Chapter 16

Aria POV

After school had ended, Aria stuck around. She was hoping to catch Ezra before his meeting but it must have been right after school because he wasn't in his classroom when she went by. She decided to wait out in her car for him to finish up so they could possibly do something tonight. An hour and a half had passed before she began dozing off. She was awoken by the sound of footsteps coming from behind her car. Flashes of the night when she ended up in the hospital went through her mind. She was in the trunk again. Her rolling onto the crowbar. Her breath quickened at the memory. She clutched the steering wheel tightly as the footsteps came closer. She closed her eyes tightly.

She jumped and screamed at the top of her lungs when she heard the light tap on her window. She opened her eyes and was met with concerned blue ones. She closed her eyes, placed a hand on her chest, and tried desperately to calm her racing heart. "Aria?" she heard the muffled voice say. She took a large gulp and rolled down her window. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Aria nodded and gulped again. "Yeah, you just scared me." Ezra nodded. Aria looked around and was surprised by the darkness that filled Rosewood. "Wow, I must have been out for a while." Ezra smiled softly. He scanned the parking lot before leaning in through the window and pressing his lips to hers. The single kiss lasted an eternity before he finally pulled away. Aria smiled and bit her lip.

"Were you waiting for me?" he asked quietly. She nodded.

"I was hoping we could do something. I didn't expect for your meeting to last this long." She glanced at the clock and saw that it was nine o'clock. She blinked several times thinking her eyes were messing with her but apparently they weren't.

"Well, it didn't. I got out at about six but Jenna wanted another run on notes. I would have told you but I didn't know you were waiting for me. I'm sorry." Aria clenched her jaw at the sound of Jenna's name. For the past year, Aria has had to live with the nightmare of what her and her friends had done to Jenna Marshall. Alison had wanted to teach Toby Cavanaugh a lesson about peeking in windows, and decided to throw a firecracker into their garage. Apparently, Jenna and Toby were inside. They came out unscathed except for Jenna's vision. She had lost it completely and it was their fault.

"Oh. That's okay. We can do something another time." She smiled. Ezra looked around again.

"Why? You can just come over and spend the night with me and Zane if you want." Aria smiled. "You're going to have to come up with an excuse to tell your parents though…" he trailed off. Aria nodded. She knew what to tell them. She was used to lying to her parents. While they lived in Iceland, Aria learned how to lie to them fairly well considering in order to do the things she wanted she had to. There was no way her parents would let her do half the things she had done over there.

"I'll just stop by my house and grab some clothes first." Ezra smiled, leaned in to kiss her again, before disappearing into the night as he walked to his car. Aria waited a few minutes before turning the key. The only sound the car responded with was the sound of an engine trying to turn on but not doing so. She tried again only to hear the same thing. She reached over to her phone and was about to dial Ezra's number when someone slammed their hand down on the rolled down window. She jumped and looked but saw nothing but a hoodie. The person clamped their hand down on her mouth. She kicked against them but everything soon became blurry before she saw blackness.

Ezra POV

Ezra was driving down the road singing to the song on the radio when he heard a loud pop. He slowly pulled over and got out. He sighed when he looked down at the rear right tire. The bottom of it was laying flat on the ground. Ezra threw his hands up in the air. Popping the trunk, he went back to grab a spare tire and a jack. He was rummaging around in the trunk when he heard a car come up behind him. He turned to see who it was but the headlights blinded him.

He turned back to his trunk as he heard someone get out of the driver's side. "Hey, do you think you could help me out? I have a flat tire." Ezra was met by silence. He turned and jumped. Slowing his breathing, he smiled. "Mr. Montgomery."

Byron smiled. "Hey, Ezra. I don't know much about changing a tire but if you need a ride I'd be happy to give you one."

"That'd be great," Ezra responded. He threw the tire and jack back in the trunk before slamming it closed. He went back and retrieved his keys from the ignition and locked his doors before following Byron. Ella waved at him from the passenger seat. He waved back before climbing into the back. Mike was sitting on the other side with his headphones in his ear. He looked over at Ezra who smiled. Without cracking a smile, Mike turned back to his IPod. Ezra nodded to himself. "Thanks again for stopping and giving me a ride home." He told the couple in the front.

"Oh, it's no problem. It's the least we could do after you took care of Aria for us." Ella responded.

"Well, it wasn't a problem. Aria was great." Ezra smiled to himself. Aria was a lot of things, most of which he couldn't tell Ella. A beep was sounded through the car. Ella flipped open her phone and read the text. She turned to Byron.

"Aria is staying over at Spencer's for the night. She already went by the house and grabbed some clothes." Byron nodded. Ezra looked out the window and grinned knowingly.

Ezra waved goodbye as Byron drove away. He turned and walked up to his apartment. He knocked on his neighbor's door first. She opened and smiled at him as she held a finger up to her lips. He tip toed in and picked up the sleeping boy from the couch. He quietly thanked her and walked him over to his own apartment. He somehow managed to unlock and open the door with Zane still asleep in his arms. When the door swung open, he was expecting to see Aria but was met with a dark room. He flipped on the lights and walked in. Scanning the room, he laid Zane down on the couch. He placed a pillow under his head and then a blanket over his body. The boy snuggled up into a ball and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Ezra smiled down at him.

Ezra looked around and saw no signs of Aria even being in his apartment before he got there. She had texted her mom and told her she had already gotten her clothes. Shouldn't she have been there already? He furrowed his brow in confusion. He was starting to get worried. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Aria's number. He listened as the phone rang before her answering machine came on. He flipped the cell phone closed before the beep. Sighing, he walked over to his computer. Maybe she sent him an email. He wasn't sure why she would do that but he wanted to check everything before he started panicking. He opened his email. He looked intently at the first address. Unknown. The subject line was even more intriguing. Missing Something? Ezra clicked on the file and his eyes grew wide at the sight before him.

A/N: Sorry for the shortness but I just had to stop this chapter here. Great cliffhanger. I feel I have to keep you all on the edge of your seats.(= Don't worry though, you shouldn't have to wait much longer for the next chapter. I've already started working on it.(=