Sorry it's been a while since my last update. I've actually started on a new story, and it just took off in my brain. Apparently, I find it difficult to write two at one time. Anyways, this chapter moves things along, setting up a situation for a potential showdown between Ezra and Jake. Enjoy! Please R&R.
Aria walked briskly down the sidewalk toward her house, the heels of her boots echoing down the street. Her mind was reeling from the last several hours and how things had so quickly changed between Ezra and herself. She turned onto the walkway up to her house, rummaging in her purse for her keys. When she glanced up at the front door, her feet faltered in mid-step. Jake was sitting on the porch swing, slowly rocking back and forth, his expression unreadable in the shadows.
Aria slowly stepped onto the porch and made her way over to him, sitting down gingerly on the opposite side of the swing. She looked down at her hands clasped tightly in her lap, her feet swinging beneath her, before finally glancing up to meet his gaze. Without speaking, Jake scooted over, closing the distance between them. He reached out, taking one of Aria's hands within his own, lightly stroking the back of it with his thumb.
"I've been calling you all night. Are you trying to avoid me?" Jake asked softly, his voice sounding hurt.
Aria slowly shook her head. She could feel her pulse racing and she was finding it hard not to panic. I'm not ready for this yet, she thought to herself. "I'm not avoiding you. I've just been busy with my mom. I haven't checked my phone," she explained, smiling weakly at him.
"Oh...good. I was afraid after the way we left things earlier today, that maybe I'd blown it with you." He was searching her eyes, trying to read her expression, but was finding it difficult in the deep shadows. "I'm sorry I acted like such a jerk."
"Look, Jake," she said, slowly withdrawing her hand from his, "we both let things get out of control. I should have been more upfront with you about wanting to take things slowly."
"I should have asked," Jake quickly countered. "I shouldn't have just assumed... things. I know that you were in that other relationship..."
Aria started fidgeting on the swing, her eyes dropping down as she nervously bit her bottom lip. "I'm not asking you anything about that," Jake hurriedly added. "I'm just saying that I know you're still probably recovering from that, and I should have been more understanding. We can take things as slow as you want. You take the lead, call the shots, however you want to word it. I just want to know that I haven't blown it with you. I think we could really have something here," he finished, waiting for her response.
Aria's eyes swept upward, locking with Jake's. She smiled sweetly and reached out, grasping his hand. "You haven't blown anything, Jake. I still want to see you too," she said, the guilt washing over her even as the words escaped her lips. Smiling broadly, he leaned in and kissed her lightly. He placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in close to his chest as they rocked back in forth in companionable silence.
After around ten minutes, Aria sat up straight and looked over at him. "I should probably get inside, now. I've been gone quite a while. I don't want my dad sending out a search party for me," she teased. Standing up, they hugged and kissed good night. His warm mouth pressed against hers, his tongue playing over her lips but not pressing for entrance. Aria finally stepped back, smiled up at him, and stroked the side of his check. With one final good-bye, Jake walked off into the darkened night.
Aria slipped inside the front door, relieved to find the den deserted. Everyone must have already gone upstairs for the night. Maybe her dad assumed that she was at her mom's tonight. She leaned against the hard wood of the door, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath. This is nuts, she thought. Can I actually pull this off? How can I date two men without someone getting hurt?
The next day was fairly uneventful for Aria. Classes went smoothly and before she knew it, it was time for seventh period, Ezra's class. She was at her locker gathering her books when Emily, Spencer and Hannah appeared beside her.
"So, did you finally do it last night?" Hannah asked her excitedly.
Flustered, Aria dropped the book she was holding, and it landed with a thud on the floor. Her eyes widened and her brows shot up as she looked nervously over at Hannah. "What? Why would you ask me that?" she hurriedly said. She could feel her cheeks starting to flame from her guilt, so she quickly averted her face from Hannah's scrutiny.
"Because you were suppose to, duh," Hannah responded, her eyes shifting down the hallway, as she waved to Caleb at the other end.
"I'm a go," Spencer said. "Toby wasn't all that thrilled at the idea of coming back to Rosewood High, but he said it'd be worth it to see me in my new silk dress.
Aria realized then that they were talking about the homecoming dance on Friday night. Hannah had been pestering her for the last week to ask Jake, and she had told her yesterday at lunch that she was going to ask him last night. She had completely forgotten about it. Reaching down to pick up her book, she took the opportunity to gather her composure.
"Um, I didn't really have a chance last night. It was late when I finally got home and I was tired. I'll do it today," Aria said in a rush as she smiled at the girls, closed her locker, and started walking off to English class.
Emily quickly caught up with her. "Is everything okay, Aria?"
Aria glanced over at her, gave her a quick smile, and then averted her eyes. "Yeah, everything's great," she said, continuing briskly down the hallway.
"And you and Jake? You two are okay?"
"Yeah. Why the fifth degree, Emily?" Aria asked, starting to feel uncomfortable by the conversation. She knew that even though she was trying to hide it, her voice was reflecting her irritation.
"No fifth degree. You're just acting a little... off. I thought everything was great between you and Jake. You two were all lovey-dovey at lunch yesterday. He could barely keep his hands off you."
"No, everything's fine. Like I said, I just didn't get around to it last night. I'll ask him today after school. I'm sure he'll say yes. Then we can start making plans for it to be a double date... times two," Aria said laughing as she hooked her arm through Emily's as they stood at the threshold to the classroom.
"Excuse me, ladies," said a familiar voice.
Aria turned her head to see Ezra standing directly behind them. How long has he been there? She could feel her cheeks redden at the idea that he had overheard their conversation. She released Emily's arm and quickly made her way over to her desk. After pulling out her supplies, she glanced at Ezra through her lowered lashes. He was busy writing on the board, but when he finally turned around and scanned the class, his eyes skipped over Aria.
Is he mad at me? Aria understood that their entire relationship had changed as a result of last night. They were in unfamiliar territory. It's true that they had dated before when he was her teacher, but now they had the added complication of sex. She wondered if that made it worse for him. Is there any difference in the eyes of the administration between a teacher who's dating one of his students, and a teacher who's sleeping with one of his students? She doubted it. They were both equally bad.
Ezra cleared his throat to get the attention of the class. He passed out the papers for the essay they'd be writing today. He went over the directions, asked for questions, and told the class to begin. When they finished, they were to place their assignments on the edge of his desk.
He sat, looking out at his students, his gaze finally coming to rest on Aria. She was bent over her paper, busy writing, her hair sweeping over the side of her face in a soft wavy curtain. He could easily remember his hands running through that same hair last night, his lips crushed against hers. His eyes dropped to her mini skirt, her smooth legs extended in front of her, blue painted toes peeking out of her stacked sandals. He visualized those same gorgeous legs wrapped around him, squeezing him, holding him in place as he lowered himself to her.
As if aware of his scrutiny, Aria's eyes swept upward, her long lashes casting shadows across her face. Her eyes locked onto his, and her breath caught in her throat at the blatant desire that Ezra's eyes reflected. Her cheeks burned and she felt a rush of heat between her legs in reaction to the shared memory of their passion. She quickly looked back down, swallowing deeply as she attempted to slow her breathing. How does he always do that? One look from him and I'm lost. For the rest of the period, she kept her head lowered, giving the appearance of being engrossed in her paper, even though she had no idea what she actually wrote.
At the end of the period, the students were filing out of the classroom, placing their essays on Mr. Fitz's desk as they walked past. Aria was one of the last in the room, not by design, but because she was struggling to get everything back in her bag. Emily had already left, eager to get to swim practice. As Aria rose and walked to the front of the room, she placed her paper on the stack and prepared to leave.
Unexpectedly, she felt Ezra reach out and grab her wrist. Startled she looked over at him and then quickly scanned the room to discover that they were now alone. "Are you okay?" he asked, his thumb absently rubbing against her soft skin. Aria tried to ignore the slight fluttering in her gut from this small touch. She wondered if he could feel her quickening pulse in her wrist. She smiled a little nervously at him. "I'm fine." She attempted to keep walking, but his grip didn't lessen.
"Aria," he called, causing her to pause again in mid-step. "Look at me," he begged, his voice deep and gravely with his barely contained desire.
Her large, hazel eyes swept up and locked onto his vivid blue gaze. "Talk to me. You barely looked at me today in class. Are you regretting yesterday?" He asked tentatively, lowering his voice.
"No," she quickly said. "I don't regret it. But..."
"But what?" he prodded.
She shrugged, sweeping a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. "It's just a little awkward, Ezra. You're here today as my teacher, but yet, I know what happened between us last night. I can't just shut my feelings off. I can't stop thinking about it."
He smiled reassuringly at her, even as he glanced quickly toward the hallway where the voices of students could be heard. "We've been in this situation before, remember?"
"Not THIS situation," Aria countered. "It's a little different knowing that we're sleeping together," she whispered, looking toward the door to make sure no one was there.
Ezra nodded in agreement. "You're right. It is different. Are you going to be able to deal with that?" he asked, concerned.
Aria had asked herself the same question for most of the night as she had tossed and turned in her bed. She thought for a couple of minutes, before finally nodding. "Yeah, I'll deal. Just give me a little time. Okay?" she asked, smiling up at him.
"Yeah, sure. All you need," Ezra said.
"Besides," Aria teased, "I don't think I'm the only one that needs to adjust to this new situation. I saw the way you were looking at me in class. Obvious much?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, flustered.
She snorted to show that he wasn't fooling her. "Ha! You're lucky no one else was looking at you. You didn't leave much to the imagination as to what you were thinking earlier."
He had the decency to blush at her comment. "Okay. I guess we both need to figure out how we're going to deal with this without anyone finding out. I promise I'll behave better tomorrow. No dirty thoughts. Scout's honor," he said, holding up his fingers. She laughed and curled her hand around his fingers, pulling his hand down.
"Nice try, but I know you were never a scout. We'll just both do the best we can to keep things professional at school," she said, releasing his hand.
With one final smile, Aria pivoted and walked over to the door, her hips unintentionally swaying seductively from side to side. "Oh, Aria," Ezra called after her.
"Yes?" she said, turning around one more time.
"Um, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Emily at the beginning of class."
Aria looked down at her hands and then back up at him. "And?"
"Well, are you planning on asking Jake to the dance?"
She took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah, I am." Before Ezra could say anything, Aria rushed to explain. "He's my boyfriend, remember, Ezra? It would be a huge red flag to Hannah, Spencer, and Emily if I didn't. They'd have about a thousand questions."
"Oh I know, you're right," Ezra quickly agreed, but it was very apparent that he wasn't happy with the situation.
"So that means you two aren't fighting?"
She looked sharply at him, her head cocked to the side, eyes slightly squinted. "Why would you think we're fighting?" she asked slowly.
Ezra quickly remembered that he only knew about their argument because he had eavesdropped on their conversation outside the supply shed. He tried to back pedal from his earlier comment. "I didn't mean to presume that you were arguing. I just meant in lieu of what happened between us last night, are you still okay with going out with him? He doesn't suspect anything?"
Aria studied him for a minute, before shaking her head. "No, he doesn't suspect anything. At least, nothing more than he did before yesterday. He and I are good," she smiled weakly before turning back to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," she called over her shoulder before disappearing from sight.
Ezra leaned back against the chalkboard, mentally exhausted from the conversation. This was going to be tougher on him than he thought. He knew it was his idea that Aria see both Jake and himself, but how was he going to react when he had to see them together at this dance, especially after knowing that Aria should be with him? And could Aria pull it off? Would she be able to keep up the appearance of being the doting girlfriend when her lover was in the same room watching the two of them? Everything hinged on their acting abilities. If anyone suspected, if either of them was unable to keep up the charade, it would all come crashing down and it would be the end of Ezria forever.
