Here it is... The chapter you've all been waiting for. Without further ado...

Chapter Six

7 days, 2 hours, 36 minutes and 38 seconds.

Ezra: Are you sure this is a good idea?

Aria sighed, she'd been trying to convince Ezra of this for 15 minutes already.

Aria: Yes, I want to hear your voice. You've become one of my best friends, don't I deserve that?

Of course she did. Aria deserved the world handed to her on a silver platter. He knew that this wasn't wise, but he couldn't resist any longer. He wanted to hear her voice just as badly. So, with that they exchanged phone numbers.

His iPhone played it's familiar tone less than 30 seconds later and nerves bubbled in his stomach. What if she was disappointed? What if he said the wrong thing? This was bound to end badly, yet he couldn't stop himself as he swiped his thumb across the touch screen.

"Hello?"

Her heart swooned at his velvet like voice and she almost forgot to respond, a bubble caught in her throat.

"Hello?" He asked again, this time more drawn out.

She cleared her throat, "Sorry, I just can't believe it's you."

Her voice was like honey. He was sure that he could listen to her forever and finally knew what they'd been missing by limiting themselves to instant messaging.

"Me either, Aria. You have a beautiful voice," he commented sincerely. She was grateful that he wasn't there to see the blush rise to her cheeks.

"Yours isn't too bad either," she giggled. His heart warmed hearing her laugh, it was a millions times better than reading the "haha" or "lol" on the computer screen.

He sighed, "God, I could get used to hearing that."

Aria shook her head, he was such a goof. His sincere interest in her made no sense, yet it seemed she had him wrapped around her little finger.

"One week," she reminded him and his face broke into a smile. The closer the two got, the more he realized how disappointed he would be if it wasn't Aria. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle it.

"I can hardly wait. So close, yet so far," he said dramatically and she smiled. She still felt hurt and broken and messed up in so many different ways, but he kept her grounded. He helped her focus on what was really important.

"Hey, Ezra?" She murmured, her voice suddenly thick and nervous.

"Hmm?" He hummed and she was sure it was the most attractive sound that she had ever heard.

"What if it isn't you?" She asked quietly.

"Let's not worry about that. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be," he assured her, after sucking in a breath. He hoped it was meant to be, he really did.

"Ezra?" She asked again and he purred in response. She cleared her throat again, "Can you read to me?"

"I would love to."

So, he read to her. He read until he heard the quiet snores on the end of the line. Smiling to himself before he bid her goodnight and hung up. He had a feeling that this would be the first of many phone calls.

1 day, 20 hours, 25 minutes and 9 seconds.

It was "Sleepover Sunday" and Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Aria were all seated in their respective places in Spencer's room. The girls were happy to see Aria genuinely happy for the first time in weeks. She was smiling and laughing and appeared to be a complete turn around from the girl they'd seen the day before.

"What color for your toe nails? I'm thinking red, it would be hot," Hanna suggested as she rummaged through Spencer's nail polish collection.

"I don't know, Han. Does it matter?" Aria giggled, leafing through a magazine as she laid on Spencer's bed. She was so glad for tonight, it was the first time she'd had real girl time in what seemed like forever. She'd genuinely missed this. Hanging out with her friends while they mindlessly talked about everything and anything.

Hanna's face looked shocked at Aria's question, "Of course it matters! You are meeting your soulmate, Aria. Soulmate. You will not have nasty toe nails on my watch."

The girls all laughed and Aria allowed Hanna to paint her nails. Next came picking out her outfit which was quite the ordeal. Emily encouraged her to where something she was comfortable in. Spencer picked out an ensemble that looked like something her mother would wear. While Hanna was more concerned about what she was wearing underneath.

Aria changed the subject as fast as she could, quickly becoming uncomfortable. Was that expected? Sex on the first day? She hoped not, because whoever they were would be sincerely disappointed.

"Did you guys hear about Ryan Gosling?" She asked, knowing it would get Hanna going. And it did. His clock running out had been huge news, leaving millions of girls heartbroken and disappointed, Hanna being one of them.

"The girl isn't even that pretty," Hanna muttered after her 5 minute long speech, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.

"Hanna!" All three scolded, and she rolled her eyes. Just like old times, Aria thought.

Spencer then looked at her seriously, "So, how do you feel? Honestly?"

Aria thought for a moment, "Good, I think. I mean, I'm really nervous. But that's normal, right?"

"Totally," Spencer replied with a warm smile, "I was a complete basket case. But I couldn't be happier."

Emily sighed and the other girls looked at her apologetically.

"No, don't look at me like that," she said with a shake of her head, "I'm really happy for you, Aria."

Her friend's genuine kindness always impressed Aria. She always wanted the other girls to have their fairytale ending, even if she didn't. That easily made Emily one of the strongest people that Aria knew.

"Thank you," Aria smiled and the girls returned to their giddy state.

Aria's phone alerted her of a text message and Hanna grabbed it to hand it to her. Her eyes skimmed over the screen and a look of confusion clouded over her face.

"Who's Ezra?"

The question made Aria's stomach drop. She didn't want to lie to her friends or hide this from them but she was afraid of their reactions. She thought of a million answers she could give, but ultimately she decided that it was time to tell the truth. Her friends loved her, they would be supportive. Right?

"He's uh, he my... He's my friend," she stuttered out. Spencer raised an eyebrow at her. She decided to just spit it out, "I met him on a dating website."

She said it so quickly that her friends had to ask her to repeat, so she took a deep breath and said it again, "I met him through online dating."

"I thought you were all about waiting?" Emily asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I am, I totally am. I don't know... I heard about this website at school and you enter your time to see if you can find your match. And I met Ezra, his friend had signed him up. He's, he's perfect. Honestly, if he's not the one, I don't know who is," Aria explained, a small smile forming on her face as she thought about him. Hanna aww'd and begged for the details.

"We're only friends, right now. But if it wasn't for him, I might not have made it through the last month," she said quietly as her eyes filled with tears. Damn her stupid emotions.

"So, what's the plan? What happens if he's not the one?" Spencer asked gently, always the sensible one.

"We decided that we'd wait until Tuesday. If it's him, which I hope it is, we move forward together. And if it isn't, we plan to meet in person and gush about our soul mates," she sighed, the latter didn't really appeal to her.

Spencer smiled, "Part of me thinks that this is a really bad idea, but the rest of me just thinks it's really romantic."

"And hot," Hanna added, a smirk on her pink lips.

Aria giggled, that went much better than expected.

"Popcorn, anyone?" Spencer offered, after they picked out their movie of the night.

"I'll make it," Aria smiled and took the bowl, skipping down the stairs.

Aria thought about how proud Dr. Sullivan would be of her, how proud Ezra would be. She'd made some serious progress. She was still skittish around guys and some situations made her unbearably uncomfortable. She still locked herself up in her room and cried her eyes out. There was still a pit deep in her stomach that she wasn't sure would ever go away. But she was getting better and just in time.

0 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 3 seconds.

Ezra and Aria both lay in their respective beds, stomachs fluttering in anticipation. Aria knew that she wasn't going to get any sleep that night, so she pulled out her journal and began scribbling away.

This was it. Tomorrow was the day, they would find out at long last whether they were meant to be or not.

Ezra's mind ran at a hundred miles per hour. When they met it would 2:42 pm. He'd done the math about a hundred times. The only thing, or person rather, that came to his mind was Aria. He'd gotten a haircut that day, just for her. He hoped that she would like it, she hoped that she would like him.

His phone rang and he saw her lyrical name pop up on the screen. It seemed that she was restless, too. So, he did what he had begun doing in the last week when she couldn't sleep, he read to her and they both fell asleep to the sound of each other's breathing. They would both wake to find that they never hung up and wish each other good luck, both with the hope of meeting soon.

0 days, 0 hours, 46 minutes and 20 seconds.

Aria paced around the bathroom with her nerves on high. Her friends had just gotten her made up and she had to admit, she looked good. She tried to keep the pep talk going, doing her best to feel comfortable in her skin. She felt as if her heart was going to leap out of her chest any minute and she could hardly stay sane.

Ezra wasn't doing much better. He was teaching a class, impatiently waiting for his free period. He was having an extremely hard time focusing and his students noticed. One girl caught a glimpse of his arm and gasped, he only had half an hour left.

"It's going to happen here? At school?" She sighed dramatically and he sighed, doing his best to get his class back under control.

Finally, his last class was dismissed. He sat at his desk and tried to mark papers, but it was no use. He tapped his fingers against his desk and looked at his wrist.

"10 minutes, 22 seconds," he muttered under his breath.

0 days, 0 hours, 3 minutes, 13 seconds.

Aria exited the bathroom and Ezra exited his classroom. Neither were entirely sure where they were going, they were just walking. Everyone else was either in class or had already left the school, leaving the halls empty.

Hearts pounding. Butterflies erupting. Their steps hurried, as they began to run to wherever it was that they were going.

Ezra paused a moment to catch his breath, he really needed to get in shape.

0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes and 47 seconds.

Here they were. Almost there. They didn't know why they were running, but they couldn't stop. People gave them strange looks from the insides of classrooms. Aria bumped into a teacher, causing his papers to fly across the room. She muttered an apology and kept running, ignoring his cries for her to stop. She didn't care if she got detention.

5 seconds.

Both swiftly turn down a hall.

4 seconds.

As they turn the corner they spot each other, both running faster.

3 seconds.

Eyes lock, their breathing shallow. Only a few more feet.

2 seconds.

As Ezra looks at her, he's sure. He's sure it's Aria, that's enough to make his heart stop beating.

1 second.

"Ezra," she whispers. Now he's positive. He immediately lifts her in his arms and she crashes her lips onto his. Warmth spreads through their bodies. They grasp at each other, smiles covering their faces. They don't even notice the sound of the small metal bars hitting the ground, clocks timed out. All they notice is each other. Nothing else matters.

They pull away moments later, staring at each other.

"Aria?" He asks, just to be sure.

When she nods he pulls her to him again, kissing her forehead and that's when he notices the tears coming down both their faces.

"Hey," he coos, as he wipes away her tears with the pad of his thumb, "Don't cry."

"I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you, so badly," Aria sighs, nuzzling her head into his chest.

He lifts her arm and kisses the now bare skin where her clock used to lie, trying to kiss away all her scars and pain at the same time.

They stand quiet for a moment, just holding each other. Reveling in the feeling of being together at last. Relief flooding through their bodies.

"Wait?" Aria asked suddenly, looking at his outfit. He was obviously older, his vest and tie giving him away. No, it couldn't be.

"You're a teacher," she says, more as a statement than a question. Her chest rising and falling as all of the pieces fell together. It seemed to be in that moment that it hit the couple. What the hell were they going to do now?

TADA! They meet! I hope this fulfilled all of your expectations. I seriously had so much fun writing it. Although, there is quite a bit of pressure. I know you've all been waiting for this moment and I hope it was good enough. Please let me know what you thought! And what do you think they'll do now?

16 reviews last chapter. Y'all are mind-numbingly amazing.

Love you to the moon and back,
-RissyWrites