A/N: Fair warning, this chapter is Ezria flashback overload. Get ready. PS, when you get to that particular part in this chapter where a certain song is mentioned, I recommend playing it in the background while reading that scene. Trust me, it's worth it. You'll see what I mean when you get to it.
Enjoy, and please keep the reviews coming, I always love reading them all! (:
- J
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words. I especially don't own the song.
"Mind if I sit here?" Aria looked up from her textbook and squinted towards the source of the voice, the bright midday sunshine streaming into her line of vision as she squinted, trying to make out the figure in front of her.
"No, of course, go ahead," she said, pulling out her earphones and gesturing to the empty seat opposite her at the table. She tilted her head in recognition as she was finally able to see the face of the guy who sat down across from her. "Hey, you're in my Intro to British Literature class, right? With Professor Bailey? I think I've seen you before in my discussion."
"Yeah, I am," he replied with a smile.
Aria extended her hand out, "I'm Aria. Aria Montgomery."
"Noel Kahn," the guy said, taking her hand in his and giving it a strong shake. "Nice to meet you." He let go of her hand and opened up his backpack, pulling out a familiar thick textbook, much like the one she had been studying moments before. "Sorry to bother you, it's just that all the other tables were taken, and you kind of looked familiar, so it seemed like a safer bet to ask if I could sit with you."
"Oh, don't worry about it! It's not a problem at all," Aria replied, genuinely happy to have someone, and not just her iced coffee, to keep her company.
It was a beautiful spring day, one of those bright, cloudless, sunny days that were always best spent outside kicking back with friends. There was a certain person she had in mind that she would've loved to spend today with, sadly they hadn't spoken since "the suggestion" last week. Which was unfortunate, because they always spent days like this together.
"I could spend forever out here," Aria sighed, stretching out her legs and propping herself up with her elbows. She took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of fresh grass and crisp, clean air- the quintessential summertime scent. She watched carefully as Ezra emptied out the contents of their picnic basket onto their blanket, making sure that he didn't accidentally spill anything, before lifting her head up towards the sun. "What made you decide to have a picnic, anyway?"
She could almost see him shrugging his shoulders, even though her eyes were closed. "Don't know. I guess the weather was just so great today, it reminded me of when we used to have picnics in your backyard."
"We'd drink Sprite from plastic champagne glasses, since we had just finished reading The Great Gatsby and you thought it was the 'classy' thing to do."
"While eating the many sandwiches and bags of chips I'd sneak out of my house."
"And those horrible desserts I made with my Easy-Bake Oven that I forced you to eat!"
"Those things were disgusting!" Ezra said, gagging. "I can't believe I actually ate them."
"You just did it because you love me," Aria teased, not realizing what she had said until the words tumbled out. She froze.
Ever since she had kissed him months before, she had been walking on eggshells around him. It had helped that he had gone back to Hollis to finish up his last semester of the year, since it meant that they were limited only to short phone calls and text message conversations. She could very easily hide her discomfort when communication came in virtual form. But now that he was home for the summer, it wasn't as easy. She wasn't sure if he even remembered the kiss, and she definitely wasn't about to ask, but every moment they had spent together over the last week that he had been back home had just been plain awkward, and she didn't know how to get past it.
"Nah, I did it because I felt bad for you. I mean, not even your dog would touch that stuff!" he exclaimed, not seeming to notice her pause. Aria exhaled, finally opening her eyes, glad that awkward moment had passed. She watched curiously as he finally lifted out the last content of the picnic basket and began unwrapping the foil around the neck- it was a bottle of champagne.
"Seriously, Ezra? You brought alcohol to a public park?" she asked incredulously.
"Sorry I don't have plastic champagne glasses, but I figured, if we're going to have a picnic like we used to, we should at least be able to have the real thing," he reasoned. "Besides, we're celebrating. I just finished my most difficult year of college-"
"It's only your second year. There's not much to compare its difficulty to," Aria interjected.
"Regardless," he said, popping the cork. "I thought it was cause to celebrate. And also, I wasn't here to celebrate your birthday, so I thought this would make up for it," he said, gesturing to the spread on the blanket. Aria looked down and noticed that he had packed all of her favorite foods, right down to her favorite condiments. "Belated happy 16th!"
Aria bit her lip in a desperate attempt to keep from tearing up; it was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done. If she didn't know any better, she'd think this wasn't just his way of making up for missing her birthday. It seemed like a date. She mentally smacked herself for even letting the thought cross her mind. This wasn't a date, this was just Ezra being Ezra. This was just her best friend setting up a picnic for them, just as he had done multiple times in the past when they were younger.
Except, this felt so different.
Aria pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Come here," she said, reaching her arms out towards him. Ezra smiled and placed the champagne bottle carefully back into the picnic basket before crawling over and enveloping her in a huge hug. "Thank you so much," she said, squeezing him tighter.
"You're welcome, kid," Ezra said, squeezing her just as tightly, holding on for a few more seconds before finally letting her go. He leaned back and grabbed the bottle again, offering it to her. "You first, birthday girl."
She took the bottle and paused, a millimeter to her lips. "You know we're two underaged people, sitting in the middle of a public park, drinking champagne straight from the bottle, right? What if we get caught?"
Ezra took the bottle back and ripped off the label so now, on first glance, the glass bottle easily passed for sparkling apple cider. Passing it back to her, he winked and ruffled her hair, "I won't tell anyone if you won't." Aria took a long swig and passed it to him, eyeing him as he mimicked her.
"What're you doing?" Ezra asked curiously as she then very slowly and deliberately stood up, kicking her sandals off her feet. He followed her lead and stood up, placing the champagne back into the basket once more, before slipping off his own sandals and placing them next to hers.
He cocked an eyebrow, and just like that, she took off running towards the swings. "Race you!" she yelled behind her, already a few feet ahead of him. He laughed as he ran to catch up to her, grabbing her around the waist as soon as he was close enough. She giggled loudly and smacked his arms as he swung her around and dropped her, racing ahead. She quickly got back to her feet, jumping on his back and covering his eyes, causing him to loose his footing, sending them both crashing to the ground, their stomachs aching from so much laughter, their heads slightly lighter from the champagne.
She cautiously reached her hand towards his, lacing their fingers together. And surprisingly, he didn't pull away. Oh yeah, it felt like a date, all right. But that was probably all in her mind. In reality, she knew, it was just another summer day spent between two close friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Have you started on the reading for next class yet?" Noel's voice cut through her thoughts.
Aria gestured to her own thick textbook lying open on the table in front of her, "I'm working on it right now. Did you start with Chaucer?"
"Oh man, of course not!" Noel exclaimed, shaking his head fiercely. "I'm starting easy- Beowulf first. At least you can kind of understand what they're saying. Canterbury Tales is insane."
"Tell me about it!" Aria sighed, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and picking up her pink highlighter again. "I've been reading for the last hour, and I've only gotten about five pages into it."
"That's five more pages than me that you've read!" He smiled a crooked smile that made Aria immediately feel at ease. There was something about Noel Kahn's charm that caught her attention. She laughed lightly and flashed him a smile of her own before turning back to her reading.
An hour later, unknowingly a few feet away, Ezra sat on a bench with his laptop going over the slides for his next class, perfectly shaded by a tree. The perfect place to spend a perfect day like today. Although, there was another person he would've liked to share today with, but he was an idiot, so he was obviously going to be punished for it by having to spend the day alone.
"Is this seat taken?" He froze, immediately recognizing the female voice. He groaned in frustration. Of course, he would jinx himself as well. Perfect.
"What do you want, Jackie?" Ezra had a quiz in thirty minutes, and he still had two whole lectures to go through. He wasn't in the mood to deal with any of Jackie's mind games right now.
"Now, is that any way to treat your ex-girlfriend?" she asked, sickly sweet. She sat down next to him, plopping her bag down on the other side of her.
"I'm busy right now," he said dismissively, hoping she would get the picture that he wasn't interested in talking to her at all. "Besides, that was last year. It's old news now. We're old news now," he emphasized, still reading through his slides.
"Yeah, well, whose fault was it that we broke up in the first place?" she asked, a thick accusatory tone coating her voice. "How is the lovely Aria, anyway? Are you two a happy couple yet?"
Ezra tensed at the sound of her name. "Don't drag Aria into this."
"And why not? You certainly didn't have a problem dragging her into our conversations when we were dating. Hell, if I remember correctly, she even ruined my visit to Rosewood. You were supposed to pick me up at the station, remember? But you chose her over me? You choose some girl you claim is 'just a friend' over your own girlfriend."
"Jackie, don't do this," he warned. "You have no right to bring that up. Not that I owe you an explanation, but Aria was in trouble and needed my help." His mind flashed back to that fateful night before he could even stop himself.
Ezra watched as a light breeze picked up, lightly blowing the loose strands of her chestnut hair in the wind, her eyes wide open in wonder, head tilted upwards, a smile playing on her lips. She looked so happy, so carefree, staring up at the dark night sky, the stars twinkling brightly, that he momentarily lost his breath. He stared at her for a moment before forcing himself to look away, lest she look over and notice him starting for a moment too long, leaving him having to explain himself.
Ever since that kiss Aria had given him on a dare almost two years ago, he began to see her in a different way. Slowly but surely, she was changing right before his very eyes. The change was amplified more so when he felt that spark that ran up his arm, giving him goosebumps, when she had cautiously reached for his hand during the "birthday picnic" he had set up for her last year. At the time, he hadn't planned for it to be a date, but ten minutes into it, that's what it had felt like. And he wasn't sure how he felt about that.
It wasn't that he hadn't loved her before, because he certainly did, however it was always an older brother/little sister sort of affection he had for her. She was his best friend, his closest friend since childhood.
Aria was the girl who would barge into his room on Saturday mornings, jumping on his bed and whacking him repeatedly with a pillow until he got up, just so that they could eat cereal straight from the box in front of the TV together, a cartoon marathon until afternoon. She was the girl who, after a night of scary stories around the campfire during their summer expeditions, would slowly open the door to his room in the middle of the night, creeping up to his bed clutching her blanket, and tapping him lightly on the shoulder, would quietly ask if she could stay with him until morning, afraid of letting anyone else know just how scared she was.
She was the girl who would regularly steal his books for school and would read them herself, scribbling her own notes in the margins, her ideas so clever that whenever he presented them in class to his professors, they'd applaud him for such creative thinking. She was the girl who would memorize his schedule and call him during his breaks in between classes just to rant about the exact same teacher he had dealt with when he went to Rosewood High. She was the girl who sent him lengthy, grammatically correct text messages (they both didn't believe in using shorthand or acronyms) about her boy problems, knowing he would offer advice from an older male's point of view, and then would also reciprocate with his own girl problems. She was the girl he would meet for coffee every time he was in town, just so that they could spend hours catching up on each other's lives. She was like the little sister he never had.
Until she wasn't. And that confused the hell out of him, because he suddenly didn't know how to act around her. He couldn't just be normal anymore, especially since he was being forced to keep his feelings in check while trying to figure them out himself. And that was proving to be a hard task, especially as she stood in front of him, seventeen years old, looking beautiful as ever in her floorlength red dress, hair done in an intricate curled up-do, her hazel eyes accentuated by a sultry smoky eye. She was no longer the seven and a half year old girl he had met in his driveway ten years ago, she was now a young woman. Plus, he had a girlfriend who he had been seeing for a few months now, and he was happy with her. Or so he thought.
"Sorry for making you come all the way to school to pick me up," she apologized, looking at him sadly. "I should've known Daniel was going to be a jerk. Everyone warned me."
He remembered the surprise he felt when, while driving to Rosewood from Hollis, he saw Aria's name pop up on his caller ID. He knew it was the night of her Senior Prom, and he figured she'd be too busy with her friends and date to even acknowledge the fact that he was home for the weekend. He pulled over to the side of the road and picked up the his phone, his face paling as he heard her voice- she sounded so defeated, so small. Instead of heading to the train station where he was supposed to pick up his girlfriend, her first time in Rosewood so that she could finally meet his friends and family, he immediately made a u-turn and rushed to pick Aria up.
Once she was safe in his car, he immediately drove to the park where they spent so much time as kids, knowing she needed to calm down first before heading home, or she would probably break down alone in her room. They walked side-by-side quietly along the sidewalked path, illuminated by the street lamps and the shining full moon, Ezra making sure not to prod her and just let her know that he was there for her. After a few minutes, he guided her to the bench where they now sat.
"Hey," Ezra said, lightly placing a hand on her arm comfortingly. There was that spark again. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known he was going to pull something like that. I'm just glad you were strong enough to fight him off and get away. I'm just glad you're safe now." In the back of his mind, he could still see the look of utter disappointment in her eyes when he had pulled up to the front of Rosewood High, music still pulsating through all the cracks and crevices of the building.
"Thanks, again," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer into him. "It just sucks that I didn't even get to stay for the last dance."
Ezra looked down at the girl next to him, noticing a tear slip down her cheek faster than she could wipe it away. He felt his heart clench, crushed that her prom night was ruined. No one, especially someone as amazing as Aria, should ever have to experience something like that at one of their most important events in high school. Immediately, all her wanted to do was make it all better, make everything right again. "What are you doing?" she asked as Ezra pulled out his iPhone, unlocking it and scrolling through a list quickly.
"This is your favorite song right now, right?" he said, the beginning strains of Alex and Sierra's "Little Do You Know" pouring out from the speakers of his phone. He felt her nod her head, and he pulled his arm away from her shoulders. She looked at him questioningly as he stood up, offering her his hand. "Who said you have to miss the last dance?"
Aria grinned for the first time that night, the beauty of her smile rivaling that of the stars and moon, stood up and placed her right hand in his. She wrapped her left arm around his neck as he wound his arm tightly around her waist, both slowly swaying to the music. It was almost audible, that moment when the pieces all clicked together for Ezra.
"Can I tell you something?" Ezra asked quietly, taking a deep breath, his heart hammering against his chest. Was he really going to admit this now? Was it really the right time?
"Hmm?" Aria hummed, her head resting on his chest like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was sure she could hear his rapid heartbeat, and for a moment, he was embarrassed.
Ezra stopped, pulling away slightly to look at her, but never once letting go. He locked his deep blue eyes with her hazel ones. "Aria, I-," he stopped mid sentence, ears perking up. His eyes scanned the darkness, wondering where that mysterious sound was coming from.
"Ezra?" Aria asked, puzzled. Suddenly they heard the unmistakable "psst, psst, psst" sound of the sprinklers.
"Run!" Ezra yelled with a deep laugh, grabbing his phone from the bench, attempting to shield Aria with his jacket as all the sprinklers in the park turned on simultaneously, showering them with water. He could hear her squealing next to him, their hands clasped together, while they sprinted to take cover under the shaded area on the playground.
"Wait!" Aria called, pulling him back. He looked back at her as she dropped his hand, a bright smile on her face. She stood directly under the streams of water almost artistically criss-crossing above her, extending her arms out and spinning around like a child, giggling with happiness.
"You're going to catch a cold!" he yelled loudly, attempting to raise his voice higher than the volume of the water hitting the ground.
"When did you get so old?!" she taunted, reaching her hand out towards him. "Come on, Fitz, live a little!"
Ezra rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips pulling up into a smile. In that moment, she looked so much like the little girl he first met that he couldn't help falling for her all over again. "What the hell," he said, pulling his phone back out. He turned up the volume to max and threw it towards the playground, along with his jacket, where he knew they would both be safe from water damage. He grabbed her hand and twirled her around, both of them laughing like the children they used to be.
They danced under the water until the sprinkler heads finally retreated back into the grass, the entire park falling comfortably silent, save for Aria and Ezra's laughter. "Hey, what were you saying before? You never finished," Aria asked, snuggling closer into Ezra's side for warmth while making their way back to his car.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, biding his time. The moment for him to tell her how he felt had passed. "It was nothing," he said. "I was just going to tell you that you look beautiful tonight." He looked down at her as she turned her head up towards him, giving him a small smile.
"Thanks," she replied meekly, tucking a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. "You're not too bad yourself," she paused, a wicked smile creeping up on her face, "you know, when you don't look like a wet rat," she mocked, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, nudging her side. "Keep teasing me and I'll make you walk home." He untangled his arm from her shoulder and tucked his hands in his pockets, walking away.
"5. 4. 3. 2-" he counted down to himself.
"You wouldn't dare!" Aria had stopped in her tracks, a shocked look on her face. "Ezra!" He kept walking towards his car, chuckling. It wasn't long before he heard the sound of heels quickly clacking against the sidewalk behind him. "You suck," she said out of breath, finally catching up to him.
He said nothing as they approached his car, him pressing the button on his keys once, unlocking only the driver's side door. "Ezraaaaa!" she wined. "Fine," she said with a huff, "I'm sorry. You don't look like a wet rat!"
Ezra stopped, his lips turning up into a smirk. "That's better."
"I still think you suck."
"I love you, too, kid," he said, only half teasingly. "Come on," he took off his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders, pressing the button on his keys once more to unlock her door. "It's getting late. Let's get you home."
They had both suspiciously gotten sick afterwards, since they both had to drive back home in the cold, nighttime weather while soaking wet. But to them, for that perfect moment of happiness, it was well worth it.
"What time is it?" Noel asked in between a break in their conversation. "Oh, crap," he said frantically, looking at his watch, "I have class in five minutes, and it's all the way across campus!" He quickly began gathering his things together.
Aria looked at her phone, surprised to see that they had been talking for almost two hours. She groaned, shutting her textbook, "I didn't even get any reading done. I'm going to have to pull an all-nighter tonight just to finish this before tomorrow's class."
Noel laughed, "That makes two of us." Aria noticed that even though he had said he had class in five minutes, he was taking his time actually packing everything up and leaving. Not that she was complaining. "Hey, why don't you give me your number, and we can keep each other awake tonight while we try to stay away from Sparknotes-ing all of it?" he attempted to ask casually.
She laughed, shaking her head. "Sorry, I don't give my number to guys I just met."
"But you know me! We have class together, remember?" he tried to reason, still not leaving.
"Yeah, but we've never met. There's a big difference between having a class together and actually meeting." She was going to make him work for her number.
"Okay, well, how about the second time we meet? Will you give me your number then?"
"Maybe," she said coyly. It had been so long since she had met a guy worth flirting with, and she was actually having fun.
"In that case," Noel said, reaching into a pocket in his backpack, pulling out a thick glossy flyer. "Why don't we meet up a second time at my party? Well, my frat's party. Saturday night."
Aria reached out and took the flyer, skimming the info before twirling it in her hand. "Yeah, definitely. Sounds like a plan."
Noel finally stood up and looked at his watch again, "Crap. I'm definitely late now." She laughed, taking the hand he extended, "Well, Aria Montgomery, it was a pleasure meeting you. I'll see you on Saturday."
She rolled her eyes as he winked and began backing away from the table. "See you Saturday." She was too busy staring at Noel walking away, their entire conversation replaying in her mind, that she didn't notice another two pairs of eyes watching her.
"Noel Kahn, huh? Looks like you and Aria aren't the happy couple I thought you would be by now," Jackie said snarkily, watching Ezra's jaw tense when she saw him spot Aria talking to Noel.
Ezra tore his eyes away from Aria and Noel and looked back down at his laptop, pretending to be suddenly preoccupied with his lecture slides again. "I repeat, what do you want, Jackie?"
"Actually, Noel's part of why I came to talk to you," she said, turning to dig into her bag. "My sorority and his frat are having a party this Saturday. I thought you might like to come."
He stared suspiciously at the flyer she held out towards him. Realizing Ezra wasn't going to take it without a fight, she looked at him sincerely, "Look, I haven't seen you at any of our parties in a while, and I remember how much you used to enjoy them, once upon a time. I also know that you were actually friends with a lot of my friends, and I heard you haven't talked to any of them since we broke up. They miss you, you know. I just wanted to pass you an invite, in case you wanted to stop by and say hi."
She dropped the flyer on his keyboard before standing up, pulling the strap of her bag onto her shoulder again. "I'm not asking you to be my date. Just think about coming," she said with a smile. Ezra looked at her, touched by her willingness to put their past aside for the sake of her friends. It was times like this that he remembered why he had ever dated her in the first place; she was actually a pretty great person, once you got past her pretentiousness and got to know the real her. "I know Aria is probably going to be there, too. I promise I'll play nice."
"No hidden agenda?" Ezra clarified.
Jackie held her hands up, "No hidden agenda. Promise."
"I'll be there," he said after a beat of silence. He saw a flicker of hope pass through Jackie's eyes, disappearing faster than it had appeared. She smirked, turning and beginning to walk away. "Hey, Jackie?" he called before she got too far away.
He watched as she turned around, eyeing him curiously. "It was nice seeing you again."
She smiled, nodding, "You too, Ezra." She turned again, calling out, "See you Saturday!" a small wave of her fingers serving as a goodbye to him.
He chuckled, looking over once more at Aria. He saw her pick up her flyer, a slightly discernible blush creeping up onto her cheeks. His jaw tightened once more. Oh yeah, Jackie, and Noel and Aria, were all going to see him on Saturday, that was for sure.
A/N: My one rule with this story was that I would always be one chapter ahead, I would never post unless I had more than half of the next one written. I'm breaking that rule because I've had parts of this written for a while, and I was too excited to wait. HAHA.
That being said, I don't know when the next chapter will be up, since I haven't written any of it yet. I promise to get it up ASAP, but I'm not going to rush it just so I can post something.
I'm actually fairly proud of this chapter, it may be one of my most favorite things I've written to date, after the epilogue of Love's to Blame, that is (speaking of which, if you haven't read that story of mine, I highly suggest checking that out while waiting for my next update if you need something to read. (; ). So, if you liked this chapter as well, please review! It only takes a few seconds, and it pushes me to write. Which, in turn, actually helps you!
Thanks again for all your support!
- J
