Aria

Saying that she was nervous would be an understatement. Right now, Aria was panicking about he oncoming night more than she should be. Every bit of her had to perfect before she could leave - or so she'd convinced herself. For the date, she had on a plain-ish coloured pale blue dress on with delicate patterns sewn in on the thin straps and waistband, a light grey coloured, smooth leather jacket and the same coloured knee high boots. Her hair was done in loose curles that were all pinned over her right shoulder and pinned slightly away from her face. One of Aria's favourite things about herself had always been her hair; it was just the perfect thickness, a decent enough natural colour and it was easy to handle when it was medium length. She hadn't changed her make-up much, she'd only added more mascara and eye liner and put on a lighter shade of lipstick to match her dress. All together it took her around an hour and a half to two hours to get ready, and by the end she was proud of the job she'd done.

Once she was ready, she called Emily to make sure Summer was doing ok at her house. Instead of staying with Spencer for what must have been the 4th or 5th time in the short time she'd lived in New York (almost a month), Aria had decided to call Emily instead so her daughter and best friend could get to know each other a little more. It also would give Spencer and Toby a break, even though Aria knew that Spencer loved Summer - just like all of her friends did - Aria didn't think it would be far to dump Summer on her constantly.

After finishing off her call with Summer - where she had explained gleefully how Emily was allowing her to dress her and Paige up like Princess Jasmine and Princess Belle - the dingdong of the doorbell rang around her apartment, indicating that her date was about to begin. Trying to shake away the nerves, Aria took a moment before opening the door. Ezra looked as dashing and attractive as usual - too appealing. His short dark brown, almost black hair was neatly gelled back a little but not too much and he wore a casual, button down shirt with jeans. A large, boyish smile grew on his face as he spotted Aria, his eyes sparkled happily. To Aria's surprise, from behind his back Ezra pulled out a small bunch of very beautiful, wild looking flowers that ranged from a pale blue to pink.

" Wow. You look amazing." Ezra stated, handing the flowers over to Aria. A small blush appeared on her cheeks.

" Thanks, so you do you and these gorgeous flowers," Aria replied. " I'm just going to put these in water before we go, come in," Eagerly searching for a vase, Aria turned her back on Ezra who patiently stood at the entrance to her apartment.

" I like what you've done with this place, it's really you," Ezra complimented when the silence began to feel slightly awkward.

" Thanks," Aria said, glancing back and giving him a small smile.

" I forgot to mention before because... never mind," Ezra said shaking his head. Bringing up their last small argument was never a good idea on their first date in 6 years. " How is Summer, by the way?"

" Oh she's good, she's having fun at Emily and Paige's house tonight. When I got off the phone with her a few minutes ago she said she as giving them a makeover so they looked like princesses," Aria answered. This caused both of them to chuckle.

" She likes Disney princesses then?"

" Don't all little girls? I know I did when I was younger. My favourite was always Princess Belle. The book was amazing," Aria commented. She'd finally managed to find a spare vase in one of her untidy cupboards.

" Belle? That's beauty and the beast, right?" Aria filled the vase with water and placed the flowers in it, staring at them for a second before hurriedly placing them on the windowsill at the opposite side of the room in the more living room type area.

" Yeah. I swear I read that book like a thousand times," She headed back towards Ezra and smiled, looking about at his tall figure. " Anyway, let's go."

The journey down there didn't take too long since the traffic was surprisingly slim. As Aria remembered, Ezra was a great drive and they both chatted amongst themselves about completely random subjects while he concentrated on the road. What slight discomforted Aria was the fact that he still owned the sae car he had 6 years ago; the same car that held so many memories. It was a mixture of good and bad memories and Aria had to force them back from swimming around in her mind. Old memories would not do well on there first date in years.

They were soon at the restaurant and sat at their booked in table. The restaurant was very pretty and looked expensive. This didn't surprise Aria as Ezra was never one to hold back on money - it was obvious that he had inherited something from his rich family. All of the staff were extremely friendly and the food on the menu's looked delicious and very Italian. After a few moments of biting her lip in concentration, Aria finally decided she would have the chicken parmesan while Ezra decided to have lasagne.

" So what's your favourite book at the moment? Mine changes so much it hard to even try and keep track," Aria asked, changing the topic to a more literary subject - it's what they were both most passionate about.

" Um, I'm probably going to have to say Moby Dick at the moment. It's the latest book I've read," Ezra answered, not really knowing what to say since - like Aria - his favourite book changes all the time.

" A classic. That's never really been on my list of favourites, I only read it once. I usually re-read my favourites over and over again," Aria said.

" What's yours?"

" Well I've been studying Gatsby with one of my classes recently so I guess it's the Great Gatsby. Daisy's always been a character that intrigued me, I don't think I'll ever fully understand what's going through her mind. Sure it's clear that all she wants is riches and money, but there must be some part of her that's... good. It's kind of annoying hearing people over and over again in classes claim that she's such a horrible person... I really need to find something that redeems her a little," Aria as beginning to babble so she stopped herself, looking sheepishly up at Ezra. To her surprise he was just staring at her in awe.

" You speak about it so passionately," Ezra commented. " I guess that's why Fitzgerald wrote it from Nick's point of view, to leave things open to interpretation. There's only so much he can describe in the book meaning its left down to readers to fill in the blanks. If you believe there is some sort of redemption in Daisy, then that's your choice. I, personally agree with the other 99% of people who've read it," A playful smirk grew on Ezra's lips.

" Hey, it's good to be different. I've always been different," Aria said with a shrug. It had always been clear to her that she was different from others, but that's what made her who she was. She didn't care what other people thought about how she dressed or acted; if they didn't like her for who she was then why should she care? Although there were some small parts of her that worried about what Ezra and the girls thought about her, but that rarely happened anymore unless she knew herself she'd done something stupid.

" And that is what I love about you," Ezra said without thinking. After Ezra realised what he had said, he let out an awkward cough and was thankful that the food had just arrived. Instantly, the two of them tucked into their food, trying to forget and be rid of the awkwardness.

" This food is amazing," The silence between them was becoming almost unbearable, so Aria decided to bring up a new conversation.

" Well I was hardly going to bring you to a bad restaurant," Ezra said sarcastically.

" Well how am I supposed to know that you haven't suddenly turned like, evil or something in the past few years?" Again, the atmosphere became award. Normally this would be a typical sarcastic comment that neither of them would think twice about. But the two of them had so much history that it was hard not to accidentally bring the past up.

" Lucky for you, I haven't somehow morphed into my twin," This didn't help change the atmosphere at all and Ezra quickly looked for a recovery. " Look, I know we haven't seen each other in so long but I know you Aria and you know me. Anything we don't know we can learn, that's the point of moving forward,"

" I agree... It's just annoying that I have to be careful what I say so I don't bring the past up since it makes things awkward again..." Aria said, looking down at her almost empty plate. Looking up would mean she would see Ezra's guilt expression, and that was something she did not want to see.

" I know there's a lot to forgive, Aria. I understand, I really do," Ezra began, leaning into the table more and taking her hand into his under the table. This caused Aria to look up and finally meet his mesmerising eyes. " But if we're going to move forward we need to accept our past and not forget it... I know that's probably easier for me than it is for you and I don't want to rush you into anything-"

" I've already said I'm trying to move past it and I really am... You're not rushing me into anything," Aria interrupted quickly before he could say anything further. " This is what I want, Ezra." His eyes lit up at this and he squeezed Aria's hand tightly.

" This is what I want too," Ezra said, a smile growing on his face.

" So... I know this is completely off topic and is none of my business..." Aria began, looking away from Ezra's eyes again. This indicated to Ezra that whatever she was about to say wasn't good. " Is there any... History with you and Olivia Clark?"

" Not much... what makes you ask?" Ezra asked with a concerned expression. It was obvious to him that Aria was slightly troubled by something.

" She... After you asked me on a date after work she questioned me about it... practically threatened me, actually." Aria said in a much quieter voice, refusing to look up.

" What?" Ezra asked, his eyes hardening at the sound of this. " Hey, look at me," he said softly, not carrying on until she did. " What did she say to you?"

" She talked about you as if you were her possession or something..." Aria began, a frown forming on her face. " She said that she was the only person you'd actually asked out on a date since you moved here, that you asking me out was just a way to get to know me as your colleague more and that you were off limits to anyone but her..."

" That's... surprising, considering I've never been out on a date with Olivia..." Ezra said, frowning deeply. " One of my friends who works in the History department is interested in her, so I've been out in a group with her a couple of times but never just me and her... that's what she thanked me about the other day in my office,"

" So you didn't know that she was interested in you?" Relief was practically flooding it's way through Aria right now.

" No... Mark, my best friend, has been interested in her for a long time, I thought he was finally getting somewhere with her..." Ezra said, still looking quite confused. " I guess not..."

" It was strange, she seemed really possessive of you. Although, it's funny that she has no idea about our past since she practically insulted me constantly how I'd known you two minutes... I think I gave her a little hint at the end that, that wasn't the case so I'll probably be questioned on that next time I see her..." Aria said.

" God... I never knew she was so..." Ezra tried to think of a not-too-harsh word to say about her but he couldn't come up with one.

" Bitchy? Rude? Obnoxious? Obsessive? Horrible?" Aria suggested and Ezra smiled. Now this is why Aria is amazing at Literature,Ezra thought to himself.

" Let's just stick with unpleasant or now..." Ezra teased, chuckling at Aria's now pouty expression. It was only now he was beginning to fully comprehend how much he'd missed her. " But I'm not interested in her in that way... nor have I ever been,"

" Well that's..." Aria paused, not quite knowing what to say. Dessert had finally arrived and she happily picked up her spoon, not-so-elegantly shoving a large spoon of ice cream in her mouth. Chuckling at her, Ezra used his hand to wipe the spare ice cream off her lips and then he brought his finger to his mouth. He closed his eyes as he realised what he had just done - it was an old habit of his. Both him and Aria brushed it off and Aria smiled up at him to indicate that it was ok.

" The only person I'm interested in is you," Ezra stated, after seeing that Aria hadn't minded what he had done. This caused a blush to form on Aria's cheeks.

Dessert ran smoothly after that, as they changed the topic back to natural, every day conversation that came so easily to them. Once they'd both finished, Ezra took the cheque and paid for the whole dinner before leading her back out to his car. The car journey back to Aria's house was very much like the journey there; full of laughter, chatter and few, if any silences. Before Aria knew it - and too quickly for her liking - they were back to where they'd began the night; at her front door.

" I had a great time tonight," Ezra spoke first, taking both of her hands into his and resisting the urge to pull her body closer to his. Like the ice cream situation earlier on, pulling her into his arms was also an old habit. It was something he greatly missed. In fact seeing her these past few weeks made him realise how much he'd actually missed her and he found he sound wondering how he'd ever managed without her being around. 6 years was a long time...

" I did too... Thank you for paying, it was very chivalrous of you," Aria replied, smiling brightly up at him. Smiling at her choice of vocabulary, Ezra didn't bother replying and they both fell into the first comfortable silence of the night. The two stared at each others lips, both wanting to do the exact same thing but both resisting. However, it didn't take long before Aria finally caved in as she knew that Ezra was too gentlemanly to do it himself when she knew he didn't know how quickly or slowly Aria wanted to take things with him. She pressed her lips firmly to his and the two locked themselves into a sweet, longing kiss.

" Goodnight Ezra," Aria said softly after pulling away. It had taken all of her will power to pull away - her instincts had been telling her never let him go. Despite how much she'd missed him and his lips, Aria couldn't bring herself to heat up the kiss. She had to take things slowly, otherwise risk being hurt again.

" Goodnight Aria," Those were the last words spoken on their date, as Aria entered her apartment, only once glancing back to smile gratefully at Ezra. The door closed behind her and as soon as she was out of Ezra's sight, a huge, beaming smile formed on her face; one that she knew would last for at least 24 hours if not more.

It had been 6 long years since she'd kissed Ezra Fitz willingly, and boy it had felt good. Amazing.

Again, I'm so sorry for the very irregular updates and I hope this longer than usual chapter will slightly make up for the wait. Yay! They finally kissed again! And there date went perfectly! So recently I've been thankful for the fact that Aria and Ezra aren't together in season 5 of PLL but they're both trying to make things work but things are still awkward. It's the exact same situation they are in, in my fanfic and it helps so much actually seeing how they sometimes awkwardly act around each other. So yeah I admit the ice cream bit was stolen... But I haven't stolen that many moments so oh well ;)

Please review and tell me what you think, and if you haven't already please follow/favourite! Thank you so much for reading and stay tuned for more updates...

- DareToDream