A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this up! and I feel like it's short, so I apologize for that. I know a lot of you guys are sad that Blair's involved and how Ezra still seems attracted to her, but think of it like this; she's nothing more than what Noel or Jason was to Aria! I won't mess up with them too badly. And here you get to see, she's still human!
Also, sorry about the wait. I'm not sure how long a suitable time between chapters is, since this is my first ongoing fic. Enjoy!
Aria Montgomery fiddled with her hands as she walked through the Fitz home, in her flannel pajama bottoms and Ezra's ratted old Hollis tee shirt. It was past midnight, and the funeral was tomorrow, but Aria couldn't sleep. Ezra had knocked out about two hours ago, while Aria had stared breathlessly at the wall, pretending to count sheep and really thinking about what the next day entailed… for both of them.
Aria was glad to be able to meet Ezra's mother and brother, both people whom he talked about often, but under the circumstances, she felt like shit. Ezra's dad was dead, while her dad hated his guts. Byron walked around, ignoring Ezra at every opportunity. If you dare even mention his name near Byron, he'd scrunch his face up like he was constipated. And Ezra's dad was dead.
She stopped at the fireplace, eyeing the photographs on the mantel once more. Ezra looked so little. He was her age there, she noted, his senior portrait. Aria thought back to her own class and wondered if she'd have dated Ezra, if he had gone to her school alongside her. Yes, she decided. I would have. But then she realized, you never really did know.
A pair of footsteps snapped her out of her reverie, as she turned around to see a figure coming down from the stairs. It was Blair Stanton; dressed much like Aria, in a pair of yoga pants and a baggy Kings Of Leon shirt. She sleepily wiped her eyes, swept her long hair into a ponytail, and stopped once she spotted Aria.
"Oh jeez. You scared me. I thought you were a ghost or something." Blair giggled, whispering as she stepped besides Aria, glancing at the frames she had been looking at. Aria laughed quietly in response.
"And I thought you were a murderer."
The two stood in silence before Aria spoke again.
"So, you knew Ezra in high school? What was he like?"
Blair sighed deeply, running a hand along the three studs placed delicately in her ear before formulating an answer.
"He was… exactly the same. Except he acted as if he was on Ritalin occasionally… but that was only sometimes. He got real mature senior year and really started thinking 'bout the future. It was kind of amazing to see how he changed. Despite being a goofball, he was always real serious when it came to his schoolwork though. Always knew what he wanted." Blair shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself. "He was a great guy. Hell, he still is."
Aria nodded, brushing a strand of her own dark hair behind her ear.
She wasn't stupid. She could sense the melancholy in Blair's voice and knew that they must have had a thing. It was only logical. Besides, she'd told Ezra all about the guys she'd met in Iceland. And about the Jason thing... and the Noel thing. He had shared his own story about Jackie… and though she never thought about it, she knew there had to have been women before her.
And now, she realized, that was Blair.
"You're good for him." Aria eyed Blair with a look of confusion, raising an eyebrow at her. "You're a smart girl – well read, cultured. Way better than Jackie." Both girls shared another laugh.
"You met her?"
Blair smirked, nodding. "Ezra brought her home one Christmas break. My family life was hell, so I usually stayed up in the City around holidays but I came down that once because Wes invited me… to be honest, the kid always liked me, and I thought, 'what the heck? Might as well meet her'. So I came down and there she was, in all her kitten heel, cashmere sweater glory. And she tried to micromanage everything. Even told Ezra where to sit at the dinner table. And man, I felt sorry for her. She was jealous of everyone. Even Diane and Wes. If Ezra spent too much time with his brother instead of her, she'd get angry and stay outside by herself. Threw a bitch fit just to get his attention."
Aria chuckled, shaking her head at the thought.
"That's just like Jackie… you know, she tried to sabotage our relationship? My father never really… approved. And she said if I didn't stay away from Ezra, she'd go run off and tell my dad everything. So I believed her… and I-I just stayed away from him. But then we decided to confront my parents and tell them everything about us together, before they heard it from her. And yeah, they were pissed as hell at me, but my mother has come around. And my father, well…" Aria shrugged. "can't teach an old dog new tricks."
Blair laughed.
"Sounds familiar… my dad was the same way. And I think you guys are really cute… despite everything."
Aria's heart pounded in her chest. What did she mean, 'despite everything'? What was she referring to?
Blair's dark eyes met Aria's green ones and she smiled sweetly. "I know how you guys met. I sort of… coerced it out of him. Well, not really. Honestly, you know what? Screw Jackie. Bitches like her don't get anywhere. They think they're all high and mighty because of their Chloe wrap dresses and designer day planners, but they're just gonna fall. People like that, people that treat people cruelly, all get theirs in the end."
Aria couldn't help but to think of Alison. And how far she'd fallen.
She shivered, but not from the cold.
"How did it end?" She squeaked, her voice barely a whisper. She hated how small she sounded then, but she really did want to know. Why did Ezra and Blair call it quits?
Blair sighed, grabbing a pair of boots from a nearby closet. She stuffed them on her feet and tucked her pants inside.
"He ended it with me. Because I went to NYU and he went to Hollis… the whole long distance thing was tough." She walked towards the entrance hall, grabbing a set of car keys from off a table before stopping and glancing back at Aria over shoulder. "And because of Jackie."
Aria's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
Jackie?
In another dimension, Aria could actually see her and Blair becoming friends. She lived in the City, was an English major in college, worked part time at Barnes and Noble while she tried to get her book picked up by a publishing company (all information supplied by a bragging Diane at dinner). Blair was everything Aria wanted to become… and Ezra had left her for Jackie?
"Jackie was… safe." She explained, stopping at the front door and turning back to Aria. "Ezra's father, he never really liked me. Said I was too… dangerous. Confident. You know how conservative old men are – they like their women subdued… to be able to tell them what to do and boss them around. I had a mind of my own… and at the end of the day, under that layer of superficial bitch, Jackie doesn't."
