9.

Aria

"I'll walk you out," Aria smiled after Ezra shook John's hand. John bid him goodbye before Aria opened the door and led Ezra outside. Once the two of them were out of the house, Aria closed the door and let out a heavy sigh.

Ezra grimaced. "Okay, so that wasn't as easy as I made it out to be."

"You think?" Aria teased, stepping down the porch steps.

"The food was great," Ezra said, trying to say something positive.

Aria crossed her arms and retorted, "So you didn't think the chicken was flavorless?"

Ezra understood what she was getting at and snickered, "No. Not at all." He nudged her and smiled, "Your cooking was even better than I remembered."

"Thank you," Aria grinned, stopping in front of his car. It wasn't the same car as all those years ago, which they had made a number of memories in, but it was similar. She patted the hood and smirked, "Years later, you're still driving a silver Toyota."

"I suppose I have a type," Ezra laughed.

She chuckled a bit before they fell silent. Ezra coughed a little before falling serious, "Aria, can I ask you something?"

"If you must," Aria relented with a slight huff.

"I get it, why you didn't tell him about us, but why not about –"

Aria interrupted, "I didn't just leave you behind; I left everything that happened in Rosewood behind. When I went to college and the whole A mess had ended, I never wanted to think about it ever again. I didn't want to be pitied for being the bullied girl or the girl who was friends with a dead person, I wanted to be me."

"How long have you been with John?" Ezra pried.

Aria didn't understand his sudden interest, but answered nonetheless. "Since I was nineteen."

"Wow," Ezra muttered.

"Yeah, it's been a really long time," Aria nodded. Too long, she thought. "Um, thanks for coming over."

Ezra shrugged, "Thanks for having me."

She stepped towards him and hugged him awkwardly. She wrapped her arms around his waist before running her hand over the fabric of his coat. It was strange to have his arms wrapped around her after all these years, but it also felt wonderful.

Ezra squeezed her tight as he smelled her hair. The smell was familiar, like strawberries and roses and he yearned for a time machine so he could go back to the past. Now that he had Aria Montgomery back in his arms, he never, ever wanted to let go. Unfortunately, he had to once Aria pulled away. She blushed a bit before taking a step back. "I'll, uh, I'll see you at work."

"Right," he nodded, walking towards the door of his car. "Have a good night."

XXXX

Aria sighed as she tied her hair up into a loose ponytail. Hours had passed since the dinner and she was getting ready for bed. She smoothed out her silk night gown before getting into bed. Aria curled up, pulling the heavy comforter around her. She laid there for a few minutes, looking up at the ceiling, just contemplating.

Seeing Ezra on a daily basis was one thing, but touching him, feeling his strong arms wrapped around her body was another. The hug, while probably only lasting a few seconds was the highlight of her month, in all honesty. It was a short escape from her current life and a step back into her younger years.

Even though he used her and even though she had been anonymously tortured, her high school years were some of the best times in her life. Those were the days. She saw her mom more, she had the best friends anyone could've asked for, and, book or no book, she had an amazing boyfriend who loved her and would have done anything for her.

Nowadays, all she got was maybe one phone call with Ella every couple of weeks, no friends, and a husband who didn't respect her and gossiped about her chicken.

Speaking of John, she heard the bedroom door open. Aria rolled over and looked to where he was as he turned all the lights on. Aria groaned, "Can't you just turn on the one lamp? I'm trying to sleep."

"Well, you don't look like you're sleeping right now," John shrugged, walking towards the bathroom.

Aria rolled over on her side and listened as John got ready for bed. A few minutes passed before he switched off the lights and crawled into bed. Aria scooched forward on the mattress, trying to get away from him, but John began to rub her side.

She clenched her jaw and turned over to face him. "Yes?"

"Nothing," John murmured. "You just seem…off."

She propped her head up on her elbow and looked at him. "Off how?"

He shrugged a little before changing subjects. "I think the whole boss-dinner thing went smoothly."

"I guess," Aria whispered. John began to run his hand over her stomach and she wished he could just keep his hands to himself. She didn't want him touching her, not tonight.

"Gotta say, though," John started with a small laugh, "your boss is a pretty bland guy."

Aria got slightly offended before retorting, "As bland as my flavorless chicken?"

"What?" John asked innocently.

"You heard me, John," Aria snapped, slapping his hand away. She turned her back on him before resting her head on the pillow, trying to get some sleep.

John scoffed, "You're really that mad about me not liking your chicken?"

"No," Aria seethed, "I'm mad that you started talking about how much you hated it to our company."

"I said it to myself, under my breath," John explained.

"It was still unnecessary," Aria argued, glancing back at him. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."

"Oh, never heard that before. Come up with it yourself?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "John…"

"What?" he asked, getting out of bed and turning a lamp on. "Aria, you've been acting strange for weeks now. What is going on?"

"Nothing is going on!" Aria lied.

John protested, "Aria, I can tell when you're lying."

She grimaced and shook her head before getting out of bed as well. "God, even when you were cheating on me, I didn't ask this many questions!"

"I thought we were over that," John replied through clenched teeth.

"John, you cheated on me for months," Aria said calmly. "I won't get over that."

John scoffed, "Well, try."

She looked at him incredulously before pointing at the door. "Go sleep in the guest room."

"What?"

"Or the couch, or the bathroom, just… go sleep somewhere that isn't in here."

"This is my house, I can sleep in here if I want," John patronized.

Aria gaped at him before huffing, "It's our house, actually. And I'm sick of this, this prioritizing you have over me!"

"Prioritizing?" John repeated, confused.

Aria nodded. "Yes. All the time, you have the more important job. You own the house. You, you, you."

"Are you kidding me?" John snapped. "You're one of the most selfish people I know!"

"Excuse me?" Aria spat, enraged by the comment.

"I always fret about my job? Aria, ever since you got your new job, you've neglected me, you've neglected the kids… I mean, we haven't even had sex in weeks!"

Aria scoffs at his last point and how he had said it like she had forgotten the most important thing in the world. "Yeah, and you won't be getting any anytime soon with this attitude!" Aria yelled. She took a deep breath before grabbing her pillow and walking towards the door.

John sighed, "Aria…"

She continued to walk past him, ignoring his presence. "Dammit, Aria!" he shouted, pulling her back. Aria pushed his hand away from her forearm immediately and shoved him back.

"Leave me alone, John," she ordered, her voice cracking a bit. She exited the bedroom quickly before heading to the guest room. Aria stepped inside and practically fell on the bed. She let out a cry she had been holding in since that afternoon. Everything was going crazy in her life and she was tired.

She had once read a quote: This is the kind of tired sleep can't fix. Aria was definitely relating to that quote right now.

Ezra

"Fuck," he muttered, taking another gulp of his scotch. It had been a couple hours since his dinner with Aria and her family and since he had gotten home, Ezra began to drink himself into oblivion. Seeing her with a husband and kids… Ezra knew she had a family, but seeing them made the fact that she had moved on real.

Yet, when they hugged, he thought that maybe she hadn't moved on. She had held on to him tightly and he had felt whole for the first time in years. Having her in his arms, sniffing her familiar shampoo, it was utter bliss. Sadly though, bliss didn't last very long. And since it wasn't very long, he was now downing his sorrows in alcohol.

Why couldn't he just find a woman? Find a woman, marry her, and forget about Aria Montgomery? But, it wasn't easy forgetting someone you once knew better than yourself. Ezra had known almost every little thing about Aria. He knew she had a birthmark on the side of her hip, he knew her favorite stuffed animal had been a pig puppet, he knew she hated waffles, but loved pancakes, and most of all he knew that he was ridiculously and desperately in love with her. Not once in the last fourteen years had he ever stopped.

What was he gonna do with himself? Just wallow in self-pity for the rest of his days, asking himself 'what if' and thinking of what he would do if he could turn back time? Ezra scoffed at the thought as he gulped down more scotch before thinking of how foolish he was. Absolutely foolish and hopeless.

(A/N:) I am sooo sorry for the slow update! School has been a huge bitch and I've barely had time to breathe. I extremely apologize for the absence :(

BUT I have chapters 10 and 11 written in advance, and let me tell you, chapter 11 might be my favorite thing I've ever written. You're not gonna want to miss that! ;) Especially if you feel like this story is going slow. It picks up after that one.

I will try to update as soon as possible and once winter break gets here (2 weeks) I'll update more frequently. To hold you over, here's a sneak peek to the next chapter!

She got up off her stool, water in hand, and walked over. She sat down at the empty stool next to him and joked, "Why do we always meet in bars?

His head snapped up from his book and Ezra raised his eyebrows at the sight of her. "Aria?"

Until next time! Don't forget to review! :)