Wow! Never did I ever expect this to get the response it did! 35 reviews on chapter one? You guys are too sweet. Anyway I got so many review that it fueled me to begin a new chapter which I wrote as quickly as possible! Okay I hope you like it and please keep it up with the awesome reviews!
PrettyLittleSwifty13: I'm glad you liked it! And I am working on that skype, I just read back over it and didn't like it, so now I am trying to work out the kinks, but just trust me and give it time I want to give you guys an awesome update! :)
Msbookworm93: I always like Byron to run into them doing naughty things and talking about things that make him think…for some reason. I have an unnatural obsession with them getting caught. Oh well we shall never know.
lulytaJB: Same thing as above, I like Byron to listen in on them…for some reason, Haha!
Dancerbff22: THANK YOU! And people are talking about this on twitter? What? That makes me feel like a rockstar (she said completely self absorbedly) is that even a word?
Caligirl28: Thank you! And I know, I like them to be lovey to, so many stories make them afraid to be, well I think they just need to throw it in there faces! Haha! And I agree, suck it Byron!
Sophieeleon: I honestly don't know if I have the motivation for seven chapters. I will try…but its going to take a lot of self discipline. ..
Rome? I don't know that's what you said as anonamous, but anyway… I think you'll find your idea for them to cook hidden in this chapter…Haha! Thanks for the idea
Michelle? Another anonamous but, I'm glad it made you laugh!
Aston-merygold-is-awesome: I will most defiantly have Byron walk in on them, it's my favorite thing to happen! I wish it would happen on the show, that would be funny as hell, I would have it on repeat on youtube.
Bite-me-im-irish: Thank you for all the ideas, they will I'm sure be very helpful! Especially if some people want me to do seven chapters!
Thankyou to everyone who loved the story and encouraged me to update! I probably wouldn't if it hadn't been for all of your reviews! Thankyou and keep the suggestions coming! Plus the next update might not come as soon as this one, I'll be gone to a convention this next week and won't have time to write, but as soon as I return, it will be the first thing on my check list!
Thanks again! Enjoy!
Aria turned over and smiled at Ezra, who was sleeping peacefully. She loved to watch him while he slept, he was just too adorable. He had this child like demeanor about him that could only be described as cute. He smacked his lips, releasing a puff of morning breath that caught Aria's nose in the close proximity they shared.
She wrinkled her nose and leaned away from, causing Ezra to wake. He opened his eyes to a grimacing Aria, and became puzzled. "What?" he asked groggily, his voice hoarse from sleep.
"Your breath is ridiculous." He shook his head, rolling his eyes and pulling a pillow over his head. "I'm sorry that I have morning breath." He stated sarcastically. "Besides, you're no joy to smell in the morning either."
Her jaw dropped slightly in mock hurt. "I do not stink."
"No, but your breath does, and you always find a way to curl right up next to me and yawn first thing in the morning." Aria scoffed disgustedly and climbed over Ezra and off the bed. She suddenly felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back down. She clumsily tumbled back onto the bed and on top of Ezra. She made an effort to pull her head back so it wasn't in his face.
"I thought I had morning breath?" He smiled and placed his hands on her cheeks pulling her head closer to him. "I think I can endure it for one kiss." Aria raised her eye brows as he pulled her face close to him and suddenly jerked back.
"Speak for yourself." And quickly got up giggling as she ran from the room. Soon Ezra was hot on her heels running out into the hallway just in time to see a wave of brown hair flow down the staircase. He followed in hot pursuit and caught up with her on the flat step half way down the stair case. She squealed when he grabbed her by the waist, turning her around to face him.
Still holding her tightly by the waist off the ground so she was level with his lips, Ezra pressed his lips to her own, crushing her body tightly against him. Soon they were both laughing into the kiss, not able to handle the ridiculousness of the situation.
Ezra continued to hold Aria suspended in the air as their kiss became deeper; both seeming to forget where they were or that she was off the ground. A clearing of a throat caused their lips to quickly rip apart. They looked down the stair case at the irritated face of her father. Aria turned her head back to face Ezra, and began a burst of laughter again at the ridiculous situation they were caught in, with her randomly pulled up against Ezra, in the middle of the stair case.
Byron furrowed his brows at the couple while ascending the stairs, mumbling a short 'Good Morning' to the pair, as they continued to giggle and playfully clamor down the stairs.
Ella poured herself a cup of coffee as she nibbled on a bagel, while Byron's egg cooked on the stove top. She looked over to her husband who read the morning paper quietly on the bar. She watched him yawn for the millionth time that morning, he was more tired than usual.
"Did you get okay sleep last night?" Ella inquired, wondering what had kept him up. Byron scoffed at the question. "How do you expect me to get sufficient sleep with both of them sleeping in this house. Especially in the same room. Same bed. Same…pillow."
"Byron, your being unreasonable. They were perfectly fine last night. I think your causing yourself more stress than really necessary." He looked back down to his paper, trying to focus on something else, wanting to change the conversation.
"I mean, what really even has you so worried about all this anyway?" Byron looked up from his paper, opening his mouth to answer. "I-"Suddenly there was a loud thumping of running feet from upstairs. Ella looked up to the ceiling quizzically, not used to hearing anything like that since Aria and Mike were kids.
"What the hell is that?" asked Byron, looking up at the ceiling as well. Ella shook her head and looked back down to her egg, while Byron walked over to the stairs to find Aria pulled tightly to Ezra's chest, her feet dangling off the ground, their faces pressed against one another.
Byron cleared his throat causing the couple to pull apart abruptly, only to be followed by them both giggling. He furrowed his brow in confusion, wondering what was so damn funny and what exactly caused all this excitement. He rolled his eyes and walked up the stairs and greeted them with a simple good morning before going to him and Ella's bedroom to finish getting ready.
Aria pulled out a coffee cup for her and Ezra and handed his to him.
"Good Morning you two. How was your night? Not too uncomfortable on Aria's tiny bed I hope." Ezra smiled as he filled up his cup to the top with the thick black heaven. "No it wasn't too bad, until Aria started kicking."
Aria walked by and hit the back of his head, "I resent that. I can't help it that I tend to have bad dreams from time to time. Besides, at least I'm not waking people up at two in the morning laughing in my sleep."
"Hey! I can't help that. I do it in my subconscious. And at one time you told me that was cute."
"That was before it disrupted my peaceful sleep." Ezra scoffed. "That bed had all the peacefulness of a war zone. And hey," he said pointing to his head, "that hurt."
Aria gave a small burst of laughter at how late his hurt had come into the conversation and wrapped her arms around his neck giving him a small kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "All is forgiven." He smirked which she returned.
"Are you two always like this?" Ella asked, innocently by standing throughout this whole conversation. They both turned to look at the older woman, Aria's arms still wrapped around Ezra's neck, forgetting she was there. "Like what?" the duo asked at the same time.
"Fighting like this?" Aria shook her head and pulled away from Ezra's embrace, reaching for her cup of coffee. "We're not fighting." Ezra grabbed his own coffee, excusing himself to get a shower.
"Then what do you call what I just witnessed?" asked Ella giggling. It'd been a little funny. Aria snorted a laugh and sat down at the bar. "That was just playful banter. I think we both like sarcasm a little too much for our own good."
Ella looked back over to the stove, finally removing the egg from the skillet, putting it on bread for Byron to take on the go. She turned back around to her daughter, picking up her coffee cup. "Well I have to say that…it's nice to see you two…together. At least now we can kind of see you as a couple."
Aria smiled. "I always knew you would see things differently if you just tried. Just because it looks like a rain cloud doesn't mean it's going to produce a storm.
Ezra finally found where they kept the towels and walked into the bathroom. He took his shower quickly, never feeling comfortable being naked in new environments. He'd always been much too modest; it was how his mother had raised him. That was what had always appalled him so much about Aria.
When her parents had ultimately decided that Aria couldn't see him after they'd first told them, and they were sneaking around in Philly, she had no problem pulling him into random places. Random public places, and stripping her clothing for him to fully devour her body. Perhaps that was what he'd always found so endearing about Aria. She was a free spirit. What guy wouldn't be attracted that.
After cleaning his body sufficiently, Ezra slipped out of the shower, drying off and wrapping the towel around his waist before walking out the door and running straight into someone, who gave out a surprised yelp. He instinctively reached out to keep the person from falling to the floor, causing them to end up in what looked like a dance dip.
Ezra found himself staring into the eyes of Ella Montgomery, before they both looked over the other side of hall where they heard movement, to find Byron standing taken aback from the scene he'd just walked into. Ezra quickly lifted Ella up from the position, both blubbering out an explanation to Byron that came out as a blurb of words jumbled together.
He held up his hands, motioning for them to stop and walked towards the stairs. "I'm going to work." He stated while raising up his arm to wave a goodbye.
"Have a good day." Yelled Ella down the stairs. Hoping he at least thought to grab his breakfast she'd worked hard on. She looked back at Ezra who stood dumbfounded at the last few minutes events.
Ezra opened his mouth to speak, before closing it, changing his mind, and retreating back into Aria's bedroom. Ella stood in the middle of hallway, wanting to laugh at how ludicrous this all was, before becoming embarrassed at being in Ezra's embrace with him in only a towel and deciding to simply retreat to her own room instead.
If this didn't make things more awkward than they already were then she didn't know what would.
Aria and Ezra found the rest of the day to be completely uneventful. Of course they wouldn't get to have any alone time since Ella decided to stick around for the rest of the day. Wanting to spend more time with Aria and her boyfriend. And Aria appreciated it. She really did. She would be lying if she said that she didn't want her mother to spend time and get to know Ezra the way she knew Ezra. And after their little slip up this morning, it was like they were closer now that they had their own little inside joke.
But right now, at this moment all Aria could focus her mind on was jumping his bones. And while she wanted her mother to get to know there relationship, it would probably be best to keep that part behind closed doors, when her parents weren't around. Which Aria was finding increasingly difficult in their home. She needed to find a way to get them out of there fast.
"So how about Ezra and I cook dinner tonight?" asked Aria from her perch on the sofa next to Ezra. He looked at her quizzically his hand on her knee giving a light squeeze. She looked over to him widening her eyes telling him not to question this.
"Since when do you want to cook?" asked Ella from across the room where she sat comfortably in a sitting chair. Aria shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just thought it would be fun. Besides you cook all the time, I thought it would be nice for you to not have to do anything for once."
Ella continued to give Aria a suspicious gaze, not sure what her motives behind this were but deciding not to question it. At least she didn't have to cook. "Okay. Go for it."
"Okay. We'll be back in a little while." Ella held up her hands her eyes following Aria as he rose from the couch. "Where are you going?"
"The store, we'll need to get groceries to make dinner." Ella shook her head, her brow creasing, wondering why she couldn't just use what was in the kitchen, before her features softened in realization. She wanted to be alone with him.
"Alright, do you need money?" Aria shook her head, pulling Ezra off the couch and towards the front door. "No, we're good. See you in a little bit."
"What was that all about?" Aria looked over to Ezra in the driver's seat, his eyes trained on the road, as his thumb traced lazy circles around the top of her hand. "What?" he glanced over at her for one second, giving a condescending glare. "The sudden urge to cook dinner."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Just thought it would be something nice to do for Mom. Hey will you pull over here in this parking lot."
"Aria that parking lots deserted." She rolled her eyes, he was utterly clueless sometimes.
"I know I think I might be sick." Ezra quickly turned into the deserted lot, putting the car in park before turning to face Aria, about to ask if she was okay, when her lips unexpectedly attached to his. Now he understood, she didn't want to cook, she wanted out of the house. She wrapped her arms around his neck, attempting to completely erase the space that wanted to separate his body from hers.
Ezra nibbled on Aria's bottom lip, as she opened her mouth allowing him to press his tongue into her mouth. His lips soon descended from her lips to her neck, causing beautiful moans to surge from her lips. Ezra continued to nibble on her neck, moving up towards her ear. "I don't think this is what your mom had in mind when we said we would go get groceries."
Aria chortled in Ezra's ear, her fingers running through his tousled hair. "I can guarantee this isn't what she had in mind, but…" her sentence trailed off as one of his hands ran down her side, bunching up a piece of her dress in his hands. They continued to kiss, as Aria removed her seatbelt and maneuvered over to Ezra's seat so she was straddling his waist.
His hands remaining firmly on her hips, "That was quite a move there." Aria continued to kiss down his neck, mumbling, "I know." Ezra had just allowed his hands to move from her hips, palming her breasts, when there was a knock on the window. They both looked over to see an uncomfortable looking police officer, motioning for Ezra to roll down the window.
"Yes, officer." He asked nervously, suddenly very aware of Aria in his lap who stared wide eyed at the cop.
"Alright, I need I.D. sir." Ezra reached to get his driver's license from his pocket, but only ended up thrusting towards Aria as he tried to retrieve his wallet. "Maybe you should go back over there." He jerked his head over to the passenger seat, motioning for her to go over there. "Right." She smiled nervously, and clamored over to the other side of the car.
He finally handed over his I.D. to the officer, watching him walk away in the rearview mirror back to his squad car. Ezra placed his head in hand, pinching his nose, and sinking down in his seat. "Shit."
Aria looked over to him, "It's not that big of deal. We'll be okay."
"Aria-" she shrugged. "At Least he didn't ask for my I.D. That would have been uncomfortable." Aria nodded toward the door when the officer arrived back at it. Ezra rolled down the window again, taking the I.D. back as the cop handed it to him.
"Mr. Fitz, do realize it is considered lewd behavior to be making out in a car, in the daylight no less. And, public endangerment is also an issue, you were in the driver's seat, what if you one of you hit the gear shift, that's putting yourself and others in danger."
"No sir, I did not think about that."
"Hmm. Well Mr. Fitz, I'm going to let you off with a warning, since you weren't in a busy parking lot, but the next time things will not go as smoothly."
"Yes sir." Nodded Ezra as he signed the warning slip given to him. The officer took his copy of the document and nodded his head towards Ezra. "Drive safely. Goodbye Aria."
"Bye Officer Densely." Ezra turned to look at Aria quizzically. "Chris Densely's dad. We used to hang out." She offered in explanation. "Well that's great, that's just fucking perfect Aria." He waited for the officer to get back in his car and drive off before he put the car in drive to leave the parking lot and head to the grocery store.
Byron walked in the gas station to pay for his full tank. Sighing as he handed over hefty amount of cash. He got his receipt and walked towards the door, nodding his head in greeting to officer Tom Densely as he walked in the door.
"Byron."
"Hey Tom, how's the streets? Not too dangerous I hope." He shook his head giving a small laugh.
"No, I did pull over your daughter today, or rather I'm assuming her and her boyfriend. Just thought you might want to know about it. She was with some Fitz guy; they pulled over in the old farmer's market parking lot, making out. He was quite a bit older, just wanted to make sure you knew about it."
His nostrils flared, angry to be put in this situation. "Well thank you for letting me know."
"Hey, no problem, from one parent to another. Besides, Aria's a nice girl, I wouldn't want her getting herself into anything she couldn't handle." Byron scrunched his face up in a fake smile, itching to be removed from this conversation.
Tom still stood quizzically, "Ezra Fitz. Wasn't there a Mr. Fitz that taught at the High school this past year?" Byron sighed, knowing he had to answer this.
"Yeah, that's him. I'm sure Chris had him for English, Aria did." Densely's eyes widened in shock, then softened trying to hid his surprise.
"Oh, well I'll see you around Byron."
"We're home!" Aria called from the front door, grocery bags in hand, with Ezra following behind her. The rest of the car ride to the grocery store had been awkward, neither really sure what to say after being caught, until Aria laughed at their misfortune, suddenly making it funny, ensuring Ezra that it wasn't a big deal.
"What took you guys so long?" the couple before Ella shared a look and shrugged. "Long line at the checkout." Explained Aria as she continued into the kitchen. "I guess we better get started on dinner."
Ella watched the two retreat to the kitchen, trying to figure out what those two were hiding. Soon Byron, stormed in the door, looking infuriated, but tried to hide it once he saw Ella. "Hi Honey." Greeted Ella, "How was your day?"
"Uhh…it was normal. Uneventful. I'm gonna-" he pointed to the living room and poured a glass of scotch, before sitting down and staring at the wall in thought. Ella shook her head before retreating up the stairs, why was everyone acting so weird today?
Aria and Ezra silently stood by each other cooking dinner. Aria bumped Ezra playfully and he did the same to her, before too long they were in an all out bumping war, seeing what they could make the other drop. Aria put down her knife and turned to look at Ezra giving him a face that told him to stop although she was giggling uncontrollably. She broke out into a smile at the sheepish look on his face.
"I can never stay mad at you." She giggled, tousling his hair. He leaned into her touch like a dog, sighing playfully, "I know, it's one of my better qualities." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the tomato she was chopping. "Yes, but humility certainly isn't."
He gave a small laugh and became serious turning to look at her. "Are you embarrassed at all about what happened today?" she shrugged, putting the chopped tomatoes into a bowl. "Not really. It's not that big of deal. We aren't any different than any other couple out there. I mean we tell people that all the time, but, I think it's time that we started believing that to." He nodded, knowing there was quite a bit of truth behind that.
"Yea, but it's hard when there are so many people that look at us like we're aliens." She shook her head. "You and I both know that we're not aliens. "He laughed. "No we're not."
Aria picked up the lasagna and put it in the oven setting the timer for forty minutes. She turned back to the lettuce she was cutting for the salad. "What about you, are you embarrassed by what happened today?"
"No, I really wasn't until I found out he was one of my former students fathers." Aria wrapped her arms around Ezra's neck pulling him close. "Well he probably didn't even recognize you. It's no big deal." She kissed him on the lips pulling away quickly before they got carried away like usual and placed all the salad ingredients in a bowl before tossing it.
"It smells amazing guys. Aria I didn't even know that you knew how to cook." She snorted a laugh, smiling at her mom. "Well, it's either that or rely on Ezra to cook sometimes and believe me, you don't want to depend on that."
Ezra feigned hurt, "Hey, you love my cooking. Besides I can cook up a good pesto." Aria chuckled. "That was when we first met and I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
They both laughed, the rest of the room feeling awkwardly left out of the conversation. The couple soon noticed this and became quiet. They were so used to just being alone, it was weird to begin including others into the personal moments of their relationship.
They all sat down to the table, with Byron soon flowing in from the living room, with his scotch in hand and Mike coming down from upstairs. The family piled up their plates with lasagna and salad, buckling in for another awkward dinner.
Listening to the scrapping of forks, they all sat silently. Aria was starting to get tired of this. Why couldn't they just treat them like a normal couple? They'd had a couple months of uncomfortable dinners and outings with her family. In the beginning they'd told themselves to just give it time. Of course things were expected to be ill at ease at first; this wasn't exactly a normal situation. But after the one month mark passed, things were still the same; quite dinners that contained only small talk, and usually ended in an argument that either sent Ezra home and Aria to her room, or no one speaking to each other for a week. Either way, it was time for a change.
Aria set her silverware down hard on the table causing everyone to give her a perplexed look at her sudden outburst. "I'm tired of this. I mean I literally can take no more of it."
"Of what Aria?" asked her mother.
"Why don't we talk? Why is this not normalcy for us yet? Why does Dad still look constipated when I talk about Ezra or when he's around him? We have gone out of our way to make this a comfortable situation. Is this what I have to look forward to? Are we going to be coming to Thanksgivings and Christmas's with Dad sitting at the head of the table glaring at Ezra like he's done some great unforgivable injustice, and me trying to pull us all together to keep my world from falling apart again? Because if it is, just let me know now, that way I can save myself the heartache and just stop trying."
"Aria-" began Ella only to be randomly interrupted by her husband.
"I talked to Tom Densely today." Said Byron, causing Aria and Ezra to look quickly to the head of the table. "We had interesting conversation in the gas station."
Ella sighed, putting her head in her hands not knowing where he was going with this. "What?"
"Dad, don't even try to change the subject-"
"Well Aria you and I both know that this is not changing the subject." The two glared at each other, both to stubborn to look away. Everyone just stared at each other, Ella and Mike completely confused.
"Byron-" began Ezra, already attempting to ease over the situation, before he stopped him.
"No," he started looking Ezra square in the eye. "You will not try to weasel your way out of this one with excuses. Do you two know how insanely uncomfortable that was? To be stopped in the middle of a gas station and be told that your daughter was caught in the car with her boyfriend that day, making out in the middle of a deserted parking lot and he just wanted to make sure I knew about because the guy was a lot older than her. He didn't want to see a nice girl like you get hurt.
"Not to mention when he recognized, the name I had to explain that yes he probably did, because he was his son's old English teacher."
Ezra swallowed thickly, not letting his stare waver from Byron's, not allowing him the satisfaction of frightening him. "I can imagine how that would be embarrassing for you." Byron snorted, keeping his look of displeasure on his face, picking up his glass of scotch.
"But frankly I don't give a damn." Aria quickly turned her head to her boyfriend her eyes wide in fear. Did he have a death wish? Byron squinted up his eyebrows, "Excuse me?"
"How uncomfortable do you think it is for Aria and I? You just live with it every now and then when someone happens to notice or has the guts to question you about it. But anytime we want to do something normal like go to the movies, we get stared at like we're complete freaks. You don't get quizzical looks when you walk around town, because you're that guy that they heard is sleeping with one of his old students. Or you're that girl that got grades in English because she messed around with her teacher. Because that's how ugly the rumors are.
"So yes Byron, I'm sure it was a minor shot to your ego for those five minutes you talked to him. But try living with it, its one hell of a bitch." Ezra threw his napkin down on his plate pushing back his chair. "Excuse me. Your dinner was excellent honey." he said before stomping up the stairs to Aria's room, as Byron literally flinched from his use of the sweet nothing.
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"He's right you know." Said Aria after several moments of silence. "I apologize for that, it was stupid and we got carried away, but that doesn't mean you have every right to reprimand us for it. Like I said, we are trying to make this comfortable for everybody, and if that means us not being very intimate with each other while here, then so be it. That's all we were doing and I promise you it wasn't going anywhere.
"But try to imagine our world. We're already uncomfortable everywhere else we go and then we have to come here and be uncomfortable to. It's like the only place we really have that's safe is his apartment and I really don't want to stay cooped up in there all the time." Aria shook her head rising up from the table excusing herself.
She stopped at the doorframe just before retreating upstairs to her bedroom. "I love you guys. A lot. But I love him too and it hurts me so much that you are all but making me choose." She smiled a soft sad smile before turning around and walking up the stairs leaving the rest of the family at the table.
Well I just ended here because it was getting to long and I really just don't want to keep going! So anyway hope you liked the update!