a/n : I can't be the only ezria shipper out there who was disappointed by Ezra's reveal and how he fits into the whole A scenario. a lot of people feel that ezria season one is a complete lie. although it defiantly changes some things, it doesn't have to change everything. This is how I would like to think their initial meeting went down and not some creepy pedophile way the writers are probably gonna make it

Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past-

"Can I have a cheeseburger, please?"

Ezra Fitz was startled out of his reading by the sound of a young female voice. He had not realized that his solitude had been infringed upon. For many weeks now, Ezra had sat at the same barstool in the same pub, over and over again and hardly anyone would come in during the dull hours of the day. That's what made this place the perfect hang out for the fresh out of college English major, Ezra Fitz. This is where he retreated for a quiet location to get a bite to eat while continuing to work on his latest project. A true crime novel about a girl he had a brief thing with for a summer who had disappeared a year ago. Ezra thought that this mystery could provide him with a huge success in his writing career, if he was able to crack it. However, that appeared to be a big 'if'. Although Ezra did have a few leads to go by, his writing, as of recent, had really seemed to be drying up. So much so, he had given up on writing for the moment and had retuned his attention to novels and stories, hoping one of them would hold a clue that would kick start his imagination.

Ezra hoped his writing would start an exponential growth starting this September. He had done some research and found that Alison, the girl who had disappeared, had attended Rosewood High and many of her friends still attended that school. He had applied for a teaching position and had gotten the job. Maybe being in the building she had once walked in, seeing her everyday life through her eyes, being able to interact with her friends and peers, would stir up some new information that could fuel his writing.

Looking up to his left, Ezra looked to identify the source of the voice and almost froze when he did so.

The girl. She looked so familiar. It was as if Ezra had seen her before. His eyes raked over her tresses of dark mahogany colored hair as they fell gracefully over her shoulder. The girl was small; she was tiny. He glanced at her petite hands that rested on the bar and was surprised how ornate and decorated they were.

Where had he seen this girl before? Had she gone to Hollis with him? For some reason that didn't feel right. Ezra's graduating class was relatively small at four hundred students, he would have remembered someone that delicate looking.

The ceiling fan above them continued to spin, circulating the stale air through the bar and Ezra's nose caught on to the most delicate and delicious smell that most likely belonged to the women sitting beside him. He wanted to talk to her.

He wanted to be able to see her face. He could tell by just looking at her side profile that she would be beautiful. She had this light about her, this beautiful, warm shinning aura that Ezra felt himself irrevocably drawn to her. He looked down at her hands again and wondered how they would feel intertwined with his own.

His eyes rested on her face again and noticed she was staring at something in the far corner of the bar. Ezra followed her gaze to a bulletin board in the back covered in various advertisements for local events. His eyes wrested on the sheet of paper towards the center with a picture of an attractive young blonde on the front. Alison.

It was a flyer advertising her disappearance. He knew that that was what the girl was looking at. And that's when it hit him. He had seen this girl before, but only in photographs. She was one of the girls Alison had been friends with, one of the girls that was with Alison the night of her disappearance. Ezra tried to remember which of the four girls Ali had been close with was sitting in his direct proximity, but he couldn't quite remember. He could barely remember their names, it was something like Emily, Spencer, Heather, and Anna. It had clearly been a while since Ezra had looked at Alison's friends for any leads. But maybe, this girl sitting next to him was the key. Maybe she would provide him with insight, some small detail, that had been included in the police reports that would able him to start to unravel the mystery that was Ali.

"You alright down there?" the question was ripped from his throat before he even had time to process what he just said. He know he wanted to talk to her but he didn't want to interrupt her, especially when she looked slightly upset, and when the thought of speaking to her made it feel like there were butterflies in his stomach. Butterflies that only increased when the girl turned and looked at him.

"I'm a bit jet lagged. I just got back from Europe" she said easily with a smile. She looked really good with a smile. Ezra was taken aback by how expressive her eyes were. When looking at the photos of Ali and hers friends, he had never looked at any of her friends in any manner other than professional. However, seeing this girl here in front of him, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was.

"Where in Europe?" He replied with a smile.

"Iceland."

"I spent some time in Reykjavik before I went to Amsterdam. It's a great city," Ezra explained encouragingly. He thought it would he awkward or perhaps difficult to talk to one of Alison's friends, that she would be illusive and pretentious, just like Alison. Something with this girl was different. She seemed the exact opposite of Ali's arrogant nature. This girl was down to earth, and sure of herself, and gorgeous. Ezra realized he had been staring at her and cursed himself for letting his infatuation with this girl distract him.

"So, do you go to Hollis?" He heard her ask.

"Just graduated. I'm going to start my first teaching job," Ezra realized with a bit of a start that there could be a possibility of him being her teacher.

"I- I think I'd like to teach," her voice was sweet and delicate and Ezra found himself smiling. He wondered if he should break off the conversation now. Wouldn't it be weird to be interrogated about your missing best friend by your teacher? But this could be his big opportunity. Maybe Alison's friends knew something that he did not. And, although he didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to stop talking to the pretty girl he had met in the bar. "Oh, I love this song."

Ezra listened as the music changed with the first few chords of a guitar. He knew this song. He was the one who had selected this song a mere two minutes prior.

"B-26," he answered, blushing slightly, referring to the corresponding number on the old jukebox that sat in the far corner of the bar. They had similar tastes in music. He gave the girl a once over, yet again and felt his heartbeat quicken. He wanted to touch her, to feel the softness of her hair. He remembered how earlier the fan had whisked the smell of her perfume towards him. He wanted nothing more than be able to breathe it in again, "what's your major?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, um, well I'm leaning toward English," she answered with slight hesitation. That's when it hit Ezra. If this girl was one of Ali's friends, she could very well still be in high school. Ezra immediately found himself hoping that this wasn't true. He knew Ali had tons of older friends, hell that how Ali ended up meeting him. Maybe this was another one of her older friends like Cece Drake. Maybe he had misplaced where he had recognized her from all together.

With slightly forced enthusiasm he responded, "that's what I teach."

She returned his enthusiasm genuinely and again Ezra found himself in awe of this girl. He watched her lips turn into a smile and wanted, more than anything to know what they would feel like against his. He noticed that they were sprinkled with a slight pink lip gloss and had to physically restrain himself from licking his own lips.

"Well, and I write too. But so far it's mostly personal... Just for me," she explained. Who is this amazing person? Ezra felt like he had met the person he had been searching for for the past 10 years.

"I'm impressed," he said honestly. He noticed that her eyes dropped from his lips to his mouth and he felt his wart beat quicker at the thought that she may possibly be into him.

"Why?" The girl asked. Ezra took a risk and moved to the seat right next to her. He saw her smile widen and felt his heart beat quicken.

"Well I tried writing, but I didn't get very far," he told her honestly referring to his true crime novel, "you're lucky. If you're writing for yourself it's pure passion. Maybe you'd let me read something of yours?" he asked quietly. At this point Ezra had nearly forgotten about Alison. Part of him realized that her writing might give him clues about who Alison was, but a bigger part of him wanted to know who this girl sitting in front of him was.

"Yeah? You'd really want to?" She asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, you're smart, you've traveled. Great taste in music. I'd like to know more about you," he was close enough that he could smell the intoxicating scent of her perfume.

"Yeah, id like to know more about you, too,"

LINEBREAK

Ezra walked into Rosewood high the next morning his thoughts filled with the girl he had met last night at the bar, Aria. They had ended up making out in the pubs bathroom until she had to run out to pick up her brother.

Even though Ezra felt a little weird doing it, he went back home and consulted the piles research he had collected over the past few months. He checked newspapers and online articles for any mention of Aria. Whereas before his mind was consumed with Alison, it was now consumed with Aria. He had found that Aria was friends with Alison and was actually with her the night she disappeared, but other than that, no news report mentioned her name or her relationship with Alison. The articles never specified Aria's age. Ezra hoped with all his heart that Aria was an older friend of Ali's. That she was actually in her early twenties, I mean Ezra had met her at a bar, it was possible. Besides, no sixteen year old would be able to kiss the way she kissed him yesterday.

Ezra walked into his new classroom and went directly to the board. In big legible letters he wrote his name, 'Mr. Fitz"

He turned around to survey his now quiet students and looked out to see in the middle of the row. A small delicate girl with chocolate brown hair, expressive eyes, and hands with ornate rings.

His worst fears were true. She was a junior in high school. She was sixteen. He was her teacher. He still couldn't think of anything but wanting to kiss her again and again.

"Holy crap."