Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars

Author's note: Don't be mad at Ezra for not knowing Aria's name! It's not that he didn't remember it, but she never told him what it was!

When Aria got out of Ezra's apartment building, she took her cell phone out of her purse and she noticed she had almost thirty missed calls. She checked and saw that they were all from Matt, though he hadn't left any voicemail messages. She felt sick to her stomach and it wasn't just because of her hangover. Aria let out a deep sigh, what was she going to do? Matt and her were over,she knew that…but it all seemed so unreal. How was she supposed to trust anyone now? Not to mention, why did he call her so many times? He must have arrived about ten to fifteen minutes after she had left the bar and bumped into those other guys, right? His cover was blown, so why still bother with the calls? She didn't feel like going home because there were so many things there that reminded her of Matt, but she really needed to take a shower. She felt so…icky.

Aria hailed a cab, got in it and headed home. When she opened the door to her apartment, she was shocked to see Matt sitting on the couch in the living room. When he saw her, he looked relieved. He got up from the couch and walked over to her. Aria took a step back because she was slightly scared and asked, "Matt! What are you doing here!" Matt looked confused and replied, "What do you mean, what am I doing here? The real question is: where were you last night! I arrived at the bar and you weren't there. I tried calling you, but you didn't pick up your phone. You had me worried sick!"

Matt walked over to her to take her into his arms, but Aria kept him at arms' length. She didn't really know what to say or do. So those guys had taken off before Matt had arrived, so he had no idea that she knew of his plan. Aria didn't know whether she should tell him or not. She didn't know what he would do if he knew she knew and it scared her. Matt took a look at her and noticed that she was wearing the outfit she had worn on the first day they had met, the outfit she was going to wear last night. Matt asked, "Did you just get home! Where have you been!" Aria started nervously chewing her bottom lip, still deciding on what to do. Matt got upset at her silence and said, "Aria, answer me!" Aria started getting tears in her eyes, though she tried her hardest to fight them. Matt saw this and said, "Aria…you're scaring me. Are you okay? Did anything happen? You can tell me, I'm here for you."

Aria got all of her courage together and said, "Okay…last night I was in the bar and two men came up to me and they told me the truth." Matt looked confused and asked, "I'm sorry, I'm not following, what truth?" Aria sighed and replied, "That you're scamming me for my money. They took the earrings and the engagement ring as a down payment." Matt gasped and said, "Aria… let me explain…" Aria shook her head and yelled, "What's there to explain! You used me. You were going to rob me from my money and leave me!" Matt shook his head and said, "I wasn't! I promise…" With tears in her eyes, she yelled, "Your promises mean nothing to me!" Matt tried to placate Aria, "I know you're upset with me right now, but please… I love you, Aria. It may have started out that way, but it's not anymore. Yes, I had planned to run away with your money, but then I got to know you and I fell in love with you, for real. How could I not? You're…perfect."

Aria scoffed and yelled, "Save it for someone who gives a shit! I want you out of my apartment, right now!" Matt begged, "Please Aria, don't be like this. I love you and I know you love me. We can get through this…" Aria pointed towards the door and screamed, "OUT!" Matt started saying Aria's name but he was interrupted by someone else who said, "I believe the lady asked you to leave." It was Ezra. Matt looked confused and asked, "Who the fuck is this! Is this why you weren't home? Because you were with him! Did you… ?" Matt couldn't finish his sentence, the thought of Aria having sex with another man was too hard to bear. Aria gave him a cold stare and said, "What I do is no longer any of your business. Now leave." Clearly upset, Matt looked at Aria, searching her eyes for some kind of emotion. Matt looked ashamed, hurt and heartbroken. Matt walked towards the door to leave and gave Ezra a mean look on the way out. Ezra didn't even acknowledge his presence.

When Matt was out the door, Ezra closed it, turned to Aria and asked, "Are you okay?" Aria didn't hear his question, because she was off into her own little world. Suddenly she snapped out of it, turned towards Ezra and yelled, "And you! What on earth are you doing here? How do you even know where I live!" Ezra replied matter-of-factly, "I had you followed." Aria shook her head, clearly annoyed and exasperated. Using a lot of hand gestures, she said, "Absolutely GREAT! Now I can add stalker to my list, just below scammer!" Ezra blinked a couple of times, not really knowing what to say to that. Aria let out a huge sigh and asked, "Why are you here anyways?" Ezra shrugged and pouting slightly, he replied, "You left me hanging. I don't like that."

Aria narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Oh, boo-hoo! Get used to it." And then Aria opened the door, pushed him out of her apartment and shut the door. Ezra was surprised to find himself standing outside her apartment, it had all happened so fast. He didn't understand what was going on here, usually all the girls swooned over him. This one on the other hand… this one just kept rejecting him. He found it very weird and not to mention annoying, but on another level he kind of liked it, he found it hot.

Ezra knocked on the door again. Aria sighed as she leaned against the closed door with her back and she said, "Go. Away." Ezra frowned and said, "I don't think you should be alone right now, I mean, what if he comes back?" Aria replied, "He won't. And if he does, I'll handle it." Ezra wasn't so sure about that and he said, "But…you're so…tiny." Aria felt insulted and snapped, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Ezra said, "I'm not convinced…you should let me in so I can protect you if anything happens." Aria rolled her eyes and said, "The only person I need protecting from right now is you!" Ezra didn't speak for a while and Aria started wondering if he was still there. Then all of a sudden she heard him say, "Fine…I'll leave…just…if that guys shows up again, or anyone else you don't trust, call me okay?" And then he slipped a business card under the door, with his private cell phone number written on the back.

Aria picked up the card and rolled her eyes at him, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She studied the card, but she didn't reply to him. Suddenly Ezra commanded, "Promise me." Aria raised an eyebrow and said, "Promise me, please?" to let him know that he should ask her, not tell her. Ezra shook his head and said, "I'm not asking, I'm telling you to promise me. Now promise me you'll call or I'm not leaving." Aria sighed and replied, "Alright, fine, jeez… I promise." Ezra said, "Thank you. I'm going to go now, I'll see you around." Aria snapped, "Doubtful", and she heard Ezra sigh. When she heard him leave, she locked the door, with an extra lock from the inside, knowing that Matt had a spare key to her apartment.

When Ezra was outside of Aria's apartment building, he made a call to his head of security, asking him to send someone over to stake out her place. He wanted her safe. Then he made another call.

Aria was relieved when she had heard Ezra leave, although part of her didn't really want him to. She didn't like the fact that he came on so strong at times, but somewhere inside of her, she did kind of like it. Did it mean that he cared for her or was it just part of his routine? She felt something she didn't want to feel, so she just pushed those feelings aside and went over to the bathroom to take a shower. When she got out of the shower, she walked back into her living room. She looked around and saw pictures of her and Matt, a stuffed animal that he had bought her and some other little things that reminded her of him. So she took all of those things, walked over to the kitchen and threw them in the garbage can. When she walked back into the living room, there was a knock on the door. Aria's heart started beating faster, what if Ezra was right and it was Matt? She walked over to the door and checked through the peephole. It wasn't Matt, but she didn't know who this man was at all…and he was holding something.

Aria asked in a very insecure tone of voice, "Who is it?" The man replied, "I have a delivery for this address, from an Ezra Fitz." Aria frowned, unlocked the door and then she opened it. The guy handed her a wicker basket, filled with all kinds of things she couldn't make out yet, wrapped in plastic gift wrap. Aria accepted it, eyeing it warily. It was heavy. She had to sign for the delivery, but she had no intention of putting her name on there, then she'd have told him. She signed with, "Nice try, still not telling you my name." The delivery guy looked at her a bit weird, but he shrugged it off and left.

Aria walked over to the coffee table in the living room and placed the basket onto it. She opened the plastic gift wrap and looked into the basket. At first glance she saw an iPad, an iPod, lots of chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne, a really fluffy blanket, a stuffed animal, bubble bath products, facial mask products and a gift card. She picked up the gift card, saw that it was for 200 dollars worth of sexy lingerie and raised an eyebrow. What the hell? Then she noticed that there was a note attached to the bow around the stuffed animals neck, so she picked it up to read it. It said, "Since I wasn't allowed to stay, I thought I'd send you this guy to keep you company. I hope this gift brings a smile to your lovely face. If you need me, I'm here for you. Ezra Fitz"

He had put together this gift basket to help her through her break-up? Why did he do that? This gift was expensive, too expensive, although she guessed he could afford it. She picked up the bottle of Champagne, it was a bottle of Cristal, the same one she had a glass of the night at the Nine Circles of Hell bar. It was chilled….he had sent her Champagne that was already chilled, who does that, who goes to that much trouble? She shook her head in bemusement. "What, no fancy Champagne glass?", she said mockingly. She removed the fluffy blanket only to have to take back her words, even though she had been kidding, because under there was a fancy champagne glass. "Unbelievable", she said as she rolled her eyes in fake exasperation, because secretly she was kind of enjoying this.

She unloaded the rest of the content onto her coffee table to inspect everything. Then she opened the bottle of Champagne and poured herself a glass, why not right? Between sips she picked up different items and looked at them to see what they were. Some of the items had post-its on them, so she went through those first. How did he pull this off in such a short amount of time? It was baffling.

The strawberries had a note that said, "Wish I was there to feed them to you". Aria let out a snort, but then her mind wandered. She thought about Ezra holding up a chocolate covered strawberry to her lips as she slowly bit off a part of it, a bit of the juice running from her lips down to her chin as Ezra licked it up with his tongue from her chin to her lips and then kissed her deeply. She scraped her throat as she snapped herself out of it, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Bad thoughts, no!

She picked up what seemed like a normal beauty product, but when she examined it closer she saw it was edible chocolate massage oil. The post-it attached to it had a winking smiley face on it. Even from a distance, he was being a pervert. She put the item back on the table and picked up something else, so she wouldn't fantasize about that one too.

She picked up the iPad and started it up. She noticed a folder with a lot of romantic chick flicks in it. Typical movies to cry to while eating chocolate, post break-up, but she didn't really feel like wallowing. She didn't even feel sad…she just felt…angry. So she put it back down and then she picked up the iPod. She went through the song list and noticed that they were all sad love songs, it was kind of depressing. Then all of a sudden she noticed one song that was out of place, "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera. She frowned at herself, why was this on there? Was this his way of trying to convey some perverted message to her? But she loved the song, so she pressed play. Suddenly Aria let out an "Oh God!" as she remembered fragments of the night before…of her provocative dancing…with him. She rubbed her eyes trying to get the images out of her head. She turned off the song, no way she wanted to remember anything more. She downed the rest of her glass of Champagne and then she poured herself another one.

All of a sudden the iPad made a sound. She checked it and she saw that she had received a message. Apparently he had set up an account on a chatting app in the name of "Miss Compensation" and he had messaged her from his account.

Ezra: Hello "nice try, still not telling you my name", how do you like your gift?

Aria giggled at that, but she didn't know if she really thought it was funny or if it was because of the Champagne.

Miss Compensation: Especially loving the Champagne, but the entire gift basket was very considerate. Thank you. Though sending a strange man to my house, after what happened earlier, might not have been one of your best ideas!

Ezra: Hmmm, true. Poor judgment on my part, I apologize. I do hope you intend to eat something too, you can't drink on an empty stomach. Who knows where you'll wake up tomorrow morning otherwise?

Miss Compensation: Yes, who knows? Do you have any suggestions?

Ezra: Suggestions about what? On what to eat or on where you should wake up tomorrow morning?

Miss Compensation: The latter. I can just eat a couple of those delicious chocolate covered strawberries you so kindly provided me with.

Ezra: I suspect you've had a bit too much to drink already, so I suggest you wake up in your own bed tomorrow morning…ALONE!

Miss Compensation: Bossy bossy! Not your decision to make, just saying.

Ezra: Don't make me come over….

Miss Compensation: Maybe you should…

Ezra: Careful what you wish for…

Aria didn't know what to respond to that…she didn't really know what she wanted. She kind of wanted him to come by, but she knew it was probably only because of the alcohol. The alcohol was seriously making her horny….yeah, it was just the alcohol…

Aria got up from the couch and felt a bit woozy, she really did need to eat something. She walked over to the kitchen and got a box of macaroni and cheese out of the pantry, the perfect comfort food. She prepared it and then she went back over to the couch with her plate to eat it there. She saw that she had received another message from Ezra.

Ezra: Cat got your tongue? I hope you didn't pass out from all of that alcohol…

Miss Compensation: For your information, I was in the kitchen, making myself something to eat, as per your request/demand.

Ezra: Good. Nice to know you can listen/obey.

Miss Compensation: Why is that nice to know? What exactly are you planning to do with me?

Ezra: Anything you'll let me.

Miss Compensation: So…nothing then.

Ezra: We'll see about that.

Miss Compensation: Go ahead and try.

And then the chatting stopped and she was kind of sad about it. She actually liked messaging with him, teasing him like that. But maybe she should just stop all of this, before it's too late, before it got out of hand. I mean….this guy wasn't for her. He was a player, he slept with random women. That was what he expected from this too…he was probably expecting to sleep with her after all of this…and then he'd be gone. And then she'd be heartbroken again…used again…. As the reality of it all sunk in, she felt depressed. Suddenly all of the pain she hadn't been feeling about Matt before, all came rushing to her and it broke her heart. She wrapped the fluffy blanket around her, hugged the stuffed animal and started watching movies on the iPad for the rest of the day, until she eventually just cried herself to sleep.

The next morning Aria woke up on the couch and her head hurt, but this time it wasn't from the alcohol, it was from all the crying. She sighed, it was Monday and she had class today. She really didn't want to go, but she didn't want to skip it. She got up and walked over to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes were swollen and red. "That's just great", she said to her reflection. She got into the shower and then got ready for school. She ate a cup of yoghurt, because that was all she could manage, she wasn't hungry mentally. Then she got her purse and left.

When she arrived at school, she walked over to her first class of the day, Business. She didn't really care for it, but apparently they recommended taking certain classes in college and this was one of them. She took a seat somewhere and a bit later one of her classmates, Ryan, walked up to her and sat down next to her. He was a nice guy, blonde short hair, green eyes, funny. He was in her group of friends, but he was just a friend, he wasn't her type.

Ryan said hello and took a good look at Aria. He asked, "Are you okay? You don't look so good." Aria replied sardonically, "Thanks." Ryan apologized, "No, I didn't mean it like that. You look like you've been crying?" Aria explained, "Me and Matt broke up yesterday…" Ryan gave her a sympathetic look and said, "Oh…I'm so sorry to hear that. What happened?" Aria didn't really want to tell the truth, so she just said, "He….He wasn't who I thought he was." Ryan frowned, not really knowing what she meant by that, but he guessed she just didn't want to talk about it. He put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze, "You'll be alright, kiddo." Aria gave him a weak smile and a nod. Suddenly she felt like someone was watching her, so she turned her head at the front of the class and she noticed that there was someone else standing next to the professor, talking to him. It was Ezra and he was looking their way often, glaring at Ryan when he did. Why would he look at him that way? And then she realized, Ryan still had his arm around her.

When the professor started talking, Ryan withdrew his arm. Ezra's face softened, but he still didn't look pleased. "Jeez, jealous much?", Aria thought to herself. The professor announced that they had a special guest today for their class, Ezra Fitz. He was going to talk about what it was really like to start your own business and how to make it a success. After that introduction, Ezra started talking and he completely changed. He looked excited and he was really animated when he talked. Aria was hanging on his every word. She didn't like business, but the way he talked about it, with such passion…

Ezra felt Aria's penetrating gaze and when he looked her way, he noticed something in her eyes, but he couldn't exactly figure out what it was. He had done some research (more like, had someone else do some research) on her yesterday. He had found out that her name was Aria Montgomery, she was 22 years old and she had been born and raised in Rosewood. She was in her last year of college and one of the classes she took was a business class. So he had called up the professor and offered to do a guest lecture. When Ezra had received news that she had signed the delivery with "nice try, still not telling you my name", he decided he would make her tell him, even though he had already found out by himself. Best way to do that, was to put her in a situation where she had no other choice than to tell him. Suddenly he asked, "So, if any of you were to start a business, what kind of business would you like to start?" He pretended to look around the class to find someone to answer his question, and then he looked back at Aria and said, "You… what's your name?"

As Ezra looked around, she just knew he was going to land back onto her, but she didn't really know what his plan was. Then he looked back at her and said, "You…what's your name?" Aria was slightly amused by this attempt, but she wasn't planning on giving into it, so she didn't say anything. Until she noticed her professor looking at her in a not so nice way, and she decided that a failing grade was far worse than telling him her name, right? She said, "Aria." He repeated her name and she couldn't help but love the sound of her own name from his lips. His lips that had been on her just yesterday morning. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the thought and Ezra smirked as he noticed it. "So, Aria, what business would you start?" Aria shrugged and replied, "I'd probably start my own newspaper or my own magazine." Ezra nodded and said, "That sounds interesting, but wouldn't you be scared of all the competition? I mean, there are already a lot of newspapers and magazines out there?" Aria shook her head and replied, "Not a problem if you deliver a top quality product." Ezra nodded as he replied, "Very true." And then he turned back to the class in general and started going on about how quality was the most important thing about a product.

After the class was over, students started walking out of the classroom. Some girls went to the front to talk to Ezra about "business", but actually they were just going there to flirt with him. Ryan said goodbye to Aria as he had to rush off to his next class. Aria had a free period until her next class. She packed up her things and then she got up and started making her way towards the exit. Ezra was talking to the girls in front, but his eyes wandered over to Aria constantly. He was glad the blonde guy was gone, he didn't like him so close to her at all. When he noticed Aria leaving, he excused himself from the girls and walked after Aria, leaving the girls baffled and jealous.

Aria walked down the hallway and she suddenly noticed someone walking next to her. She looked to her side and noticed it was Ezra. She gave him an annoyed look and then turned her head back to the front and just kept walking. Ezra just followed her. Suddenly she stopped and turned to him, "Why are you following me?" Ezra frowned at himself and said, "I can't seem to stay away from you."
Aria snapped, "Well, keep it up and you're going to have to because of a restraining order."
Aria started walking again and Ezra followed. He looked around and suddenly he pulled Aria into an empty classroom. Aria was surprised and her heart started pounding as he closed the door behind them. Aria snapped, "What do you think you're doing?" Aria eyed Ezra warily as he lifted his hand to her face. He stroked her cheek and she felt her whole body relax under his touch. He replied, "I'm going to kiss you."

Aria slapped away his hand and said, "No. No you're not", and she headed for the door. He turned her around by tugging at her arm and then backed her up against the door. She started breathing faster. He asked teasingly, "Why not? You know you want to. We could even make it more fun and do some role play. I'll pretend to be your teacher and you can be the naughty school girl." Aria raised an eyebrow at him, "Really! You think saying things like that is going to make me go weak in the knees for you? Why me, by the way? You had your pick of victims right there in the classroom." Ezra licked his lips and replied, "I just want you." Aria raised an eyebrow and said, "You just want me because you know you can't have me." Ezra shook his head and said, "I want you because you're beautiful and smart and feisty. And don't pretend you don't want me too."

Aria replied in a really bitchy tone of voice, "No, I don't." Ezra looked at her hungrily, said, "The hell you don't", and then leaned down and kissed her on the lips. Aria felt an electric current going through her body and she gasped, which caused her to part her lips, granting Ezra access to her mouth. He slowly slid his tongue into her mouth and caressed her tongue with his. Their kisses started growing more passionate, so she pushed him away, trying to catch her breath. She looked up into his eyes, what was she going to do? This man was wrong for her, but he appeared to be wrong in all the right ways. No man had ever gotten under her skin like this. She shook her head in frustration, said, "Damn you" and then she lunged at his mouth with hers as she threw her arms around his neck and started kissing him fiercely.

So that was Chapter 3! Please let me know what you think? Do you like were I'm going with this or not? I didn't get that much feedback, are people still reading this? lol