Chapter One

Twenty-Four year old Ezra Fitz stepped out of his car at the unfamiliar location. He swiftly closed his car door behind him after he got out, and straightened the creases out of his new suit jacket and pants before looking up at the beautiful Rosewood house in front of him. He was already content with his shirt and tie, so he felt little need to correct that area of his attire before he began walking up the rest of the dirt driveway towards the house. He stopped at the steps leading up to the deck when something, someone had caught his eye. His body was unable to shift, his mouth unable to speak as he stared at this beautiful, shorter in stature than himself, pretty girl with curled brown hair that went to just above her waist. She was laughing along at a story of a woman who Ezra assumed to be in her early 50s. The girl briefly looked to the side of the woman as she continued to laugh, and her eye caught Ezra's; unable to shift her gaze either. She gave a soft smile as she slightly lowered her head as she blushed, before looking back to the woman who was continuing on with her story. Ezra smiled contently, knowing they had just shared something within that glare, before he headed up the steps to the inside of the house. The girl and he met eyes once again as he walked past her; they both knew they would continue whatever was between them later.

"Ezra," Byron Montgomery said loudly across the main living room as he saw him walk in. They had only met the once; Byron being instrumental in securing Ezra as the new English Literature teacher at Hollis. As it was going to be his first teaching job; he had really been thrown a bone. Byron clearly had faith in him, which Ezra was only too modest to search for within himself.

"It's great you could make it," Byron said with a smile as he patted Ezra on the back. "Did you have any trouble finding the property?" Byron asked, absolutely wanting to know if Ezra has had any difficulties in any way. "It's great that we have these faculty dos the day before Hollis goes back. Gives everyone a chance to catch up, and get warmed up for the school year," he smiled concluding his statement. Byron had adopted a 'big brother' type of relationship with Ezra; he was going to look out for his new, much younger colleague.

"Are you ready to start tomorrow? Got your lessons planned and everything?" Ezra asked grabbing a drink from the table behind him and putting it into Ezra's hands before he had a chance to protest. It was scotch, Ezra's favourite; so he saw no need to once the glass was in his hand. Ezra looked up from the glass to smile at Byron reassuringly.

"Yes, everything is ready," he attempted to say firmly. While he had completely planned his first class, and felt very prepared; truth be told, he was shitting himself.

Byron could read Ezra's nerves and offered a soft kind smile.

"You don't have to worry, you'll be fine, and you know…" Byron stopped abruptly as the front door opened next to where they were standing. "you've got perfect timing, Aria," Byron said to the brunette girl Ezra had met eyes with before. Ezra licked his lips nervously before staring down at the drink in his hands while Byron gestured his arm out to his daughter who stepped forward, Byron's arm now wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Ezra slowly looked up at the girl who was already staring at him, smiling happily that they were in each other's company again.

"I was about to say, Aria is going to be in your class. She starts Hollis tomorrow too," he said proudly while her smile grew largely at her father.

"English Lit major," Aria said proudly to Ezra whose eyes widened mirroring his beaming smile, registering they already had so much in common.

"Yeah, um… yeah," Ezra started before nerves got the better of him. "I'll be teaching English Literature," he told her excitedly. "It'll be nice to have a familiar face in the class," Ezra composed himself enough to breath out, before his throat closed up again with nerves.

"I'll leave you two to it," Byron said patting Aria once on the back before reaching a hand forward to meet with Ezra's "glad you could make it," Byron said warmly before he walked to a new crowd of his colleagues who had just entered the house.

Ezra stared at Aria's face for what seemed hours. She smiled, almost cruelly, as she enjoyed him trying to find the words to speak. She pulled a tight smile while she clasped her hands together tightly in front of her, not worrying about the time that was passing; just hoping he'd be able to make the first move. Ezra moved his hand to his forehead in panic as Aria decided she had no other option but to start this.

"You know, there are other places around here than this living room," she said raising her eyebrows, making Ezra blush in response. "Come on," she said to him as she opened the front door again. He followed without a word as they walked down the front steps, past multiple groups of Hollis' faculty who had failed to notice them. Ezra took a few quickened steps to be side by side with Aria as he followed her lead. They walked around the front of the house, down the side to get to the Montgomery's back garden, which had gone unnoticed to all the other guests. There was a giant oak tree in the centre of the freshly cut lawn, flowering roses and smaller shrubs framed the modest back garden. They both stopped at the side of the garden and Ezra looked to Aria's face with a curious smile and glint in his eye. She looked back to him and smiled enthusiastically as she immediately stepped forward towards the oak tree. The tree had on its main branch an old swing. The swing was clearly still in good nick, even though it had obviously been there for at least a decade. This was Aria's spot on the property, her place to come and think. This became immediately clear to Ezra as he watched her sit on the swing from a distance, watching her relax and take her time to look up at the beautiful sunny day that was lit above them.

"What are you so scared of?" she asked Ezra who was still standing about 10 metres away from her. He smiled beautifully before walking towards her, and softly placing his hand on her waist, preparing to push her on the swing. As soon as his hands touched her, life jolted between them as both their mouths parted is shock and amazement. Both avid readers, they had both read of that feeling; neither knew it to be true to real life until that moment.

Ezra began pushing her gently on the swing. Aria's hands gripped the ropes either side of the seat tightly, while the swing kept her at a lower height.

"You're my new teacher, huh? That sounds like my luck," Aria blurted before she registered what she was saying. Ezra grabbed her waist again immediately after she spoke, holding her up against him at the back of the motion of the swing. Aria let out a sigh as she felt his body step closer to hers as the swing lowered only slightly while she was being held against him. She was still a good metre and a half above the ground while he held her close.

"Ezra," Aria spoke breathlessly, interrupting their silence. "You're my teacher. We, shouldn't," she breathed out painfully while he sighed with anguish coating his breath. "I mean, we," Aria began as she turned around to look at his face, which she immediately threw herself onto his while one of her hands came up to caress his face. Ezra's grip tightened adoringly on her waist as he pulled her closer into their awkward-angled kiss. Though, because it was so unique; the kiss was absolutely perfect.

Red and without breath, Aria pulled back from Ezra and looked into his eyes. His eyes turned 'business-like' as he returned the swing to a neutral position. Disappointment washed over Aria as he walked around the side of the swing to walk back to the party. Aria sucked on her bottom lip sadly while she watched him walk further away. He abruptly stopped when he was about 4 metres in front of her, clearly fighting his better judgement. He turned back to Aria and had his lips against hers again within 4 seconds. He pulled her up off the swing as they passionately kissed each other, both of them getting completely lost, their world becoming hazy and only including each other.

Ezra pulled back from his 'soon-to-be student' as both their reddened faces began returning slightly to a normal colour. "I don't care," he breathed while smiling, which made Aria's face immediately light up. "I don't care what we become tomorrow, the legalities. Right now, we're here. We feel this," he said before kissing her again while she smiled into the kiss.

Aria pulled back and smiled with adoring eyes. She ran her hand through his hair while she clasped herself to him tighter. He tickled her ribs making her laugh loudly, the surprise of the sheer volume of her screams making them both fall onto the grass; Ezra cushioning Aria's landing. She pushed herself onto her arms, while her torso remained glued to his. She tentatively brought her face close to his again, before they both slowly motioned into a delicate kiss, while Ezra's hand stroked the side of one of her arms with care.

"We're really going to do this?" Aria asked decided and excited.

Ezra pushed her hair to the sides of her face to see her eyes better. "Yeah, we are," he responded laughing before he motioned towards her for another kiss. Before their lips could meet however, Aria had jumped up off of him and sprinted to the edge of the garden with a mischievous grin.

Ezra laughed heartedly, masking his slight disappointment at the same time, while he remained on his back on the grass.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Aria said flirtatiously as she darted back around the side of her house, leaving Ezra there in the back yard by himself to gather his thoughts. Ezra smiled excitedly, feeling flutters he'd seen portrayed in the films, described in the literature he had read. For the first time in his life, he felt hope.

At 4pm that afternoon, Ezra went to get the results of a series of tests he'd just had taken from the doctor. He hadn't been feeling 100% for a while now, and that was all he could offer on the subject. The tests were to tell him just what was happening inside of him.

"Ezra," the doctor greeted as he clasped Ezra's hand with his own.

"Dr Dunphy, how are you?" Ezra asked the approximately 70 year old doctor. He had been who Ezra's family had gone to for decades. He was the best, still sharp as a tack.

"Unfortunately son, I wish I had better news," he said glumly as he sat in front of Ezra.

The doctor sighed and ran his hand over his forehead while Ezra ran his sweaty palms over his knees a few times, bracing himself. "It's cancer, late stage, in your stomach. I am so sorry," the doctor spoke quickly, hating being the one telling Ezra this, shortening his life. "I'd take a guess at 6 months," he said solemnly.

Ezra's eyes glazed over as he stared into the blurry distance. Suddenly, everything in the world became clearer. The things he would never have, the things he desperately wanted to have before he went. He thought of Aria. This beautiful girl he was already falling for hard, and what complications this already meant for her.

He slowly pushed himself up off his seat in the doctor's office and walked out of the door without a word. The doctor understood, he didn't push him; he just let the silence be the end of their talk, at least for now.

Ezra slowly opened the door of his car and climbed in, closing the door behind him. He put the key in the ignition and took a deep breath. Unashamedly, tears began to rapidly cover Ezra's face as he began to sob like a small child. He was terrified.

Please Review! I already have this story planned, so if you want more, let me know! :)

Shameless promotion: I'm also writing Winter Wonderland, rated T, and When You Know It's Meant To Be, rated M if you want to read (and review?) more of my stuff! I hope you'll check them out!

Here's to my first upload for the new year; and my first new story of the year! Take care, see you soon, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Bring it on 2012 :) ~St0ryTeller x