I accidentally published this chapter out of order, so go back and read 11 if you missed it.


Ezra picked up his phone and tentatively dialed a number from a piece of paper.

Spencer sat in her room, studying, as was usually the case. Her eyes raked down the textbook page full of study questions as she began to neatly inscribe the numbers 1 through 10 down the margin of her notebook when her cell phone buzzed on the desk beside her. She didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway. It wasn't strange phone calls she had to be afraid of; only texts. "Hello?"

"Hi, Spencer? This is Ezra… Fitz."

Upon hearing his voice, Spencer instinctively straightened up in her chair. "Hi. Um, is something wrong?" she asked, worried. She couldn't think of a single good reason he would call her for, only bad ones, and worse ones.

"No, no, everything is fine," Ezra said, and Spencer relaxed slightly. "I know it's strange for me to be calling you, I wanted your opinion on something…" he got straight to the point, "a gift… for Aria."

"Oh," she said, surprised.

"Obviously, you know about us, and you're one of Aria's best friends, and, well, I wanted to get her something special, but her taste is a bit…" He trailed off, thinking he should have thought of a way to finish that sentence before starting it.

"Eclectic?" It was nicer than 'out there.'

"That's a good word for it. See? You're helping already," he chuckled. "I wouldn't want to get her something she would have to pretend to like, and I'm sure I would get the wrong thing."

"I can help," Spencer declared confidently. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I want to get her a ring," Ezra said, and knew exactly how it sounded.

"A ring?" Visions of diamond engagement rings flashed through her mind.

"Just a ring. I thought of getting her a bracelet or something, but I think I'd like to get her a ring." A ring seemed more special than any other type of jewelry.

"Okay, wow, great." Spencer had a little trouble believing this conversation was really taking place. She'd known about Aria and Mr. Fitz, er, Ezra for quite a while now, but she had never interacted with him in this way, if you don't count the time she surprised him in his car to tell him she was worried about Aria. Even that exchange felt slightly less awkward than this silence right now.

Ezra cleared his throat, reminding Spencer it was still her turn to talk. "Well, I'm sure we can find something she'll like. Do you want to meet me at the jewelry store on Main Street? Tomorrow, say 4?"

"Sure. Great. Thanks for your help."

"No problem, Mr. Fitz."

Ezra wanted to say she could call him Ezra, but she'd already hung up.

In her room, Spencer mouthed, "Mr. Fitz?" It was a habit she would probably have to break soon.

.

The next day, Spencer stood outside the jewelry store waiting for Mr. Fitz. Ezra. Ezra, she reminded herself. Punctuality was Spencer's middle name, so naturally she had arrived 5 minutes earlier than the agreed-upon time, and took cover in the shadow of the awning in case Aria made a pit stop at Lucky Leon's, which was right across the way and a frequent haunt of the petite java-junkie. Spencer was all fired up to pick out this ring for her friend, determined to find something she would love, and was a little more excited than she should have been about keeping this secret from her for the time being. She hadn't let on in the slightest that she had spoken to her boyfriend, or that she had an appointment to meet him that afternoon.

At 4 on the dot, she saw Ezra's silver car pull up and park across the street. He hopped out and crossed behind a passing car, then said, "Hi, Spencer."

"Hi…" Ezra. Say Ezra! she told herself, but couldn't manage to get the word out.

"Ezra, you can call me Ezra. Not your teacher anymore."

"Ezra," Spencer repeated, awkwardly.

Hands in his pockets, he leaned in slightly and asked, "Can we just pretend this isn't weird?"

"We can try," she said, and smiled.

Ezra held the door open for Spencer to step through and heard the bell overhead jingle as the door closed behind him. The salesman greeted them and offered his help, but they declined, citing they were just there to look around. And so they did.

The first case contained an array of sparkly engagement rings. Spencer paused and raised an eyebrow.

"No, no, no, let's look in this case over here," Ezra said, pointing to the next glass case.

She followed him around the store, shooting down every suggestion he made. Eventually she thanked the salesman and said, "There's nothing here. Let's go."

"Wait, not even the bird one?" They had spent a few minutes sizing up the peacock-shaped ring with multicolored stones in the corner display. Aria sure liked feathers, he thought, it was probably a good bet she would like that ring.

"Do you have ten thousand dollars?"

"Uhh-"

"Because that ring costs twice that, at least." Those multicolored stones happened to be emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, and the silver finish, 24karat white gold. Ezra was so out of his league in a place like this. Spencer turned on her heel and vanished out the door. Ezra followed her outside, giving the salesman an apologetic look.

"There is nothing she would like in that entire store?" he asked Spencer, thinking they had given up far too soon.

"No, this was a bad idea on my part," she disclosed. "Everything in there is too new. Too… shiny. Aria would want something from a vintage shop, something previously owned by some old woman who gave up a glamorous lifestyle to adopt 14 cats."

"That does sound like her," Ezra laughed.

"Well, it's true. I think your best bet for something like that would be a shop in the city, but I have an even better idea. There's this website she shops on all the time, full of independent designers, every one with their own unique style. I'll search it tonight, compile some options and send you the links for you to narrow down. Most people do custom work, so once you get an idea of what you want, you can have someone make it from scratch. I'm sure she'll love it."

"That sounds like a great idea," Ezra said, impressed by the plan.

Spencer reached into her bag for a notebook and a pen. "Here, give me your email address," she said, handing him both items.

He jotted it down and handed it back, dropping the pen in the process, and they both stooped down to pick it up. He grabbed it first, rose, and handed it to her with an awkward smile, then he stuck his hands in his pockets and thanked Spencer once again before heading back to his car.

.

Ella Montgomery, after picking up Thai takeout for dinner, got into her car parked on the corner of Main Street. The sight of a former colleague and a current student talking and laughing outside a jewelry store caught her attention.


[The website Spencer is referring to is Etsy. ]