Beautiful Disaster

Chapter 3

Aria comes to a stop in front of her mother and Zack's home. She can just barely catch a glimpse of Ella through the window, smiling and holding a wine glass in her hand. It's the happiest Aria can ever remember seeing her mom. Then, Zack is in view, stepping closer to Ella with the same overly content expression on his face. He's leaning closer to her and soon they're kissing. Aria forces her eyes away and steps on the gas, feeling like she's intruding on an intimate moment.

Aria doesn't know why she lied to her friends. Not just about having to leave, but about where she was going. She never had any plans with her mother, and she has no reason to keep anything about Ezra a secret anymore. She guesses that she just doesn't want her friends to think that she's ditching A-revenge-plotting time in exchange for time with her boyfriend. Even though technically, that's exactly what she's doing. It isn't that she'd rather be with Ezra, but she knows that one more minute inside of that bedroom would have driven her insane-more so than she already feels.

The more she thinks about it though, the less she wants to see Ezra either. She knows that as soon as she sees him he'll want to talk about what happened on the rooftop. He may have been willing to let it go last night and this morning but she could tell from the way he looked at her that he still had things he wanted to say to her, or things that he wanted her to say to him. It's enough to make her dread going back to the small apartment she calls home and suddenly, before she can really think about it, she finds herself turning into her family's driveway. She tries to ignore the fact that the driveway built for two currently has just one car in its space, and will probably only ever have one as long as the Montgomery's still own the residence. Still, she can't help but call out, "Dad?" when she steps through the doorway.

Mike is at the top of the stairs, shaking his head when Aria looks at him for an answer. She knows better than to be disappointed by now, as if she expected any different.

"Hey, Mike," Aria says, managing a smile.

She walks over to the couch, sitting down with a groan, and leans against the armrest. Mike makes his way down the stairs, following Aria to the couch and taking a seat next to her.

"Are you staying home tonight?" he asks.

Aria looks down. "I wasn't planning on it, but if you need me to-"

Mike shakes his head. "No, it's fine. I'm staying over at Gavin's house tonight," he replies, picking up a small backpack by his feet so Aria can see, then placing it back down.

"Yeah, so if you wanted to have your buddy Mr. Fitz over for some strip scrabble, go for it," a voice says from behind them.

Aria turns her head to see Mike's friend coming from the kitchen. He leans against the doorframe and finishes off the glass of coke in his hand before giving Aria a wink. She rolls her eyes, too tired to deal with this, and presses her forehead into the palm of her hand, letting out a sigh.

"Gavin, what the hell?" Mike snaps, glaring at him.

"It's a joke!" Gavin argues with a smirk still planted on his face. When it's clear that Mike has no patience for it, Gavin shrugs. "Whatever, let's go."

Mike hesitates, glancing at Aria.

"Mike, go. It's fine," Aria reassures him, dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

Her brother gets up, grabbing the backpack and slinging it over his shoulder before following Gavin to the door.

"Okay but a teacher? You gotta admit, Mikey, there's no way she didn't earn some extra credit. I bet he made her a real sucker for English..." Gavin whispers, but its loud enough for Aria to hear.