"Aria? Hold on just a moment. Come here and talk to me," she heard her mother call from the kitchen. Cursing, Aria closed the front door and made her way into the kitchen, so much for sneaking in, she thought bitterly. She saw her mom sitting at the kitchen counter, a glass of wine in one hand. She didn't appear to be furious, Aria observed. Aria made her way over to the counter and took a seat next to Ella. They sat in silence for a few moments until Ella cleared her throat.

"I spoke to your father today," her mom started calmly, taking a sip from the wine glass, "he mentioned how he thinks that you and Mike spend too much time with me," Ella paused and glanced out into space, she still hadn't made eye contact with her daughter, "I thought that was an odd accusation considering that you spent last night with him, and when I mentioned that he told me that he hasn't seen you in days," Ella finally looked over at Aria, but Aria stared guiltily at the floor, not saying anything.

"He then preceded to yell at me, telling me that I am unfit to raise my children if I can't keep track of them for a single night."

Aria felt her blood boil as she thought of Byron yelling at her mother, who didn't deserve it.

"Mom-" Aria began, but she was soon cut off by Ella raising a hand, cutting her off. Aria sat there in silence as her mother sat there, thinking of what to say next.

"So, now I can only wonder where you were last night, and why you felt the need to lie to me about it,"

Aria took a breath ready to explain, but once again her mother cut her off.

"And, just so that you're aware, I do plan on checking on your alibi, if you feel like lying to me again."

Aria felt her stomach drop. She believed, with one hundred percent certainty that her mother would live up to her promise and call the girls' parents if she were to say she spent the night with them. It was better to tell her the truth, or at least a slight version of the truth, and except the consequences, rather then to lie again and see what would happen when her mother found out. Apparently Aria had been sitting there in silence for too long because her mother spoke again, and this time her calm facade had broken and when she spoke this time her voice was trembling.

"Aria, your silence isn't a good thing. Why can't you tell me where you were last night?"

Aria looked at her mother and felt awful as she took in the expression of worry and anger in her face. While Ella was probably thinking she was out vandalizing buildings and things, she was actually wrapped in the warm arms of her boyfriend watching old movies and eating popcorn.

"Is it drugs?" Ella asked coldly.

Aria looked up alarmed, "No, mom, god! I don't do that."

"How am I supposed to know, Aria? You won't tell me where you were!" Ella shouted.

"I was at boy's house, okay?" Aria yelled back. She watched as her mother's angry expression turned into one of surprise in confusion.

"W-what?" She heard her mom whisper.

"I spent the night at a guy's house. We watched a movie and I stayed the night because his parents weren't home," Aria explained quietly. It felt weird to tell the truth after such a long period of lies, even though she phrased the truth quite awkwardly, it was still the truth nonetheless.

"Who?" Ella interrogated. She had seemed to get over her initial shock and accept what Aria had told her.

"What?" Aria asked, playing confusion to buy herself time. She hadn't thought that far into her lie.

"Who was the boy, Aria?" Her mom asked angrily, glaring into he eyes.

"It doesn't matter, mom!"

"It matters if your having sex with him," Ella yelled.

"I- I never said that I had sex with him," Aria stuttered, shocked that her mom would ask such a thing and that she would be so guilty of it.

"I'm not dumb, Aria. I know what 'watch a movie' means," Ella said tiredly. She took another sip of her wine before downing the entire thing. Aria was stuck. She couldn't tell her mom the truth, without getting Ezra in trouble, and she couldn't lie without getting anyone else in trouble.

"How long has this been going on?" Her mom asked. She reached across the counter for the bottle of wine and began to fill up her glass.

"It was a one time thing," Aria lied. She hated to see the way her mom seemed so disappointed.

"We're you safe? Did you use protection?"

"Yes, Mom. I'm not an idiot," Aria replied, slightly relieved that her mother seemed to have given up the search for the guy she spent her Sunday night with.

Ella let out a small chuckle, but it seemed more forced than anything.

"I'll call your doctor so I can get you on birth control," Ella started. Aria looked at her mother in surprise, "I don't approve of what you are doing, but if you want to sleep around, I know that I can't stop you. But, what I can do is try to help you be as safe as possible," Ella let out a sigh and got up from her seat. Aria's heart broke, she hated that her mother thought she was sleeping with every guy in school, when really she was only having sex with the one person who meant the most to her. Even then, her and Ezra had waited six months, unlike most kids her age who wouldn't even have waited one month. It was better though, Aria concluded, that her mom thought she was having meaningless sex with a bunch of her classmates rather then know she was in a committed relationship. That would just cause too many questions and lie that she was prepared for. This way Ezra remained safe. She felt Ella wrap her arms around her in a hug and rest her head atop of hers.

"I guess I should have figured, you are a teenager after all," Aria was slightly upset that her mom's explanation for her having sex was that she was just a horny teenager, it's not like she could actually be genuinely in love with someone and wanted to be physically intimate with him just like she was emotionally. It all had to be about hormones and rebelling. Although, she was relieved at how reasonably Ella was handling the situation. She expected screaming and shouting and her being grounded until graduation. She knew, however, if her dad found out he would flip. She would be lucky is she could ever leave the house again. Ella tightened her arms around Aria and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Mom," Aria said quietly.

"I love you too, honey," Ella replied, "but for the rest of the month if you want to leave the house either me, your brother, or your dad will be driving you," Ella said in a curtly fashion, removing her arms from around Aria and moving toward the kitchen.

"What?" Aria asked incredulously, so much for her mom being reasonable. What was the point of keeping Ezra safe if she could hardly see him now anyway.

"I don't like you lying about where you are going, Aria. This way there will be no more slumber parties without my knowledge and I'll always know where you are," Ella explained. Aria could easily get dropped off at the girls' homes and have Ezra pick her up from there, with her mother none the wiser. She could probably pay Mike a few dollars to drop her off at Ezra's without giving word to Mom. Plus, it would be such an in convince not to have Aria be able to drive, that her mom probably wouldn't keep the punishment for the entire month anyway. The more she thought it over the less awful it seemed.

"Fine, whatever," Aria grumbled, accepting her punishment. Ella's phone vibrated on the counter and she quickly picked it up and grimaced at the message on the screen.

"It's your father," she explained grouchily.

"What are you going to tell him?" Aria asked worried. Her heart suddenly started beating much quicker. Knowing her dad, he would make sure he found out whoever had laid their hands on her. He probably wouldn't speak to her in weeks, not that that was quite so different to what was happening in the present. Byron and Aria still hasn't spoken much after the secret about his affair with Meredith had been revealed. Aria, at first, felt really crapppy about the entire situation, it wasn't until she started talking to Ezra that she started to realize and wasn't her fault her parents were having marriage issues.

"I'm going to tell him exactly what you told me," Ella began. Aria felt her heart stop, she was about to open her mouth when her mom continued to speak, "that you spent the night at Spencer's instead, but in all the excitement, you just forgot to let us know," Ella said with a knowing smile.

Aria smiled at her gratefully and ran to hug her. Ella accepted the hug with a chuckle and continued to laugh as her daughter thanked her profusely.

"Okay, okay," Ella said rolling her eyes, "it's better for the both of us if your father doesn't know about this. Now go and get ready for bed, it's already ten and I leave for work at six in the morning."

"What? I can't even drive into school by myself?" Aria asked incredulously. She wasn't even planning on sneaking off to see Ezra, she just didn't want to wake up at the crack of dawn to have to go to school.

"Nope," Ella answered, "Now off to bed."

Aria grumbled and went up to her room to shower and then to call Ezra.

Ella remained standing by the counter, letting the news of what her daughter had just told her to sink in. She opened her phone to reply to Byron's message. She felt a little uneasy lying to him about something so serious, but Byron would be too harsh and would overreact. Ella turned around as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Mike emerged wearing pajama pants, a white T-shirt and his headphones around his shoulders. He walked over to the fridge without acknowledging Ella and pulled out a bottle of water. He began to head back to his room when Ella spoke to him.

"Mike, you're not sexually active are you?"

Mike looked at her strangely, "I wish," he replied seriously and continued up the stairs

"So, I've got some bad news," Aria began into the phone. She had just gotten out of the shower and decided that she needed to give Ezra a call informing him about what just happened with her mother. She heard Ezra sigh and the rustle of some papers. When he first picked up he told her he was grading papers and couldn't talk for long.

"What is it?" he replied tensely. Aria imagined how he had probably put his pen down at this point and had rested his head in his hands.

"Long story short, we're gonna have to cool it for a week or two," Aria said regretfully into the phone.

"Do you mean, like, sexually?" Ezra asked confused, "Did something happen? Are you okay?" He started bombarding her with questions.

"No, I mean just in general," Aria said quickly. She heard Ezra sigh again, already hating the idea, "I'm kinda grounded, I don't really know, but we need to be extra cautious, like, I probably shouldn't come over for a while"

"What?"

"Look, Ezra-"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, I-"

"How long is 'a while'? How much trouble are you in?" Ezra asked annoyed. Aria knew that he detested being away from her for too long, and she felt the same way. However, it was safer for them the more distance that they put between each other at the moment.

"It doesn't matter. It's only like a week or two, okay?" Aria replied. She was starting to get annoyed at Ezra for being such a baby about the whole situation.

"Two weeks?" he asked incredulously, "Ugh, I don't want to go that long without seeing you," he complained. Aria was really starting to get really fed up with him.

"I am doing this to protect you, okay? So, if I hear one more sigh from you, Ezra Fitz, you can guarantee that you will not see me for an entire month."

She heard Ezra chuckle from over the phone and immediately her temper flared again.

"What is so funny?" she whispered threateningly into the phone.

"If I was with you right now, I would kiss the little crease that your eyebrows make when you get mad," Ezra voice was velvety smooth and Aria let his words caress her skin and sooth the anger from her. She felt like melting into his arms and lazily drawing figures on his bare skin for hours. She suddenly realized how hard it was going to be without him for two weeks, how lonely it would be.

"God, this is going to be so much harder than I thought," Aria confessed. She climbed under the covers of her bed and made sure to set her alarm clock at five in the morning so that she wouldn't be late to leave with her mother.

"Yeah," Ezra agreed. They sat there in silence for a few moments just listening to the other's breathing. Aria was about to say goodnight when Ezra cut in, "You can't even come over in the morning for a quickie?"

Aria laughed once and rolled her eyes, "And here I thought you were being romantic."

"Will you come over for a quickie if I light candles and sprinkle rose petals on the floor?" Ezra asked again. Aria laughed and wished more than anything that they were together right now.

"I don't care what you sprinkle on the floor, no quickies for at least a week," she heard Ezra laugh, she was glad that she had gotten him out of his whining and into a better mood, "I'm going to bed now. I love you, babe,"

She heard Ezra sigh, but she chose to ignore it. She knew how much this situation sucked.

"Okay. I love you too, Aria... a lot. I miss you already," he confessed quietly.

"Miss you too. Also, we probably shouldn't talk on the phone for too long from now on," she said regretfully. She heard Ezra mutter something along the lines of 'your killing me, woman' but couldn't be sure, "Goodnight, Ezra,"

"Goodnight, Aria. Sleep tight," Ezra said sweetly. She watched as her phone alerted her of her conversation ending. It was her turn to sigh as she turned off her bedside light and was plunged into darkness.

Emily was wrong when she said she wished she could have sleepovers with Paige, because once you get used to the idea of sleeping beside someone you love, lying in bed alone feels alien.

Ezra hadn't spoken to Aria in days and it was literally killing him. They had talked last night on the phone, but that had only been fifteen minutes. He still didn't know what had happened to get her grounded and cause her to be so cautious that she couldn't even see him. At first when she said 'cool it' he thought she meant sexually, which he would have been fine with. Admittedly, he would have been a bit upset only because it was so much harder for him to show self control once he'd already experienced the pleasure she could give him, but w never would have expressed his negative feelings. However have to 'cool it' in general sucked. He would look out while he was teaching and see her staring up back at him. She would innocently bite her lip and images of her, pinned against his bed, bitting her lip while he consumed every inch of her breasts would flash through his mind. The other day in class he actually forgot what he was saying, in the middle of his sentence, because his brain was filled with images of her lust filled face and sweating body. He quickly had to switch his thoughts to wrinkly old men and Gollum from Lord of the Rings to make sure he didn't start sporting a boner in the middle of class.

What he missed most though, was just talking to her. He missed when they would sit together on his couch and discuss books and music. He missed hearing about her crazy friends and her angst-ridden brother.

He hadn't really realized until now that he didn't have any other friends who lived in Rosewood. The only other person that he knew in Rosewood his age was the drama teacher, Corrie. ON a good note, however, he had finally caught up on his grading.

Ezra mulled through his thoughts as he took a seat at the table where the rest of the casting directors would be seated. He had taken on the role of assistant director, while Corrie was the director. He was quite fond Corrie, at least, from the little bit he knew about her they seemed to get along. He sat down next to her empty chair and took a sip of the coffee Aria had brought him earlier.

"Do you think Aria is a slut?" Ezra nearly choked on his coffee. He turned around to see where the voice had come from to see Ella taking a seat at the director's table next to him.

"Excuse me?" he asked alarmed, while he still sputtered on his coffee. Ella looked over at him while she dropped her purse on the table.

"Do you think she would sleep with just anyone?" Ella asked. Ezra's eyes widened and he cleared his throat. He sat up straighter in his chair, while he wondered if Ella knew about them.

"Um, Ella, she really doesn't seem like someone who would do that," Ezra answered quietly.

"I didn't think so either," Ella said lost in her thoughts. It appeared that she didn't suspect him of corrupting her daughter in anyway.

"Um, why are you asking?" Ezra asked tensely. Ella rolled her eyes and sighed, something that Aria did quite often.

"I guess it's just her being a teenager, but I found out that she has been lying to me when she says she's been staying with her dad's or at her friends house and really she's been sneaking off to have sex with boys," Ella explained tiredly. Ezra's mind seemed not to have processed what she had just said. He obviously knew that Aria had lied to her mom, but he was confused as to why he had told her that she was having sex with multiple guys. Ezra was baffled and about to ask another question when Corrie walked in the door with a man her age with brown curly hair.

"You guys ready? It's not even three yet and the hallway is almost full," Corrie walked over to the piano on the side of the room and the man who walked in with her sat down.

"Guys, this is Matt. He's my boyfriend and he's going to be playing piano," Corrie introduced us to him. He was going to be the accompanist throughout the entire show. Ezra cleared his throat and picked up a stack of papers that asked you to fill out questions like your name, grade, theatre experience, and desired role.

"I'm going to go hand these out and then we can start in like five minutes?" Ezra asked while standing up. Corrie gave him a thumbs up and he head out the door.

Mark Cohen -an aspiring film‐maker who narrates the show. He is Roger's best friend and he was once Maureen's boyfriend. A little nerdy and quirky.

Roger Davis- Struggling musician with HIV/AIDS. Falls in love with Mimi. He is often depressed and sullen, but he can be passionate.

Mimi Marquez- works in a strip club and struggles with her addiction to heroin. She falls in love with Roger. Benny's ex‐girlfriend. She is extremely sexy, optimistic, and likeable but with dark secrets.

Benny Coffin III- once Mark and Roger's roommate, he's now their landlord forcing them to pay rent. Realizes friends are more important than money.

Maureen Johnson- a bisexual performing artist. Left Mark to be with her new girlfriend, Joanne. Flirty, sassy, and funny. Bold and speaks her mind.

Joanne Jefferson- a lesbian Ivy League educated lawyer and activist. She struggles to not be jealous of Maureen's flirtatious nature. Committed to helping those less fortunate.

Tom Collins- gay anarchist who was expelled from MIT. He is brave enough to fall in love with Angel. Their relationship is the heart of the show, as the genuine love they have brings hope and inspiration to the entire group.

Angel Schunard- a young drag queen and street percussionist. He falls in love with Collins. He has HIV/AIDS and dies of the disease in Act II. The most generous and selfless character. Lives life to the fullest.

Ezra read the character descriptions on the audition sheets for what felt like the one thousandth time that afternoon. The auditions were going pretty well. He had already seen Hanna, Toby, and Mike audition, but he hadn't seen Aria or the rest of her friends. She had hinted to Ezra that she really wanted to be in the show and he would be lying if he said he hadn't already pre-cast her in his head. Noel Kahn had just auditioned, and Ezra hated to admit it, but the kid was talented. Corrie had already fallen in love with the kid and didn't even ask for Ezra's opinion before putting his resume paper in the callback pile. The production team was currently taking a minute to reorganize. Corrie was rereading her notes while her boyfriend Matt was still sitting up on the piano scrolling through things on his phone. Ezra pulled out his own phone to see if anyone, mainly Aria, had texted him. To his disappointment, no such text messages were received.

"I think I'm going to go ahead and use the ladies room," Ella said standing up. They had been at the auditions for three hours without a break, "Does anyone need anything?" they all shook their head no and Ella headed for the door.

"Will you call in Aria Montgomery when you head out?" Corrie asked. Ezra's ears automatically perked up at the mention of her name and he quickly put his phone away and made sure that his tie was straight.

"Oh, that's my daughter," Ella said with a laugh, "Well, I wont miss anything I haven't seen before," Ezra heard the door shut as Ella exited and immediately pulled out his phone to use as a mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get it to look reasonable and not to have the front part fall into his eyes the way Aria hated it.

"Are you primping?" Corrie asked with a laugh.

"No, we've just been in here for hours, I want to make sure that I still look presentable," Ezra muttered with a boyish smile. Part of what he had told her was the truth. Mainly, he just wanted to look good for Aria.

When he heard the sound of the doors click open, he quickly pushed his phone back in his pocket and leaned back in his chair. Aria walked up to the table and handed Ezra her resume. Their eyes met for a second, and he gave her a warm smile, which Aria nervously returned. Aria walked up on stage to go and talk to the pianist about her song selection while Ezra and Corrie were supposed to be overlooking her resume. However, Ezra got distracted with the way her hips swayed as she walked up the steps onto the stage. He wondered if those were new jeans she was wearing.

"Ezra?" he heard Connie call. He quickly tore his gaze from Aria's ass and returned them to her resume to read Corrie the information she needed.

"Sorry, um, Aria Montgomery, auditioning for the part of Mimi," Ezra read. He would tell Corrie their names and what part they were auditioning for and she would write it down on a card along with notes on their audition. Once she had finished writing, Corrie looked up at Aria and told her to begin.

"Hello my name is Aria Montgomery and I will be singing 'I Know the Truth' from Aida," Aria said pleasantly with a hint of nervousness. As Matt started the interlude on the piano, Aria looked down to take a moment, getting into character, when she looked up their was an intense look in her eyes. Ezra observed how she held her body completely changed. He was no longer looking at his Aria, in a blink of an eye she had transformed into Amneris, the scorned egyptian princess, professing that she understands how her betrothed never loved her at all. There had been some good auditions that day and he had heard some pretty voices, but none were nearly as powerful and soulful as Aria's. Ezra looked over and watched Corrie. He could see that she had fallen in love with Aria in an instant. Noel had sung some upbeat rocker song from Greenday's American Idiot that had her dancing in her seat, however, Aria sand with such emotion and so well, he could see Corrie falling for her, just as he had. When she had finished her sixteen measures, Aria thanked the table and walked out the door. Ezra couldn't help the huge smile that crossed his mouth. He was so proud of her, he just wanted to run out and hug her. He realized Corrie still hadn't said anything about Aria's audition. Usually, she was the first one sharing her opinion, once or twice she started saying something before the door even closed. The door to the room opened and Ella came back in holding a water bottle she must have gotten from the vending machine.

"So, how;d she do?" Ella asked as she took her seat next to Ezra. Both Ella and Ezra turned to look at Corrie waiting for her to say something.

"Wow."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm really trying to update more sooner.

To my beautiful reviewers

Nianalovespll: I think that is the nicest review I have ever been given. I think its so cool you had a dream about this story. This chapter is dedicated to you!

obsessedwithezria: Thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter too!

letherbelove0721: I did leave it off at quite the cliffhanger. I would love to see what you think of her reaction now

HarrylovesGinny09: Thank you!

. .Leddie:Your wish is my command

Liar2198: Glad you like the story! thanks for the review!