A/N: I know. I NEVER do this! However, you can thank some really amazing friends/readers over on twitter for this. I can't even explain to you guys… The fourteenth always kicks my butt (for personal reasons), but some REALLY amazing people and one really amazing musician/friend made me feel ANYTHING but sad last night, and this is my way of thanking them.
And on the side, I've just gotta do this. If you haven't heard of him, go check out Gavin Mikhail. I'll definitely be using his music at some point in this story. If not, then in the sequel! And if you have heard of him…spread the word! That man's got some major talent!
And, I just wanted to put this in here: you guys can ALWAYS message me on tumblr or twitter if you have questions. I know I get them in reviews sometimes, but you're not signed in, and then when I get around to posting the next chapter I end up forgetting! So please! Ask me over on twitter or tumblr. And just incase you didn't know:
My twitter screen name: sailorninja26
My tumblr screen name: here-in-the-shadow
Chapter 20
I Won't Fight For Anyone UntilYou Move My Hand
Monday morning came with a refreshed feeling for Aria. A long and goods night's sleep that followed a stellar weekend seemed to be all she needed to shake all the bad feelings she'd been having lately when it came to school. Regardless of how much trouble there had been in the last few weeks, she was ready to face it head-on, with a new approach. She had full intentions of not letting herself be bothered by the comments that were sure to come her way. And of course, with prom having just been forty-eight hours earlier, she was sure there was a new scandal about to take eyes off of her.
She placed a twenty dollar bill on the counter as she waited for Loretta to hand over the three coffees she'd ordered for herself. She wasn't ashamed to admit that even on good days, she was a total caffeine addict. Spencer stood beside her, and Ezra had just sped off in the direction of Hollis with two cups of his own to get through the day.
Aria brushed tendrils out of her face and pulled her unzipped black bomber jacket tighter around herself. If she didn't have total confidence in her own body, she was sure people would've looked at her like she was a slut. She was dressed in comfortable suede brown boots, a mid-thigh jean mini skirt, and a white tank top, all of which she'd bought over the weekend. She didn't feel very bad about it. The weather was supposed to peak at 80 by noon, and she was sure by the time she made her way over to work, the heat was going to be sweltering.
"So did Sean and Caleb actually get into a fight," Aria asked as she took her tray of coffees from Loretta. She and Spencer walked out of the building and headed towards Aria's car.
"No," Spencer said. "But they almost did. Sean kept saying things that he knew would piss Hanna off, and Caleb wanted to jump him. Lucas and Toby almost had to drag him out of the gym."
"Oh my gosh," Aria said, shaking her head. "I'm so glad I wasn't there."
"Probably a good thing," Spencer agreed. "God only knows what people would've said if they had seen you there with Ezra." "Ha!" Aria cackled derisively. "They probably would've kicked us out, and I'm sure someone would have found a way to get me into a world of trouble for doing nothing wrong."
She opened her passenger side door and settled her untouched coffees into the two cup holders in the pull-out that rested between her seats before placing the one she was drinking at the present moment between the driver and passenger seat and placing the cup holder in the passenger seat with her purse.
"We still wish you could've been there," Spencer said. "It was fun, but was missed you." Aria smiled sympathetically. "Well I was having fun too, if that's any consolation. We went shopping all over Manhattan on Saturday, and then Ezra and I had a, um…nice night in." She blushed at the mention of it. They'd had more than just a nice night in.
Spencer laughed, shaking her head at her best friend. "Did Mr. Fitz get frolicsome with you?"
Aria shook her head. She couldn't take the teasing from her friends sometimes. Her face felt hot from the mention that brought up the memory of Saturday night. She was ashamed to admit even to herself that it made her want to find Ezra at that very moment and do immoral things to and with him.
"Can we just go to school?" Aria asked.
Spencer laughed and nodded. They both separated and Aria rounded her car to the driver's side while Spencer walked over to her own. They both headed off in the direction of school, and met up again a few minutes later in the student parking lot. Aria retrieved her coffees, having already finished one on the drive over, and then grabbed her school bags. She followed Spencer into the school, telling her about the time she'd spent with Ezra, Adriana, and Hardy in Times Square as they headed towards Spencer's locker and then to Aria's.
Aria was placing things in her locker and grabbing the books she'd need for the morning as Spencer looked at the pictures that had been taken in New York on Aria's phone.
"You guys look so happy there. Even Adriana and Ezra's friend look happy," Spencer said enviously. "I wish I'd been there with you." Aria chuckled, standing back up. She slung her bag over her shoulder and took her phone back from Spencer, tucking it into the pocket of her jacket. Spencer's attention was pulled away by her own phone buzzing in her pocket while Aria greeted Hanna and Emily with hugs when they walked up.
"Did you have the best weekend?" Hanna asked gleefully.
Aria smiled, reaching into her locker to grab her coffees. "Everything but throwing up was great." "Oh no," Emily said. "You got sick?" Aria shrugged. "Lunch on Saturday didn't agree with me. I think there was just too much grease in it or something. I was fine afterwards." She looked towards Emily. "Now, what is this I hear about you and Paige? I thought you and Maya were a thing?" Emily shook her head. "Until Maya lied to me about still doing…" she paused looking around. Too many students were starting to fill the hallways. "She lied to me. And Paige came out to her parents. Besides, it was just coffee. We're just taking it slow, seeing if we can make things work."
Aria smiled and nodded. "Well I'm glad you're making it work with someone who makes you happy, and doesn't make you feel like you have to keep it a secret." Emily smiled. She opened her mouth to say something, but her attention was pulled away as Paige called her name from down the hall. She waved to the girls and then headed down the hall, promising to see them in first period.
"We should get to class," Hanna said a few moments later as she returned from her own locker. Spencer was still talking on her phone.
They all started heading towards the classroom, and Aria and Hanna were crossing the doorway when Ella looked up at them.
"Ms. Hastings, you know the rules about cell phones. Go put it in your locker."
Aria and Hanna gaped at Ella, looking back and forth between her and Spencer. With a defeated groan, Spencer promised to return quickly, and she headed down the hall. Aria walked to her seat and settled into it, pulling her binder from her bag. She continued working on the review packet her mother had given them until the bell rang.
Class itself was less than interesting. It was all review and discussions about the topics assigned in the packets. Ella also assigned another review packet and then left them to review the notes they had in their notebooks and work. When class finally ended, it was met with a silent cheer as the students piled out of the classroom and headed off towards their second class of the day. Aria followed Spencer out of the room and towards her locker.
"I can't believe your mom did that," she whined as she opened her locker.
Aria shook her head, pulling her phone from her bag. It was buzzing incessantly, and the noise was making her crazy. She pulled it out and furrowed her brow.
"Did you send me a text before you came back to class earlier?" Spencer shook her head, pulling her phone free from her locker organizer. "Not at all. I said goodbye to Toby and put it in here. Why?" Aria opened the message. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes burned with tears that hadn't even started to come up behind them. She turned her phone towards Spencer as she looked around. People were looking back at her and laughing.
The good girl act doesn't work when you're really a slut.
Now the whole school knows.
-A
Spencer shook her head, scrolling through her phone for the message that she'd supposedly sent. Her outbox was empty.
"Aria, I…" Her voice trailed off. They both knew that Spencer hadn't sent that photo.
"It was supposed to be a joke," Aria forced past the knot tightening in her throat. She forced several deep breaths down her throat as Spencer wrapped her arm around her and led her off towards their study hall. Suddenly, Aria didn't want to be there. She was sure there was plenty of ridicule to come from the students who already thought she was knocked up. Or even better, they all probably thought she'd left town to have an abortion over the weekend, considering she'd been a no-show at prom.
Just outside of class, she ducked into the bathroom and dashed into a stall. She forced several deep breaths down, reminding herself of her earlier plans. If she let people see that what A had done affect her, then there was no way she was going to make it through the last three weeks of the school year. She wiped away the tears that had threatened to fall from her eyes and then stepped out of the stall and walked over to the mirror, checking to make sure she hadn't smeared her makeup before walking out of the room.
As she stepped into the classroom, her phone buzzed in her hand. It was Ezra. Aria took her seat next to Spencer and leaned towards her as she settled her bag on the table.
"Is Ezra in your phone book?" She asked.
"His number is supposed to be private. It can only be seen with a code." Spencer said.
Aria sighed and opened her phone. "But A probably sent it to the entire phone book."
She opened the message.
"Is this supposed to be a joke?"
-Ezra
Aria shook her head, looking up to make sure the teacher wasn't watching her before she typed back a quick response.
"Yeah. Between me and Spencer.
I'll explain later. XO." -Aria
She sent the message off and then turned her phone down to silent and pulled her books from her bag and continued working on the review that she had for most of her classes. She was hopeful that the teacher would stay in the classroom for the entire period, because then the gossip would stick to just whispers, instead of actually being spoken out loud.
Even so, when class came to a close, it didn't stop the things that kids said to her in the hallways. Hanna, Emily, and Spencer did their best to stick to her side as they each passed between classes. The worst of it kept coming from girls that Aria wasn't surprised to be bullied by. Gina Ryan was the prettiest girl in the senior class. She was also the smartest, and the bitchiest. She had no problem making people feel two inches tall. Most of the student body knew that she thought Ezra was hot when he had been working at Rosewood, even though she'd never actually been in one of his classes.
"So do you like dance on a pole now," she asked with a ridiculing laugh as she passed Aria.
Aria forced a sigh and tossed her uneaten lunch into a trash. She placed the tray on a table and walked across the commons, trying her best to ignore the comments flying at her as she walked past half the student body. She passed Spencer, Hanna, and Emily as she made her way towards the doors that led outside to the front of the school. She was hoping desperately that some fresh air would help her calm down.
She shoved a door open and walked out of the school, into the courtyard. Mike was settled outside with a girl. He looked up at her as she walked passed him and then dismissed himself from his obvious lunch date and followed after his sister.
"Hey. You okay?"
Aria looked up at him, slightly surprised at his sudden appearance as she continued to walk around the grounds. "As okay as someone can be when they're being called a slut by everyone in school. How're you?" Mike shook his head. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Would a hug help?" Aria looked around, swallowing hard. She didn't want to cry here. She nodded. She welcomed her baby brother's arms as they wrapped around her torso, and she struggled to quell the tears threatening to bubble up inside of her. She only had to get through two and half more hours, and then the school day would be over.
"What was that picture anyway," Mike asked a few minutes later as he walked with her.
Aria shook her head, crossing her arms tightly as her jacket draped over them. As she'd expected, the heat was hot, and most of the girls in the student body were dressed similar to her. Even so, part of her felt like she should be dressed in a down parka. She knew that she'd been wearing shorts in the picture that Spencer had taken of her, but somehow she felt exposed when she looked at it.
"It was a joke between me and Spencer the other night when I stayed the night at her house. She said I looked hot, and I was being sarcastic by popping the collar. She took a picture."
Aria looked around and then sighed again, pulling her phone from her pocket. She had let it stay locked all afternoon, mostly because she didn't want to read the several dozen texts she'd gotten since that morning from her fellow peers about how she must be a slut. She checked the time on the screen and then looked to her brother.
"We've got to get back inside. The bell is going to ring in two minutes." Mike nodded.
And so they did. They walked back into the building just as the bell rang, and then headed off in separate directions. Aria joined Spencer for Geometry, and they talked on the walk over to class about where Aria had been for the entire lunch hour. Once they made it to class though, Aria was grateful. Being that review or geometry wouldn't come until the last week before finals, the entire class hour was spent in a lesson. Though the last twenty minutes were given as work time, the teacher was settled at her desk and she always had an eagle eye on the students to make sure there was nothing but working being done.
Class eventually let out, and Aria met up with Emily for ICT. Their final was supposed to be to build something completely out of HTML, whether it be a web layout or a widget. They were left entirely to everything they had kept notes on and whatever they could figure out on their own. Aria had started working on a layout the week before that was about a quarter of the way finished.
As she loaded up her account, the onslaught of e-mails that filled her inbox as it loaded automatically was enough to make her head spin. She deleted most of them without even reading, as they were from fellow students. Even so, the titles gave enough away, calling her a variety of names that honestly made her feel sick and dirty.
Afterwards, she went to work, working on her layout. Once again she found solace in the silence. Even if her e-mail continued to pop with new messages, ICT was another class where the teacher watched with an eagle eye, and every move by every student was noticed. There was very little anyone could get away with.
Class came to an end all to quickly, and she took several minutes after to let people file out while she slowly closed up her work and then checked the messages on her phone. To most people, it would've seemed that she was in no rush, but the truth was that she simply didn't want to deal with all the bullying.
People headed off in different directions, and when Aria felt like things were a little more safe, she made her way out of the room. Her heart sank immediately as she stepped out of the media center. Gina Ryan and her friends were standing there among other students, ready with an onslaught of comments.
"So, did you go to New York to have an abortion?"
"Seriously, do you actually dance on a pole? I mean that's got to be how you make money since your parents kicked you out, right?'
"How much do I have to pay to have sex with you?"
The comments continued to fly as Aria stopped at her locker to grab her things. She was trying with everything in her to ignore the comments, and in a way, it seemed to help. Some of the students seemed to grow bored by her lack of emotion showing, and they headed off in different directions.
Aria pushed up from the floor as she closed her locker and turned to walk away.
"Hey whore, I'm talking to you! Your boyfriend must be really damaged in the head to go for someone as ugly and stupid as you." As cold as the words flying at her had been all day, that comment got to her. Aria spun in her place, and stared down the girl who had said it. Of course, it was Gina Ryan. She couldn't stop herself before the words came out of her own mouth.
"It takes a whore to know a whore. And, does your boyfriend know you went down on his best friend at homecoming last year? What about on prom night? I heard some nasty little rumours about you too, y'know, Gina?"
Aria gulped as the words left her mouth. She had honestly only said them because she wanted to defend herself. Even as much as she hated the girls in front of her for saying such cold and cruel comments to her that day, somehow she felt like she was staring down a girl who could rival Alison in ways she would hurt people.
And so, she didn't expect the lockers when she hit them. The pain came afterwards, almost like an afterthought for her body, but when it did come, it came crashing down hard. All at once, there were feet kicking, hands punching, and people screaming.
Voices scrambled around her into a bunch of garbled speak as she laid there on the floor. Each of her limbs hurt, but the worst pain was in her back, like someone had burned her there.
Slowly but surely, the girls around her began to dissipate, and she could hear teachers yelling. A moment later, as she slowly started to push herself up, she felt a gentle, warm hand wrap around her bicep.
"Aria, oh my god!" Hanna's voice was loud and clear as she helped her to her feet. Spencer was at her other side a moment later, also helping her up from the floor.
"Are you alright?" Spencer's voice was concerned,, but Aria could hear the anger as well. She brushed a strand of hair out of Aria's face.
"You're bleeding!" Emily said, surprised. She pulled a tissue from her bag and offered it to Aria.
Aria took the tissue and dabbed it at the edge of her lip, wincing. That hurt all too much. She could feel something trickling down the side of her head as well, and her cheeks felt wet from water.
"What happened?" Hanna asked. She looked to Aria, then to Spencer.
Spencer shrugged. "I just came around the corner, and saw them all on her, like vultures taking down a hide."
Aria shook her head, finally realizing that the water was actually her own tears. "Gina Ryan made a comment about Ezra being damaged and I lost it. I couldn't- I don't care if they call me a slut, but he…" She shook her head slowly, not bothering to stop the tears that fell down her face anymore. "I told her it takes one to know one, and she got pissed and then there were all these girls. I don't know. I ju- I gotta go to Hollis."
She winced as she dabbed the tissue to her lip again.
"No," Spencer disagreed. "You need to go to the hospital. You've got a huge gash on your head."
"I need-" She was cut off again.
Hanna shook her head angrily. "No! I'll call Ezra and tell him to meet you there, but you need to go to the hospital. We'll go with you."
Spencer wrapped a gentle hand around Aria, only to have her wince. He new shirt was torn up but Spencer could see the redness and scrapes on the little bit of her back that she could see.
"Sorry." Aria shrugged tentatively. "S'fine." She looked up when they were all stopped by the principal standing in front of them.
"I assure you, Ms. Montgomery, this will not be tolerated. Ms. Ryan and the other girls will be punished to the full extent that school board is allowed, and the liaison officer will weigh in on this as well. Justice will be done for this."
Aria nodded slowly. She opened her mouth to respond, but something just behind Principal Davis caught her attention. She looked beyond him. Ella was leaning against the doorframe of her classroom. She'd seen everything.
Aria turned her attention away from her mother and let her friends lead her out of the building. They were talking about taking her to the hospital, but Aria pulled her arms from Hanna and Spencer's grasps as they walked out of the doors.
"I'm not going to the hospital," she insisted.
"Aria-" "No!" She argued. She'd been getting bullied all day. She wasn't to let her own friends do it to her now. "Just take me home. I'll take some Tylenol and lie down. If I'm still hurting later, I'll let Ezra take me in. Alright?" She could tell that her friends were less than pleased with her argument, but they also knew the day she'd had, and Spencer felt a lot of guilt over it. Finally, she nodded, slipping her arm through Aria's again.
"Okay. But let me take you home and explain everything to Ezra." She looked over to Hanna. "Call him at Hollis and tell him to take an early afternoon."
Hanna nodded.
-
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But your words, they surely kill
-
How it was possible, Aria had no clue, but Ezra managed to beat them back to the apartment. By the time they arrived, her guard had fallen entirely, and mascara had made many different trails down her face as she got out of the car. Her body ached in at least a dozen different places. This had been the exact opposite of what she had planned her day to be like.
As she pushed out of the car though, she didn't feel any better. There was a bruise just below Ezra's left eye. Suddenly she wanted to demand answers, but he spoke faster than she did.
"What the hell happened?"
He yelled, but his words weren't directed at her as he slipped his arm gently around her and he walked with her and Spencer to the door. They each stepped inside of the apartment, and Spencer and Ezra both directed her to a chair at the table. Ezra muttered something about clean clothes and the first aid kit before he headed into the bedroom and sent Spencer searching into the bathroom. They both returned to the sitting room at the same time while Aria was trying to pull her blood covered tank top off. There were scrapes all over body.
"Now tell me how this happened," Ezra growled as he settled a pair of grey sweats and one of his t-shirts on the table for Aria. He practically ripped open the first aid kit started pulling things out. He walked into the kitchen a moment later.
"Kids were saying things," Spencer said as she pulled Aria's hair out of the bun she'd pulled it up into that morning. Once it was down, Spencer pulled it back up into a loose pony tail.
"Is this because of that picture?" Ezra called from the other room.
"It was all a stupid joke," Aria whimpered. Her voice trembled.
Ezra walked back into the room with a washcloth and a bowl of lukewarm water. He settled it on the table. "What, sweetie?" She shook her head at him as more tears ran down her face. "It was a joke. Just me and Spencer. But someone sent the photo around and made it out to be something else."
Ezra dipped the washcloth into the bowl of water and then brought it up to Aria's forehead. She winced as he touched her head.
"Sorry," he murmured. He tried to be lighter with his touch, but there was very little he could do to keep from touching the bruise forming under the open wound. Blood had run down there and it needed to be cleaned up.
"There was a fight. Some girls made some comments," Spencer said. "Girls in the senior class who aren't very nice. Aria fought back, and they went after her."
Ezra finished wiping away the blood and placed the washcloth into the bowl. Immediately the water started to change into a pink shade. Ezra grabbed Aria's hands and helped her up.
"Lets get you out of these clothes and get the rest of you cleaned up." He looked over at Spencer. "And where did they think they had any merit to say anything? How did this even get out?"
Aria raised her arms slowly, and Spencer stood behind her while Ezra stood in front of her, and he gently pulled the shirt up off her body. Ezra tossed the shirt aside once it was off her body and reached for the fresh shirt.
"Wait," Spencer said warily.
"What?" Ezra looked up at her. His hand left the t-shirt. Spencer waved her finger at him, motioning for him to look. Spencer pulled her phone from her pocket and snapped a photo.
"What is it?" Aria asked. Her voice trembled still.
"A?" Ezra asked. "What is A supposed to mean?"
"What?"Aria whipped around and looked at the both of them. Spencer handed Aria her phone. Sure enough, the photo she'd just taken showed the outline of several long scrapes shaping into the letter A.
"Someone better tell me right now what the HELL 'A' means!" Ezra yelled.
Aria shook her head. As if she wasn't upset enough, bigger tears began to run down her face. She gripped the table as her legs began to shake beneath her. Ezra reached out and helped her back into her chair. Spencer and Aria exchanged a look. Spencer nodded.
Aria whimpered. "We don't know who A is. They've been after us for a while, though. Stalking us." "Us as in who? You and me? You and Spencer?" Aria shrugged, whimpering. "Everyone in our group. It started when school started." Ezra sank down in front of her, gently placing his hand on her cheek. "Aria, why didn't you tell me about this?"
Aria shook her head. "A knows things, that we don't want people knowing. A knew about us, and threatened to expose us more than once. And he, she, it knows things about more than just you and I. Hanna, Spencer, Emily…"
"A knows everything because somehow A sees everything," Spencer said. "I never thought A would've been involved in this, though." "Why?" Aria asked, looking up at her. "A mowed Hanna down with a car. A put Emily in the hospital with an ulcer."
"Okay, WHAT?"
Aria shook her head. There was a better time to explain to Ezra all of this, and now wasn't it. This was all about a bully.
"I'll explain more later," she said softly.
Ezra desperately wanted more information, and he was angry enough to shoot fire, but he could see that she was upset and exhausted, and so he obliged. He reached over the table and grabbed the washcloth from the bowl and wrung it out before bringing it down against Aria's left shoulder. He gently swiped it down the entirety of her back, wiping away droplets of blood that had congealed around the wound. Her seething as he did so made him feel terrible, but the sooner she was cleaned up, the sooner she could be tucked into bed.
"I'm supposed to work at 3:30 today," she said. "You're not going anywhere," Ezra said as he finished wiping down her back. He walked back around her so that he face facing her. "I'll take care of that once we finished getting you cleaned up." He refused to hear any argument that Aria posed, so the next few minutes were spent in silence as he pulled a bandage from the first aid kit and pressed it over Aria's forehead. There were several more wounds that merited bandages on her torso and her legs, but soon enough she was cleaned and covered up. She walked into the bedroom to change out of her skirt and boots, and Ezra turned to Spencer.
"Where was her mother during all of this?" Spencer shook her head. "She saw all of it and didn't do anything about it. Aria didn't say anything, but I know she saw her, and she's upset about it."
Ezra exhaled an angered breath as he scrunched empty bandage wrappers in his hand. "That's just lovely." He gulped and shook his head. "Thanks for getting her home." Spencer nodded.
"Do you need me to find you a way home?" Ezra asked.
Spencer shook her head, pulling her phone from her bag. "I texted Toby before we left school. He should be on his way already."
On cue, there was a knock at the door. Spencer grabbed her school bag from the floor. Ezra turned to leave. She placed a hand on his bicep. "Have Aria call me?" Ezra nodded. He turned and headed into the kitchen, and a moment later, the door opened and closed. Once he tossed away the wrappers, he walked back into the sitting room and closed the first aid kit. He returned it to the bathroom and then walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the bowl of now red water and the wash cloth, and walked back to the kitchen. He dumped the water and then walked back to the bathroom and placed the wet cloth in the hamper.
It took a lot to keep his emotions from boiling over as he settled the bloodied cloth inside it. For weeks, fighting for their relationship had seemed so right. Now it felt more dangerous than it ever had. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was send Aria home to her parents and tell her it was over, all for her own safety.
He sunk down against the bathroom door and rested his head against his knees, trying to calm himself. He couldn't stop the tears that ran down his face, because he genuinely felt that this was his fault.
After a few minutes, he plucked himself up from the floor and wiped away the frustrated tears, and then walked out of the apartment to Aria's car. He grabbed her things from it, including her phone, and put a call in to Retta's to explain that she wouldn't be in, and why.
He finally entered the bedroom a good ten minutes later and settled Aria's bags near the dresser as he closed the door. He walked around the bed and sat down next to her. She was lying on her side, staring at the TV.
"Can I get you anything?" He asked. He handed her a small, wrapped ice pack for her lip.
Aria looked up at him. "You can tell me what happened to your face."
"Apparently people talk. A dad came into my office today and told me his daughter had been assaulted by her teacher, and then he punched me. A student walked in right after, and he left. That was the end of that." "But he hit you," Aria said hoarsely. She slowly pushed herself up into a seated position.
"Doesn't matter," Ezra said dismissively. "Not compared to this. This isn't…" He shook his head again.
"Principal Davis said they're all going to be punished for doing it. It's not like it matters anyway."
Ezra turned sharply to face her. "Hey. Do not let your mother's lack of a reaction make you believe that! You matter!"
Aria shook her head, and Ezra wasn't sure if it was because she felt like there was nothing she could say to fight his reasoning, or if she didn't feel like there was any possible way they were going to agree on the subject. Either way, he extended his arms to her, and enclosed them when she took his offer, curling up tightly in his lap. He held her gently in his arms and rocked them back and forth, whispering over and over again that everything would be alright while she cried. If that was all he could do to help her feel better, then that's what he would do.
"I want you to stay home for a few days," he murmured when she'd calmed down. Aria didn't say anything. "I'm just worried about you being safe. Something tells me that those girls being in trouble is just going to anger them more.'
Eventually, Aria lifted her head up and looked at him. "Will you stay with me?" Ezra nodded, running his hand down the side of her face, brushing her hair out of her face. He kissed her temple gently. "Of course baby. Always."