It was a rainy Friday afternoon when Aria got a text message from Ezra that told her to meet him at his apartment.

"So, what's up?" she asked Ezra as she closed the door of his apartment and set her bag on his kitchen table.

"We need to talk", Ezra said sounding nervous. He was pacing the room back and forth, whilst every once in a while running his hands through his hair.

"That doesn't sound too good..." Aria started to have an uneasy feeling.

"I think we have to break up." At this point he had stopped the pacing and was standing in front of Aria with a sad look on his face.

"Where is this coming from?" Aria asked in disbelief.

"I got a job as an english teacher-"

"But that's great Ezra!" she cut him off.

"Aria, the problem is, it's in Sacramento", Ezra stated sadly. Aria stayed quiet.

"Please say something", Ezra begged.

"I gotta go", Aria said abruptly. Next thing you know, she was running into her car and speeding away.

How could he just drop everything in one second and not even ask her opinion? Aria thought. They had so much history together and he just broke up with her without even second-guessing it! Unbelievable. If he decides to end things like this, then he can't expect her to want to stay in speaking terms with him. He lost his chance, Aria thought.

Aria was in her room, lying on her bed with her pyjamas on, but she just couldn't fall asleep. How pathetic was she? Sulking in her bed on a Friday evening, while everyone else was probably out partying. Just then she realized something. She had forgotten her bag at Ezra's! She couldn't go back there anymore, not after he had just broken up with her. She would not humble herself just for the sake of a few makeup products and a phone. She did have her wallet there though. Maybe she could just wait for Ezra to bring it to her… Just then she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Oh no! It's probably Ezra! She couldn't handle this right now. Thankfully Aria heard Mike open the door and murmur something. Then she heard the door shut. Aria felt herself sigh in relief. But then all of a sudden she heard a knock on her door. No no no! This couldn't be happening. She couldn't believe Mike would let him in! Just as she was gonna go hide in her bathroom, she heard a voice:

"Can I come in Aria?" Emily said from behind the door.

"Emily! Why wouldn't you just come in?"

"I didn't wanna bother you if you were already sleeping or something." At this point Emily had opened the door and walked over to Aria's couch.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked as Emily set her bag on the floor and sat on the couch nervously.

"Hanna is out at some party and Spencer's studying for some exam she has, so I came here."

"So I'm your last choice?" Aria asked sarcastically.

"No! I didn't mean it like that. You just spend a lot of time with Ezra so-"

"Well not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Emily was confused.

"I mean, Ezra broke up with me today."

"HE DID WHAT?" Emily asked with shock.

"He got a teaching job that's in Sacramento."

"How does that mean your relationship is doomed?"

"I've been wondering the same thing exactly." Aria said with a sad look on her face.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. No. I left my bag at Ezra's, and I can't deal with having to face him again."

"I can go get it." Emily offered with a reassuring look on her face.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"I want to, Aria. I'll go straight in the morning." Emily declared.

"Okay. Thanks." Aria said as she walked over to the couch. She held her hands out and hugged Emily, and without realizing it, tears started forming in her eyes. Emily noticed and hugged her tighter. After a while of them just hugging and Aria sniffling, Aria finally pulled away and asked:

"What did you wanna talk to me about?"

"It's really nothing." Emily said nervously.

"It must be something if you came here to talk about it in the first place. Come on. You can tell me anything."

"Okay, here's the thing. You know how Jason went away to New York a few years ago?"

"Yeah…"

"Well now he's back. And Alison is not so excited about it."

Aria's mouth dropped open from shock. Alison and Jason were never really in the best of terms. Anytime the girls were visiting Alison, if they ever saw Jason, he was always mad at Alison about something. However, Aria had developed a crush on Jason when she was fourteen. Jason was mysterious and always hanging out in his room. He had long light brown hair that went down to his shoulders. Ali always used to mock him for not cutting his hair, but secretly Aria had always liked his hair like that. No one, especially not Jason, knew about her crush. But she got over it when Jason went to study in New York that same year.

"Why is he back?" Aria questioned.

"I guess he's done with his studies and wanted to come back home for some unknown reason."

"So Alison's not happy about it?"

"Well you know that Alison and Jason's relationship has never been all sunshine and rainbows."

"When did he arrive?"

"Only a couple days ago, but Alison is already going mad."

"So what do you suppose we do about it?" Aria asked with suspicion.

"Alison can't live in the same house with Jason, and she has made that clear. She asked me if she could temporarily come live with me until Jason leaves, but my mom is under a lot of stress lately and I don't want to burden her with this."

"What are you suggesting? That Alison could come here?"

"Basically, yeah." Emily mumbled carefully.

"Why couldn't Ali just ask me herself?"

"Because she thinks she's moving to me and my mom's place. I haven't built up the courage to tell her it's not gonna happen, so I thought if I had an alternative option for her, she wouldn't be disappointed."

"Emily, I think you're overthinking this. You just have to be honest with her. I wouldn't mind her coming here, but she has to ask me herself." Aria said with compassion.

"Thanks Aria. You always know what to say." Emily said with a small smile on her face.

"Now can you get me my bag?" Aria asked seriously.

"Oh I see how it is. You had ulterior motives all along!" Emily yelled while bursting into laughter. And for the next few minutes Aria and Emily just sat on the couch laughing.

Ezra woke up the next morning to someone knocking on his door. He got up and opened the door. Behind it was Emily, one of Aria's friends. The one with long dark brown hair and brown eyes. She always had a varsity jacket on and sneakers. The opposite of Aria.

"You came to get Aria's bag I presume?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah", Emily answered nervously. She had never had a conversation with Ezra that didn't relate to homework or something else school related.

"I'll go get it", Ezra said.

As he brought Emily the bag, he asked with concern:

"How is Aria? Is she okay?"

"How do you think she is? You broke up with her. Of course she's not okay. Don't you think she would have come to get her bag herself if she were okay?"

Before Ezra could say anything, Emily had already grabbed the bag and walked away. The slamming of the door make him flinch. Ezra would have hoped to see Aria one more time before he left for Sacramento, but he guessed that wasn't in the books anymore.

Instead of sulking at home and desperately looking for leftovers from the fridge, Aria decided to go eat at the Apple rose grille instead. That way Emily could also bring her her bag. When she arrived at the cafe, she decided to already order a caesar salad. Her mom had given her some cash until she got her wallet back. She went to sit at a couch near the door, while she waited for her caesar salad. Just as she was about to call Emily, she heard someone yell:

"Finland!"

She looked over and saw Noel Kahn walking towards her. Somehow he had gotten it into his head that Aria had lived in Finland for a year, when actually she had lived in Iceland. Noel Kahn was the most popular guy is school. He played lacrosse with Aria's little brother Mike. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket and black jeans.

"Hey Noel", she greeted sounding uninterested.

"What's got you all down?"

"Men. You can't trust them. One minute they say they're in love with you and the next they're breaking up with you."

"You know not all men are like that." Noel winked.

"Shut up. I'm not in the mood for you and your flirting." Aria said coldly.

"Okay okay! I can see you're not in a very good mood right now, so maybe you wanna come to my party tonight? It might cheer you up."

"You don't have any ulterior motives here do you? 'Cause I'm not getting involved with anyone for a long time."

"Of course not! Why would you think that? It's not like you're special or something Montgomery."

Why thank you for your kind words." Aria snickered.

"My pleasure. Adios!" And with that Noel was out the door.

That was weird, she thought.

After she had gotten her salad, she checked her phone. One new message. It was a message was from Ella, Aria's mom, saying:

Remember to drop Mike off at lacrosse practice today!

The lacrosse team sometimes had extra practices on Saturdays if they were preparing for a game. She checked what time it was. It was 12am, so she still had about 45 minutes before she had to get home. She would just have to reschedule with Emily.

"Mike! We gotta go!" Aria yelled from downstairs to Mike.

"Yeah I'll be down in a sec!" Mike yelled back.

"Well I'll be waiting in the car!"

Aria went into the yard and went into her moms blue Prius. Mike was already late for practice. Just as she was about to honk the car horn, she saw Mike running towards the car with his lacrosse outfit and bat.

"What's gonna be your excuse for being late?" she questioned Mike.

"I'll just say my sister was supposed to drop me off but she needed time to put her make-up on", Mike answered with a smirk on his face.

"Haha. Very funny", Aria said while driving out of the yard.

Aria pulled over beside the school and Mike got out.

"Pick me up at half past 2 o'clock", Mike said from the passenger seats window before running through the school yard towards the lacrosse field. Suddenly Aria's phone chimed. She looked at the screen and saw that there was a new text message from Emily. Emily had answered her about rescheduling.

When are you free? -Emily

I have a few hours till Mike has to be picked up -Aria

Okay, I'm at Ali's place right now so do you wanna come here? -Emily

I guess. See you soon xx -Aria

Emily was already waiting at the front porch of the Dilaurentis house when Aria drove into the yard. She had a familiar bag on her shoulder.

"How did it go?" Aria asked as she got out of the Prius.

"How did what go?"

"Well your encounter with my ex-boyfriend of course!" Aria exclaimed.

"Oh that." Emily looked down at her feet.

"What did he say?" Aria questioned.

"Nothing much, just about how he-"

"Hey Aria." Both Emily and Aria turned their heads towards the front door, where the sound had come from. It was Jason Dilaurentis.