Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or these characters. Not written for money, only enjoyment.
Here is the second chapter of my story. I hope you have enjoyed it so far. I promise to get to the showcase in the next chapter, I just needed to layout the background.
Thank you to the guest and kelseycochran96 for your reviews. I really appreciate them even if they are criticism.
Ella didn't wake Aria the next morning, she decided that her sleeping was a better way to go that day. She knew in time that Aria would be okay but time was something they didn't have a lot of. Walking downstairs and into the kitchen which smelled amazing she greeted Mike and Zack, "Good morning."
"Morning Mom." Mike said sleepily. "Can I go back to bed and take today off like Aria?"
"You already know the answer to that question Mike, plus you have that Spanish quiz today don't you?"
"Yeah unfortunately. It's a good thing I have friends who are good in Spanish or I'd be failing." Mike said joking.
"You better not fail." Zack entered into the conversation. "I don't want to hear your Mom yell at you." He said smiling at Mike. They already had a bound.
Ella couldn't help but smile at the two guys in her kitchen it was nice to have a home that felt like home. After her divorce from her first husband, Byron, things had been rocky. Her children had been miserable living with him and she had started dating which led to her marrying Zack, a guy much younger than herself. Byron had given their home to her as a form of saying sorry for cheating on her with his TA. As Zack moved in the house slowly became theirs and the kids.
"Ella, what are you thinking? You have this satisfied smile on your face." Zack asked putting his arms around her shoulders.
Leaning into him, "I was just thinking about how this house is finally starting to feel like a home again." She said closing her eyes and smelling fresh muffins cooking.
"You know Mom, that's true. Ever since you two got married things have been better." Mike agreed.
Zack just squeezed Mike's shoulder on his way to the stove.
Looking at the clock, "Oh Mike grab me one of those strawberry/banana muffins. We need to go or we will be late." Ella said rushing to gather her stuff.
Kissing his wife and nodding at Mike, Zack was left in the house with a sleeping Aria and time to figure out how to approach Jason DiLaurentis, a guy he didn't know. Grabbing the phone Zack knew most of his staff were Rosewood kids and would know Jason so he called to have them call him when he came into the shop so Zack could talk to him on neutral ground, of a sort.
Aria woke up to her stomach growling. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday around lunch time. Looking around her room she realized it was around lunch time again, getting out of bed and heading down stairs Aria was greeted by the smell of fresh baked muffins. Heading in the kitchen following her grumbling stomach and nose she was greeted by Zack as she sat down.
"Would you like a blueberry strawberry muffin?" Zack asked pulling them out of the oven.
Nodding, "You bet I would. You're one of the best pastry chefs I know." Aria told him, taking a muffin. It was warm and smelled amazing.
Zack grabbed two cups of coffee and sat down, "So are you feeling any better? You had a pretty rough day yesterday." He asked genuinely concerned.
Aria thought for a moment, "I guess I'm getting there. I don't know exactly how I'll be able to do school now that Jason is back but I'll figure it out." She finally said.
"If it's not asking too much, what exactly happened between you and Jason?"
"A lot of things that led to me breaking his heart. When he first came back to town two years ago I was the only one of my friends to approach him and become his friend. Feelings I'm guessing we both had for each other came in and he told me that he cared about me and I told him I was unavailable, which I was, but a part of me wanted Jason. In the end I chose Ezra and Jason left. I never had a chance to explain why I did what I did. Not that I blame Jason for hating me."
"Wow" Zack said rubbing his neck, "I don't think he hates you. I think he is hurt, but I also think that if he told you how he really felt he probably still feels the same way. But then again I don't really know the guy, but with how your Mom talks about how he helped Mike and you I can say I think he is probably a decent guy."
"He is. He really is. I just wish I knew how to get him back in my life." Aria said shrugging her shoulders. "I miss him. More than I can admit to anyone."
"I can see and I bet that your friends would understand if you told them how you really feel. And I'm also betting that Jason would let you make your case if you were completely honest with him."
Staring at Zack, "You think so?" Aria asked nervously, "My friends aren't exactly Jason's biggest fans, but he might be more level headed."
"You never know until you try."
Smiling, "You know you're pretty good at this advice stuff." Aria said standing to put her plate and mug in the sink.
Walking back over to the table Aria put her arms around Zack's neck and gave him hug. "Thank you. I really needed someone to talk to. I love my Mom but she is such a Mom sometimes." She said.
Squeezing her arm, "Anytime Aria. I may not have this whole Dad thing down but I'll be around to listen if you need me." Zack told her.
Aria pulled away and looked at him with tears in her eyes, "Oh God Aria I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Zack said standing up quickly.
"Oh no it's not you. It's just Jason always use to say I could come to him with anything." Aria said wiping away the tears, "It just brought back some feelings."
Pulling the teenager into another hug, "You really do miss him don't you?" Zack asked rhetorically.
Aria just squeezed his middle and cried for several minutes. Pulling away Aria wiped her eyes, "I'm going to take a shower and get ready to face the rest of the day."
"Okay. Is there any kind of muffin or pastry you would like me to make? I'm working from here today." Zack asked heading over to the counter.
"Hmm. Oo how about those cinnamon sugar croissants you made in January. They were amazing." Aria said smiling.
"I hadn't thought of those. That's a good idea. They tend to be very good sellers." Zack said back and smiled as Aria headed up stairs.
Once out of the shower Aria felt like a new woman. Her head was clear and she was actually ready to work on the home work her Mom had brought home for her. Settling down in the living room, she put the Glee cd in the stereo and set it to repeat and sat down ready to tackle the work in front of her. She was almost done with all of her work when the doorbell rang. Looking at the clock she realized that it was after school so it was probably the girls coming to make sure she was still alive.
Answering the door answered her thought, "Hey girls. Come on in" Aria said moving out the way of the door.
Spencer, Hanna and Emily all headed inside and sat down in the living room.
"We thought you had died." Hanna said dramatically. "Now please tell us that your break down yesterday had nothing to do with Jason DiLaurentis being back in town."
Aria looked at her socked feet, Emily smacked Hanna's arm and glared at her, and Spencer got up and hugged Aria close.
"That's what caused it wasn't it?" Spencer asked in a cautious tone not wanting to make Aria break down again.
Nodding, "I thought I was done with how I felt about him and then I saw him and everything came back. We never got to talk and make things right. I know I hurt him, but I didn't mean too, I never wanted to hurt him." Aria mumbled so that only Spencer could hear and the tears started to pour.
Emily and Hanna both jumped up and joined in on the hug. None of the girls talked while Aria cried. They didn't know to help her with this, she had been saying since Jason left that she was fine. But they all heard the Glee song playing the background and knew that Aria hadn't only been lying to herself, but also to them.
The phone ringing broke the friends apart, Aria was wiping her eyes and her were looking at her worried.
"Who got the phone?" Emily asked.
"Zack. He was working from home today. I don't think my Mom wanted me home alone." Aria explained.
"That makes sense. You need some human contact going through this." Spencer said.
Coming into the living room, "Aria, I have to head to The Brew. Something has come up that I have to handle." Zack told her.
"Okay. I hope everything is okay."
"Everything is fine, but an order got mixed up so I have to call and get it fixed." Zack smiled, "Got to love owning your own business. Tell your Mom I'll talk to her when I get home."
"Will do. Hope it all gets worked out."
"That's funny." Emily said shaking her head.
"What?" Aria asked.
"Well deliveries don't come on Thursdays. Zack has everything delivered on Tuesdays." Emily explained.
"Maybe something didn't come in on Tuesday." Hanna suggested.
"That could be. Or he had to order more of something and it got mixed up. We were running low on sugar." Emily agreed.
Heading back to the couch the girls didn't discuss Zack or The Brew. They talked about what they were all going to sing at the Talent Showcase: Emily was going to sing, I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Hanna was singing, She's In Love With A Boy by Trisha Yearwood, Spencer went with, If You Ask Me Too by Celine Dion which surprised all of them. The girls even knew what Toby, Caleb and Jason were going to sing.
Shaking, "I didn't know Jason was doing the showcase." Aria said looking like she was going to be sick.
"He only signed up so that Caleb and Toby wouldn't have to be alone and putting up with us." Hanna explained. "Aria it'll be okay. If you want we can keep you away from him Saturday night."
"Hanna's right. You won't have to see him if you don't want." Spencer said.
"No, it's okay. I need to face him somehow. Maybe the showcase would be a good time. There will be people around." Aria stated wringing her hands.
"Aria, you don't have to lie to us anymore. We all know you're not over him." Emily said taking her friends hand.
That broke Aria, "I didn't mean to lie to you guys. I just knew that you didn't trust or like him and I didn't know how to tell you that I had feelings for him that went beyond being friends." Aria said starting to cry.
Hanna and Spencer moved in closer, "It's okay, but why did you choose Ezra when you had feelings for Jason?" Spencer asked sounding a little angry. Her half-brothers heart could have been spared if Aria had been honest with herself.
Looking at her friend, "Please Spencer. You know I would never mean to hurt Jason, but at the time none of you liked him or trusted him. It was either I fight with all of you on a daily basis or stay in relationship you all trusted. And no I'm not blaming any of you for what I did. I take full responsibility. I just wish I knew how to make it better." Aria stated in a sad tone. She looked beyond upset at how things had happened and the tears were just falling now.
Spencer looked at Aria and knew her friend wasn't lying. None of them had made it easy on Aria to be around Jason. They had never thought about how she might feel about him. "I get it Aria. I just don't like seeing you or Jason upset." Spencer said giving her friend another hug.
Zack had gotten the call from The Brew telling him that Jason had come in and was sitting down to read the paper. Rushing towards his establishment Zack was nervous he didn't know how to approach a guy he didn't know about Aria, the daughter of his new wife. Walking through the front door his cashier just pointed towards the back of the shop at the blonde guy reading the paper. Stopping to ask, "What's he drinking?" Zack got a hold of a mug of black coffee and headed back.
Setting the mug down in front of Jason, "Mind if I sit?" Zack asked.
Jason looked up from the paper confused, "Sure. But do I know you?" he asked.
"No. I'm Zack. I married the former Mrs. Montgomery, Ella." Zack explained.
"I heard about that. Congrats. She's a really nice lady. Her kids are great too." Jason said
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Zack said looking Jason straight in the eye.
"Is everything okay? Mike hasn't started acting up again has he? Is Aria still being stalked?" Jason asked in a hurried fashion setting down the paper.
"Everything is okay. Mike is fine and doing great I think him knowing he can turn to you is helping him out a lot. Aria on the other hand is having a hard time."
"She is? I didn't realize me coming home would upset her this much. Maybe I should go back to Georgia." Jason said rubbing his neck looking upset.
"No, please don't leave again. You being home isn't what upset Aria. She is upset because she now has to face all of her feelings for you, the ones she thought left when you did. You have no idea how guilty she feels about everything." Zack explained quickly. This was not how this conversation was supposed to go.
"What do you mean face the feelings she has for me? She made it pretty clear before I left that she had no feelings for me."
"You had a little sister right?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, Ali. She is how I first met Aria and the other girls." Jason answered.
"Well did she ever lie about her feelings for someone to you or act differently towards someone when she was dating someone else?"
"Ali wasn't the type to ignore her feelings. She would have dated both guys at the same time. But what does that have to do with Aria?"
"From the way Ella explained it to me, when you told Aria you cared about her two years she was beyond thrilled but also confused. She thought she had found her prince charming in Ezra and then there you were. The guy she couldn't stop thinking about, the one who could take her away from everything bad in her life, make her feel safe. She didn't know how to handle what she was feeling so she stuck by Ezra because he had been the constant in her life at that point. She never meant to hurt you and regrets it big time." Zack told the older DiLaurentis kid.
Jason sat back in his chair and just stared at Zack. The guy had made some points that Jason couldn't ignore. He had come into Aria's life again unexpectedly and had kind of thrown his feelings for her at her not really knowing how she would react.
Zack could tell that the guy was processing, but he needed to one more thing, "I hate to ask this especially since you just got back into town, but do you think you could ever forgive Aria?" Zack asked in a kind voice.
"There is nothing really to forgive. She did what was best for her at the time. I can't really be mad at her for it. I just really want the truth from her. I think for both of us to move on she needs to figure out how she really feels about me and let me know." Jason stated.
"That makes sense. I'll let you get back to your coffee and paper. Have a good evening." Zack said standing up and walking away.
All Jason could do was nod at the guy.
Ella came home and found her daughter and her friends laughing in the living room. Standing back she watched as the girls enjoyed each other's company, it was nice to see Aria smiling and laughing again but she did wonder how long it would last. Finally stepping into sight, "Hey girls. How is everything going?" She asked.
Hanna giggled, "Everything is good. We are just discussing what the guys are singing for the Talent Showcase." Trying to hold back her laughter Hana explained.
Smiling, "Oh dear. I'm guessing they picked some funny songs or something. Oh and I saw that Ezra signed up sing. Did you all ask him too." She asked.
All eyes turned to Aria, "Ezra is singing in the show too?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yes, but what is wrong with that? Maybe he wants to finally show you two off in town?" Ella thought out loud.
Aria just squeaked and looked at her hands as they started to shake.
"Jason is singing in the show also. He didn't want Toby and Caleb to have to do it by themselves." Spencer explained.
Finally understanding Ella looked at her daughter and could see the pain in her eyes. It was almost a blessing that graduation was only three months away, she thought.
"Aria, you don t have to sing if you don't want too." Emily said.
"No, I will. I need too." Aria said quietly.
None of the other women argued knowing that Aria really did need to do this for herself.
"Okay girls so what are the guys singing?" Ella asked trying to change the conversation.
Emily laughed, "Caleb is singing Firecracker by Josh Turner cause Hanna is his little firecracker or something like that, Toby is singing Anywhere With You by Jake Owen which is self-explanatory for him and Spencer and Jason is singing Til My Last Day by Justin Moore." She got out before rolling on the floor.
All of the girls smiled except Aria. "Well I do have to say that the guys are very transparent in their choices, but I'm sure they will put on a good show." Ella said looking around, "Where is Zack? I thought he was working from home today." She asked.
"Oh he got a call from The Brew. Something about an order or something being mixed up. He had to go in and fix it." Hanna explained.
"Oh okay. Well girls I think it may be time for you all to go home. Aria needs to sleep." Ella said looking at her daughter who had been quiet since finding out Ezra was going to be in the showcase.
The girls all said their goodbyes. None of them knew what to say to Aria besides they would stand beside her whatever her decision. They all knew that she was going to torture herself about the whole situation. Leaving the house, "Can we talk to Jason for her?" Emily asked.
"NO! She needs to do this on her own." Spencer snapped.
"Look Spencer we get it. She hurt him, but can't you see how hurt she is. Maybe if we all had been more understanding two years ago things would be different now." Hanna snapped at Spencer.
"Emily I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just think that Aria needs to face up to her mistakes and talk to Jason by herself and make things right without anyone else's help."
None of them knew that Aria had heard the whole conversation. She had run out after them because Hanna had forgot her bracelet, the one Caleb had given her after the whole A mess ended, she never took it off. Hearing how Spencer really felt about her situation broke Aria's heart more but she couldn't blame her for being mad. Jason was the only family that Spencer had that actually seemed to care about her. Aria didn't want her friends to know she had heard the conversation so she just ran back inside and up to her room.
Slamming the door shut Aria threw herself on her bed and started to cry. She hated crying it felt like that was all she did anymore. Not wanting to talk she didn't roll over when her Mom came into room.
Ella had heard Aria run back into the house and up to her room. She had no idea what had upset her but she knew it was probably something Spencer had said. The girl was smart and a loyal friend but she could be single minded sometimes. Turning off the stereo down stairs she got the cd out and headed up to her daughters room. Opening the door she went to the stereo and put the cd in and set it up to repeat. As a Mom she knew that Aria would not be coming down stairs to talk anytime soon. She just hoped that she would in the days to come, because with both of her love interests performing the pain was only to get harder to ignore.
Zack opened the front door and walked into the house as Ella was coming down the stairs. "I just saw the girls leaving. Is everything okay?" he asked worried.
"I think Aria heard Spencer say something and it upset her. She's upstairs dealing. How is everything at work? The girls told me that an order or something had gotten mixed up." Ella said changing the subject.
"Oh, everything is fine. I got all of my shipments on Tuesday. I said that because I was going to talk to Jason." Zack explained. "I called earlier today and asked that they call me when he came into the shop so I could talk to him."
"So did you talk to him?" Ella asked anxiously. She was ready for this mess to be over with.
"I did. He isn't mad at Aria. I think he wishes he could be though. He also told me that for both him and Aria to move on they need to know how she really feels about him."
"That's a tall order."
"I know, but he is also right. Aria will never be able to move if she doesn't face how she feels about him."
Ella knew that Zack was right so she just wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. Zack returned his wife's affection not letting the upsetting subject stop the affection.
Mike Montgomery walked in on his Mom and her new husband, Zack, hugging in the entry way. He liked the guy. Zack didn't bug him about how school he left that for Mom, but the best part was that he was like Jason, the big brother kind of guy that Mike had never had. He loved having Aria as his older sister, but it was nice to have a guy in the house who understood what it meant to just be a guy some days. Walking around the two he headed upstairs. Going past his sister's room he could hear the same stupid song that she had been playing for months on end now. When is she going to get over this and just move on, Mike thought. But when he opened her door to check on her he could hear her whispering, I'm sorry, I didn't mean too, I never meant to hurt you, Please forgive me, I care about you too, I don't know what I want anymore. Mike couldn't help it he set his stuff down by her door and went to sit on her bed. Aria didn't move when he sat down so he gently pulled her to him. She was now propped against her brother and clung to him and kept repeating everything. Stroking her hair and letting her cry, Mike couldn't help but feel bad for her, she was going through something that no one knew how to help with. Several minutes later Aria's body had gotten heavy and Mike knew she had cried herself to sleep or into exhaustion. Either way she was heavy so he laid her down on her bed, kissed her temple, told her he loved her, covered her up and shut her door.
As he shut Aria's door he ran into his Mom with tears in her eyes. "Oh God not you too Mom. I can't handle another girl crying." Mike said with attitude.
"I'm not crying Mike. I'm just so proud of you. Aria didn't ask you to comfort her but you did anyway. I know you hate this lovely dovey stuff but I'm happy to see you making an effort to help her." Ella explained to her uncomfortable son.
His Mom was right, Mike hated all of the lovey dovey stuff but he was worried about Aria. He just didn't know how to help her.
Spencer had gone home after going to see Aria. It had been a good afternoon besides for Hanna and Emily defending the fact that if they all had been more accepting than Jason and Aria would probably be together. Aria was a big girl, she didn't need her friends permission to date a guy, was all that kept going through Spencer head. She had watched Jason pine after her friend and it broke her heart because Jason was hurting. Sitting in her room she could see Jason's car pull into his drive, she got up and headed over to the house.
Jason was getting out his car when he saw Spencer. She didn't look happy which was never a good sign. He went through everything that had happened the past few days trying to think of anything he may have done to make her angry.
Coming up with nothing, "Hey Spence. What's wrong? You look like you're ready to take someone's head off." He said casually.
"I am. I'm ready to strangle Aria. She is acting like she is the only one hurting in this whole mess. I just can't believe how much she is acting like Alison. It's making me sick." Spencer growled.
Meeting her angry gaze, "Don't take your frustration out on Aria." He snapped at his half-sister.
"You're defending her? To me? Have you lost your mind? She broke your heart and now she is acting like she is the one hurting." Spencer yelled at him.
"She is hurting Spencer! We both are. I'm just better at hiding it." Jason yelled back. "Look you need to go home and I need to cool off. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Jason said as he headed towards his door.
"You're still not over her. You still love her even though she broke your heart when she chose Ezra." Spencer said amazed.
Spinning around, "Drop it Spencer!" Jason growled, the anger showing in his eyes. Before he could say anything he may truly regret Jason walked inside his house and slammed the door.
Ever since finding out that Jason was her half-brother Spencer had never really been frightened of him until then. He had looked so angry. She hadn't meant to upset him she just wanted the truth. Turning away from his house she made her way home and couldn't get the look in eyes out of her head. Not the angry ones but the ones when he had said that Aria was hurting too. It was the same hurt she had seen in Aria's eyes when they had gone by to see her after school. Realizing it to late Spencer let it all wash over her. Aria was in love with Jason and wanted to make things right even if meant losing him while Jason couldn't seem to move on from the feelings he had for her.
After walking into his house and slamming the door Jason almost put his fist through the wall in the entry way. He hadn't been this mad in a long time, not since Ali had been alive. Hearing Spencer talk about Aria like she wasn't hurting had killed him. He knew he should feel the way Spencer did, but he didn't. After talking to Zack at The Brew he drove around town for a while. He had ended up at the park watching parents with their kids, he noticed Ezra with a little boy who looked a lot like him and a strawberry blonde lady he assumed was the mother. The whole time he had watched them all Jason could think about was how would Aria's kids look. Would they have her dark hair and green eyes? Walking towards the kitchen Jason calmed down. He grabbed a bottle of water from his fridge; he needed to focus on the new file the principal had given him that afternoon. It was for a guy who sounded a lot like Jason, he came from a good home, was the oldest with a sibling who got more attention and now he was acting out in the only way that would get him attention.
It was after eleven when Aria finally woke up. Sitting up she couldn't get her mind off Jason. There's no time like the present her mind told her. Changing into some leggings and a long sweater Aria headed down the stairs.
Mike had heard his sister moving around in her room and then saw the light go out and heard the stairs creak. Following her he watched her head towards the front door, "Aria where are you going? It's after eleven." Mike asked.
"I'm going to see Jason. I need to talk to him."
"It can wait until tomorrow Aria."
"No I need to talk to him now." Aria screamed at her little brother as tears started to pour out of eyes.
"Aria stop yelling you'll wake Mom and Zack. I'm sorry, but come on he is probably sleeping like you should be." Mike said taking her hand trying to lead her back upstairs.
Pulling her hand from her brother, "I DON'T CARE IF I WAKE UP MOM AND ZACK!" Aria yelled and ran out the door.
Zack and Ella both ran down the stairs as the door slammed shut. "What happened? Where is she going?" Ella asked frantically.
"I'm sorry Mom. I wasn't trying to make her mad. I just. She doesn't need to be walking to his house at this hour." Mike explained upset.
Putting his hand on Mike's shoulder, "It's alright Mike. I don't think anything short of a tranquilizer could have stopped Aria from going to Jason's." Zack said in a comforting tone.
Ella and Mike both just stared at Zack. Both of them had been thinking it but hadn't said it. Deciding it was best to let Aria go on her own the three went to wait in the kitchen.
Aria half walked half ran to Jason's house. By the time she got to the porch she was shaking so hard with sobs that she couldn't even knock on the door. Sitting down on the front steps Aria just let it all out. Jason was inside thinking of how in world he was going to reach this kid. He was meeting him tomorrow and if he was anything really like a younger version of himself it was going to take something happening for the kid to get shaken up enough to change. Sitting up he could hear the faint sounds of someone sobbing, moving towards his front door the sound got louder, opening his front door he found Aria sitting on the step making the noise. Leaving the door open, Jason picked up Aria and carried her inside.
Once inside Jason went back to his couch and just held the girl he was in love with while she cried. Finally feeling the waves of tear stopping Aria looked up into Jason's worried eyes and moved out of his lap.
Shaking, "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know how to tell you about my feelings. My friends hated you and Ezra was the safe choice two years. I shouldn't have let them dictate who I dated. I made a huge mistake. I would completely understand if you wanted to cut me out of your life completely. I just want you to forgive me. I just need you to know that I care about you too." Aria said while fighting the oncoming slaught of hiccups. "I never should have ignored how I felt about. It made me lose you and I can't stand it anymore. I want you in my life. Actually I need you in my life. I miss being able to turn to you when I needed someone to talk to. No I don't mean just like that. I just I don't know anymore." She finished as she wrung her hands as if she had an invisible towel in them.
Jason sat for a moment he knew that Aria was being honest, "Aria, you aren't going to lose me. My going to Georgia wasn't all about getting away from you. I needed to figure out if I could be happy anywhere else besides Rosewood. It turns out I can't. I don't hate you, I never could you. And if I'm honest with myself my heart breaking wasn't entirely your fault, I wish I could blame it all on you, but that wouldn't be fair. See I kept pursuing you even after I knew you were unavailable." He said taking her hands in his.
Aria looked up with tears spilling from her eyes, "Can we fix this?" she asked quietly.
"I don't know. I know I still care about you, but you are still with Ezra and I won't be a second choice or an affair. If you want to be with me I need you to commit to it and be in the relationship 100%." Jason answered.
Feeling another way of tears coming Aria put her face in her hands and started to shake. "I can't… I can't… I can't lose you. I don't want an affair I want someone to love me." She said crying.
Jason didn't say anything. He just pulled her onto his lap and let her cry out what she was feeling. It was the first honest conversation they had had in months. It felt horrible having her crying but at the same time he knew he was getting the truth. Pulling her in closer Jason rested his head on hers and let her cry in his arms. For once in a long time his heart wasn't breaking when his mind went to think about Aria, he actually felt full. Soon Aria's body stopped shaking and Jason knew she had cried herself into exhaustion because she had gotten heavy on his body. Slowly he rose from the couch, leaning Aria fully against him he grabbed his keys and headed towards his car in the driveway.
Once he got Aria situated in his passenger seat and the car started, Jason called Ella to tell her that he was bringing Aria home and that she was asleep. Making the short drive was easy, handing Aria over to Zack, who was going to put her bed, was much harder. He watched as Aria was taken from his arms and upstairs towards her bedroom. Ella watched Jason as Zack took Aria, she could see the love on his face and he wasn't bothering to hide it.
Pulling the door too, Ella joined Jason on the front porch. "Did you two talk?" She asked.
"Yeah we did. There is still a lot to discuss, but I don't want Aria hurting anymore and I think tonight we made our way to helping both of our hearts out." Jason answered.
"I wish I could say I'm sorry she came over to your house, but I'm glad to see that your love for my daughter has diminished."
"Ella I think I'm going to always love Aria. I don't want to let her go. I want to be in her life, but like I told her I won't be an affair or a second choice. If she wants to be with me then it needs to be 100% or nothing at all."
"I understand Jason. I really do. I also know that Aria won't let you go without a fight. Regardless of her feelings for Ezra, her feelings for you always show through even to him. I think that maybe part of the reason that he is spending so much time with Malcolm."
Jason didn't know what to say about the teacher, but he did know what to say about Aria, "I want her in my life. I want to be with her. I want to call her mine. I want it all." Jason told Ella honestly, "But I also have to know that she wants the same thing. I can be patient but I'm not a saint."
"No one is expecting you to be Jason. Give Aria till Saturday and I'm sure you will have your answer."
Walking towards a boy she had watched grow up Ella gave Jason a hug and told him to trust what Aria had told him that night. Jason hugged Ella back and told her he would because he knew she had been honest.