Aria had made dozens and dozens and dozens of calls. Setting up catering. Ordering flowers. Organizing chairs and tables. Arranging music. She was over it. Done. Thoroughly exhausted of anything and everything that had to do with a wedding. Sometimes she had to remind herself late at night, when she was crunching numbers and trying to figure out where all of the money was going to come from to pay the vendors, that this was all for her and Ezra. It was finally something that was a celebration of them.
To say that Aria's family was indifferent about the entire affair was putting it mildly. When she had finally gotten up the nerve to show them the ring, they weren't sure what to say.
"Congratulations honey. It's beautiful but...I mean, are you really ready?" Her father questioned coldly.
"Don't let him pressure you in to this Aria. He is a grown man who has lived his life and had his time to find his place in the world. You're barely out of the house, do you really think that you're ready to toss away your freedom for some his and hers towels?" Byron tossed his napkin on to the dinner table in frustration.
"I think what your father is trying to say Aria," her mother reached across the table and grabbed Aria's left hand and swiveled the ring back and forth with her finger, "is that he is just afraid of you ending up unhappy."
Unhappy.
That word hit Aria in the stomach like a knife. She had spent so much of her life being unhappy, having to hide her relationship, her love from the world. And now the world thought that they could predict how she would end up? That she would end up locked in a life of misery because she had decided to marry her soulmate before she was halfway to thirty?
Aria pulled her hand away from her mothers grip.
"The only thing that makes me unhappy, is people thinking that I am actually going to BE unhappy. Do you think I would have said yes and accepted this ring if I thought that I would just be miserable for the rest of my life?" Aria was growing more irritated by the minute.
"If that's all that you think this is, some young romance that's going to fizzle out, then I had to break it to you but you're wrong. We have done our time being apart, being socially acceptable to everyone. We get to finally be us now." She stood up, straight faced trying to show no emotion. No anger, no frustration, no sadness. Aria pushed her chair in, grabbed her purse off of the couch and walked out of the Montgomery house.
That was years ago, yet Aria was still waiting for her parents to come around to the idea. They had offered no money for the event, just moral support. Her mother listened to her list off expenses and vendors and felt guilty for not offering to help pay. Byron simply told Aria to send him a save-the-date and invitation and he would be there, but he couldn't contribute to a union he didn't fully believe in.
"Why do you think they don't love us?" Aria randomly questioned Ezra one night while twirling a noodle around her fork.
"Uh...did I miss something. Who are we talking about here?"
"My parents. This morning I called my mom, practically hyperventilating after I got the price quote for the flowers and all she said was, 'it will all work out Aria'" She sighed and looked at Ezra over a glass of water.
Ezra sat up stiffly in the chair and adjusted his feet under the table. He wasn't sure what to say. He knew that they had been dragging their feet, trying to fill Aria's head with reasons on why she shouldn't marry him. Telling her that they could still be together, they didn't have to get married to be together. He couldn't understand it either.
"I would say they don't love us, but that doesn't mean that they don't love you."
"We're kind of a package deal now you know. Two for the price of one." She stood up from the table and walked around to Ezra's chair, taking a seat in his lap.
"You know, have I told you lately that it is only thirty days until you are Mrs. Ezra Fitz? And how I just can't wait until we never have to call you Aria Montgomery ever again?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzles his face into her hair.
"I think that is actually the third time today you have given me the current count down." She laughed standing back up.
"And actually, I need to make a call to the baker to confirm that we don't want that third tier..." She mumbled to herself pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. Ezra took it immediately from her hands and set it on the table. His face fell a little
"You know, I always dreamed that we would have a huge wedding. You would have everything that you ever wanted, hundreds of flowers, butterflies...doves."
"Doves Ezra, really?"
"Okay, maybe no doves," He laughed a little, "But in all honesty. I am feeling pretty bad that you can't have everything you've wanted..." he trailed off, drawing circles with his fingers on her thigh.
"Are you kidding me? I wanted to go to the court house and elope. You're the one that convinced me we needed to do this the fancy way."
"I never wanted you to regret not having that day, Aria. With your friends, and your family...whether they want to be there or not, you know they're gong to show up. And to be quite frank, I didn't want to deprive myself of seeing you in a white dress taking that short stroll down the aisle to me..." his face turned pink.
Aria chuckled to herself.
'I wonder what he is going to think when he sees that my dress is actually pink...'
