Chapter 2: After all these years

AN: Not sure how to add tags to chapters yet or if that possible, but here's one - its mentioned in the chapter that Lauren an OC is an adult entertainer.

Five years later

"Fortieth and seventh avenue."

I looked up from my journal to see that the subway was already at my stop. Taking the subway is a lot faster than taking a taxi, and cheaper for my mom when she sends me money for my subway card. Quickly grabbing my stuff off the seat next to me, I stood up and followed everyone else off the subway. Finding an empty bench, I sat down and started putting my journal back into my bag. Glancing at my phone; it told me that I still have an hour left before having to be at work. All of a sudden, Hanna's photo appeared and Last Friday Night started playing.

"Hey Han, how's back at home?" I asked, standing up

"It's not New York, that's for sure. I always forget how different Rosewood is from the city. Still wish you came home too." She said as I made my way towards the exit.

"You know why I couldn't come back this time." I reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah. I figured that was just an excuse for you told Ella because you didn't want to explain why you and Matthew broke up." She said.

"Aria, I know why you broke up with Matthew.. or any guy you've been with. It's been five years already; you can't keep expecting him to just appear back into your life. You need to move on." She told me, hitting me where it hurts.

"I have to go, just got to work." I lied and hung up.

"Thanks for that Han." I muttered as someone pushed past.

"Move it lady!" They yelled.

Walking towards The New York Insider building, I smiled to myself. Even though there's only a fifty percent chance I get the job offer at the end of the summer internship, I'm just happy I was even selected to even work here just for the summer. Even if it's only for ten weeks, working at The New York Insider has been a dream of mine along with becoming an author. After being stalked for two years and barely escaping the dollhouse senior year, I needed to get out of Rosewood for college. Glancing at my lock screen of me and the girls at graduation, we've barely seen each other since then. Even though we're both in New York, I've barely seen Hanna. Anytime we make plans to meet up, one of us always cancels or declines for one reason or another. Hell, Hanna, and Caleb were supposed to meet me and Spencer in Italy last summer but canceled with no reason at the time. But it turned out they broke up; Hanna has refused to talk about it at all. She begged me once to bring her to a NYU party after their breakup but she changed her mind at the last minute.

"Aria! Having your usual?" Jackson, the lobby barista asked as I walked over.

"Actually, I'm in the mood for something new today. Can I just get a medium iced salted caramel mocha?" I asked, handing him my coffee punch card and he gave me a look.

"I know I haven't known you that long. But I can tell something's upsetting you." He said carefully, starting on my mocha.

"Not sure if I'm ready to talk about it yet." I told him.

"Hey, when or if you feel like talking, you know where to find me." He said.

"Thanks Jackson, how much?" I asked.

"On the house." He said and I frowned at him.

"I'm not taking this for free." I said and he held up my punch card – oh, that's why I have free coffee today.

"I know you don't like it when I give you free coffee. Don't you remember your first day here?" He reminded me, trying not to laugh at the memory.

"Because you're not supposed to be giving coffee for free." I reminded him.

"Here you go, and here's a new punch card. Make sure to pay attention to it." He joked and I laughed.

"Ha, ha. Thanks, I'll see you later." I told him.

Walking towards the elevators, I watched as journalists start their day either at their computer already or talking by the water fountain. I still remember my first day here, Jackson eased my nerves and tried giving me my coffee for free. Of course, with my nerves I had thought it was some sort of test to see if I'd steal from the company or something. But he will never let me live it down now, it's literally our oldest inside joke. As I walked past a mirror, I quickly checked to make sure my black short sleeve embellished blouse was still tucked into my leopard print skirt. I hurried onto the elevator and took a sip of my coffee, so glad I went with this. The elevator opened and everyone on our floor were already in their briefings or already at work as I made my way towards my desk.

"Montgomery."

I turned to see Jade; the other NYU student that had been accepted into the internship program. When we first started, I thought we could have been friends since we were both interns and from the same school, but she made it clear from day one that she will never be my friend. She also made it quite clear that she'll do whatever it takes for her to get the job that's offered at the end of the internship at the end of summer. Of course, from what happened in my junior and senior year and my nerves on the first day; I thought she was going to kill me. James had to calm me down, which led to us realizing we had been on the same train ride and we decided to sit with each other on the train in the morning. The funny thing is about both mine and Jade's journalism career paths; I want to go into arts and Leisure journalism while Jade wants to go into political journalism.

"Jade, Aria, James, Parker, glad you're all here. Briefing in my office – two minutes." Amanda said, poking her head out of her office.

"Morning Aria." Parker said walking up.

"Hey Parks." I greeted her.

I grabbed my note pad off my desk, leaving my bag behind and followed Jade towards Amanda's office. Never thought I would enjoy briefings so much, hearing about different things going on and waiting to see if I'll be helping Parker or James. Just hope Amanda won't put me and Jade on an article together again, that was torture and I had been held hostage in a doll like sort of trap and even got shot. Jade had pretty much taken over the whole thing, forcing me to just do small edits until James caught wind and told Jade to be a team player. If we were only being tested on how we work with others I'd have the job already.

"And Aria, I have an article for you to write. Parker, I want you on this as well for photos." Amanda said, looking at me and Parker.

"Aria?" Jade asked, shocked and Parker secretly nudged me.

"Yes. Now Aria, have you heard of the Fitzgerald art gallery up in Manhattan?" Amanda asked and I nodded

"It's owned by the Fitzgerald family since nineteen twenty eight, the original owners opened the door when they came across some well-known art pieces. But it didn't become popular until nineteen sixty. It's been closed for a few months due to renovations." I answered.

"Love that you already knew that. Anyway, tonight's the grand reopening and the opening night for a brand new collection. I'm sure you already figured this out already, but you are the one I'm sending in to do the interviews and write the article. I want it on my desk in six weeks; by the end of the day Friday. I'll give you your tickets when you leave." She said and I nodded.

"Now, Jade. I need that interview with the Mayor from Last week by the end of the day. That's all I have for this morning, go on and get to work now." Amanda dismissed us.

"How the hell did you know that about the Fitzgerald gallery?" Jade hissed as soon as we were out of Amanda's office.

"Had to do a class report on it once and read about the renovations in the paper a while back. The current owner, Dianne Fitzgerald, is the great granddaughter of the original owners. She has two sons; Wesley and there's an older one as well but he doesn't seem to like the limelight as much as his younger brother." I told her and she rolled her eyes.

"That should have been my article!" She snapped, before walking away.

"Yeah, because political journalists should totally be writing articles on art gallery re openings." Parker said sarcastically as we made our way to our desks.

"How did any of us not burst out laughing at Jade's response to you getting an article?" James asked.

"There's my train buddy." I joked.

"Sorry to ditch you this morning." He apologized.

"It's Harmony's birthday, don't apologize for spending time with your daughter on her birthday. Did you give her the gift yet?" I asked, sitting down.

"Yes, it took both me and Beth to convince her not to bring it to day camp for show and tell." He said with a chuckle.

"Glad she liked it." I told him.

"I have to go, there's a summer basketball championship over at central park that Amanda wants me to cover. See you two at lunch. Did you want to go out or did you bring lunch?"

"I brought lunch today… well, more like Lauren made me take leftovers…. Sent some for you too. But if it helps, it doesn't taste bad, not like the casserole Riley made." I told him

"Parker and Aria, forgot to mention that you can have half a day today. So, you can do any more research on the family or even the gallery itself. Or get an outfit if you need too." Amanda said, poking her head out of her office again.

"Thank you." I responded; glad I don't have to deal with Jade all day.

"You mean, I have to go home by myself?" James asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Well, I had to come in by myself so ha. But why don't I get you tacos tomorrow from that taco cart to make up for it?" I suggested.

"No, win this competition. I do not want to work with Jade after this summer is over." He told me quietly.

"I'll try but it's a fifty-fifty chance." I reminded him.

"Make it hundred-zero chance. I'm rooting for you." He said.

"Thanks James."

…

Walking towards the fountain at central park, I saw Riley waiting for me. Hopefully he'll go with me even though I know it's not something he'd choose to do. But I'm not going to beg him to come, although I know he'd most likely come if I tell him that Parker will be there. Him having a crush on her is quite obvious. He refuses to do anything about it as I'm his best friend and roommate and I'm also friends with Parker and work with her.

"I'm starving, so give me whatever news you have right now." He told me.

"I have two tickets to see an art gallery grand reopening since I'm doing an article on it for work. Would you want to come with?" I asked.

"You didn't ask Lauren or Spencer first?" He questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"They're both working. Even though we both know Spencer would come down, she's nearly two hours away and she has classes in the morning. Besides…Parker will be there." I explained.

"Why didn't you just say Parker would be there first? But what's up with everyone still hanging around when it's summer?" He asked.

"I got classes, and my internship. You have your summer class too; Spencer wants to graduate early and lock down a permanent job at the law firm she's at after graduation." I reminded him.

"But she wasn't even going to be taking summer classes until two weeks before finals." He pointed out.

"She doesn't exactly want to face her family right now." I said

If it hadn't been for Melissa and Mrs. Hastings, Spencer would be back in Rosewood with Emily, Maya and Hanna and working at her dad's firm. He had even promised that Spencer could stay in the barn this summer, as long as she worked for him and was even allowing her boyfriend Sterling to stay with her. But in good ole Hastings manner, Melissa swooped in with some sob story about how she and Wren were fighting and she needed to get away for a while to 'figure out' some things after being told that Spencer and Sterling would be staying in the barn. Without even mentioning it to Spencer or Mr. Hastings, Mrs. Hastings just let Melissa stay there and as usual it resulted in an argument with no one on Spencer's side. Fortunately for Spencer, this all happened before it was too late and she managed to sign up for a few summer courses that could help her graduate faster and Caleb is letting her crash with him. She had checked with Hanna to see if she'd be okay with that but according to Spencer, Hanna didn't seem to care.

"What about Lauren? She isn't even going to classes." Riley questioned, snapping me out of my thoughts

"She's working, two jobs might I remind you. Her parents might be paying her part of the rent but she's on her own when it comes to her tuition and her financial aid only covers so much. Give her some credit here, she's working hard." I told him

"Yeah, shaking her ass and taking her clothes off over at After Party is such hard work." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! Your parents are paying your tuition AND your part of the rent. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship with Ella and my stepdad covering my part of the rent, Lauren wasn't as lucky as we were. College is expensive, be nice about her job. She's even lucky her parents are covering her part of the rent." I scolded him.

"Sorry." He said.

It's still pretty unbelievable that I got a scholarship to NYU; it's been my dream school for as long as I can remember. I still remember the day I knew it was the school for me; Mr. Hastings brought me with him and Spencer while he was showing her different universities when we were six. He was set on her going to an Ivy league but still showed us NYU, as we had walked around the campus I just knew it was my school. Plus, NYU is close enough to come home for long weekends if I wanted to visit mom and Daniel. Of course, it wasn't sunshine and rainbows with Lauren when we met Freshman year. Then once we got closer and we decided to get our own apartment last year, it's only been better and better.

"We have to go shopping for clothes, don't we?" He realized and I nodded.

"I know that you do not have a nice shirt anywhere in your room, or nice shoes. It's just one trip and it's for me. I'm your favorite roommate." I pointed out, trying to soften the torture that's to come to him.

…

As much as I love that Riley agreed to come with tonight, I do wish Spencer was here instead. She would have made me feel better about being here. Art may be one of my passions, but it's all wealthy and sophisticated people here and I'm starting to feel uneasy… as if I don't belong here. Riley glanced over at me and gave me a small smile. Somehow, we nonverbally decided to match our outfits tonight when we had gone shopping earlier. He had a red button down shirt and black slacks and dress shoes, while I had a red knee length short sleeve bodycon dress with two cutouts on each side. Somehow I found a leopard print blazer that matches with my leopard print peep toe heels, but Riley threatened not to come when I jokingly suggested he gets a belt to match my blazer and heels.

"It reminds me of him." I said, looking around.

"What?" Riley asked.

"Being in this gallery reminds me of my first date with Ezra." I explained and he realized who I was talking about.

"Just call him." He said.

"I have called him, near the end of my senior year and after I went low contact with Byron… his number isn't even his anymore and I have no way of looking him up. It's like Ezra Fitz never existed." I told him.

"Hey, I'm not too late am I?" Parker asked, rushing over.

"You're fine, it hasn't officially started yet." I reassured her.

"The taxi took a wrong turn and they dropped me off at the corner. I was expecting that fountain in the lobby to have fish in it." She added.

"Someone was about to turn it into a wishing fountain." I said, motioning to Riley

"I'm going to use the restroom before this thing starts." He excused himself.

"Do you want anything to drink? I'm going to get some water from the bar and double check my equipment." Parker asked.

"I'm good, thanks." I told her.

Parker and Riley both walked to do their own thing, I admired the new renovations and compared the photos of before that were still fresh in my mind. Finding a small corner where I wouldn't be in the way of anybody or any of the art, I flipped a few pages of my notepad. I want to get as many details of the renovations as possible before there's a chance of me forgetting something I have in my mind now. Even though this is just the first draft and not even in order or anything, I want it to be as detailed as I can get it before typing it out and editing later. Even though Amanda gave me extra time, I'm not risking making one little mistake in my notes. Is this what Spencer feels like when she wants her school work to be two hundred percent perfect? Taking a deep breath, the words just flowed out.

The lobby is newly modernized, yet still elegant and even has a small pond (kids may want to turn it into a wishing fountain). The floor was a marble white with the walls being a stone beige except where the paints brought color to the room. Each wing had been freshly repainted and even though they're all the same – it's like you're in a different gallery. The moment you step into The Fitzgerald art gallery of York Ave, you know it's not like any other art museum or gallery, even the outdoor space isn't like any other as well – gorgeous waterfront view. The hallway leading towards the outdoor area is like a sophisticated Alice in Wonderland, except there's no human shrinking or growing five times their normal height.

I looked up just in time to see Parker and Riley walking back over as who I believe is Mrs. Fitzgerald took the stage. There seems to be only her younger son Wesley and a tall blonde up there with her. Whoever her eldest is, he must really hate the limelight if he's not here or just somewhere in the crowd instead of with his family. Quickly glancing around, I shook my head. There's no way Ezra's here tonight, of the places in the world, why here? I'm going crazy. That guy looked so much like him, from his hair to his face, literally has the same silhouette as him. Shaking my head, I tried to force Ezra out of my mind. The last thing I need right now is the memory of him distracting me, that can happen to me during class but not tonight.

"Thank you all for joining my family and myself here tonight in celebration of our grand reopening and opening night of our newest collection. Not only are we celebrating the grand reopening, but also my eldest son's engagement to his wonderful and beautiful fiancée Victoria. Please, enjoy yourselves." She said as we all clapped.

"Have you seen the restroom?" Riley whispered and I shook my head.

"There's an attendee there." He said, impressed.

"I'll have to check it out later, I have to go meet Mrs. Fitzgerald over there for the interview." I said shakily.

"Break a leg. Just remember, you got this." He winked.

"Please do not get too drunk." I begged.

"I was planning on doing that after this thing." He told me.

I quickly turned and made my way towards the painting that Amanda emailed me to meet Dianne Fitzgerald at. Seeing Mrs. Fitzgerald talking to some people as she made her way over, I took a deep breath and glanced at the painting next to me. Admiring it, it reminded me of when I was seven and had taken a break from wanting to work for The New York insider and be an artist for a year. Ella had put me in so many weekend classes and even sent me to a summer art camp. Pretty sure she still has every single piece of art I've made, even the ones when I was two and just scribbled on everything. Of course, I would scribble on the wall when she was taking care of Mike and then she'd photographed it each time after putting me in time out.

"Hello, I'm Dianne Fitzgerald. I apologize for keeping you waiting."

"Oh, it's no problem. I was just admiring this painting." I said, looking at the painting again.

"You're from the New York Insider, correct?"

"Yes, I am." I answered.

"You look so young to be a journalist." She said.

I'm actually just interning for the summer until my senior year at NYU." I explained.

"Aren't I supposed to be interviewing you?" I asked with a smile.

"Why don't we start with the painting that started it all for my family." Mrs. Fitzgerald suggested, motioning to follow her.

"What did you say your name miss?" She asked, leading me towards 'The Wedding at Cana' by Paolo Veronese.

"Aria." I answered.

"What an exquisite name." She complimented.

"Thank you." I said.

"When did you start collecting art?" I asked.

"I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. My parents; Lyle and Frances Fitzgerald had found this painting on their honeymoon in Italy back in nineteen sixty. Even though the gallery had already been open for a few decades already, this one is the one that really made the gallery what is it today. As they realized the gallery was becoming a huge success, they started searching for more pieces and dealers. Even started buying pieces from other museums and gallerias." She said.

"Wow, that's amazing. Did you always want to follow in their footsteps?" I questioned.

"Absolutely, I was practically raised here when not traveling the world to help look for new pieces or in school. I knew nothing else and I wanted to take over one day." She explained.

"Is there something that makes this collection different from the others?" I inquired.

"Other collections are mostly muted oil paintings or muted and or neutral colors, while this collection is a combination of pop art and realism. I met the artist in Milan while looking for pieces and just fell in love with his work – especially this collection." She answered.

"What can you tell us about the artist?"

"He is a magnificent up and coming artist in Milan. Unlike other artists we've showcased here before, he takes two or more different art styles and brings them together." She told me.

"Will this collection be here for people to see permanently or is it for a limited time?" I asked.

"It's definitely here to stay. I'd hate to cut this short, but I do have other people to see." She answered.

"Of course. Thank you so much for your time Mrs. Fitzgerald." I said.

"Absolutely, enjoy the rest of the party." She responded.

Looking around for Riley, I blinked a couple times when I thought I saw Ezra. This is seriously going to drive me insane, of all the states – how could he be in New York? He didn't really ever talk about his family, let alone where he came from. If he did happen to be in New York, why wouldn't he ever try to reach out to me? We would have only been one state away, just a few hours away. Catching Riley's eye, he waved me over and I made my way towards him. Passing some socialites and well known insurance agents, I nearly froze when I heard them talking.

"Ezra Fitzgerald, it took him two years with Victoria to propose." One of them commented.

"I heard his mother did everything; bought the ring herself and just told them they're getting married but still made him propose." Another gossiped along.

"No, she just told him to propose or that she'd do it for him. Her other son Wesley told my son when they were at the vacation house in Aspen."

Trying not to make it obvious that I overheard them, I looked around for Riley again – forgetting where he had been at. Even though I only spoke with her for a few moments, I didn't get that vibe from her. Chanel and pearls on a Saturday morning for sure that kind of vibe. But I would never guess that she'd force her son to propose. Of course, it's just my luck that her eldest son's name is Ezra. Nope, I'm not going there. Riley came up and handed me some sort of hors d'oeuvres. Of all the names in the entire universe, why did it have to be the name Ezra? I took his hand and lead him to another area.

"What's the matter?" He asked, sensing it.

"It's so stupid… the eldest son of Mrs. Fitzgerald, his name is Ezra. Maybe it's my mind, but I swear I keep seeing him." I told him.

"There could be thousands of guys in New York, let alone in the world named Ezra. As much as I'm sure you want it to be him, it might be your imagination. You did say this place reminded you of your first date." He reminded me

"I know, I know." I muttered.

"Besides, what's the chances of him even being here tonight of all the places in the country and of all nights?"

"I tried telling myself that." I said.

"Kill me later." Riley said and tickled me, making me laugh.

"Hate you." I giggled.

…

Ezra's pov

Standing with a few of my mother's oldest friends- no, more like connections. Any friend my mother has ever had no longer talks to her due to one reason or another, usually that they realized they have morals or she ruined their reputations for something petty. These connections have all been trying to get me to quit my job and come work for them, despite my literature degree would not be any help at their companies. Edward; he's known my mother for about twenty nine years and has been going on about how his company has the best benefits and I know without having to ask him or Thomas, Howard, Mark, John, or even my mother herself that she asked them to get me to work for one of them. She hates the fact that I refuse to give up teaching. It's one of the only things that I have that is just mine. I had to get a penthouse to please my mother since she didn't approve of me staying with Hardy or even crashing at her place after a while and I needed to get out of her stupid mansion.

"What you need is a career change, you should come work for me at my insurance company. Work hard enough and you could be CEO. Whatever you're making, I'll triple it. " Edward said as I heard a laugh.

"Thank you for that generous offer, but I love teaching over at Columbia and am quite content there. Excuse me for a moment." I told them all.

Without waiting for their response, I quickly turned and started following the laugh. People saw me and said something about the gallery or something about my engagement, I don't know which one but I thanked them as I kept following where I heard the laugh. The laugh I knew better than the back of my hand… it has to be her. All of a sudden, I saw her after five years. She had a red knee length bodycon dress and a leopard print blazer. God, my Aria has barely changed in the last five years except her hair is shorter. But I had known it was her, I'd know that laugh anywhere even if it's been years since I last heard it – I just had to confirm it. Seeing her in that dress, it brought me back to our first public date.

Flashback – October 2010

I watched Aria walk up the backstairs to my apartment building. She deserves a proper date, even though it might be our only public date. So, I had rented a limo instead of ordering the train tickets like she tasked me with. God, I've never been this nervous before - hell I didn't even know which shirt to wear with this tie she got me. Watching her press the buzzer again, I pulled my phone out anticipating her call to see why I'm not letting her up.

"Hi." I answered coolly.

"Hey, where are you?" She asked

"You look good." I responded and she turned around confused until she saw me.

End of flashback

God, she looks beautiful in that red dress. Of course, Victoria has multiple red dresses…. But none compared to Aria's. Nothing could ever compare when it comes to Aria, she was the best thing that ever happened to me and I lost her. When she hung up that night, I knew she hung up to cry and didn't want me to hear. Hell, I cried over her for what felt like forever and I never cried over a girl before, not when Maggie ran off without a goodbye or when Jackie ended our engagement for no reason. Aria wasn't just another girl, she's the one for me. After struggling all these years not to reach out… she's so close to me physically.

"Darling, what is it? Also, your mother wants us over for a photo." Victoria asked, walking up.

"Aria's here." I said, unable to look away in case Aria disappeared.

"Who?" Victoria questioned.

"Aria Montgomery." I said.

"Your ex-girlfriend?" She asked.

I didn't need to respond; she knew by the look on my face. Without thinking, I started making my way towards Aria. I need to see her up close, hear her say my name...talk to her after all these years. What am I even doing with Victoria? God, why are there so many goddamn people here? Just as I was a few feet away from my Aria, I stopped in my tracks. She's here with another guy, who's holding her hand as she's leading him towards the sculptures. Of course, she moved on. I did too but I never stopped being hers even though she clearly stopped being mine. Add the fact I didn't move on willingly the way she had.

….

Aria's pov

Watching Parker start taking the photos, I felt my heart start beating like crazy. It hadn't been my imagination; Ezra really is here. I stared at Ezra as he walked up to his mom - who apparently is Dianne Fitzgerald with some blonde woman. I realized the blonde was Victoria… his fiancée Victoria. She laughed at something he said. He really had this life waiting for him when he left Rosewood. It was never going to be us, especially since this is his real life. Wealth, sophisticated art galleries, beautiful blonde Blair Waldorf wannabes on his arm. Her dress is cute though, off the shoulder, white but mostly covered in red flowers. Looks like a Marc Jacobs dress but I could be wrong. God I hate Hanna for making me study all those designers' styles with her. Just as she kissed him, I looked away and turned to Riley. It pissed me off seeing Simone and Jackie flirt with him but this… this hurts. Because he isn't mine, not anymore.

"I have to leave." I told Riley.

"What are you talking about?" He asked concerned, unaware Ezra's here.

That guy… Ezra Fitzgerald." I started but he cut me off.

"Aria, again, there are probably thousands of guys named Ezra in the world, let alone New York." Riley told me.

"No! That really is Ezra. I mean, it really is my Ezra… wait, he's not even my Ezra anymore. He-he's someone else's Ezra." I croaked and he gently held me by my shoulders.

"Tonight- forget about him. This is your night, your big article for the New York Insider. Don't let anything that has to do with your past with Ezra get in the way of why you're even here: you getting your big break." He told me.

"What's the chance you even run into him? If you do, just pretend you don't know him. For all he knows, you could have memory loss and not remember anything." He added.

"It feels like I don't even know him anyway. He never told me his real last name or that this is his life." I said, ignoring his memory loss comment.

"Stay by my side for the rest of the night?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't be able to make it through without him.

"You got it." He responded.

"But how am I supposed to pretend I don't know him? I gave him my heart five years ago and… he still has it. I'm still in love with him Riles, even though us being together is long gone." I complained.

"Again, it's not like you're going to bump into him. There's a lot of people here. I know I said I'd stay by your side but you did drag me here and there are free drinks. Want anything?" He asked, noticing the bar.

"White wine. I'm going over to the sculptures, meet me over there." I answered and he nodded.

He walked away and I turned around, bumping into someone. Looking up, I realized that I was looking into Ezra's eyes. The eyes that have been in all my good dreams since the day I met him, his eyes that I haven't been able to look into personally since before we broke up. This cannot be happening; damn I blame Riley for jinxing this! Five years and this is how we meet again? Me walking straight into him like a moron? Shit, what did Riley say to do if I ran into Ezra? Memories of him and I together bursted out of the file in my mind that I put them long ago, a file that I thought was mostly secured since a memory does pop up once in a while but not like this. Before I could say anything he spoke up, it feels like we've just been staring at each other forever.

"Aria…" He finally and my heart started beating like crazy again at the sound of his voice.

"Sorry, do I know you?" I quickly asked.

"Aria, come check this painting out." Riley said, from a few feet away before Ezra could respond.

"Excuse me, again, I'm so sorry." I said and hurried towards Riley.

"Can you explain this painting to me?" He asked, knowing not to say anything right now.

"Riley, you need directions to make a hot pocket explained to you." I joked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

…..

Riley rubbed my back as I downed the last of the black cherry schnapps in my glass. He wasn't going to say anything about my drinking or anything that happened tonight. Of course, Ezra moved on, why wouldn't he? I looked between my purple plastic cup and the bottle. I reached for the bottle and took a swig. God, he likes blondes that give Blair Waldorf vibes now? She looked like the perfect poster wife, with her stupid button nose and her stupid blonde hair and her stupid lips that were on MY Ezra… wait a minute, he stopped being mine long ago, he stopped caring about me and us long ago.

"Want me to make you something to eat? I'm sure we have some leftover pizza or I think we still have those ramen cups you like." He asked, I burst into tears and he pulled me into his arms.

"Fight for him, you did it before." He said softly, I shook my head.

"So, you're just not going to fight for him?" He asked,

"He's engaged Riley! I haven't seen him in five damn years and he's getting married." I sobbed.

"I've been waiting for him… but he didn't wait for me." I choked out.

…

Ezra's pov - few hours later

Staring out the window at the city, I couldn't stop thinking about Aria. Of all the cities and even states in the country, she's now in New York. Was she looking for me? But she had a date and they seemed pretty serious. Does he know about the love she had once shared with me long ago or had she forgotten all about us? I took another sip of my scotch that I poured an hour ago and barely touched. There's no way Aria could have forgotten the love we had, there has to be a reason she was pretending not to know me. Just then I felt a hand on my shoulder, I glanced away from Manhattan's lights to see Victoria in some pink satin slip, pretty sure she had it sent from Paris after she and her mom went last month.

"Come up to bed, I want to give you your engagement present." She whispered.

"In a bit." I said.

"Send him up in five minutes if he's still down here." I heard Victoria say.

Since it was obvious she wasn't talking to me, it only told me that Hardy just got home. It went silent as Victoria went upstairs. Even though I told her I'd be up in a bit, we both knew I wouldn't be up there until I knew that she was completely fast asleep. How could I be with her in that way and be thinking of Aria? Wish I could have spoken with Aria… but she chose to pretend she didn't know me. Of all the people from my past, it had to be her. Why tonight and not two years ago? All I could say was her name, but it felt so good to say her name again.

"Dude, what are you doing? You could actually be getting some! Time after time, you find any excuse not to have sex with her… what's holding you back?" He said.

"Aria's here." I said.

"Wait… here?" He asked, completely shocked.

"No. Not here, here you idiot. Here.. in New York city of all places. She was at the gallery tonight, doing the interviews for The New York Insider." I told him

"She moved on.." I trailed off; my mind unable to shake the memory of that guy holding her hand.

"So did you man." He said carefully.

"You know I didn't want to, or even have a choice in that." I reminded him.