Forget Me Not

Chapter 8

"Life goes on...whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown. Or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what could've been."

- Anonymous

Ezra

"Aria..?" Her sobbing stopped immediately as she realized I was still on the phone, then the line went dead. I sighed as I slowly set my phone down on the table. Why was everything so complicated all of a sudden?

"Ezra! Please come down and talk to me," I heard Alison's voice call from the kitchen. I had to go to see Aria...I needed to know what was bothering her so much. She knew something and I was going to find out exactly what it was. I didn't care that we had just met, I didn't care if Alison hated her, I felt bad and I didn't want to be the reason why she was so upset.

"We can talk later, Ali, I need to see Aria. I'll be back soon, I promise." I was still bitter about the previous night so I left without a hug or kiss goodbye and drove to the hotel that Aria was staying at.

I walked inside the musty hotel and went straight to the reception desk.

"Hi, my name's Ezra Fitz and my friend told me that you could just let me up. Uh, room 306. Her name's Aria, Aria Montgomery." I smiled friendly as the twenty-something year old clicked on his computer.

"Oh, huh? That's weird.."

"What?"

"It says that Aria Montgomery and two other guests checked out a little over two weeks ago."

My heart fell. She was gone? How did I not realize that she left two weeks ago?! Was I really that stupid?

"Oh. Well, um, thanks for your help." I turned on my heel and walked right back out of the hotel. The sun was hidden behind gray clouds - it was probably going to rain. I sat in my car and debated where to go next for a few moments, glancing at the clock. It was just 12, and Marley would be back from daycare. I ultimately decided to just head back home to Alison. There was nothing I could do to help her now. And clearly, she didn't want my help.

As I unlocked the front door I heard the light patter of Marley's feet running towards me.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She exclaimed, giggling as I lifted her into the air.

"Hey, Mar! How's Daddy's Princess?"

"Good, good, good!" She sang, pointing me over to her small table filled with crayons and coloring books.

"What are you coloring today?"

"I made you a picture, Daddy!" She handed me an outlined drawing of Tinker Bell filled with scribbles of all different colors.

"I love it, Bug. I'm gonna hang it up in my office, you keep coloring, okay?" She nodded and went back to coloring in deep concentration. I stared at her, fixated by her innocence. She was drawing carefully with her tongue sticking out just an inch, her eyebrows furrowed. The sight made me smile, but it made me sad. Marley wasn't mine and no matter how much of a father I was towards her, I'd never be related to her. I sighed once and proceeded to climb up the steps to my office.

Alison was sitting on my office couch, holding her knees to herself and crying. She looked up with puffy eyes when I walked in.

"Hey," she tried to smile, but it faltered. I set Marley's picture on my desk before carefully walking over to the couch and sitting next to her.

"Why are you crying?" I asked softly, she scooted closer to me. I tensed at first, but then I opened my arms for her to lean into me. I was too nice, I was too much of a pushover.