Save Us - An Ezria Story - Discontinued

Chapter Two

Ezra's POV

Although I never fell out of love with Aria Montgomery, from that second I saw her smile and heard her say my name as she stood in in front of me in The Brew, I couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again.

"It's so great to see you!" I exclaimed as I engulfed her tiny frame in my embrace. Aria wrapped her arms around me too, and lay her head on my chest.

"You too," she whispered, she almost sounded broken. As we pulled away from the embrace, I noticed a difference in Aria. She was a lot skinnier than she was when I left Rosewood. Her eyes were teary and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.

"I've missed you." I told her honestly. She flashed me a smile then blushed.

"I missed you, too," Aria said quietly, nearly whispering the words. "How was the job?"

"What job?" I asked her, confused.

"The one in New York, you said that's why you were leaving Rosewood nearly two years ago."

"Oh, uh, I didn't get a job in New York," I confessed. A sad look spread across Aria's face. "I went there to try to get over you, because you were happy with Andrew. I felt I had to leave Rosewood, so I did, but it hurt more to be away from you, so I came back and bought this place."

"Wait you bought The Brew?" Aria asked me as her eyes bulged.

"Yeah." I replied as I nodded.

She smiled again then looked down to the ground. A look of sadness mixed with fear spread across her face. She then looked back up at me and smiled again, this time her smile looked plastered on.

"Aria, are you okay?" I asked her, concerned. I continued to look at her and noticed she was pulling at her clothes, something she did when she was nervous.

"Yeah, I'm good," Aria claimed. She looked down at her feet then back up at me again.

"Are you sure?" I asked for reassurance, "You don't seem... yourself."

"You've been gone for nearly two years, Ezra. People change. I've changed," replied Aria with a clearly fake smile plastered across her face.

"Aria?"

Just as Aria opened her mouth to speak, a tiny voice interrupted her.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" the voice of a sweet young child cried as she toddled up to Aria. As soon as the little girl saw me, she hid behind Aria's legs and gripped onto her jeans. She kept poking her head to the side and eyeing me from head to toe.

"Who's this?" I asked in a baby voice as I looked down at the beautiful child hiding behind Aria.

"My daughter," Aria replied as she ran her fingers through the little girl's dark brown hair.

"Aria, she looks just like you... Well, except her eyes," I complimented.

"She has her father's eyes," Aria replied as her daughter tightened her grip around Aria's legs.

"She's beautiful, but I don't think she likes me," I said as I slowly nodded at Aria's daughter who was hiding behind her.

"Oh, no, don't take the hiding thing personally. She's just very shy and knows not to talk to strangers," Aria informed me. She leaned over and picked up her daughter, and the beautiful toddler buried her face in her mother's neck. "Anastasia, this is an old friend of Mommy's. Do you want to say hello?"

Aria's daughter nodded slowly then Aria put her back down on the ground.

"Hello, I'm Anastasia," the little girl introduced herself shyly as she raised one of her tiny hands for me to shake.