A/N Sorry this took so long! For anyone who is wondering, I do not have twitter or instagram. Sorry. Enjoy! I'm going to be using some of the plot from season 1 so this part of the story will go much slower. I do not own PLL.

On September 18, 2011, Aria got to school early and went the office before heading to Ezra's classroom. She saw few people while she walked the halls. A couple of athletes who went to early morning practice, several teachers who gripped their coffee mugs and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, and one or two students in the library, furiously scribbling the answers to their homework so it would be ready to be turned when the bell rang. Aria headed towards Ezra's classroom and stared at him through the glass of the door for a few moments watching him as he bent over his work. She went inside and put a slip of paper on his desk.

"I want to transfer out of your class," she stated.

He looked up at her, watching as she sat on the edge of his desk. "Aria, if this is about what happened in the tree house…"

"No, No," she sputtered, "it's not about that." She paused. "Actually it is kind of about that. My dad saw us the other day, in the tree house. I mean, he didn't see what we were doing but he knew that you were up there with me and talked to me about it. He wants us to distance ourselves now that you're my teacher, and I can't sit in here and call you Mr. Fitz. I can't act like I don't know you." She moved her hand and grazed his purposefully.

He sighed. "I know why you want to do this, but I wish you would stay in the class." Ezra looked at her hopefully.

Aria shook her head. "Please?"

He looked at her and then at that paper and that back at her. "Are you sure this is what you really want?"

Aria could see the hurt in his eyes, but she nodded anyway. "I'm sure."

He signed the form and handed it to her, touching her hand in the process.

"I'll see you later?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure," he answered quietly. Suddenly the bell rang and the halls flooded with students. Aria walked out of his classroom and although her hearty was heavy, she knew she had made the right decision.

The afternoon of September 18, Aria wrote in her diary "the hardest things in life are doing what you know is right." She decided not to go to Ezra's that day.

The next day, September 19, was a crisis day. "I broke up with Sean," Hanna sputtered over lunch.

"Han, are you okay?" asked Spencer.

"I'll be fine," she responded with a small smile.

Emily, who had been quietly eating her salad blurted "I broke up with Ben."

"What?" cried Aria. "I thought you two really liked each other."

"We do," answered Emily. "I mean, we did." She shook her head, "We weren't right for each other."

"At least you two don't have boyfriends to worry about," said Hanna flatly as she swallowed a spoonful of her yoghurt.

"If it were only that simple," muttered Spencer under her breath.

"Yeah," Aria echoed. Suddenly she sat up and smiled. "Do you guys want to have a little girl time this Saturday? I think we need a break from guys."

"What are you thinking?" asked Emily.

Aria glanced at Spencer and then said, "Spencer, do you think your parents would let us borrow their lake house for the weekend?

"I don't know," answered Spencer. "There all this going on about Melissa's wedding and her fiancé, Wren, and I have a Russian lit. paper due."

"Spence," snapped Hanna, "Forget your family. We haven't really hung out together since Aria got back from Greenland."

"Iceland, Hanna," corrected Aria.

"Whatever," shot back Hanna. "Spencer?"

Spencer sighed and looked at them, "Alright, I'll ask. But if I get B on this Russian lit. paper…."

"Chill," said Aria as she went back to eating her salad. "You're Spencer Hastings. You'll get an A with both hands tied behind your back if we have to drag you to the cabin in the trunk of your car."

"Can I bring Maya?" Emily ventured. "She moved down the street from me a few weeks ago, and I think it would be good if she made some friends."

"Why not?" answered Spencer.

That afternoon Aria wrote in her journal. "Sometimes we need to let some things go in order to move on." As she wrote she looked out the window of her room, peeking into Ezra's living room. She saw that the curtains were closed. That was unusual. She decided to go next door.

She knocked on Ezra's bright red door tentatively, but when he didn't answer she turned the knob and opened it herself. "Ezra?" she called out.

"In here," he called from the back room. She walked down the narrow hallway until she saw him in his laundry room. He was folding clothes.

She leaned against the door frame. "Ezra Fitz doing laundry," snickered Aria, "Who knew?"

"Hey," he responded. "I've been doing my laundry for years."

"So is this how it is then," she answered back. "Teach in the morning, write in the afternoon, play housewife at night?"

He moved his head back and forth. "Maybe," he answered. "I've been living here for five years now? At some point I got tired of taking my things to the dry cleaners."

"Six years," she answered back. "It's been six years." She watched as he struggled to fold his sheets. "Here, let me help you with that." She walked over to him and grabbed the sheet, folding it in no time.

"Thanks," he responded.

"You're welcome," she responded leaning to give him a kiss on the cheek, but he moved his face so his mouth met hers. She leaned into it, wrapping her arms around his neck. He moved closer to her wrapping his arms around her waist. As things became more heated, she ran her hands through his hair and he grabbed her by the thighs. She straddled him as he set her down on the washer and her hands roamed over his body.

"We need to talk," she murmured.

"Now?" he mumbled.

"You're right. It can wait," she whispered as her lips captured hers for another kiss. It was a while later when they ended their make-out session, both ending on the floor of the laundry room. Aria smoothed her hair as she leaned against the washing machine as Ezra buttoned the top buttons of his shirt.

"Wow," answered Aria. "I thought the tree house was intense."

"I know," answered Ezra breathlessly.

"What time is it?" she asked suddenly.

"Almost seven. Why?"

"I missed dinner," answered Aria. "My parents will be wondering where I am."

"Stay here," offered Ezra, "I'll order us something and we can watch a movie."

"Thanks, but I think I better head home." Aria and Ezra got up from their positions on the floor, Aria smoothing out her skirt as she did so.

"Are you sure you won't stay?" asked Ezra as he walked her to the front door.

"Yeah," she answered softly. "I need to get home." She was halfway out the door when she turned to Ezra and asked. "Hey, Ezra?"

"Yes?"

She gestured toward the living room curtains. "Why are they closed?"
He looked away sheepishly. "I thought if you were going to be coming over here then I should probably keep the curtains closed so, um, prying eyes don't see anything they're not supposed too."

"Oh," answered Aria. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course," answered Ezra watching as she walked out the door.

It was September 25, exactly a week since Aria and Ezra made out in his laundry room when Aria walked back into his house. In the seven days that had ensued, her transfer to Mrs. Welch's class had been rejected and she had spent a weekend with the girls. They drank a little too much and told maybe one too many secrets. At one point, she suspected that Hanna knew about her and Ezra, but all that had been forgotten in the wake of Emily's revelation. Spencer had caught her and Maya making out on the porch.

She walked into his house, not bothering to knock when she saw Hardy sitting in Ezra's living room.

"Aria?" asked Hardy. "Wow. Long time no see. By the looks of things very long time."

"Hi, Hardy," greeted Aria smiling and giving him a quick hug.

"Hey, I got beer," called Ezra as he walked from the kitchen.

"Aria," exclaimed Ezra as he handed Hardy his beer. "I didn't know you were coming over today."

"I thought, you know," said Aria, glancing at Hardy as she did so, "you might want to talk about the book you gave me, you know, To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Didn't you read that when you were like twelve?" asked Hardy. "I remember Ezra telling me that's how you guys met."

"Something like that," answered Aria, "but we're reading it in class and I thought he could help me with my essay."

"So you're in his class," said Hardy carefully.

"Um, maybe we can do this another time?" Ezra asked her carefully.

"Yeah," said Aria looking at him, "I'll just come by later. It was nice to see you Hardy."

"Stay, Aria," invited Hardy as he leaned against the couch. "I'm sure Ezra doesn't mind and I want to hear all about Greenland."

"Iceland," corrected Aria, but she still looked at Ezra.

"Stay," he echoed, and she did.

Later that night, after Aria had left to go back to her house, Hardy and Ezra still sat on the sofa, lingering over a half-empty box of pizza and empty beer bottles.

"I get it, Ezra," said Hardy, looking over to where his friend sat in the armchair. "She smart, she's pretty, and she's grown up a lot. But she's your student."

"I know," answered Ezra, sighing in frustration.

"You're not even going to argue with me? Or deny it?" asked Hardy, raising an eyebrow.

Ezra cradled his head in his hands and looked at his friend. "You've known us both for too long."

"I get it," Hardy repeated. "But she's a teenager. After this is all over, she'll end up with her diploma and you'll get a pink slip and a jump suit."

"But she's Aria," answered Ezra. He grabbed his nearly empty bottle of beer and took a swig. "She's the girl next door.

"Exactly," answered Hardy. "She's the girl next door." He paused. "Dude, what would happen if her parents found out?"

"I don't know," answered Ezra helplessly. "I don't know." He spent the rest of the night agonizing over what Hardy said to him. He wrote in his journal "I don't know" over and over again. Three days later, on September 28, he and Aria ended their relationship.