I opened up my eyes and looked at the clock. It read 9:51. "Oh no, I'm late for school!" I shot right up, and looked around the room. I smelt bacon being cooked and knew Ezra was up. "Ezra." I said, still a bit groggily. He looked into the room and saw me.

"Aria," He said back. "I'm making bacon and scrambled eggs, if you want any." I got out of the covers and found one of his shirts and put it on. I walked to where he was and slid my arms around him.

"You do realize what time it is, right?" I asked.

"Yes. I called in sick." He said. He kissed my forehead then finished cooking the bacon.

"Why did you do that?" He turned a bit to look at me.

"Well, I wanted to spend the morning with you." He took his hand and put it on my chin to tilt my face up to kiss me.

"Ezra, I have to go to school. People will wonder why you and I are not in school." I said.

"Like who?" He kissed me again. "Aria, its fine. They'll just think it's your sick and I'm sick or something. I don't know but they won't suspect a thing. It's alright." He said reassuringly. I knew he was right, but with A, I didn't know if she'd keep the secret to herself. I kissed him quickly and went to his room to change into clothes that I'd packed. When I finished, he made me a plate.

"Thanks." I said as I kissed him again. We sat down at the now clean coffee table and ate.

"So are you going to the Homecoming dance?" Ezra asked me.

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Well, I'm just wondering if you are." He said before taking a bite of bacon. "I think you should go."

"Why?"

"Well, so you're friends don't think you've lost interest in them." I laughed at him a bit but I understood what he was meaning. I was becoming a bit distant from my friends.

"Maybe I will go then. But I don't really have anything to go in." I said. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Then maybe we should fix that." He smiled. "Do you want to go dress shopping in a bit?" I laughed a bit.

"Are you sure? I mean it can be boring." I said.

"Well, as long as you're there it won't." He smiled and got up. We cleaned up, he got dressed and we headed out the door. We drove to a mall outside of Rosewood, that way no one would really recognize us. We walked into the mall and Ezra instantly saw something. He grabbed my hand and took me to it. "What do you think of that?" It was a black dress and it was pretty sexy, I must say. The dress was strapless and was black. It had me written all over it. Ezra looked at me and noticed that I'd been staring at the dress. He took my hand and walked us into the shop. He asked one of the employees if they could help us find the dress. She found one that was my size and I was led to the dressing room. I put it on and looked at it in the mirror. It was the perfect dress.

"Can I see?" Ezra asked.

"Hold on." I said. I looked one more time and then I opened the door. I stepped out and I saw Ezra. His jaw dropped when he saw the dress.

"Aria," He said. "You look absolutely beautiful." He led me to the huge mirrors to let me have a better look. I step onto the platform and twirled around, looking at every angle of the dress on me. I saw Ezra just watching me with a huge smile on his face. A slow song happened to play and he grabbed my hand and started dancing with me. He pulled me in close and kissed me passionately. When the song ended I got out of the dress and looked at the price tag. It was on sale for twenty dollars. Ezra was looking at shoes, so I paid for it. He saw me at the register and quickly came over. "What are you doing? I'm going to pay for the dress."

"No, I've got it." I said. I didn't want him to pay for the dress. I've already asked too much of him by having him risk his job and everything, just to be with me.

"I insist." He poked me in the side to push me over to the side. He pulled out his money and paid for it. I wasn't thrilled about him doing that. He came over to me and gave me the bag with the dress in it. "You're going to look spectacular." He kissed me as we walked back to his car. We drove to his place and then I walked back home. I hid the dress in my schoolbag that way when I got home my parents would think I was in school. I arrived to the neighbor's house and looked at my driveway. My mom was putting things into her car. She and dad were yelling at each other. She finished putting things in and drove off. I walked to the driveway and looked at my dad. He looked down to the ground. I saw a few tears escape from his eyes. He saw me approach him and tried to look all macho, but when I opened my arms to give him a hug, he melted in sorrow. I knew it was his fault the marriage was ending, but still. He was my dad, and he needed to know I still love him after all the mistakes he's made. I walked inside and saw Mike in his room. He was on his bed listening to his iPod. He had it on full blast to tone out everything that was happening earlier. I saw his face was red and that he had a few tears still flowing. I knocked on his door and then he tried to pull himself together. I sat down on his bed and he instantly wrapped his arms around me. He started to cry a bit more. I couldn't help but let my tears fall. I tried so hard to keep my family together. That's why I didn't tell mom about what happened. If only Alison didn't give that letter to her, then this wouldn't be happening. We all wouldn't be broken.

Mike and I talked for a bit, and then he decided to work on his homework. I went into my room and hung up my dress. I looked at it for a few moments, and then I went to my laptop and started to type a poem. After I finished, I was looking for my phone. I thought it was in my pocket, but it wasn't. I checked my bag and it wasn't there. The only place it would most likely be would be at Ezra's. I exited the house and walked to his place. I knocked on the door and he opened it. He didn't look extremely happy. "Aria," He said in a harsh tone. "We need to talk."

"Sure. Is everything okay?" I entered and I shut the door behind me.

"No," He said in an even harsher tone. "Who's A?" He handed my phone over to me. "You're phone was ringing and I was going to shut it off, then I saw the text." He turned away from me for a bit and brought his hand and ruffled it through his hair. He sighed and looked at me with a saddened expression. "How could you tell?" I didn't even want to see what A sent; I just wanted to straighten things out with Ezra.

I walked over to him and placed my arms on his shoulders. "I didn't tell anyone. I don't even know who A is!" He walked away from me, but was still looking at me. "Ezra," I choked out. "You have to believe me. I would never tell anyone. I know what would happen and I don't want it to happen. And why would I tell anyone if I…" I cut myself off before I possibly scared him off for good. I bit my lip and turned away from him.

"You what, Aria? Tell me." He said.

"If I love you." I said. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

"You love me?" He said surprised. I turned to face him again and nodded.

"Yes, I am completely in love with you." I sighed. "And I know you probably don't-"

"I'm in love with you too." He interjected. "But even so, I'm going to need some time to think right now." He said. I frowned a bit, but I understood.

"Okay." I said. I walked to the door with my phone in hand and opened it. "Goodnight Ezra." I said, trying my best not to sound upset. I shut the door and walked outside of the building. It just so happened to be pouring rain. It was a lovely fit for an imperfect night. You just have to love how misery loves company.