Hey guys! finally finished another chapter! And I just HAVE to say thank you to 4 Ezria , you don't know how much I appreciate all the comments and support! I love hearing what you all think!
Aria's POV
"I'm sorry Aria." Emily says.
"For the fifty millionth time, it wasn't your fault." I complain.
"She's right, you know." Spencer agrees. Emily sighs and puts her hand on my knee. Each of them are sitting on either side of me on my bed, Emily on the right and Spencer on the left. Shadow is laying in front of me with his head in my lap, and I absentmindedly stroke the soft fur between his ears.
"You told me you were about to yell at Aria, what did you mean by that?" Spencer asks. I'm slightly curious too, although I hardly remember what happened seconds before the accident.
"It's none of your business Spencer, you weren't-" Emily starts, but I glare at her.
"Don't argue with her, we're all just trying to make sense of this." I scold her like a young child, and I can physically feel her guilt as her hand slides off my knee.
"I was mad that you were pushing me away." Emily mumbles. When I realize what she means, I feel like it was all my fault, I must have moved too fast or acted coldly.
"Emily, I was just trying to make everything easier on you by acting more independent because E... Someone... told me too." I save myself after my slip up.
"Who lives in that apartment anyway?" Emily asks.
"What apartment?" Spencer tries to catch up.
"The mysterious one Aria has me take her to almost every day, and she won't let me meet whoever is inside." Emily tells her. My cheeks get warm as blood rushes to them. Shit.
"Aria!" Spencer suddenly shouts.
"What?!" I ask in confusion.
"You're going to a mysterious stranger's house every day?" She asks suspiciously. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
"No! He's not a stranger!" I reply.
"HE?!" Spencer and Emily ask at the same time. This is starting to feel like an interrogation. I groan and fall onto my back. Shadow is disturbed and I hear the familiar click click jingle, click click jingle of his nails on the floor and the metal tags on his collar jingling.
"Yes, my mysterious stranger is a male." I blatantly state.
"Oh, so he's your mysterious stranger?" Spencer asks. If I wasn't blind, I know I'd see a mischievous look on her face and her raised eyebrows asking me how hot he is. I get a sense Emily is uncomfortable as she shifts on the mattress.
"OK, fine, it's this guy I've been seeing." I admit. I can always tell a half truth, just leave out the part that he's our English teacher.
"What's his name?" Spencer pries. Emily still hasn't said a word. I hurry to try and come up with a fake name.
"ARIA!" Emily practically screams. I jump out of my socks and Spencer catches me before I fall off the bed.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" She screams. I face her, awestruck, not knowing what to say because I don't know what she knows.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Spencer asks.
"Why...? How...? Is he making you?" Emily practically whispers, her new grip tightening on my arm just enough to be painful.
"Emily?" Spencer asks in confusion.
"It's MR. FITZ, Spencer, put the pieces together! Her little stutter earlier, the secrecy, the FREAKING APARTMENT!" Emily yells. Spencer is hit with the sudden recognition and I try to shrink into the mattress.
"Aria, tell me what is going on right now." Emily demands, her grip on my arm ever tightening. I let out a whimper, but Emily doesn't release me.
"I promise, I... I... I met him before school." I start to explain.
"Holy shit." Spencer states, like this has just now become real to her.
"We really hit it off, and I don't know how to explain it, it just feels right!" I try to weakly defend myself. Spencer is silent, but Emily practically growls.
"I'm not driving you there anymore." Emily says.
"He's not a bad guy, Emily!" I try to convince her. Emily grabs my other arm with just as much force and I have to face her.
"But he is, Aria. He's a teacher, and he's dating his student. He could take advantage of you, because of your blindness..." I cut her off. I've had enough. She's crossed a line.
"You don't know what you're talking about." I tell her.
"Aria, calm down, she didn't mean anything by it." Spencer tells me, obviously sensing that my blood is boiling.
"Aria, that is not what I meant, and you know it." Emily says desperately, her voice rising. "I'm not trying to hurt you!"
"You're hurting me right now!" I cry out when her nails slightly dig into my arms. Tears are running down my cheeks and her grip on me loosens when she realizes what is going on.
"I... I..." Emily starts to mumble.
"You two need to work this out." Spencer says, getting up and rushing out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Aria..." Is all Emily has to say. I refuse to make eye contact with her, I don't want her to look into my eyes right now. I tilt my head downward and rub my arms up and down where Emily grabbed me.
"I'm just trying to protect you." She tells me.
"Why are you so concerned about Ezra? I've been seeing him for a while, and he hasn't done anything yet, and he's not going to!" I tell her.
"I don't like the idea of you seeing him." She says. I roll my eyes.
"I can't deal with you right now." I tell her. As I stand up from the bed I press my elbow against my mouth to block the sudden waves of coughs.
"Here's the inhaler." Emily says desperately, shoving the tube into my hand. I take a deep breath out of it and hold it in for a few seconds before slowly exhaling. I throw the tube back onto the bed and stomp out of my bedroom, ignoring Emily behind me and calling for Shadow.
"Where are you going?" Spencer asks as I grip the handle on Shadow's vest.
"Out." I tell her.
"Aria!" Emily calls as she runs down the stairs after me. I get out the front door and close it behind me, practically running with shadow leading me.
I ask a man on the street directions to the apartment building Ezra lives in and follow his instructions, waiting at a stop light. Shadow has been trained what all the signs means, so when the little figure of a man walking pops up he knows to lead me across the street.
Once I'm on a small road my nerves finally start to calm themselves. I've had two too many car accidents recently and I prefer to stay away from large streets.
A car slows beside me, and for a short moment I think I'm about to be kidnapped before I remember that I have a huge German shepherd at my side.
"Aria." Emily calls for my attention. I roll my eyes and continue walking.
"Aria, get in the car." Emily demands. It sounds more like a plea.
"I'm not supposed to get into cars with strangers."
"Seriously?" Emily says.
"Well how am I supposed to know it's you, I'm blind, remember?" I taunt her.
"Aria, stop being stupid and get in the car." Emily tells me.
"No, I'm going to Ezra's." I tell her.
"Aria." She groans. When I reach the parking lot, Shadow knows that Ezra lives here and speeds up a little towards the entrance to the building. The sounds Emily's car makes behind me signals that she's parking, so I speed up and urge Shadow to as well.
"Aria!" She calls out again.
"No." I tell her. I reach the building and rush inside before Emily can catch me. Tears finally start forming in the corners of my eyes as I remember what she told me.
He could take advantage of you, because of your blindness.
And at this moment I feel like I hate her. She crossed a line, one that has been painted over several times, she knows it's there. I've had so many people just assume I'm not capable of anything, but Emily? She's supposed to be the one who believes in me, the one who can treat me like a normal person instead of something that needs to be taken care of. That's why meeting Ezra surprised me so much, he's been the only stranger, EVER, to not immediately assume I don't have the capacity to live a normal life.
When I reach Ezra's door, I reach up with my fingertips to check that the metal plates say 3B, just to make sure I don't knock on the wrong door.
When I knock, the door opens immediately and I jump. Ezra doesn't say anything, so I take it as an invitation to come inside. I sit down on his couch and release Shadow to roam the apartment and listen to the sniffing noises he makes.
"Ezra?" I finally ask when he doesn't say hello. No response. Where is he?
"Ezra, where are you? This isn't funny." I call out into empty space. Nothing.
When the seat cushions shift as Ezra sits down, I breathe a sigh of relief, but wonder why he isn't talking to me. He pushes a strand of hair off my face and tucks it behind my ear.
"Ezra?" I ask, trying to get some response. His arm wraps around my waist and scoots me closer to him. Something's wrong. My sixth sense tells me. His hand trails up and down my arm, and it gives me goose bumps instead of making me feel giddy. He presses me closer against his body and tucks my hair behind my ear on the other side.
Was Emily right, is Ezra trying to take advantage of me? I begin to panic and push away, but his grip on my waist tightens until I'm sure it will bruise. I try to wiggle away, but he only gets stronger. He pins me on my back and I know something really, really, bad is about to happen. His hand trails the hem of my shirt.
But then keys turn in the front door, and his presence is suddenly gone, and I'm left laying on my back on the couch with my shirt halfway up. The front door opens, and then closes.
"Aria? What are you doing here?" I scramble onto my feet.
"How did you get in?" He asks, his voice getting closer. I don't understand any of what just happened. My lip begins to quiver and my cheeks quickly become wet.
"Aria, what's wrong?" Ezra asks in his honey-sweet voice, his hand reaching out and brushing a tear off my cheek.
"Don't touch me." I whimper, taking a few steps back.
"Aria, what's wrong." He asks me in a more serious tone. I don't answer him, I stand in front of the person I thought I knew in fear.
Ezra tries to pull me into an embrace, but I push him away with my fists.
"I told you not to touch me!" I scream at him, backing into a corner until I crash into the wall.
"Aria, talk to me." He pleads, his hands gripping my shoulders to steady my shaking.
"NO! GET OFF!" I scream, images of the worst thing that could happen flying through my head. At this point Shadow is finally upset and I hear concerned barks from across the apartment.
"Why is Shadow locked in the bathroom?" He wonders out loud. Oh, god. Shadow's not here to protect me.
"Just go away, let me out." I cry, sliding to the floor. I don't want him to touch me, I'm not ready for that. I should have listened to Emily, she's always right.
"Aria, what is going on?" He asks. In an instant I make the decision to jump up and bolt past him towards the bathroom to let Shadow out, then I know I'll be protected.
"Aria, stop!" He calls after me. I grab Shadow and run towards the front door. I open it and Shadow runs out ahead of me, ready to lead me home, but an arm wraps around my waist and pulls me away from the door.
"Aria, you have to tell me what is going on! Talk to me, please!" Ezra begs. I think he's crying.
"LET ME GO!" I scream in hysterics. All I can think about is the hands that were all over me earlier. I don't understand how Ezra got from on top of me to behind the door in less than a second, but it only makes me more scared of him.
I claw at his arms until he releases me and I run aimlessly, smashing into a bookcase and falling onto my back.
"Emily was right!" I sob as I finally give in. I curl up in a ball on the floor and cry with my forehead on my knees. Ezra tries to touch me, but I flinch every time and eventually he just stops.
Well THAT was dramatic! It's a bit of a bad chapter for Ezria! :/ For those of you that didn't understand what was going on, the first person in the apartment was NOT Ezra, Ezra coming home scared them away. But I won't mention names. *cough*cough*A*cough* AS ALWAYS, review and let me know what you think!