So sorry this took so long for me to upload, I was uninspired for a few days, but hopefully you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 3; Appearances
Aria
I woke up at about 8:30, my naked body felt amazing against the soft cotton sheets on Ezra's bed. I rolled over on to my right side and the first thing I did was wince. I hurt, like down there. It was incredibly sore; I needed to take a shower, or a bath. The apartment smelled strongly of sex, and I blushed like a naughty school kid. But then this other smell broke through; pancakes. It was then that I realised that Ezra was no longer in the bed, and he was in fact cooking us breakfast. He didn't realise that I was awake, and so he carried on getting breakfast together. I always loved how he looks when he concentrates; his mouth slightly open, brows slightly furrowed. He was just wearing boxers, loosely hanging off his hips. His back had a few scratches, courtesy of myself. He put breakfast on a big tray, complete with a pot of tea and a small jug of orange juice. He picked one of the roses from a nearby vase and laid it on the tray. As he turned to bring it over to me, he noticed I was awake and chuckled to himself.
"Morning beautiful," he said, as he carefully placed the tray on the duvet. I sat up and crossed my legs. Ezra had made three kinds of pancakes; plain, blueberry and banana. I briefly wondered how long it took him to make these, but then Ezra gave me a kiss on the cheek and served me a plate of pancakes and the thought left my mind. We spent the morning in bed; once we had finished our breakfast, Ezra sat back against the wall and started to mark papers, whilst I rested my head against his legs and began reading Wuthering Heights.
Everything was perfect, and for a moment I was able to pretend that we were a normal functioning couple that didn't have any problems; I could hear my phone buzzing in my bag, a sound that brought me back to reality. I leapt out of bed, grabbed Ezra's t-shirt that was on the floor, threw it on and checked my phone. I had a couple of texts from Spencer, but the most recent text was from my Mom, asking me to meet her tonight. It was a very vague text, a text that sent a panic over myself. Did she know I wasn't really at Spencer's? Oh god, was she just being nice so that I would go home and then she would yell at me? Call the police?
"Are you okay Aria?" Ezra asked. I turned around to face him, and nodded. "No you're not," he got out of bed and joined me and my side. His arm snaked around my waist. "What's wrong?"
I looked up at him, "I think Mom knows I lied," I whispered, as though afraid she would hear me. Ezra's faced briefly flashed red, his eyes widened.
"How… How do you know that? Did she say anything?"
"She text me asking me to come home and meet her tonight. Why would she want that? Do you think she knows?"
Ezra read over the text a couple of times before answering. "Aria, don't panic. I think if she wanted you home she would have text you earlier. Hey, you've got two texts from Spencer". He opened the texts and I watched him through scared eyes. "Spencer said your mum rang this morning to see where you were, but she told her you were in the shower." He looked at me and showed me the phone. "Aria, it's okay, Spencer covered for you."
I read and re-read the text, slowly calming myself. Ezra hugged me tightly, slowly rubbing my back. "Everything's okay, I promise."
It was getting tough, all this pretending and sneaking around. What I would give to be able to tell my parents that I was at Ezra's, to hold his hand when we walk down the street, to dine in public. I longed for a way to be able to tell my parents about Ezra and me. Maybe something will happen one day, and everything will work out. But for now, I was getting increasingly more paranoid every time my phone rings; is it A? Is it Mom? It was almost to the point where I wanted to throw my heads in the air and give up, but my love for Ezra was stronger than my urge to give up, and Ezra knew all of this, and he knew how to keep me sane.
"Now," Ezra said, kissing my head before slowly making his way down to my neck. "How about we get you showered?" I giggled, then grabbed his hand and pulled him into the shower, trying to ignore my sore area.
After the best shower of my life, Ezra and I spent the next few hours watching a couple of black and white movies before I decided to go home, get changed and then meet Mom. I was on my way home with a smile spread so widely across my face; it was as though it was permanently stuck. I was no longer worried that my parents thought I was lying and I was very close to not caring if they did. I wanted to show them how much Ezra and I loved each other, and I didn't care what they thought. For once, I was insanely happy.
Ezra disappeared from my mind the second I walked in the door. Meredith and my Dad were on the sofa. Together. Yeah. I slammed the door behind me loudly; Dad went bright red and was stunned into silence, whereas Meredith turned to face me, a wicked grin on her face. Anger filled me, my hands turned into fists. I couldn't look at him; I ran up to my room and locked the door behind me. Dad. And Meredith. Again. And after everything she did to me, drugging me, locking me in the basement, and he went back to her.
The front door closed, and I could hear footprints coming up the stairs. Knowing that Dad would want to talk and would definitely find a way to get in, I dragged my armchair across the floor and pushed it against the door. I then hastily began packing up my things, filling up two bags with clothes, all the while my Dad was twisting the doorknob and trying to talk to me. After I'd put the majority of my clothes, jewellery and makeup into bags, I threw them out the window, pulled out a backpack and filled it with my two favourite books and my laptop.
"Aria? Aria, please open the door. Please. We need to talk about this. Oh god, I'm so sorry", my Dad was still talking through the door. I took one last look around my room, then an angry glance at the door, and climbed out my window. There was a huge oak tree just outside my window, which had a huge branch that I could easily climb onto. I was in such a hurry to escape that I wasn't looking where I was going; the twigs and the branches kept getting caught on my clothes, in my hair and scratched my bare arms. My foot slipped on the tree trunk, causing me to fall off the tree and directly onto my left side, causing me to cry out in pain. Upon realising that my Dad probably heard, I swiftly pushed myself off the ground, grabbed all of my bags, and ran to my car. As I slammed the car door shut, I saw my Dad leaning out of my bedroom window. Our eyes met for a few seconds, and then I reversed out of the drive and sped off down the road, tears falling down my cheeks.
I wasn't concentrating on the road, but my subconscious drove me to where I needed to go. Twenty minutes after leaving home, I was standing outside Ezra's apartment, crying my eyes out with twigs in my hair and scratches up my arms.
Ezra
I'd had the best 24 hours of my life. I was falling deeper and deeper in love with Aria. She'd left to spend the evening with her Mom, probably end up staying there and no doubt she'd be back in the morning with coffee like she always did on Sundays.
I was just getting ready to go out and grab food for dinner when I heard someone crying from the hallway. Thinking it was one of my neighbours, I decided to be nonchalant about checking out the noise, so I pulled on my hoodie and shoes, grabbed my keys and opened the door.
Aria was stood outside my door, crying her eyes out, scratches up her arms, dirt on her face, carrying her bags. Her parents have kicked her out, I thought, alarm bells going off inside my mind. Trying to keep calm, I took her bags in one hand, and used my other to guide Aria inside. Once I'd shut the door, Aria collapsed on the floor and really began to howl. I held Aria in my arms and let her cry for a good forty-five minutes.
Aria
I stopped crying after a really long time, all the while Ezra held me in his arms. I looked up at Ezra through damp eyes and opened my mouth to talk. Ezra stopped me by scooping me up into his arms and carrying me into the bathroom. He picked the twigs out of my hair and kissed me on my forehead.
"I caught Dad and Meredith together," I said quietly. Ezra stopped washing my face and stared at me in shock. "They were together… on the sofa… when I walked in." I dropped my gaze and began to cry again. Ezra carried on washing the dirt off my face, cleaned the scratches on my arms and helped me into my pjs. I climbed into Ezra's bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
I must have only been asleep for a few moments before my phone started ringing. I was about to get out of bed to answer when Ezra picked it up.
"Hi Mrs Montgomery… Yes she's here… I think you should come over, Aria needs her Mom," Ezra put down the phone and turned to wake me, but he saw that I was already awake. We exchanged a half smile, trying to prepare ourselves for what would happen when Mom arrives.