Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars
Author's note: Thanks for the lovely reviews! I'm so glad you loved the flashback!
Ezra was studying Aria carefully as they were eating their half of the ice cream sandwich. After a few moments, he asked, "I have to ask… what exactly was that look about?" Aria smiled shyly as she recalled the memory and replied, "Oh, it's nothing. I just remembered something from when I was a little girl." Ezra was feeling hopeful, but also slightly nervous, as he asked, "What exactly?" Aria bit her lip shyly, feeling silly about telling him. She explained, "I was at the zoo with my family one day and I was sitting on a bench in the shade, because it was really warm. Then this boy came to sit next to me and split his ice cream sandwich with me…like you just did, that's why I thought of it."
Ezra felt an unfamiliar feeling in the pit of his stomach as realization hit him. He softly whispered, more to himself, "So it is you…" Aria frowned, not quite hearing what Ezra had just said and asked, "What?" Ezra snapped out of it, looked Aria in the eyes and replied, "It's you… You're the girl I met when I was younger. I was the boy that sat next to you. I was the one that shared my ice cream…" Aria had just finished her ice cream sandwich and looked at Ezra weirdly, was he being serious? Ezra chuckled as he noticed some ice cream on the side of her mouth, just like so many years ago. As he wiped away the ice cream with his thumb he said, "I wiped away some ice cream and-", but he was interrupted by Aria finishing his sentence as realization hit her too, "And then I kissed you on the cheek…"
Ezra smiled and said, "Yeah." Aria chuckled and said, "Oh my God, this is… surreal… I mean, what are the odds?" Ezra looked deep into Aria's eyes as he said, "It must be fate." Ezra leaned in and they kissed, falling back onto the blanket, Ezra on top of her. Suddenly Aria stopped abruptly and Ezra looked at her questioningly. Aria looked like she was thinking about something and then asked, "Wait… didn't you say something about getting a ring out of a toy capsule vending machine?" Ezra grinned and nodded, then he replied, "To propose." Aria said jokingly, "Damn you Mike for making me go with you to see the giraffes, I could have been married to a billionaire", and then they both burst into laughter.
When they stopped laughing, Ezra admitted, "I still have it, you know." Aria eyed him bemused and asked, "What? The toy ring? Why?" Ezra shrugged and replied, "Never had the heart to throw it away, I guess. That and the fact that I promised myself that very moment I'd find that girl and marry her." Aria giggled and said, "That's kind of adorable." Ezra stroked Aria's cheek and replied, "And here you are." Aria smiled sweetly and said, "Here I am." Ezra leaned back down to kiss her again, their kisses getting more heated as they kept going.
All of a sudden they stopped as they heard a guy in a British accent say, "Well, well, if it isn't Ezra Fitz. I thought you were supposed to be a billionaire, but it seems you can't even afford a hotel room anymore…" Ezra moved off of Aria and sat down next to Aria, not bothering to get up for the man. Ezra looked at him annoyed and said in a hostile tone of voice, "Wren." Ezra and Wren had never been close friends. They were both billionaires, both notorious players. Wren was a few years older than Ezra and the owner of a competing company. Sometimes they even competed for the attention of the same woman at the Nine Circles of Hell club, they had made a game out of it.
Wren eyed Aria and asked intrigued and a bit flirtatious, "And who is this?" Ezra's eyes narrowed as he replied, "Back off, Wren." Wren tutted and said, "Such bad manners…" Wren took a few steps closer to Aria, introduced himself in a very flirty tone and offered her his hand to shake it, "Wren Kingston, and you are?" Aria felt uncomfortable at his attention, not to mention the hostility from Ezra's side towards Wren. Aria didn't shake Wren's hand, instead she just looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Not interested." Ezra's facial expression changed to bemused, he was clearly enjoying Aria's answer.
Wren was taken aback by Aria's reaction and frowned, women usually threw themselves at him. Then Wren turned to Ezra and said, "At least pick a girl with some manners next time. And since when do you bring them out to play?" Ezra got up and got in Wren's face as he said, "Hey! Don't talk about her like that." Wren couldn't help but laugh at Ezra's attempt to act tough and said, "My my, getting so protective over a girl you just picked up last night…" Then Wren turned to Aria and said, "Trust me honey, if I had shown up earlier, you would have gone home with me and not with him. I would have rocked your world." Aria was disgusted by his comment, the nerve of this guy!
Aria felt confused though…what did he mean by "If I had shown up earlier, you would have gone home with me"? Ezra shoved Wren and said, "I warned you. Now leave." Wren laughed as he put up his hands in fake surrender, "Alright, I'll leave. I'll see you tonight. Oh, and I'm up for a little competition tonight. Don't be a chicken like last night and leave the club before I'm there." Suddenly Aria put two and two together, got up, turned to Ezra and asked, "You were at the club last night?" Ezra looked uncomfortable because he didn't really know what to say. Ezra started speaking, "Aria, I can expl-", but Aria cut him off by shaking her head as she said, "I'm such an idiot", before walking off.
Wren, who was still standing there and had seen the whole thing, looked like he was clearly enjoying this. Wren asked bemused, "Did I just get you into trouble? Well, I guess I'll see you tonight then", and then Wren walked off. Ezra felt like going after Wren and punching him, but instead he went after Aria.
When Ezra had almost caught up with Aria, he said, "Aria… Aria stop! Just listen." Aria stopped, turned around to face him and said, clearly upset, "What is there to say, really? I mean, you were the one who didn't want to come inside last night. You are the one who won't sleep with me. And then you go out to some club to pick up some random girl to have sex with!?" Ezra looked ashamed, not responding because he didn't know what to say…she was right. Aria got tears in her eyes as she continued, "Damn it, Ezra, you were probably chatting up some woman while I was trying to not get raped. I sure do hope I wasn't too much of an inconvenience for you last night." Ezra sighed and said, "Stop overreacting and just listen." Aria scoffed and asked, "I'm overreacting!? No… this is overreacting", and then she slapped him hard in the face and walked away.
Ezra just stood there, shocked, as he was rubbing his now smarting cheek with his hand. Then he realized he couldn't just let her go and he went after her again. When he reached Aria, he grabbed her by the arm, pulled her with him and pinned her between himself and a tree. Aria glared at him, and tried to get away. Ezra held her in place and started explaining, "Listen, I didn't go inside the club last night. Did I go over there with the intention of picking up a random woman to sleep with? Yes, I did. Did I actually go through with it when I got there? No, I didn't. I didn't even get out of the car… And you know why? Because none of them were you." Aria turned her head to the side, pretending not to care.
Ezra sighed and asked, "Do you think this is easy for me? For a very long time, I've lived my life a certain way and then all of a sudden you come along and…" Aria turned to face him again and snapped at him, "And what!?" Ezra looked a bit helpless as he admitted, "And you changed everything… Do you have any idea how much you mean to me?" Aria looked down as she said, "I'm pretty sure you don't even care about me at all…" Ezra blinked in disbelief and searched her eyes as he asked, "I don't care? How can you even think that? Aria… I-" Aria interrupted him by saying, "Listen, just let it go. This obviously isn't going to work." Ezra shook his head and said, "No, you listen. I tried telling you this last night, but you cut me off. I more than care about you, Aria… I-I think I'm in love with you."
Aria's eyes widened, "You think you're in love with me? We've only known each other for a few days!" Ezra replied, "It doesn't matter how long we've known each other. All I know is that I've never felt this way before about anyone. I feel like I've known you my entire life. If you leave me…" Ezra didn't even want to think about how he'd feel if she left, he had to convince her to stay, he needed her. He couldn't hold his feelings back any longer and he kissed her. Aria tried to put up some resistance because she was still angry with him, but soon she gave in to the kiss. She couldn't help it, this man…
When they broke apart, they were both out of breath. Ezra leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "Please don't leave… I promise you, you are the only woman I want… the only one I need. I'm so sorry I hurt you. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do."
Aria looked conflicted, she had no idea what to make of this. She liked Ezra a lot, but love? That was way too soon, surely? Yes, she had never felt this way about anyone before, but… it couldn't be love, could it? Not to mention, could she even trust him? Maybe he was just saying what she wanted to hear, like Matt had done? No…Ezra was nothing like Matt. She had thrown herself at Ezra more than once now and he had turned her down each time. Was that annoying? Very much so… but it meant he respected her, right? She loved that about him…maybe she did love him? Maybe it was just the idea of being in love so fast that scared her? But if Ezra was telling the truth, If he really did love her, then why did he go to the club? If he was really in love, he would have stayed with her.
When Aria didn't reply, Ezra leaned back and noticed the look on her face. He could tell she was busy thinking things through, so he lifted her chin with his hand and said, "Hey, don't… don't overthink this. You don't have to decide right now how you feel about me… All I'm asking you is to not walk out on me just yet."
After a moment of silence, Aria said, "I don't get why you needed to go to the club… I invited you in…" Ezra nodded sadly and replied, "I wasn't thinking straight… I should have come inside. I wanted to come in so badly, but I couldn't." Aria looked at Ezra questioningly and asked, "Why not?" Ezra admitted, "Because it's really hard for me to control myself around you…we might have ended up sleeping together." Aria asked, "And that would have been such a bad thing?" Ezra immediately replied with, "Yes." Aria felt hurt, why would it be so bad? Is something wrong with her? Ezra could tell he had hurt Aria's feeling and said, "I mean..no… I-I don't know." Aria was getting annoyed now, she needed answers, "Why would it be such a bad thing? If you're telling me the truth by saying that you love me, then why would it be wrong?"
Ezra didn't answer her question, so Aria took that as an admission that he had lied about his feelings for her. She moved out from between him and the tree and he let her. When she was a couple feet away, he said, "because I'm afraid." Aria turned back around and asked, "Afraid of what?" Ezra walked over to Aria, caressed her cheek with the back of his hand and replied, "Of losing you… like I said, I've never felt this way before about anyone. The last time I had feelings for someone… it didn't even come close to what I feel for you. And when she left… so If I ever lost you... I don't think I'd survive."
Aria rolled her eyes at him, she thought he was being overly dramatic now. She said, "People fall in love, people leave, people get hurt….it happens all the time, that's life." Ezra sighed and replied, "I know…" Aria frowned as she wondered about something and she asked, "But what does that have to do with not wanting to sleep with me?" Ezra didn't really want to talk about it, but he knew he had to or he'd lose Aria for sure. He explained, "The girl that broke my heart was a virgin too and after we slept together, she started changing. And eventually she changed into someone who didn't want to be with me anymore and then she left me to go have sex with other men." Aria felt insulted that Ezra would think she'd do the same and she yelled, "I'm not her!"
Ezra was taken aback by her reaction and he said, "I know, it's just…" Aria felt bad for yelling and replied, "I know, you're scared… but you'll just have to get over it. Either you take a chance on me now and have the possibility of losing me… or you decide not to and you lose me anyways." Ezra didn't reply, instead he just stared at the ground. He didn't know what to do.
After a few moments, Aria said, "Then I guess this is goodbye." As she wanted to turn around and walk away, Ezra stopped her by taking her hand in his and said, "No." Aria looked into Ezra's eyes and what she saw was determination. Ezra took a deep breath and then asked, "Aria Montgomery… will you be my girlfriend?"
So that was chapter 7! I know it's a bit shorter than usual, but I didn't have a lot of time and I really wanted to give you guys something!
Let me know if you liked it (or not)
