Our New Beginning

Chapter 5

Ezra woke up the next morning to find that Aria had left at some point while he was asleep. He tried not to take it personally, but he would be lying if he said he didn't wish he could wake up next to her every morning. Ezra shook his head. He really needed to stop thinking like that. As much as he cared for Aria he barely knew her. If she knew what he was thinking she would never speak to him again. Ezra wouldn't blame her either, but for some reason he had this feeling that they were meant to be. He didn't believe in fate, or much of anything else, but he believed in whatever they were.

He got out of bed and walked over to his dresser, putting on whatever he grabbed first. As he pulled the red t-shirt over his head he looked down and caught sight of something white sticking out from underneath his dresser. He pulled it out, flipping over the torn strip of paper to reveal some cut off word followed by "-A" in bold black letters. His mind immediately went back to the text he received about Aria's age. Who the fuck was A? Was it someone he'd known before the accident? Was it just a coincidence? Ezra let out a heavy sigh before putting the piece of paper on top of the dresser. His head began to ache and he rubbed his temples in attempt to relieve some of the pain. Whatever—whoever—A was, he could deal with it later.

. . .

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Spencer asked as she walked Aria to her car.

"Nope," Aria replied.

Spencer rolled her eyes. "That's comforting."

"It's not like there's a textbook on this."

"Actually I'm pretty sure there is. It's called Don't Do It."

Aria frowned, looking down to check her phone.

"Is that him?" Spencer asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, he wants to do dinner again tonight."

"Have you...?"

Aria tried to avoid the question but her cheeks turned bright red. Spencer sighed defeatedly.

"Aria, what's the one thing I told you not to do."

Aria bites her lip. "Sleep with Ezra."

"And what did you do?"

"Sleep with Ezra..."

Spencer chuckled. "I don't know why I even tried."

Aria responded to Ezra's text as she and Spencer reached their cars.

"Aria?" Spencer said as she opened her door.

Aria looked up, her brow raised expectantly.

"I know I say this all the time but please, be careful. I just want you to be happy."

Aria smiled. "I know, Spence. I'll see you tomorrow."

Spencer knows she should trust her, but she couldn't help the dread settling in her stomach as she watched Aria drive away. One way or another, someone was going to get hurt. She just prayed it wouldn't be Aria. Not after everything that happened. Not after all she'd done to prove to herself that Ezra's love was real.

. . .

Ezra heard his phone vibrate from the opposite end of the couch and eagerly moved to check it, hoping that it was from Aria. There was a message from her, saying that she would be over for dinner, but for once hers isn't what caught his attention. He felt his stomach drop as he read the word 'unknown'.

Unknown Number:

ariA knows more than you think.

Ezra sighed and closed his eyes, throwing his phone down on the couch. Were they trying to tell him that Aria was A? Or just that she knew who was? Or maybe everything was completely unrelated and he was just getting fucked with. Then again, whoever this person was told him Aria's age, and why would Aria go through so much trouble just to tell him? None of it made any sense. He wondered if the memories he'd lost could help him now. What had he done in the past three years that made him the target of a cyber stalker? How did they know so much about Aria?