As Aria walked home, she noticed how hard it was to see Ezra with someone else. She wished beyond everything else that things had went differently with them. They had so much passion and love and in the end it wasn't even enough.
She got to the Grill and decided to go inside for a drink. She ordered a coffee and sat reading her book. When she got into a book she could sit for hours… And that's what she did. She forgot about her sick Mom and fell into the story of the crazy parties at Gatsby's house. She forgot all about Ezra and Rachel and fell into the story of Gatsby's love for Daisy.
"Fitzgerald really has a way with words, huh?" Ezra smiled while looking down at Aria. "May I?" He gestured to the seat across from Aria.
She nodded at Ezra but still wasn't quite sure she wanted to speak to him.
"I ran into your Dad. I'm so sorry about your Mom. I guess that's why you're back. I did try to call you about it but…" Ezra looked concerned.
"Look, Ezra. I've just came back home because my Mom had surgery to remove a possible cancerous lump from her breast. I run into you and you have this perfect, mature new girlfriend and a business that obviously booming. This town is just full of bad memories for me and I'm struggling. I just want to read a book and have a drink in peace. This town is full of ghosts now and their all haunting me. Everything about my teenage years is like a past life now. The last thing I need now is ghost of boyfriends past sitting having a drink with me and telling me how wonderful his life is, because honestly, I'm falling apart." Aria broke eye contact with Ezra and continued to read.
"Aria, Rachel is a publisher. I'm writing a new book and I was meeting her at the brew about it." Ezra didn't keep his eyes off of Aria. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I understand that you want to be alone. I'll leave you." Ezra stood up and left.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief. She felt horrible for speaking to Ezra that way and for ignoring him for the best part of a year. Those feelings don't just go away.
When she left the grill, she walked around the block a couple of times before going home. She was just thinking about how nothing in her life is simple and everything is complicated. She didn't want to go home to see her Mom who is so ill. The house is just plagued by the fact they are waiting on one phone call when theyre whole future depends on it. Aria had walked so long and she ended up at Ezra's apartment.
She didn't even know if he still lived there. Aria thought this was a big mistake but she couldn't help but make it. She knocked on the door hoping to see him open the door. She heard the chain being undone at the other side of the door and someone turn the handle. Through the crack in the door she saw Ezra's arm leaning against the door frame on the other side of the door. He opened the door fully and looked into her eyes.
Aria walked into his apartment and closed the door.