A/N: Hello. :) My Spring Break officially started today! Finally, haha. I'll probably upload once or twice the upcoming week. The week after that I'm going to Rome with my school, so I won't be able to upload then.
onceuponaprettycastle: IB? Nog nooit van gehoord, sorry. ;)
Disclaimer: "Pretty Little Liars" isn't mine.
"So—," Aria said hesitantly, "—what's next?"
Aria and Noel were seated in Noel's car, still parked in the parking lot beside Blanchard House. They'd sat there for a brief period of time already and Aria was slowly beginning to regret her decision to leave the party.
"Don't worry," Noel said. "I have a plan."
"A plan?" Aria repeated, raising one skeptical eyebrow.
"Yes, a plan."
"What kind of plan?"
"I guess you will just have to wait and see," Noel said. He gave Aria a mysterious grin, before he turned the key in the ignition. The engine came alive, albeit a little falteringly. Noel looked over his shoulder as he pulled out of the parking spot, before he settled back in his seat. His eyes were fixated on the road.
"I figured that party wouldn't really be your thing," Noel said.
"Then why did you invite me?"
"Because I wanted to go out with you tonight. Sean got the invites to that party from his cousin. But now that I've pleased him, the real fun begins."
Aria couldn't help but laugh. "The real fun, huh?"
"Oh, yes," Noel said very seriously. "I've put some thought into this."
Twenty minutes later, Noel parked his car. After a two-minute walk, their destination came into view. Bright, fluorescent lights lit the entrance as well as they announced the name of the building. Aria turned toward Noel.
"A bowling alley?" she teased. "That's a little cheesy."
"I figured we should go old-school," Noel replied. He looked a little sheepish. Although Aria was surprised he'd come up with something other than a cheap-dinner-and-a-movie date, this wasn't what she had expected. She'd secretly been hoping that he was going to take her to a local music show or something, but Aria finally decided that this was nice too.
Aria quickly sent Ezra a text as they entered the building. They went up to a woman who pointed them in the direction of one of the lanes. Unfortunately, Aria had to change her heels for bowling shoes. She was sad to see them go. So was Noel. He told Aria as much.
They quickly got themselves drinks at the bar once the shoe situation was taken care of, and they walked to their lane.
"Alright! Let's knock down some pins," Aria said.
"Let's," Noel agreed.
Aria grinned. "You're dead, by the way."
And that's when her phone rang.
"Wait!" Ezra suddenly said to Brody. "What are you doing?"
Before Ezra even realized what was happening, a dial tone filled the room. Ezra's smile froze in place as his blood ran cold. Was he calling Aria? Before Ezra could ask or attempt to remove his phone from Brody's grasp, Brody had already leaned out of Ezra's reach. Ezra opened his mouth to admonish him, but Brody held out his hand to stop him when he heard noises coming from the other side of the line.
"Hello?" Ezra finally heard Aria's familiar voice say through the phone. The bastard had put the call on speaker phone! Brody perked up when he heard the response. Chris and Lance watched with silent amusement.
"Hand me the phone," Ezra said immediately, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He shoved his hand in Brody's face. Brody simply swatted at Ezra's hand and ignored him.
"Hello," Brody said politely. "Is this Aria?"
Ezra held his breath as he waited for Aria's reply, whilst trying to figure out how to proceed.
"Yeah," Aria said after a brief pause. Her reply came more hesitant now, because she didn't recognize Brody's voice. Ezra clenched his jaw together.
"Are you familiar with the concept of a boy's night, Aria? One of the key ingredients is no female interruptions."
"Brody!" Ezra hissed. He once again tried to snatch his phone away, but this only caused Brody to leap up from his chair and walk around the table until he was standing behind Lance.
"Are you familiar with the concept of a boy's night, Aria? One of the key ingredients is no female interruptions."
Aria's brows knitted together in confusion by the question and Noel was giving her a curious stare. Was this a prank call? She didn't recognize the low male voice, no matter how hard she tried to identify it.
"Who is this?" Aria asked. Indistinguishable noises filled the background. Aria removed the phone from her ear and glanced at the caller ID; a much quicker and more effective method than letting the other person have his fun. Ezra Fitz' initials flashed on her screen.
"Ez—," Aria started. She caught herself just in time and finished with, "—la? Mom?"
"Mom?"
Brody gave Ezra a funny look and Lance settled for full-out laughter.
"I think she wants to talk to you," Brody said, amused, holding out the phone for Ezra. Ezra let out a guttural groan, but did take advantage of Brody's offer. Ezra moved fast; one second the phone was in Brody's hand, the next it was in his. Ezra took a deep breath, and made sure the phone wasn't on speaker phone anymore when he pressed it against his ear.
"Sorry about that," Ezra said apologetically.
"Was that you before?" Aria asked, relieved to finally hear Ezra's voice. "You sounded real funny."
Ezra sighed. "No, it wasn't me."
"Then who—?"
"My friend," Ezra said, interrupting her. "Never leave your phone unattended. Lesson learned."
Aria laughed. "That explains it," she said. Ezra heard her say something to someone who was with her on the other side of the line, although he couldn't make out the exact words. After a brief pause, Aria spoke to Ezra again.
"Did you need anything? I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Right," Ezra said, nodding. "Your date with Noel."
How could he forget?
Ezra didn't even realize his mistake until he was met by silence coming from the other side of the line. Ezra found his friends staring at him, suddenly a lot more interested in Ezra's conversation now that they knew Ezra wasn't dating Aria. Because then who was she? Ezra's words hung in the air for a long time.
"How do you know about that?" Aria finally asked. She couldn't keep edge out of her voice.
"I...," Ezra started lamely. He fiddled absent-mindedly with a poker chip between his fingers while he thought of an explanation. He settled on a half-truth. "The teachers like to gossip a lot, apparently."
"So you talked about me?" Aria said, still not sounding very pleased. "With them?"
"No, Mrs. Welch sort of debriefed me on Noel Kahn," Ezra lied. But before he could say anything else to add to that, Brody stole Ezra's cellphone again and disconnected the call. Brody continued by sending Aria a text, telling her Ezra wasn't going to be able to pick her up tonight.
"Wait!" Ezra said. He fought the urge to punch something. He needed to set this straight and make sure Aria knew he wasn't stalking her at school or something, but Brody was typing furiously away on the touch screen. "I need my phone back."
"Maybe some other time," Brody said. He blocked the phone and slid it in his jeans pocket. "Aria can find another ride."
As cheesy as bowling may be, Aria did have a really good time with Noel after she tried to forget about her phone call with Ezra. Despite her resolve to make Noel lose his dignity, he still beat her. She was good-humored about it, though, and was satisfied with making empty threats for their next game.
"I had a really good time," Aria told Noel when they were parked in front of Spencer's house again. Darkness surrounded the car, granting them their own private little cubicle.
"Me too. We should do it again sometime."
"We should," Aria agreed. She smiled at Noel one last time, willing him to lean in to kiss her. It didn't happen and Aria reached for the metal door handle. This action made Noel respond quickly.
"I'll get it!" he said. He quickly got out of the car and walked over to the passenger's side. Just like he'd done earlier, he opened the door for Aria. Aria slowly got out of the car, but Noel didn't move out of the way just yet. As she tried to brush past him, they were suddenly very close.
He did kiss her this time.
It was a tentative kiss, his lips brushing softly against hers.
After a short moment, Noel backed away and kissed Aria's forehead. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled.
"I'll call you tonight," he said.
Aria didn't know what else to do but nod mutely, a goofy smile and the feeling of Noel still on her lips. She watched as he got back into his car and sped away. The backlights of his car got smaller and smaller, until they finally disappeared completely.
Once they did, Aria walked over to Spencer's barn. Fortunately the lights were still on. Aria peeked through the window and found Spencer reading a book, lounging on her bed.
Spencer looked up when Aria knocked on the door, recognizing Aria's face through the window. She immediately got up and walked over towards Aria, opening the door.
"Hey," Spencer said, surprise evident on her features. "What are you doing here?"
"My ride bailed on me," Aria said flatly. She wasn't sure why Ezra had texted her to cancel their original plan where he would give her a ride, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the odd phone call earlier that night. She didn't know whether she should or shouldn't be pissed at him, but she was a little uncomfortable with the fact that he knew she had been out with Noel tonight.
Spencer gave Aria a compassionate look. "I'll drive you."
"Okay," Aria said hesitantly. "Thanks."
"So this is where you live," Spencer said. Her car was parked in front of Kenneth Hall and she was curiously studying the building, taking in the surroundings. Street lights lit the parking lot, but Spencer could barely see the brick building she was trying so hard to see.
"This is where I live," Aria confirmed.
"I like it," Spencer said thoughtfully. "You should show me around. Preferably in broad daylight, but I'll settle for a nice evening like this as well."
"Thanks for the ride, Spence," Aria said, laughing. She ignored Spencer's suggestion; she wasn't going to give her a tour of the floor. Well, maybe she would someday, but if she was, Aria was going to be damn sure that their AP English teacher wasn't within a two-mile radius of the apartment/floor.
"You're welcome," Spencer said. She sighed dramatically, trying to guilt Aria into changing her mind. When it didn't happen, Spencer decided to allow Aria to drop the subject. Aria made motions to get out of the car, but finally turned back to look at Spencer.
"Just make sure to give me a heads-up if you're planning on dropping by," Aria said reluctantly.
Spencer chuckled. "So you can hide all your dark secrets?"
Aria smiled. "Something like that."
"Fuck!" Aria cursed loudly, adding some more colorful words. She was crouched in front of the door leading to her floor, but it was locked and she couldn't find her keys. Only after she'd thoroughly searched the contents of her bag, spreading them out all over the floor, she remembered where they were; she had connected them to Ezra's car keys so she wouldn't lose them.
Well, wasn't that ironic?
Aria's fist pounded loudly on the locked door for a couple times, but no response came. Either Ezra was still out or he was a very fast sleeper. Aria prayed it was the first option. She grabbed her cell phone to check, dialing Ezra's number.
Ezra answered this time, not his friend.
"Where are you?" Aria asked him.
"I just parked my car," Ezra said. Aria could hear a noise that sounded suspiciously like a car door being slammed shut. "Why?"
"You have my keys."
"I do?"
"Yeah," Aria said. "I connected them to your car keys. I figured I had a better chance of not losing one set of keys than I had not losing two sets of keys."
Ezra chuckled. "Looks like that worked out really well for you."
"No need to rub it in," Aria replied.
"Well, not to worry, damsel in distress. Your savior is on his way."
Aria huffed indignantly. "Just hurry up," she said, disconnecting the call.
Less than a minute later, Aria saw Ezra making his way up the stairs. As soon as he saw Aria, a grin spread over his face. Aria steadfastly ignored that grin, more focused on the keys that would ultimately give her access to her bedroom.
Ezra opened the door and removed Aria's keys from his.
"Here," he said. He handed them to her and she gratefully took them.
"Thanks," Aria said. "I don't know what I would have done if you were sleeping."
Ezra yawned, nodding along with Aria's words. The sight of it made Aria smile. She turned around to go to her bedroom, but Ezra stopped her, grabbing her by her arm.
"About that phone call…," Ezra said.
Aria turned around to listen and Ezra released her arm.
"I'm really sorry," he continued. "I may have seen you and Noel talking at school, so I asked around a little bit about him. I was just trying to look out for you, I swear."
Aria didn't know whether she should be grateful that he felt the need to do this for her or whether she should be furious he was interfering with things that were clearly not his business.
She went with the latter.
"I don't like the idea of you talking with teachers about me," Aria said. "About me or about Noel. It's none of your business."
"I know," Ezra said. He swallowed and finally gave Aria a lopsided grin. "Forgive me?"
Ezra watched Aria with a spark of amusement in his eyes, but it quickly shifted. Aria didn't know what changed, but the way he was suddenly looking at her made her breath catch at the back of her throat. He looked almost… worried?
"I'll think about it," Aria said quietly.
Ezra took a hesitant step forward.
"Please forgive me," he said, crossing another inch. Ezra didn't even realize he had been moving closer until his lips were only inches away from hers. Aria took a shaky breath as she took notice of this fact, too.
"No."
Aria was frozen, locked in his gaze—she couldn't tear her eyes away. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest. She nervously bit her bottom lip as neither of them moved, not closing the distance nor making it larger.
Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid, Ezra thought to himself.
His lips crashed against hers.
It didn't take long before Aria responded. Before they fully understood what was happening, they pressed their bodies closer together, blinded by sheer passion.
The kiss was everything Aria's kiss with Noel wasn't.
Ezra's hand went up to cup her cheek, while the other snaked around her neck. Ezra's mouth plunged deeper against Aria's, without reservations. A soft moan escaped her lips when his tongue begged for entrance and she eagerly gave in.
Aria was the one who broke the kiss. She suddenly jerked away, pressing against Ezra's chest until he stopped kissing her. Ezra staggered backwards from the impact. Their breathing was labored and their faces were flushed. Aria's huge eyes had grown even bigger with the understanding of what she'd just done—she had kissed her English teacher.
"Don't do that again," Aria managed to croak out, unable to meet Ezra's eyes. Ezra studied Aria for a brief moment.
"Don't kiss me back then," Ezra finally said, before he turned around and walked away from her.
A/N: Please review! ;)
