Hello everyone! As usual I want to say thank you for the reviews! I hope you like this chapter, but I'm not completely decided where the story is going, or how much longer it will be, so we shall see...

Please review and enjoy!

Chapter 3

After Aria left Ezra's apartment she went back to school as she said she would and Ezra poured the rest of his glass of whiskey down the sink.

He was going to pull himself back together and tomorrow nobody would ever suspect that their English teacher had a breakdown. Nobody but Aria would know how badly he had been hurt or how badly hurt he still was and he doubted anyone other than Aria even cared. Ezra wondered to himself how much Aria actually cared. He was grateful that she was there for him when he needed her, but he questioned if it was out of genuine concern and love, or if it was out pity for the man she used to date whose life was falling apart by the seams. Really nothing was going right. He lost his kid, who was never even his. He lost his girlfriend. And he had a job that as much as he loved, he didn't want half as badly as the girl who left him as a result of taking it.

Ezra knew that she had a new boyfriend, a tall, handsome, strong looking guy who worked as a karate teacher. Ezra knew quite a bit about him since he worked at the same studio where Malcolm had been taking lessons. His name was Jake and honestly Ezra thought that he was good for her. It was good for her to have someone who she could go out in public with, someone who could hold her hand walking down the street to the movie theater, and someone who could take her out for a nice dinner rather than always having to get takeout.

What Ezra didn't know was that, as good as Jake was for her in theory, he wasn't right for her at all. He didn't want to go and see the classics that they would see when they had the chance or simply watch on his couch when they couldn't sneak around. Jake didn't know that Aria didn't eat meat, and instead of taking her to a French vegan bistro he planned to take her for steak. Jake thought that Aria's coffee orders were childish, and as much as Ezra thought the same and would tease her for ordering her grown up chocolate milk Ezra knew how to do so without making her feel patronized. Ezra knew about Aria's family, he knew about all the messes that were mixed into that part of her life, a few of which he co-created, and he knew when to stay out of it. Jake on the other hand nosily wormed his way into private mother daughter conversations which Aria didn't want him involved in, and Ezra would have known better than to try and be involved in.

The list went on and on. Aria mentally added to it each day that she saw him. With each date they went on, yet another thing went on the list. At first it was just a list of things about Jake, but Aria realized it soon became complaints about Jake, and then became a comparison between Jake and Ezra. She tried to make it even. She tried to look at the pros that each had. Jake had the obvious benefits of being a socially acceptable boyfriend as well as parent approved which Aria was reveling in, but once she moved past that she couldn't find much else. Sure Jake was nice, he had never been anything but good to her, but he wasn't the one for Aria.

Aria thought about Ezra her drive back to school and when she got back her car was quickly surrounded by her three best friends.

"Where the hell did you go?" Hannah asked as soon as Aria opened the driver's door.

"There was somewhere I had to be, okay?" Aria muttered to them but knew they wouldn't drop it.

"We tried to cover for you but then Noel got involved and… let's just say that substitute may be reconsidering her career path after today." Spencer told her with a slight laugh. They all knew that Spencer could be scary and the substitute had gotten on the wrong side of a long time rivalry between the girls and Noel Kahn.

"Doesn't matter. It's not important." Aria said and as the three girls looked at each other in agreement Spencer spoke.

"Is it about Fitz? We noticed he wasn't there today and..." Spencer said softly before Hannah butt in "And we heard some of what you were saying to the substitute." She added causing Emily and Spencer to roll their eyes at her.

"Really though, if you need to talk you know we're here, right?" Emily assured her friend who nodded.

"I just don't know what to think about it right now." Aria said walking in the direction of her next class, all the girls following behind even though none of their schedules coincided for the next period.

"You didn't sleep with him did you?" Hannah asked wide-eyed.

"No Hannah. It's ten in the morning." Aria scoffed at her friend.

"And? I didn't ask you for the time Aria." Hannah shot back not satisfied by her answer. It wasn't like Aria and Ezra hadn't had their fair share of morning fun on weekends or Holidays. And although Hannah had no actual knowledge of such things, Aria figured she assumed just as much.

"No Hannah, I didn't have sex with Ezra. In fact there was barely any physical contact involved." Aria said in a frustrated tone which she attributed to her friend pestering her, but when Spencer asked her about it she reconsidered the source of her anger.

"Is that disappointment I hear in your voice?" Spencer questioned and Aria thought deeply about what exactly it was that she was feeling for the rest of the day only to wind up more confused. But at that moment Aria thoughtlessly replied "I don't know" before walking into her class room and sitting at her typical desk in history class more than willing to be distracted by whatever it was the teacher planned to discuss that day.