Chapter One
Aria Montgomery, a young, dark haired girl, sat alone at the bar. She had just returned from a long trip to Iceland with her family, and was worried about her return to school the next day. A handsome young guy was sitting a few seats away from her. His name was Ezra Fitz, he was dark haired, just like Aria. He looked over at her and smiled. "Ezra" he said, holding out his hand to her.
"Aria", she said, shaking his hand.
"Can I buy you a drink Aria?"
"Um, yeah okay then, just a soda please"
Ezra ordered sodas for himself and Aria, and then turned to face her again, smiling. "What are you smiling at?" asked Aria.
"You"
"Oh really?"
"Well you are rather beautiful Aria…"
Aria blushed. "Thank you" she said quietly, "You're not too bad yourself"
"Well thank you Aria" he said, laughing. "So, what do you do?"
"Oh I'm nearing the end of school, I'm about to go back after being away for a while with my family. How about you?"
"Been anywhere nice? I'm actually about to start teaching English, it's my first teaching job so I'm hoping it goes well"
"Just Iceland, we needed to get away for a while. I'm sure you'll do great in your new job"
Aria and Ezra continued to chat; laughing, joking and flirting. As the night went on they got closer and closer to each other, with the attraction between them continuously growing. "Hey, Aria…"
"Yes Ezra?"
Ezra didn't say anything, but instead kissed Aria, and she didn't stop him. After a minute she pulled away from the kiss. "I'm just nipping to the bathroom, I'll be back soon" she said, before she kissed Ezra on the cheek and walked to the bathroom.
Aria stood smiling to herself in the mirror when she heard the door open. She turned round and saw Ezra standing in the doorway smiling at her. "Hey you, you're not supposed to be in here"
"Well maybe I want to break the rules a little…" he said, as he walked over to Aria. He picked her up and sat her on the edge of the sinks. He passionately kissed her and ran his fingers through her hair. She pulled him closer and kissed him more deeply than she had ever kissed anyone else before. The kiss continued for a very long time, with neither one of them wanting to pull away from it. Finally Ezra pulled away, he stared into Aria's eyes. "It's getting late Aria… You should probably get going. Here's my number" he said as he scribbled his number onto a scrap of paper, "Call me"
Aria smiled and took the scrap of paper from him, "I will Ezra, every single day"
Ezra laughed and kissed her again, "Come on, I'll walk you home if you want me to?"
"Maybe not all the way home, you can take me half way though"
"Okay, let's get going"
The two of them linked arms as they left the bar, they walked together for 15 minutes, laughing and joking, with the occasional stop for a kiss. Eventually they reached the halfway point where they had agreed that they would part. "Well, this is half way" announced Aria.
"Oh you mean I have to leave you now? That's a shame" joked Ezra.
"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, goodnight Aria"
"Goodnight Ezra!"
Aria kissed him again before walking away smiling to herself. She knew that they had something which would last for a very long time.
When Aria got home she went straight up to her bedroom, being careful not to wake up her brother, Mike, as she passed his room just across the hallway from hers. She got ready for bed then added Ezra's number to her phone. She sent him a text 'Tonight was fun. We should do it again sometime. Goodnight :) Aria xx'. He replied instantly 'It was, I had a great time. Goodnight, Aria. Ezra. Xxx'. And with that, Aria went to sleep.
Aria awoke the next morning to a text from Ezra 'Good morning, beautiful. I hope your first day back at school goes well. Speak later. Ezra. Xxx'. Aria smiled as she read it, she began to type a reply but her Dad, Byron, burst in. "Ah you're already up, good! Looking forward to today?"
"Yeah I guess so, it'll be nice to see the girls again"
"Didn't Hanna, Emily and Spencer drift apart after you know…"
"After Alison died? Yeah I think so, but hey, me being back might bring them closer again. I'm meeting Emily when I get to school so I'll see if we can sort out a meet up with Hanna and Spence too"
"That'd be good. Let me know when you're ready and I'll give you and Mike a lift in, okay?"
"Okay Dad"
Aria picked up her phone again and replied to Ezra "Good morning! Thank you, I hope your first day of teaching goes well too! Can't wait to speak later! Aria xxx"
An hour later Aria arrived at school, she met Emily in the outside seating area where the girls sometimes used to have lunch. "Hey Em!" Aria said as she walked over to Emily.
"Aria! Hey, how was Iceland? It's so good to see you!"
"It was great thanks, glad to be back though. Hey I was thinking, we should sort out a meet up with Hanna and Spence, the four of us together again would be good"
"I was thinking the exact same thing! I've already sorted it, they should both be meeting us here"
Aria and Emily chatted as they waited for Hanna and Spencer to arrive, and when they did, it was as if the four of them had never been apart. All four girls had English together first period, so they made their way to the classroom. They laughed and joked as they walked in, but Aria froze when she saw their new teacher, it was Ezra.