I woke up in my bed to my phone going off. I jerked up and remembered I had a meeting with Roberts today about my new book. I had been up late working on another chapter of the book.
"Roberts I know." I change out the shirt I had fallen asleep in and into a new one. I grab the book and go downstairs while Roberts keeps talking my ear off. I slide shoes on and then I see J.D.
"Shit..."
"What Fitz?"
"I have to walk J.D." I walk over to J.D. to get the door open to let him out when a voice says she will do it.
"Thanks." I look over at a slim beautiful brunette wearing only a t-shirt of mine making breakfast. I look twice quickly. It was Aria. I thought I was going crazy. I shut my phone off and put the book down and run upstairs. I must be going crazy. It finally happened. Most great authors had some problem in their life that led to their death and mine was craziness. I sit down on the bed and call my brother.
"Wes, there's a woman in my house." My brother laughs.
"You probably got drunk and hooked up with some fan last night." I don't laugh.
"No Wes it's her." I make sure to accent the word her so my brother will pick up that the girl is Aria, but he isn't bright enough to get my hint.
"Who?"
"Her. Aria. The girl from my book. It's her. She's in my kitchen wearing one of my shirts cooking breakfast." Wes laughs like I've just said the funniest thing ever.
"Dude you're losing it. I've got to go Leo needs me." He hangs up on me and I go out to see Aria right there before me.
"Ezra, are you okay?" I jump back in surprise.
"Are you real?" She laughs.
"Of course I'm real. Are you alright honey?" I run across the hall and lock the door. I'm all alone with only my typewriter and a few rumpled suits. I go through the suits and find the card of that girl that hit on me at the event. I pull out my cell and dial the number and we agree to meet for brunch at a little bistro only ten minutes away. I leave the room and run into Aria again. She has changed out of the shirt and is now wearing a loose blue dress with red tights and black flats. Her hair is perfectly wavy. She's just like I imagined. She can't be real. I run away from her and jet out of the house before she can follow me.
I get to the bistro just as my date arrives there.
"I don't believe you ever formerly introduced yourself to me. Your name?"
"I'm Jackie. I just love your writing. Are you working on anything new?" I nod.
"Actually I was working on a new story, but I don't know if I'm going to continue it."My phone is buzzing constantly. It's probably Roberts wondering where I am, but I needed to be with someone who I didn't know.
"What's it about?" She looked at me with lust in her eyes. I could tell she was excited to be having lunch with me, but I could also tell she didn't want to only have lunch with me. I felt like I was cheating on Aria even though she wasn't real. I still felt like i was betraying my imagination by meeting with Jackie.
"It's a love story about a teacher who falls in love with his student." She smiles. She would probably love it. Romantic stories like that ringed with the romantic souls like Jackie who was probably crushing on more than just me at the moment. She smiled like she had that one professor she wouldn't mind risking it all for.
"Sounds romantic." She moves her chair closer to mine and I just let her. I can feel her breathing get heavier and there seems to be something she wants to say, but she can't quite find the words to say it.
"But I stopped writing it for a while." She smiles and nods like she cares what I'm saying. She's probably thinking "I'm so lucky to be having lunch with someone famous I hope he fucks me hard and I can tell everyone I know that I fucked him."
"Excuse me." I look up and see Aria there. I ignore her. You're going crazy Ezra. She tries again, "Excuse me...Ezra...Ezra..." Jackie turns and sees Aria.
"Do you know her?" Jackie can see Aria. Aria is real.
"Wait you can see her?" Aria folds her arms and starts tapping her foot. She's waiting for an explanation.
"Yeah, do you know her?" I get up and Aria runs away. She's probably crying. I grab her and pull her close.
"I'm sorry. I thought I was going crazy. I didn't know you were real." She hits my chest and pulls away and I chase her. I see her blue tights and grab her and start carrying her to an alley where we can talk.
"Aria, I'm sorry. I was stupid." She slaps me and then hugs me. In my book Aria could never stay mad at me for too long. I had written her exactly the way I wanted her to be and now she was actually here for me to have.
"Let's go home honey." She grabs my hand and we walk home like the whole incident didn't happen.
"I was looking for you to tell you that you're brother is coming over for dinner tonight, but you weren't answering my calls." So it wasn't Roberts calling me.
"Wes is coming over?" She nods.
"I'm thinking of making meatloaf with potatoes and veggies. I have to go shop for the ingredients since you have nothing in your fridge so why don't you go home and write some and I'll be back soon." I walk her to the nearby store and pull her in close. The kiss is kismet. Aria was the perfect girl for me since I had created her with my mind. Our kiss was the most powerful thing I had ever felt and I had wanted nothing more than to just stand there and kiss her all day. She goes in the store leaving me there by myself lost.
I wasn't crazy. I wasn't going crazy. I had brought my dream girl, my idol, my muse to life. Aria was real. Her story was real. And all I had to do was write it.
I really enjoyed that last sentence. One of my favorite things I've ever written and I've written a lot.