Walking by the Brew, she stopped at the window. She looked inside and saw Ezra helping Talia and the other girl close up.
Before thinking about it, Aria walked through the doors and sat her purse on the counter.
"Anything I can help with?"
Ezra turned around, quickly shooting her a smile. "Unless you wanna clean up the kitchen and stack chairs, I think we're good."
Aria looked around the room then pointed to a neatly set up book display. "I could fix that!"
Ezra looked at the books then back at Aria, giving her a confused look.
Aria walked over to them and pushed the books over. "Whoops."
"Amanda, you and Talia can head out. I've got this." Ezra looked towards the girl cleaning off a table behind him.
She simply nodded then walked to the back to get Talia.
Ezra crossed his arms, watching as Aria put the books in the exact order they were. "That was completely pointless, you realize that, right?"
Aria nodded, "I wanted an excuse to stay longer than I should. If I screw something up I have to fix it." She sat down on the couch by the coffee table with the books.
Ezra sat down beside her, leaning back. "I feel like that was supposed to mean more than just knocking things over."
Aria sighed, looking back at Ezra. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of-"
"Aria, it's okay. It's been a year, I think we can move past it."
Before she graduated, Aria wrote a letter to a college. That letter contained things that were never true, things that she wished she hadn't wrote.
She decided to show Ezra the letter, wanting him to find out from her what it said and not anyone else.
At first it seemed like everything was okay, everything was fine. But then he read it again and put his own truth to what she denied.
She had missed so much of her high school years because of him, and he didn't want to hold her back. So he let her go.
She spent weeks trying to reconnect and trying to figure out where their relationship stood. One day he just came out and said it, they needed to break up. It wasn't what he wanted, he loved her, he still does, but it's what she needed.
She needed to grow and be her own person and that's what she's doing now, she's becoming the person she wants to be, nothing and no one holding her back.
"So..I was actually here earlier." Aria admitted, leaning back on the couch so she and Ezra could be face to face.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah...I like that you added a playlist, it gives this place a professional coffee shop turn book store vibe."
Ezra scoffed, looking at the coffee table in front of them
"I especially like track 3...and 7...and 10... And so on."
Ezra closed his eyes and nodded, it was cheesey, it was tacky, and considering the timing of everything, it was awkward.
"B-26? That song has a lot of meaning." Aria went on, waiting for Ezra to jump in.
"Moment of weakness." He finally responded.
Don't do it, Aria. You yourself..
"Oh, so that's all that song is? Weakness?" Aria retorted, "Aria I-" Ezra sat up to defend himself.
"No no, I get it. Believe me, I came here out of weakness. I was hoping to find my ex boyfriend." She stood up, looking Ezra up and down, shaking her head..
"I guess I need to keep looking.. Because this is not it." She stated firmly, walking towards the door.
Ezra jumped up and darted around the couch to get to the door before Aria could. "Why are you mad? You're the one that left, you're the one who-"
"You broke up with me! What was I supposed to do!? Huh?" She yelled, tears slowly filling her eyes. "Walk around town, watch you go about your life, get a new girlfriend, make something of yourself?" The words slowed down and got quieter as she spoke them.
A single tear rolled down Aria's cheek before the rest followed, "Look at this place," she motioned around the room. "it's everything you wanted it to be. You turned a crappy coffee shop into an amazing book store." She looked her head.
"What did I do? I went to 34 states and ate sushi out of the back of a van." She looked back up at Ezra, she looked tired, sad, and lost.
Like a puppy sitting in a box in the middle of a rain storm. Only Ezra was the person the puppy ran away from.
Then again, rain was always their thing..
"Aria, do you need a ride?" Ezra offered, leave it to Aria to make you feel bad after doing the right thing.
She simply shook her head, She gave him a sad smile before reaching for the door "Happy aniversary."
xxxxx
A/N: okay, so Johnny's name is spelt Jonny on the show, and apparently he isn't trust worthy. Whoops. I kinda like him still though. Whoops again.
I hope y'all liked this chapter, I'll be working on the next on soon! So be sure to review and tell me what you think!
