CHAPTER SEVEN

"Did you know about this?"

Ezra gulped and nodded his head slowly. "I remembered this morning."

She looked at him with a deer in the headlights expression. "And you didn't think to tell me?!"

He moved closer to her and saw the tears form in Aria's eyes. "I did, I just didn't know how."

"That seems to be your favorite excuse, doesn't it?" Aria seethed, referring to literally every other problem they had faced.

He looked away from her, ashamed. Ezra knew she was right. That was always the problem: he knew he should tell her, but could never find the right words or time. "I'm sorry, Aria. I swear, I was gonna tell you. I-I came up here to get cleaned up, then take you out for lunch and tell you."

"You should've told me the second you remembered, Ezra!"

"I – I know, I know," Ezra stuttered. "I just didn't know how and then Hanna and Emily told me-"

Aria shook her head and looked at him with utter disbelief. "You told my friends before you even came to me?"

Realizing the mistake, he swallowed down the lump in his throat. "I thought you knew and I knew they'd know what to do and… I'm so sorry, Aria. I know I should have told you, and I was, I promise you, but I was just afraid."

Aria decided to let it go for the sake of less arguments and moved on to another obvious problem. "And what are we supposed to do? Divorced? Annulled? I thought not remembering having sex was bad, I didn't think it could get this much worse."

XXXX

Alison woke up when she heard the door of her hotel room open. Hanna and Emily, both soaking wet from their day at the pool, stepped inside, deep in conversation. They weren't aware that Ali was now awake.

"Can you believe this?" Emily sighed.

Hanna threw her towel over the back of a chair. "I'm just pissed they didn't invite us! We could've been bridesmaids!"

Alison furrowed her brows and wondered what in the world they were talking about? Bridesmaids? Who got married? Figuring that she would hear more without announcing that she was awake, Ali let out a fake snore to make it believable.

"Hanna, be serious," Emily suggested. "This isn't some sitcom, they actually got married!"

"I know, I know," Hanna mumbled. "God, she is gonna freak when he tells her."

Emily nodded in agreement. "That's why we told him to go to a public place. Can you just imagine how much she would do off if they weren't surrounded by people?"

XXXX

"Married. Married!" Aria repeated. "Ezra and Aria Fitz. Married couple. Jesus, I'm actually Aria Fitz."

Ezra sat down on the foot of the bed as Aria paced in front of him, processing and shouting. She wasn't even yelling at him, just at the situation.

"And what about you? Huh? How does it feel to be a husband? Ready to split everything you have in your life with me? Ready to be mine for better or worse? You know me, Ezra. I have a pretty bad worse!"

"Aria-" Ezra interrupted.

Aria just kept spewing out new statements. "I'm eight-fucking-teen! I'm not a wife, I am a senior in high school! What will my parents say? What will anyone say?! You're criticized enough for being with a student, what do you think people will say when they found out you got married to me?!"'

Ezra tried again. "Aria-"

"No, Ezra, listen to me. You and me, we're not supposed to be married! I mean, maybe we are, but not now. Ezra, I don't want to be married!" She took a deep breath before returning to a normal volume. "I'm scared. I'm scared what people will say. Spencer was disappointed enough. And Spencer isn't my mom or my parents or yours."

"We can figure it out. Your parents never have to know," Ezra assured.

Aria sighed and stood in front of him. "That's the problem, Ezra. The truth, i-it's gonna come out. It always does. You should know that more than anyone I know!" Ezra looked down, slightly ashamed at what she was getting at.

XXXX

Alison had had enough of her friends vague discussing, sat up, and yawned. "What are you two going on about?"

They shared a look of weariness before sitting down on the bed with Ali. "Last night," Emily started, looking at Hanna briefly. Hanna continued for her, "Two people we know got a little too plastered."

"Two?" Ali snickered. "I counted four, not including us."

"Well, yeah," Emily approved, "but last night, Aria and Ezra – "

Alison cut her off. "They got married?!"

"How'd you know?" Hanna questioned.

Alison told them the truth. "I heard you guys talking… but it's them? Ezra and Aria got married?"

"Yeah, he's taking her to lunch right now and tell her. She doesn't remember because she was so drunk."

Giggling at the unusual circumstance, Alison said, "So… she doesn't even know."

"Nope," Hanna confirmed. "No idea."

XXXX

"What are we gonna do? What are we going to do?!" Aria screamed, starting up her pacing again.

"Aria, it'll be okay," Ezra attempted, staring at her as she power walked in front of him.

Aria stopped briefly, looking at him incredulously. "Okay? Okay?! Ezra, none of this is okay! Are you okay with getting married to a minor while drunk and then fucking her?"

Ezra wasn't one for crudeness and wrinkled his face, "Aria, please."

"Please what?! What, you know I'm right! Just… this is so messed up!"

"Calm down," Ezra begged. "Please?"

Aria let out a deep breath and Ezra grabbed her hands. "Aria, I love you. And I promise, I swear, we'll figure it out. Whatever you want to do. We can get divorced, we can get annulled, whatever."

And then barely above a whisper, Aria told him, "I don't want to divorce you." Ezra looked at her a little surprised before she continued. "Ezra, it wouldn't feel right. I never imagined that I would have to divorce you."

"I never imagined that we'd get married in a place called Chapel of Luv," Ezra pointed out, grimacing at the name.

Aria gulped before joining him on the bed. Ezra wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she rested her head on his shoulder. She had a thought, but was terrified to ask it. "Babe?"

"Yeah?" he asked, rubbing the side of her arm.

"Ezra, what if," she started, her heart pounding fast, "what if we just stay married?"

XXXX

After Spencer left Aria and Ezra to talk, she had gone to her and Toby's room. But, he wasn't there when she arrived. Panic set in her stomach, but she quickly saw a note saying " the casino."

She walked around the various slot machines with flashing lights that gave Spencer a migraine. She desperately looked for Toby, but didn't see him anywhere. Sighing, she stood still and scanned over the casino once more. Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned eagerly, expecting Toby.

Instead, it was man in the hotel staff's uniform. "Miss, do you wanna play a round?" He motioned to the game table next to him that was littered with playing cards. "Catch 21?"

Spencer remembered playing the game when she was little and hadn't played it in a very long time. Nostalgia hit here before she could say no, however, and she followed the man to the stool.

XXXX

Now it was Ezra's turn to freak out. He tensed next to Aria and immediately stopped rubbing her arm. He slowly snaked his arm back away from her before standing up and looking down at his wife.

"Stay married? Aria… I don't know if that's the best idea…"

Aria pouted. "Why not? I mean, what's the point of wasting our time divorcing each other, making things more public, if we both know we're gonna get married later?"

"Aria, you said it yourself, you're eighteen!" Ezra protested, suddenly very against the idea of staying married. He didn't want to tie Aria down like that, not when she was still so young.

"So? My parents got married young," Aria explained.

"Exactly," Ezra sighed, "your parents. What do you think they'll say? They hate me enough already!"

Aria stood up and wrapped her hand gently around the back of Ezra's neck. "They don't have to know. Whenever we get married later, they can think that's the first time we ever said 'I do.'"

Seconds passed before Ezra offered, "What about an annulment?"

"A could find the records or something. For all we know, A could plaster it in the newspaper!" Aria explained.

Ezra sighed, "A is probably gonna notice the ring on your finger, too. A might be in Atlantic City, A might have witnessed the whole thing."

Aria felt like the A argument, even though she brought it up, was a weak excuse. She swallowed hard before questioning, "Why do you not want to stay married? Honestly. Don't lie."

"I just," Ezra paused and let out a long sigh. "Aria, what if we don't work out? What if, when you go off to college, you meet someone else but you can't do anything about it, because you'll be stuck with a husband back home?"

Aria's eyes boggled once he finished explaining the hypothetical scenario. Was he actually saying these words? Back home? Someone else? "Ezra, you know none of that will happen. I lo- I love you."

"Right now, sure," he argued. "You don't want to be married forever to the guy you accidentally got married to in Atlantic City."

"But you are not just the guy I accidentally married in Atlantic City!" Aria yelled. "Why are you so sure this is gonna end badly?"

Ezra shrugged, "Because everything does for us. What makes this the exception?"

Aria just sighed as tears started to dot in her eyes. She huffed and sat up from the bed. "I can't talk about this right now."

She started walking towards the door and Ezra knew how angry she must've been. "Aria, wait, just-" But she was out the door before he could finish.

(A/N:) I know this one was kind of short, but I have the next chapter written and it's a long one! Once I get fifteen reviews I'll update!

And remember how I said Team Hannilyzra (and quite a few said you liked that little trio which made me super happy!) was gonna be important? Well, that'll play out in the next two chapters…

What do you think of Aria's reaction!? I know a lot of you didn't want her to get upset with him, but you've gotta admit she has her reasoning! What do you think they'll do? Stay married? Divorce? Sound off in the reviews! Reviews = motivation = updates!

-Mandy (ezras-turtleneck on tumblr)