Chapter 1: Breaking up is Never Easy
Aria's pov
It's Friday night and instead of being over at Ezra's; wrapped in his arms as he tries and fails to get me to stay awake during Chinatown, I'm curled up in my bed and silently crying while we break up. It's only because of Byron, Ezra got fired from Hollis and now he has to go stay with his parents in New York. We can't even do this in person since Byron had forbidden me from going over there and refused to let Ezra come over as well. Hell, he even took my car keys and keeps walking past my room as if I'll climb out my window or just vanish like magic. At least Ella would have let me gone over to Ezra's, even if she had to stand outside his apartment. This is hell and I absolutely hate this; I can't even have the girls here with me either.
"I hate that we're doing this over the phone." Ezra said softly as I swallowed back a sob.
"Me too, but it's probably better this way." I told him, wiping the tears from my eyes.
"This wasn't how it was supposed to end for us." I whispered.
"I refuse to think of this as an ending and so should you. This is not our ending, not by a long shot." He told me.
Maybe I'm right about it's better that we break up over the phone, this way he can't see me crying and it'd be harder for us both. As much as I want to point out that he had slightly agreed with Byron forbidding us from seeing each other tonight long before we even realized we had no choice but to break up. The last thing I want to do is start a fight while we're breaking up. This is hard enough as it is without starting a fight that seems useless. Neither of us said anything as I just stared at my door, wiping my tears again. What else is there to even say at this point? We both agreed we need to break up, there's nothing else for either of us to say.
"Hey, I love you Aria." He said softly.
"I love you too Ez." I responded, hoping he didn't hear my phone crack.
I quickly pressed end as I couldn't hold back my sobs any longer. Throwing my phone to the ground, I cried into my pillow. God, what the hell did I just do? I hung up on him! But I didn't want him to hear me cry. We could have made it through this…. But he needs a job and Byron would do anything to sabotage it. He wouldn't be able to stay in Rosewood for long without a job, staying at his parents' could help him for a while as he figures out what to do now. Ella walked into my room and quickly got into my bed with me.
"You and dad can be happy now, it's over between us." I sobbed as she pulled me into her arms.
"It's going to all be okay." She whispered as I cried into her.
"No, it won't, my heart is crushed and it's never going to heal." I sobbed.
"It may seem that way now, but I promise it will get better. It may take a while, but you will be okay. Listen to me honey, breaking up is never easy, I know that." Ella said, rubbing my back.
"Isn't that just a line from an ABBA song?" I choked.
"That doesn't make it any less true." She told me.
"Why don't I go get the ice cream and some movies? Or would you rather lay here and wallow with some sad music? Either way, I'm staying right here with you." She asked.
"Wallow." I sobbed.
AN: Welcome to Five years! I've been so excited about this story and can't wait to take you on this ride of Five years. I apologize for this being such a short chapter, but this is all I had planned for the first chapter as it was only going to be this and the rest of the chapters will be longer. I hope you enjoy Five Years.