"Aria we have to stop," protested Ezra without much enthusiasm.

"No we don't," she murmured, nibbling his ear and sliding her hands over the front of his chest.

Ezra didn't answer her. Instead, he captured her lips with his, sliding his tongue between her teeth. She responded in kind, and shifted her body so that Ezra was suddenly on top of her. She put her hands in the back of his jean pockets and pulled him closer to her. He complied, positioning his own hands so they cradled the back of her head. Aria shifted until her lips found his chin, and then the top of his bare chest, then the middle of his chest, then his belly button while he worked on the clasp of her bra strap.

"Oww," she cried out, sitting up in response. She futilely rubbed the bare foot that had just come into hostile contact with Ezra's suitcase.

"Aria, are you okay?" exclaimed Ezra, examining her. She had found him fifteen minutes earlier finishing up his packing for their trip to California and somehow they had ended up on the floor finding it much closer and much more appealing than the bed across the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She winced and then sighed. "It's just as well. We need to get going soon anyway to catch our flight."

"Yeah," sighed Ezra in disappointment. "Besides, we did have to promise your parents we wouldn't do anything on the trip."

Aria smirked. "Technically we're not on the trip yet." She got up and stretched before looking around the room for her shirt. When she found it on top of Ezra's luggage, she rolled her eyes. She put it on and turned around to find Ezra had already shrugged on his t-shirt and was rifling for something in his drawers.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

"Oh, do you remember where I put my copy of Ulysses? I wanted to read it on the plane."

Aria wrinkled her nose. "You still haven't finished it yet?"

Ezra sighed in exasperation. "Aria, no one's ever finished that book." He was about to continue when a knock on the door interrupted them. It was Mike, who had a hand held over his eyes.

"Is it safe to look?" he asked, his lips twitching into a smile. Aria threw a pillow at him. "Uff. Was that really necessary?" he asked, opening his eyes to throw the pillow back at her.

"What's up, Mike?" asked Ezra.

"Are you guys ready yet? We need leave soon to make it to airport on time." His face plainly showed his excitement. And his impatience.

Aria laughed. "We're going. Let me just go home and grab my things."

She ran next door and got her suitcase and carry-on off of her bed. She picked her book up off of her desk and turned around to survey the space one more time. She glanced at the photo on her nightstand. It was taken a week ago at graduation.

Emily was on the far left, practically glowing with happiness as graduation caps soared behind them. Next was Spencer who had a combined look of satisfaction and relief as she tugged on the valedictorian's stole that was falling off from around her neck. On the other side of her was Hanna who was wearing a smile bigger than Aria had ever seen while shyly looking away from the camera. On the far right was Aria herself, smiling widely but looking at something behind the camera.

"You ready?" asked Byron, startling her out her thoughts.

"Oh, um, yeah," replied Aria looking at him. "Just double-checking to make sure I didn't forget anything.

Byron sighed. "You don't have to go," he told her.

"I know," said Aria, still entranced by the framed photo. "But I want to."

"Don't feel like you're being pressured to do anything, either," cautioned Byron. "If you feel uncomfortable in any way or Ezra makes you uncomfortable, you just have to call me or your mom and we will be on the next flight to Los Angeles."

"Dad," breathed Aria, turning to him. "We're going to be okay. It's Ezra," she told him gently. She leaned in for a hug.

Byron squeezed her before letting her go. "Keep your brother out of trouble." He looked at her sadly. "It's a different world out there, sweetie," he told her.

"It's Ezra's world, Dad. I was going to need to confront it sooner or later."

Aria heard her name being called downstairs. "It's time to go," she told her father. "Mom's calling." She gave him one last squeeze. "Everything is going to be fine."

Aria was recalling that final conversation with her dad as she sat in first class on the flight from Philadelphia to Dallas, where they would take a connecting flight to Los Angeles. She turned to the seat next to her where Ezra was engrossed in his book and occasionally taking sips from the brandy the flight attendant had served him. Across the aisle, Mike was entrenched in some video game that was showing up on the small screen in front of him, completely ignoring the pizza he had requested. Aria looked down to the chicken dish that sat in front of her, complete with a side of sparkling water.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" asked the flight attendant.

"No," Aria smiled at the woman. "Everything is perfectly fine. Thank you." The woman smiled at her and moved on the passenger behind her.

Aria looked down at her plate and took a bite of chicken. Her smile became authentic as she chewed. The chicken tasted even better than she thought it would.

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The black Mercedes pulled up to the front of the massive three-story house that was protected behind stone walls. It was made out of beige limestone with a pair of carved bronze lions protecting the front door. The gardens looked breathtakingly beautiful with a plethora of different colored roses dotting the landscape.

Mike got out of the car first, his jaw dropping when he took in the sight before him. Aria followed him out, gasping slightly when she saw the size of the house. Ezra said nothing when he followed suit, ignoring the sight before him to help the driver with the bags.

"Ezra, is this seriously the house you grew up?" asked Mike, jerking a thumb to the view behind him.

"I'm afraid it is," he grimaced. "I rent it out, but the last renters left two months ago. We have it all to ourselves." He grabbed a couple of bags and stood next to Aria. "Are you okay?" he asked her carefully. Her expression was nearly unreadable.

"It's just," she started and then faltered. She cleared her throat and began again. "It's just so beautiful," she told him.

Ezra was about to respond when the front to door suddenly opened and a man in a gray suit walked out. "Ezra," called out the man with wave and a smile.

"Isaac," exclaimed Ezra, pulling the man close for a bear hug. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," he replied. "Very good to see you back here." Isaac looked until he found Aria. "Is this her?" he asked Ezra.

"It is," confirmed Ezra.

"It is so nice to meet you, Aria," the man greeted, extending his hand out in a handshake. Aria saw that he was in his early forties, had a nice smile, a head full of graying hair, and seemed to be genuinely delighted to meet her. "I'm Isaac." When she failed to respond he added "Ezra's lawyer."

Aria returned the handshake. "Oh right. It's nice to meet your Mr.…"

"Just call me Isaac," he said. "I'm a very informal person."

"This is Mike," said Ezra introducing him.

"Nice to meet you," exclaimed the man, shaking Mike's hand. "Let's get your things inside." He ushered them in and helped them carry their things up the stairs. "I was going to let the housekeeper take care of all the details, but when Marlene heard you were coming, there was no stopping her from preparing everything herself. She put you, Mike, in this bedroom here." Isaac opened a bedroom on the second floor. It was massive by Montgomery standards, and Aria heard Mike whoop when he saw that the TV was just as enormous as the room.

Aria continued to follow Isaac up the stairs the third floor, taking in the chandeliers and marble floors, and, more impressively, the art that covered the entire house. "Aria," said Isaac. "You are here." He opened the door to a room painted a pale shade of purple complete with a reading nook and shelf full of books. She settled her luggage on the floor before continuing to the window. She had received a view of the backyard, which looked as magnificent as the front.

She spent the next twenty minutes walking around the room. It was much larger than her room in Rosewood, but she didn't feel intimidated by the size. Instead, she found herself rather comfortable as she put her things away. Ezra found her in the bathroom observing the rather large and ostentatious Jacuzzi.

"I think we could both fit in there," he greeted.

"Oh, I'm sure we could," smiled Aria. She leaned over to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

Ezra smiled. "I came to tell you that Marlene, Isaac's wife, made dinner for us. She, Isaac, and Sofia are waiting for us downstairs. Mike is already down there."

"Who's Sofia?"

Ezra's smile became wider. "Why don't you come down and meet her? I think you're really going to like her."

Sofia turned out to be Isaac and Marlene's newborn daughter. She cooed at Aria and fit perfectly in her arms. Ezra's was right; Aria did like her, very much so. And she liked Marlene almost as much. The small Mexican woman was only a handful of years older than Ezra, and over ten years younger than her husband, whom Aria could tell she loved very much. Marlene had prepared a feast for them, and Aria ate hungrily, becoming even more impressed when she learned that Marlene had done all the cooking.

Marlene had sighed when she admitted this information. "With a house this size, it's impossible not to have a few people around to help which can be really annoying when it comes to privacy. But tonight," she had continued taking a sip of her water, "tonight it's just family." Aria and Mike smiled and laughed throughout dinner, and afterwards the entire group rolled up their sleeves to help clean up and do the dishes.

A few hours after dinner, Aria found herself in the glass covered room where the pool was, letting her feet dangle over the edge and into the water. Ezra found her in that position, staring through the ceiling to the stars.

"The stars here aren't much like they are in Rosewood, are they?" he said, sitting down next to her.

"No," she agreed. "You can't see them as clearly as you can back home." She was silent for a moment, and the sound of moving water flooded her ears. "You were right," she began. "Marlene and Isaac are great."

"Yeah," Ezra smiled softly. "They're my California family."

"Isn't that kind of unusual?" asked Aria. "I mean, he is your lawyer."

He sighed and kicked the water a bit. "Isaac has worked with my family for over ten years. I'm his only client." Ezra laughed slightly as he revealed this information. "He does everything I'm supposed to do that I don't want to do. He's the guy that lets me be Ezra Fitz instead of Ezra Fitzgerald."

Aria was silent as she contemplated this information. Another thought popped into her head. "Isaac knew about us, didn't he? During the school year? Did you tell him because he's your lawyer? Were you worried something was going to happen?" She said the words matter-of-factly without hostility or anger.

Ezra let out a deep breath before answering. "I told Isaac because he's my friend. And because he and Marlene went through something similar. He's eleven years older than she is."

"What we did," said Aria slowly, her attention past the glass walls to an invisible point in the distance, "was very dangerous. You could have gotten in major trouble, and it would have hurt your family's reputation and all those businesses you're a part of."

Ezra reached for her hands, cupping them in his. "Aria's it's over now. The—The lying and hiding it's over. We don't have to worry about it anymore."

She looked at him, her brown eyes glistening in the moonlight. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

"We have fun," he told her simply. "This summer is about having fun and enjoying ourselves."

Aria's mouth twisted into a smirk. "As long as we don't have too much fun, right? My dad would have a field day."

Ezra shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, I can think of a few other things we can do."

"Really?" said Aria, raising an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well," he answered slowly. "Like this." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Aria felt a force push her and she landed in the pool with a large splash. When she emerged from the water, she saw Ezra was laughing at her.

"So you thought that was funny, huh?" she said in her best attempt to sound angry. "Help me out."

He extended his hand, a smile still visible on his face. She grabbed it forcefully and pulled him in with her. They spent the next hour swimming and splashing at each other, totally oblivious to the fact that they were still fully clothed.

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Ezra was right. The next few weeks were fun. They did all the touristy things in Los Angeles that Aria insisted on doing. They took pictures in front of the Beverly Hills and the Hollywood signs. They took a tour of Universal Studios and sat in on a couple of talk shows. They walked down Hollywood Boulevard and took pictures next to the Hollywood stars of celebrities. Mike insisted on going to an Angel's game, so they went, Aria as involved in the baseball game as her brother. The weekend of Aria's birthday, the trio flew to San Francisco and spent time seeing the city, riding bikes along the Bay, and eating seafood at Fisherman's Wharf. They acted like tourists, did things like tourists, and did regular and fun activities, and, to Aria's relief, everything was kept low-key and relatively low-budget.

Except that they weren't exactly tourists, and their daily lives seemed like something from a movie or a novel, Aria mused. They woke up every morning in a palatial mansion, surrounded by fluffy feather pillows and maid service. Breakfast, although partaken in pajamas, was an enormous affair, as were lunch and dinner. Aria had access to a library larger than Rosewood's public one. Mike, meanwhile, had all the video games his heart desired as well as full access to the house's private basketball court. Isaac, Marlene, and Sofia came to dinner several times a week. Ezra, although he spent as much time with Mike and Aria as he could, sometimes wore businesses suits and was ushered to meetings by Isaac. Meetings, Aria supposed, where his attendance was required since he was in town.

It was one such day where Ezra and Isaac were at a meeting and Mike had decided to stay in the mansion that Aria and Marlene found themselves walking down Rodeo Drive looking through the windows of the stores. Aria found herself staring at a truly stunning red Gucci coat, when she felt Marlene next to her.

"Do you want it?" asked Marlene kindly. "Ezra has an account in this store."

Startled out of her thoughts, Aria turned to the older woman. "Oh, no," she laughed lightly to hide her discomfort. "I wouldn't know where to wear it anyway."

"Oh, I could think of half-a-dozen places where it would be appropriate," said Marlene nonchalantly. She looked back through the window. "It would look fantastic on you."

"Thank you," replied Aria bashfully. "But I couldn't spend Ezra's money like that."

Marlene looked at her oddly for a moment before the pair continued down the sidewalk. "You know, Aria, my parents weren't sure what to make of Isaac when I married him."

"Oh?" asked Aria. "Why?" she asked politely.

"Well," began Marlene, "Isaac is older than me, but that actually didn't matter much to my parents. They were worried what it would be like for me to live in his world." The pair passed another store where a pair of sunglasses caught Aria's eye, she suppressed the urge to gawk and turned her attention to Marlene. "You see," continued Marlene, "my parents immigrated from Mexico. They aren't very educated and they don't speak English very well. And here was Isaac who was fabulously successful and obviously not Hispanic."

"Are you saying that your parents had no right to be worried?" asked Aria, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh, they did," said Marlene, much to the younger woman's surprise. "They were right. Initially, I was uncomfortable in Isaac's world, and he in mine. But we loved each other enough to realize that we should be comfortable in each other's worlds."

"What do you mean?" asked Aria uncertainly.

"If you can't be comfortable in someone else's world, then you can't be comfortable with them," explained Marlene kindly. "You won't ever truly be able to be yourself."

Aria thought for a moment as she looked through the window of a jeweler's shop for a moment. She turned up to Marlene and asked. "Then where do you find middle ground? Where's home?"

Marlene smiled softly, as if oblivious to the noise and bustle around them. "Home is with each other."

The women were silent as they made their way down the street. After a few moments, Marlene spoke up again. "Aria?" she began hesitantly. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing a wonderful job. Just don't be afraid to take more risks."

Aria mulled over that thought for a moment when she spotted a magnificent pair of black heels in the display window.

July 2, 2012

I feel like I'm in a different world, a dream-world where wealth has no meaning and the rooms glitter in crystal and diamonds. I feel backward and strange and young. I feel glamorous and beautiful and sophisticated. I feel alone. I feel surrounded. I am in love, but I am wary.

Is it like Marlene says? Is everything merely a part of one whole?