Ezra wakes up the next morning to an otherwise empty bed. He laughs dryly at the pang of disappointment he feels. You'd think he'd be used to it by now. He rubs his eyes and frowns as he sits up, the blanket falling to his side. He slowly gets up, subconsciously holding his side where a large, jagged scar sits. He reaches into the pocket of his—Micah's—sweats, and checks his phone. 8:36 am. His first meeting with his editor isn't until 10:30.
Ezra hears Aria's unmistakable laugh from the other room and, without thinking, follows it into what he now sees is a kitchen/living room. He sees Micah, taking an ungodly bite from some kind of sandwich, and a girl who's not Aria sitting on the couch watching some reality show on TV. Aria is pouring herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen, and she smiles brightly at Ezra when she turns around and sees him leaning against the hallway entrance.
"You're awake," she comments. "This is Micah, and my other flatmate, Sasha," she explains, nodding her head towards the couch.
Micah is the only one to tear his eyes from the television and look over at Ezra, immediately noticing his bare stomach. Ezra, suddenly conscious of the fact that he's not wearing a shirt, coughs nervously and looks helplessly at Aria.
"Fuck, Aria wasn't kidding about the scar. Thing's gnarly," Micah says, nudging Sasha before taking a bite of his sandwich.
Ezra laughs nervously and Aria rolls her eyes before glaring at Micah.
"Shut the fuck up," she warns. "Sorry," she adds, looking at Ezra with apologetic eyes.
"It's fine, reall—" Ezra starts, waving his hand dismissively.
"No fucking way," Sasha says in amazement, looking up from the TV. "Is that what you got from the whole book thing? Shit was fucked up, dude," Sasha mutters before leaning over to eat Micah's sandwich.
Ezra opens his mouth hesitantly but stops when Aria speaks.
"Sasha!" Aria gasps incredulously. "You two are the fucking worst," she adds.
"True though," Micah mumbles quickly, raising his brow before taking another bite.
Sasha giggles in response and Aria rolls her eyes dramatically.
"Unbelievable," Aria mutters under breath as she puts a lid on her coffee.
Aria walks over to Ezra, who is still standing awkwardly near the hallway fidgeting with his fingers, and puts a hand on his arm.
"I'm so sorry," Aria apologizes again, softly. She lightly squeezes his arm before placing her hand over her cup. "They promised me they wouldn't be dicks," she adds loudly, looking in the direction of her flatmates.
"Sorry," they reply in unison, laughing lightly.
"Couldn't help myself," Sasha adds without taking her eyes from the TV.
Aria sighs and looks at Ezra with concern.
"Aria, it's fine," he assures her quietly. "I deserve it, anyway. Besides, the scar is pretty fucking cool," he jokes lightly.
Aria smiles and punches his arm softly.
"Shit, I have to get to work. I'm so sorry for leaving you here," she says after checking her phone. "If you need anything—where to find clothes, food—ask the two shit heads on the couch. Or just call me."
Ezra furrows his brow for a moment then nods.
"Yeah, of course..." he says uneasily.
Aria looks at him apologetically then checks her phone once more.
"Fuck, I'm sorry," she says again.
Aria turns and walks over to her flatmates.
"Watch it!" Sasha says, waving her hand as Aria moves in front of the screen.
"Please, behave," she pleads sternly, reaching and grabbing what's left of the sandwich from Micah as he's about to take a bite.
"Come on," Micah whines, crossing his arms and slumping further into the couch.
Sasha and Ezra both laugh as Aria walks towards the door. She bites the sandwich, holding it in her mouth as she opens the door and leaves.
Ezra watches the door close before turning back towards Micah and Sasha. They're both staring at him and he looks around uncomfortably before settling his eyes back on them.
"So, wh—" Ezra attempts lamely.
"You were Aria's teacher, right?" Sasha asks bluntly.
"I, uh," Ezra stutters, speechless as he looks away and begins fiddling his thumbs.
"Jesus, Sasha," Micah sighs. "She asked us to behave."
"What? I'm not judging," she says defensively, laying back and resting her legs over Micah's lap. "I think it's hot," she adds, smirking.
Ezra clears his throat awkwardly.
"You're making the guy uncomfortable," Micah says, gesturing towards Ezra.
Sasha drops the smile from her face and sighs.
"I'm sorry," she says genuinely. "We're just Aria's friends, you know? I'm curious."
Ezra looks up and smiles softly at her before nodding.
"It's fine. Just caught me a little of guard, that's all."
Micah rolls his eyes. "She does that."
Sasha lightly kicks Micah's arm and he laughs.
"But seriously, a story like that? How can I not be curious?" Sasha says.
Ezra laughs and walks towards the kitchen. "Fair enough, and you are letting me stay at your place. What do you want to know?"
"How discreet were you two?" Micah mumbles out in monotone, his hand buried in the bag of chips previously on the table.
"She asked us to behave," Sasha says sarcastically, scrolling through her phone.
Micah mocks her in an incoherent mumble before raising a fistful of chips to his mouth. Ezra shakes his head and luckily finds the cabinet with mugs—or a mug—on his first try. He pours himself a cup of coffee and sets it on the island as he sits on one of the raised stools.
"Not very," Ezra admits, raising the mug to his lips. "I mean, we never got caught—not when I was at Rosewood High, at least—...but we probably should have. Everyone there, even the principal, knew we had something after I left for Hollis College. When I got a job as a professor there were...unresolved issues with this colleague, a past...friend, who kind of tried to ruin our lives," he explains.
"Shit, was that the crazy chick who tried to threaten her into leaving you?" Sasha asks.
"Crazy ex-fiancé," Micah mumbles through a mouthful of chips.
"Jackie, that's the one," Ezra confirms, nodding his head. "Did Aria already tell you this?"
"Well, she told us about Jackie and all that blackmail shit. And about her dad trying to get your ass fired. And promoted. Wild shit," Sasha explains, sitting up and reaching for the chips. "Dude sounds like an asshole," she adds, digging her hand through the bag Micah just turned her way.
"Yeah, well, he got me to leave Hollis. Eventually I got offered another job at Rosewood High," Ezra says.
"You still had her in your class? And the principal fucking knew?" Sasha says, looking at Ezra with a smirk on her face.
"Yeah... I mean, she broke up with me before I went back so technically there wasn't anything wrong with it. That's the only reason I took the job, I mean, part of the reason she broke up with me is because she knew they'd offered me one. She never forgave herself for Byron making me leave Hollis," he explains.
"Damn, so you got dumped, then had to stand in front of her every day in class and fucking teach..." Sasha says in disbelief before letting out a burst of laughter. "I'm sorry, that's gotta be some of the roughest shit I've ever heard."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Ezra says sarcastically, raising his eyebrows before taking a sip. "There was a brief moment after that when we were together while she was my student, but I had to leave Rosewood High after I got shot and that was that. May my teaching career forever rest in peace."
Ezra waves his mug in a mocking cheer before leading it to his mouth.
"Did it hurt?" Micah asks.
"Micah, he was fucking shot," Sasha replies.
Ezra laughs and sets his mug back down. "Uh, yeah. Not as much as I thought, honestly. I think the blood loss made me numb. And I saw Aria and suddenly... I don't know. I guess she just made me feel like everything was going to be okay. Even if what I was experiencing was my own death I felt...acceptance. If I was with her then it must've been right."
"You were fuckin' whipped, man," Sasha says before stuffing her mouth with chips and laying back down.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Ezra counters.
Sasha shrugs. "No," she clarifies. "It's adorable. No wonder she wants to keep you around."
Neither of them can see the soft smile that appears on Ezra's face.
"What's the deal with the whole book thing?" Sasha asks suddenly.
Ezra feels a lump in his throat forming and takes a long sip of coffee in an attempt to swallow it.
"Sorry," Sasha adds, semi-genuinely. "As her best friend it's my duty to assess all potential risks."
"Don't mind her, she likes to feel important," Micah says, causing Sasha to look up from her phone and glare at him.
"But actually," he adds, "I wanna know, too. That's the one thing she never really talked about."
"Don't be afraid to get real into it," Sasha adds, then shrugs when Micah raises a brow at her. "You know, 'cause risks...and shit."
Ezra sighs. "Yeah, I get it... I just—I hate talking about it because I, well I hate thinking about how I made her feel about me—about us. It kills me to think about how much I hurt her, and how fucking stupid I was for not letting this goddamn book thing go..." Ezra pauses, releasing a deep breath.
"You don't have to—" Sasha begins.
"No," Ezra stops her. "You guys deserve to know this. I just...before I met her, I had this tacky dream of writing a brilliant, page-turning novel that would finally prove my family wrong. After I cut all my ties to them, leaving behind the inheritance and everything, I felt this weight of trying to show all of them that I could become someone, make something of myself, all without any connections to the Fitzgerald name. I tried writing about them; I tried figuring out the mystery of my relationship with my brother, my parents, their marriage—if you could even call it that—on paper. I couldn't, and after my brief college encounter with her friend Alison, and then learning after graduation that she had supposedly mysteriously died...it was as if the perfect thriller had fallen right into my lap—a puzzle I could finally solve."
Ezra glances at them, his brow raised, as if he were asking if Aria had ever told them that Ali story.
"Wait you knew Ali before you knew Aria?" Micah asks, finally tearing his eyes from the television to look over at Ezra. "She told us you knew her before you met, but she never..."
Ezra sighs shamefully. "Yeah... Ali was visiting her friend in college and told me they went to UPenn together. I was young and stupid, and I believed her. The second I found out I broke it off, and it was never more serious than a paper bag picnic in an empty theatre, but even after the short time I knew her, the way she acted, the way she spoke...she practically wrote a book herself. And she made sure she wrote her death just the same—the perfect amount of questions so you can't bring yourself to look away, and the perfect amount of lies to keep it relevant for eternity—to keep her hidden for eternity, or at least, until she wanted to be found. As it turns out, that mess was even more unsolvable, and I managed to make it worse."
"So you met Aria trying to write a book about her recently deceased, bitch of a best friend Alison?" Sasha asks.
Ezra nods. "Knowing Ali's real age, I knew she had to have friends at Rosewood High and, knowing Ali, I figured her killer had to have been someone who knew her. So, I applied for a job there so I could stay in town and research for my book. I knew Ali's friends'—Aria's name, but since Ali had been friends with Cece, who really did go to UPenn, seeing Aria in that bar I just...I assumed Ali could've easily had friends at Hollis, too. And that doesn't change the fact that I still talked to her because of my research—although I truly believe that if I had gone into that bar without a story in mind I would've been drawn to her all the same—and I know how unforgivably wrong I was, and even though it doesn't make it any better, I stopped writing the book once I could admit to myself how serious my feelings for her were. I meant it when I told her that I had never lied about how I felt about her. She had me the moment we met, and even though it took me some time—longer than it should have—to realize that whatever I was doing wasn't worth losing what we had, I knew from the start that everything I felt for her was real, that the way I felt about her was going to change my life."
"So if this whole thing started and ended within months of knowing her, then how the fuck did that get you shot?" Micah questions, his head turned back towards the screen.
"I, uh..." Ezra begins, scratching the back of his head. "When she broke up with me before I started my second job at Rosewood High, I started writing the book again. Ali was discovered alive, and there was a whole new mystery waiting to be uncovered. I felt lost, and alone, and even though I had my teaching job back I felt like I was losing control of my life. So, like a coward, I retreated into the one thing that gave me any real purpose, before Aria came along anyway. That's probably the decision I'll regret the most. And the worst part is I tricked myself into believing that I was doing it for her."
He pauses to take a sip of coffee.
"She was in danger," he continues vaguely, unsure of how much Aria had shared about her life, aside from him. "Someone wanted to hurt Ali, and I thought if I could figure out who it was then I could save Aria. Then, maybe we could be together again since the book would let me leave Rosewood High. I ended up making a huge mess of everything, and when Aria found out...there was a time I thought I would never see her again. Seeing her so hurt, so betrayed, so terrified of...me, I felt disgusted that I had ever let it go that far—that I hadn't come clean about the whole thing sooner. I believed my intentions meant something—that doing something wrong for the right reasons would pay off. I used that excuse to justify my actions for too long."
Ezra shakes his head and clears his throat before he continues.
"I was following a lead connected to Alison when I found them in New York. Aria had told me she never wanted to hear from or see me again, but I wanted to do something to actually help them, especially after all the harm I'd done. I thought maybe...I don't know what I was thinking. She was my whole life, at the time, and I just—I needed to do this for her. That's how I ended up on the roof. And of course, I always knew I would die for her...and I think she always knew that, too."
"Shit, dude," Sasha says, looking up from her phone, propping herself on her elbows to look at him.
"Love is crazy," Micah mumbles softly, shaking his head.
"Yeah," Ezra replies with a scoff. "Tell me about it."
"You know there's a chair over here," Sasha says, raising an eyebrow.
Ezra clears his throat nervously and picks up his mug, nodding lightly.
"Right," he replies, getting up and moving to the chair beside them.
"We never said you could sit in it," Sasha adds, smirking.
"Uh," Ezra stumbles awkwardly, starting to stand.
"Jesus," Sasha says, laughing. "I'm messing with you."
"Oh," Ezra says, starting to laugh lightly. "Right."
"Sorry," she adds.
"No," Ezra says, waving his free hand. "Fair enough."
"Stop being a bitch," Micah says, laughing.
"Shut up—"
"So, uh, what are we watching?" Ezra cuts in.
"Kardashians," Sasha replies, settling back down.
"Shit's dramatic as hell," Micah adds.
"And entertaining as hell," Sasha reminds him.
Ezra laughs and nods. "I can do drama."
"Yeah, we know," Micah quips.
"Okay, I set that one up," Ezra admits, smiling and taking a sip of coffee.
He settles back comfortably into his chair, and as he watches some Kardashian toss another Kardashian's phone from the railing of the second story, he can't help but wonder how exactly it is that he got here. He knows why, but here, in Aria's apartment, with her flatmates, it all feels like a dream. And not a bad one, although he can't explain it, he can't say there's anywhere else he'd rather be right now.
Maybe this really was it. Maybe his life was finally looking up for a change.
. . .
"Aria?"
Aria looks up from the printer to see her boss, Melissa, standing behind her impatiently.
"Do you need something?" Aria asks.
"I've been calling your desk," Melissa says sternly, her brow raised.
"Sorry, I just got back from lunch, and I was just printing out the new Fitz contract—" Aria begins.
"Fine, I'll get the rest of this," Melissa says, waving her hand dismissively. "Speaking of Fitz, the new editor, Rachel—she wants to see you."
"His editor? Now?"
"Yes, now," Melissa says, nodding her head back towards the door. "Do you know how to get there?"
Aria nods before rushing past her without another word. She worries the rings on her fingers as she walks nervously to Rachel's office. She sees Ezra walking swiftly away from Rachel's door, his head down and a worried expression on his face. He looks up briefly, attempting to smile at her before exiting towards the stairs.
Aria can barely make out a soft, "hi," before the door shuts. She bites her lip and turns to make her way towards Rachel's office. She lets out a deep breath before opening the door.
"Aria...Montgomery, yes?" Rachel says, motioning her hand towards the chairs in front of her desk.
Aria sits down and smiles graciously.
"Yes, I'm an Assistant Literary—"
"Yes I know who you are," Rachel says, looking up from the papers on her desk.
"So...?" Aria asks cautiously.
"I'm aware that you have a...personal relationship with Ezra Fitz, our new potential client, correct?"
"Potential?"
"Yes, well, that's where you come in," Rachel replies.
Aria furrows her brow. "I'm sorry, I don't understand..."
"Ezra Fitz is saying that he'll only agree to sign with us is if you are his editor. As you can probably imagine, this has created some...issues with his contract moving forward. And as I'm sure you know, Ezra Fitz is also a very.. desirable client, considering his last book was a best-seller and he's now on track to write a second—Anyway, we thought we'd at least get your take on it, seeing as though you are an...assistant here," Rachel explains.
Aria blinks slowly as she processes everything. Ezra wants her to edit his book? Why? As Rachel made perfectly clear, she was only an assistant. Why would he possibly want her to do this? Had this been the plan all along?
"I, um," Aria stutters. "Why?" she manages to get out.
Rachel shrugs and laughs dryly. "Beats me. He says he wants someone close—someone who not only knows his writing, but knows him—to make this book everything it needs to be."
"Look, I'm flattered, but—"
"Look, Aria, our bosses love this guy. And to be honest, I think Ezra's a talented man, I really do, and I'd love to be able to work with him again, but I have a lot of clients I'm dealing with right now and if you can do this and get us that best-selling book, you could be looking at one hell of a promotion. We don't have a lot of time before we need to know if he's signing or not. You have to tell me by the end of the day if you're in," Rachel says.
"I—" Aria begins. "I'll let you know."
Rachel nods and Aria smiles as she gets up.
"Your friend drives a hard bargain, Aria," Rachel adds, smirking as Aria opens the door of her office.
Aria sighs softly. "Yeah, I know," she says before she leaves.
A/N: thank you for all the continued support, i really appreciate it! and seeing the reviews and knowing that you guys are reading this story is really motivating, especially for a lazy procrastinating student like me, so thank u again for everything. its gonna b a bumpy ride.
