2006

Aria Montgomery sat alone at a table in the back of The Brew, completely oblivious to the commotion going on around her. Her focus was on an SAT Prep book with a well worn spine that sat in front of her and her hearing was impaired by the music lilting out of her headphones. She was so in the zone that a bomb could've gone off and she wouldn't have noticed.

Her junior year had started only one month earlier and already, she was feeling the weight of college on her shoulders. Her mother, her teachers, everyone, was jumping down her throat to get a head start on her future. Work hard to get scholarships. You need to do well on your SAT's. After that, you're taking the ACT just to ensure a good score. You need to go on college tours now. The next chapter of your life is just around the corner. No time to be lazy.

She hated it, but she understood. She wanted to get into NYU. Not only was that more of a challenge than getting into Hollis, but it was an out of state college, which meant it cost more, which meant that she had to receive a decent chunk of scholarship money if she really wanted to end up there. Scholarship money came from good SAT scores. And good SAT scores came from studying hard, even when she didn't want to.

Aria was supposed to hang out with Ezra today. He'd asked her to attend the fall carnival held at Rosewood High with him and spend the day "getting lost" in the corn maze. At first, she'd accepted the offer. Later, she had to cancel. And eve later than that, she decided just to reschedule. They would hang out today, just later. She'd study here until 4, go home and change into something a little dressier, and then meet Ezra at the entrance to the carnival at 5.

Growing slightly impatient and vastly curious, Aria looked at the time displayed on her phone screen. 1:02 pm.

This was going to be a long day.

She stared for a moment at her bright screen, telling herself that she was still just "checking the time", but knowing she was really looking at her screensaver and wasting time. She'd been studying for almost 2 hours now; she could afford a small mental break. And looking at a picture of her and Ezra was definitely the kind of mental break she needed in that moment.

The picture was taken on the Fourth of July, but it had only become her wallpaper 3 weeks ago. She'd been too hesitant to set such a relationship revealing photo as the first thing anyone would see if they hit the home button on her phone for a long time. But eventually, Aria decided to throw caution to the wind and do the thing that had been nagging her for so long. This December would be their 2-year anniversary. It was about damn time she stopped being afraid to use photos of them as her wallpaper or desktop background. Screw what her parents "suspected". Unless she confirmed it, their guess was just that…a guess.

It wasn't like they were kissing in the photo or even touching in some intimate way. They were hugging. Friends hugged. Her arms were slung around his neck and his were respectfully around her waist. Their smiles were bright and their cheeks were painted red, white, and blue. The water dripping from their bathing suits was accentuated by the flash of the camera and their eyes were glowing gold, not too much to make it weird, but enough to hide any evidence that they weren't…all there when the picture was taken.

If anything, that was the thing Aria worried most about her mother noticing if she saw the photo. Ella knew what being drunk off your ass looked like. She could recognize it in Aria if she looked hard enough. But she would never be able to tell just by looking at that picture that before the drinking and the firework popping began that night, Aria and Ezra had locked themselves in a room to have some alone time. She, nor anyone else who could possibly run across that picture, would never guess that just a couple of hours before that picture was taken, Aria had been on her knees fucking the guy she loved with her mouth…or that Ezra had done the same to her.

Mindlessly, Aria ran her thumb over the screen just as the time changed to 1:03. She sighed. Break time was over.

She directed her eyes back to the pages in front of her, however, she didn't even finish reading the title of paragraph she was about to begin when her attention was pulled elsewhere. This time by a who and not a what.

As if she'd been offering, a tall, dark haired boy took a seat in the chair across from her and made himself comfortable. By the time her eyes reached his, prepared to roll hard to show her annoyance, she'd recognized him, and recognized that he was moving his mouth, saying words that she couldn't hear thanks to the Chicago Symphony in her ears.

Narrowing her eyes, she pulled an earbud out and cocked her head to the side, "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said," The boy cleared his throat like he hadn't already been speaking. "I've never seen anyone smile at their SAT prep book before. How do you find joy in such a tedious task?"

Her eyebrow arched without her consent, her face giving away that she hadn't known she was smiling to begin with. "How'd you know this was an SAT book from across the café? Unless, you've been standing close to me for longer than I thought, which in that case, is very creepy, Matt." She giggled, meaning nothing of real offence by her comment, all traces of her annoyance were gone.

She liked Matt. They'd remained decent friends since the night she chose Ezra over him at the Christmas tree farm 2 years ago. Of course, Matt didn't know she'd "chosen" anyone that night. He was blissfully unaware that she was dating Ezra, as was everyone who wasn't in her friend group. In his mind, she'd simply pulled away and decided she just wanted to be friends, and he'd been okay with that.

They'd had several classes together over the past couple of years, including psychology and AP English this year. They each had their own friends in the class, but whenever the opportunity to interact with one another presented itself, they always embraced it and were used that time to reaffirm their distant friendship. He was nice a guy, and his friends threw some kick ass parties. It was definitely worth keeping up their platonic relationship.

"I have one just like it and I recognized the yellow blocks on the tops of the pages that spell out 'Prep'," Matt explained, flicking the book with his forefinger and thumb. "And now that I've answered your question, can you answer mine? How on earth are you smiling reading that thing?"

"I wasn't," Aria shook her head, a small smile creeping back onto her lips. "I was looking at a picture on my phone. Taking sort of a mental study break for a minute."

"I get that. Yeah, I take 23-hour mental study breaks every day. It's great you should try it," Matt joked, crossing his arms over his chest, and making the material around his arms pull tighter, revealing the muscle he'd hidden beneath.

Aria's eyes flickered between his arms and face for a moment before settling on the dark, almost chocolate brown circles that were his eyes and speaking again, "You only study for 1 hour a day?" She was shocked, but she wasn't sure if it was by his statement or his body. Not that she stared at him often, but he hadn't been that big at school yesterday. She was sure of it.

"No, no, no," Matt laughed. "I study for 1 hour on the days I study, which is nowhere near every day."

This comment made Aria laugh, but it also made her wonder. It was clear that she cared more about making a good score on this test than he did, but why? Did he not need scholarship money? Did he not aspire to go to some big name school? Not that there was anything wrong with him if he didn't. She was just curious. "Where…where do you want to go to college?"

"I don't," Matt shrugged.

Aria frowned. There was nothing that turned her off to a guy more than when he said he didn't have any plans of going to college. Not that she was turned on to Matt by any means. She had Ezra. She didn't need anyone else.

"I mean, not right away, at least," Matt reworded his answer, clearly reading the worry on Aria's features. "I want to join the military once I graduate."

"Oh," Aria couldn't hide the shock in her voice. Her whole graduating class had been buzzing with career options since school began this year. Some said they wanted to be doctors, others lawyers. Some wanted to be teachers, journalists, engineers, or architects. Aria had thought she'd heard it all. But she hadn't heard military. In fact, she thought they may be the first class to not have a future service man or woman walk the stage on graduation day. Obviously, she was wrong.

"Yeah," Matt ran his hand through his overly gelled hair, nearly distracting Aria from what he was going to say next by causing her to wonder how he moved his hand so easily through something that looked so stiff. "My dad was in the army. My grandpa was a marine. My cousin is in the navy. It's kind of like a family tradition. Plus, it's something that I really want to do. Hopefully the war with in Afghanistan isn't still going on by the time we graduate, but if it is, that's where I'll be headed most likely."

"Wow, that's…scary." Aria mentally berated herself for not being able to come up with a better word than scary. But that was honestly what she thought of his words. They were scary. People died every day in combat. And while it wasn't guaranteed that he'd die in service, it was still possible. They weren't close by any means, but the thought of someone who was close to Matt having to send him off with that same knowledge made her stomach churn. She'd figured this before, but now she was positive that she could never get seriously involved with someone in the military. She would just be living in constant fear.

"It is," Matt nodded. "But, I want to serve this country and what better way to do it?" He smiled. "Enough about me though, what about you? Where do you want to go? What do you want to study?"

"NYU," Aria suddenly beamed. As much as her future scared her, it excited her was well. She loved talking about all of the positive things that could be in her life. "I want to be a journalist. Or an editor. Or something to do with writing. I just want to write, really."

"Would you ever consider being an author?" Matt asked as if the question had never crossed Aria's mind before.

Of course she'd thought about it. But making money as an author is hard and unsteady. Not every single writer hits the jackpot. Not every single writer is JK Rowling. Money is hard to come by in that profession and she needed a way to support herself, especially when she had a family many years down the road.

"I would love to do that," Aria admitted, a blush coming to her cheeks. She never really talked about her personal writing to anyone but Ezra. This was new. But it was also exhilarating. Like Ezra, Aria felt like Matt wouldn't judge her. She trusted him for reasons unbeknownst to her at the time. "But it's hard to make money just doing that. I need something else to do to earn a living, and maybe I'll write on the side. Well, I'll always write on the side. I love to write. But, we'll have to see if I ever want to publish anything I wrote."

"I'd read it," Matt flashed her a small, reassuring smile. "if you did publish anything. I'd read it."

"You don't even know if I'm any good," Aria shook her head. She was good, according to herself and Ezra, but Matt didn't know that.

"I have a feeling you are," Matt shrugged. "You're smart, you're driven. And I'm sure if that mind can create stories half as beautiful as you are, you'll make millions one day."

The blush on Aria's cheek intensified. She knew she should be shunning the feeling. She had a boyfriend. She shouldn't be all smiley at some guy's comment that was clearly an attempt to flirt with her, but she couldn't help herself. It had been nearly 2 years since she'd been flirted with by anyone aside from Ezra. And Matt was so different from Ezra. This feeling was so foreign. She couldn't suppress the warm, fuzzy feeling spreading over her limbs. She just couldn't.

And as long as she didn't actually do anything with Matt, this flirting was harmless, right? She wasn't cheating on Ezra simply by talking to another guy. And that's all she was doing with Matt. Talking with him. No harm, no foul? She liked to think so.

"Thanks," Aria pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll let you know if I ever publish anything."

"In that case, I should give you my number. You know, in case we don't see each other after high school," Matt winked.

"Um," Aria's stomach tightened. Not out of guilt, but out of genuine nervousness. She'd never gotten a guy's number before. Not in a situation like this anyway. "Yeah okay."

She handed Matt her phone, silently praying that he didn't say anything about her wallpaper. The flirtatious mood would definitely be ruined if he asked about her boyfriend.

Lucky for her, he didn't say anything. He just typed in his number and handed her phone back without any questions or comments.

"Thanks," Aria said awkwardly. She wasn't sure if that was appropriate to say after getting a guy's number, but she'd said it just for good measure.

"I'll see you around, Aria," Matt smiled, hopping off the seat, and begin to back away without taking his eyes off of her.

"Yeah. See ya," Aria waved slowly with her fingers until Matt turned completely around and walked off.

As if on cue, the second The Brew door shut behind Matt, Aria's phone chimed. Ezra.

We still on for tonight, babe? –Ezra xoxo

The smallest of smiles found its way onto Aria's lips and made a home as she typed back:

Of course. Love you. –Aria xoxo

And she did.

She loved Ezra more than she knew how to say. But, did that mean she couldn't look at what else the world had to offer? It was alright as long as she didn't touch…wasn't it?

Aria nodded as if she'd been asked that question out loud. It was alright. She didn't like Matt like that. But she did like the new attention. In her eyes, there was nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.

A/N: Please do not kill me. This chapter was going to be written this way even before the whole Jaria mess we were thrown into in this last episode of pll, so I know this chapter is poorly timed with the show, but hear me out. Matt had to be brought into Aria's past somehow. This is it. She still loves Ezra, but she's young. It's normal for young girls and young guys to want to keep their options open. But please, remember, it was stated in a previous chapter that Aria DOES NOT cheat on Ezra. I hate that reoccurring storyline in the show, so know it will not happen here. But there had to be a little bit of drama in their past. It can't all be rainbows and love. And as they near 17/18 years old, the drama only intensifies.

Also, please forgive me for the shortness of this chapter. I am in the middle of packing for college and saying goodbye to my best friends that I've known for years. I haven't had a whole lot of time, but I promised Wednesday and I wanted to keep that promise. (yes, it is still Wednesday where I live. Sorry if it's already Thursday for you, haha).

If you want your spirits lifted after this, go check out my new one-shot Now and Then (shameless self promo). I will also tease good things for Ezria in the next chapter! So stay tuned. Things are quickly progressing in the present day!

I move in to my dorm on Saturday, so things will be pretty chaotic this weekend. Because of that, I will try to post on Friday. That may not happen, so if it doesn't, I will probably have to wait until Sunday or Monday to post. I'll do my best.

Thanks for reading!

-Erin xoxo