1.12 - First Date Pt.1
"Woo! That's makes three games in a row! You lose!" Aria yelled as she lifted up her cue stick, sinking the last ball on the pool table and smiled braggingly at Stefan.
Stefan smiled, "Not bad." he said with an approving smirk, taking another sip from his drink.
"Should we put money on the next one?" Aria replied, walking up towards Stefan, raising her eyebrows and pursing her lips at her latest victory.
Stefan looked down at her, "I think you've had enough. See this is the point where a casino owner would usually ask someone to leave," he said, jokingly brushing Aria's arm.
"Ugh, no fun!" Aria said, pouting her lips a little, "I don't have a problem." she replied sarcastically, as she reluctantly put the cue stick away.
"Plus, I think that they may have switched bartenders, so we better sneak out before they notice us." Stefan said, laughing at Aria's cute expression. They both quickly downed the last few drops of their two drinks.
Aria wiped the last bit of her drink with the tip of her tongue, "Where do you wanna go?" she said, looking back at up at Stefan.
"I don't know," Stefan said, still gazing into Aria's eyes, inching his hand closer to hers, "It's getting late though, do you still want me to walk you back home?"
"Yeah sure," Aria said, giving Stefan a flirty smile, "I can't take all your money."
As they left the Grill and walked back to the Montgomery house, Stefan laced his fingers through Aria's, almost approaching her house, Aria looked over at Stefan, "Thanks for meeting me tonight."
Stefan looked back at Aria, "Thanks for meeting me. How did you make it past Damon?"
Aria laughed, "Damon may seem scary to most people, but I can handle him." she replied.
Finally reaching her house, Aria stopped, "Listen, I don't know what Damon told you the other day and I don't know how much more I can apologize for him. He's just gets really protective of me like a thousand more times that he should.I-," Stefan cut her off.
"Aria!" Stefan interrupted her, "It's fine."
Aria looked up worriedly at Stefan, "I just, I don't want to mess any of this up, and at the risk of our technical first date getting any cheesier, I feel like you're too important to me."
Stefan faced directly at Aria, taking both of her hands, "That won't happen." he replied.
Suddenly, Aria reached up as much as she could and kissed Stefan. She didn't quite understand it, there was just something that was pushing her to do it, it was that same magnetic, electric pull that she had felt when they were in class, in the coffee shop and at the Grill magnified and placed on a continuous loop in her mind. Stefan moved his hands out of Aria's and held her face. Aria raised her arms and placed them over Stefan's broad shoulders. Finally, the moment that Aria had been waiting for and honestly, it had exceeded her expectations. As their kiss grew even more passionately, they both slowly began to move their heads away, their eyes looking down at both of their mouths and then up so that both of their intense brown eyes were staring at each other.
"Did I tell you that I'm really glad that you moved here?" Aria whispered, grinning at Stefan.
"No, but I'm really glad that there was an empty seat behind you in class." Stefan whispered back, matching Aria's grin.
"I promise, I'll straighten things out with Damon the second I get back home." Aria shook her head in an agreeing motion, defiant in her present decision, yet with a worried expression on her face.
Stefan stared assuredly at Aria's face, resting both of his thumbs on Aria's face, Stefan pursed his lips slightly as he tried to comfort Aria, but all he could focus on were her piercing brown-hazel eyes, "Aria. Did anyone tell you, you have the most beautiful eyes?" he said - trying to pull her focus back to the end of their date.
Aria looked back up at Stefan's face. This time, he kissed her back. She then pulled away reluctantly- not wanting to take her eyes off of Stefan for one minute, "Night, Stefan," Aria whispered.
"Goodnight Aria," Stefan whispered back, also pulling her face reluctantly from his own.
"Ezra. I'm going to be honest, but this is kind of the worst thing I've ever eaten," Elena laughed, holding up some weird mashed up pasta shape with her fork.
"Hey!" Ezra replied, looking up from his plate, "It's not that bad," he laughed back at her.
"I mean, I think it's only pesto that's supposed to be green." Elena smiled, putting her fork back on the plate and placing it on the floor.
Ezra looked down at his plate, "Yeah, well, that's what you get when you've only cooked on a hot plate in your dorm room for the past four years."
Elena shook her head, "It's fine. Next time, I'll cook," she replied with a reassuring smile.
Ezra looked up eagerly, "So there's a next time?"
"Yeah, I think so," Elena replied, biting her lip nervously.
Ezra put down his plate, his tone suddenly turned serious, "Do we really think that it's a good idea?"
Elena, now slightly embarrassed, glared at the ground, "No, not really."
"Elena. I'm your teacher now," Ezra stated matter-of-factly, now getting up from sitting on the floor. He began to pace back and forth, trying to brainstorm ideas that would solve this looming issue.
"Then why did you invite me here?" Elena snapped back, slightly insulted that Ezra had already done so much and he was still unsure about their potential relationship.
Ezra started to walk back towards Elena, "Elena. It's not you -," Elena cut him off.
"It's not you it's me." Elena rolled her eyes, "Don't even try with that Ezra. We're both writers, I can spot a cheesy fake line like that any day," Elena said as she made a beeline for the door.
Ezra quickly ran, blocked her from the door and grabbed both of her hands, "No, Elena, this situation is, I think, more complicated than we think it is," he said, looking directly into Elena's eyes - pleading for her not to leave his apartment.
"I mean, yeah, but as far as the potential 'relationship' stuff goes, what do you want to do?" Elena looked up at Ezra, a bit perturbed that he was blocking her from the door.
"I obviously want to be with you," Ezra blurted, crossing his arms over his chest in a defiant gesture.
"Yeah - and I'm still the same person that I was when we met at your reading, so why can't we just do this?" Elena replied, crossing her arms, challenging Ezra to make the right choice (from her perspective).
"What're you saying, you want us to date... In secret?" Ezra said in a questioning manner.
"I mean, if that's what it'll take to be with you, then, okay," Elena said - her eyes matching Ezra's anxious expression.
Ezra scrunched up his face, "You would be okay with that?" he said looking worriedly into Elena's eyes as if searching for some sort of answer to his indecisiveness.
"Isn't that what I just said? Ezra, I'm all in," she replied exhaustingly, as her arms fell to her side.
Ezra kissed Elena. Although he understood the risks, he felt as if he had been transported back to their first meeting at that funky little coffee shop.
Pulling away, he smiled back at Elena, "I'm all in," he replied, holding her face with both of his hands.
Elena held onto both of his hands, "Good," she said, looking up at Ezra - the same guy who had moved her so much with his poetic words at that fateful reading. She kissed him one last time, grabbed her coat and bag off of the floor and exited out the door.
1:30 am:
Reflecting on her date with Stefan, Aria, dreamily, got ready to go to sleep. However, as she was settling into her bed, Aria's phone vibrated on her nightstand. Confusingly, Aria sat up. No one she knew would usually text her this late -
However, when Aria picked up her phone and read the message, her eyes widened:
Hey Aria: Nice choice, but not sure Damon will be so forgiving. Remember if you kiss I'll tell. Did you miss me? - A
