A/N: Hey guys, I'm so so sorry that this is so late, I've had a lot going on and have been trying out new stories as well! Hopefully this will make up for it as it's a long chapter!
Chapter Four
"Hi!" Ezra greeted breathlessly as he opened the door. Trying to regain his composure, he spoke again, this time a little lower. "Please, come in."
"Thank you." Aria smiled, pushing Nathan's stroller into the apartment. She took in her surroundings; it was small, but so perfectly Ezra.
"Can I get you something to drink? A glass of water or…?" He asked, gesturing towards the sink.
"Oh, no thank you, I can't stay long." She said politely, before taking a bag off of her shoulders. She handed it over to Ezra. "Um, this has everything you'll need. He has some milk, some baby food, some diapers, a change of clothes, a few books, a blanket, some toys, a-"
"Thank you." Ezra interrupted gently, worried that she was running out of breath. Aria grinned embarrassedly, before starting agin.
"His bedtime is nine o'clock, I don't have a travel cot but his stroller is approved for sleeping in. If you just put the blanket in with him he'll be fine, and I can pick him up at ten." Aria rambled, her mind filling with every thing that could possibly go wrong in between now and ten.
"Ten? You sure? I can have him for longer if you want to enjoy the time with your friends?" Ezra offered. It was clear Aria wanted to accept, but she didn't want to be rude or push her luck.
"No, it's fine, I'm sure you have better things to be doing with your Friday night." Aria waved her hand dismissively in the air.
"I think you're overestimating the social life of an English teacher." Ezra joked. Aria laughed melodically, and Ezra smiled in the knowledge that he caused that beautiful sound. And it was beautiful, too. It was as if her laughter was a song, a lullaby almost, like a song from an angel. She certainly looked like an angel, with her hair softly curled to frame her heart shaped face. Her smoky eyes lit up and her cheeks reddened, her plump lips turning upwards and flashing her pearl white teeth. Aria had made an effort getting ready tonight, and not just because she hadn't worn make up in weeks or because it was Emily's birthday. Although she wouldn't admit it to herself, it was partly because of Ezra. The last three (and only) times she had met him she had been sporting the 'two hours sleep and no makeup' look, so she was keen to show him that her eyes weren't constantly puffy and bagged and that her skin wasn't always pasty and pale. From the look on Ezra's face, he was impressed with what he saw.
"I should probably get going." Aria said eventually, breaking Ezra's trance.
"Right, of course." He nodded. "Oh, and, Aria?" He added urgently. Aria's big doe eyes looked to meet his.
"Yes?" She asked, so innocently Ezra almost felt like crying.
"Take your time. Enjoy yourself. I promise I'll take good care of Nathan." He smiled, making Aria's heart skip a beat. God, this would be so much easier if he was just handsome or just kind, why did he have to be both!? Aria managed a nod, before crouching down to Nathan.
"Goodbye, my sweetness. I'll be back soon, okay? I love you so much." She cooed, placing multiple kisses all over his face. Ezra realised how sick it was that he was currently jealous of a four month old baby. Aria stood up and turned to Ezra. "I'll be back later. Thank you so much again for doing this."
"Okay, okay. Never have I ever… had sex with a boy." Emily grinned. Aria scowled at her friend and then tipped her drink into her mouth.
"Ugh, I wish I could drink to that. Sean is so freaking frigid, it's ridiculous!" Hanna whined.
"What do you expect, Han? His dad is a priest!" Spencer remarked.
"What about you, Spence? Have you lost your v-card to any of your sister's boyfriends yet?" Hanna quipped, her drunken state removing what little filter she had in the first place. If Spencer was more sober, she would've gotten very angry, but now she just laughed and threw a pillow at Hanna.
"Nope, I'm just as much as a virgin as you two." Spencer scoffed almost bitterly.
"Hey, I never said I was a virgin. Just that I never had sex with a boy." Emily smiled coyly, causing her three friends to drop their mouths open.
"You and Maya slept together!?" Aria exclaimed excitedly. "When!?"
"Let's just say it's been a good birthday." Emily smirked, taking a sly sip from her drink. The rest of the girls in the room squealed excitedly.
"Okay, Spence, we really need to hurry up and pop our cherries." Hanna ordered, a game plan already formulating in her head.
"Speak for yourself, I'm in no rush. Look where it got Aria." Spencer said, before her hand flew over her mouth and her eyes widened. "Oh my God, Aria, I'm so so sorry. I… I forgot you were here." She admitted. She was so used to Aria not being able to join them when they met up, having her here took some accustoming to.
"Don't worry Spence, I know what you meant." Aria said awkwardly. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"Nice one, smartypants." Hanna whispered to Spencer. Well, she thought she was whispering, but actually everybody could hear and it just made the atmosphere more awkward.
"I'm going to go ring Ezra, check that Nathan's okay." Aria excused, getting up and wobbling slightly. Though she was by no means drunk, after not drinking for over a year she was a little more lightweight than usual and could start to feel the alcohol making her a little dizzy.
"Ezra? Who's Ezra?" Emily inquired. The girls had just assumed Nathan was with Noel for the night.
"Just a friend." Aria shrugged, but her tipsy state betrayed her and let out a telling grin.
"Just a friend?" Hanna repeated mockingly, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Can we meet this friend?" Spencer asked, intrigued.
"You already have." Aria teased cryptically. Now the girls were interested.
"I don't know any Ezra's." Emily said confused, her brow furrowing. The other two girls agreed.
"You do. You just don't know that you do." Aria revealed, before deciding that she had said too much. "Excuse me, I need to make a phone call."
"So Nathan, how do you feel about film noir?" Ezra asked looking into the big hazel eyes of the baby sitting on his lap. His eyes were identical to his mother's. Nathan gurgled slightly and made incoherent noises.
"Impartial?" Ezra guessed. "Well, if it's all the same to you, I think we'll go for 'It Happened One Night'. Well, maybe the first half, and then it's bedtime." He said in a mock strict voice, carefully holding Nathan in one hand as he inserted the DVD with the other hand. Sitting back onto the couch, the two boys relaxed into watching an old favourite of Ezra's and (unbeknown to Ezra) and old favourite of Aria's, too.
They were about twenty minutes into the movie when Ezra felt his thigh vibrate. Reaching into his pocket he saw that Aria was ringing him. The corners of his mouth involuntarily drew upwards as he pressed the green button to accept the call.
"Hey." He greeted in a quiet voice so as not to startle Nathan, who's eyes were slowly starting to droop.
"Hey, I'm just checking up on things." Aria said, her speech slightly slurred. "Has Nathan been behaving?"
"Oh yes, definitely. He's a great kid; very easygoing." Ezra complimented, noticing the irony; he sounded like he was in a parent/teacher conference. Well, he supposed, in a way he was.
"That's great, thank you so much, Ezra. You're amazing." Aria gushed.
"It's my pleasure. I hope you're enjoying your night." Ezra managed to say, a little distracted by Aria calling him 'amazing'.
"I am, thank you. I'll be back soon." Aria promised, as it was now nearly nine.
"Honestly, Aria, why don't you stay longer? Till Midnight or something?" Ezra offered.
"Really?" Aria asked, forgetting to politely decline.
"Sure! Hopefully Nathan will be asleep, so it will hardly be strenuous labour to have him an extra two hours. I can pick you up if you're worried about walking that late?" He continued to press on, determined to let Aria have one night off being a mom. Aria's heart skipped hearing Ezra say her son's name, before she pulled herself together and answered his request.
"Okay. Okay, that would be amazing. Thank you." Aria beamed, excited both to have a few extra hours with the girl and to have Ezra pick her up.
Midnight came round fast and the girls were starting to settle down. Hanna and Spencer were staying the night at Emily's, so were already in their pyjamas about ready to pass out after a night of drinking, dancing and laughing. Aria mentioned nothing of Ezra coming to pick her up, wanting to avoid their police style interrogation. Right on the chime of midnight, Aria got a text to say that Ezra and Nathan were in the car outside. Aria laughed inwardly at the irony. She was like some strange Cinderella, leaving her ball of being a normal teenager and going back to her normal life of diaper changes and breastfeeding. However, this time her Prince Charming was waiting for her outside of the palace. Well, if you could call Emily's two story detached house a palace. And if you could call Ezra her Prince Charming; He was definitely charming, but was he hers? Not so sure.
"Thank you so much for having me, Em, I had an amazing time. Happy birthday." Aria smiled, gathering up her bag.
"Do you want us to walk you home?" Spencer offered. "It's pretty dark."
Aria waved her hands in the air dismissively.
"Don't worry about it, Ezra is outside with Nathan. Bye!" She said quickly as she dashed towards and out of the door to avoid further questioning. All three girls shared glances before running over the window, trying to get a glance of the mystery boy.
"Can you see anything?" Hanna asked, straining her eyes as they followed Aria walking down Emily's driveway.
"No. Spence, can you?" Emily questioned. They watched Aria get into a silver car, but none of them could get a glimpse of the driver.
"No." Spencer huffed, annoyed. "Why is she so damn secretive all the time? It's beyond annoying."
"She's not that secretive." Emily defended as the three pairs of eyes witnessed the car pulling away."
"Em, we didn't know she was pregnant until she was over six months along." Hanna reminded.
"Just tell them you're at Noel's!" Hanna whined, looking at Aria with pleading eyes.
"Han, my parents hate Noel, there's no way they'd say yes to that." Aria shut Hanna down and readjusted her oversized sweater.
"You can say you're at mine, my parents aren't home, it's the perfect alibi." Spencer offered.
"I think I'll miss this one out, I've got loads of work to do." Aria mumbled, picking at her salad.
"Aria, is something wrong? You haven't been out with us in ages." Emily said gently.
"No, nothing's wrong, I just… don't really feel like drinking, is all." Aria explained as she avoided making any eye contact with her friends. She knew she was being ridiculous, and she knew that they were going to have to find out sooner or later, but she couldn't bring herself to say it just yet.
"Then don't drink. You can be our designated driver." Spencer convinced. "But, Ar, how can you turn down a beach party!?"
"I just… I just don't feel very confident in a bikini." Aria excused. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either; the main reason she didn't want to wear a bikini was because then everyone would find out her secret.
"Are you kidding me? Aria, you have an amazing body. Your boobs have gotten massive recently, and you have a completely flat stomach." Hanna said with a hint of envy. Aria picked up on this and suppressed a scoff at the irony.
"Trust me, Han, I really don't." Aria half-laughed.
"You really do- look!" Hanna said, and before Aria realised what she was doing Hanna had pulled Aria's sweater up, revealing a very obvious baby bump. All three girls gasped as Aria tugged her sweater back down in a panic, making sure no one else saw. Spencer was the first to break the silence.
"Clearly there's something you need to tell us."
"You can drop me off here, thank you." Aria smiled as Ezra pulled into her street. She decided it would be safer to walk up from the bottom rather than have a potential showdown between Ezra and Byron. Even though Ezra was just a friend and there was technically nothing wrong with their 'relationship', she had a feeling her father wouldn't like a random man looking after his grandson. The car journey had been short but so so sweet, with Aria and Ezra exchanging easy and engaging conversation, mainly revolving around Nathan. Aria loved seeing him show such an interest in her son, and it made such a stark contrast to Noel who barely acknowledged Nathan's existence. In fact, on more than one occasion Noel had called Nathan 'Ethan'. Ezra, on the other hand, at least pretended to be interested in Nathan, asking questions about his milestones and listening when Aria shared memories or her hopes for his future. Before she got out of the car she reached into her back pocket, handing a fifty dollar note over to Ezra.
"I'm sorry, I didn't bring any more, I didn't expect the extra hours. Maybe I could give you the rest tomorrow, maybe over coffee?" Aria offered, embarrassed that she didn't have enough to give Ezra and really hoping that he would agree to meet her again. Ezra looked down at the money as if it were a difficult math equation, before it clicked. His eyes widened and he starting moving his hands erratically in refusal of her offer.
"Oh, Aria, you don't need to pay me!" Ezra exclaimed, shoving the money back into her hands.
"Of course I do, you babysat for me!" Aria argued. Ezra noticed the unconventional situation; surely, in most cases, it was the sixteen year old girl that babysat for the twenty six year old man?
"Honestly, Aria, it was a favour. A pleasure!" Ezra insisted. "…But I will take you up on that coffee?"
Aria couldn't contain the wide grin that spread across her face.
"That would be great. Thank you so much, Ezra. For looking after Nathan, I mean. You really are incredible." She said sincerely, looking Ezra in the eye. Ezra was sure that his heart stopped beating when he caught gaze with her hazel orbs. God, she was so beautiful. Aria broke the intense staring contest to reach into the back and undo Nathan's portable car seat, and then got out of the car to transform the car seat back into his stroller. Ezra watched as she so naturally did the mechanics that he had struggled so much with thirty minutes earlier. They were definitely in different stages of their lives- albeit somewhat reversed- but did that matter? Truth be told, Ezra wanted to settle down and start a family, he just hadn't found the right woman to do that with. Or had he? He shook his head, trying to shake out his thoughts; she was just a friend. He was Nathan's babysitter, not step-father, he was being crazy. But still, she had just initiated a coffee date, hadn't she? Was it a date? Lost in his thoughts, he didn't even realise Aria and a sleeping Nathan where standing awkwardly outside the car, waiting to say goodbye. He quickly got out, unsure whether to hug her, shake her hand, or just give a friendly smile and a wave. Luckily, she decided for him, bringing him in for a brief but warm hug. Neither of them wanted to move away, but Aria was worried that the cold weather would wake Nathan up.
"I should go inside. Thank you again."Aria said for the millionth time. "I'll… see you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely. How's 10am at the Brew?" Ezra suggested.
"Great! We'll see you there." Aria smiled. Ezra flinched for a second- we? He then realised she was referring to Nathan, and relaxed a little. Okay, so a selfish part of him really wanted some alone time between him and Aria, but he realised that of course that was unrealistic and unreasonable.
"I'll be over in ten minutes." Aria said over the phone as she shoved a couple of diapers into her purse.
"Can't wait." Noel smirked. "My parents are out till eleven, that gives us a few hours of fun."
Aria sighed, knowing what he was insinuating.
"I'm really tired, Noel, can't we just watch a movie or something? Besides, wouldn't it be kind of weird having sex when Nathan is there?" Aria asked, looking down at her beautiful sleeping son.
"Aria." Noel groaned. "Please tell me you're not bringing Nathan."
"What are you expecting me to do? Leave our three week old son home alone?" Aria asked, not attempting to hide the irritation in her voice. He could be so immature and irresponsible sometimes.
"Get your parents to look after him." Noel said as if it was the most simple solution in the world.
"Sure, I'll ask my dad to breastfeed him every twenty minutes." Aria remarked sarcastically. She could basically feel Noel rolling his eyes over the phone.
"Okay, you're not pregnant anymore, you can't blame hormones when you're being a bitch. All I want is you, and only you, to come over so we can spend time together like normal teenagers."
"But we're not normal teenagers, Noel, we're parents now. We have to include Nathan in our plans." Aria said firmly, deciding to ignore that Noel had just called her a bitch. "So either I'm coming over with Noel, or I'm not coming at all."
"…Fine. I guess I'll see you at school." Noel sulked. Now it was Aria's time to roll her eyes.
"I don't go to school, remember?" She asked dryly, and she swore she heard him let out a little laugh.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. See you around."
As Nathan slept soundly in his cot, Aria took the opportunity to finally start the book she had been wanting to read. Since Nathan was born she hadn't found a lot of time to do the things she once loved, like reading, writing, art and photography. It felt like years since she last cracked open her paint pots, or sat down with her journal, or took her camera out on a hike. After her and Noel split up one of the only positives she could find was that when Noel had Nathan she could have some 'me-time', but the reality turned out to be that whenever Noel (rarely) looked after Nathan, Aria had to work. She had a job at a pizza parlour in Rosewood; it wasn't great pay and the smell of meat made her retch and a lot of the customers were sleazy but it gave her money and God knows she needed that. Her parents helped out with finances for Nathan as much as possible but babies were expensive, and she didn't want to cut into Mike's college savings.
Aria didn't even realise when the sun started to come up, she had been so engrossed in her book, Brave New World. The only thing that broke her from her trance was Nathan waking up, letting out a hungry cry. She looked at the clock on the bedside table- 6:12am. She was definitely going to regret staying up all night.
"Good morning, baby." She whispered. "You're going to have to be quiet, or else you'll wake grandma and grandpa." She warned, carefully picking Nathan out of his crib. She walked him over to the rocking chair where she was sitting and pulled her top down, letting Nathan suck on her breast. "Wow, hungry boy! Slow down, you'll get the hiccups." She instructed, stroking his back up and down slowly in the hopes of steadying his tempo. To her surprise, it worked.
After he finished feeding Nathan cuddled into Aria, making her a very happy girl indeed. It was moments like this that made everything worth it. All the late nights, all the early mornings, all the crying and diapers and vomiting, none of that mattered when Aria held the most precious thing on earth to her in her arms.
A/N: I know it's an abrupt ending but it was getting too long! I hope you enjoyed, please leave your thoughts and suggestions. P.S- I've just uploaded a new story set after the time jump, so check it out if you're interested! Thank you!
