Thanks to my reviewers: crazyatbest, SolitudeMyLove, .dreamers, msbookworm93, kara d, Televison Lover, HarrylovesGinny09, MzPink4, AriaEzraPLL, Pllezria4everrr, iloveu, PrettyLittleLiarLover224, TheCdKnight
Sorry it has taken me so long. I'm stuck on the senior trip part of the story. So if this sucks I'm sorry.
The next morning, Aria woke first and slipped into the shower to relax her muscles. A few minutes later, Ezra knocked and entered, "Good morning."
"Morning." She replied from the shower. She was thinking about the night before and how she couldn't wait to do it again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from Ezra, "Holy crap!"
"What?" She pulled the curtain back to look at him. She saw a line of hickeys that went from his collarbone to the base of his ear.
She couldn't help but giggle, "Well, Mr. Fitz, what were you doing last night?"
"How can you joke about this? I can't go to school looking like this." He wasn't mad, but he really didn't want to face his students with his neck covered in hickeys.
Aria rolled her eyes as she climbed out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, "Let's get dressed and I will help you." She grabbed her phone asking Emily to grab her coffee and muffin for homeroom since she knew it would take a few minutes to fix Ezra's neck. She dressed quickly and threw her hair into a messy braid. She put on some eyeliner and lip gloss before Ezra reentered the bathroom.
"Now what?" he shrugged.
She lowered the lid on the toilet, "Sit." She went to work on his neck and by the time they had to leave, you couldn't tell there was even a mark.
"That's incredible. How'd you get so good at this?" he wondered, surveying her artistry.
She hurried down the stairs and grabbed her bag, "Are you kidding? Do you know how many hickeys I have woke up with after one of our make-out sessions?"
"I didn't realize. I never noticed," he eyed her suspiciously.
Aria smirked, "Exactly. I love you. See you tonight." She kissed him before hurrying out the door to her car.
The week passed quickly. Friday afternoon, Aria and Ezra were both scheduled to meet with a publisher. They had emailed the publisher on Sunday evening and received instructions to email their books to one of their junior publishers. They both received emails by Thursday morning saying the company would like to meet them. They arranged to meet on of the senior publishers together to save time. After school on Friday, Aria hurried home to change and Ezra grabbed the jacket that went with the suit he'd worn that day. They drove into the city and were almost late getting to their meeting because of traffic.
Ezra took Aria's hand and they hurried inside the building where the publisher's office was located. They scanned the directory and found they needed to go to the twelfth floor. Aria looked uneasy in the elevator. Ezra squeezed her hand, "Don't worry. The meeting will go great."
"I'm not worried about the meeting." Aria mumbled.
He thought for a second then pulled her close, "I almost forgot you hate elevators. We're nearly there."
They hurried off the elevator and found the office with no trouble. They walked up to the secretary. Aria smiled, "Ezra and Aria Fitz. We have a four o'clock meeting with Mr. Stanis."
"You are right on time. Please have a seat. I'll make sure he's available." They took their seats while the secretary got up and went through a doorway. She returned less than a minute later, "He's ready for you. Please follow me."
Aria stood and held out her hand to Ezra, who took it, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. When they entered the office, the slender man behind the desk jumped to greet them, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Fitz. I'm so glad to meet you. My name is Adam Stanis. Please call me Adam."
"Aria." She smiled as she shook his hand.
Ezra shook the man's hand after his wife, "Please call me Ezra."
"Please have a seat," Adam sat on his desk, motioning to the seats in front of him. "Let's get right down to business. I have read both of your books and I think we have the real thing. I'm talking best seller material."
Ezra cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, which book?"
"That's what I'm trying to say. I think we should combine both of your books into a double feature." Adam had a smile plastered on his face.
Aria wasn't sure she understood, "Why would you want to combine them? Aren't they fine on their own?"
"Please tell me that you didn't see the connection." He continued after receiving confused looks, "Ezra, your book was about the beginning of something and the hurt when something was lost. Aria, even though you dipped into the past a little, you were more concerned about the happy ending. Your stories intertwine so well."
Ezra shook his head, "I never even realized. I guess they kind of do go together."
"Yeah. I guess." Aria shrugged.
Adam stood and went around the desk to sit in his chair, "I know from a writer's perspective, it does seem strange, but from an avid book-reader's point of view, these two stories mesh so well. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought you wrote them together. You must be a lot alike. So here's what I'm thinking. You have a great demographic going for you. Aria you've got younger adults, women, and even some teenagers. Ezra, you already have a small fan base from your previous poetry and short stories. You appeal to men, woman, old, young; you "appeal to the masses," shall we say. With both your names on this book and some co-author book signings, you could easily get on the New York Times Best-Seller List."
"That's amazing. So what would we have to do? I mean what would happen from here if we decided to pursue this?" Aria wanted more information.
The publisher stood and paced around the room so he could gesture as he spoke, "First, I turn the books over to a team of editors and they will go through them with a fine-toothed comb, checking spelling, grammar, and continuity. We'd need to think of a catchy title…"
"One Love," Ezra blurted out, turning bright red from embarrassment from interrupting the man.
Adam clapped and smiled, "Perfect! Absolutely brilliant. Okay so then we go into production and get you out to the public. We'll set up book signings and a book tour. Probably starting with the east coast states and once it really booms, we'll send you to California, with the possibility of some international travel. I'd say within two and a half weeks you could see you book on the shelves of book stores everywhere."
Aria and Ezra both glanced at each other. Aria decided to fill Adam in, "We actually already had a release date picked out. See, I go to Rosewood Day and Ezra teaches there. Our relationship isn't illegal, but he could lose a lot if the school board knew that he married his student. We were thinking June 18th as the release date, since that is the day I graduate and our relationship can become public."
"Absolutely brilliant. I love it. I think that can be arranged. It sounds like you have an amazing head on your shoulders. So what are the two of you thinking?" Adam leaned against his desk, hands folded in front of him.
Ezra smiled, "I think we'll take tonight and talk it over. Can we call you tomorrow?"
"Definitely," he took a pen and wrote on a large manila envelope, "that is my personal cell phone number. You can call me and let me know what you decide as soon as you have figured it out. In the meantime, just to get the ball rolling, I'd like your permission to turn the books over to my editors. They are still completely yours. I just thought that if you do decide to use us, we won't have lost any time."
Aria nodded, "That sounds good. What's in the envelope?"
"This is the contract you would be signing. It's fairly standard. You can have your lawyer look over it and let us know how that sits with you." Ezra took the envelope that Adam extended toward him.
The couple stood and shook Ezra's hand before exiting the office and heading back toward the lobby. They bid the secretary a good evening and headed for the elevator. Neither spoke until they reached the car, "Wow."
She nodded slowly, "I know what you mean."
"Know any good lawyers?" Ezra chuckled, turning the envelope over in his hands and peeking inside at the large stack of papers.
Aria grinned, "Actually I do." She took out her phone and sent a text to her friend. Within a few minutes, she received a reply. "Let's go to Spencer's house."
"I forgot her mom was a lawyer." As they approached the Hastings' house, Ezra gasped, "We're going to have to tell her mom about our relationship, aren't we?"
Aria shrugged, "We don't really have to, but I think it might be easier."
He inhaled deeply before climbing out of the car. Mrs. Hastings would be the first person outside their immediate circle that they were telling about their relationship. Aria knocked and opened the front door without waiting for a response, motioning for Ezra to follow her. She led him into the kitchen where Spencer and her mom were having a discussion, "Aria, it's so good to see you. Mr. Fitz, what are you doing here?"
"Mrs. Hastings, we need to talk to you. We need some legal assistance. First I should let you know that Ezra and I got married a little over two months ago." Aria blurted out since she couldn't think of a good way to lead up to it.
She nodded, "I know."
"You know?" Aria's eyes instantly shifted to Spencer, who looked as stunned as Aria.
Veronica nodded and poured them all a cup of coffee, "Yes, I know. I took some things down to the barn one day while Spencer was in school, to store in the extra room. The invitation was lying right on your desk. I wasn't snooping."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Spencer demanded.
She shrugged, "Why should I? It's none of my business. I assumed Byron and Ella were aware of it. So what is this legal help you need?"
Ezra, who had been quiet the whole time, handed her the envelope, "Aria and I wrote a book together. Well we each wrote a book and the publisher thought it would be better as a double feature. Anyway, this is the contract he gave us to look over. We wanted to make sure it is legitimate and isn't going to take advantage of us." He handed her the envelope, "We'll pay you of course."
"Don't even worry about it. This can be your freebie." Veronica skimmed the contract and nodded, "This looks reasonable. There are some things we could adjust, but overall this looks like a good deal."
Aria sighed, "Thank you for looking this over. Next time we go to the publisher, will you go with us?"
"Sure. Sounds good to me. So, how's the married thing going for you?" Aria could hear the curiosity in the woman's voice.
She smiled, "It's great. I mean, we have to keep it a secret until graduation so it is a little difficult, but I have the best husband in the world so it's worth it."
"That's nice. I've got to get up to bed. But I'm glad you stopped by. Just let me know when you are going back to the publisher." Veronica wished them a good night and went upstairs to her room.
Spencer was the first to speak, "There's no way the invitation was on my desk. I had it in my desk for a few days, but it's been in my closet since. She was snooping in my room."
"Are you sure? I mean if she heard it somewhere, we need to find out because we still have a month of school." Aria whispered.
Her friend nodded, "I don't think she heard it anywhere. I mean, there's always been a small amount of gossip about Ezra and a student, but that has even died down in the last month or so."
"Okay, well try to get anything else out of your mom that you can. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Aria hugged her friend and led Ezra back outside.
Once they were home, Aria was flipping through the take-out menus when Ezra couldn't take the silence, "There were rumors about me and a student?"
"Yeah," Aria replied nonchalantly.
He shook his head in disbelief, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Well," she sat at the table across from him, "it basically started as girls wondering if you would 'do it' with a student. Then there were the rumors of a girl in your car. At one point or another, half my junior class was accused of sleeping with you. A month ago, it started to die down when Hanna pointed out to the one girl that you were wearing a wedding ring now. No one believes that you would marry a student. I also never mentioned it because we were already extremely careful and I was never one of the girls accused."
Ezra looked shocked, "After all that and you weren't in the rumors. That's actually pretty funny." He picked up the menu for the Chinese restaurant with a pouty face. Aria smiled and took it from him so she could place their order.
The next morning, Ezra called Adam to let him know they would take the offer, but would go over specifics of the contract at their next meeting with their lawyer present. "That is stupendous. When can you come back to sign some papers?"
"We were thinking Monday afternoon. Aria is leaving on Tuesday for a week." Ezra answered.
He could hear Adam smiling on the phone, "Sounds great. I'll see you then."
"Can you get ahold of Veronica to see if she is available Monday afternoon to go to the publisher's with us?" Ezra wondered.
She smiled and called their lawyer. She hung up the phone a minute later, "She said she is available. So now what do you want to do?"
"I want to take you upstairs and make love to you," Ezra smiled.
She stood and took his hand, "I like your honesty."
By Sunday evening, Aria was exhausted from being in the bedroom practically all weekend. Ezra said we wanted to 'stock up' for the week she would be gone on her senior trip. She wasn't complaining. She loved this part about being with Ezra. She couldn't believe she had waited so long.
"I don't want you to go," Ezra whined as he rolled over and wrapped his arms around her.
She kissed his forehead, "I know, but you said you didn't mind me going."
"That was before you actually began packing." He began kissing the side of her neck.
Aria giggled, but pushed herself away from him and got up, "No. I need a break." She smiled at his pretend sob. "What has gotten into you?"
"Do you know how lonely it's going to be here? At least in the apartment, it was small and cozy so when I was there alone, it wasn't as pronounced." He decided to get up and get dressed so he could go downstairs.
She smiled as she slipped on her underwear and Ezra's t-shirt, "Maybe there will be a cancellation with the chaperones and they'll ask you to go."
"No," he sighed, "I wouldn't do that to you. We are together every day and every night. You should be able to go out with your friends without worrying if I wanted to do something with you. It's only a week. It'll be fine. Come with me, I'm making dinner."
"Oh boy," she took the hand he offered and followed him down the stairs.
Monday afternoon arrived quickly and they arrived at the publisher to find Veronica and Spencer waiting, "I hope you don't mind I came along."
"Give me a break Spence. It's great that you came." Aria hugged her friend before leading them all into the building and back up to the twelfth floor. The secretary greeted them all and led them straight to Adam's office. After introductions, they got down to the business of signing the contract. After Veronica tweaked a few things in the contract, they were ready to sign. Ezra's hand shook as he signed his contract but Aria was cool as a cucumber. He handed over their first advance, a check for fifty thousand dollars.
"Congratulations you two! Let's make a book!" Adam cracked a bottle of champagne and handed everyone a glass. They toasted to the success of the book and to all their health. Veronica and Spencer excused themselves, leaving Aria and Ezra to discuss specifics. "Okay, we are going to need to do a photo shoot. We'll need an author picture for the book itself and we'll need some pictures for promotional use. We'll go over the design concept for the cover, fonts, and things like that. We can do all of that once you return from your trip. Where are you going?"
Aria smiled, "My senior class is going to Florida."
"This is such a good angle. A teacher/student relationship that actually worked out." Adam pondered the idea.
She wasn't sure she liked that idea, "I really don't want to use that angle to sell books. I mean people are going to find out one way or the other, but I really don't want to feed them that information. Ezra loves his job and doesn't want to do anything to further jeopardize that."
Adam looked disappointed, but nodded, "Agreed. But if you ever decide to change your job, I want to be the first to know."
"All right," Ezra smiled, "I'll make sure I do that."
They all stood and shook hands again. Aria and Ezra left and decided to go out to dinner to celebrate. Ezra hadn't wanted to say anything before, but he was about to burst, "Fifty thousand dollars for our advance? Does he really think it's going to do that well?"
"He must. So I was thinking we could open another savings account for only our book money. Keep it away from our regular funds and regular savings account. That way it's out of sight, out of mind." Aria suggested.
Ezra nodded, "Exactly what I was thinking."
They decided to go to the restaurant where Ezra proposed, hoping they would be able to get a table. When they arrived, there was a line to the door. Ezra led Aria to the podium to see how long the wait would be. The staff began whispering to each other and before Ezra could say a word, the hostess grabbed two menus, "Right this way. Your table is ready."
The confused couple followed the woman to a table. Before the woman could walk away, Aria stopped her, "Why did you give us a table?"
"Because you are our favorite." The woman giggled at their puzzled expressions, "You are part of new employee training. Your proposal is shown to everyone that works here. It helps us relate to customers. That was so romantic. When is the wedding?"
Ezra, still stunned, smiled and replied, "Actually 6 days after the proposal."
"That is so nice. The two of you are so lucky. Well anyway, Amy is going to be your server. She'll be over in just a minute." The woman smiled again before leaving the couple alone.
After a minute of silence, Aria broke into a fit of giggles. Ezra jumped at the sudden outburst, but joined in her laughter. They were still trying to control themselves as they were ordering their food. They were in the middle of their dinner when they were interrupted when someone approached their table, "Aria, Mr. Fitz, fancy meeting you here."
"Denise, how have you been?" Aria greeted her classmate calmly.
She smiled, "I'm fine. My parents brought me here to celebrate. I got into Penn State. What are you two doing here?"
"Well I've been writing a book for a while. I gave it to Mr. Fitz to read over and basically just edit it and tell me if it was any good. He gave it to his friend who is a publisher and his company wants to publish my book. We were just at the publisher's office signing my contract. He brought me here to celebrate." Aria replied excitedly.
Denise's face changed from a smirk to a genuine smile, "That's so exciting. So you are really going to have a book published?"
"Yeah so I'll make you a deal. You buy my book and I'll buy your painting in the school lobby. I've wanted to ask you about it for a while, but I just haven't run into you." Aria smiled back.
She nodded, "That sounds like a plan. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. Good night." She waved and rejoined her parents.
"That was close," Ezra released that breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
Aria nodded, "Yeah, but I've gotten so used to secrets that I always seem to have a really good explanation."
"What do you mean?" Ezra asked curiously.
She sighed, "Do you remember before we got married, you said that the girls and I had a strange bond and I told you I'd tell you a story sometime?"
He nodded, "Yeah. I remember."
Aria smiled, "Do you want to hear it while you help me pack for tomorrow?"
"I really want to hear the story, but I really don't want you to pack," he whined.
She slipped some cash into the check and stood to lead Ezra out of the restaurant, "Well if you prefer I can go naked."
"No, let's pack you some clothes." He smiled and wanted to reach for her hand, but resisted because he hadn't seen Denise leave yet.
The trip home was uneventful and Aria spent the rest of the evening telling Ezra about 'A' and all the problems they had because of it. He was completely shocked, "Why didn't you ever go to the police?"
"We tried, but there wasn't anything they did to help us. Hanna figured out who 'A' was originally, but then got hit by a car and forgot everything. It was so hard on us. We were just trying to protect each other." Aria sighed, trying to hold back the tears that always appeared when she really talked about the whole ordeal.
He pulled her into his arms, "In a way I wish you would have told me because I could have been there for you, but I know I would have wanted to protect you too and that could have just made things worse."
"Baby, can we go to bed? I would love to continue to talk about this, but I'm leaving for a week and I want to spend all night in your arms. Since we've been able to have sex again, I hate not making love to you and a week is going to be bad." Aria pulled on the skin of his neck gently with her teeth.
He kissed her passionately, "Lead the way. I'll be up in just a minute. I'm just going to grab a bottle of water."
"Make that two. And hurry." She went up the stairs and when he was sure she was in the bedroom, he slipped a small package into her suitcase. He hurried to the kitchen for the water and raced up the stairs to enjoy the rest of their night.
The next morning when the alarm went off, part of Ezra wanted to turn it off and cuddle with his wife so she would miss her flight and be forced to stay. The part of Ezra that wasn't selfish kissed Aria's neck and told her it was time to get up. Unlike normal mornings, Aria hopped out of bed with a smile and took a shower without any grumbling or complaining.
Ezra couldn't hold in his amusement while he shaved, "Why can't you ever be this excited to see me in the morning?"
"Because I'm more content to stay in bed in your arms. I hate getting up and facing the same things I do every day when lying next to you is better," she explained as she toweled her hair.
He kissed her before going back into the bedroom, "So you'd rather go to Florida than stay in bed with me?"
"I just wish you were going to be in my bed in Florida. That would make this trip perfect." She tossed her toiletries into her travel case and packed it in her suitcase.
He hugged her tightly, "I know. I'm going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too." They carried her suitcase and duffle bag down the stairs. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."
Ezra glanced around, "Camera. Purse. Suitcase. Money. Backpack. I don't know. I can't think of anything."
"I think I'm just being paranoid. Alright, I'm going to put this stuff in the car. Will you get me a cup of coffee?" Aria asked sweetly.
He smiled, "Why don't I put this stuff in the car and you can get the coffee? I always mess yours up."
"Deal." Aria kissed him and went to find her morning pick-me-up.
Aria had to arrive at the school early to have her bags checked by the staff. The airport security only checked for illegal things. The seniors were having their bags checked for things like alcohol, cigarettes, porn, and anything else the school would find inappropriate.
As the girls sat in a room full of people, Ezra approached, "Miss Montgomery, can I see you for a minute? It's about your book."
She nodded, "Sure. I'll be right back." She accompanied Ezra down the hall to his classroom. "What's wrong with the book?"
"Nothing. Mr. Douglas can't go on the trip. His wife was admitted to the hospital. She broke her leg. The school asked me to step in as chaperone. I told them no but they practically begged because there is no one else. I know this is your trip and I said I wouldn't go if they asked, but if I don't go then there may not be a trip. Would it be okay with you if I go?" Ezra whispered quickly.
She sighed, "It's fine if you go. I mean, as long as we pretend that we aren't together. You just do your thing and let me be with my friends. I'm sure we can have a few private moments though." She winked before she headed back to the auditorium.
Ezra hurried home to pack quickly and he was to meet them at the airport. When he arrived, Mrs. Glossenger, who was also chaperoning, handed Ezra his ticket. He approached Aria, "Miss Montgomery, Mrs. Glossenger said you left this on the bus." He handed her the bag containing her laptop, the one thing she was forgetting at home.
"Thank you." She slid the strap over her shoulder and Hanna let out a slight giggle, earning a nudge from Spencer.
The flight from Philadelphia to Daytona Beach was short and after arriving at their hotel, they had enough time to put their luggage in their rooms and change before going to the restaurant. They all ate and had a great time together. Ezra was good about keeping his distance.
Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Aria were sharing a room and decided that it was too early to just sit in their room. They changed into their shorts and left the hotel to go stand in the ocean.
They waded in the tide and took goofy pictures in the sand. Emily could see Ezra approaching, "I thought you said he was going to keep his distance."
"He is. He could just be the chaperone coming to check on us." Aria said with a fake grin. She didn't know what he was doing.
Hanna smiled and waved as he got closer, "Hey Mr. Fitz, what's up?"
"Nothing much Hanna. I just wanted to make sure you know curfew is at eleven and if you are going further away than the beach you need to inform a chaperone." Ezra spoke very authoritatively.
Aria nodded, "Thank you Mr. Fitz. We thought about walking down that way for some ice cream in a few minutes. Just to let you know."
"Okay, have fun."
He turned to go but Hanna interrupted, "Mr. Fitz, will you take a picture for us?" She handed him the camera and the girls grouped together. He snapped a few pictures before Spencer took the camera and pulled him into the middle of their group. She held the camera up and took a few shots of all of them. Spencer pushed Aria and Ezra together and took a few shots of the two of them, before the girls raced down the beach and away from their English teacher.
Aria punched her friend playfully in the arm, "What was that about Spence?"
"I just thought you might like a picture of the two of you, since he's here and all." She grinned and held the door open so they could all enter the ice cream shop.
It was just before ten when the girls wandered back to the hotel. They entered their room and Hanna insisted on getting a shower. By the time she exited the steamy bathroom, the other girls were sound asleep. As Hanna was just getting ready to climb into bed, there was a knock on the door. She opened it slowly, "Hey Ez… Mr. Fitz. What's up?"
"Just doing room checks Hanna. Is everyone here?" Ezra peeked into the room.
Hanna opened the door a little further, "Yeah. They decided to pass out while I was in the shower."
"Okay. Set your alarm for no later than seven tomorrow. We pull out of the parking lot eight to go to Disney. Good night." Ezra continued to the next room and Hanna closed the door.
Thanks for reading! Please review!