Masquerade
Aria's POV:
A few more steps and I stood in front of Ezra's dark apartment door again. I had come to love this apartment building over the past two years. Every time I opened the door to his floor, I had butterflies in my stomach. Just because I knew that I would be in Ezra's arms again a few seconds later. This time wasn't any different. Before I knew it, I had knocked on the door and Ezra had opened the door for me.
"Wow, you look beyond beautiful tonight, Aria" He said pecking me on my lips. I wasn't content with that, so I took his face in my hands and crashed his lips with mine once again. I smiled against his lips and he kissed me back even deeper.
"Well, I'm going to the Masquerade later and I thought it was a nice excuse to go shop with Hanna. You should see Hanna when she's shopping, like a child that gets a lollipop." Ezra chuckled at my comment and closed the door behind me, after I entered his apartment.
"I don't think I would survive that, would I?" Soon I joined Ezra in his laughter as we both settled on the couch. I always felt save in his arms, especially when he stroked my hair the way he did now. For a moment there was a comfortable silence until I heard someone knock on the door.
"There's our food, finally!" I said breaking myself free from his arms. I found my purse on the kitchen table and took my wallet out of it. Before I opened the door I peeked through the hole in his front door, it was indeed the delivery boy. When I opened the door I smelt the pizza inside the box the delivery boy was carrying. I gave him the money and went back into Ezra's apartment. It didn't take long for Ezra to come out of the living room, he smelt the pizza as well.
"This smells so good. I didn't even know I was this hungry." Ezra stated before he opened the box. Our favorite pizza had always been pepperoni, so we ordered it regularly. I grabbed two glasses and some red wine out of the kitchen. I poured the wine into the glasses and lit a candle in the middle of the table. Ezra dimmed the light a little, so the little fire could do its magic. Ezra's eyes always flickered with little sparks if there wasn't any light except for a small candle. There was a little music in the back, which made the whole dinner even more romantic. It was almost like we were in a real restaurant; it was romantic to say the least. We rose our glasses and toasted.
"To us and what the future may bring" I said before clenching my glass with his. Throughout the dinner we didn't say very much, as usual. We both knew we enjoyed our food and each other's company. We were cleaning the dishes when I felt water being splashed in my face.
"You didn't just do that, Mr. Fitz" I said giggling all over the place. Before Ezra could even answer me, I had thrown water in his face as well.
"You're on!" He said while he filled a mug with water and threw it in my face. Because I knew I was never going to win this battle, I started tickling him. When someone tickled him, he lost power of everything and started laughing like a baby. It didn't take me that much time before I was on top of a laughing Ezra. I ran my left hand through his hair and made it look like a complete mess. My right hand continued to tickle him.
"It's very clear I won this battle. Now, what's my price?" I said still giggling because Ezra's laugh was contagious. Within a moment our lips found each other in a passionate kiss. His lips tasted like pepperoni pizza, but I figured mine were too. He was teasing me with his tongue and when I broke away, I was giggling again.
A few minutes later we had cleaned up our mess and I had retouched my make-up. Ezra sat on his couch, when I exited his bathroom.
"Do you want to come with me? I mean, to the Masquerade?" I asked, a little unsure what his answer would be.
"Do you think that's wise? Hanging out with you and your peers?" He said looking up at me.
"It's not like we're illegal anymore. You're not my teacher anymore, nor am I your student. Plus I'm eighteen now, I can be with you, legally" I said taking a seat next to him on the couch.
"But Aria, you can't ignore the fact that people are going to talk about us. They're going to question whether we were together already when we were teacher and student"
"So you want us to stay hidden forever, is that what you're saying?" I said getting a little bit frustrated.
"No, I'm not saying that at all. I just think we should wait a little longer" He said trying to comfort me, even though he didn't.
"But it has been almost a year since I was your student and three months since I turned eighteen. We're having this discussion over and over again. So when is the wait over?"
"I guess when the moment is right, when we both feel good about it" He said not daring to look me in the eye.
"There's never a right moment, you'll get glares from people anyway" I said almost yelling at him. We were interrupted by my phone that vibrated in my purse on my lap. There was one missed call from my mom and a new text message from Spencer. Ignoring the missed phone call, I opened the text.
Where are you? You should've been here 10 minutes ago. I guess we'll meet you at the masquerade than. –Spencer
"I'm sorry, I have to go" I walked to the door to see that Ezra wasn't following me like he always did. I turned my head to face him.
"You know Ezra, I love you. I just wish I could express those feelings to the rest of the world" With that I closed the door behind me and left his apartment building.
It didn't take long before tears were falling down my face. Why does everything have to be so complicated? Why can't we just be a normal couple like any other one? I wish I could blame it all on him, but I knew that I couldn't. Part of me was afraid of people's reactions as well.
Hanna had dropped me off earlier at Ezra's. Spencer lived very close to his house, so I could walk before we went to the masquerade together. But now I had to go there alone. I was lucky that it was summer, so it's wasn't dark outside yet. I heard someone whisper on my right. There were two people on a bench.
"Je t'aime" I heard the boy say to the girl in a sloppy French accent. I thought I recognized the voice, but the sentence wasn't long enough to put the pieces together. For a moment I was confused why he was speaking French, but then I remembered. Mike's grade had French exchange students over. They had one in their house as well, Philippe. It was very clear that he had a crush on me, because he wasn't too subtle about it. He had said he loved me many times already, even though I have just known him for a week. The exchange program always ended with Rosewoods' Annual Masquerade.
I didn't realize I had stopped walking to stare at the couple. This was one of the few things I hated to see. Couples in public, very much in love. It was painful to see a girl my age holding a boy's hand or steal kisses from him. Not because I wasn't happy for them, just because I knew I couldn't do that with Ezra.
There was another thing I couldn't do, which other girls could; invite their boyfriends over. There had been a few moments where I almost slipped. I had almost said his front name a few times before, instead of Mr. Fitz. It wasn't like I didn't want to tell my parents, I just couldn't. They knew I was seeing someone, but I didn't tell them who. At the time they were happy enough to know I had someone to support me, after their divorce and the whole Alison-thing that they didn't ask who it was.
"Sis, why are you staring at me?" I heard the boy on the bench say to me.
"Mike, is that you?" I shot back, because I didn't really look at their faces, just at them being together.
"It's not like you have another sibling, do you?" Mike semi-laughed, when he didn't hear me laugh with him, his face changed into a worried one.
"What's wrong?" He asked sincerely, a side of him that he had just shown a couple of times before.
"It's complicated. Just some boy trouble, you know?" I said trying to fight the feelings that were shown in my eyes.
"Did Mr. Fitz, uh, shit" Mike said clapping his hands over his mouth.
"What did you just say?" I shot back even though I had heard clear enough what he had said.
"I guess I should explain this one, right? Well, I have known about the two of you for about a year. Remember that night when you came home with the brightest smile on your face?" He didn't even give me a chance to answer him as he continued; "It was the night he gave you your necklace and you were very possessive over it. The curious sixteen year old that I was then, sneaked into your room and I walked over to your bed. I tried to move as slowly as possible as I turned your necklace around. You know what's on the back right?" He said gesturing me to sit on the other side of him on the bench. On the back of the necklace was E.F. engraved.
"It took me a few days to figure out what E.F. meant. But when I walked through the halls I saw you talking to him. Your face gave it all away. I had never seen such happy face on you" Mike smiled at me and I could see he was genuinely happy for me. Then I remembered that we weren't alone. Mike deserved his love as well.
"Damn, I should have been more careful. If you could figure it out, anyone could have"
"It doesn't matter anymore, does it? As long as you're happy everything is going to be okay"
"I'm very happy with Ezra, yeah, but we should talk about it later. I figure you want to spend as much time with her as you possibly can until she leaves tomorrow" I said and shook her hand.
"Je suis Aria, la soeur de Mike" I said trying to be polite.
"Je suis Jacqueline" She said, I stood up and after we said our goodbyes I walked away. At this point I was relieved that Mike knew about Ezra, at least one member in our family accepted our relationship for the way it was. There was another part of me that was kind of shocked, because I never noticed anything that could lead to the fact that Mike had known. I turned my head to see that Mike was kissing the French girl. I felt jealous about the fact that he could kiss her out in the open, without any fear. My own brother could do the things I wanted to do, but I knew I had to wait for it.
I didn't feel like going to the party anymore, but I really needed to talk to the girls. There was no way I could sleep if they didn't tell me everything was going to be okay. After the whole 'A-thing' subsided, we grew stronger than ever. We were always there for each other, no matter what.
The masquerade was already fully in progress when I arrived, which was about forty minutes later. I took my mask out of my purse, otherwise I couldn't go in. When I entered I took in my surroundings. The masquerade was held outside, just like every other year. There were little tents on both sides of the dance floor. You could buy drinks or something to eat there. Other tents were filled with people who sold homemade products like art, jewelry or clothes. Everyone wore masks, some of them even more special than others. In the front was a small stage with a band playing. There were little lights above the dance floor, which was full of dancing people.
I stood on the top of my toes to see if I could see the girls. Because I was small, I still couldn't see a thing because it was too crowded. I tried to grab my phone out of my purse when someone grabbed me by my shoulder. It was a woman, but I couldn't see who it was, because she was wearing a mask just like anyone else.
"Listen carefully, Aria. I saw you before you put on your mask, so there is no denying here" She stood very close to me right now, whispering in my ear. I knew I recognized her voice, it was Jackie, Ezra's ex-fiancé
"Ezra's mine. He will never end up with you, I know that and you do as well. You're just someone he used. Probably, just to spend some time with before he got back with me. He could never truly love you, ever" Tears were rolling down my face and for a moment I was happy that I was wearing a mask. Even though I knew that Jackie probably wasn't telling the truth, it made me sad. It could be the reason why he doesn't want to go public, right?
"Why did you break off your engagement, if you're so sure he's yours?" I said trying to sound untouched and normal.
"That is three years ago! I was young and stupid. He knows I'm the one and we both knew we were going to end up together eventually anyway," She said raising her voice, so she could make me feel young and stupid, "stay away from him, he's mine" She ended her sentence. Before she walked away I felt a little soreness in my neck. After a second I didn't feel it anymore, so I pretended like it never happened. She walked into the crowd and left me there. The only thing I really wanted right now, were Ezra's strong arms wrapped around me. But there was no way he would make his way down here after tonight's events. I decided to call Hanna instead, so I could find out where they were.
"Hey Han, where are you?" I said loudly because the music was loud as well.
"We're in the front of the dance floor, in the right corner" Hanna answered me.
"Okay, I'll see you in a minute" I said before I hung up my phone. I made my way through the crowd, which wasn't that hard because I was so tiny. When I was halfway through, I saw a young couple making out in the middle of the dance floor. Why did I have to bump into those scenes? I walked further and tried to get my head off of it. After a few minutes I saw the dress that Hanna bought with me, so I walked over to her. Out of the corner of her eye she caught me.
"Aria! Where have you been?" She said to me while she hugged me like she always did.
"I, uh, I was at Ezra's you know, you dropped me of?" I didn't look at her, because I knew when my eyes met hers, she would see, even with my mask on, that I had been crying. I felt that Hanna was studying my eyes and I knew she had seen it anyways.
"Aria, I know there's something wrong, now, tell me" She said brushing her hand over my back in a comforting manner.
"We had a little argument about us going public again" When I finished my sentence Spencer and Emily were gathered around me as well.
"Everything is going to be fine. Eventually the two of you will find a way to go public. You just have to make sure that you're both comfortable with it when you do" Spence said, being the wise speaker she is.
"I know it's just frustrating" I said taking the girls in for a group hug. We stood there for a little while, before we backed away. Toby had seen the whole scene and came up to us with some drinks. He gave Spencer a peck on her cheek and walked back to the boys again. We made small talk and finished our drinks. We started dancing to our favorite songs and we had the time of our lives. I almost forgot about Ezra, until the band started to play a slow song.
"Find a partner, so we can get some romance going on here" The lead singer told everyone through his microphone. Caleb and Toby came toward us and asked Hanna and Spencer for their dance. Maya and Emily were already gone off to the middle of the dance floor. Suddenly there was no one around me anymore; I was all on my own. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and tried to warm myself up. After a few seconds there were at least fifty couples in the middle of the dance floor and just the sight of it, broke my heart. My hand tried to grab Ezra's necklace for comfort, but it wasn't there. Then I remembered the little soreness I felt before Jackie walked away. She had taken Ezra's necklace! This place wasn't going to do me any good tonight, so I decided to go home. I tried to take a step in the exit's direction, until a guy walked towards me.
"Je pourrais avoir cette danse?" He said reaching his hand out to me. From what I could see the French boy looked just like Philippe, dark hair and blue eyes. This was probably the last time that I would ever see him, so I decided that it wouldn't hurt to dance with him, so I took his hand in mine. We swayed slowly to the music. Our bodies got closer and closer to each other. When the song ended I loosened my grip on his hand, but soon I realized he was determined to have another dance. The band stopped playing and a DJ came in their place. Two dances turned into five ones when I heard Happiness by The Fray playing. I wanted to walk away, be anywhere but there. This was our song, I would allow no one to dance with me on this song, just Ezra.
"Séjour, s'il vous plaît!" Philippe said pressing his body closer to me. He was way stronger than me, so there was no way I could get away. I cried into his chest, because that seemed like the only thing I was still capable of, crying. Honestly, it was nice to have some strong arms around me. It felt save like nothing had happened this whole night.
"Quel est le problème, Aria?" Philippe asked trying to sooth me. First I wasn't sure why he cared so much, but then it hit me, he was in love with me. Plus, I was spoiling his shirt. He was taking off to France tomorrow again, so he probably wouldn't tell anyone. Something about him made me feel comfortable, so I decided to tell him about my relationship with Ezra first. He didn't say anything, probably because he had to concentrate on what I was saying. English was still a foreign language for him after all.
"So tonight I went over to his apartment, we had the most romantic dinner together and even doing the dishes with him was beyond fun," I felt his head nod in understanding, because his head was rested on mine, "before I left his apartment we had a little argument about us going public. It was just frustrating, because we're having those discussions regularly lately. Before we could get too angry with each other, I left. I was walking my way down here when I saw a couple, openly in love" I sobbed when I recalled my memory, but it was also comforting to tell someone about my events.
"The boy appeared to be Mike. He told me he had known about my relationship for about a year now; he figured it out on his own. When I walked further I looked back again, I felt jealous of the sight my eyes had been catching. Can you still handle it?" I asked him, just to have him answer with a slight nod.
"Then when I came here, I bumped into Jackie, Ezra's ex-fiancé. She told me how she wanted him back and that he would never love me. According to her, he used me" I felt hot tears making their way down my face once again. For a moment I thought he tightened his grip around me, but a second later I wasn't sure anymore.
"She walked away from me and eventually I made my way to the girls. They comforted me, but I still wasn't totally at ease. Their partners asked them to dance and I was alone once again. At that moment I realized Jackie had taken Ezra's necklace away from me. The rest of the blanks you can fill in yourself" They rested in a comfortable silence, still swaying to the music. My crying had subsided. Now, I just wanted to go home. I loosened my grip from Philippe's body and this time, he let me.
"Everyone it's midnight! Time to take off those masks and see who you've been dancing with all night!" The DJ said enthusiastically. I had already turned my back to Philippe, taken off my mask, until I felt a hand in mine, spinning me around. Confusion was spread on my face, the moment I laid eyes on the person in front of me. It was none other than my own Ezra. It just started raining, so everyone subsided. We just stood there staring into each other's eyes.
"I heard every word you just said to me. I love you too, Aria. And I want to express those feelings to the world as well" Before I knew it, my lips were crashed with his. He lifted me off of the ground and I wrapped my legs around his waist. The kiss grew hungrily and passionate. I took his face in both my hands and caressed his cheeks. Somewhere far off I heard someone clapping and yelling in excitement. I pulled away from Ezra to see who it was, I realized that Ezra had done the same thing. We were the only ones still on the dance floor. Everyone was staring at us from under the little tents. Soon I saw where the noise was coming from, my own little brother, Mike. Every second more people joined him in his excitement for us.
"We're soaking, let's get us dry" Ezra said looking up at me again. His eyes were so bright, if I hadn't know better I swore it were two shining stars.
"Wait, just one great finale" I said to him, widening my smile.
"I'm crazy about this man here," I said raising my voice and messing up his hair for the second time tonight which caused him to laugh, "and it took a lot for us to be here right now. I'm madly in love with him and I don't care what anyone thinks about that" I said leaning in to a smiling Ezra. My lips were pressed against his once again and I lingered it a little just to give everyone a statement. We pulled back, still holding our foreheads against each other. Everyone was clapping and yelling at this point and I couldn't have been happier.
"I'm getting us dry now" Ezra said still wearing his boyish smile. He carried me to the closest tent and put me down.
"I'm sorry about everything you had to go through tonight. Especially because you had to go through it alone" He said looking down, because he felt sad about it.
"It's okay, it was all very much worth it in the end" I said caressing his cheek.
"You know what? I'll buy you a new necklace with my full name engraved in it"
"Sounds like a plan" We intertwined our fingers and walked to the jewelry tent. There were a lot of beautiful necklaces, but my eyes fell immediately on one in particular. It was a simple golden necklace with a heart-shaped plate on it. It was perfect. My head turned to Ezra and I caught him staring at the same necklace.
"It's perfect, isn't it?" I said smiling broadly.
"It's indeed perfect, just like you" He said wrapping an arm around me. He kissed the top of my head and told the saleswoman what he wanted. Twenty minutes later the necklace was done and he had paid for it. He turned me around so my back was facing him. He buckled the necklace for me and gave me a butterfly kiss on my bare shoulder. I closed my eyes at his touch. His face moved closer to mine as I felt his breath against my skin. The closer he came, the more electricity spread through my body. Finally, he nestled his lips almost touching my skin.
"I'm yours, not Jackie's or anyone else's. Yours." He whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me. With my eyes still closed, I smiled in contentment. He left another kiss just behind my ear. Suddenly I heard someone familiar call out my name. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes were wide open now. It was my mom. First I wasn't sure why she was here, but then I saw where her voice was coming from. Of course, my mom worked in an art tent tonight, great.
"Hi Ella" I said trying to sound like there was nothing wrong.
"Hi Aria and also hi Ezra" Ella said joining me in my game.
"I didn't even know you were going to work here" I said not daring to look at her straight in the eye.
"I called you, but you didn't answer your phone" She answered. There was this awkward silence, before Ella opened her mouth again;
"You're kind of busted aren't you?" She said jokingly. "It's not like I haven't seen that scene about half an hour ago, it was actually kind of hard not to. Just to calm your nerves, I knew already" She just said what? She had known? Who told her? I looked around me at Ezra; he had a goofy grin plastered on his face. This made me even more confused.
"How?" It was the easiest question, but it would probably solve all the questions that were popping up in my head.
"That boyfriend of yours called me after you left his apartment. Apparently, you have said something really smart just before you left" Ella explained. Quickly, I recalled tonight's event. I had said to him that I loved him and that I wanted to express those feelings to the rest of the world.
"At first he didn't say who the girl he was talking about was, he just asked me for advice. After I heard him out, I put two and two together myself. I can't say that I was happy with it, far from it. He told me the whole story and I was relieved the two of you did meet under different circumstances. My better half took advantage of the fact that I wanted you to be happy and I know Ezra's a sweet and loving guy so in return I gave him the advice he wanted. I told him about Philippe and his little crush on you and we planned the whole thing out. And eventually everything fell in their place" Ella said coming up to me giving me a big hug.
"Are you mad I didn't tell you?" I said freeing myself out of her tight hug.
"At first I was, but then I realized I haven't been honest with you myself" My brows knitted together wanting an explanation. She was looking to her left, but soon she looked me straight in the eye. She took a deep breath before she spoke again.
"Well, your father and I are sort of together again" She said sighing out of relief.
"What? But Ella, that's amazing! How long has this been going on?" I almost screamed because I was so happy my parents had worked out their stuff. That and the fact that the music was turned up again. The second it had stopped raining, everyone had gathered themselves on the dance floor again.
"Almost six months?" She said letting it sound more like a question. I crashed my arms around her neck and she almost fell, thanks to my excitement.
"That's enough hugging for today, I guess we'll see each other tomorrow? I'm thinking a family dinner with our reunited family, what do you think?" Ella asked me quickly.
"Sounds perfect, Ella" I answered her.
"Would you like to join us, Ezra?" Ella said turning her attention to him.
"If you don't mind" Ezra said shy.
"I would love you to be there, so we can get to know you a little better besides you being my former co-worker. Oh and Aria, you can stay over at his place if you'd like to, I figured you've found your ways to do that in the past two years" She said winking to me.
"Guilty! Well, Ezra and I will see you tomorrow. Bye" Ezra tightened his grip around me and placed a light kiss in my hair.
"Bye" She said already turning around to walk back to her tent. But before she was out of our sight, she turned her head.
"You two make a very cute couple" She stated before she walked up to someone who was admiring her art collection. I turned around facing Ezra, his arms still wrapped around my small body.
"I still can't believe she picked up on it so well" Ezra said before I could even say something.
"Right? I thought she was going to punch you in the face or call the police, but she did the quite opposite; she invited you over for dinner tomorrow" I said while my smile was becoming even more evident on my face.
"God, I love your smile" Ezra marked.
"Did I just say that out loud?" Which caused me to laugh and soon Ezra joined me in my laughter.
"I must say, your boyish smile is one to die for" I said still laughing. My eyes traveled to Ezra's and I stared deep into them. They were filled with joy, love and relief. Someone coughed behind me and I didn't bother to look who it was. But Ezra did. I noticed his eyes changing, they were filled with anger and hatred just in a few split seconds. He laid my head against his chest, in a protective manner, his left hand on my face so I couldn't see anything. His heart was speeding up and was racing mere seconds later. I turned my own head now to see who he was looking at, it was Jackie yet again.
"What do you want?" Ezra said trying to sound standard, but failed in every way possible. He sounded harsh and angry, something I had never heard from him before.
"You" Jackie answered walking closer and closer to us. She reached her hand out to caress Ezra's cheek, but he wouldn't let her.
"Don't you dare touch me. Obviously, you can't have me. I'm deeply in love with Aria, she means everything to me. I can't believe you said those things to her, you're so mean. I won't let you harm her ever again, understood? Now turn around and walk away. Make sure I'll never see you again" Jackie once did as she was told and turned around.
"Wait. First give Aria's necklace back" Ezra commanded her. She threw the necklace over her shoulder on the ground. Then she disappeared into the crowd.
"She will never hurt you ever again, I promise you" Ezra said to me, after he picked the necklace up, my face snuggling in his chest again. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, but in reality it was just a couple of minutes.
"I love when you're protective over me," I said spreading a small smile on my face, "would you mind heading to the girls for a bit?" I asked because I really had some explaining to do.
"Yeah, sure" He loosened his grip and run one hand in mine.
"I have to say, I love being able to hold your hand and kiss you in public. It feels so good" I said after we had walked for a little while already.
"Yeah, me too. I imagined that people would stare at us and whisper things to the people next to them. So far, I haven't noticed any of that. It feels…" He was searching for the word but he couldn't wind his finger around it.
"Relieving?" I asked squeezing his hand.
"That definitely defines what I feel, yeah" Before I could even say a word back, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around to see a broadly smiling Hardy in front of me. Ezra was facing him now as well.
"Z, old buddy, what a moving scene! It entertained me to the last second" Hardy said, the only one laughing. He laughed like his life depended on it, it was ridiculous. Before Ezra or I could find the words to say something back, he walked to the bar. He had an arm around a girl, who was probably just one year older than me. At this point, Ezra was the one laughing.
"He's so drunk, just like old times. I used to drag him back to our dorm room every Saturday night" He said reliving those events once again, but his beautiful eyes were still focused on me.
"Let's forget about the girls, I'll text them later. They'll understand" I said leading him to the dance floor.
"They have always known, haven't they?" He asked before we stepped on the dance floor for the second time tonight.
"Yes, they have known. Hanna saw us, so I couldn't deny it anymore"
"It's okay, I figured you'd told them" He said and then silenced me with a kiss. We danced, we made out and we had fun together, in public! It could never be this perfect ever again. After an hour of dancing my feet hurt and I saw that Ezra's were as well, just by the look on his face.
"Want to take off?" He asked when the song ended.
"That would be lovely" I said taking his hand in mine. I lead him to the exit and took us out of there. We were just talking about the night, walking the streets under the dark starlit sky.
"You know, tonight, was amazing. I'm never going to forget it" I said smiling broadly.
"Me too, Aria. Me too" We were just walking and we didn't know where we were anymore, but it didn't matter. We had a nice conversation and we smiled to all the people walking by.
Tonight was all about us. There were a lot of beautiful gardens in this part of Rosewood. I never really noticed the gardens for some sort, but tonight was different, tonight was special. Suddenly, Ezra stopped walking in the middle of the street. I looked up at him. His hair was still a mess, but that actually looked cute on him, so I didn't care. His lips were slightly swollen from all the kisses we had shared the past two hours. And then, there were these gorgeous blue eyes, I had fallen in love with so many times already. They were watching something, I followed his gaze, to a rose-bush.
"I'm going to get you one" He said before I could even stop him. He opened the small dark blue door in the fence and walked his way to the bush. There was a knife on the ground and he took it in his right hand. He studied the whole bush, before he decided which rose he was going to cut. His eyes settled on a tiny red rose on top of the bush. Before he cut the rose, Ezra threw me a loving look and looked back at the rose again. He cut the rose and took a smell of it. There was one single leaf on it. He stood there for a short time before he walked back to me. He knelt down in front of me.
"My loving Aria, will you take this rose as a sign for my love and affection?" He asked letting the rose reach closer to me.
"Of course I will" I said without even hesitating. I took the rose in my right hand and took a smell of it as well. It had the most flowery scent I had ever witnessed before. I tangled the rose in my hair. Ezra stood up again and took my left hand in his. We continued to walk in a comfortable silence while he rubbed circles on my hand with his thumb. Minutes passed until we faced a playground. We both saw the playground at the exact same and turned our faces to each other.
"The last one on the swings pays take-out next time!" I said already running towards the playground.
"That's not fair, you knew in advance you had to run!" I heard a semi-laughing and screaming Ezra yell behind me. This made me laugh like I had never laughed before, but I kept running. Just mere moments later I had reached the swings and I plopped down on one of them. Not even a second later Ezra was seated beside me on the other swing.
"You know Ezra, you sound like a teenager when you're being competitive" I said after we had both catched our breaths.
"Do you like it?" He said in a teasing way.
"I love it" I stated turning my face to him. He was looking straight at me as he wore the brightest smile on his face. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it a little.
"Well then, let's see who can jump the furthest" He said letting go of my hand.
"You're so going to lose this" I giggled. We both took a few steps back to settle ourselves on the swings. When I was on them I felt so happy. Ezra and I could finally do those kinds of things, like play on a playground or walk with our hands tangled together, things normal couples did. In this moment there was one thing crystal clear to me; I had never been this happy before. I giggled without any reason, I smiled to all the people walking by and I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world.
"One… two… three, JUMP!" I heard Ezra yell next to me. He was as happy as me. I had heard him laugh occasionally tonight as well. It was very obvious that Ezra had won this match. He was way further than me. I couldn't see his face, because he was still looking in the other direction, but I knew he had a large grin spread on it.
"So, what is my price?" He teased turning his head to me. The grin that grew on his face looked even bigger in the moonlight. He looked so attractive at that moment that I started to giggle. I don't know why, but Ezra joined me in my laughter.
"This" I said still laughing. I ran up to him and collapsed our bodies together. I attacked him with a hard kiss, which he welcomed lustfully. Our tongues battled together in a match for dominance. My fingers slipped through his hair and his strong arms tried to bring me even closer to him. We heard a soft twitch behind us and we both let go of each other immediately. We were both still used to the fact that we had a secret relationship. Fortunately, it was just an old couple walking their dog down the path.
"Do you remember when we were young and in love, dear?" I heard the lady say to her husband. The man responded but they were too far away from me to hear them.
"We really need to get used to this" Ezra said after he had been staring at the couple until they weren't in sight anymore just like I had done.
"Yeah, I know" I said staring at the place where I saw the old couple last. Ezra slid his hand in mine and gave it a soft kiss. I wanted to look him in the eye, not before I heard a girl laugh uncontrollably. Both our eyes wandered to the place where the noise was coming from. My mouth dropped immediately as I realized who the girl was. It was Jackie. It wasn't exactly Jackie that made me feel chilly at that moment, it was the person whom she was with, Darren Wilden. It scared me to say the least; he could get Ezra through a whole lot of trouble. Just seconds after I realized this, I was down in the sand.
"They can't see us here" whispered Ezra who lie right beside me. He had taken me with him to the ground, because he was still holding my hand. We curled up against each other as we lay both as comfortable as possible. It didn't take long before they passed by the playground. There was a small bush that hid our bodies, so they couldn't see us, but we could see them through the bush. Jackie was still very much laughing, but in an annoying kind of way. She was drooling over him, was she drunk? Of course she was drunk, it would be out of the question for her not to be drunk.
When their backs were facing us, I tilted my head up. They had their arms wrapped around each other, probably so they wouldn't fall. Suddenly, they stopped in the middle of the street. I sat up a little straighter to see what was going on, what were they doing out there? When I looked back at them, I saw they make out.
"Well, she has moved on fast" I heard Ezra whisper who sat next to me now. I almost let out a giggle, but I realized just in time where we were. Ezra noticed it too and he covered my mouth with his hand. We sat there like that for a few more minutes until we saw them take off.
"Finally, they're gone" I said sighing.
"It's just you and me now. Come here" He said opening his arms for me. I lifted myself into his arms and cuddled him until I almost lost my breath. When I pulled back and took a deep breath, I realized we were lying down again.
"They are beautiful, aren't they?" He said looking at the broad starry sky. I flipped over so I faced the sky as well. My head lay on his shoulder and my back rested on his stomach. Ezra wrapped his arms around my waist and I held his hands in mine. The sky was very bright tonight, there were stars sparkling everywhere. There wasn't a single spot without this little light.
"It's incredible" I said softly. I felt Ezra's thumb stroke my skin lightly. Our heartbeats had the same calm rhythms, we inhaled and exhaled simultaneously and we both made circles with our fingertips into each other's skin with the same speed. Our eyes never left the starlit sky. It almost felt like we'd become one. We lay there for quite some time, when we both saw a shooting star.
"Did you see that? Quick, make a wish" Ezra whispered in my right ear. My wish wasn't going to be one to be wasted. I wished that I always wanted to be this happy with Ezra by my side. Ezra pressed a kiss against my forehead and I knew he had wished almost the exact same thing.
"You know Aria, I still have a surprise for you" He said with that teasing tone of his.
"What is it?" I said, smiling already even though I didn't know what the surprise was.
"It's in my pocket" He simply stated, allowing me to get the surprise out of there. I reached my hand into his pocket and I felt something familiar.
"It's a camera!" I almost yelled. We could never take a picture of us as a couple before, because it was way too risky. Now we went public, we could do whatever we wanted. This included taking pictures together.
"Yes, our first real picture as a couple" Ezra said as happily as me. I switched the camera on and held it above us. I kissed Ezra on his cheek and pressed the button. Never had I ever seen such a beautiful photograph. It was priceless, just like the whole night. My eyes were doing a lot of effort to stay open at this point and soon sleep took control over me. The last thing I felt was that Ezra carried me bridal style to his house.
"I love you, Aria" He said.
"I love you too, Ezra" I more like whispered while Ezra pressed a light kiss against my forehead.