Forget Me Not
Chapter Six
"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind." - William Shakespeare
Ezra
"I thought you might be the one person who could tell me something...anything...I guess I was wrong," I spat at the girl. I was so fed up with all the lies, the secrets, the hiding. I walked out of the room leaving her to deal with her problems by herself. I slammed the door and jumped when I saw that Hardy and Spencer were standing two inches in front of me.
"Oh! Sorry!" Spencer looked down and moved out of my way and Hardy smiled at me sheepishly, patting me on the back.
"Thanks for bringing me up here," I nodded and left them in the hallway, turning the corner sharply and entering the elevator.
I was sitting in my car, thinking about the entire day's events. Aria and I had lunch, I showed her the picture, she knew something, it upset her, she left. Alison knew something, probably everything, and wouldn't tell me anything. I hadn't seen Marley hardly at all. I thought about Marley and sighed, shaking my head.
My daughter wasn't even my daughter.
Which brought on a whole other round of questions and thoughts.
What else had Alison lied about? What was she hiding? Why was she so scared of me finding out?
I shook my head, back to the events: I see Hardy and his girlfriend, Spencer, at the bar. I didn't get any of Hardy's e-mails. Spencer seemed familiar but I couldn't place where from. I met with Aria in the hotel room.
And just a few moments ago, she kissed me. I don't know why. I don't know how it even happened, but I kissed her back. Everything seemed perfectly right in those few, precious seconds, too; like we were supposed to be together. Something that I had never felt with Alison.
I suddenly felt nauseous. I had never, not once, cheated on someone, let alone my wife. But she cheated too, and she was lying about too many things at once.
I drove home in a haze and opened the front door silently, taking my shoes off on the 'Welcome' mat. I was walking past the living room to get to the stairs when I felt someone in the room with me. I slowly looked around the room, I couldn't see anyone.
But just as I was about to start walking again, the black ottoman zipped around and I almost let out a yelp as I jumped at the figure in the chair.
"Shit, Alison! You scared the hell out of me!"
She wore her hair in a ponytail, with two strands of hair left out, framing her face. Her arms were folded across her chest; she wore her pink, silk robe and her face looked smug.
"I've been waiting for you, Ezra."
I roll my eyes and ignore her as she gets up and follows me upstairs.
"Ezra, please! Just listen to me!" she pleas as I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth. It was already midnight and it had been a long day.
"Ezra, I'm not going anywhere! You might as well just listen to me!" I opened the door when I was finished and she looked as though she were on the verge of tears.
"You lied to me, and you won't give me a straight, honest answer about anything!" I cried out, but it was a quiet cry so I wouldn't wake Marley.
"Ask me anything...I swear to you, I'll tell you the truth!" I look at her skeptically and clear my throat.
"Who was the girl in the picture, Alison?" I asked, she groaned and shook her head.
"I don't know, Ezra. You have to believe me!"
"Well I don't. Good night, Alison. I'll be on the couch tonight."
"Wait," she called quietly.
I turned around and she was looking me straight in the eye, tears welling up in her sparkly blue ones.
"What?" I spoke in a monotone.
"I-When you kept getting emails from old friends and people you didn't know anymore...I deleted them. All of them. I changed your e-mail and I didn't tell you because-because I didn't want you to be confused. You had just gotten home from the hospital and things were so crazy! I just-I just love you and I didn't want you to have to go through any more than you already had."
She sounded sincere. I couldn't resist, she was crying now. I embraced her and she cried into my shirt.
"I believe you," I murmured as I rested my chin on her hair.
"I do love you. Ezra, you and Marley. You're all I have. I-love you so much," she looked up at me and planted a single kiss on my lips.
"I love you, too," She smiled up at me.
"Ezra," She perked her head up on my chest. "We should invite Aria over for Thanksgiving. I mean, our dads aren't coming down so we only have to cook for us. We might as well have a few extra people." She smiled tightly,
"Okay, yeah I guess so." I took her hand and led her to bed.
Hopefully this was the beginning of the truth. The whole truth.
Aria
I cried myself to sleep that night. Silently though, I knew I was annoying Hardy and Spencer, but they didn't have to come. Of course, I was glad that they did, though.
At 4 in the morning I gave up trying to sleep and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. I felt gross from crying. I felt gross from kissing Ezra...he had a daughter, an adorable mix of Alison and Ezra was running around. I couldn't be that person who ruined someone else's family, Not after what my family went through with Meredith.
The hot water was relaxing and I forgot about everything for the quick twenty minutes I was in the shower. I got dressed and dried my hair; when I was done I saw that it was 5 and I had nothing to do.
I decided I would go down and get something to eat from the lobby. I walked downstairs and grabbed a burnt blueberry muffin and started to chew on it. The front doors opened to let her inside. She started walking to the elevator but then she spotted me.
Alison.
I set my muffin down and crossed my arms at her, she came over and say across from me at the cheap table I was at.
"Hello, Aria," She looked me up and down before speaking again. "Be honest, Did you give Ezra that picture of you two?"
"No, maybe you should hide evidence better." She rolled her eyes
"Good, and you better not tell him that it's you in that picture. You know what will happen." I stirred in my chair at the threaten. This girl was all talk and no action. What would she really do? She couldn't do much without Ezra suspecting something, could she? But I wouldn't risk it...not if it could potentially harm Ezra.
"Is that why you came all the way down here?" I questioned looking at her face, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
"No, no. I just wanted to inform you that Ezra will be inviting you to dinner tonight..I told him I would make it up for not knowing who was in that picture and for deleting his e-mails. So I want to warn you...don't try anything funny.."
"Why would I even come?"
"Because Ezra's inviting you...and you still love him. That's why you're not back in Rosewood yet."
"Whatever, Alison. But don't worry about your precious fantasy life, I won't ruin it for you...you'll end up ruining it yourself with all of you lies and secrets." I stood from the table and walked back to my room leaving Alison sitting in the hotel lobby.
Ezra
I was honestly surprised when Alison suggested inviting Aria over for dinner. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, Alison and Marley went out again to get some groceries for tonight. I was left alone in the house, flipping my cellphone over in my hands.
I hesitate over Aria's name but finally clicked it. When she answered, she didn't sound very happy.
"Aria! Hey, I um, I just wanted to see if you would like to come over for dinner with Alison and Marley and me..you should bring Hardy and his girlfriend-"
"Spencer," she corrected me automatically.
"Right, Spencer...well bring them too! I'd love for you all to come...and I really think that we need to talk...tonight."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before I cleared my throat and she spoke.
"Yeah, sure...what time do you want us over?" My heart leapt for joy but I didn't understand why...I was married to Alison and I did love her very much...I didn't even know Aria.
"Six o'clock. I'm looking forward to seeing you," I added, I could hear her breath stop in her mouth before she responded.
"Yeah... Uh.. See you later, bye," she hung up swiftly and I set my phone down. Hopefully this was a good idea.
Aria
I bit my lip as I quickly threw my phone away from me as if it was shocking me. Why didn't I just tell him no? Alison's words swam around my head.
...And you still love him. That's why you're not back in Rosewood yet.
I let out a groan of frustration and Spencer looked up from the magazine she was reading. Hardy was laying next to her on the bed, playing with a strand of her hair. The sight pained my heart as it brought back memories of how Ezra and I used to be.
"Ezra!" She giggled. Ezra was behind her playing with her hair.
"What?" He asked innocently. She turned around quickly to face him.
"Don't." She smiled sweetly and leaned in for a kiss, it soon became heated.
"Round two?" Ezra nodded as quick as possible, Rolling on top of me.
I shivered at the memory,
"What was that all about?" Hardy asked casually, not looking away from Spencer.
"Ezra called. He wants us to freaking have dinner with him and his..family." I scoffed and looked down at my feet. I felt them both look up at me and I looked back.
"What? Why the hell would he want that?" Spencer asked, jumping up from the bed to sit next to me on the floor.
"I don't know..." I lied, looking at my phone which had just vibrated. I picked it up and looked at the 'One New Message' notification.
Hey, I know I said 6:30, but maybe you could come a few minutes earlier while Alison is cooking so we could talk.
- Ezra
I locked my screen quickly, feeling Spencer reading over my shoulder.
"What does he want to talk about?" Spencer smirked and I just shook my head.
"It's nothing, Spencer. I'm not going early. I refuse." I declared standing from my spot and walking towards the bathroom. "I'm going to get ready though...and you both have to come."
Spencer and Hardy made a face and whined about it at first, but they eventually agreed to come with me.
The time came too quickly to leave for Ezra's. I was nervous and I did not want to go. I knocked on the door hesitantly and it opened almost immediately.
"Aria! Hey, I'm glad you could make it!" He gave me a short hug and it was almost like old times.
"Yeah, me too." I smiled but he caught my unenthusiastic attitude. He frowned but quickly looked back at Hardy and Spencer and smiled.
"Hey guys! Come on in!" Ezra closed the door behind all of us and took our jackets, hanging them in the front closet by the door.
"Alison is just around the corner in the kitchen." Ezra stated, pointing in the direction. I started behind Spencer and Hardy, but Ezra grabbed my wrist and held me back. His touch was electric, I jerked away and blushed, looking down.
"Please, Aria. Don't be difficult. Just come with me for a short minute! We need to talk." I obeyed, following him upstairs as soon as Spencer and Hardy were out of sight.
He led me to a room painted pink with beautiful purple flower decorations everywhere. The room was spotless, the toys were picked up. It was Marley's room-his daughter's room.
"Ezra...I don't think we should be in here," I whispered, he chuckled at me and ignored my comment.
"We need to talk about that kiss..."
"Okay...so talk."
"You felt it too? Whatever it was? When we kissed?" I shook my head, shrugging.
"I don't know what you're talking about." It almost hurt lying about my feelings for him. I looked him in the eye. I saw a trace of.. hurt?
"Okay.. Alison can't know. I need you to act completely normal." I nodded, agreeing completely, if Alison ever found out, I knew I would have hell to pay.
"Anything else?"
"Yes...I want you-"
"Daddy?" Marley's small voice came from the corner of the room. I hadn't seen her and neither had Ezra.
Ezra's face drained of color and my heart increased in speed.
"Hey baby girl. This is Aria, you know Aria. Can you say hi?" Ezra asked trying to distract the two-year-old; but she wasn't, she shook her head furiously and backed away from her father.
"Why did you kiss her and not Mommy?" Marley looked confused, but she also looked like she was ready to cry.
"No, no, no, love, Daddy never kissed Aria. Grown-ups just say things that don't mean sometimes."
She nodded slowly and a smile spread across her face. She ran to Ezra and he picked her up
"Hello, Miss Aria," she looked at me and I forced a smile back at her. Ezra then sat her down and told her to go help Alison in the kitchen; she ran off leaving Ezra and me in the bedroom.
"You're lucky she's only an innocent baby," I said as he nodded in agreement.
We made our way down to the kitchen shortly after and it couldn't have been more awkward.
"Where were you two?" Hardy gave us a smug look and Spencer smirked.
"Ezra was showing me Marley's baby pictures." They nodded, seeing right through my lie. Alison emerged from the kitchen, her outfit completely blowing mine out of the water. She wore a tight yellow and black splatter print dress with her hair curled in perfect ringlets, it completely topped my bright purple strapped wedges and plain tight black dress. My hair was curled normally.
"Dinners ready." She smiled and gave Ezra a sweet kiss. My heart pounded, she was dangling him in front of me on purpose.
If only she knew..