CHAPTER THREE
Aria stood in the living room with her father along with Elliot and Nancy Partha. Elliot was the lacrosse coach at Hollis and was very anxious about leaving their newborn child at home with a babysitter. He had been on the phone with the babysitter almost since they had arrived while Nancy seemed happy to get away for a little while. Neither Ezra nor Jason had arrived yet and Mike was not home, which Byron was not happy about.
"Thanks, Byron," Nancy said as Aria's father handed her a glass of wine.
"I thought you were kidding," Byron said referring to Elliot on the phone asking about the baby's wellbeing.
"No kidding," Nancy said, "I may have carried the baby for nine months, but Elliot's planning to carry him straight through college."
"If you ever need a sitter, you should call me," Aria said leaning against the wall, "I'd love to do it."
"That'd be great!" Nancy exclaimed, "Just stop by the house with a blood sample. The background check won't take more than an hour," Nancy said with a laugh, "Hey, where's Mike?" she turned to Byron.
"Well, he promised he'd be here, so…" Byron trailed off.
"Uh, yeah, he's on his own clock. You'll find out about that soon enough," Ella told Nancy. The doorbell rang, and Ella went to answer it. Aria walked behind her and saw that it was Ezra. She didn't know what she was going to feel when she saw him, but it was not as intense as when she saw Jason again for the first time, she knew that.
"Aria," he greeted.
"Hi, Ezra," she said. Before she could say anything else her father interrupted.
"Hey, Ezra," he shook the younger man's hand. Ezra gave Byron a bottle of scotch.
"A gift for the host," Ezra said.
"This is some serious scotch," Byron said examining the bottle. Aria knew nothing about scotch, or alcohol in general, really so she didn't know if it was good or not.
"Well, it always works for me," Ezra told him. Ella called Byron to the kitchen for help, so Aria led Ezra to the living room where the Parthas were.
"Didn't you once say that scotch tasted like diet coke and iodine?" Aria asked remembering a get together they had in Iceland. Ezra and her father had drunk some scotch and later he had told her it was disgusting using that description.
"Yes, but your father likes it, so that's what I got," Ezra told her.
Aria introduced Ezra to Nancy, but he already knew Elliot, so there was no introduction needed. The doorbell rang again. She knew who it was. Everybody was here except for one person. Both of her parents were busy, so she answered the door.
On the other side of the door was Jason.
"Hey, come in," Aria said letting Jason into the house.
"Sorry I'm late," Jason said looking down at Aria.
"Uh, no, it's fine," she told him. He handed her the bouquet of flowers he had been holding, "Thanks," she said and led him over to the living room. She introduced him to everyone before walking to the kitchen to put the flowers in water and to let her parents know that everyone was here.
"Okay, dinner is still cooking, so you two go keep everyone company until it's ready," Ella shooed Byron and Aria out of the kitchen.
The two left and went back to the living room. Nancy and Ezra were on the couch. Aria sat down between them. Jason was leaning against the wall across from them and Elliot was sitting in the chair. Byron was playing host and passing out food and drinks.
Ezra was talking about his biking trip through Ireland. Aria already knew the story. The two of them had talked about it before when they were alone. She tuned them out until she heard Jason's voice.
"Uh, some, yeah," Jason said, "When I first took off from college, I did the Kona Coast."
"That's where they have the Triathlon, right?" Byron asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to clear my head before I came back here," Jason said, "Riding those lava fields is like being on the moon, you know?"
"That's intense," Ezra said.
"Yeah, it's what I needed," Jason responded. The doorbell rang, and everybody looked over. Aria walked to the door and answered it. When she opened the door, she saw the red and blue lights of a cop car.
"Aria," the cop she knew as Barry greeted her.
"Hi," she replied.
"Are your parents home?" he asked.
"Mom? Dad?" She called out. Byron and Ella walked over to the door where Aria was standing.
"Hi, Barry," Ella greeted.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said, "But it's about Mike. He's okay, but we have a situation."
"What kind of situation?" Byron asked.
"Looks like he broke into a house," Barry said. Aria stopped listening after that. She turned around and looked at Jason for a few seconds before looking away. She just stared off with a blank look on her face until she heard her mother's voice.
"Aria, Aria, please stay here," Ella said. Aria nodded. Jason watched as Aria's eyes locked onto a spot on the floor. He wanted her to look at him, but she wouldn't. And then there was Ezra who just looked confused sitting on the couch.
Aria saw the Parthas out before going to the dining room to put all of the dishes away. Ezra followed her in to help her. She didn't really want any help, but she didn't want to be rude and tell him to go away either.
The two worked quietly only talking when necessary to clear the table. It was awkward having Ezra there. She knew her parents didn't know about the relationship they had in Iceland or he would not have been invited. He probably wouldn't even have a teaching job at all if they knew.
"Why did you come to Rosewood?" Aria asked hoping Jason wouldn't hear. The dining room wasn't very far from the living room where Jason was still seated, "Did you come because you knew I would be coming back here eventually?"
"I guess that was part of the reason," Ezra said, "But your dad said there were teaching positions around here that would be good for me. It was not my intention to come back here and start up our relationship again. But if that does happen it wouldn't be a bad thing," Ezra told her.
"I'm not interested in a relationship with you anymore, Ezra," Aria told him, "And if my parents even found out about what happened in Iceland they will ruin your career," she said, "I'm not even joking."
"I won't say anything," Ezra said, "It looks like you've got your eye on someone else anyway," he nodded his head toward the other room where Jason was.
"Jason and I are just friends," Aria told him, "We've been friends for years. Plus, he sort of works for the school, so it would be illegal," she said.
"It doesn't matter," Ezra said, "I'm not going to bother you unless you want me to," he told her as they finished putting everything away, "And I should probably go," he said.
"Oh, okay," Aria said, "I'll walk you out," Aria walked Ezra to the door, passing Jason in the living room. He was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Well, it was good to see you again, Aria," Ezra said hugging her.
"Yeah, you too," she said hugging him back. They let go of each other and Ezra walked out the door. Aria closed the door behind him and walked back into the living room, "Would you like more coffee?" Aria asked.
"Sure," Jason said. Aria picked up the coffee pot and started to pour coffee in Jason's cup.
"Mike promised me he wouldn't do this anymore," she said shakily.
"He probably meant it when he said it," Jason told her, "Give me that. Sit down," he took the coffee pot from her. Aria sat down on the chair across from Jason, "Take a breath," he told her, and she did before she started talking.
"He must be so angry at me," she said looking at the ceiling.
"Why would Mike be angry at you?" Jason asked.
"I don't know," Aria said, "Because even though I didn't come home with them I still got more attention from our parents. Everything that happened with our parents to begin with. Maybe if I had come home earlier he would have gotten more attention from our parents," Aria shrugged.
"No, no, no. Trust me," Jason said, "You are not the reason Mike is doing this," he told her.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Because I know a lot about misplaced guilt," Jason told her, "Look, the amount of trouble Mike is in depends on how many times he's done this. Do you have any idea how many places he's broken into?" Jason asked. She didn't.
Aria had no idea how many places her brother had broken into. She knew he attempted to break into Jason's place and now wherever this place was. She knew there had been a few other break ins in the area, she wondered if they were all Mike's doing.
"No, and it's not like he'll tell me," Aria said, "I don't even want to ask, "Aria's phone went off and she checked to see what it was. After last night's strange text she had been afraid to pick up her phone, "It's my parent's. They'll be here in a few minutes," she told Jason.
"I should probably head out then," Jason said.
"Probably," Aria said.
"Text me later and let me know what's going on," Jason told her. It was more of a question than a statement.
"Yeah, I will," she told him.
CHAPTER THREE:DINNER-Re-posted
