Chapter two.

"What do you mean Wesley's dead? How? Why? When? This is a joke right?" Aria rushed all of her words out, causing most of it to come out as nothing but useless babble. Ezra laid still on the bed, not saying a single world, not moving a single muscle. It was though he was frozen in place. She hadn't ever seen him like this, and she didn't like it one bit. It terrified her, he did nothing. This told her that what he had just said was in fact not a joke, and his brother, was dead.

Wesley had remembered him visiting not three weeks ago, smiling happily, sat beside Ezra eating pizza whilst the three of them watched the new horror film that Wes had been dying to see. No pun intended. It wasn't very often Wesley would show up at the apartment, but when he did, Ezra always seemed to be happier.
"What did your Mother say?" Yet another minute passed of nothing but silence. This silence, compared to the one just an hour earlier, was torturous. It killed Aria. "Ezra? You're scaring me."
"You know, you should probably go. Your family will want you home soon anyway." Ezra mumbled under his breath, raising up to his feet. Aria watched him intently, an eyebrow raised as he pulled the front door open.
"I don't want to go" Aria began, sitting up on the bed. "I want to stay here, with you." She knew that she couldn't leave him, not like this. He seemed different, distant.
The words that slipped out of Ezra's lips yet she didn't expect, however.
"Yeah, well I don't want you here." With a frustrated sigh, Ezra continued. "I just want you to leave"
Ezra knew what he wanted. No, actually he didn't. One side of him was angry, and wanted to be on his own. The other side, wanted to just melt down and break, shatter into a million pieces. He really couldn't be doing with Aria's constant nagging, he had just received the news of his brother, the only family member that he had left and could trust, was dead. Gone, forever. How had Wesley brought this upon himself? He seemed perfectly fine not long ago. Being his usual annoying self. Sometimes, Ezra had been close to killing him himself, but he didn't mean it. Now someone had done it for him.
"Well I'm not going anywhere" Aria snapped stubbornly, chewing the ends of her fingernails to get her point across. She was standing her ground.
"GET OUT!" Ezra yelled at the top of his voice, instantly regretting his words. But he wouldn't tell Aria that, being alone would be the best thing for him. He could be upset alone without Aria. His stern voice caused Aria to practically jump up from the bed, clinging to the ends of the shirt she was wearing.
After about ten minutes of just staring at each other intensely, practically burning holes in each other with their harsh stares, Aria took a steady breath, knowing that neither of them would be giving in any time soon. They were arguing, with stars.
Her voice was shaken, but stern. "No."
Another few minutes past, as Ezra let Aria's answer settle in. He was never to let Aria see him cry, not properly. All these years, he had managed to hold it all in, never cry in front of her, even after the many breakups, fights, discoveries. This was new to him. When he was younger, Ezra could remember his rather telling him that if you cry in front of a woman, it makes you look weak. That saying was bouncing around in his head right now. Soon enough Ezra figured that Aria definitely wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and searched the room for some clothes, furiously tugging on anything he could find before shooting Aria a glare, and disappearing out the door with a loud slam. The smash caused Aria to jump slightly, but she managed to regain her stern stance.

Well that's just brilliant, Aria thought, emitting a groan as she saw his phone on the table. Now how was she supposed to call him? Usually, after a heated argument over something idiotic had started, Ezra would always be the first crack and storm out. She didn't know where he would go, or what he would do but several long antagonising hours later, he'd just show up. Never drunk, nor angry. Just tired, Aria guessed. Tired of fighting. By this time, Aria would be curled up on the bed, fast asleep. But she knew that he was there, running his hands along her arms, pressing kisses to her shoulder as an apology. She knew.

Now by the time Ezra had walked through the door, Aria had already been laid on the bed, buried deep under the duvet, his side to be exact. After Ezra had gone away, she would always sleep on his side. The way she could smell his aroma on the pillow, the warmth of his presence the night before.
Ezra couldn't help but stare at her, the past few hours having been spent on a park bench, staring idly at a speck of grass on the floor. Due to the cold weather, not a lot of children were playing around, but Ezra liked the silence. He had figured out two things on his outing. One, that he was going to get the bottom of Wesley's death. And two, he needed Aria with him. She couldn't leave, not now. She was all he had left. The best thing was, that when Ezra looked at Aria, the painful thoughts of Wesley subsided, as if it didn't exist.

Aria shuffled in the bed, trying to get comfortable once more before emitting a small sigh and opening her eyes. Trust her to wake up in the middle of a dream like that. She sat for a minute, smiling to herself at the thin memory of it, before her eyes caught Ezra's, and her smile switched to one of pity, reassurance, pain. All of the above.
"Hey." She whispered, folding her arms across her chest.
"I didn't mean to wake you up." Ezra apologised, his expression blank.
"It's okay, I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"It's okay."
"Do you want a drink? I could make you some coffee?" It was all Aria could think up in such short notice.

Ezra felt his throat dry out, and moved towards the cupboards to pull out the small bottle of whiskey, grasping a glass for himself, before taking a seat on his bed once more and pouring himself a glass.
All Aria could do was watch him neck glass after glass, until the once full bottle had only a few drops let. He could drink away his feelings, his hurt, his pain. The Jack Daniels would definitely save him this time.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Aria suddenly said, her hands picking at the strands of her hair. She got one shake of the head, as he downed the last few drops of evidence that the bottle was full less than an hour ago. "Hungry?" Yet another shake of the head.
"I bet it was /her/" Ezra's voice was laced with venom. He had planned out her death in his head, she had caused this. She had to have had something to do with it. You don't just die.
"What're you talking about?"
"Her, my Mother" Ezra growled out, his hands turning white from the tight grip he had on his glass. "I bet she drove him to this. I bet she pushed him"
"You think it was suicide?"
"What else?"
"Wesley wouldn't do that, Ezra."
"How do you know, Hm?" Aria emitted a sigh, strolling towards him to take a seat beside him, her hand resting on his knee. Ezra's eyes met with her own, and then locked with her own. That's all it took, Ezra felt the tears welling in his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed into her, sobbing furiously, letting out everything he had held in.

After several long and torturous hours of Aria having to listen to Ezra's endless sobbing, she had managed to drag him up onto the bed, and had him against her chest, hands soothingly combing through his hair in an attempt to get him to sleep. It must've been atleast 4am, and he still hadn't stopped. Ezra would cry for a while, and then stop for a little bit before he began again. He'd done this at least seven times, Aria counted. The worst thing for her, was his poor state. He looked so fragile and alone. Aria was terrified. She wouldn't allow herself to cry with him, it wasn't her place to. This wasn't anything to do with her, it was his brother. But then the sound of his own sobbing, made Aria want to cry herself. He couldn't have many tears left. Of course, she had spilled a few rare tears throughout the night, but nothing that'd give away her defeat. She was to be strong for her boyfriend, when he needed her most.

Ezra wouldn't admit, but he liked this. Being able to lay in her arms, it was different, soothing him of the pain. He knew that Aria wasn't asleep, she wouldn't dare sleep especially with him like this. She was a worrier, and that's how he loved her.
So there they both lay, in complete silence, Aria occasionally whispering out a few "It's all going to be okay"'s here and there, but to Ezra, her promises were hallow. Wesley was gone, and he was never coming back.