With what I have prepared for Heartbeats, you guys are going to need a bit of an outlet, myself included. So here's this story; I've had the idea in my head for days and I hope you all really like what I have in mind. The arc I've got planned for this one is really, really exciting. Heartbeats will be up sometime later in the week –I've already started writing the next chapter.
And just so you all know, I do not in any way, shape, or form SHIP WESLEY/ARIA.
Ten reviews or more and the next chapter will be longer and up faster.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.
There are chance moments in life that we don't ever see coming, but can change the course of our lives in the simplest of ways. For instance, if you neglected to get the gallon of milk on your grocery list and the ones in the store happened to be spoiled, you've just saved yourself and your family from a bout of food poisoning. Or there are the big ones like not reaching down for that penny on the sidewalk to avoid being hit by an oncoming cyclist. Some call it fate and some call it merely coincidence. The hopeless romantics are the ones who believe in it and hold onto the idea that their life has been mapped out for them and all they have to do is live it – that every moment is pre-defined and calculated to happen when it does. Then there's some who prefer to believe that things just happen; no reason why and no course, but that the event just took place.
Aria Montgomery didn't like to classify herself as a cynic, but she never wanted to be the kind of person she despised; the kind with their head in the clouds and blissfully unaware of the bad things in life. Sure, she daydreamed, but she never wanted to be ditzy and hopeful. Perhaps it was all the hardships she'd seen in her twenty two years. Or maybe it was just her nature to think that way. The brunette didn't like to believe in the idea of soulmates, not after her perfect parent's perfect marriage crumbled to bits with her father's infidelity. She didn't think that there was one person out there made for her and that the stars would bring him to her doorstep.
No, instead Aria did a little looking for herself and so far, things in her love life weren't too shabby. Wesley Fitz was his name, only a year older than she and in medical school which was promising. He was sweet, though sometimes flaky, but Aria wouldn't hold that against him. They both had their busy schedules with his classes and both their internships on opposite sides of the city. In retrospect, Aria and Wes couldn't have been more different – she loved to stay in and curl up with a book on her window seat while he liked to spend his Friday nights out at clubs. She preferred the old classic films while he liked the action packed ones of the present. Still, Wesley made her happy with the time they spent with one another.
At least Aria believed he did. Truthfully, she didn't know what exact happiness was anymore, but what she felt with him did the trick.
That dreary gray New York day was one for the books, though Aria didn't know it yet. It was a Sunday, leisurely and lazy except for the fact that Wesley had some operation to sit in on all day. What was usually their one whole day to spend with one another turned into a day on her own roaming the streets. Even though it rainy, the warm summer heat made her skin sticky whenever a raindrop hit. Aria barely shivered in her printed dress as she rounded the corner. A billion people seemed to cover the sidewalks – the city lived with a vibrant pulse that Aria loved. The upcoming weekend in the Hamptons while she and Wes attended a family wedding would be difficult, not only because she was meeting his mother and the rest of his family, but because her vivacious city would be a bus ride away and Aria would be trapped in the upper class suburbs. The only saving grace was the large expanses on beach awaiting her.
As she rounded the corner, so did one of those impact moments that Aria didn't believe in. It was coming, unbeknownst to her, like a train chugging along the tracks to Grand Central's terminal with a clear destination in sight. The back of her throat itched with the familiar tickle – the tickle that always came along with a morning without coffee. Starbucks clear in sight on the end of the block, Aria walked a bit faster, increasing her speed just as fate probably wanted her to so she wouldn't miss said moment. Of course, she overlooked her being there in that place at that exact time to be a coincidence, not a trick of destiny.
The bell ringed a chiming tone as she entered, but nobody turned to look back at her from their spots in line. That was something Aria loved about the city; nobody paid a judging glance if you walked into a small shop. Nobody whispered and pointed because you've grown over the summer and look different or got pink streaks in your hair as an act of rebellion. The monotonous line passed with a bored looking brunette staring at the menu, though it was pointless since she had her drink in mind. An iced soy late with two Splendas would do just fine for her caffeine fix. Finally, Aria gave her order and went in the direction of the counter where her name would be called, per usual and she'd leave the store.
That's when the train reached its final stop – just as Aria reached for her coffee and turned around, only to smack straight into a strong, hard chest. It was the cliché "run into a stranger and spill your coffee all over them" situation, though when Aria looked up to see who's closed she had saturated with her drink and apologize profusely, a warm pair of blue eyes peered down at her. Much to her surprise, they weren't filled with frustration or anger that his crisp white button down had been soiled. Instead, there was amusement in them. She wasn't sure if she liked it.
"God, I'm sorry," Aria said, grabbing a few napkins from the counter behind her to wipe up the stranger's stain, though it was pointless and was only making it spread larger across the fabric. A hand almost as warm as his eyes reached to grab her wrist with a gentle hold, making Aria cease her antics just as he had hoped. "I—I'm such a klutz sometimes." Her speech was stuttered by the mere sparks that erupted when his skin grazed hers. It felt nothing like that with Wesley. There was barely a tingle.
"Its fine," spoke a voice that was almost like velvet, but flowed like honey. Aria bit her lip and finally looked up from her embarrassment, her body frozen when her eyes finally met his. They were darker than she had remembered from seconds earlier, flickering in the dim lighting of the coffee shop. "Happens to the best of us, doesn't it?" The boyish smile her sent her pushed Aria's heart into a fluttering tizzy. Her morals told her to feel guilty that she was feeling such things with someone she barely knew over her boyfriend, but for some reason, she didn't.
"In movies maybe," she chuckled, reluctantly breaking her hand from his to toss the napkin into the trash. "Is there any way I can make it up? A new shirt maybe?"
The stranger smiled and shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee, barely knocked over in their encounter. "What's your name?"
Perplexed, Aria tilted her head to the side, but gave him the answer. "Aria."
"Aria," he spoke, letting the name slip past his lips and toy around in his mouth as if he was trying it on for size. "Aria, just meeting you today was enough." He winked at her with those twinkling blue eyes, the motion making her heart flutter once again before turning on his heel to leave the shop, sipping his coffee and leaving a gob smacked Aria Montgomery in his wake. She hadn't even gotten his name.
Now Ezra Fitz was a firm believer in fate. He was the type who read the classic love stories and wrote some his own while going through the corporate world of being editor for a publishing house each day. He dressed up in his suit and tie, but behind the gelled back hair and the pressed shirts was a hopeless romantic with the idea of pure and true love which kept him going on the days he neglected to drink coffee or things just weren't going right. On a sour day, the idea of love was the sweet, sugary core that charged him up to keep going. Ezra believed that there was the one person out there for him and as he left the coffee shop that Sunday afternoon, sparks still lingering on his skin, he was sure he'd found her, even through a tiny bit of conversation.
Aria – the name was music and rightfully so. It fitted its beautiful owner, no matter how clumsy she proved herself to be in those few moments when his shirt was covered in coffee. His lips kept wrapping around the syllables, playing with the name. His voice caressed it as he walked down the street towards his apartment with coffee in hand. Ezra's journal was calling him and he knew exactly what to write about. With a weekend in the Hamptons ahead where he'd listen to his mother and aunt drone on and one about how prosperous his brother, Wes, was, he could get a short story done or perhaps a first chapter to a novel.
New York had called Ezra from a young age. He left his upstate home in favor for Columbia University and has resided there since – the city, not the school. It was the culture and the inspiration that it held. Though Ezra had always moved rather quickly in life, it wasn't the faced paced atmosphere, but that every corner, nook, and cranny of New York held something for him to write about, be it a bird or a person he could observe at the park. His feet took him down the cement sidewalks until he came to his apartment building with the familiar face of the doorman smiling at him as he walked through.
"Afternoon, Hank," Ezra hollered. That was the type of person he was; nice, just plain nice with a side of charming and a hint of sarcasm here and there. The older man shot him a smile and a polite wave before going back to his job while Ezra collected the small stack of bills waiting in his mailbox and make his way up to the fourteenth floor, apartment B.
The apartment building had been around for years, but had been renovated during the last two while he'd been living there. His own one bedroom place was quaint and decorated just to his taste with bookshelves lining the walls and items from his world travels after college collecting on any surface he could take up. To some it was crowded. To Ezra, it was home. For a moment he pictured the brunette, Aria, sitting on his couch or chopping something up at his kitchen counter. Call it his mind getting the best of him, but Ezra couldn't seem to get her out of his head, at least until his phone began ringing. The sound vibrated against his pocket and made him jump slightly, fumbling to take the iPhone out of its stowaway compartment.
"Ezra Fitz." His standard greeting, though he had good reason to be formal; authors tended to call him far more frequently than anyone from his personal life.
"Is it necessary to be so formal over the phone with your brother?"
Wesley.
"Business, Wes. You know more people call me from the publishing company more than actual people. I'd expect you to remember that from the countless times you've answered my phone," Ezra said, a slight laugh in his voice. It wasn't that he didn't like his younger brother, but he always felt he came second rate. Like Wesley had always been that new toy and Ezra the older model.
"Right, right. You and your work. You're not the only busy one, y'know." And boy did Ezra know. How could he forget of how tight Wes' schedule was when his mother continuously talked about it? "Anyways, I was just calling to see what time you were going up this weekend."
"Probably around Friday night, why?"
"Just curious. You know how they all swarm. Plus, I've got myself a guest – that girl I've been talking about for a bit." Ah, yes, the girl. The girl that Wesley had kept nameless from the whole family until that perfect moment. Something about him being a ladies' man in the past came to Ezra's mind in remembrance. And while Ezra used to be jealous that Wes always had a new flame while he worked his back end off to live comfortably, he wasn't anymore. Because he had met Aria and with some luck, he hoped he'd be seeing her again. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.
The conversation lasted a few more minutes before Ezra made up some excuse to go over a few manuscripts and escape Wesley's bragging that he sometimes eased into after awhile and he had nothing more to converse about. Grabbing his journal from his desk, Ezra cracked it open and took a pen to scribble one word at the top of the page.
Aria.
Remember that ten reviews or more will get the next chapter up faster! I hope you all enjoyed!
And just for a quick summary, if anyone needs, Aria is dating Wesley, but a chance meeting with Ezra has got her questioning if she's really happy or not. Little does she know that Ezra is her boyfriend's brother.