Lost & Found-Ezria

Chapter 15-YES, IT'S HERE.

Ezra's POV

It had been three months since I last spoke to Aria. I knew she was in L.A somewhere, with her boyfriend. That was all I knew. After she took of on me so abruptly, I tried to convince myself that I needed to move on. That sentiment has stayed with me throughout these three months. I didn't have much of an idea of how Aria was doing, but I knew that she hadn't left my mind for one second.

"Ezra, sweetie?" Emma called from down the hall. I heard the much too familiar sound of her Louboutins clinking against the hardwood floor, and soon enough her figure appeared in the doorway. Her dramatic sigh interrupted my train of thought, and I had no choice but to look up.

"We have an appointment with Amanda in 10 minutes, and you're just sitting here?" She demanded. Her perfectly made-up face wrinkled in frustration, and I couldn't help but think of how Aria's face did the same thing when she was angry.

Amanda was our wedding planner, and we had been meeting with her bi-weekly for the past three months. The wedding was fast approaching, and I couldn't want this any less. My heart was telling me to go for Aria, to take the risk. But I knew that I had to let her be happy, and she made it very clear to me that it wouldn't be with me. So, the logical part of me somehow allowed for Emma and I's relationship to get this far, and it was kind of too late to back out now.

I was perfectly aware of the fact that I was settling. I wasn't happy even in the slightest, but I also knew Emma was the best I would get. I knew that I was stuck with her perfect-ness, her clingy-ness, and her annoying-ness.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming." I replied blankly, getting up from my spot on the couch and treading passed her emotionlessly. 

I could hear her sigh again as she followed not far behind me. Her heels clicked loudly once again, and I couldn't help but think of how I was reading the wedding. It was in three days, and nothing about this felt right.

By the time we finished our appointment with the wedding planner, Emma was exhausted and claimed she was ready to go home. She had a ritual that three times a day she would detox or meditate or whatever it was that she did it my only few hours of pure quiet time. I drove home and dropped her off in complete silence. She didn't even question where I was going.

Living with Emma was never easy. She was moody, a perfectionist, and rarely ever let me be happy. I found myself constantly picturing my life with Aria rather than her– if that wasn't the first sign of an unhappy relationship, then I don't know what is.

I sighed for what seems like the millionth time that day, and continued driving. I knew where I was going, and unfortunately it was to somewhere that Emma had wanted me to go for days.

She had been bugging me to deliver our wedding invitations to the only three people she didn't know personally. Part of her intricate wedding plans was to deliver every single invitation by hand, and Emma had done that for every one of our guests-except for these three.

Spencer, Hanna, and Emily have all been speaking to me on a regular basis. We didn't talk much about Aria anymore, since even they have barely heard from her. We had all become very good friends, and I wish I could be satisfied with just that, but we all knew that there was a missing piece to this puzzle, and that was Aria.

I pulled up to the far too familiar coffee bar. I parked my car and shuffled quickly through the front door, and was greeted by the radiating smile of Emily.

"Hey, Ez. What's up? I'm actually meeting the girls in a few minutes, as soon as my shift is over." She said quickly, pouring multiple cups of coffee behind the counter. 

Emily had been working at the Brew for the past few months. She was living in California, but since her dad died, she moved back to Rosewood to help her mom. She got her old barista job back and has worked there since.

"Uh, sure. Sounds good." I say, smiling. I sit down at the counter near the window, and pull out my phone. Sure enough, there weren't any new texts messages. I couldn't help but hope Aria was going to magically text me again, but I knew how completely unrealistic that was.

Before I knew it, Emily was tapping me on the shoulder, pulling me out of my daydreams.

"Ready? " She said sweetly, nudging toward her parked car outside. I nodded her and followed.

Most of the drive was spent in silence, but eventually I couldn't take it anymore.

"Do you think I should invite Aria to the wedding?" I said quickly, blowing out a puff of air as I spoke.

"What?" Emily said, obviously surprised.

"Um, I mean... It would be kinda awkward." She said, staring at the road in front of her. I nodded, completely understanding what she meant.

∆∆∆

That night was spent in Hanna's newly renovated condo, where we all sat and spoke about our lives. We saw each other almost once a week, and yet we had so much to catch up on. Emily ranted about her grief about her father, Spencer ranted about her broken heart, and Hanna ranted about how hard it was to pick the curtain colours. And I ranted about Aria.

We decided that it was better not to invite Aria to the wedding, since she obviously wanted nothing to do with me. I knew this was for the best, but I longed for closure.

ºººººººººº

I adjusted my bow tie, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Today was the day; I was supposed to marry the love of my life, and yet I looked so unhappy. I knew perfectly well that I was settling, and somehow, after all these months with Emma, I allowed myself to go through with it.

I sighed as I turned to put my blazer on. The room was empty except for me; I didn't have any guy friends, since Toby distanced himself from me when he broke up with Spencer, and Caleb ignored me completely after he broke up with Hanna.

I was about to go out the door, walking down the aisle, signifying the misery of the rest of my life, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I said quietly, sighing miserably.

The person who appeared at my doorway shocked me completely. I was breathless; excitement, sadness, anger, fear, and confusion rushed through my veins.

"Aria..." I said, taken aback by the fact that the only person I have ever truly loved was here.Finally. 

{Hey hey friends! So I'm so sorry that was so terrible. I know exactly where I'm going with this, and I hope you all like the direction as much as I do. One last question for you all before I go on to write the next chapter: do you want me to prolong this fanfic and continue writing about the lives of the characters even after this storyline is settled? and show them as they grow up and their adult lives, etc etc etc, or would you prefer I started fresh? Please let me know your answer and your general thoughts of the fanfic. I love you guys! Thanks for the support and please don't be shy and vote and comment on this :)}