***Chapter 56***

**Aria's POV**

I woke groggily from the backseat of my dad's car. The day at the amusement park and the long drive home afterwards, had knocked me out. The happiness and ease of the day sending me off to an utterly relaxed, if light, sleep as I leaned against the window. The noises of the car never really faded completely out of my awareness, instead lingering quietly and providing comfort that I wasn't alone. It relaxed me more than silence seemed to. The sun was below the horizon now, dusk passing as the car came to a stop. I lifted my head from the window, looking out to see that we were back in the Hollis parking lot, my car over to the right hand side.

"You gonna be okay to drive home?" my dad asked, obviously worried about the fact that I had just woken up from an hour long nap. "We can always come back for you car tomorrow."

I shook my head, the movement helping to get my blood flowing. Shaking the grogginess away. My purse was on the seat next to me, a small plush figure sticking out of the relatively small bag.

"I'm good. Though I think I am gonna stop by the brew on the way home, get something to drink."

That seemed like it would be the perfect cap to the day. Maybe browsing among the books for a few minutes, there was probably something there that would draw me in. And having a hot latte at the end of the day felt relaxing. Just a little quiet time to settle down and be. I swung the door open, sliding out of the car.

"Okay, see you at home soon."

I hugged my mom quickly before heading over to my car. The air crisper than it had been in the car, instantly perking me up a little more. I could feel the way that my muscles tensed as I became more aware of my surroundings. It didn't completely edge out the utter relaxation that had been washing over me throughout the day. But it did wake me up, like a film had been lifted from my senses. .

The drive from Hollis towards downtown never took too long. There wasn't too much traffic in Rosewood, so it ended up being about the same whether you were downtown or through the neighborhoods. I pulled into a space a block away from the Brew, looking forward to the short walk downtown. I felt safer than I had in a while, despite the fact that I was alone at night. I pulled my phone out of my purse as I walked, realizing that I hadn't checked for any messages since this morning. Which was longer than I normally went between messages from the girls. Sure enough there were a couple messages in the group chat.

Ali: I might need evening check-in to be delayed. Gotta talk to Tanner.

Spencer: What's going on?

Emily: Did something happen?

Ali: I got a message from Charles. I'll explain tonight.

Emily: Are you okay?

Ali: I'm fine. Just have to go in for an interview.

Spencer: 10pm work for everyone?

My eyes passed over the conversation, the last message having come in only about twenty minutes before. Apparently I had only missed the conversation because of my nap, as opposed to my day of being MIA. I reacted to the text with a thumbs up. What kind of message had Charles sent Ali that brought the cops in? And did that mean that Ali was just going straight to sharing everything with them. I couldn't imagine Emily being too pleased with that. It was almost surprising that Emily had been so concerned about Ali, given the fight at our last conversation.

I dropped my phone into my bag as I headed into the Brew. I had a few hours before evening check-in, not that I really had anything to update the others with. Except that maybe I would be able to help investigate again, now that my parents seemed willing to give me space. I ordered a latte before moving towards the books on display. There was a new mythology book that looked interesting, a bit more of a break from my normal taste. But a retelling of classic mythology seemed like an interesting take, and something worth checking out. I picked it up, checking through the new release area to see if there was anything else that caught my eye.

"Find anything interesting?" Ezra's voice cut through the background noise of soft cafe music, coffee machines, and chatter.

I barely caught myself from jumping at the interruption. The muscles in my back seizing painfully, but only shown by the tightening of my grip on the book. I turned around to look at Ezra, dressed much as usual, but he was hesitating about something.

"I did. Thought I might check this out." I turned the cover his way.

"Song of Achilles. Interesting choice." he commented, eyeing the title. "Well, I've seen good things about it. That it gives a fresh perspective on a familiar story."

There was something in that sentence that struck me. That there was something about how different people view the same story. And same events. That changes so much. Like Ali's determination to see Charles as her brother. While for me and the other girls he was a monster. The distance today had maybe helped with some of that. That Ali was searching for a family relationship, for the childhood that her parent's had denied her. It didn't change how I felt. But I couldn't deny my curiosity at her view on things.

"I think that's why I picked it up." I admitted. "I'm curious about a different way of looking at things."

"Vanilla latte, for Aria." the voice of the barista interrupted my train of thought.

"That's me." I stated needlessly. Moving towards the little pick up area, where my steaming latte was sitting.

"Oh, of course." Ezra responded automatically. "Actually, would you mind if I joined you?"

I balanced the latte in one hand and the book in the other as I turned back towards him. It caught me off-guard, that he would ask. It had always been an unspoken thing that it was alright if he sat to talk with me.

"Not at all."

He moved towards a table on one of the raised areas, with a couple of chairs around it. There were books behind the chairs, and it would at least keep my back to a wall. Something that I had been routinely looking for everytime that I went anywhere, not wanting to be surprised. I settled into the seat, looking out over the half-filled coffee shop, not bad for this late in the day.

"How have you been? It's been a while." he asked after a moment, tone cautious in that way he got when he was worried what my answer was going to be.

"Oh yeah, things have just been kind of busy the last few days."

The words were familiar, and seemed to be my go to on repeat. It felt like an avoidance. But the fact was, that the last few days had been a lot. And with the threat still looming over Sarah, it's not like I could share everything that had happened with Ezra. There was like an invisible wall. One that hadn't been there in a while. The distance between Ezra and me widening further.

"Yeah, I heard about the arcade on the news." he started, giving me a moment to respond before continuing. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head immediately. Not wanting to talk about the arcade. Or going to meet Charles. I hadn't realized that it had been on the news that I was there. Or that the incident was related to my case. My head had been so buried in schoolwork the last few days that I hadn't been keeping an eye on what was being shared with the public. There had just been so much going on in my life. I felt stupid. Of course Ezra was worried. I hadn't seen him in a while. And I had gone and done something incredibly dangerous.

"I'm fine. Just been focusing on schoolwork." it was an obvious dismissal, and an excuse. But I hadn't even thought to let him know that I was okay. I'd been having enough conversations with the girls and my family that reaching out to Ezra just never occurred to me.

"Did I overstep with the recommendation?" he asked.

"What? Why would you think that?"

I was shocked that he would go to that conclusion. But also, the contest hadn't even really been on my mind in the last few days. I vaguely remembered that I had gotten my submission in before the deadline. The days following had all been focused on other things. Breaking into the lab. Going to the doctor. The arcade. Talking to the girls. It was so much packed into just a couple of days.

"Aria, I haven't seen you since I gave you that recommendation." he explained, his cadence slow and deliberate.

His voice did that thing that he used to do when we were together. Usually when he was upset that I was hiding something from him. Before it had always made me feel incredibly guilty. Like I owed him more than what I was giving. It grated at my nerves now. Not with guilt, but something closer to indignity. It wasn't fair. But we weren't together. After New York, we had somehow fallen back into the pattern of him being so involved in the A hunt and my life, that it sometimes felt like he was acting like my boyfriend except that we didn't go on dates or kiss. I'd even kind of dated Andrew at the same time. But the dollhouse had changed all that. I'd come back and pulled away. Needing space. Needing to feel safe again. And knowing that I wasn't the girl that he had been with before.

"There's been a lot going on." I reiterated, knowing that my tone had sharpened.

I took a drink from my latte. Hoping that would help sooth some of the temper that was rising in me. There were other things happening in my life that didn't involve Ezra. And suddenly, I wasn't so sure that the recommendation hadn't bothered me. Maybe it was subconscious before. The uneasy feeling when I had just glanced through the recommendation and seen very little truth in it. Part of it had been that this felt like exactly what A would want to blackmail me about something else. But another part had felt like it was Ezra overstepping. That if I made it as a finalist in this photo contest, that it wasn't entirely on my own talent. That Ezra had a hand in making it happen. It wasn't rational. I knew that as the thoughts lined up, the overall picture finally clarifying. I had dismissed it in the moment, he wasn't being presumptuous, it was just how things had always been. But that was the issue. It was how things had been when we were together. The contest that I'd felt like I was stepping out of my comfort zone, and doing something uniquely my own, was still overshadowed by our old relationship. Made it feel like I couldn't do it on my own talent. It turned my stomach.

"Aria?" Ezra seemingly repeated, dragging me from the train of thoughts that had distracted me from the conversation.

"Sorry. I guess zoned out there for a moment."

"Are we alright?" he questioned. "With the recommendation?"

I took another sip of my latte, taking a moment to ready my response. Hopefully calmer than I really felt. "I guess it did bother me some. That it feels a little too much like we're together."

His face went slack in shock, mouth hanging ever so slightly open. I didn't think it would catch him that off guard. After a moment, he rearranged his features, masking the shock and any pain that might be associated. I didn't want to hurt him, but this suddenly felt like an important moment. A crossroads in our future, where we either decided to go our separate ways, or get back together.

"Aria, I didn't mean to presume." he backtracked, like it would suddenly get us out of this awkward and far to serious conversation.

"I know. But it's a habit that we keep falling back into. And I know part of that has been my leaning on you." I owned up to my part, knew that this was as much me falling back into the comforting patterns that we were so used to. "I'll give you some space."

"You don't have to do that." he argued, volume dropping to something more private.

"I think I do."

It felt final, as I took a long drink from my latte. There wasn't a ton left in the glass mug. But I needed to give him space, time away so we could relearn what it was like to not be a couple. Relearn boundaries. The conversation with my parents earlier today came back, that it needed to be an active conversation. And that Ezra and I didn't talk about it. Instead, we just fell back into the only pattern we really had together. The one that meant we were either dating, or not talking. I grabbed my purse and stood.

"Take care."

Then I walked out of the coffee shop, leaving the little table behind, with an abandoned book, an unfinished cup of coffee, and Ezra. The calm and relaxation that I thought I would find there to finish off my day forgotten.

I didn't look back as I walked down the street. Not wanting to see the hurt that I was sure was on Ezra's face. It hurt me enough, closing that door. I made it halfway to my car before my phone chirped in my purse. Freezing me midstep. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. The timing too perfect to be anything but an A text. I closed my eyes for a second, stopping to brace myself to bring out my phone. The moment of dread dissipated, as I looked at the phone.

Clark: Did you hear anything from the contest?

**End Chapter**

So a bit of a shorter chapter, and going into it I hadn't realized that I was writing a break-up. But Aria and Ezra's relationship in the show never really felt final to me. Let me know what ya think.