Wow! That Ezria kiss in Tuesday's episode was definitely the best one I've ever seen! That was the greatest scene ever! :) (I just kind of wish they would have said 'I love you' to each other... would've made the scene even greater than perfect!)
"Ezra! Wow, nice seeing you here!" Jackie exclaimed, as she picked Maria up and held her on her hip.
"Yeah." Ezra replied, as he nervously ran his hand through his already messy hair.
I sighed and looked away. This was supposed to be my time with Ezra. We were supposed to be with each other, having a good day today, without other people. Of course though, Jackie had to show up to ruin the moment. Why is it, that every time I am truly content, something has to happen? First it was hiding my dad's secret affair, then it was Jackie, and now it's both Jackie and A. When am I ever going to get a break?
"How are you, Aria?" Jackie asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Dandy." I gave her a fake smile.
Ezra frowned, confused at my sudden mood change.
"How are you?" Ezra asked, as he watched Maria struggled to leave her mothers' arms. Jackie let her down, and Ezra watched as Maria ran back over to the swings.
"Great, I just wanted to bring Maria to the park. She loves playing on the swings." She motioned towards Maria.
"Well, it was nice seeing you here." Ezra gave a small tug on my arm, as he started walking away.
I remained quiet after the affair, however, my annoyance at Jackie failed to go unnoticed by Ezra.
"Aria, are you okay?" Ezra led me by the hand and pulled me over to a bench on the side of the path we were walking along. He sat down and pulled me onto his lap. Reluctantly, I obliged, as he wrapped his arms around my waist, his hands resting protectively over my stomach.
He looked into my eyes and saw the fear that was visible in them.
"Tell me what's wrong." He whispered to me. I shivered, but not from the cold, as I felt his warm breath fan my ear. I smiled a little, as he started playing with my dangling earrings.
I looked ahead into the distance and let out a small sigh. Everything seemed so peaceful, at first glance. However, as I continued looking around me, the happiness in the air that I previously had felt, started to shrink away. I noticed now, that the old woman and man that I had seen earlier, were now fighting. The waters of the lake were not at all calm and clear as I had perceived them at first, but were actually rough and filled with moss, leaves, and dirt. The sun was now going down, casting a dark shadow across the park. How was I supposed to tell him about A? I bit my lip as I contemplated this. I did not want to worry him, however, he had a right to know that there was a crazy obsessive stalker on the loose, going after me and our baby, right? I knew that A would probably do something crazy, like try to kill me, if I told Ezra, or anyone for that matter, about her... him... shim... but I cannot give A that much power and satisfaction over me, can I?
I was pulled out of my train of thought as I felt a raindrop hit my arm. I looked up to see the dark sky slowly letting more and more rain drops fall onto the earth. A smile escaped my lips as I recalled a previous memory of Ezra and I kissing in the rain, not long after we first met. I got up from Ezra's lap and grabbed him by the hands, pulling him up alongside me. By this time, the rain was coming down hard and my clothes were starting to cling to my petite figure. I slid one of my arms around Ezra's neck, while the other grazed his cheek. He must have felt my exact emotions entirely, because less than a second later, he had pulled me in for a passionate kiss. He crushed my body to his and I felt my feet being lifted a few inches off the ground. I tightened my hold around his neck, as I arched my body against his. I tangled my fingers in his hair as he held me closer. I felt him breathing heavily against me as we broke apart for air and stared into each others' eyes.
"Let's get you home." Ezra whispered as he brushed a piece of my hair away from my eyes.
"Mine or yours?" I looked at him with an expression I knew he couldn't resist saying no to, hoping he would choose the latter.
"The one that will soon be ours." Ezra smiled, as he released his grip on me and took hold of my hand. As we ran to his car together, I made sure to jump into all the puddles in my path, resulting in a sopping wet Ezra Fitz.
When we entered the car, Ezra made sure to blast the heat as soon as we sat down. I took off my soaking wet jacket and threw it into the backseat. I giggled as Ezra did the same.
A few moments later, Ezra and I found ourselves standing outside apartment 3B.
As we walked inside, Ezra went straight into his bedroom, in search for some warm, dry, clothes. I followed him into the room and slid my shoes off next to the closet.
"Maybe you should keep some clothes here, for occasions such as this." Ezra handed me an oversized Hollis T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that were too small for him. I took them from his hands and tilted my head a little bit to the side.
"I won't have to, if I'll be living here soon." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"True." He chuckled as he slid off his shirt and threw it into a pile with my wet clothes. After he had taken off his wet clothes, I gathered up all the drenched clothes and put them into the dryer.
As I walked back into the living room, I twisted my hair up into a bun, so it would not get the back of my shirt all wet. Grabbing a random magazine off the coffee table, I plopped down on the far side of the couch leaning against the armrest and started flipping through the pages. A few moments later, Ezra came out of the bathroom in a robe and sat down on the other side of the couch.
"Have you talked to your parents?" Ezra inquired, as I propped my legs up in his lap.
I shook my head as I set the magazine down and looked towards the window. I watched as two raindrops raced themselves down the glass.
"Aria, are you okay?" Ezra asked me once again. "You seem... distracted, or distant... I don't know."
"The realization just... hasn't sunk in yet." I whispered, still staring at the window.
"About the baby?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
I shook my head. No Ezra, the realization about how much power A has over me and our baby. The realization that there is no way that this is going to work. Any of this. You, me, this baby, Jackie, Maria, A... It's all just a big mess. I thought.
"Then what is it?" He asked quietly, as he brought my whole body closer to him by pulling my legs across and over his lap. (Did anyone else see this extra scene on iTunes? It was so cute!)
I took a deep breath as I felt my eyes begin to water.
"Ezra there's..." I sighed. "There's something I need to tell you."
"I-is everything okay with the baby?" He asked in a worried tone, as he pulled me even closer to him.
"Um... Kind of?" I shrugged my shoulders.
He looked at me with worry and fear etched all over his face, waiting for me to continue.
"Ezra, do you realize how much you mean to me? How important it is for me to tell you this? I can't keep hiding things from you anymore, it just hurts too much. I love you more than words can describe, and it physically aches to ever think of you leaving me." I wiped the tears that had escaped my eyes with my hand, and placed my other hand on my stomach.
"I wish that you, me, and this baby could live happily ever after, like we wanted it all to be, and I wish I was a little bit older, and out of high school, but we can just try to make the best out of the situation we have, right? We can make this work, I know we can. We managed to keep our relationship a secret for months. And even though we were confined to the walls of your apartment, that's just one small part of what makes our relationship so special!"
"We can make this work, Aria." He nodded in agreement. "But what is it that you want to tell me?"
"Ezra... In order for me to tell you the full story, I need my friends' help. I know that if I tell you alone, I'll miss something crucial in the explanation." I sighed. "But that means that we need to tell the girls about us."
"That's fine. Our relationship is public now anyway, right?" He said softy, as he stroked my cheek.
I nodded as I grabbed my phone from the coffee table. I quickly sent a text to Emily, Spencer, and Hanna telling them that I needed to talk to them and that they needed to pretend that they did not know about my relationship with Ezra. After I got affirmative replies from all the girls, I dialed Emily.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey Em, let me get Hanna on the line." I put her on hold while I added Hanna to the call.
"Hey Aria." Hanna answered after two rings.
I took Emily off hold as I said, "Hanna's on the line, let me get Spencer."
I put them on hold as I dialed up Spencer.
"Hi Aria, what's up?" She asked me when she answered.
"Em and Han are on the line too." I said, as Hanna and Emily both greeted Spencer at the same time.
"It's so complicated to get all your friends on the line." Ezra laughed. I just smiled in response as I put them all on speaker.
"So what's up?" Spencer asked.
"Um. Well... I wanted you guys to meet my boyfriend. And I want to tell him about... that thing." I said hesitantly.
"Are you sure, Aria?" Emily asked, uncertainly.
"Can we trust him?" Spencer asked in a shushed voice.
"Definitely. I-I can't hide this from him anymore." I glanced at Ezra then looked towards the window again.
"Okay, if you're sure." Hanna said.
"Are you at home?" Emily asked, knowing I was with Ezra.
"No. Um, I'll text you the address." I bit my lip.
"Okay, we'll see you soon." Spencer said before hanging up.
"See you." Hanna and Emily said at the same time, as I hung up. I quickly sent them another text with Ezra's address and apartment number.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked Ezra as I bit my lip.
"What am I getting ready for? Is what you need to tell me that bad?"
"Yeah. It is." I said, as I heard a knock on Ezra's door. I jumped up from the couch and opened the door.
"Your boyfriend has an apartment?" Hanna squealed, not seeing Ezra on the couch. Or maybe she did see him and was just continuing to participate in the charade. Emily and Spencer entered after her, as Hanna threw her jacket onto the nearest armchair. Spencers and Emily's joined the pile a moment later. Hanna spotted Ezra, who was facing us from the couch.
"Y-you're boyfriend is Mr. Fitz?" Spencer exclaimed. I smiled a little at her amazing job of pretending that she didn't know about Ezra's and my relationship.
"W-what in the world is going on?" Emily asked, pretending that she didn't know about Ezra and I.
"No wonder you got such good grades in English." Hanna smirked, as Ezra rolled his eyes.
"Miss Marin, I promise I never gave Aria the slightest bit extra credit or anything of the sort." He tried assuring her.
"Call her Hanna." I ordered him. "You're not her teacher anymore."
"I'm just messing with you." Hanna laughed.
"Nice place." Emily gestured to the living room, being polite.
Ezra gave her a small smile in response.
"How long have you been together?" Emily asked.
"Since labor day." I answered.
"How in the world did you guys not get caught?" Spencer asked as she walked over to Ezra's bookshelf and started reading the titles.
"We were careful." I winked at Ezra.
Hanna snorted. I glared at her, knowing that she was referring to when she caught Ezra and I kissing in the woods at Mona's birthday party.
"You know what, this is getting annoying." Hanna snapped. "Ezra, we already know about you and Aria."
He looked at me with wide eyes, and I was able to detect a little bit of hurt in them, due to the fact that I did not tell him that my friends knew about us.
"I'm sorry, Ezra." I whispered, with a pained expression on my face. "They kind of found out on their own." I bit my lip.
"How?" He asked, shocked. "I thought we had been so careful!"
"I thought so too." I agreed.
"I saw you two kissing in the woods at Mona's birthday party." Hanna grinned.
"Oh." Ezra's face turned red.
I giggled, as Spencer and Emily smiled at me.
"Are you going to tell him?" Hanna asked quietly.
"Look at this first." I said, frightened, as the girls gathered around me. I opened my latest text from A and showed it to the girls. I purposely blocked my phone's screen from Ezra's view. The girls gasped as the read the text.
"Do you think A's being serious?" Emily had fear written all over her face.
"It's A, Emily!" Spencer exclaimed quietly. "Of course they're being serious!"
"What is going on?" Ezra asked, his voice full of confusion.
I took a deep breath and turned to Ezra as I shut my phone. I sat back down next to Ezra on the couch, in my previous spot. He wrapped his arms around me and asked me once again, "What's going on, Aria?"
Emily, Spencer, and Hanna sat down in chairs opposing us. I could tell that they were a little nervous about telling Ezra about A. Hanna kept glancing at the window, as if A's masked face was going to show up at any moment. Spencer was fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist, and Emily was biting her lip in anxiety.
I turned my body so that I faced Ezra.
"There's this person... who calls themselves A, who's been stalking us." I started.
"This person knows everything about us and all of our secrets." Emily added.
"They're constantly threatening to expose our secrets and-" Spencer told Ezra.
"They make us do things that can break our friendship apart." Hanna slumped against her chair.
"What do you mean? Like what?" Ezra asked Hanna.
"Don't... get mad at her, Ezra, but while you were still our teacher, Hanna almost exposed our relationship to my parents."
He looked at me with a fearful look in his eyes. However, I was able to detect a little bit of anger that had appeared in them that was directed towards Hanna.
"How?" He asked, in a strained voice.
"A gave Hanna a ticket to the museum that we went to on our first date to give to my mom, so that my mom could catch us together." Aria revealed.
"But... wait, so did she catch us or not?" He shook his head in a confused manner.
"No, she didn't. Caleb, Hanna's..." I looked at Hanna, not knowing how to describe what Caleb was to Hanna, since they had recently broken up.
"Ex-boyfriend."
"Okay, Hanna's ex, had messed up my mom's car so that she couldn't make it to the museum. All in all, she never saw us together."
He nodded, wanting me to continue with my story.
"Thank you girls, for keeping our secret." Ezra said.
"No problem, we know how much Aria loves you and we would never to anything to hurt her." Spencer shifted in her chair.
"So when did this A person start... stalking you?" Ezra asked.
"Since the first day of school." I said, opening up my phone.
"Here are all the texts A has ever sent me. The first A message I've ever received was on the first day of school, right after I found out you were my teacher. Remember when my phone went off? That was a message from A." I handed my phone to Ezra.
Ezra gasped as he scrolled through the messages A had sent me.
"How-How did A know about us?"
"That bitch knows everything." Hanna said, hopelessly.
"Have you told the police?" Ezra asked desperately.
"A will kill us before we even step foot into the police station." Emily said.
"Remember when I got run over by that car, a few months ago?" Hanna asked.
"Don't tell me that A did that?" Ezra asked, shocked. "But why?"
"A thought I found out who they were." Hanna said simply.
Ezra shook his head.
"I'm so sorry that you guys have had to deal with this... Wait, so since you told me about A, A's not going to kill anyone, are they?"
"No one knows what A's going to do next." I said bitterly, looking out the window once again.
Over 620 of you out there read the last chapter, but I only got 8 reviews. Please, please, please leave a review! Anything as simple as telling me to update, or something you liked about the chapter, is sufficient. It really means a lot to me, and it makes me want to write and update faster! I don't want to be annoying and beg for reviews, but I was a little disappointed by the amount I received considering the amount of people who are reading my story. Anyways, I hoped you liked this chapter! Now... review! :D