This is a second story. I don't own pretty little liars .
Sorry for my errors, as I've already said in my other story, English is not my native language.
There are some flashbacks, they are italicized.
Chapter one
He went down the stairs of his hotel at a brisk pace and looked for his keys in his bag with a point of annoyance. He was late for his conference and had spent an awful night. He reached his car, came inside the vehicle and settled his GPS. The machine told him that he would be at Columbia University in fifteen minutes; he wouldn't be so late after all.
He was on the point to start his car when his cell phone rang. He looked at the tiny screen to see the name of his correspondent: Sydney. He sighed, rejected the call and started his car, beginning to follow the GPS indications.
Sydney! Even if they had broken up two months ago, she kept calling him almost every day. She couldn't accept that it was over and was still hoping that he would come back to her. But he knew it would never happen.
Sydney and he had been together during almost a year. She was her neighbor and they had met when he had offered his help to carry her boxes the day she had moved in. After that, they had got along well and had learnt to know each other by getting out a few times until they begin a romantic relationship. Sidney was an amazing girl but even if he had been really attached to her, he had never been in love with her. Three months ago, when she had asked him to move in with him, he had understood that she loved him more than he did and he had preferred to break up with her. Of course, he felt guilty every time she called him, crying, begging him to come back but he didn't regret his decision. At twenty seven years old, it was high time to be honest with the others and especially with himself and to stop being a coward. He had been enough a coward in the past.
"You have now reached your final destination." The GPS squeaky voice broke the silence of his car, pulling him out of his thoughts. He hadn't seen the time go by and had arrived at Columbia, where the conference was, without realizing it.
He parked his car in the parking lot reserved for the professors, using the code that the Dean had sent him a few days ago. He had been invited by Columbia University a few weeks ago to give an anticipated conference for a new literature program. He had immediately accepted the offer, seeing in it an occasion to move away from Berkeley, the university where he taught, and especially from Sidney, for a while.
Once he was inside the building, he tried to find his way to go to the classroom where he had to be, by following the campus map. He asked for directions to some students he met in the corridor and finally reached his destination.
"Mr. Fitz! Welcome to Columbia! We are so glad to have you with us!" The Dean received him warmly as he came inside the room already full of professors and students.
"I really am sorry, I'm late!" He apologized.
"Oh, don't worry, we are still waiting for some professors and students," the Dean told him.
"Come on, take a seat," the Dean said.
Ezra took a seat on a row next to the other professors as the Dean introduced them to him. The students arrived by small groups and the ones who were already sitting were talking cheerfully. He turned over to see the door opening on another group of students who arrived by talking and his heart raced when he saw the last person he had expected to see.
It immediately took his breath away. It couldn't be her, he was probably dreaming, it couldn't be true. He followed her with one's eyes as she sat down on a row, still talking with her friends. Her gorgeous and big hazels eyes which lighted up every time she smiled didn't let him any doubts as to her identity. It was her. She hadn't really changed but she seemed even more beautiful than in his memories. Her long brown curly hairs were longer and almost reached her waist. Even if she was still very tiny and very thin her features seemed more matures. Of course, she was only seventeen the last time he had seen her, now, she was twenty one. Seeing her sitting among the other students took him back five years ago during his first day as a teacher, at Rosewood high, when he was only twenty two, it was the day he had….
"Mr. Fitz?" The Dean's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He was so deep lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that the conference had begun and that the Dean was waiting for him to join him on the platform for his speech.
All the students and the professors were looking at him but he only paid attention to one look. She had seen him and she was staring at him with her big hazel eyes. She had turned pale and she seemed very shocked. He couldn't turn his look away from her; after a few interminable seconds, he hesitantly smiled at her but she didn't smile back.
"Mr. Fitz?" The Dean insisted in front of his absence of reaction. He suddenly realized that everybody was staring at him, astonished. He got up and tried to pull himself together as much as he could to pronounce the speech that he had repeated at least a hundred times these past few days.
He was deplorable. He stuttered, repeated two times the same sentences and didn't even succeed to look at the public by fear to meet her look. He would have wanted to explain to the students his project but the only thing he was thinking about was that she was here; sitting only a few meters from him after having passed years a hundred miles away.
He managed to finish his speech somehow or other and the Dean came to thank him as the students got out of the classroom, probably relieved to have finished with this pathetic speech. He looked for her but she was already gone and he had to focus on what the Dean was saying to him.
After some minutes which seemed to last forever, he took leave of the Dean and got out of quickly of the classroom. The corridors were almost empty and he felt a huge disappointment. What had he expected? That she would have waited for him in front of the door? She probably didn't want to see him at all after what had happened, after what he had done.
He looked at her as she was on the point to leave his apartment and suddenly felt the urge to stop her.
"Wait!" He told her. She turned over to look at him and he crossed the distance between them to wrap his arms around her.
"I love you, you know that, right?" He whispered against her hair. She broke their embrace to face him.
"Are you sure that everything is okay?" She asked him, suspicious.
"Yeah, why are you asking me that?" He asked, nervously.
"I don't know, you seem a little strange," she said. He did his best to keep a normal face and to smile.
"Don't worry," he said.
"Okay, so I see you tomorrow?" She asked him.
"Yes, of course," he replied, trying to keep his voice neutral. She smiled and opened the door. He watched her as she turned over a last time to smile at him before leaving his tiny apartment. In that second he felt like his heart was breaking. He knew he wouldn't see her tomorrow nor the day after tomorrow, he would never see her again.
He had recalled this scene over and over again during the past four years. The last time he had seen her face, the last time he had heard her voice. He couldn't forget the way she had smiled. She didn't know. She didn't know what he was on the point to do.
He pulled away from his thoughts and began to walk toward the parking lot when the Dean caught him and invited him to join him and the other professors for lunch. After this morning, the last thing he needed was a formal meal in the course of which he would be obligated to smile and to speak about things he didn't care about, but he wasn't in a position to refuse after his disastrous speech, he could already be happy that the Dean was so nice to him. So he accepted.
The meal was exactly how he had expected it to be, boring and long. During all the time, he couldn't help but look for her, looking at every student who passed, hoping to see her but without any success. After lunch, the Dean wanted him to meet several of his colleagues, so it was almost six o'clock when he reached the now almost empty parking lot .The light began to decline and there were only some students who were still walking on the campus. He was on the point to fit the key in the lock when he heard a voice behind him.
"Hello, Ezra!" He didn't need to turn around to know who was behind him. He would have recognized this delicate voice anywhere, it was her voice.
He looked at the beautiful girl who had just entered the bar. She was gorgeous, with her long brown hair and her amazing hazel eyes. She sat down on a chair and ordered a cheeseburger. All of a sudden, something on the wall in front of her seemed to catch up her attention. She suddenly seemed really sad and he saw her eyes filling with tears.
"Is everything okay?" He asked her.
She turned around to look at him.
"Yes, I'm a little bit jet-lagged, I just come back from Europe," she replied.
" Where in Europe? " He asked her.
"Iceland!" The girl replied.
"Really? I spent a few months in Iceland, it's an amazing country," he told her.
"Yeah, I really liked it. So, you're going to Hollis, aren't you?" She asked him.
"Actually I just graduated, I start my first teaching job tomorrow," he said, proudly.
"That is great! I would love to be a teacher but I think I'm a little too shy for that but if I was a teacher, I would choose English. I do love literature!" She said.
"It's the subject I'm going to teach!" He said, smiling. "And you don't seem so shy," he added ,causing her to blush a little bit.
"Yes, we will see after college," she said.
"What is your major?" He asked her. She strangely seemed a little embarassed.
"Actually I…" She interrupted herself when she heard the song which had begun to fill the bar.
"I love this song!" She said ,smiling.
"B26," he said, recognizing the song.
"Yeah, you know it?" She asked, surprised.
"Yes, I do like The Fray," he told her.
"Really? It's one of my favorite groups!" She told him, smiling widely. He couldn't help but notice the way her eyes lighted up when she smiled and how gorgeous they were. He got up from his chair and got closer to her.
"You travel, you love literature, good tastes in music … I would like to know more about you," he told her. She smiled, blushing.
"Yeah, I would like to know more about you too," she replied. Then they looked at each other a few minutes and he felt lost in her gorgeous eyes.
"I'm Aria!" She introduced herself.
He turned over and saw her. She was standing only a few meters from him, her arms wrapped around her tiny shoulders. He gently smiled at her.
"Hello, Aria!"
So, here's my second story, I hope you liked it! It's not going to be a very long story (around six chapters I think) but please, tell me your thoughts and if you want me to keep writing.
Xoxo