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"I had to talk to Ezra today," said Ella leaning in her bed pillows and staring up at the ceiling absently.
"Oh," said her husband looking up from his book. "About the weather or something in particular?" He turned to her.
She rolled her eyes and continued. "I got elected by Gloria Welch to talk to him about the rumors going on between him and a student."
"Oh," Byron replied, setting his book down on the nightstand, the interest in his tone evident. "How did it go?"
"I chose my words carefully," replied Ella. "And so did he. We danced around each other well enough, you'd of thought that we'd been practicing it."
"Well, you have," answered Byron, "for the last few months especially."
Ella studied her husband for a moment before returning her attention back to the ceiling. "What are we going to do when Aria leaves for college? Do you think the rumors will get better? Or will they get worse because Aria and Ezra will feel like they don't have to hide anymore?"
"I don't know," answered Byron honestly. "I really don't."
"I don't either," replied Ella, sighing. "And I'm not sure I like that feeling."
"Hey," he replied gently. She turned to him. "Aria's going to go off to college and everything is going to be fine."
She squeezed his hand. "Are you sure?"
"I am," he told her, and although Byron voiced the words, Ella heard the note of uncertainty.
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"Don't you have plans with Ezra tonight?" teased Spencer, flopping on the couch and handing Aria a bowl of popcorn.
"Yeah," chimed in Hanna. She elbowed Aria from the other side of the sofa. "Didn't you see the googly eyes she was making at him during class?" Hanna batted her eyelashes.
"What about all that talk about hellos and good-bye's from last week?" said Emily from her spot on the floor. She reached up to grab a handful of popcorn. "I wish he would explain things like that to me during our tutoring sessions."
"Can we please not talk about it and watch the movie," grumbled Aria. "I get enough of it at home."
"Do you?" asked Spencer with interest. "Do tell."
Aria hugged the popcorn bowl closer to her chest. "Aren't your parents due back from work at any minute?"
"They're in Philadelphia and won't be back home tonight," answered Spencer sweetly. "We have all night."
"Really?" said Aria turning to her friend. "I thought Melissa was supposed to stop by when they're out-of-town."
"Please," said Spencer, rolling her eyes, "now you're making up excuses to get out of it. It just makes us more interested."
"So what's going on at home?" questioned Hanna in a sing-song voice. "Tell Auntie Hanna everything."
Aria snorted. "Like I'm going to tell Auntie Hanna anything."
"Come on, spill it," demanded Emily. "We look at you two drool over each other in class every day, and we don't even get crumbs of information?"
"Tell us," repeated Spencer firmly. "I can tell you're dying to."
Aria sighed and looked at her friends. "Fine. We're having an argument-that's-not-really-an-argument about college."
"What about college?" asked Emily. "Paige and I had that discussion a month ago."
"About change, really," said Aria. "I'm moving away and he's staying here."
"Is that so bad?" asked Emily curiously. "I mean, you won't be terribly far away in New York and you'll be home all the time for breaks and vacations and stuff."
"And I'll be there," said Spencer poking Aria between the ribs.
"A year from now, I'll be thinking that this is silly," admitted Aria. "But right now, it feels like the weight of the world is about to crush me."
"If you really feel that way," said Spencer slowly, "will he follow you? If it's about a teaching job, aren't there plenty of those in New York?"
"Oh, it's more than just moving," said Aria, waving her arm dismissively. "He's already offered to visit me. His dad left him an apartment in the city when he died. It's just," Aria paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, "it's just I worry about who he'll be outside of Rosewood. I'm worried about who we will be."
"Does he love you?" asked Hanna quietly.
"Yes," answered Aria without hesitation.
"And how does he make you feel?" continued Hanna.
"He makes me feel," Aria let the word hang as images flashed through her head. She was thirteen and crying into Ezra's chest. She was standing outside his bathroom wrapped only in a towel. She watched him discuss the merits of Joyce with a student. She was straddling him in his bed when he stopped her, "cared for," she finished.
"Then everything will be fine," concluded Spencer philosophically. She took a handful of popcorn from Aria's bowl.
"I guess," answered Aria skeptically.
"See," said Emily brightly. Aria stared into her friend's hopeful faces and wished she could tell them all the things she was hiding, the truth about Ezra.
Hanna cleared her throat. "So, we know Spencer and Aria are going to Columbia and Emily's going to Texas for college," she took a deep breath and continued, "and I decided to follow Caleb to California, where his mom is. I'm going to the Art Institute of Los Angeles."
"That's awesome, Han," congratulated Spencer. The friends spent most of the night talking about their futures and the wishes they held close to their hearts.
The next morning Aria woke both early and slightly hung over. She found herself sprawled on Spencer's living room floor wrapped in a blanket and lying face down on the hardwood flooring. She groaned as she picked herself off the floor clutching her head slightly as she got upright. She stumbled as she looked for her shoes. She found one on the coffee table and one under the sofa, tripping over Hanna to reach the former.
She put her shoes on and looked around for her purse, finding them next to Emily on the loveseat. As she grabbed it, Emily moaned something in her sleep and turned over. Walking over to Spencer, Aria poked her in the arm.
"Hmm?" mumbled Spencer sleepily.
"I'm going home, Spence," Aria told her with slurred words.
"Umm-hum," answered Spencer before putting one of the decorative pillows over her face to block the early morning light.
Aria walked out the front door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she did so and combing her fingers through her hair. She winced as the Hastings' front door slammed shut behind her, but shook off the feeling as she walked the two blocks home. She shook her head periodically during the walk as she heard the sounds of birds chirping and car motors running, quite different from the nearly dead silence she had woken up to in Spencer's house. As she turned onto her street, she counted the houses until she reached her own.
She let herself in with her key and walked up the stairs as silently as she could to her room. She dumped her purse on the bed and relieved herself of her shoes before going into her bathroom and stripping herself of her slept-in clothes. She hopped in the shower and felt the hot water drip off of her. Once she felt sufficiently revived, she dried herself with a towel and brushed her teeth, putting on a red tank top and a pair of comfy black pants. She slipped on some flats before walking downstairs. As she grabbed a navy sweater from the downstairs closet, she heard the first stirrings of her parents waking. Shrugging, she walked out the front door and next door to Ezra's house.
Aria didn't bother ringing the doorbell, aware that Ezra would not yet be awake this early on a Saturday morning. She used the spare key hidden under the doormat to enter the house and walked upstairs quietly. Turning right, she walked down the long hallway. She stopped for a moment to peek into the second room on her right, where the door was ajar. She glimpsed a piece of dark polished wood before continuing down the hallway to the last room on the left.
She opened the door to the master bedroom before observing Ezra in the middle of the large king-sized bed, hugging a pillow close to his chest. In the tangle of sheets, one bare leg poked out and lay on top of the comforter. She sighed silently before continuing her trek to the bed. She kicked off her shoes before climbing onto the right side of the bed. She laid her head down on the spare pillow and stared at Ezra for a moment before leaning forward to kiss him on the lips.
It was a whisper of a kiss, and Aria wasn't surprised that he didn't respond or wake up at the motion. Instead, a smile tugged at the corner of lips when she saw Ezra smile in his sleep. She leaned back and studied him carefully. She saw that his eyes were tired looking and held fine lines barely perceptible to the naked eye. She saw cracked and chapped lips, plump and curled upward in a slight smile. She saw a smooth forehead that sported a creased brow even in sleep. She saw eyelids that veiled dark blue eyes, as deep as the ocean, framed by the long black lashes the color of coal.
Aria leaned forward again to kiss each of his eyelids. Then, she decided to kiss each of his ears too. She pecked his nose. Then she headed for his lips. This time, instead of the barest of touches, Aria pressed down, harder when she realized he was responding to her, awake even if his eyes were closed. She reached up to grab the back of his neck and she realized that his arms were encircling her, pulling her ever closer. She broke the kiss to giggle slightly before pressing into him more fervently than she had been before. She hooked a leg over his hips and before she knew it, she was on top of him, running her fingers through his dark hair.
She stopped and Ezra's eyes fluttered open, silently smiling. She pulled her arms back until they rested flatly on his chest and then she rested her chin on the backs of her hands. He rubbed her shoulders.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked softly, breaking the silence.
"I recognized your lips," responded Ezra, his voice rough and thick with the edge of sleep.
Aria wrinkled her nose. "That sounds less romantic than I thought it would."
Ezra brushed a strand of hair away from her face as he stifled a laugh. "What are you doing here so early?"
They continued to lay horizontally parallel, Aria on top of Ezra, and Aria suddenly found the designs on Ezra's shirt interesting. "I once promised you," she began, her eyes averted, "that I would tell you how I was feeling, even if it didn't make sense."
"Yes," he encouraged her.
She sighed. "I'm feeling…anxious," she said slowly. "Yes, I suppose that's the best word for it—anxious."
"Anxious about what?"
"College."
"You're going to do great," said Ezra. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I've told you that."
Aria looked at him. "It's not about me," she told him firmly, her voice laced with gentleness.
"Is this about me?" Ezra asked in disbelief. Aria nodded her head, a difficult gesture considering her chin rested on his chest, so she rolled off of him into her former position. They faced each other, and Ezra rested his on raised hand. "Are you worried about leaving me behind?" he continued warily.
Aria shook her head this time and then mimicked his posture. "It's not about you leaving," she explained. "It's about who you are outside of this house, outside of Rosewood." She sighed in frustration. "Inside this little bubble, you're Ezra Fitz, Elliot and Anne's grandson who teaches at the high school. One day, you'll marry the girl next door and have a handful of children and die on your rocker on the front porch. But outside of this Rosewood bubble," she expanded her arms to make her point, "you're Ezra Fitzgerald, billionaire, who grew up in Beverly Hills with a silver spoon in your mouth."
"I'm still the same person," said Ezra quietly.
"Maybe," replied Aria, in a tone that let him know of her lack of conviction. "Maybe," she repeated. She sighed in frustration. "But even when you're here, you're different from everyone else. I can still see Ezra Fitzgerald in the little things."
"No I'm not," he defended himself.
She scoffed. "You have a Picasso outside your office door and what I'm pretty sure is antique wardrobe from the Renaissance in your guest room. Yes, you are different," she said the last words slowly to make her point. She was quiet for a moment. "If people know where to look," she continued softly, "the differences are obvious."
Ezra looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and observed her wet hair for the first time. It clung to her scalp and hugged her back as it cascaded to her elbows. Her eyes, although clouded, shined like glass, and her lips, luscious and full were a pink rose color. "Is this what you look like when you get up in the morning?" he asked her. He stroked her cheek, a finger lingering before severing contact.
She nearly rolled her eyes at the subject change, but she didn't. "Yes," she replied stiffly.
"This is what I look like in the morning," he replied. He looked down at himself and then back up. "It's not very glamorous."
"You look young when you're sleeping," admitted Aria.
"I am young," answered Ezra. "I'm only twenty-six." He paused before continuing. "Do you know what I spent last night doing?" She shook her head in response. "I was with Hardy. We watched a Phillies game on TV and ate pizza and drank cheap beer. And do you know what I thought about the entire time?" She was silent in response. "I was thinking about you, the one girl I couldn't have." He sighed. "I don't get everything that I want when I want it."
She cocked her head and looked at him thoughtfully. "Are you telling me that things work out in their own time?"
He laughed slightly. "I told you that I thought about you last night and you got patience out of it." He sobered and traced a pattern on the arm of her sweater. "I'm just saying that if it's meant to be it's meant to be."
"How do we know if it's meant to be?"
"Is this really just about college?" asked Ezra.
Aria stilled before shaking her head. "This is about the rest of our lives. You told me about your apartment in New York. You'd never even been there. And then I remembered your house in California. What will the rest of our lives look like?"
"Aria," said Ezra softly, pleadingly. He looked into her eyes. "Everything is going to be all right. I'm the same person I've always been."
"But will I be?" she asked.
He studied her closely. "Come with me to California," he blurted.
Aria's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"Actually, I am. Come with me. You can see the house I grew up, and we can do all those touristy things. Maybe we can stop in Vegas for your birthday. Let me," he pleaded.
She sighed. "You'd have to get my parents to agree."
He groaned softly in a way that was slightly humorous. He turned on to his back and Aria followed suit, moving closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. He wrapped her in his arm. "Your dad is going to kill me. I promised to cool it off before graduation. And now you're in my bed and we're talking about going off to California together."
Aria giggled. "Graduation is only three weeks away."
"May 14, 2012," recited Ezra. Aria looked up at him and he shrugged. "I've been counting," he admitted sheepishly.
"Maybe if we say it's a combination of a birthday and graduation present," suggested Aria, "and we take Mike with us, my parents might say yes. You did promise him box seats at a Lions game in San Diego."
Ezra looked at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the ceiling. "After you had your outburst at the dinner table, after we told Mike, your dad came to talk to me. Something about having you in my bed even if we weren't planning on doing anything." He turned his attention back to the girl in his arms. "They'll be wondering where you are." He stroked Aria's nearly dry hair.
"Let's just stay like this for a little while," pleaded Aria. So they did.
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"Is everything taken care of?" asked Ezra into the phone.
"Exactly to your specifications," replied Isaac confidently.
Ezra sighed. "So she'll have no idea that this is coming from me?"
"None of the girls will have any inkling that you were any way involved in this. I've made sure of it." Isaac paused. "The Art Institute here in Los Angeles was easiest. I went to them in person and explained. They were very happy to accept your…donation," he finished delicately.
"And the other schools?" asked Ezra tentatively.
"I talked to the president of the University of North Texas myself," said Isaac. "We spoke on the phone for several hours. After I threw in not only the expenses of that school but also the promise of yearly donations for the next decade, he was more than fine with it." Isaac sighed over the phone. "Columbia was another matter. I had to fly to New York myself to speak with their board of directors. After writing a hefty check, the promise that Elliot Harding would speak a literature forum, and some elbow rubbing, the deal was sealed. Both girls should find themselves welcomed warmly by the administration, courtesy of your generosity."
"Thank you, Isaac," said Ezra sincerely. "I know it must have been difficult leaving Marlene at such a delicate time."
"Oh, she's still three weeks from her due date," responded Isaac. "No worries."
"Really?" asked Ezra with interest. "That means I'll be able to see the baby when we head that way."
"Her parents said yes?" asked Isaac.
"There were rules," replied Ezra dryly, "and they said no to Vegas."
"Oh," said Isaac. "Well I'll work on the details. When exactly did you want everything to be ready by?"
"Graduation is in two weeks. I hope to leave in three and a half."
"Sounds good," answered Isaac. "Anything else I need to take care of for you?"
Ezra chuckled. "Nothing more than the usual."
"Okay then," said Isaac. "I'll talk to you later then."
"Talk to you later, Isaac. Say hi to Marlene for me."
"Will do," he replied hanging up the phone. "See you in a month."
Ezra set his home phone down on the kitchen table and looked out the window above his sink. He smiled. Aria was sitting on her back porch reading. The book she held in her hands was a worn and faded copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.
May 2, 2012
Twelve days until graduation. Twenty-three days until we leave for California. Forty-two days until my birthday. Fifty-three days until Ezra's birthday. One-hundred-and-six days until I leave for Columbia.
May 5, 2012
Nine days until graduation. Twenty days until we leave for California. Thirty-nine days until my birthday. Fifty days until Ezra's birthday. One-hundred-and-three days until I leave for Columbia.
May 7, 2012.
Six days until graduation. Seventeen days until we leave for California. Thirty-six days until my birthday. Forty-seven days until Ezra's birthday. One-hundred days until I leave for Columbia.
May 10, 2012Four days until graduation. Thirteen days until we leave for California. Thirty-two days until my birthday. Forty-three days until Ezra's birthday. Ninety-six days until I leave for Columbia.
May 11, 2012
Three days until graduation. Twelve days until we leave for California. Thirty-one days until my birthday. Forty-two days until Ezra's birthday. Nine-five days until I leave for Columbia. English final exam tomorrow.