing he'd said to her so far.

AriA: You're welcome. I meant it :)

E: Why'd you delete it?

AriA: I thought...maybe I was interrupting something between you and JackieO.

E: Ahh ;). Jealous?

AriA: Not. at. all.

E: I hope not ;). You can't fall in love with me, remember? I'll talk to you later, my hot date calls.

The smile on Aria's face wiped off almost immediately. He was going on a date. Of course he was. He was probably a player in reality. Aria usually wasn't into that type, but here she was, unhappy at the prospect of him flirting with other girls. Who was this guy and what he done to her in such short a time?

Kyiala's proposition didn't sound so bad anymore. Aria called her up and told her to get ready; they were going to the beach and they would find hot guys, damn it.

Aria didn't message him back until a few days later, when she could no longer handle it. He hadn't messaged her either, but he had gone through each of her stories and commented with his typical rude remarks about her lack of experience in love. She felt herself growing angry each time she read them, but at the same time, she liked that he was thinking of her. Finally, she sent him a message telling him to stop commenting on her stories if he was going to mean all the time.

E: But babe, that's my job. No one else is going to tell you how it is.

AriA: I get it, okay? I don't know anything about love. Thank you for drilling it into my head. You can move with your life now.

As soon as she hit enter, she regretted it. What if he took her reply to mean that he should move on with his life away from her?

E: :( Don't be mad, love. You know I don't like fighting with you.

Aria felt her breath quicken. Why did he have to say that? How could he be so thoughtless and then turn around and say something that made her feel like jelly?

AriA: Why do you act like we're friends? You won't even tell me your name.

E: Because we are. And you know why! No falling in love.

Aria sighed. If he didn't want to divulge his name, then fine. She wouldn't push it, even though it hurt that he didn't care enough to do so.

AriA: Whatever.

With that, she logged off and went downstairs to wait for Kyiala and Jacob. She'd had enough of HollisWrites for the day.

Later that night, Aria came home from the beach to find her mom packing in a frenzy.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Aria! Thank God you're home. Grandma's relapsed and we're leaving to see her in an hour."

Aria felt her legs give out. Her grandmother was one of the most important people in her life. She was the only living grandparent alive on her dad's side, and the closest living relative, a state away. For a couple years now, she had been fighting a rare stomach disorder. For the most part, the meds had kept her out of the hospital, but lately, her body had begun rejecting them.

Taking a breath, Aria made her way to her room to pack. Lost in her thoughts, she managed to pack enough clothes and her toothbrush before heading back downstairs to comfort her dad. When everyone had packed, they left the house for the little island her grandmother lived on. It was only in the car as Aria texted her friends to let them know she was leaving that she realized she hadn't told E. The island wouldn't have wifi, and there was no way she would able to log on to HollisWrites until they got back. It didn't matter, she told herself, brushing off the idea of E missing her.

He probably won't even realize I'm not there, she thought bitterly.

When the Montgomerys arrived at the island, they were informed that grandma Ira was in stable condition. Aria breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled gently at her dad. Grandma was going to be alright.

As it so happened, the hospital discharged her the next day with a new prescription for drugs that had just been introduced to the States. They had been successful in places like Russia and Azerbaijan, where randomly enough, the disease was most prevalent. The family decided to stay for the rest of the week. Aria spent her days sitting beside her grandmother in her backyard, which overlooked a lake, reading and talking about everything under the sun. Her grandma told her that she looked different, and cheekily asked if there was a new guy in Aria's life. Aria's mind immediately went to E, and she flushed, shaking her head in an affirmative no.

When the Montgomerys returned from the trip, Aria felt much more well rested and ready for school. Her grandmother was back on her feet, and she'd had the break she needed from writing. Now, she could finally get back to it with a fresh start.

The first thing Aria did after they'd had dinner, was log onto HollisWrites. If she was completely honest, it was to check up on a certain someone. She missed E.

To her surprise, her inbox was flooded with messages. All from one person. They dated back to a week ago, and got more frantic as the days passed. It seemed that E thought something bad had happened to Aria...and he cared. The last message was particularly intriguing.

E: Aria, I'm sorry.

Aria had to bite her lip to keep from smiling so much. He really cared. When she'd calmed down slightly, she wrote back.

AriA: Sorry for what?

Almost immediately, he responded.

E: ARia?! What the hell! Where've you been?

Part of her felt bad; if he'd given any indication that he cared, maybe she would've remembered to say bye.

AriA: I'm sorry, E. My grandmother fell ill so the family took off to see her. There was no wifi so I couldn't go online.

E: I'm sorry to hear that. Is doing alright now?

Aria was touched. It was sweet of him to forgive her so easily and instead focus on her grandmother's health.

AriA: Yes, she is doing just fine now. Thank you for asking :)

E: You're welcome :). You know what I realized though, if I had your number, I could've avoided all the worrying ;).

Aria felt her heart speed up. He wanted her number? Instead of answering him directly, she decided to have a little fun.

AriA: You were worried about me? ;)

E: Yes. Now give me your number!

Aria smiled.

AriA: Hmm. How do I know you're not some 50 year old creeper?

E: That's exactly what I am. Now, are you willing to service my old man desires or shall I take my fake teethed self elsewhere?

AriA: E! Shut up. If you really want my number, you're going to have to tell me your name.

There was no answer for a few minutes, almost as if he was hesitating. Finally, he wrote back.

E: It's Ezra.

Aria let out a breath. Finally. She tried the name out on her tongue, and smiled. Hence, the Ezra Pound, she realized.

AriA: Ezra.

E: God, I love how you say my name. Now, about that number…

AriA: Why do you want it so badly anyway? I probably won't be going back to my grandmother's for a long time.

E: Aria…

She could almost hear the frustration in his writing and grinned. Deciding to appease him, she wrote it down and hit "send." Not long after, she received a text.

"Hey babe, guess who ;)"

As she was about to respond, Aria realized that she had his number now-that meant she could finally put a voice to Ezra's name. Before she could think about it, Aria called him.

The phone seemed to ring for ages, only exasperating the anticipation. Aria could barely breathe.

Finally, someone answered. There was no sound on the other end.

"Hello? Ezra?" she asked uncertainly.

The line cut; he'd hung up on her. Dejected, she wondered why he hadn't talked. She couldn't deny the yearning she had to hear his voice, to make him real.

"Why won't you talk to me?" She texted.

He didn't respond, and she gave up waiting soon after. It was near midnight, and her eyes drooped with fatigue. Just as they closed, the phone rang and she rushed to answer it.

"Goodnight, Aria. Your voice is beautiful." A hoarse voice told her before hanging up.

Aria stayed still, reveling in his words. Though she hadn't imagined what his voice would sound like prior to hearing it, it didn't sound anything like what she would have thought. It was deep and had an amused tone to it. And it was sexy. Damn, it was sexy.

She couldn't believe it, but Aria thought she was falling in love with a voice.