Thank you so much for all of the reviews of last chapter and I really hope you enjoy the "date" chapter. Parts of it revolve around Aria and Ezra while others revolve around Jake.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars
Here is chapter thirteen.
"It's one date Spence!"
Spencer rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that. Who knows? You might get another glimpse of what's under all of those vests he wears."
Upon hearing Spencer's statement Aria shrugged it off and responded with an eye roll of her own before venturing into her son's bedroom. The room was lit up by Jake's favorite night light and as the sound of her son's soft snores filled the room Aria couldn't help but wonder what exactly tomorrow had in store for her.
Friday night quickly turned into Saturday, the day of Aria and Ezra's first date in over four years. As the day grew longer and the sky got darker Aria waited anxiously for the night to take over and eight o'clock to arrive. Time seemed to go by so slow. It seemed like the longest of days but when the time got nearer ironically Aria wasn't quite ready.
A knock at the door surprised Aria and she stumbled as quickly as possible out of her bedroom attempting to secure her left shoe onto her foot while trying to maintain her balance. Aria wore a knee length black dress with a pair of the same black colored heels. Just the right amount of makeup covered her face.
"Shit." Aria said taking a look at the watch on her wrist. "He's early and I'm not ready. It's only 7:45." It was then that Aria noticed Spencer getting up off the couch. "Spence do you mind getting the door?"
"Relax Aria. I've got it. I'm sure it's just Hanna and Em."
"And why would they be coming over here?" Aria asked in confusion.
"Duh, I asked them if they wanted to help me babysit Jake while you were on your hot date."
"Oh okay."
A second series of knocks was heard before Spencer was able to make her way to the door. "Coming, coming!" she yelled. Sure enough she opened the door seconds later to reveal her other two best friends smiling back at her.
"Hey Spence." Hanna said as she entered the apartment.
"Where's Jake?" Emily looked around following behind Hanna.
"He's playing in his room." Spencer answered motioning to the opened door to her left. "Doesn't Aria look hot?"
Hanna and Emily both immediately looked over at Aria who was busy fixing her silver necklace. "Hey guys." Aria sighed.
"Damn girl. You may give Mr, Fitz a heart attack. He is getting close to thirty after all." Hanna laughed. "But seriously you look good."
"Thanks Han. But please can't you just call him Ezra? He isn't our teacher anymore." Aria begged. Hanna scoffed in return. "We'll see."
"So you guys are going to help Spencer babysit?"
The girls both nodded but Emily was the first to speak. "Yep. We are going to have a great time."
"That's great. I bet he'll have a lot of fun with you guys. I just hope he doesn't get too upset when we leave him in a few minutes, He's pretty much obsessed with his daddy."
The girls smiled in reply. It was then that the doorbell interrupted them. Jake took this moment to speed through his bedroom and into the living room. He quickly spotted the four girls standing together and hastily walked over to his mother.
"Look pretty mommy." Jake smiled up at her. Aria answered by placing a soft kiss to his cheek and making her way to the door, She paused for just a moment to take a deep breath before opening the door. She finally did so and wasn't surprised to find Ezra standing on the other side.
"Hi." She spoke softly as she took a moment to take in Ezra's appearance. He was dressed in a black suit over a white dress shirt and matching black tie.
"Hey.' He paused for a brief moment. "You look good." Ezra smiled exaggerating the first syllable of his final word.
"Thank you. You want to come in for a second?" She turned her head for a moment when she noticed Jake standing anxiously. "I think someone wants to see you."
"Of course." He smiled following closely behind her. As soon as he entered the apartment he was spotted by Jake and the boy immediately dashed into his father's arms.
"Daddy!" Jake yelled. "I didn't know you were coming."
Ezra nodded. "Yeah I can't stay long though buddy. You feeling better today?"
Jake quickly answered with a nod and Ezra took a moment to pull his attention away from his son. He soon spotted not one but three of his former students standing in front of him. "Hi girls."
"Hi Mr. Fitz." Emily answered. "I mean Ezra."
"Long time no see Mr. Fitz." Hanna quickly responded with a grin.
"You can call me Ezra, Han-"
"Daddy where are you going?" Jake interrupted raising his head from his father shoulder.
"I'm going out with mommy." Ezra stated simply.
"Without me?"
Ezra sighed and glanced over at Aria. He hadn't expected Jake to want to go. Truthfully he hadn't even thought about it. "Buddy you're going to stay here with Aunt Spencer, Hanna and Emily."
"I want to go with you." Jake said as a frown appeared on his face. Large tears began to form in the little boy's eyes and he once again buried his small face in his father's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Jake." Ezra sighed. There were only a hand full of times he had witnessed Jake cry and he hated it every time. "We'll be back soon and I bet the girls have all kinds of fun things planned."
"No." Jake cried.
After getting another look from Ezra, Aria finally stepped in. "Jake, Hanna and Emily have been excited about spending time with you. If you go with us they won't get to see you. You don't want to disappoint them do you?" Aria looked over at the girls and Jake immediately followed her gaze.
"Jake?' Emily finally spoke up. "What's your favorite toy to play with?"
The little boy thought for a moment contemplating the question. "Cars." He said quickly.
Emily smiled. "Well you're in luck. I love playing with cars." Hanna gave her a confused look.
"Really?" Jake answered.
"Yep." Emily replied.
"Okay."
Aria looked over at Emily and mouthed a thank you before watching Ezra stand Jake softly on the ground. He slowly bent down to the boy's level and placed a kiss to the top of Jake's head. "Bye buddy." He said as he stood himself up and headed for the door. "Bye girls. Have fun."
Aria said her goodbyes and followed quickly behind him after taking once last look at her son who was now busy talking with Emily about his favorite race cars.
"Bye Mr. Fitz." Hanna yelled before Ezra could shut the door. "Doesn't Aria look hot?" And with that the door closed leaving Spencer, Hanna, and Emily to watch Jake and Aria and Ezra alone.
"Aren't they cute?" Hanna laughed loudly.
PLLPLLPLLPLL
Aria and Ezra finally made their way to his familiar grey sedan and Aria smiled as Ezra opened the door for her to enter the car. 'Thank you." She said clearly. "So what do you have planned. I remember our date years ago when we went to the art exhibit. You got a limo and all. I wonder how you plan to one up that one." Aria laughed.
Ezra chuckled. "You'll see," He shut the door and made his way over to the driver's side and started the car.
"I was joking about the one upping, but really where are we going?"
"I figured you were. I found a small theatre on the outside of town that just happens to be showing the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird. We both love old movies so I figured we could check it out after dinner."
"Ezra" Aria replied. "That sounds great. As long as it's not some awful remake." She was quick to add.
"Um no. Nothing could compare to the original." He laughed as he drove off.
PLLPLLPLLPLL
"So Jake." Hanna spoke when his parents finally left the apartment. "Why don't you bring some of your toys in here?" Jake responded with a nod and rushed off into his room. Not a minute passed before he ran back in the room with a large bucket full of cars in one hand and his favorite race track in the other.
"H-he has a lot." Spencer said staring in Hanna and Emily's direction.
"I see." Emily laughed. "Where did you get that awesome track Jake?"
Jake dropped the contents of the bucket onto the floor and with a loud thud the track too crashed onto the ground and he pointed his small finger in Spencer's direction. "Auntie Spencer." He stated simply with a grin.
"Gee Spence did you get him all of the cars too?"
Spencer laughed. "Um yeah. Well some of them are from his dad and Aria let him pick out a few at the store the other day but yeah I gave him most of them."
"Well." Emily laughed. "Let me show you how to really play with these cars." She said as she found herself a seat on the carpet to sit down. Jake immediately sat down next to her. "Play with me Em." He said laughing.
PLLPLLPLLPLL
Thirty minutes later Aria and Ezra sat across from one another at a corner table at one of the high end Italian restaurants on the outskirts of Rosewood.
"So how'd you like your meal?" Ezra spoke as he looked up from his plate. "I knew you were a fettuccini fan."
"It's great. It's much better than the "enhanced macaroni" I planned on making at your apartment that day."
"That's good. I was looking forward to trying that myself." He laughed. "Why didn't I?"
Aria quickly looked up. "You don't remember? It was the day you found the first of many "stalkerish messages signed with the first letter of the alphabet."
"Oh that's right maybe we should talk about something else."
Aria nodded. "I really appreciate how good you've been with Jake the past month. Although I must admit that I think he loves you more than me."
Ezra grinned at the mention of his son but shook his head at Aria's statement. "No he doesn't. I'm just glad he does actually like me."
"Are you kidding? That boy is obsessed with you."
Ezra responded with a laugh. "Well I love him too, But Aria while we are talking about Jake can I ask you a question?"
Aria nodded quickly. "Yeah of course."
"D-do you regret leaving abruptly four years ago? Do you think we could have made things work? You, me and Jake."
Aria paused for a moment before replying. "Yeah I do. In my head all I could think about was that what happened was so wrong and I could only think of the consequences if someone were to have found out. But when I see you interacting with Jake and how much he loves you it makes me regret what I did so much." She answered as she wiped a lone tear from her eye.
"Hey no crying. We're supposed to be having fun remember?"
"I know but you asked. I know I've asked you this a million times but do you regret what happened between us during my high school years?"
Ezra was quick to shake his head. "Absolutely not, when I said I've loved you since the moment I first saw you, I meant it."
"But you had to risk everything…"
"Yeah, but I got so much more in return."
Aria nodded and wiped her fingers around her eye. Ezra stood up and came around to her side of the table. "You ready for our movie?"
"Of course." She answered grabbing his hand. "Lead the way."
PLLPLLPLLPLL
Meanwhile back at the apartment toys were scattered throughout the living room and it was difficult to even find a place to step. The girls were engaged in a heated game of Twister with Jake. Bodies were in very odd positions at the moment.
"Okay Jake. Your turn." Hanna yelled as she spun the wheel.
"Face on green."
Spencer and Emily both gave her confused expressions but Hanna just continued to chuckle. Jake on the other hand quickly maneuvered himself to where his face was indeed lying on a large green circle. "Okay I did it." he spoke without missing a beat. "Em's turn."
The girls couldn't contain their laughter as they watched the boy sprawled out on the mat with his head sticking to one of the dots. Hanna quickly pulled out her iPhone and took a picture of the source of her laughter.
"Your mommy is going to love this Jake."
"Mommy." Jake laughed, "Why?"
"Hold still." She yelled.
"K." was Jake's only reply.
PLLPLLPLLPLL
Aria was fifteen minutes into the showing of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of her favorite movies when her phone beeped indicating that she had a text message. "I wonder whose texting me." Aria whispered as she pulled her phone out of her purse. "Oh. It's a picture."
"From who?" Ezra whispered taking his eyes off the movie and looking over at Aria. He squeezed her hand tight as she slid the phone to open hoping something wasn't wrong.
It was then that Aria took a look at the picture that Hanna had sent of Jake with a caption under it that said simply: Face on Green.
Aria could barely contain her laughter as she showed the picture to Ezra. A smile quickly appeared on his face and he immediately began to chuckle. "Looks like a fun game of twister."
"Yeah they got him pretty good." Aria continued to giggle.
"That's our boy."
PLLPLLPLLPLL
It was nearing eleven o'clock when Aria and Ezra finally made their way back up the stairs en route for the apartment. When they made it in front of the familiar door they stopped. Aria put her hand on the silver door knob but halted quickly and turned in Ezra's direction.
"I had a great time tonight." Aria spoke softly.
'Me too." Ezra smiled.
"Thank you for this. I must say it was one of the best nights I have had out in a while."
Ezra nodded. "You're welcome. Maybe we can go out again sometime."
"I'd like that." Aria smiled. "I don't know how much Jake would though."
"We can take him with us next time." Ezra laughed.
"He'd love that." Aria was quick to reply.
It was then that she noticed Ezra attempting to move closer to her and close the gap that was between them. He brought his face down to hers and held her face with a single hand. Seconds later his lips touched hers. Aria used her arms to pull him closer to her and they stayed in each other's embrace for minutes. It was like no one else existed but only the two of them.
When Aria finally pulled away for air she let a gasp escape her lips. "Wow. That was-"
"Amazing." Ezra cut her off. "I agree."
"Yeah it was. Well I guess I should go inside and make sure the place isn't too messy. I had a nice time Ezra." Aria spoke as she turned the door knob.
"I love you Aria."
Aria sucked in a deep breath not knowing what to say next. "I-I-"
"It's okay Aria. You don't have to say it."
"I'm sorry." She spoke as she let herself into the house and gave one last look at Ezra before softly closing the door. When she heard the familiar click she let herself lean against the other side of the door. She sighed and took a deep breath before mumbling "I love you too Ezra."
There is chapter thirteen. I hope you enjoyed reading it and don't mind leaving a review. Also please feel free to comment about what you would like to see happen in the story. I would love to hear your thoughts.