A/N: Hi. A new episode tonight! Or for me tomorrow, I guess. It's about time! :) Thought I'd upload this before then.

Disclaimer: Yeah.

It turned out you had to climb twenty-one steep, narrow staircases in order to reach the seventh floor, and by the fifth one Aria had trouble remembering why she'd wanted to bring a weekend bag. Did she really need clothes?

Spencer and Kelly were a little behind, regularly stopping in between floors because they ran out of breath. Ezra and three other guys were on the seventh floor as well, whereas the other lucky bastards were on the second floor.

"Here," Ezra whispered in Aria's ear, appearing by her side. "Let me get that for you."

He held up his hand for Aria's weekend bag. Aria quickly looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching, before she gratefully handed it to him. They continued climbing the stairs in silence, their footsteps echoing throughout the building. After two more exhausting minutes, they finally reached a dimly-lit corridor.

Aria and Ezra staggered in the direction of room 703. Spencer had given Aria the room key, and she inserted it in the lock. The door squeaked as it opened, revealing dark shapes with a suspiciously close resemblance to a bed. Aria's hand felt around for the light switch until she found it, turning the lights on.

Compared to the small room Aria had at Kenneth Hall, this hotel room was a fucking palace. There was a giant double bed in the far left corner and single bed was on the opposite end of the room. A small television stood on a mahogany desk, looking strangely out of place. The desk was surrounded by huge, velvet chairs. Through an open door Aria could see a part of a bathtub and a sink. Ezra dropped Aria's bag in the middle of the carpeted floor.

"Okay," Aria said slowly, studying the room in awe. "Maybe this was worth climbing those staircases."

Ezra laughed. "I hate to burst your bubble, but we have to be downstairs again in five minutes."

He watched with an amused expression on his face how Aria collapsed on one of the beds and ignored his comment. She sat on the cover, bouncing up and down to test its bounciness. She seemed pleased with the results, because the smile on her face never faltered.

"Are you sharing a room with us, Mr. Fitz?"

Aria and Ezra both froze in place as Spencer's voice called out. Spencer gave Ezra a sweet smile, amusement evident on her features. Ezra cleared his throat. He was so startled he couldn't think of what to say, and he had to scramble to get some words out.

"Err, I was just helping Aria with her stuff," he mumbled awkwardly, shifting on his feet and running a hand through his hair. "So… I guess I'll see you girls in the lobby in five minutes."

Now that Spencer was in the room, Ezra couldn't get out of the door fast enough. The girls watched after him as he left, before they closed the door. Spencer chuckled and focused her attention on Aria.

"I was wondering how such a tiny girl could carry so much with her so fast."

Aria was suddenly very interested in her bag and she put it on the bed she had been sitting on. She decided to let Spencer get away with mocking her size just this once.

Aria, Spencer and Kelly managed to make it to the lobby on time. Everyone agreed they were too starved to look for a nice restaurant and the discount coupons they'd received from the front desk when they checked in helped make de decision that they'd eat in the restaurant at the hotel instead. The restaurant was formal. The maître d' immediately rushed to the newly-arrived customers and unctuously greeted them.

"How can I help you?" she asked. A cheek-aching smile was plastered on her face—she was smiling so hard her cheeks were starting to shake. "Did you make a reservation?"

"We didn't. We've just arrived, but we'd like to eat here," Ezra said, taking it upon himself to answer. The maître d' nodded like this was the most fascinating thing she'd ever heard. When Ezra told her he wanted a table for eleven people, her smile faltered. She launched into an elaborate explanation about how she couldn't just push three tables together, and Ezra finally settled for three separate tables to shut her up, forcing the group to split up into smaller groups.

Ezra subtly arranged the seating and he ended up at the same table as Aria. Spencer and Brian took the remaining two chairs. They barely had time to sit down before a waitress came over to their table. A note pad was in her hand and she gave them her best pleasant smile.

"What can I get for you-all to drink?"

She had a slight Southern accent. Once she'd written down the orders and handed Ezra, Aria, Spencer and Brian a menu card, she disappeared again. Aria stared after her and then turned to look at Ezra.

"School's paying our first dinner, right?" she asked him. She studied the menu, exploring her options—there were plenty. She started browsing through the entrées, because she probably couldn't afford them for the rest of the weekend if she wanted to have a main course as well. Aria's parents had agreed on a certain amount of money they'd send her every month to make sure she could provide the things she'd need, and they had been reluctant to send her extra money when she hadn't even lived two full weeks by herself yet.

The corner of Ezra's mouth hitched up a fraction of an inch. "Yes."

"Well, in that case I think I'm going to enjoy this," Aria said with a grin.

Ezra excused himself to go to the restroom when the drinks had arrived and their food had been ordered. Spencer, Aria and Brian made small talk and sipped their drinks. They all turned to look at Ezra's phone, lying on the table, when it chimed a classic ringtone. The sound of Ezra's phone went on for a couple seconds before it died down again. A couple seconds later, the melody started from the beginning. Aria met Spencer's eyes. Spencer looked stunned, but after a moment a small smile flickered across her face.

"Answer it," Spencer told Aria, glancing at the phone.

Aria's eyes widened as she took a sip of water. "What? No! Are you crazy?"

Brian shrugged. "Why not?"

"He's gonna kill us."

"No, he's not," Spencer replied. "Aren't you a little curious what he's like outside of school? He's not that much older than we are."

Aria knew that better than anyone—the five-year age gap still set them apart, though. Aria knew it might be Hardy who was trying to reach Ezra, but the truth was she had no idea who else it could be and the possibilities were endless. She knew from recent, personal experiences what Ezra was like outside of school, and she didn't want Spencer or Brian interfering in his personal life as well.

"He's our teacher. I'm not going to answer it," Aria said persistently. "You answer it if you want to know so badly."

The words escaped Aria's lips before she'd fully thought them through. Aria watched as a certain determination came over Spencer—a determination that resurfaced every time Spencer was intent on doing something—and Spencer didn't do things halfway. It took Aria less than a second to predict what was going to happen, and she realized that Spencer answering Ezra's phone was quite possibly the worst idea there was. As Spencer's hand shot out, Aria quickly snatched the phone away.

"Hello?"

Aria pressed the device against her ear with fingers that were slightly trembling. Spencer looked taken aback for a couple seconds, but the expression on her face was quickly replaced by one of curiosity and confusion. Aria avoided Spencer and Brian's eyes, focusing on the empty plate in front of her instead, and waited. A reply came almost instantly.

"Ezra! Did you make it yet?"

The person on the other side of the line didn't seem to have noticed that it wasn't Ezra he was talking to yet. Although he was male, Aria was positive that it wasn't Hardy—she would recognize his voice by now. Aria glanced uncertainly at Spencer and gave her a look of pure panic.

"Say something," Spencer mouthed.

Aria nodded uneasily. She could do that. She took a deep breath and found her voice.

"Ezra's unavailable at the moment. Can I leave a message?"

Aria realized she sounded like some sort of personal assistant on phone duty, but she didn't really care. She ignored Brian's smirk and brushed a stranded piece of hair behind her ear. Her grip on the phone tightened as the guy on the other side was quiet for a while.

"Who is this?" he finally asked.

Aria carefully considered her options. She quickly dismissed lying, which was something she was terrible at when put on the spot. Telling the guy she was Ezra's student was obviously out of the question as well, because it would indubitably raise some questions. Aria decided on her name. Plain and simple. Without too much details.

"Aria."

Aria didn't really know how she had expected the guy to respond, but with loud laughter wasn't it. It wasn't a small laugh, either—this laugh surpassed the chuckle range without trouble. Aria responded with a nervous giggle and frowned.

"What's so funny?" she wanted to know. She waited until the guy had calmed down and managed to reply.

"Nothing. Nothing," he muttered quickly. "I guess it's only fair I'm interrupting your date when you interrupted our poker night."

Poker night? Aria's mouth opened and closed again. She was too stunned to correct him and tell him this was far from a date. Now that she thought about it, she could vaguely recognize the voice. Was this the guy that had accused her of interrupting their "boy's night"? The last conversation she'd had with that guy hadn't been all that pleasant, and Aria hadn't gotten around to asking Ezra who the guy that had called her during her date with Noel was exactly. She was guessing a friend.

"That was you?" Aria's mouth went dry.

"That was me."

Both Spencer and Brian were giving Aria a peculiar look—they wondering what she was talking about, no doubt. Aria was having trouble coming up with a response, exasperating the person she was having a phone conversation with. The guy went on.

"Are you in New York?"

Aria shifted uncomfortably. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I live here and Ezra told me he was coming. Call you tell him Brody called?"

Brody Adams never got to hear Aria's reply, because she suddenly had to disconnect the call as Ezra walked back into the room. Aria's fingers were clumsy as she fumbled with the phone and quickly placed it back on the spot it had been occupying when Ezra left to go to the men's room. The three high school seniors were all quiet as Ezra sat back down. Aria tried to look dead casual, but Ezra seemed to know something was off right away.

"What happened?" he enquired inquisitively. Ezra glanced at them with a glint of suspicion.

"Nothing happened," Aria said quickly. She feigned wide-eyed innocence. Ezra cocked his head to the side and gave Aria a cautious look. Aria managed to stare right back at him for a moment, before she told him the truth. "But Brody called. He, uh, told me to tell you."

A/N: So... I saw they've made some changes on here. You can now add pictures to your story. I'm not sure how it works, though. Could someone explain? :3 Please review!