A few people on Twitter wanted me to write about an awkward sex talk between Ella and Aria. So...here it is. This takes place a few weeks after the season two finale, before Ella and Byron are divorced.


"Hang on, I need to change," Aria told Ezra, and placed her iPhone on her bed. She pressed the speaker phone button before lifting her dress over her body, throwing it onto the floor. "Ezraaaaaaa," she whispered, but loud enough for the phone to catch her voice. She stood on the floor in nothing but her underwear—a deep purple lace bra with matching panties.

"Yes?" His sleepy voice echoed throughout Aria's bedroom—perhaps too loud, but she hadn't warned him yet. Her father had yet to accept her relationship with her former English teacher, and these nightly phone calls were somewhat of a secret. Of course Byron knew she was still seeing him, but the father and daughter had a silent agreement, both of them pretending she was single and not ready to mingle. Especially not with any current or former faculty of Rosewood High.

"Shhhhhhhh," she hushed, "my phone is on speaker."

"You know I hate being on speaker phone, Aria."

"I know you do." Aria bit her lip, holding back a small giggle, and moved her eyes to the door before continuing. "I'm wearing your favorite underwear," she whispered seductively. "And nothing else."

"Please don't do this to me," he pleaded from the other side of the phone—and the other side of town, which at this point, was practically the other side of the world. He was probably already in bed, ready to fall asleep as soon as they—reluctantly—hung up."Not to mention, someone could hear you—you know, like one of the three people you live with?"

Ella quietly walked out of her room across the hall. She swore she heard Ezra Fitz's voice in her daughter's bedroom. Quite often she stumbled upon Aria's secret phone calls to her not-so-secret boyfriend every night between 11 p.m. and midnight, right before Aria fell asleep. She and Byron had banned sleepovers at Ezra's apartment—or Byron banned Ezra altogether, Ella banned the sleepovers.

The silent giggles and whispered I love yous escaped from Aria's room every night, but tonight it was...different. A difference that made Ella rather uncomfortable.

"If I can't be with you right now, you could at least play along," she pouted, rummaging through her dresser drawer for something to wear. She dressed in one of Ezra's old t-shirts and a pair of cotton shorts before slipping into bed and pulling the comforter over her body. She turned the phone off speaker and lifted it to her ear. "We haven't slept together in weeks, and I miss being in bed with you, your arms around me..."

"...pressing kisses over every inch of your beautiful body..."

Aria smiled, her cheeks slightly reddening. "...ripping off your favorite bra..."

"...and making love to you all night long..."

"...waking up in nothing but sheets..."

Their voices became softer, and eventually almost silent, until a knock on Aria's door interrupted their intimate conversation.

"Aria?" Ella called from behind the door.

"Goodnight, Ezra. I love you," she whispered. She turned her phone off and placed it on her bedside table. "Come in, Mom."

Ella apprehensively opened the door to Aria's room, forcing herself to have a much-needed talk with her daughter. She heard every word Aria told Ezra, and although she couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, it wasn't difficult to figure out that sex wasn't a foreign subject for the couple. Not that this was any secret, but it was certainly proof, and just the motivation she needed to suck it up and do it.

"Hi, honey," Ella said, walking into her bedroom and sitting at the end of the bed. "Did you just get off the phone with Ezra?"

Panic set in the pit of Aria's stomach, her cheeks immediately turned red. How much had her mother heard? "Yeah, were you listening?"

"Not really, I just know you talk to him before you go to sleep." She looked down at her hands as she spoke, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I heard you."

"Mom—"

"I'm not mad, Aria." She looked at her daughter, who was now sitting up in bed with a horrified expression. She put her hand on Aria's arm, showing her she was on her side. "We've needed to have this talk for a long time now, and it just...pushed me to finally do it."

Aria didn't respond, and it was impossible to make eye contact with her mother. In the meantime, she had found a rather interesting piece of string hanging from the hem of her t-shirt, and was wrapping and unwrapping it from her finger.

"I'm still trying to understand your relationship with Ezra, but I can't be blind to the fact you two are," she lowered her voice, taking another deep breath, "intimate with each other."

Aria cringed at her mother's use of the word intimate, thinking she might've even preferred the word "sex." Or "making love." Hell, even "fucking" would do.

"I know you're having sex," Ella added.

Aria changed her mind. Intimate was better.

"Mom, this is really..." she trailed off, but finally moved her eyes to look at her mother.

"Awkward?" Ella finished Aria's sentence, giving her a small smile. "How do you think it feels to know your daughter is having sex with your former colleague?"

Aria opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped before she could reply.

"And then hear them practically having phone sex?"

"We weren't having phone sex, mom," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "We were...talking about...making love, and we happened to be on the phone." Okay, so the term making love wasn't better either. And this conversation wasn't going to be any less awkward.

"Look, as much as I'd like to control this situation, I know I can't. If it were up to me, you wouldn't be having sex with your old English teacher—you wouldn't be seeing him at all," she stressed, her eyebrows lowered in seriousness. "But if I did that, I'm afraid of what you would do—or what might happen to you."

Aria didn't know what to feel—guilt, happiness, relief? "Thank you, mom," she barely whispered.

"Wait, I'm not done," Ella interjected, "I got pregnant with you when I was 20, Aria, and it was really hard, and I couldn't finish college right away."

"I know."

"Getting pregnant isn't just something that happens to stupid girls who make stupid mistakes," she cautioned her, "it can happen to very smart girls, much like yourself, who get caught up in the moment. It can happen while you're on birth control, using a condom, pulling out..."

"Mom," Aria jumped in, "please do not say...that...again."

"What? Pulling out?" Ella questioned, smirking. "Let's just rip off the band-aid, Aria." Aria nodded. "Are you on birth control?"

"Yes, I started a few months ago."

"Do you take it every day?"

"I even have an alarm on my phone to remind me."

"Good. Do you use a condom every time?"

"Usually..."

"No, not usually, Aria, you need to do it every time," Ella demanded, her lips narrowed. "Unless you dream of graduating from high school with a baby bump."

Aria fell back onto the bed and groaned, pulling the covers up to her chin. "Are we done yet? I promise I'll be careful."

"No, we're not done," Ella insisted, then paused for a moment before speaking again. "Does he truly love you?"

"Of course he loves me, why would you even ask me that?" Aria asked, somewhat irritated. She sat up in bed again, staring at her mother. Why would he have risked so much to be with someone he didn't love? And in turn, why would she be okay with phone calls instead of kisses if she wasn't in love with Ezra Fitz?

"Because I love you, and I want to make sure he treats my little girl like a princess." She moved her gaze to the floor again, and sighed. "I know what it's like to give yourself to someone who only cares about the sex, not about making love. Once they leave, you're...broken."

Aria smiled ever so slightly. "He treats me like a queen, Mom."

"Good," Ella leaned forward and kissed her daughter's cheek. "If that ever changes, never hesitate to talk to me. I'll always be here for you, okay?"

"As long as you never say 'pulling out' to me again, unless you're talking about a car or something."

"I promise," Ella laughed, standing up from the bed. "I love you, Aria."

"I love you too, Mom."

And that night, Aria decided she'd have to make her late-night phone calls PG.

Or maybe PG-13.


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