AN: Nothing is owned

All The Worlds A Stage

by sid

There was a certain weightlessness that came along with the feeling of being single for the first time in over a year. A kind of burden that had been lifted from Aria Montgomery's shoulders as she strolled through Main Street on her way to The Brew. She thought it had left when she and Ezra had first decided to go public with their relationship, but in reality she'd been harboring it the entire time. She felt lighter than she had in a while, as she swung open the heavy glass door of the coffee shop and adjusted her eyes to the dim atmospheric lighting.

Emily Fields, planted behind the register, waved her over with a bright smile.

"Hey Em! Can I get a – "

"Green tea right? Shaken not stirred?" As Emily interrupted her, she waggled her perfectly plucked black eyebrows goofily and tossed the towel she'd used to wipe the counters over her shoulder like a bartender going on break.

Aria had to snicker at her friends' playful cheeriness and she dug a five dollar bill out her wallet and slapped it onto the counter. Emily too seemed in a lighter mood. Her eyes were bright with mischief and her tanned skin glowed with obvious happiness as she handed Aria her change. Aria wasn't sure what exactly had put her best friend into such a good mood, but she was glad. They hadn't had much to smile about these past few weeks and if Emily had found some happiness somewhere she deserved it.

"I go on break in five. The girls are just over there." She gestured toward the table in the back that they usually claimed, and handed Aria her ice tea. Aria slipped a dollar into the tip jar, thanked her friend and made her way across the busy café to the reclusive curtained tables she and the girls so often staked out.

Hannah Marin was too busy sucking down her Caramel Frappuccino and furiously tapping at the keys of her sidekick to do more than grunt in greeting and Spencer Hastings looked up from the AP Physics handbook she'd been highlighting to smile warmly at Aria. She was glad to see that Spencer was also in better spirits. Things had been especially hard for Spencer for the past month or so with all the backlash of her and Toby's break up, her time in Radley, and being blackmailed into joining Team A. Aria was glad to see that even despite the fact that the cabin fire was only few days ago her friend was faring well and looking much better.

"Hey Han, Spence." Aria plopped down into a plush purple armchair across from the two, set her purse down beside her and tugged out her thick Advanced French textbook to get a few seconds of studying in before Emily joined them. The girls had texted her this morning to meet up so that they could discuss what exactly to do now that Spencer and Toby were no longer apart of 'Team A', but couldn't really get started until Em was there.

Aria tried to focus on memorizing vocabulary words, but she couldn't help but look up when she felt eyes on her. The coffee shop was crowded so it took a few moments before she locked eyes with none other than Noel Kahn who was seated at a table across the room paging through his own French book. He smirked at her rakishly and mouthed

See something you like?

She raised one eyebrow in response and frowned at him. His grinned widened and he nodded at her before going back to his text book.

Even though she knew that technically Noel didn't have anything to do with Mayas death, what happened to Alison, or the whole A – Team thing, and it didn't make him any less of a sleaze ball. Not being a bad guy didn't necessarily make him a good guy. He was alone at his table, which surprised her. Noel wasn't really one to be without an entourage, or at least a pretty girl on his arm. Aria shut her book and stood, smoothing out the fabric of her short, powder blue baby doll dress and picked up her drink.

"Be right back" she told Spencer who raised her eyebrows warningly but didn't comment.

When she slipped into the seat across from him, Noel didn't seem surprised. He set down his French notes, took a sip of his coffee and grinned wolfishly at her. "What can I help you with Montgomery?"

She hesitated a little, tapping her manicured nail against the plastic straw of her tea before replying "Are you okay Noel?"

He hadn't been expecting that. His blue eyes widened and the cocky grin slipped off his handsome face. They weren't friends but that hadn't stopped Aria from noticing just how . . . lost Noel had seemed these past few weeks. He was still full of himself, but less so than usual and she'd heard from her younger brother Mike that he'd been blowing off his friends and skipping lacrosse practice. That wasn't like Noel. He acted like a total jackass most of the time sure, but she knew how important lacrosse was to him. It only took him a few seconds before the smirk was back and he was leaning closer to her and wagging his eyebrows at her suggestively. "Why Montgomery, I didn't know you cared! What would the teach think about his favorite student being so concerned about my wellbeing?" He said that last part mockingly and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at his predictability.

"You looked kind of upset and I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You don't have to be asshole. I'm one of the few people who actually give a shit about what's going on with you." This time he flat-out scowled at her and leaned back into his seat crossing his arms across his broad, well-muscled chest.

"Well thanks but no thanks Aria. Last time I checked, I didn't ask for some teachers pet to go sticking her nose where she shouldn't. You'd think you and your friends would have gotten a clue by now, but maybe you just get a kick out of making a fool of yourself." His tone was harsher than she'd heard it in a while and she couldn't help but flinch at the venom in it. His denim blue eyes were ice-cold as they bored into her brown ones and she shrank back a little, under his scrutiny. He was edgy, hands curled into fists, shoulders tense. Noel glanced around at the busy crowd and she followed his eyes back to where her friends sat, watching them. He smirked again "Better get back to your girls. Wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea about us".

She stood, once again smoothing the skirt of her dress against her thighs, his eyes trailed her hands then glided up, taking in the short hem of her dress and its snug fitting bodice, to linger on her lips and then snapped up to meet eyes. She didnt even bother to feel scandalized at his blatant checking her out. "Look Noel, I get it. We're not friends, never have been, but if something's going on with you" he opened his mouth to protest, but she continued "and you know what I'm talking about. You have my number."

She didnt stay to hear his rebuttal, just grabbed her drink and flounced away, before he could contest. When she reached the table, Emily, who had just sat down in the chair next her shot Aria a confused look, before asking "What was that all about?"

Aria just shrugged casually "Oh I had a question to ask him the French test on Monday". Her friends seemed to accept the answer without question and as Hannah launched into an overly dramatic recollection of what had gone down at the cabin a few nights ago; Aria couldn't help but look up to find Noel Kahn's eyes on her again.

This time he didn't smile.

Thanks for reading. Please take the time to leave a review so that I know if I should continue or not.

thanks so much for reading

-sid