Author note – Every time I finish a chapter I think I won't come up with another for a while. Then two seconds later I get an idea. I'm really enjoying writing this and I'm so glad you guys are enjoying reading it! Is this one more ammo for A? We'll see.
"Should we tell Spencer?" Toby asked as he climbed into the passenger seat of Aria's car.
"About Jason?"
He nodded. "Yeah. She's got to be worried about him."
"He said not to tell anyone." Aria reminded him.
Toby looked over at her. "Do you really want to keep this secret from her?"
"She's my best friend." Aria said as she put the car in drive and left the creepy motel. "I don't want to keep any secret from her."
"Neither do I." Toby said. "Not being able to tell her what I was doing was killing me."
"So what do we do?" Aria asked.
"I don't know."
They drove in silence until they arrived at Toby's apartment. She went in with him because she wasn't ready to go back to Spencer's yet. He offered her a cup of coffee and she accepted, making herself comfortable at the little round kitchen table.
"Spencer said you broke up with Ezra." Toby said, his back to her as he made the coffee.
Aria looked stared at his back for a moment before she answered. "Yeah."
"Because of her taking Malcolm?"
"Mmhm." Aria replied and looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "Partly."
Neither of them said anything until the coffee was finished brewing. Toby asked how she liked it and she answered. He brought two mugs over and sat down across from her, passing her her cup.
She took it and gave him a half smile. "Thanks. You really did a great job with this place."
"Thanks." He replied. "What's the other part?"
"What?"
"Of why you ended things with Ezra." He clarified.
She looked into his friendly, caring blue eyes and realized that she hadn't talked about it with anyone besides Ezra. She also realized that, not only did she want to, she needed to. It occurred to her that she had never really talked to Toby, or even spent any time with him.
"We can talk about something else if you want." He offered.
"It's not the same anymore." She said.
"You and Ezra?"
She nodded. "I still love him as much as I ever did, but it doesn't feel right anymore. Now that Maggie and Malcolm are part of his life. I almost feel like I have to compete with them." She paused to take a sip of coffee. "Besides, I'm not sure I'm ready to basically be a stepmother."
"You've had experience with kids before, haven't you?" Toby asked.
"Yeah, but this is different." She said. "Malcolm isn't just some neighborhood kid I'm babysitting. He's Ezra's kid."
Toby nodded as if he understood. "What do you think would've happened if he hadn't found out about Malcolm?"
Aria looked up and met his eyes. "I honestly have no idea. Part of me thinks that we would've been just fine, but another part thinks this was inevitable."
"Maybe, maybe not." Toby said. "You'll never know."
"Not unless you have some kind of time machine." She said, smiling in spite of her mood.
Toby smiled back. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a really nice smile?"
That made her smile again. It felt good to smile. "No. Thank you."
"What are friends for?"
"Are we friends?" she asked.
Toby shrugged. "Sure."
They fell into a comfortable silence, sitting at the table and drinking coffee. Aria realized that she felt much better after their little chat. She wondered if talking to the girls would have had the same affect. She could see why Emily liked him so much and why Spencer had fallen in love with him. Toby was a good guy. She believed that she could trust him now and she was glad. She needed a guy to talk to now that Ezra was no longer part of her life. Toby was no Ezra, but that was okay. Toby was a good friend.
She pushed her chair back and stood up. "I better get back to Spencer's and try to get a little sleep."
Toby rose and walked her to the door like a gentleman.
She stopped at the door and looked up at him. "Thanks for following me tonight. And for talking with me. I feel a lot better now."
Toby smiled down at her. "Thanks for trusting me."
She smiled back and didn't realize what was happening until his lips were on hers. She was stunned for a second and then started kissing back until they both realized what they were doing and pulled away.
Aria stared at him in shock, seeing the feeling mirrored on his face. Neither of them could believe they had just kissed.
"I better go." She said quickly.
"Yeah." Toby agreed. "Bye."
"Bye." She hurried down the steps and climbed into her car, where se sat for a long moment trying to figure out how that had happened. She finally decided it was just because they were both a little vulnerable after everything that had happened. It meant nothing.
She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and drove back to Spencer's.
