This is a short chapter, I know, sorry! It's just Aria and Ezra's thoughts before the big dinner. The next chapter's going to be way longer, I promise. Enjoy ~ OhHappyDay2000
Aria smoothed her dress in a nervous fashion. She'd been ready for hours and had been anxiously watching the clock, waiting for 8:30. It was only 6:00, Ezra was due to the Montgomery household in exactly two and a half hours. The wait, was excruciating.
She'd had to change over a dozen of times. Since they'd told her parents about their relationship, she wasn't allowed to wear anything even slightly revealing. Phrases like "too short" "that neckline is too low" and "too clingy" had become predominant in every conversation.
For 'The Dinner' Aria had been made to wear a disgusting, itchy, loose, long sleeved tunic that almost reached her ankles. She'd been allowed a belt after an hour of pleading but even that didn't do much to improve the look. Thankfully Ezra wouldn't be paying too much attention to her tonight as much as trying to survive the upcoming hours.
"Aria, can you make the salad?" shouted Ella.
"Coming mum" Aria responded before trudging to the kitchen. She wasn't the only one on edge about the dinner. Her parents had been cooking non-stop since that morning. It seemed they wanted to make Ezra as uncomfortable as possible by saying "Look at this wonderful meal we've prepared for you, you should be kind to your hosts and leave their daughter alone"
Aria loved her parents and loved Ezra. She hated that the two didn't mix. She so desperately hoped that they'd come around. Tonight was the night that would determine the future of their relationship.
Ezra had been sitting been sitting on his bed for the last half hour trying to decide whether to bring wine to the dinner. If he did, it would be placing emphasis on his age and if he didn't, it would come off as if he had bad etiquette.
The same process was repeated with everything that day: tie or no tie, formal or casual, should he embrace Aria when he arrived? The answer to the latter came to him easier than the rest; touching their daughter in their presence would not be the best way to impress Ella and Byron, especially since they had such a low opinion of him as it was.
He had decided on wearing the tie. He wore the one Aria had given him just before their first, proper date in Philly. Ezra smiled at the memory. The way she'd strutted into his classroom in the middle of a make-up test had been frightening. What if someone were to figure it out? All his coherent thoughts had disappeared, however, as soon as she unzipped her jacked, revealing the tie underneath.
She was truly the most beautiful girl in the world to him. She was kind, intelligent, funny and sexy as hell. She was perfect.
Everything counted on the upcoming dinner. If he managed to prove to Ella and Byron that he wasn't taking advantage of her, that he truly did love her they'd maybe be more lenient and allow them to, at least, see each-other.
'It has always felt right.' That was the phrase running through his mind as he made his way out of the apartment and to the Montgomery household.
"It has always felt right" Ezra Fitz muttered before ringing the doorbell.