28. They Were Aria and Ezra
"To us. For graduating," she nodded at Emily. "For getting her man back," She nodded at Aria who was engulfed in Ezra's arms, both softly laughing. "For getting a promotion and moving together," she finally nodded at Spencer and Hardy, who now were seated.
"I'll drink to that," Emily held up her glass of the same cocktail Hanna had in her hands. And so they all did.
"Give me that," Aria snatched the letter away from Spencer's hands, almost ripping it. "We are honored to accept you in our national swim team," she mumbled as she scanned the paper in her hand. "…start to train and compete with us in December!" she ended her sentence in a shriek. "Oh my god, Em! You did it! You got in!"
"I can't believe it, I never thought they would even consider me-" Emily was pacing back and forth in the living room of the loft. Earlier that morning, she had just finished her ordinary morning run when she collected her mail on the first floor of her apartment building just like every other day. As she jogged up the stairs, she scanned the envelopes in her hand. Bills, bills, bills, and… USA Swimming. She did a double take just to be sure she wasn't just hallucinating due to dehydration. She had drained her bottle of water halfway through her run. The logo was still there, unmistakably USA Swimming. She then for some reason ran back downstairs and got in her car, then automatically went to Hanna's place. Unfortunately there were no cars in the driveway, which meant no one was home. She then made a sharp turn and headed to Aria and Spencer's loft, showing up at their doorstep to make them open the letter for her.
She had applied to join the US national swim team about a month back, and had been promised to hear from them a few weeks after she turned in her application. She thought it was probably going to take them months to get back to her since a lot of people applied, but apparently they kept their word. Spencer had opened and read the letter out loud to her. And that's how Emily ended up pacing in her best friends' living room, thanking God of what must have been a miracle, sweating in her running ensemble. Even her iPhone was still attached to its earphones, which were clumsily roped around the gadget.
"Of course they considered you! They would be foolish not to," Spencer quickly cut in. She was about to say more when there was a banging on the door. She casted a wary glance at the wooden board, then exchanged looks with the other two girls in the room. "Hanna?" She took a wild guess. It was probably her, since they were having girls' night that day. Aria was the one to stand up and open the door, where she indeed found Hanna on their doorstep. She stormed past the petite brunette and slumped onto the couch, right between where Aria and Spencer sat.
"You will not believe what Caleb said," Hanna practically spat. It was obvious that she was furious, getting back on her feet just as her skin touched the leather of the couch. She paced where Emily did just seconds ago, who now sat with Spencer. Aria had closed the door and was now standing with the group. "He said- I can't believe it, we agreed to this! He can't just suddenly change his mind-"
"Okay, Hanna. Take a deep breath and calm down. We can't understand you like this," Aria tried to help out her friend.
"Don't tell me to calm down, that's exactly what he said. It's the last thing I need to hear from you right now," Hanna was clearly infuriated. Aria shut her mouth in shock, not really knowing what to say. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that- ugh!"
"Just tell us what happened," Spencer told her friend calmly, trying to soothe her. It must have worked, since Hanna suddenly decided to sit on the carpet and take a deep breath.
"We were eating at that delicious dessert place at the corner of Raley Rd and Seventh, do you guys remember? The place with the perfect cake where warm chocolate fondue would spill from the middle if you cut it-"
"Hanna, get back to the point," Aria stopped her before she could say anything else about the mouth-watering dessert.
"Well I told him that we should probably go to Hollis to check out classes for him now that I don't go there anymore and can look after Emma and the shop. He insisted on doing it some other time but I told him it wasn't something you can just put off for as long as you'd like. And then he suddenly tells me that he doesn't want to go at all! He said that business is doing really good, and I know that. But he needs to go to Hollis. I agreed to him not going until the business takes off and now it has, so he needs to go. He. Just. Has. To." She rambled on without catching a breath.
"Hanna, why are you so bent on him going to Hollis?" Aria knelt down by her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, softly stroking her in comfort.
"Because," Hanna sighed, as if she had just lost all of her pent up energy. "Because we planned it that way. I mean, I don't know. I guess there are so many things that have been turning out differently than how I thought they would. You and Ezra -a.k.a. the impossible couple- are back together, which I am very happy about, Spencer is going away with some guy, and Emily will soon be wrapped up in her swimming with the national team. I can't handle all the changes. I just need one thing to go as planned, one thing-" Hanna chocked up and tried to hold it together, bring her knees up to her chest and hugging her legs, her chin rested on her kneecaps. "It sounds silly because these are all great things but I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and Caleb not going to Hollis seems like it. If he changes his mind about something we've talked about for as long as we can remember, what else could change in a heartbeat- I don't know what to think," tears started running down her face, and Aria quickly tightened a hug around the shaking blonde. The rest of the women soon joined, and they stayed like that for a moment.
Aria knew what this was. What was happening to her friend. Sometimes you feel like the world is moving really fast and you just can't get a grip and so you take a break to just sit back and watch the world go by. But then the next thing you know, everything isn't how they used to be and you didn't even notice it. It's like you missed this huge portion of the change, because nothing can just transform overnight. And then you try to actually help become part of the change so that it wouldn't seem so scary but it still is. And when Hanna tried to help Caleb make his change he didn't even want to do it anymore, which is a change itself. One that she didn't see coming. Another change she wasn't ready to realize she had missed. It's like being dragged around by a whole world, never being able to catch up. Like drowning. It's suffocating. Aria had been there, when she finally panicked about having Abby without anyone's help. Thankfully, her friends and family had come to the rescue and assured her that they were there for her before she hit rock bottom. It hurt her to realize that they weren't there for Hanna when she was falling. They didn't even notice that she was feeling this way.
Emily was first to let go, and Hanna was caught off guard by the absence of her warmth. But then soon she felt no skin contact at all, so she lifted her head off of her knees to see why her friends had all let go of her. When she looked up however, her body was greeted by the soft cloth of a comforter and she was once again enveloped in warmth. Emily must've been the one to fetch it. The weather had gone chilly, to the point where heaters in their low mode are as good as an air conditioner.
"I'm being silly, I know," Hanna was first to speak up after a full five minutes of silence. The tears on her face had dried, now not a single evidence of her little meltdown. There wasn't even the tiniest smudge of her make up, thanks to waterproof.
"Don't say that, it's not silly," Emily quickly said, as if defending her friend from herself. She hated seeing Hanna the way she was. And really, Hanna wasn't being silly. She hated when people would comment on someone else's feelings as 'silly' or anything of the sort. Who were they to say so? Who was anyone, really, to decide how important another person's feelings are? This was a huge deal to Emily. She had ranted about it to her friends about a million times. "It's not," Emily stated quite harshly.
"Thank you, Em," Hanna slipped out her hand from under the comforter and reach for Emily's. "But the thing is, I was just feeling shitty. And I'm not anymore," Hanna shrugged. The other three exchanged looks.
"Hanna, you were on the verge of either curling up in a ball in tears or strangling Caleb to death just minutes ago," Spencer reminded the blonde as if she would actually forget.
"Yeah, I was really furious but I guess venting to you guys helped." No one bought it. The girls thought that Hanna was just faking it, trying to act like she was okay. But they were wrong. Hanna couldn't explain it, but the exploding feeling in her chest was gone. The rage that resulted in her being barely able to form a coherent sentence was nowhere to be felt. " I swear, I'm over it." All eyes were on her now, trying to catch the telltales of her lies. But surprisingly enough, there was nothing. Hanna was telling the truth. "Let's talk about something else, please?"
"Okay, how about how you knew I got in USA Swimming? You said my swimming with the national team was one of the things freaking you out," Emily said the last few words rather hesitantly, not knowing how else to put it. "You weren't even here when we opened the letter."
"Of course you got in, why wouldn't you? And besides, I remember that you applied exactly one month ago so you must've gotten a letter of acceptance today. I mean, it must be a letter of acceptance. It's just not possible for them to decline you," Hanna explained quickly, making the whole thing sound so light. Her tone implied that she was the one wondering why anyone of the girls would think otherwise. That was the thing about Hanna. She had blind optimism. It was good at times like these, but when the outcome turns out not as she expected… That's another story. "Oh, I know! We should celebrate!" She was now back to her cheerful self, carefree as if all was right in the world. "You two," Hanna looked at the two brunettes, one significantly taller than the other. "Bring your men, we want a full house. I'll book all eight of us a dinner reservation tonight."
"Eight?" Aria furrowed her brows. She mentally recounted herself, Ezra, Spencer, Hardy, Hanna, Caleb, and Emily. She wasn't exactly a mathematician, but she's pretty sure that was all in all seven people.
"Yeah, eight. Emily has to bring the girl she's been seeing," Hanna casually slipped in the huge news, earning head swivels towards the friend in concern. It wasn't that Emily rarely dated, it's just that this was brand new information. How could they have not known? They told each other everything.
"We just started going out, and Hanna caught us going on a date the other day," Emily quickly defended herself to Aria and Spencer. She knew the two would be mad if they thought Emily told Hanna and not them. "I didn't want things to move too fast, so I just kept things simple and not involve anyone else but the two of us. I know you guys would want to meet her and all if you knew."
"Well, like it or not, we're going to meet her tonight," Hanna insisted.
"Han, Emily doesn't have to bring her if she's not ready," Aria shot the only married woman in the room a look.
"No, I think I want you guys to meet her," Emily giddily said.
"It's set then, a celebratory dinner tonight," Spencer clapped her hands once in conclusion.
"Don't make it too early," Aria quickly added. "I have a tutoring gig at The Grille in," she checked her watch. "Shit, ten minutes." She jumped up form her cross-legged sitting position and started gathering her necessities and stuffing them in her gigantic handbag. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Aria cursed under her breath in annoyance. Why did they have to have a guest now? She was going to be late if she didn't leave right that second.
"Do you want me to-" Spencer started offering to open the door, but Aria waved her off. She was going to go out the door anyway. She swung it open and found Ezra, who pecked her on the lips as a greeting and went straightly inside.
"Hey Ezra," Hanna greeted him as soon as he was in view of the girls. Apparently she had run out of nicknames.
"What are you doing here?" Aria straightly got to the point, an internal clock ticking in her head. She could not be late for just her third tutoring lesson.
"I know you have a lesson soon so I was about to drive you," Ezra replied supporting a big goofy grin, looking satisfied with what he thought was a sweet brilliant idea.
"Yeah, that's okay. I can drive there myself. I have to go now, feel free to join the girls," she gestured at her friends, who were all watching the two with parted lips in shock and raised brows. Aria gave her boyfriend a quick peck and then left at an instant, leaving a dumbfounded Ezra.
"Did I do something wrong?" He turned to the stunned women.
"Umm," Even Hanna had nothing to say. Ezra had lovingly come all the way here to surprise her with a free ride, probably to spend just the tiniest bit more time with her, and she completely shut him out. And she did it so easily, as if it was as simple as turning down a glass of water as a guest at someone else's house.
Once again, Aria caught the dark haired student across the table sneak a glance up at her. And again, he quickly looked back down at the sheet of paper before him when he saw her notice. This had been going on for quite some time now, and Aria just couldn't figure out what was wrong. During their previous discussions, he had always been so sure of all of his point of views of the book they were studying. The Great Gatsby. Apparently Ezra was now assigning this book to his class, just like he had more than four years ago to Aria and her classmates. It helped Aria a lot, actually. She could still remember a few of the questions Ezra asked his students regarding the famous Fitzgerald novel, so she can prepare her student for what they were about to face. Ezra could get very passionate when discussing a book in class. She remembered that very well.
After a few discussions with her student filled with strong arguments in their previous session, Aria decided to now have him answer just one question in writing. She thought he was going to go all out and explain whatever his answer would be right away, but she was wrong. He had been just staring at Aria's messy scrawl, and stealing glances up at her every now and then. Aria sighed in impatience.
"Okay, Nathan. What is the matter?" Aria huffed after unclenching her jaw. This was starting to irritate her. "It's a simple question. Do you think Daisy's feelings for Gatsby was really love, considering how she acted at the end of the book?"
"Well, isn't it pretty much written that she loved him?" Nathan answered slowly, hesitating.
"But this was written from Nick's point of view. How would he know if she truly loved Gatsby? How would Daisy herself even know that what she felt was love? How do you know she didn't mistake the thrill of an affair for love? How do you even know that she was seeing Gatsby as the man he is now and not who she remembered him to be, the man he was before he left for war?" Aria loved asking these questions. She had her own set of answers, and she wondered if anyone else's would ever be the same as hers.
"W-what?" Nathan stammered. Aria knew she might have been badgering him slightly, but he had always been able to take it before today. He stared at her weirdly, an unsettling look in his eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?! You have been ever since I walked through those doors. Do I have smudged eyeliner or something?" He shook his head. "Then what is it? It's me, Aria." She insisted that her students call her by her first name. Having high school students she helped with studies call her 'Ms. Montgomery' made her feel old. "You've been looking at me like I'm some sort of alien or unicorn or like I slept with your teach-" she stopped herself. Shit. That's why he had been looking at her all weird. It must've been weird to be sitting across the woman who was screwing your teacher, to put it harshly. She was also sure that he knew she was once Ezra's student. "Oh," she finally said.
"Do you mind if I ask something?" Nathan asked rather confidently.
"Why don't we get back to the book?" Aria gave a tight smile, tapping on the worn out book in her hands. "So, what do you think?"
"Daisy truly loved Gatsby," Nathan sighed, starting his explanation. "Sure, she didn't do the right thing at the end. But she's used to having things her way. She's just selfish. Selfish people love, too. And we both know Daisy's more than just a bit impulsive. That definitely shows in what she did at the end, a rash decision. One made in panic and well… selfishness. The fact th-" before he could say anything else, Aria interrupted. Despite the fact that her eyes were glued on him the whole time, her mind was elsewhere.
"What are they saying?"
"What?" Nathan furrowed his brows. Aria often cut his arguments with more challenging questions countering his point of view, but the one she had just uttered made no sense.
"Come on, Nathan. I'm not stupid. I know people are talking about us, especially those in Rosewood High. I went there, too. Gossip spreads in seconds in those halls." Nathan nodded, understanding what she was talking about. He figured she was referring to herself and Ezra when saying the word 'us'.
"Aria, you don't have to worry about tha-"
"No, just tell me. I can handle it, okay? I don't care what they say, anyway," Aria said, actually contradicting herself by saying that she didn't care and by asking.
"If you don't care, then why are you asking?" Nathan asked smugly.
"Nathan, just tell me," This time, Aria looked serious. She knew she shouldn't listen to the talk, but she couldn't help it. It was calling her. Besides, she grew up here—the town of gossip. She grew up listening and spreading rumors. She needed to know what people were saying now that she was the material for said gossip. She had never been on this side before.
"Not everyone is against the two of you," Nathan tried to not say anything that might offend his tutor, but the words affected Aria exactly how he didn't want them to.
"And the rest of them?"
"It's nothing worth repeating."
"Which side are you on?" Aria held their gaze, trying to find any flicker of emotion that might show even a hint of disgust or detestation.
"Yours, but if you think anyone is buying your story about just getting together after graduation then you're kidding yourself." Aria immediately tensed up at the mention of this apparently unapparent fact. "So it's true?"
"Honestly, Nathan?" Aria looked him straight in the eyes. "It's none of your fucking business." With that, she grabbed her purse and book then walked out of The Grille.
"Aria, I'm sorry," he called after her, not getting a response. "But we haven't even finished the session yet," he sighed. "Aria!" Nothing.
Walking out of there, she can feel the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that had been fading lately, start to grow again. She thought they were over this. It felt like they were back at square one. She knew Ezra probably won't care about what people were saying, and she knew she should opt the same attitude. But this was Rosewood, where she wanted to raise her daughter. This is where she wanted to settle down with Ezra. How could she do all that with the whole town looking at her with abominable scrutiny? She felt like her nightmare had just come true. The last few months were just too good to be true. They were Aria and Ezra. Aria couldn't for the life of her think of how she could think the two of them could finally have their peace.
Tell me what you guys think of this chapter! I am so excited for where this story is going to go because I have the whole thing mapped out and I can't wait to share it with you guys! Don't forget to review; I accept anything! Oh, and follow me on twitter: TheBitchellArmy I usually tweet about my story being updated after I add a new chapter so you guys can stay updated there!
Reply to GirlOnFire9699: Thank you, I have fully recovered now! And yes, I am a huge Spencer fan. That obvious? hahha
Reply to Abs: Hahha I promise, I am not stalking you! But that so cool how your name is Abby, your sister's Hannah, and your brother's Evan! Thanks for reading, it means a lot to me!
Reply to lettherebelove0721: Definitely not ending this story just yet! Sorry for the long wait last time!
Reply to Guest: Well there you go, Emily has a girlfriend! It's really funny that you mentioned that because I've actually planned this beforehand! Looks like my timing is perfect.
Reply to UngluckLiebhaber: Appreciate keeping the joke to yourself, but I wouldn't mind that much if you had actually said it! Hahha I'm always in the mood for a joke!
Thank you all for reading/reviewing/following/favorite! I really mean it when I say it means a lot! Love you all xo
