A/N: I want to start by apologizing for not updating this story in seven months. Its not because I didn't want to, but I really couldn't even bring myself to my computer. The past months have been very stressful and hard for me. There's certain situations that happened resulting in my anxiety to shoot out the roof. It got so bad that I didn't even know how to control it anymore. I've been getting better and controlling it more, and slowly, I finished this chapter with the help of my friend, Carlet. But anyway, enough of this and I hope you enjoy this chapter. It will reveal a bit of why Aria is the way she is.

Enjoy! And happy new year! Here's to hoping 2016 isn't as shitty as 2015.

"Aria, wait! I'm sorry."

Aria kept her back turned, placing one foot in front of the other. Had he really followed after what had gone on just a few minutes ago, after what she'd said to him, after she'd insulted him? . Left, right, left, right. Her heels clacked loudly on the pavement, strong enough to drown out the voice behind her.

"Aria," he repeated.

She ignored him. Her car was not twenty feet away, no it was now fifteen, then finally ten. She ran her fingers over the smooth metal of her keys in her clutch. Thank God she'd insisted on taking her car.

"Aria," he said yet again. "Please tell me that isn't true. That what you told me up there isn't true."

At the sound of the last word, at the way his voice broke when he asked, no begged, her to return, to stay, she nearly gave in. Oh, it would be too, too easy to just turn around.

But easy was never the best option.

Steeling herself against Ezra, the way she'd done to so many other guys before him, Aria slipped into her car and turned out of the parking lot, never looking back until she was home.

(Twelve hours earlier)

Aria wrapped a towel around her body as she stepped out of the shower. Her phone was vibrating against the bathroom counter, and she couldn't help but smile when she saw 'Ezra's' name flashing on the screen.

"Hey."

"Hey, babe." Ezra's cheery voice greeted her.

Babe. Although at first she hadn't wanted him to call her 'Babe' due to her past experience, she slowly developed a liking to it.

"What's up?"

"You know that new Restaurant I was telling you about, across from the train station? Well it just opened yesterday, and I got us some reservations for tonight at six. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll come to yours at around five."

"Great. I'll you soon."

She placed her phone on her bed, and walked over to her closet. It was the end August, and it was over 90 degrees out. Finally deciding on a short semi-formal red dress, she slipped it on and headed downstairs.

By now she was hoping she'd already have her own place, but her and Hanna wouldn't be signing the lease until the beginning of October. She was starting her TA job at Hollis on September 28th, and by then she had hoped she'd already be settled and moved into her new place. Instead, she was going to be juggling her new job and moving.

She was heading back to California in a week to collect all her things. This what something she was yet to tell Ezra. After this week, she was probably never going to see him again. But it didn't matter, right? They had both agreed this would be a summer fling and nothing more. He'd be going back to LA, and she'd be starting her life back in Rosewood. It would all work out just fine. She'd just let him know tonight.

Her heart suddenly ached a little thinking that in one week she'd never see him again. Why was she feeling this way? Was it because she actually enjoyed spending time with him? Or because she actually liked him? Either way, she'd eventually get over it.

As she was getting her earrings out of her drawer, she felt something in the back of it. She slowly pulled out to reveal a silver bracelet with a small silver key on it.

"Hey." Aria felt a soft kiss on her cheek.

She smiled and turned back, pecking his lips gently. "Hey, how was your English final?"

Noel took a seat beside her. "Better than I thought. Let's just hope I get a good grade."

"You will."

"You think?"

"I know you will. And you want to know why?"

"Tell me." He smiled down at her.

"Because not only are you the most handsome guy I've ever met, but you're also the smartest. I believe in everything you do."

He captured her lips in a sweet kiss. "Thank you. I love you."

She smiled and kissed him once again. "I love you, too."

"Oh, before I forget, I have something for you."

"For me? Why?"

"Do I need a reason to get my beautiful girlfriend something?" He smiled.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small bag from it.

"Okay, close your eyes."

Aria did as told and closed her eyes. Within seconds, she felt a cold object on her wrist.

"You can open them now."

On her wrist was a silver chained bracelet, with a small key charm hanging from it.

"Oh, Noel this is beautiful. Thank you, I love it."

"This leads up to the second gift."

Aria furrowed her brow in confusion.

"You see this key on the bracelet? It represents more." He reached into his backpack once more and took out a key hanging on a piece of string. "This is the key to my apartment. I want it to become our apartment, Aria. What do you say, now that this school year is over, will you like to move in with me for the following years?"

Aria stared at him wide eyed. Did she want to move in? Of course she did. She loved Noel so much and would love to wake up next to him everyday. But was she really ready? Yeah, she loved him and that was all that mattered.

"Of course I would, Noel." She eagerly replied, sealing the deal with a tender kiss. "I love you."

She threw the bracelet into her trash bin. She didn't even know she still had it. She never wanted to see it again. Accepting that bracelet had been the biggest mistake of her life and she didn't want to be constantly reminded by it.

She wouldn't let finding that bracelet ruin her day. She grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

A few hours later, both her and Ezra were walking down from his apartment and to his car. Ezra went to the other side of the car and opened up the passenger door for her.

"Thank you." She smiled. He was always such a gentlemen every time they went out. She kind of like it.

"Are you excited to try this new place?"

"Yeah, Spencer said it really good. They have a wide variety of vegetarian options too, which is great." Aria stated.

"Good."

Five minutes later, they were pulling into the restaurant's parking lot.

"Table for Fitz."

"Right this way."

They were lead to one of the more secluded areas of the restaurant, and each given a menu.

"Your waiter will be with you in a second."

Aria skimmed the menu, finding herself wanting everything on it.

"Everything looks delicious."

"Hi, my name is Josh, I'll be your server today. Can I get some drinks started?" He asked.

Ezra cleared his throat, noticing he'd been staring at Aria for far too long, and he was staring at a place only he should be allowed to look at. "I'll take a glass of red wine."

"I'll have the same, please." Aria added.

"Alright, I'll bring those in a sec, and come back for your orders."

"Thank you." Aria smiled.

"So what are you thinking of getting?" She asked looking up from the menu.

He shrugged his shoulders.

Okay. Aria thought.

"Number 22 looks good, doesn't it?"

Again,he shrugged. "Yeah." He simply responded.

Aria furrowed her brow. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." His response was short.

"Ezra."

He sighed. "Fine. I didn't like the way he was looking at you. And that dress you're wearing isn't helping.

But Aria stopped listening after she heard his say 'I didn't like the way he was looking at you'.

"Noel, what's wrong?" Aria asked as they sat at one of the tables at his older brother's wedding reception.

"Nothing." He simply responded. "Nothing at all."

"Babe." Aria whispered, fixing his tie.

He shrugged her off. "I said nothing's wrong, Aria."

"There's something wrong, I know it."

"Okay. You're right. You know that guy sitting over there?" He pointed across the room." Well I don't like the way he's looking at you."

"What?" Aria responded confused. He was upset over something she wasn't even aware of.

"He's practically undressing you with his eyes. Why'd you even wear that dress?" He asked her.

"It's too revealing. You're showing too much skin, and I don't like it." He harshly spat.

"I-i'm sorry, Noel. I didn't realize it. I can wear your jacket over it. I'm sorry that I upset you."

He ignored her, taking a drink of his beer, and shooting the guy a threatening look.

"It's too late now. Whatever."

"Babe, I'm so sorry. I don't like making you upset. I'm sorry."

"I said, whatever, Aria. Don't ruin my night anymore than you already have."

Aria simply nodded, and tugged at her dress, now feeling self conscious. She only hoped Noel would get over this. She really hoped he would.

"Aria, babe, are you okay?" Ezra asked worriedly. "Look, the way I said it was not how I meant it. I'm sorry. I just got a tad bit jealous, but you're so beautiful so how can I not get jealous. Really, I'm sorry if I offended you."

Aria snapped back to reality. Was she really letting a meaningless comment ruin her night? She shouldn't. It wasn't worth it. Besides, she had to admit that she too sometimes got jealous when someone would look at Ezra.

"No worries. I'm fine. I promise." She assured him with a smile.

"Okay, great. I don't want to upset you."

"I'm fine. Are you ready to order?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll have the number 22 as well, it sounds delicious."

"Alrighty, then."

Aria let herself fall onto Ezra's couch, kicking her heels off as she let out a sigh of relief. "It feels so good to finally take these off. My feet were killing me."

Ezra chuckled as he settled on the couch, resting her feet over his lap. "How about a foot massage?"

"That sounds lovely."

Ezra started slowly massaging her feet,working out all the knots. Aria closed her eyes in content, enjoying the feeling.

Suddenly, she felt a soft kiss to her foot, and then on her leg. Her eyes instantly shot open, knowing where this was headed. She sat, and in a swift movement, straddled his lap, attaching her lips to his within seconds. He carefully picked her up, leading them toward his bed.

Aria woke up a few hours later. She reached out to grab Ezra's phone and noticed it was 11:25 pm. She figured she would spend the night at his. Just as she was settling under the covers, she felt Ezra's arm tighten around her, and his hushed voice behind her.

"Aria?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

Aria looked at him suspiciously. "What is it?

He let out a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding in.

"I've been thinking about what's going to happen in a few weeks when you go back to California. About what's going to happen with us."

Oh no.

"I know we both agreed that this would be a summer fling, but it's become more than that for me."

This can't be happening.

"I know you have your teaching job, and all, but I want us to be together. I've developed feeling for you, Aria."

Damnit. Tears brimmed her eyes as she listened to him.

"Allow me to follow you, Aria. Wherever it is you're going for your job, I'm willing to go after you." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Aria." He finally confessed.

And as those words were said, Aria's heart stopped. She was numb. Annoyed. Upset. Just everything.

"I can't lose you, Aria. You're mine, and want you to always be mine."

They walked into their apartment door, and as soon as the door shut behind them, Aria let out a squeal.

"Ow, Noel, you're hurting me." She cried.

He pinned her against the wall, holding her arms above her head, maintaining a firm and painful grip on them.

"How could you do that to me?" Noel asked through gritted teeth.

She winced in pain. "W-what are you talking about?" She asked.

He laughed before slapping her across the face, resulting in a fresh batch of tears falling freely from her eyes.

"You wore that stupid dress, Aria. And everyone's eyes were on you. Did you do that on purpose, you little slut?"

He pinned both her hands in one of his hands, while the other wrapped around her small throat.

"Answer me." He angrily spat. "I'm talking to you. Did you do that on purpose?"

She shook her head, tears continuing to fall. "No. I promise I didn't."

He slapped her once again, while his grip on her wrist tightened. "Liar. You're a pretty little liar."

His grip on her throat tightened as he shoved her down onto the couch. "You always do this to me. You're always dressing so provocatively, so revealing. You like attention do you."

What? This was the first time in weeks she was finally able to wear something other than long sleeves. He had even approved of the dress before they left.

Aria blinked away the tears, as she tried to push him off her. "B-babe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this."

He let go of her as he paced around the living room. Aria slowly sat up, rubbing her wrist. She was sure bruises would be present by morning.

"Ow." She yelped in pain as she felt him pull her by the hair.

"You are mine, Aria." He spat angrily, while tightening his grip on her hair. "Mine, and mine only. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "Y-yes."

She jumped out of bed, searching for her discarded clothing. "I have to go."

Ezra shot out of bed instantly, pulling on his boxers before going after her.

"Aria, wait."

She shook her head as she pulled on her dress. "You don't understand."

"Stop." He reached out to grab her arm, she flinched at his touch. "Aria, listen to me."

"No. Don't you understand this was just a summer hookup?"

"I refuse to believe that, Aria."

"Well you better believe it." She responded. "Don't you see, Ezra? This was all just fun and games for me. From the moment I saw you, all I wanted was sex from you. We had the summer together, and that was fun. I don't need any of your sappiness right now."

"You don't mean that."

She slipped on her jacket. "I do, Ezra. Do you really think someone like me would ever date someone like you? You're a book nerd, a geek. You're not my type. Sex with you isn't even that great, I've had better. This was a bet I made with my friends. It's the end of summer now, I don't have to keep pretending. I'm done."

He shook his head. "You're not serious."

She shrugged. "Believe what you want."

He clenched his fist, causing Aria's heartbeat to triple in speed. Was he gonna hit her?

"I should've known." He let out a short laugh, releasing his fist, and running his hand through his messy hair. "I should've known this meant nothing to you. It was obvious you only sleep around. I was an idiot."

She ignored him, grabbing her purse and heading toward the door.

"Go fuck every guy in Rosewood now." He angrily spat. "That's obviously the only thing you like to do and only thing you're good at. I wished I'd never even sat next to you."

She closed the door behind her, feeling a jab to her heart as he said those words. For some reason, him saying it was more painful to hear, even more than when Noel would constantly call her a slut.

She had to get out of here. Not even giving him one last look, she walked out.

Hours later, she couldn't take it anymore. Everyone was asleep. She would finally let out all those bottled up feeling she'd been feeling since she'd left Ezra's apartment three hours earlier.

She sobbed into her pillow, hugging it closer to her body. Why was she even crying? She had no reason to be crying.

But she couldn't help it. Her heart ached thinking back to the way she'd hurt Ezra. The look on his face. Why was she feeling like this? This relationship couldn't mean anything to her. She'd promised herself when she'd first begun dating. No guy was worth her going through such a terrible experience all over again. Afterall, that's how it all began, first they were caring and romantic, then all hell broke loose. She would not got through that again. Never.

She was so glad it was Friday. She and her friends had finally finished that group project they had been assigned earlier that week, and now had the whole weekend to relax. It was such an exhausting week

Pulling her key out of her purse, she made her way inside her apartment, as soon as she closed the door behind her, she was met with Noel's angry glare.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"I told you I was going over to Sara's to finish our project."

"Is that really where you've been, Aria. Or are you lying to me? I called you over 50 times and you didn't answer. Are you lying to me?" He asked, backing her up to the wall.

"Noel, ple-"

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" He yelled, punching the wall behind her.

Aria jumped, and could feel the tears brimming her eyes. He'd never yelled at her like this.

"Babe, of course I'm not lying. My phone died. Look." She held out her phone to him.

"Damnit, Aria!" He took the phone out her hands, throwing it across the room. It hit the wall, shattering it to pieces instantly.

"Do you know how worried I was?" He yelled. "I was so worried sick. "From now on, any group projects will be done here, okay. This is to never happen again, do you hear me?"

She remained silent.

"ARIA! Answer me." He punched the wall behind her once again.

"Yes. From now on, they will all be here."

Noel nodded, finally calming down. "I'm sorry for yelling, but you have to understand it was your fault. You're the one who worried me."

Aria nodded. "You're totally right, babe. I'm so sorry."

And he was right. If her phone hadn't been dead, if she would've called to let him know they were running late, he wouldn't have yelled at her. It was her fault. She deserved his yelling.

A/N: Let me know what you think! How terrible was Noel? Did she mean what she said, or is she just scared to admit her feelings?"

Fun fact abt me: Im a huge Seahawks fan, and Russel Wilson lives like 10 minutes away from me...Ive actually thought abt camping outside his apartment building. Lol jk, thatd be crazy.