I've had this chapter planned for a while. It's probably not what you were expecting.
Ezra was sitting in the living room of his apartment in Manhattan reading the final edited version of his manuscript when he heard a knock on his door. Startled, he looked up from his work. He hadn't been expecting anyone. He opened the door to find Aria standing there holding her heels in her hand.
"We'll are you going to let me in?" she slurred.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at her closely as she stumbled into the apartment.
"Fine," she said as she staggered into the hallway throwing her shoes on the floor
"Where were you tonight?" he asked, following her.
"At a party," she called out happily. "Which one of these is your room?" she demanded, pointing frantically in all directions.
"The one on the end," he answered. "How much have you had to drink?"
"A little," admitted Aria, opening the door to his room. She fumbled to flick on the lights, finally succeeding. As white light surged into the room, she blinked and looked around. The walls were white and the comforter was gray. There were no pictures or paintings. "It doesn't feel like you," she said, walking into the room.
"It does look like a hotel room," admitted Ezra standing in the doorway.
Aria flopped onto the bed and bounced up and down a couple of times. "This is comfortable," she exclaimed. She sat back up to look at him, "Are you coming?"
"I think I'll stay here," said Ezra carefully.
"Come on, Ezra," whined Aria, "try this with me." She started to bounce up and down on the bed again.
"Aria," warned Ezra softly.
"Come on," urged Aria again. She giggled, "Nothing's going to happen."
Tentatively, he started walking towards her. When he was about a foot away from the bed, Aria grabbed his arm and pulled him next to her. "See," she said. "It's comfortable."
Sitting up, Ezra tried to get off the bed. "No," said Aria pulling him back down on the bed. "Don't go." He didn't stop her.
"What's wrong?" he asked instead.
"What's wrong?" she asked, giggling. "What's wrong? I don't know if you're my boyfriend or not. Are you?" she demanded.
"Aria," began Ezra sternly, "I think we should talk about this in the morning. When you're sober," he finished pointedly.
"Who cares?" she asked, failingly her arms.
"I do," said Ezra, sitting next to her.
"Well I don't," responded Aria. She leaned over to him and began unbuttoning his shirt.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Ezra murmured against her lips.
"I think we spend too much time thinking," answered Aria as she finished with the buttons. She pushed the shirt off his shoulders. Then, she wiggled out of her dress as Ezra watched. When she was down to her underwear, he could barely take his eyes off of her.
"You need to get dressed," said Ezra, trying to pull his shirt back on.
"No I don't," growled Aria. She came near him and straddled his lap. She began to kiss him, and although he tried to resist, he couldn't. Before he knew it, they were having a make out session and she was working on the zipper of his pants.
"We shouldn't be doing this," whispered Ezra.
"It's just you and me tonight," whispered Aria in his ear. "And this is the way I want it to be." As she finished with the zipper of his pants, her fingers calms and steady, he realized, belatedly, that she wasn't nearly as drunk as he had first believed.
"Please," begged Ezra, but she continued to kiss his. "I can't control myself."
"Then we're even," answered Aria as she unhooked her bra. Soon Ezra gave into his fervor and desires, some of which he hadn't even realized. The entire night was a blurry memory as the couple became entangled in sheets, and Ezra, who had been in a state of self-denial for over a year, and Aria, who had been in a state of frustrated desire for months, sated themselves with a passion that neither of them knew existed.
Aria woke up the next morning to sun streaming through the windows and Ezra's arm behind her head. In her state of half-awareness, she snuggled closer to him. But when her head met his shoulder, she sat up wide awake, her mind reeling from everything that had happened the night before. She looked around the room to where clothes had been thrown. And if that wasn't proof enough of what had occurred, the blood-stained sheets were. She groaned and sighed, quietly getting out of the bed to grab her dress. Putting in on quickly, she looked for her underwear.
"Looking for something?" a voice asked suddenly.
Aria swallowed. "We shouldn't have done that," she said from where she stood.
"No," answered Ezra easily, sitting up in the bed and wrapping the sheets around himself, "we shouldn't have. I shouldn't have."
"It was just as much my fault," protested Aria. "More mine really. I pounced on you without warning."
"But I knew better," Ezra shook his head angrily. "We didn't even use a condom." As the thought crossed his mind, he looked up at Aria worriedly. "You don't think…" he couldn't complete the thought. "You're father's going to kill me."
"I'm on the pill," Aria shot back, "I'm not that stupid."
"How long?" asked Ezra.
"What does it matter?" asked Aria, shuffling her feet.
"How long have you been on the pill?" Ezra persisted.
Aria sighed, "My mom had the doctor put me on it when she first figured us out."
"All that time," muttered Ezra. He looked at her, "This was not how your first time should have been."
"It was supposed to be special, I know, I know," said Aria in frustration. "But it's over now. "Geez, Ezra. What's done is done."
"You're in a fine state," Ezra shot back. "Quoting Macbeth."
Aria was silent for a moment. "What happens now?"
Ezra groaned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "I don't know," he answered after a while. "I just don't know."
"Did you not think I was ready?"
"What?" asked Ezra, unable to comprehend her question.
"I was the only virgin in my graduating class. Did you not think I was ready?"
"It's not just about you, Aria," said Ezra, growing angry. "It's about us. Were we ready? No, we weren't."
"When were we going to be ready?" demanded Aria. "When? When I'm forty? I'm eighteen. You're not my teacher anymore. I'm in college. We're in New York City for Pete's sake!" she exclaimed.
As she ranted, Ezra grabbed something from the drawer of the nightstand. "I was going to take you out for your birthday tonight," he answered defiantly. "This was supposed to be your birthday present. I thought we could start slowly. Start going out like a normal couple without being stared at or judged." He tossed the small package onto the bed. Aria stared at it before reaching out to grab it.
Opening the small box, she nearly gasped at what she saw. They were gold earnings with emeralds and studded with sapphires, diamonds, and rubies. It would only be later that she realized that it matched her bracelet that he had given her at her last birthday. She could only stare at him. "It's too much," she said, holding out the package to him.
He shook his head, "It's my way of saying I love you. You've spent your whole life taking care of everyone else. It's time someone took care of you."
"I don't care about your money," said Aria through clenched teeth.
He shrugged. "It's another reason I love you." Gathering the sheets from the bed, he wrapped himself in them as he got up from the bed. "I'm going to take a shower," he told her calmly. "When I get done, I'll take you back to school."
Aria said nothing, but remained where she was clutching the box in her hands, watching as he walked towards the bathroom. But when Ezra exited through that same door twenty minutes later, Aria was gone.