Hello, all! Been a while, eh? I was feeling a little unmotivated but thanks to last night's INCREDIBLE winter premiere, I've got it in me to finish this story. And seriously, last night was amazing. The entire scene where Ezra and Aria tell her parents, I was practically squealing like a tween girl who'd just be introduced to the Bieber (and I'm many years beyond being a tween). He's just so adorable. And the whole episode was so well-written and well-acted, particularly scenes with Spoby; I'm definitely jumping on that train this season, even more so than before. Okay, enough rambling. There will be two, maybe three, more chapters. Let me know what you think. I appreciate it so much. Thanks!
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
"So your parents come home tomorrow," Ezra said as he leaned against the doorframe to Aria's bedroom on Friday night while she read a book. "And I'll go back to my place."
"Yep," she nodded, not looking up at him.
"Could you maybe put your book down for a minute so we can talk?" he requested, walking over to sit at her desk.
Aria sighed and set her book down. "What's there to talk about? You just said what's going to happen."
"But I haven't said that's what I want," he told her. "These last four days have been incredible and I couldn't be happier about how things are going with us. Aria, I want you to move in with me."
"You do?" she whispered.
He smiled. "Of course I do. I've wanted you to move in all along; I just didn't want to scare you away while you were figuring things out."
"You dummy," she laughed softly. "So, what now?"
"Well, I'd like to talk to your parents about it first before you pack your life up to move out," he explained, "but I'm also thinking it might be time to upgrade from the one-room studio."
She frowned. "I love that little apartment."
"Me, too," Ezra agreed, "but I don't think either of us will like it so much when we're both living there." He walked over to take her hands to pull her up. "Which brings me to my next point of discussion: finding a new place for us to live."
"Apartment hunting?" she smiled. "That could be fun. I never had much say when I was in California because Lainey was so picky and I agreed to anything to shut her up."
He chuckled. "Well, it was sort of torture for me when I found the studio but I'm sure picking a place for both of us to live in together will be much more fun."
"Cool," she agreed, reaching up to kiss him. "I'm excited."
"So am I," he nodded, "but you're sure this is what you want? Moving in together is a major step and it's serious stuff, Aria. I love you and I know it's exactly what I want but I don't want you to feel pressured."
Aria shook her head. "I don't. I know you worry that I'll resent you someday because I'm only twenty-two and you think I'm settling down but I don't see it that way at all. I love you, Ezra, and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew that when I was sixteen."
He couldn't wipe the grin from his face. "I want this to be it for me, Aria."
"Me, too," she said, "and it will be."
Saturday morning, Hanna dragged Caleb into a quiet Parsons in New York City and excitedly led him to Fiona's office.
"Why did I come?" he whined, sipping his coffee. "It's so early."
"Because in less than two months, I'm coming back to New York on a permanent basis and you need to know the city," she told him quietly. "I want you to be comfortable here."
He sighed. "All right, I get it."
Moments later, Hanna pushed back a door and found her former professor, Fiona Caplan, busy talking on the phone. She motioned for Hanna and Caleb to come in and used a finger to indicate she'd be a minute.
"…I don't care if she wants to donate her million-dollar collection of Birkin bags to the school, I refuse to bring Rachel Zoe into any of my classrooms," she said angrily. "She's a phony hack who thinks she's more important than her clients." She listened for a moment. "Jim, it's not happening." She hung up quickly before another word was said. "Hanna Marin, you look great. Summer really agrees with you."
"Thank you," Hanna beamed. "Um, Fiona Caplan, this is my boyfriend, Caleb Rivers. Caleb, this is Fiona Caplan, Parsons' director of design."
Caleb reached out to shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"You, too," Fiona replied. "He's much cuter than that preppy blonde you dated."
Hanna frowned at mention of Graham. "I didn't come here to talk about him."
"I know," Fiona smiled. "I spoke with Marcy this morning and she's got her team ready to go on the wedding gown. If you can meet with her today at three-thirty to talk everything over, they can have it ready by July first for a fitting. Any alterations before the ninth can be done between then and she has assured me that it will be ready on time. I explained that your friend is a bit high-strung."
"To put it mildly," Caleb muttered. "Spencer Hastings is downright scary."
"She's intense," Hanna corrected. "And motivated."
Fiona wrote on the back of a business card and handed it to Hanna. "This is Marcy's studio in the West Village. She'll be expecting you at three-thirty. Don't be late, Marin."
Hanna stood and Caleb followed suit. "I won't. Thank you so much, Fiona."
"Just do me proud at Betsey Johnson," Fiona requested. "Good luck. Oh, and Hanna?"
"Yeah?" Hanna asked, turning to look over her shoulder.
Fiona smiled. "The dress you designed is beautiful."
"Thank you," Hanna beamed.
Once outside, Hanna and Caleb made their way towards Fifth Avenue so Hanna could shop before her meeting with Marcy.
"So, can we talk about how things are going to be with us when you move back here in August?" he wondered, taking her hand in his as they walked down the busy sidewalk. "It's just, I have a feeling we're going to get frustrated if we're taking turns going an hour and a half both ways every weekend."
She was momentarily quiet as she considered this. "Well, I can't exactly work for Betsey Johnson from Philadelphia so I don't know."
"What if I came here?" he wondered quietly. "When I was looking for jobs on the east coast, there were quite a few in New York. Maybe I could look into one of them?"
"You just started at Penn," she stated. "Won't it look bad if you leave after only a couple months?"
He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. My boss is pretty cool and I think she might understand if I were to move here to be with you. She said she gave up a job working at Apple so she could live in Philly with her husband."
"Really?" she murmured as a spark of hope ignited in the pit of her stomach. "But you love your job there. Where would you work if you come here?"
"Well, there were openings at Columbia and an engineering job with Apple in Newark," he remembered. "I'm pretty sure the Apple job would've been really great and the pay was good."
She clutched his hand tighter. "I mean, I like the idea of you coming here but it's not something we have to decide right this second. For now, I just want to enjoy a weekend together in New York."
"Sounds good to me," he sighed, kissing the side of her head.
"So, Aria said you two wanted to speak to us?" Byron said that afternoon once he and Ella were home from their trip and settled in.
Ezra cleared his throat. "Yes, we do." He reached under the dining room table to hold Aria's hand. "Aria and I have spent the last several days figuring out our relationship and we've decided we really want to have a serious future together."
"Okay," Ella muttered. "Did you propose to her?"
"No!" Aria cried. "No, it wasn't anything like that. It's just, well, he's stayed with me the last couple of days and it's made me realize that I like living with him."
Realization crossed Ella's face. "So you're moving in together."
"Yes," Ezra confirmed. "And we didn't want to just do it without talking to you both first."
"Well, I appreciate that," Byron said. "It's just a lot to take in. We only just recently found out about your multi-year relationship and now she's moving in with you. I know you aren't getting married right now but is it something we can expect?"
"I would like it to be," Ezra replied. He looked at Aria. "Would you?"
"Yeah," she whispered, unable to contain her smile.
Ella grinned at the sight of her daughter's obvious happiness. "Well, if this is really what the two of you want, I'm happy for you and I'll do whatever I can to help you move in or decorate or whatever."
"Yeah, if this is what you want, I'll do the same," Byron agreed. "I can see that you're going to take care of her and you love each other so I'm okay with it, so long as she gets her Masters."
"Of course," Ezra nodded. "I know how important that is to her and I'd never hold her back."
Ella fiddled with her wedding ring. "Well, have you two looked anywhere yet or will you just be moving into his apartment?"
"My place now is small for me so we're going to find something bigger," Ezra reported. "I set up an appointment with a realtor for tomorrow morning so we're going to look at a couple places around Hollis College."
"Great," Ella stated. "Well, when you find something you both like, just let me know and I'll start shopping. You'll need furniture to fill it because the simple couch and chair you've got now won't do."
"Ella, you don't have to do that," Ezra told her.
Ella flipped her hands at him. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just what mothers do when their daughters move out for good—they buy furniture."
Early the next morning, Aria and Ezra followed Lisa Hepburn—no relation to Katharine or Audrey, to Aria's dismay—into a quaint, two-bedroom apartment in a new building only two blocks from Hollis. It was the fourth one they'd seen and Aria was losing hope.
"I like the location," Ezra declared, looking around the kitchen. "And it's bigger than the other three at roughly the same price. Aria?"
"It's nice," she agreed, browsing through the bedrooms. "I like that it has two bathrooms so people wouldn't have to use ours all the time. And it's close enough to the expressway so it'll be easy to get to Philadelphia for school."
Lisa looked down at her leather-bound folder of information. "Utilities are included in the rent, there's a gym and pool for summer use, and there haven't been any noise complaints in the sixth months people have lived here. It's mostly young professionals or retired couples."
"I like that," Ezra spoke up. "I like that it's quiet around here. A couple college kids just moved into the building I'm in now and they have parties every other night."
"Well, there wouldn't be any problems with that here," Lisa assured him.
Ezra turned to Aria expectantly. "So, what do you think?"
"I like it," Aria nodded. "I could see us living here."
"Great!" Lisa cried. "You guys continue looking around and I'll start on the paperwork."
Ezra and Aria walked to the master bedroom and sat down on the window seat.
"It's weird," she murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I mean, I've thought of us moving in together since I was about sixteen but it's really happening now."
"I'm glad," he said, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "I'm not sure I could be any happier that we've figured all this out and we're going to do this."
"Me either," she whispered, turning to kiss him. "I love you, Ezra Fitz."
He smiled. "I love you, too, Aria Montgomery. And welcome home."
"Home," she breathed, "has never sounded better."