Chapter 3

As her mother climbed the stairs to get her dad, Aria opened the front door to find Spencer and Emily waiting. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't ready to entertain any guests yet.

"I'm so glad it's you."

"Why? What's up?" Emily questioned, as the girls entered the house.

"My parents invited Ezra."

"Isn't that a good thing? You were all bummed that you weren't going to see him." Spencer pointed out.

"Yeah. I love that Ezra's here. What I don't love is his date."

"He brought a date?" Emily exclaimed as loud as she could in a whisper.

"No. My mom invited her friend to set her up with him." Aria explained.

"What are you going to do?"

"There's nothing I can do." She sighed with a defeated shrug.

Before the girls could reply, Ella and Byron came down the stairs.

"Hello girls." Byron greeted, "Don't mind us. We are going to leave you kids alone for the night."

Emily and Spencer smiled back at him as he made his way into the kitchen to greet Ezra and Sara.

"Where's Hanna tonight?" Ella wondered.

"Her boyfriend, Caleb, is visiting from California. They will be here in a little while." Emily explained.

"Well, good. I'm glad." Ella grinned, "We're going to head into the den now that your guests are arriving Aria. Be good girls."

"We will." They all called simultaneously as Ella joined Byron, Ezra and Sara in the kitchen.

Half an hour later, almost every one of Aria's friends had arrived. The living room and kitchen were packed from wall to wall with her classmates and some of Mike's friends that Ella had allowed him to invite. Luckily, it was a beautiful night, so the party also extended onto the back porch.

Surprisingly, Aria actually found herself enjoying it, despite the fact that her parents were in the other room pimping out her boyfriend to another girl. She was confident enough in her relationship to feel secure, but she didn't know Sara and didn't trust her.

"What do you think they are doing?" Aria asked Spencer and Emily, while biting nervously at her nail.

"They probably offered Ezra and Sara their bedroom for the night." Spencer attempted to joke.

Aria glared at her friend, "Not funny."

"Go in there if you're so worried." Emily offered.

"I'm not worried. I trust Ezra."

Spencer grabbed Aria's hand and pulled it away from her mouth, showing her the chewed up nails on her finger. "Are you sure?"

"I guess I could make up some reason to go in there. Just to check." Aria concluded. Spencer and Emily nodded.

Spencer looked around the room, left their private corner and grabbed a bowl out of on Mike's hand. "Sorry. I need this."

"Here. Maybe they need their snacks refreshed." She handed Aria the bowl and she smiled.

"This is why I love you." Aria laughed, heading towards the den.

As she approached, she could hear laughter coming from the room. It sounded like her mom and Sara. She cringed and hesitated for a minute, unsure if she really wanted to go in there.

But she knew that if she didn't she would be thinking about it the whole night, so she took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway.

Aria's heart stopped when she looked at the couch to find Ezra and Sara sitting closely together.

Her father looked up from his drink, "Aria."

As soon as he was aware of her presence, Ezra instinctively shot up from his seat.

Ella and Byron looked over at Ezra with concern. "Are you okay?" Byron asked.

"Yea. Sorry. I'm fine. I just thought I saw a spider on my arm." He told them, "I have a phobia." He added weakly, feeling like a wimp after using that excuse.

"Do you need something, honey?" Ella asked.

"I…uh…I was just wondering if you needed anything in here." She lied, holding the bowl out and feeling like an idiot.

"We're fine. Thank you for thinking of us though."

"Okay. I should get back to the party now." Aria couldn't get out of there fast enough.

As soon as she was out of sight, she leaned her body heavily against the cold wall and closed her eyes. She had been expecting to find Ezra across the room, as far away from Sara a possible. Not practically on her lap.

She opened her eyes when her phone went off.

It was a text from Ezra:

I'm sorry. She won't leave me alone. Don't be mad. - EF

Aria closed her phone without a reply and headed back to the party. Going in there had made things even worse.

Before Aria could find Spencer and Emily again to tell them what happened, she felt herself being pulled past a line of waiting people and into the bathroom.

"So, I show up an hour late and everything is going to hell?" Hanna complained, closing the door behind them.

"Hanna. What are you doing?"

"I talked to Em and Spencer." She explained. "Ezra is here…on a date…in the other room…right now."

"Yes. I know. I'm painfully aware."

"How could you let that happen?"

"What was I supposed to do? Walk up to my mom and say 'Hey you probably shouldn't set my ex-english teacher up with that girl, because he's my secret boyfriend'."

"Uh yea! It's about time you tell your parents anyway." Hanna exclaimed.

"It's not that easy, Hanna. He's not ready and I can't change that."

Hanna sighed with frustration, "You two have the most messed up relationship that ever existed."

"Believe me, I know"

Before Hanna could go on ranting, the bathroom door swung open. The girls turned to find Spencer and Emily. "You've got some angry people with full bladders in line out there."

"We're coming out now." Aria began to walk towards the door, but Spencer held her hand up to stop her.

"Before you do, you should know Jason is here."

"My mom invited Jason?"

Hanna let out an amused laugh, "Messed up", she reiterated, as she glided past Aria and rejoined the party.