"Aria, Dad wants to see you downstairs." Mike said when he poked his head in my room. I was braiding Jillian's hair. I loved my siblings so much, they were like my own little Barbie dolls. And
baby dolls. Like being a mother without having to be one.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked. He came in and shut the door. "Can I talk about 'the thing' in front of Jillian?" he asked. Jillian was 13, and I told her mostly everything. Except the Toby thing. That's too mature
for a 13 year old girl to have to hear.
"The test?" I mouthed to him.
"Yeah." he said. I shook my head.
"It's not an issue. We don't need to talk. I uh, yea. It said no." I told him.
"What did?" Jillian asked.
"I failed a test Mike is helping me hide from mom and dad, but I did make up work. So don't worry about it. And don't say anything." Jillian nodded and looked at her hair in the mirror.
"Thanks, Aria. I love it." she said.
"Anytime. Now I need to go talk to dad so out of my room" I said. She got up and walked out of my room.
"So you're not pregnant?" he asked.
"I don't think so. It was a really really really faint line, so Em ran to the store and got like, two more. And it was those kind that either say "pregnant" or "not pregnant" instead of those hard to read plus signs.
And I took one and it said not pregnant, and I still have the other I'll take in a week or so if things don't clear up." I said.
"That's amazing news" he said hugging me. Something he didn't do often.
"Listen, Mike I'm really sorry I forgot to pick you up. I,"
"Yeah, it's fine." He mutters. We walked down the stairs and my dad was waiting for me.
"Aria…" he started. He was sitting at the kitchen table with my mom right next to him feeding Liam some egg whites and green peas for dinner, even though it was only about five pm.
"Hey.. You needed me?" I said. "Aria, your teacher, Miss Allen texted me just now." My dad said.
"Why…?" I asked getting worried she knew about Ezra and I.
"There was a horrible car wreck right outside the school as she was pulling out, and she saw who it was." now my heart started to pound fast. "It was Mr. Fitz."
I covered my mouth to keep from freaking out. I stood there in shock for a second.
"Is, is he ok?" I asked taking my hand off my mouth and bringing it up to my for head. I knew something was really wrong when they didn't say anything. "DAD! Is he ok?" I said falling apart, not even
caring that all of my younger siblings were right behind be watching me start to have a panic attack.
"They've taken him to the ER…" he said. My mom got up and put her arm around me.
"Hey.. He's gonna be alright. Come here sit down."
"No! I have to go to the ER." I said. "Lilia go get my purse" I asked my little sister who would be more then happy to do anything to help. She ran upstairs to my room.
"Aria, listen I don't think they're gonna let his student see him so soon after.. I mean honey I love you, but you need to relax, he's just your teacher."
"No he's not mom! He's NOT just my teacher!" I said looking right into her eyes. The whole world seemed to pause for a second, as I felt a shiver go down my back, knowing that it was all over. And in the
next hour or so, I would be telling my parents that I was dating my teacher. If they hadn't already figured it out. My parents had probably been suspecting my relationship with Ezra. I mean they knew I had a
boyfriend, but I didn't tell them who. Both my parents worked at the high school. They knew how I went into English before everyone else. I don't think it clicked in their head until right now, as I broke down
over my 'teacher' being in a car wreck.
"Aria.." Lilia said standing on her toes to tap my shoulder and hand me my purse.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. Mom, dad, please just, let me go."
"I'll drive you." my mom said. "I don't want you driving like this." she said grabbing her keys.
"Mike, watch the kids, I'm going with you guys. Be back soon Mike." My father said putting his hand on my shoulder getting me out the door. Did they know? If so, they weren't too mad about it apparently.
One things for sure. The second I see Ezra, If he isn't hurt, I'll have to run into his arms, or kiss him the very second I see him. They might get so mad, and never let me see him again. But I don't care if it's the
last time I ever kiss him. I'll just be glad its because im not allowed to see him, not because he didn't make it.
"Ezra!" I said as soon as I spotted him. He was in the entrance way of the ER, sitting in a wheel chair.
"Aria, sweetheart!" he said when he spotted me. I ran up to him. I stopped for a second, un sure if it was alright to even touch him. But then he reached out his hand pulling my face to his and kissed me. I
didn't care that my parents were only a couple feet away from us. That they heard me call him Ezra, that they heard him call me 'sweetheart.' or even the kiss. I truly didn't care.
"Ezra, are you alright?" I asked putting my hand on his. He looked so beat up, his face showed he was in a lot of pain too.
"Sweetie, we're going to put him into a room and do a quick X ray, so we need to take him now, but you can see him again in about half an hour. Okay?" a nurse standing above us said. I hesitated for
a second.
"Okay." My dad answered for me. "Aria say goodbye to Mr. Fitz." he said. I turned to Ezra.
"Busted." he whispered as I bent down to hug him, very carefully.
"I love you." I told him.
"I love you too. Forever and always." he remind me, tapping my promise ring with his finger. To me it felt like we were already engaged. Promise ring, engagement ring, same thing. Right? The only
difference (TO US) was that it was legal. The last time we thought we were gonna be busted, he said "No matter what happens, just remember, I will love you, forever and always. Even if I never see you
again." and that's the night he gave me the ring and promised to one day marry me, if humanly possible.
"Are you his ... Wife?" the nurse asked. Ezra and I both opened our mouths to answer but my dad stepped in.
"No she's not, and don't worry about her she won't be back." he said.
"Byron!" my mom said.
"Give the girl a break, she's going through enough already." she said. I felt Ezra reach for my hand.
"Thank you for coming." he said as my parents started to fight with each over.
"I had to see you with my own eyes." I told him. Then I turned to the nurse. "I'm just the girlfriend. I think my mom will probably win the fight as always and I'll be here waiting to see him. I
f that's okay with you, Ezra."
"Of course, in fact please let her in the second she can possibly come in." Ezra told the nurse.
"Aria!" my mom yelled. "Get over here now."
"Bye Ezra" I said giving him that 'time to go fight for our love, as always.' look. He winked and was wheeled off to get X rays. I was always pretty strong around Ezra. The second he left,
my entire wall I had built up goes with him. My dad immediately started yelling.
"Aria, your dating HIM? Do you realize you broke the law? That is illegal! He could go to jail because of this. He is SIX years older then you, it's just all so wrong! And you lied about it!
And hid it from us! All this time!" he went on yelling but I kept my eyes right on my moms the whole time. They looked sympathetic. Like she understood why I did what I did. My dad
went from lecturing me to practically taking bashes at me. Personal ones. I felt my eyes watering up, but tried to hold it together. "I mean Aria I thought you were smart. Your nothing but a
stupid immature selfish child." he said. At this I couldn't help it and burst into tears, hiding my head in my hands until my mom put her arms around me in a tight embrace.
"Byron! Stop that! What she did wasn't stupid. You know the things people will do when their in love." she said.
"It could be worse, she could be pregnant!"
I pull away from my mom and look up.
"You're not pregnant, right?" she asked. I didn't answer her, because I didn't know the answer myself.
"Aria! Answer your mother!" my dad said. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything. "Aria!" he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from mom and looked me in the eye. This is exactly
what Toby used to do why I tried to get away. Pull me by my arm, so I would swing around and be forced to look into his eyes. His beautiful eyes. I hated being with Toby so much while I
was with him. The second I left him, I wanted to be back with him. His eyes were the only thing that I could see when I went to sleep. With Toby, I felt loved. Even though I wasn't.
"Aria are you pregnant? Are you sleeping with him?" I looked to my mom.
"No! No I'm not, okay?! Please let go of me!" I said. He let go of his grip and I immediately ran back to my mom, who once again pulled me into a hug, like I was little again.
"Byron, why don't you go home to Mike and the kids. I'll be home in an hour or so."
"Only if you bring Aria with you. Don't let her stay with him."
"Aria and I will be home in a bit." she said. "Go home and calm down before you actually hurt her." my dad stomped out of the ER and I looked to my mom.
"Too late." I said.
"You're pretty lucky Mr. Fitz." the doctor said. I giggled a little, hearing someone besides me call him that. "No broken bones." he said. "I'll have a nurse come in and give you an antibiotic
IV for all those cuts, they'll clean them off and bandage them, and you should be free to go home in an hour or so."
"Thank you Doctor." Ezra said shaking his hand.
"And you take care of that beautiful girlfriend you got." he said winking at me.
"I think I'll be taking care of him for a bit." I joked back. But I wasn't really joking. I don't care if they said he was ok or not. It's the weekend now, so I'll be by his side the whole time.
"Alright you kids take care."
"thank you!" Ezra and I waved at the doctor as he walked out.
"I should call my mom in." I said.
"she might make you leave though." I thought It was cute that he really wanted me to stay. "But you're right it's not fair to leave her out in the waiting room." he said.
"Yeah. I'll go talk to her out there." I said standing up as a nurse walked in with his IV.
"Wait!" he said grabbing my hand. I looked back to him. he was starring at the needle. "Uh, never mind you can go talk to her its fine." I laughed a bit, but tried to hide it.
"Are you afraid of needles?" I asked.
"uh.. A little…" he said. "It's one of those embarrassing fears I've had since I was two.." he said not taking his eyes off the needle.
"Don't be embarrassed." I said taking the hand that the nurse wasn't prep-ing to stick the IV in. "Here, look at me instead." I said turning his chin. He looked at me and
smiled, as the door opened behind him. He started to turn his head to look but I put my hand on his cheek. "Just another nurse." I lied looking at my mom who now stood in
the doorway. She gave me a confused look at first, but I looked to the needle, to Ezra and back at her, as she followed where my eyes were going and she nodded, understanding.
"You know.. I think its really cute when guys can admit they're scared. Even if it is just a tiny little needle" I said. The nurse winked at me, and I grabbed Ezra's chin
and brought him close to me, and kissed him. A very sexy kiss if I may say so myself. The nurse stuck the needle in, and he jumped a little but I kept kissing him. A second or two later I
pulled away. "There. I kissed it and made it all better." I said talking how a mom would talk to her child. He laughed and looked over to the door to see my mom standing there, probably not
to happy, but you could see she was amused. He looked embarrassed for a second. "See mom?" I said to her. "He's harmless."
"Ok Mom. Love you. Thanks again. Bye." I said before hanging up.
"She's gonna talk to my dad, but there's no promises he won't show up here and literately carry me home." I said.
"Aria, I love having you here, But if your gonna get in trouble, don't worry about leaving me. I don't have any broken bones or anything, just a sore back. I'll be fine if you need to leave."
"Ok, see ya Monday." I said standing up and walking to the door.
"Aria, I was just kidding! I wasn't trying to get you to leave! Please stay!" "Ah HA! So you DO need me to stay!" I said laughing and sitting back down. "I was just kidding too."
"Hey that wasn't funny!" He said.
"then why are you laughing?" I asked. Then, my cell phone rang again.
"Ella, give me the PHONE!" I heard my father yell.
"Byron! Stop it I told you not to call her!" I put it on speaker phone for Ezra to hear. "Ella you promised me you wouldn't let her stay the night at the hospital with him!"
"She's not! she's at his apartment!" at this my dad grabbed the phone back from my mom.
"Aria you come home right -" I cut him off my hanging up the phone, and turning it on silent. "there." I said putting it on the table.
"I'm sorry." he said. "Don't be. Parents are parents." I said shrugging.
"do you remember when we first found out I was your teacher? And we talked about what to do about it. And you said 'I would never want you to get in trouble over me.'?" he said. I nodded.
"Well I never really thought about what would happen if you got in trouble because of me." he said. "of course we did. We thought about my parents all the time." I told him. "Yeah, only what
would happen between us. Not how we'd make them feel, or how I'd feel about getting you in trouble." he said. I shrugged. "they'll get over it. They have four other kids to care about." I said
moving from the chair across from him to the smaller couch next to him. Ezra leaned forward and took the ice pack away from his back, and laid it over his leg. "You should really keep more
than one ice pack in the house so you don't have to keep moving it around." I said. "I wasn't really planning on getting in a car wreck." he said. "Yea well I wasn't planning on getting blackmailed but that
doesn't mean I shouldn't have brought a condom to his house when I knew it was a possibility." I think to myself, and almost say it outloud. But Ezra doesn't know I thought I was pregnant. And I don't think
I should tell him.
"I think the rule in our lives from now on is gonna be to prepare for the unexpected." I said wishing I had an icepack for my own head.
"Yeah..." He sighs. "I mean the plan was for me to meet you at the apartment after that meeting but then I got distracted by work and..." He sighs. "If I had left on time I wouldn't have gotten into that
accident..."
I started to answer, then started to feel really sick. "Ezra… I'll be right.." I started, then couldn't finish. I threw up right there in front of him. In the trash, thank God it was right next to the couch I was laying
on, because I had a gut feeling this would happen. literately. Ezra slowly sits up and starts to rub my back slowly. I sat there for a second, embarrassed. "Sorry…. Flu.." I said getting a tissue from the coffee
table.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I took the trash can into the bathroom. "I'll deal with that in a minute" I said sitting back down with a glass of gingerale.
"Do you want some?" I asked him.
"I'm fine thanks." he said.
I lay down on the other couch that he's not on, and turn on the tv. "I think we should just go to sleep, though." I say.
"Yeah." He agrees. "It's been a long day."