Call Your Girlfriend

The sunlight that was streaming through the windows in Emily's room made Aria's eyes burn. She sat up in the bed slowly, rubbing her swollen eyes, sighing when her knuckles turned black from the dried mascara on her lashes.

Aria's head was pounding as she glanced around the room, recognizing the pale walls and delicate furnishings, as her brain registered where she was. She let out an audible groan as last night's events flooded into her now conscious mind.

Aria could hear her phone ringing from its place by the bed, and was dreading picking it up – no matter who it was.

Aria stared at the lit up and buzzing phone as it incessantly rang, before she begrudgingly snatched her iPhone off of the nightstand, and quickly unlocked her phone.

The bright screen of her iPhone clearly read,

27 Missed Calls from Ezra Fitz.

27 Voice Mails from Ezra Fitz.

Aria rolled her eyes as she quickly threw the heavy duvet off of her body, and got out of the warm bed to begin looking around Emily's room for her belongings. Aria tried to make as little noise as possible as she darted around the room, grabbing various articles of clothing that had been discarded on the floor in what had to have been a horrific meltdown on her part.

"Hey," Emily called out, leaning against the stark white frame of the door. "You're finally up."

"Yeah, sorry. I have to go, though," Aria murmured as she grabbed her black leather purse and bag containing her things from Ezra's apartment.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Emily asked slowly, arching a brow and taking a long sip of the steaming coffee in her hand, unmoving from her stance in the doorway.

Aria shook her head forcefully, taking one last glance at the room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.

"Not really, Em. Thanks for picking me up last night. I'll call you later."

Aria brushed past Emily and out of the room before she heard a response. She jogged down the immaculately decorated hallway of the Fields' house, and hollered a quick hello to Mrs. Fields as she bound down the stairs, and closed the front door tightly behind her.

Aria took a deep breath of the already warm air as her finger hovered over the first name on her speed dial.

Ezra Fitz.

She pressed the phone number next to the smiling picture of his face, his teeth sparkling and his eyes beaming. Ezra's short hair fell in a perfectly messy way on his forehead, and Aria felt her heart lurch from her chest. The same picture that had once ensued butterflies in her stomach now made her feel sick.

Ezra answered after only one ring, and Aria's breath hitched when she heard the click that connected their call.

"Aria? Aria? Are you there?" Ezra called into the phone, clearly exhausted from a restless night that revolved around bottomless glasses of scotch and an immeasurable amount of pacing around his small apartment.

"Ezra." Aria stated matter-of-factly, not lifting her red and stinging eyes from where they were fixed on the pavement in front of her.

"I'm so sorry. Please let me explain. I swear this isn't what you think it is," Ezra pleaded into the phone, the pain in his voice clearly audible.

It was moving, Aria had to admit, but as much as she wanted to believe it, she knew firsthand what cheating did to a relationship. She kept her father's secret when he had an affair with Meredith, and she saw the road of heartbreak and destruction it led her family down.

"Don't call me again. I don't want to hear from you. Please, just leave me alone, Ezra," Aria said coolly, taking the conversation in stride as she continued down the sidewalk that would eventually lead to her house.

Aria squinted as the sun began to beam directly overhead, and when her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she saw Spencer emerging from the front door of the Hasting's house.

"Aria," Ezra begged.

"I have to go, Ezra. Send Amelia my best," Aria hissed icily, quickly hanging up before she had to hear what else Ezra had to say - true or not.

"Hey, Aria!" Spencer called out as she jogged across the deserted street and towards where Aria was standing with the phone still pressed against her ear.

"Hi, Spencer. I really have to get home," Aria glanced down the street and towards her house.

"Oh, is everything ok?" Spencer asked, cocking her head to the side.

Spencer stared at Aria as her mind churned with possibilities. The girl in front of her was not the edgy, quirky and put together girl she usually saw. No, the girl standing in front of her was clearly wearing last night's clothes. The tight and black silk dress that Aria was wearing was wrinkled, creased and stained. Her black eyeliner and mascara was puddled around her eyes in a panda like manner, and her hair was a complete and utter disaster. Aria's usually silky hair was matted and tangled, and Aria didn't seem to take any notice of her appearance as she strolled down the street in front of all her friends, family and neighbors that were sure to gossip as soon as she was out of earshot.

As Spencer's eyes roamed over Aria in a judgmental manner, Aria knew that Spencer had already figured out something was wrong, and that Emily was bound to tell the other girls about what had happened with her and Ezra, if she hadn't called them all already.

"Actually, Ezra and I broke up. I really don't want to talk about it. Ask Emily if you want the details. I have to go," Aria blurted out bluntly.

Aria turned on the heel of her studded leather boot, and walked briskly towards her house, not bothering to glance back over her shoulder at Spencer. She knew the girls would have a meeting later to discuss her, her breakup, her appearance, her behavior, etc., and Aria didn't care. If she was going to remain unscathed from the situation and disaster that her relationship had become, she was not going to discuss the matter any further – not with anyone.

As Aria turned the slight corner and approached her seemingly quiet house, she caught sight of both the garage and driveway full of vehicles, which signaled that Mike, Byron, and Ella were all home.

Aria took a deep breath as she bounded up the two steps and onto her front porch. She could hear Ella and Byron talking in the kitchen, and she quietly closed the front door behind her, hoping to make a stealthy escape up into her room.

As Aria took her first step into the warm and fragrant house, the floorboard underneath her black leather boots creaked loudly.

"Fuck me," Aria murmured, throwing her head back in frustration, as she heard her parents shuffling around in the kitchen.

"Aria?" Byron called out from his seat at the head of the table.

"Hey, dad. Hi, mom. I have to go shower before going out," she said vaguely.

"Oh?" Byron inquired, and Aria mentally cursed herself for peaking his interest, "where are you going out to?"

"Just out to the Brew with the girls. I really need to go get ready," Aria insisted, raising her brows and checking the time on her phone for dramatic effect.

"That's funny," Ella said with a slight smile, "Hanna just came by looking for you. By the way, seventeen year olds aren't allowed to stay out all night without so much as a phone call."

Ella cocked her head to the side with a knowing look in her eye as she waited for her daughter to explain her way out of yet another lie that she was caught in. These days it seemed like Aria never told the truth, and it was beginning to grind on Ella's last nerve.

"I'm sorry, mom. I got caught up with Emily. I spent the night at her house, I swear. You can even call Mrs. Fields if you want," Aria said, her heart placed over her heart as if she was giving the pledge of allegiance. Technically, everything she had just told her mom was true, she had just left out the details.

"Ok, I will. Now what about Hanna?" Ella inquired, hoping to finally trap her daughter in a lie that she couldn't continue to lie her way out of.

"That's right," Aria said with a small laugh, "we didn't invite Hanna. We actually wanted to be able to talk about Caleb without her being there. He's been crazy lately, drinking and all," Aria shrugged her shoulders and widened her eyes at the pretend scandalous details she was telling her mother.

"Oh, well if you were going to see Ezra, you could just tell us," Ella said calmly.

Byron's hand gripped the morning's paper more tightly, and his mouth formed a tight line, but he nodded in response.

"Well, that's very kind of you, but that's not what is happening," Aria said simply, not wanting to give anything away, or give her father the satisfaction of knowing he was right about Ezra.

Byron always said that Aria's relationship with Ezra would never last, that he was just a creepy older guy that would eventually move onto another younger girl. Aria always dismissed Byron's comments and opinions of Ezra without a second thought, but now they seemed to hold some truthfulness and some righteousness, which was something Aria never foresaw happening. If anybody had ever told Aria that Ezra would cheat on her, she would tell him or her they were crazy. She had trusted him wholeheartedly, but now it was just that. She had trusted him, she didn't anymore.

"So, what are we going to do about Aria?" Hanna asked, closing her bedroom door behind her so her mother wouldn't hear from downstairs.

Emily and Spencer exchanged blank looks from their seats on Hanna's bed.

"Well, we have to do something! They are meant to be together!" Hanna insisted, her voice getting louder.

"Well, Hanna, if you say it any louder it won't be a problem!" Spencer hissed with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.

Hanna's brow furrowed as she glanced from Spencer to Emily.

"I don't –"

"Because the entire town will hear, and then he'll go to jail," Emily clarified, rubbing her temples.

"I have an idea, though," Hanna grinned as she walked over and took a seat on the edge of her bed.

Emily and Spencer looked at one another knowingly.

"I swear!" Hanna interjected, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, "This will work."

"Okay," Spencer said with a shrug, "shoot."

"Ezra, Ezra, Ezra," Hardy said in a reprimanding tone as he shut the brown door to apartment 3B behind him.

Ezra glanced up at Hardy from his seat on the couch as he threw back another glass of scotch, and rubbed his hand over his unshaven face.

"This can be fixed, right?" Ezra asked, staring at Hardy with puppy-dog-like eyes.

Hardy gulped, unmoving from his place near the door.

"Ezra," Hardy began, making a move towards the kitchen, "Aria is a very…." He searched for an appropriate word, "strong-willed person, that I know about her, but you know so much more. Only you know if you can fix this. In the mean time, what I can do is pour you another glass of scotch."

Ezra nodded sheepishly as he held his glass up towards the ceiling, and sighed when he heard the satisfying sound of liquid hitting glass.

A/N:

I'm sorry! I know I haven't updated any of my stories in a while, and it's just because I haven't felt like I've known what to write. I've had a lot of trouble writing recently, and I don't want to give you chapters that I feel are just crap. Hopefully this isn't. Please review, comment, give me suggestions, etc. Xoxo.