Chapter 6

Ezra POV

That wasn't what Ezra planned. Getting Aria's address out of her school file had been a mistake. Going to her house had been a mistake. Kissing her had been a mistake. Except, it didn't feel like a mistake. It surprised him how well their lips fit together. He sat in his car outside his apartment unable to gather the energy to get out. Putting both hands at the top of the steering wheel, he touched his forehead to them and sighed.

Ezra jumped at the sound of knocking. He looked to his left, outside his window to see Maria standing there flushed. Finally, Ezra got out.

"Hey," Maria said quietly. "I thought you were sick. You should be upstairs in bed." Nodding, Ezra allowed her to lead him up to his apartment. She made him sit on the couch as she prepared him a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Silence filled the room except for the sound of the microwave heating the soup. He watched as she sifted through the drawers until she pulled out a spoon from the corner drawer. She handed him the bowl of soup and sat on the arm of the chair sitting diagonally across from him.

Ezra took a bite as he watched her. Looking down at her fiddling hands she stated, "Listen, about what I said on the phone. About loving you? I-That was just a habit. We practically just met…" she had looked up halfway through her rant. Ezra held up his hand to stop her.

"I was going to say the same thing to you. I like you. I really do. I haven't known you long enough to be comfortable enough to say that I love you." A look of relief flooded her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked when the grave look appeared on his face. Ezra looked up at her. He felt bad. He had cheated on her. It was only a kiss but it was still cheating in his mind. He couldn't tell her that though. She'd ask questions about who he kissed and if he told her it was one of his students she would surely turn him into the principle and he'd be fired. He had put to much hard work into becoming a teacher to ruin it just because of a physical attraction to a student.

"Nothing. Just still not feeling the best," He gave her a small smile. They sat in silence as he finished his soup. When he was done, she looked at the clock and said it was getting late and that she should leave. "No, stay. Please?" he surprised himself at what exactly he was offering and judging by her face so was she. The shocked look on her face was soon replaced by a smile. She nodded and bit her lip. Smiling back, he stood and held his hand out to her. After she took it, he led her to his bed at the back of the room.

Aria POV

Clark sat in the chair at her desk watching her lay on the bed with pencil and paper. Without looking up from her writing, Aria grinned stating, "Stop watching me. It's creepy."

"Well, you're going to have to get over it because I like watching you. You're to beautiful not to look at." She glanced up at his charming smile before looking back down at her paper.

"You're supposed to be working on your English paper that's due Friday." Hearing him grunt, Aria looked up. "What?" she questioned. He shook his head and turned back to the desk. Aria got off the bed and walked up behind him wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her chin on his shoulder. He smiled softly and turned his head to face her. She planted a tender kiss to his lips and smiled.

"What was up with your poem yesterday?" he asked. The smile dropped from her face. She quickly recovered and her brain rushed to come up with an explanation.

"I have an ex-boyfriend back in Iceland who I still have feelings for." She saw the hurt in his eyes and quickly continued, "Hey, I like you. A lot. But you have to understand that I was with the guy for a long time. It's going to be very difficult to get over him." She gave him a small smile which he returned. "You've got nothing to worry about though. My ex and I are in two completely different places and seeing two completely different people."

Clark's blue eyes shown as he leaned in and kissed her again before returning to his paper. She tried to peek around him to see what he was writing but he made sure to cover it up with his arm.

"What are you writing?" she asked curiosity getting the best of her. He turned his head and just looked at her with a conniving smile before turning back to his paper wordlessly. Aria huffed and went back to lie on her bed. They worked in silence until her mother showed up in the doorway and cleared her throat.

Aria looked up and smiled. "Hey, mom." Standing, Aria pointed to Clark who was now standing as well. "Uh, this is Clark, my boyfriend. Clark, this is my mother."

Ella smiled and shook his hand politely. "Nice to meet you, Clark."

He nodded and smiled.

"Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to go see a movie but you have company." Ella turned her attention back to Aria.

Clark spoke up, "I actually have to go. We have some family coming into town and I promised my mother I would help her clean up the house and unpack the few boxes that are left." He stepped closer to Aria and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll call you later, okay?" she nodded. He turned and walked past Ella with a curt nod which she returned.

After he had passed her, Ella looked at Aria with raised eyebrows and a wide smile. "He's cute." Aria grinned and blushed. "Not as cute as Mr. Fitz but still cute." Aria's smile fell instantly and her eyes filled with ice.

"Mr. Fitz isn't all that," she snapped coldly. Ella raised her eyebrows in surprise before squinting at her. Aria looked away and clenched her jaw. "So what movie are we going to see?" Aria asked avoiding the Ezra Fitz subject. Ella's smile returned.

"Dirty Dancing is playing at Rosewood Theater."

"Don't we have that movie?" Aria questioned. "Not to mention we've seen it a dozen times on TV."

Ella tilted her head in a disapproving manner. "It's not the same and you know it." Aria smiled and shook her head looping her arm with her mothers as they headed downstairs. "Besides, a chance to see Patrick Swayze on the big screen? Yeah, I'm not missing that." Ella looked at Aria with raised eyebrows which she returned with a smirk.

Ezra POV

Ezra opened his eyes Sunday morning to the brightness of the sun. Burying his head deeper into his pillow, he reached out a hand to his side. Feeling the coldness of the sheet, he lifted his head and squinted in the direction of where Maria once was. He looked around the room but she was nowhere in sight.

"Maria?" he called. Suddenly, the door to his bathroom opened.

"Morning, handsome," she grinned at him with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Whose toothbrush?" he questioned.

"Mine. I keep a travel case and a change of clothes in my car just in case of an emergency," she said after she spit into the sink. She rinsed the toothbrush off before putting it in a baggy. Ezra leaned back on his elbows and scanned her body with his eyes. She was wearing his robe. It looked a lot better on her than it did him.

"And the robe?" he asked seductively. She smirked at him and strutted up to the end of the bed before climbing up on top of him. She leaned down and kissed him. He deepened it and wrapped his arms around her pulling her down. She pulled away.

"I have to get ready. I have to be at the church in an hour."

Ezra opened his mouth as she got off the bed. "Uh, listen, I know you like going to church and all but…"

"You don't have to go," she yelled from the bathroom.

"Thank you!" he whispered loudly as he fell back onto his back and stared at the ceiling. A few minutes later, she walked out as she hooked an earring in her earlobe. She waltzed over to him and leaned down to lightly kiss him on the mouth.

"I have to go. I'll see you later." He nodded and smiled at her. He drifted back to sleep as he heard the door softly close.

A buzzing sound woke him up about two hours later. He sat up letting the sheet glide down his bare torso as he reached over to the nightstand to grab his phone. Flipping it open, he smiled when he saw it was a text from Maria.

I have a meeting at work. I'll be by afterwards if that's okay.

-Maria

No problem. I'll be waiting(;

-Ezra

He slid out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom feeling a very uncomfortable breeze. He came out a short while later with a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair dripping wet. He grabbed another towel and rubbed it over his hair, messing it up. He looked over at his phone as it beeped. He threw the towel on the floor and picked it up.

Good to see you're texting is getting quicker=P

-Maria

He chuckled before closing it and tossing it back onto the nightstand. Ezra pulled out a pair of dark grey jeans and slipped them on. Then he walked to his closet and pulled out a dark teal button down shirt. Leaving it unbuttoned, he whipped out a black belt and slipped it through the loops of his jeans and buckled it. Nodding at himself in the mirror as he buttoned his shirt, he walked into the kitchen and began preparing a meal.

It was about six o'clock when Maria finally returned to his apartment. He opened the door and ushered her in. Shock filled her face as he slid the jacket off her shoulders and hung it over the back of the sleeper chair. She smiled at him in awe of the sight before her. There was a table for two set up in the middle of his living room with a single candle in the center. Hand on the small of her back, he guided her over to the table and pulled her chair out for her and then headed back to his kitchen to grab their dinner.

Aria POV

Aria had just gotten out of church when she got a phone call from Clark. She walked away from her family with a smile on her face as she took the call. A few minutes later she returned to them and announced she was going over to his house to meet his family. She went home with her family to change. She slipped on a white crochet mini skirt that rested in the middle of her thigh with a black weaved belt. She then put on a pink and white striped shirt with a soft V-neckline, crochet back, and flutter dolman sleeves. She pulled her long brown hair over to the right side. She went to her jewelry box and pulled out several white, silver, pink, and black bracelets out and slipped them on her wrist. She then pulled out her silver chain with a small silver cross on it and clipped it around her neck.

Looking at herself once in the mirror, she took a deep breath. She was going to meet Clark's family. Would they like her? She hoped so. She was really beginning to fall for him. He was able to keep Mr. Fitz off her mind. She mentally slapped herself as soon as he entered her mind. She had made a promise to herself that she would forget about him and devote her attention to Clark. She smiled into the mirror to make sure she looked decent and then grabbed her black purse before heading out the door.

As she turned onto Clark's street, she felt her stomach begin to do little flip flops. Clark hadn't mentioned his family at all in the week she had known him. She had only known him for a week? It seemed like she'd known him forever. She shook her head and breathed out a small chuckle as she pulled into his driveway. She cut the engine and stepped out. She looked up at the house from behind her black Gucci sunglasses and smiled. The door opened as she walked up the steps to it and Clark stepped out smiling as usual. She grinned back at him as she stood on her tippy toes and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

"You ready?" he asked quietly.

Slipping her sunglasses on top of her head, she nodded. He put his hand on the small of her back and led her through the doorway closing the door behind them.

"Mother!" he yelled out into the house. A woman in her mid-thirties rushed out from the kitchen.

Grinning, she reached out a hand to Aria. "You must be Aria. It's so nice to meet you! Clark, here, as told me a lot about you! Please, come on in. Dinner is almost ready." Aria smiled and shook her hand graciously. Clark laced his hand in hers and led her into the kitchen.

While they ate dinner, Aria noticed someone was missing. "Where's your dad?" she asked Clark. Clark froze, fork almost to his mouth. He looked at his mother before slowly biting the steak off the fork.

"Um, he's not really in our lives at the moment," he stated being very vague. Aria noticed but continued to eat.

They ate in silence for a while before Clark's mother cleared her throat. "So, Aria, what do your parents do for a living?"

Aria quickly chewed the food in her mouth and swallowed before answering. "Well, my dad is a professor at Hollis College and my mother will be teaching at Rosewood starting tomorrow. She's going to be a U.S History teacher." Aria was proud of her parents. They both did something they loved. "How about you, Ms. Riley? What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a real estate agent." She smiled. Aria nodded. Once again, silence came over them. It stayed like that for the remainder of the dinner. After dinner, Aria looked at the clock and realized it was getting late.

"I should get going. I have to get up early for school. Thank you so much for having me, Ms. Riley. The dinner was delicious." Aria shook the woman's hand once more before Clark walked her to the door.

"Thanks for inviting me. You're mom seems very lovely."

Clark smiled before kissing her. Aria gave a small wave and turned to head to her car. She got in and leaned back in her seat and smiled. She was truly falling for the guy and it felt great. Biting her lip in bliss, Aria started the car and drove home.