Ezra takes the last sip out of his third bottle of the night or was it daytime? He couldn't remember. His whole life was a blur of night and day. Days and weeks. He slams the bottle onto the ground, watching the pieces scatter across his floor.
"Ezra" He heard someone call. He blinked once or twice. The voice sounded so faint and beautiful, but it wasn't the voice of the one he had lost this past year. It was the one he had lost so many years ago.
"Aria" He whispered, getting off the couch and making his way to the door. He swung open the door to see Aria on the other side, smiling.
"Hi, Ezra" She says as he motions her inside. She quickly catches notice of the mess that had evolved in his apartment over the past year, but says nothing.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"No, I'm good" She replies.
He goes back to the couch, avoiding stepping on the broken glass as he walked. Aria follows close behind then sitting next to him. She takes his hand in hers and Ezra immediately notices the diamond ring sitting on her finger. He had heard about it. He had seen Byron once or twice when he went out to get food. He told him that Aria was engaged to that publisher guy. The thought of him made Ezra sick to his stomach.
"I'm sorry about Nicole" She says, stroking his hair. "I know how hard it must have been for you"
They were kind words and he appreciated everyone of them, but his blood boiled and he couldn't take his eyes off the ring. He suddenly shot up, which causes Aria to jump and ran to his dresser. The clothes were crumbled up as he searched for the bottom of the drawer. He finally found what he was looking for and opened the lid to show Aria. A shining engagement ring sat in the box.
"Were you going to propose to Nicole?" Aria asks, getting off the couch and walking over to him. She had known Ezra was messed up after the disappearance of Nicole but she had never imagined it would be this bad. She had never thought he would be this depressed that he couldn't even shower or change his clothes or clean up. Things that were daily routines when she had spent her times at his apartment.
"No, no, no, no" He whispered as Aria strained to hear his response. "This was yours, Aria"
Aria tried to take in those four words quickly. How could that have been her? They had broken up way before she went to college and they haven't seen each other in five years. He was drunk. He was going to propose to Nicole but then she went missing. He was depressed and hurt that he couldn't think straight. That had to be it. This ring couldn't be hers, could it?
"Mine? No, we broke up..." She started.
"No, Aria. This was my grandmothers. She passed away long before you came into the picture, but she told me once that I had to give this to a girl that was my world. A girl that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. A girl that made me happy and a girl that would always support me in everything I do. A girl so special that you would die if you ever saw her with another man" He says, shutting the lid to the box and throwing it across the room. "This was yours, Aria! You're my world. You're the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with and the girl that always supports me in everything I do. You're so special that I die every time I think of you with Liam and how one day you're going to be husband and wife. Everyone thinks I'm so heart broken and depressed about Nicole but Aria, it's all for you. This was your ring and now you're wearing someone else's"
