Little White Lies
1. Strangers Have the Best Coffee
With her leather boots on, that black sweater with the spider web like design and her black hair down, Aria Montgomery was ready to start her day. Well almost ready, she still had to deal with the little brother situation.
"Let's go Aria! I'm gunna be late for my date with Ashley!" You see, Aria has been Mike's, her younger brother, chauffeur for the past month because he had paid her speeding tickets. Not one, but two tickets mind you, and ever since then Mike has been holding it over her head, blackmailing her every chance he got. As if losing her best friend five months ago wasn't enough trouble for her. Now she has this problem to think about.
"I'm ready, let's go!" The siblings go into Aria's red Volvo c70, and drove off to the Shakespeare Theater, the local movie plaza. "What are you going to see?" Aria tried to spark a conversation with her brother. "That new batman movie, The Dark Knight." The conversation sort of ended right there, there isn't much you can talk about with the person whose black mailing you. Especially when he's your brother.
They arrived at the theater, and a pretty little red head was waiting for Mike. "I'll pick you up here at three, ok?" She watched as her brother walked off with the Ashley girl he had been seeing and closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. When she opened them, she looked at herself in the mirror. Coffee, she thought to herself, you need coffee. Or at least something else with chocolate in it. Aria drove herself to the Rosewood mall, home to Starbucks' galore, but for Aria there was only one place to get coffee, real coffee.
"The Brewing Pot" was her favorite coffee spot ever, maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe because almost everything had chocolate in it. It was also home to the best French vanilla latte Aria had ever tasted. She stood in line behind two other people. the one in front of her had dark brown hair, short, and wearing a blue shirt with a vest over it. When her turn came up, Aria could not help herself but to say "yum" when she saw what the guy in front of her was having. He turned around and looked at her with a puzzled look.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about how awesome your drink looks!" She looked over at the guy's drink. It was a coffee mocha, with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and camal syrup on it. "It's one of the best things they have here, you wanna try it? Go ahead." The guy handed her his cup and Aria's eyes got wider when she took a sip. "Holy shit! That's incredible, I'll have what he's having!" When her order came up, the guy next to her handed the cashier a five.
Aria quickly turned to her kind stranger, "Oh, no you don't have to do that! I can pay for it, but thanks anyway, um..." The guy smiled at her and said his name was Ezra. "I'm Aria, I wish there was a way I could pay you back, cause I just realized I left my money purse at home!" Ezra made the suggestion of them just sitting and chatting for a while. "Um, ok? I got time."
Within twenty minutes, Aria realized that this guy she just met has more in common with her than her old boyfriend Bobby Blake. The two chatted about politics, and how today's generation will never understand true art. The discussed Shakespeare and his works as well as some short stories with deeper meanings to them. "So Ezra, what do you do for a living anyway? Someone as cute as you must do something interesting."
Ezra blushed at Aria's comment. "I'm actually new to the whole Rosewood area, I just got a job in town. I'm going be.." Before he could finish his sentence a familiar voice called out Aria's name. She turned around to see her old friend, Hannah Marin, enter the coffee shop.
"Aria, how are you? We haven't talked, since, well you know." No one from their little group had really talked, not since the disappearance of their friend. It was a tragedy they wanted to cope with together, but they sort of separated.
"Yea, I know. I've been meaning to catch up before classes started again." Ezra made a small cough sound. "Oh, I'm sorry! I just wanted to say hi to my friend here. I'll leave you guys alone." Ezra got up from his chair, and stated he had to go. It was the last weekend he had before work, and since it was Saturday he wanted to get as much done as he could before Monday showed it's ugly face.
"Here's my number Aria, maybe we can hang out or something?" The handsome Ezra left the girls.
"I'll see you around Aria, got my number in there right? Good. Nice meeting you too." With that Ezra left the shop, leaving two old friends to chat about what they did that summer. Well besides attending their best friend's funeral. "So, is that dreamy guy anyone serious?" Aria looked at her friend, and smiled. "I hope so, I really do."