Aria's POV:
I lay in bed thinking of my relationship with Ezra. Relationship. At this point I don't know if you can even call it that. That word used to hold a great deal of sentiment to me, but now, now it's just an empty meaning word. Ezra and I haven't been doing so well lately, unfortunately. Things were going perfect, we had overcome so much in the past year. From A trying to break us apart, to my parents. However I was ripped out of my little fantasy when his mother, Diane came into the equation. Ever since the art museum, she has been so damn persistent on getting me as far out of Ezra's life as possible. While tempting me to break up with Ezra by dangling a vast amount of money in front of me didn't work, she went to Ezra. I know she gave him the same offer. I know this because he has been acting differently lately and when I was using his phone the other day, I saw he had several long phone calls with his mother and he randomly been disappearing. With everything that has gone on lately, the last thing I need is for the man I am deeply in love with to break up with me. That's what lead me to what I'm doing right now; debating whether or not I should break up with him first. On the plus side, I shouldn't feel so crushed if I do it first. But on the down side, we'll officially be over.
My phone buzzed over on my dresser, so I slowly climbed out of bed to go get it. I sighed when I saw it was a message from Ezra.
Hey, Aria. Can You come over to the apartment? It's really important. - Ezra.
Great. He didn't even bother to put 'Love Ezra' at the end! He's going to break up with me. The thought still brought tears to my eyes. No. No, I am not going to let his mother get to me and make me cry because he chose money over me. I sucked in a deep breath, grabbed my car keys and headed over to his apartment. It's Friday night at 8pm, on August 10th, 2012, soon to be known as the day my life changed for the worst.
When I arrived at Ezra's apartment, his door was ajar. All of his lights were on and there was no sign of him anywhere. Great, this is typical Ezra. He tells me to meet him at his own fucking apartment and he's a no show. If he's going to break up with me, he should at least show up and face it like a man. I looked around his apartment and I noticed sticky notes were plastered all over his walls. There were big arrows leading me out of the apartment. I followed them down the hall and towards the roof of the apartment building.
'What the hell?' I mumbled as I climbed the stairs. As I got closer and closer, I heard the song that was playing when Ezra and I first met. B26, or Happiness by The Fray. I smiled slightly as I thought about that day. That day changed my whole entire life for the better.
When I opened the heavy metal door to the roof, the first thing that caught my eye were the twinkly lights that were hung from wires. And the second thing that caught my eye was Ezra standing by a small table, lit by candles. Ezra was dressed in a black and white suit. He looked pretty sharp.
'"Ezra, what is all of this?" I asked curiously as I walked towards him. His blue piercing eyes hypnotizing me as I got closer. Ezra met me half way, and when we met in the middle, he placed his hands on my hips and brought me closer to him.
"Aria Rose Montgomery, I have a story to tell you." He mumbled as he brought his tender lips closer to mine. I looked up at him and smiled slightly as he took my hand in his and led me over to the rounded table. He pulled out my chair for me, as I thanked him, he gave me a sweet kiss on my lips and then went around to the other side of the table and took his seat.
A million things were running through my mind as he got ready to start speaking.
"Once upon a time, there was this guy who just graduated from Hollis college. He went to a tiny hole in the wall bar and sat alone, drinking some scotch. He doesn't know how long he has been there, but he knew he's been there for quite some time. His eyes wondered to the sound of the door being opened. A beautiful young lady with long brown hair and gorgeous hazel eyes caught my eye. As she sat down two seats away from me, I knew I had to talk to her. We chatted for a while until the beautiful lady went to the bathroom, leaving me all alone once again. I decided to be outgoing for a change and followed her. I caught her when she was washing her delicate hands. The lady turned to the door and noticed me standing there. We stared at each other for a long time until I walked further into the bathroom and pushed her against the counter of the sink..."
Ezra's story of how we first met came to an end. Somehow the story ended up to this very night. He talked about how complicated our student-teacher relationship was like a bumpy roller-coaster and how we concurred all of the rough patches and the fights that almost ended our relationship. Him retelling our whole story had me thinking; Yes, we fight like an old-married couple. And yes, we get on each other's last nerves at times, but that's how our relationship is. We love each other to death and no amount of money or bitchy people can drive a wedge in-between us. But whatever it was he needed to ask me, I didn't deserve him at all. I came here tonight to break up with him and now he's surprising me with all of this! I absolutely do not deserve such a great boyfriend.
Ezra licked his lips before he started talking once again. But instead of talking, he stood up from his chair and knelt down in-front of me. Ezra took my hands into his and started speaking.
"Aria Montgomery, if anyone can make me fall in love, you can. It's you and no one else. Baby, you are the one that I've been dreaming of. You save me from myself. Only you can take me sailing into your deepest eyes, bring me to my knees and make me cry. No one has ever done this. I want to spend the rest of forever with you in my arms. So will you do me a favor?" Ezra looked deeply into my eyes before he took out the small black velvet box. I gave him a watery smile as he opened it, revealing a big and shiny diamond ring. My eyes started watering up as he started speaking.
"Will you marry me?" Ezra asked as his boyish grin was plastered onto his face. My hot tears poured down my face. Ezra got up and took my hand, making me get up as well. He cradled me into his arms asking what the matter was. I shook my head and tried getting out his grasp.
"Aria, baby, what's wrong?" His expression went from happy to nervous to upset in less than ten seconds. I kept shaking my head. Ezra tried hugging me, but I pushed him away again.
"Please, tell me what's wrong. Please!" He said over and over again until I caved and poured everything out that I was thinking.
"Ezra, I do not deserve this! Not even a little bit!" I shouted as I headed for the stairs.
"What do you mean you don't deserve it?" He asked, stopping me in my tracks but didn't turn around until Ezra came in front of me.
"Of course you deserve it. You deserve every little bit of it." Ezra reassured me as he kissed my forehead, making me leave more distance between us.
"Ezra, please." I said as I choked on my tears.
"Baby.." Ezra came closer, placing both of his hands on my forearms and looked into my eyes, trying to figure what was going on.
"Ezra, your mom tried paying me off last night. She doesn't think I fit into your life, so she tried paying me to break up with you." Ezra looked at me with an expression that I have never seen before. It was like a combination of anger and confusion.
"My mother tried paying you off?" He asked angrily. I just nodded in agreement.
"That's why when I rejected it, I thought she went to you to pay you to break up with me. And that's why I came here to break up with you before you could end it with me.. Then I saw all of this .." I said as I raised both my arms, motioning to the twinkly lights, candles and music. Ezra was silent for a few moments. I am absolutely scared that he was going to blow up at me, causing me to cry even more. Ezra came closer to me, instantly wrapping his arms around my tiny frame. I didn't bother pushing him away this time. We stayed like that for a while before Ezra started to speak.
"There is no amount of money in the world that anyone can give me to break up with you. I am complete head-over-heels for you, Aria. You're it." He whispered sweetly into my ear. I looked up at his loving gaze and couldn't help but smile. Ezra's grip got stronger as he pulled me in closer, giving my head a chaste kiss.
"I love you, Ezra. I don't want to lose you, ever." With that, Ezra picked me up from underneath my legs, causing me to squeal.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked as he headed for the stairs. Ezra didn't answer, he just brought me back down to his apartment. As we reached his door, Ezra opened the door, trying not to drop me. My grip around his neck grew tighter as he brought us over to the bed.
Ezra set me down at the front end of his bed, leaving me on my knees. I wrapped my tiny arms around his neck and brought him closer, leaving him only inches from my lips. So close that he could feel my breathe. Ezra stared at me with his loving gaze and his smile came across his lips, making me smile instantly as well.
"I love it when you look at me like that." I whispered, bringing him closer. Ezra propped his hands onto my hips and brought me in for a long and chaste kiss. I moaned as he slid his tongue inside of my mouth. He pulled away ever so slightly.
"I love it when you moan when I kiss you." Ezra whispered seductively and then proceeded to kiss my nose, causing me to giggle softly.
"And I love your cute giggle." Ezra kissed my nose once more, moving down to my lips.
"I love your baby soft lips." He continued his long journey, kissing my neck, making me crane my neck, exposing more of my soft flesh.
"And I love running my fingers through your soft hair.." Ezra ran his fingers through my hair, tugging on my baby hairs. I bit my lip and then smiled seductively.
"I love when you bite your lip right before I kiss you.." Ezra leaned in and so did I. Our lips connected, sending goose bumps down both of our spines.
"I love it when we kiss and it still feels like the first.." I told him as I ran my own fingers through his curly brown hair. I reached out for his hand, bringing him on the bed with me. Ezra climbed up and brought us up to the top of his bed. We laid on our sides, he had his hands plastered to my waist and I found a cozy spot for my hand on his chest.
"Not to ruin the moment, but you still have your suit on.." I whispered before I gave his soft lips a sweet kiss. Ezra casually looked down and smiled while he started loosening his tie. I giggled softly as I helped him. When his tie was successfully removed, I started unbuttoning his shirt, like I've done a million times. I'm like a pro now. Ezra shrugged his shoulders, letting the cotton dress shirt fall off his broad shoulders and onto the cold wooden floor. As I admired Ezra's toned chest, I bit my lip as I gazed up into his beautiful ocean-blue eyes. Ezra gave me a small smile as he leaned in to kiss my nose. I let out another giggle as he took off his pants and slipped on his pajama bottoms. Ezra threw me one of his Hollis tee-shirts considering I was still dressed in my outfit that I wore to school this morning.
"Thank you, babe." I said as I stripped off my clothes and pulled over the large, baggy shirt. Being a girl is great; I love doing my hair and makeup every morning, to pairing my favorite articles of clothing. But I think the best part is at the end of the day, I can come over to my loving boyfriend's apartment and take off my makeup, throw my hair up into a messy bun and lounge around in his comfy sweaters, sweatshirts, and/or tshirts. Also, the best is when Ezra tells me how beautiful I am without any makeup and that he loves the fact that I feel so comfortable around him. Which is true, and that's why I love him.
Ezra and I crawled back up to the top of his bed. We pulled back the covers and climbed in. As we settled both our bodies onto his plush mattress, Ezra pulled me into him by my waist. He brushed a strand of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear.
"You're so beautiful." He whispered as he pecked my forehead softly. I closed my eyes as his lips touched the top of my forehead and sighed happily.
"I love you, Ezra Fitz." I whispered back as I opened my eyes. He gave me a tired smile.
Ezra reached over to his nightstand and grabbed the tiny black box for the second time this night.
"Aria Rose Montgomery, will you marry me?" He asked with a tired yet hopeful expression. I smiled as tears formed in my eyes. This time they were happy tears. As the hot tears fell from my hazel eyes, Ezra brushed them away with his thumb.
"Of course." Ezra took the diamond ring from the box and slid it onto my ring finger. I looked down at my hand. I couldn't be more happy right now.
"You're totally worth it, baby." He said as he pecked my lips for the first time as my fiancé.
Author's Note; Thank you for reading ! And I am so sorry for the crappy ending, it's late and I'm really tired. But hey, I tried ! Also I want to thank Gilmoregirls945 (Catherine) for writing the first paragraph of this one shot to help me get started and for giving me such good ideas!