After her talk with Lily, Aria decided she needed to call a truce with Ezra. Sure they had a million reasons to be angry with each other, but they had even more important reasons to move past it.
Sitting on the pier by herself, she turned as she heard footsteps behind her. For a moment she thought it was Ezra coming to check in on her. But instead looking down at her was Wesley.
"Seat taken?" Wesley asked as he motioned to the spot beside her.
"Aren't you trying to avoid this exact situation?" Aria asked suspiciously.
"It's fine, Ezra went in to town to pick up my Dad. He took Emma with him, they'll be gone for at least a couple hours." Wesley responded as he sat down beside her. Aria had to turn her head away, his whisky breath was almost overbearing.
"Are you drunk?" she asked him.
"So what if I am, that's not what you really want to talk about is it?" he asked her as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"Stop" Aria said annoyed as she swatted his hand away.
"Did you see that?" Jack asked his wife, as they were heading to put the cover on the boat.
"Yeah, Wesley must be feeling brave today" Lyndsey laughed.
"No, I think he's bothering her, she just swatted his hand away." Jack said aggravated. He always knew the entire situation, and he couldn't help but be pissed at Wesley for trying to sneak behind his brother's back.
"Yeah she definitely doesn't seem to be enjoying his company" Lyndsey observed.
"What? Ezra's not looking" Wes smiled as he leaned in closer to her.
"That's not the point, I'm not interested. I never was. It was just a stupid scared moment." Aria tried to explain.
"Well that's not the way I remember it" Wesley shot back, as he grabbed her by her wrist and tried to pull her into a kiss.
"Get away from me!" Aria fumed, as she tried to squirm away from his grip. But the more she squirmed the tighter his grip became.
"Wesley you're hurting me!" Aria screamed.
The next thing Aria knew Wesley was being picked up and thrown back down on the pier. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jack screamed at him.
Wesley looked up at his cousin, and then back to Aria. "Why don't you just mind your own business, we were just catching up." Wesley seethed.
"You were hurting her." Jack reminded him angrily. He then turned back and looked at Aria. "Are you okay?" he asked genuinely.
"Yeah" was all Aria could say.
"Hey let's not over react. We didn't really need you to come rescue anyone, I wasn't going to attack the girl." Wesley said rolling his eyes.
"Well if you don't want to deal with me, maybe we can just wait for Ezra to get back, and then you can explain this to him?" Jack warned.
Wesley didn't respond. But it evident he didn't want option two. After a moment, he finally spoke.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked in a low voice.
"I want you to go pack up, I'm not keeping your secret, and I don't want to see you get hurt either." Jack told him firmly.
"What about Dad?" Wes asked upset.
"Tell him what you want, but you don't need to be here" Jack shot back.
Wesley swallowed hard, he looked back to Aria "I didn't mean to hurt you" and then headed towards the house.
Lyndsey then made her way over to Aria and Jack. "I'm so sorry Wesley has been drinking all day long, I don't know what got into him." She apologized.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, really" Aria said as she cleared her throat.
"Come on let's get you inside" Lyndsey said sweetly.
"Wait" Aria said suddenly. Both Jack and Lyndsey looked at her confused.
"Can we keep this between us?" she asked nervously.
Jack looked at her like she was crazy.
"I'm not trying to cover for him, I just, I just want one thing with me and Ezra to go smoothly. I don't want to be that girl that rips his family apart. I'll tell him, I just don't want a whole lot of drama in front of his entire family. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah I get it" Lyndsey answered.
"So you want us to lie to him?" Jack said aggravated.
"No we're just pressing pause on the issue." Aria tried to reason.
"He was just being overly pushy, it's not like he hit me" Aria argued. Even though she knew she was down playing it.
Jack breathed in deeply. "Fine but if Ezra asks me anything I'm not lying to him" Jack said angrily before heading back into the house.
"He'll be fine" Lyndsey smiled. "He just very protective of Ezra" she explained.
Aria just smiled at her, and they made their way back towards the house.
"Momma! Come meet my Grandpa!" Emma excitedly called out. Aria made her way over to the truck where Ezra was getting his father's bags. "So I finally get to meet the infamous Aria" he said sweetly as flashed her his charming smile. Aria couldn't help but feel flattered.
"It's nice to meet you too" she grinned as she shook his hand. "I can see where Emma gets her beauty from" he winked.
"Well Ezra does get some credit too" she corrected.
"And your welcome for that" he teased.
Aria laughed out load.
"A beautiful laugh too, Ezra where did you find this one?" he called back behind him.
"In a bar" Ezra answered and he past them up, and carried the bags into the house. He loved his dad, but it always annoyed him that he would openly flirt with any girl Ezra ever brought around.
"Ezra hates when I flirt" he whispered. "It almost makes it impossible to stop doing it" he smirked.
"I'm sure he'll be fine" Aria giggled.
"And where is my youngest? He can't come and say hello to his father?" Michael questioned.
"He got a call and said he needed to get home. He said he would call you" Lyndsey answered.
She smiled a quick smile to Aria, who mouthed a "thank you".
Aria found herself sitting with Michael for almost an hour before it was announced that dinner was ready outside. He was hilarious, she wondered how a man like him was ever married to Diane.
As everyone gathered around the long picnic tables, Michael took his seat next Emma. "Look Emma it's like a mirror, only we're better looking" he joked to her as they sat across from Aria and Ezra.
"As long as it make you feel better about yourself" Ezra smirked.
"Hmm, here I went out of my to bring my son his favorite scotch, and he mocks me" Michael whined.
"You didn't" Ezra laughed.
"Of course I did, and you should have seen the look on Mr. O'Reilly's face when he brought this Irish man a bottle of scotch. It's just not right son" Michael feigned disgust.
"Well let's open this bad boy up!" Kaitlyn cheered.
Ezra turned to Aria, he looked hesitant. He didn't have to say anything, she knew what he was worried about. He didn't know if was okay to drink now that he was a father.
She smiled at him sweetly. "He got it for you to enjoy, I'll keep an eye on Emma" she assured him.
"Well if you weren't here I wouldn't" he responded.
"Ezra, I know that" she cut him off by gently putting her hand on his arm.
"Well now that you have permission from the Mrs." Michael joked, as he poured three glasses.
Dinner went by fast. Everyone was listening to Michael's latest tale of getting out of yet another inappropriate situation with some married woman. Aria laughed at the silly story, but still hoped that he was joking.
Lyndsay soon walked up to Aria, and offered to keep Emma with her girls while the adults had their fun outside.
"Please mom, it will be like a sleepover!" Emma asked.
"Sure baby" Aria smiled.
"And now the party really begins" Michael cheered and he handed Aria her own glass.
"Oh I don't know if I can keep up with y'all" Aria said hesitantly.
"Of course not, were Irish. But I'm sure you can take baby sips" Michael teased.
Aria narrowed her eyes at Michael and defiantly took a big gulp. Immediately her entire face scrunched up, and her body shook.
Ezra laughed out loud at her. "Don't try too hard, he's already impressed with you" he leaned over and whispered to her.
"No secrets among family, children" Michael called out.
"No secrets, it's just Aria is a lightweight and I know how she gets" Ezra explained.
"I'll bet you do" Michael giggled.
Aria and Ezra both acted like they didn't hear the comment, but they both blushed, and they both couldn't help but to think back on exactly what Ezra's father was insinuating.
Almost an hour later, the scotch was gone. Ezra had smiled so much that his face hurt. As the group of four made their way back to the house Michael held the door open for others. As Aria stepped up into the house Ezra placed both of his hands on her hips. "Steady" he called out. Electricity shot through her body, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
"Goodnight" she said sweetly to Michael and Kaitlyn. As she got closer to the bedroom she could hear the T.V in the room across the hall. The door was open and she could see Emma and her two cousins crashed on a blanket on the floor.
Smiling at sight, she turned and made her way back into the bedroom. As she went to let her hair down, she could feel Ezra's eyes on her. She turned to face him. He didn't turn away, instead he made his way over to her. "You looked beautiful tonight" he softly told her.
Aria braced herself. She could feel her heart pumping as he came closer. Once he was right in front of her he raised his hand and gently pushed her hair back behind her ear. Aria looked up and stared into his eyes.
"Are you going to kiss me because you're drunk?" she questioned.
"I always want to kiss you, it's just harder to control it when I'm drunk" he simply answered.
"So you don't really hate my guts?" Aria pushed.
Ezra smiled. "I hate that I love you"
"Just what a girl wants to hear" Aria said sadly.
Ezra cupped her face with his hand. "Come lay with me, I won't try anything. I just have to hold you" he pleaded.
Aria was conflicted, she was dying to be in his arms, but she didn't know how a sober Ezra would feel in the morning. "And in the morning, what then?" she questioned nervously.
"Then we eat breakfast" he answered as he picked her up, and laid her on the bed. He scouted in beside her and wrapped his arms around her.
True to his word, he didn't try anything. They slept fully clothed, tangled into each other.
I do apologize for the delays in updating, but I have two children under five, and a husband that keeps me busy (and a full time job). Not making excuses, but just stating that it is impossible to update all the time. I'll do my best to get better. Thanks for any reviews! You guys rock!