What Happened To Us?

Chapter 7

August 7th, 2013

Aria's eyes fluttered open to see Ezra gazing at her.

"Good morning, beautiful," he whispered, smiling and tucking a piece of her hair gently behind her ear before letting his hand rest on her neck.

Aria groaned softly and smiled back, "Morning."

She brought her hand up and set it on top of Ezra's, rubbing her thumb across the back of his palm before lifting it from her neck. She sat up and bent her head down to give him a light kiss on his forehead then she stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Aria shivered as the cold air wrapped around her legs and she suddenly wished Ezra's shirt went farther than just above her mid thigh. Ezra watched as she dragged her feet and yawned. He chuckled to himself when he heard her curse under her breath from nearly walking into the counter. She quickly prepared coffee for the two of them and turned the machine on before walking back towards Ezra. She dressed into a fresh pair of jeans and a loose gold printed tank top before moving to the bed.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked as she crawled back into bed beside him.

He hadn't even noticed the grin across his face as he stared up at the ceiling, "I don't know," he answered, but he did know, he was thinking about her. He turned to face her, "When do you get off work today?"

"My shift ends at one."

He nodded as if he were contemplating something, "I'll come by then and we can go do something?"

She nodded and smiled, "Sure. What are you gonna do until then?"

Ezra shrugged, "Probably read or something."

"Doesn't that editing job you got start up soon?" she asked as the coffee maker began to beep. She got up and walked back to the kitchen, this time Ezra following her as he pulled a pair of pajama pants over his boxers.

He licked his lips nervously as she got two mugs out of the cabinet, "Yeah about that... It was pushed back for a couple months. I won't be starting until January of next year," he replied cautiously. Truthfully Ezra had forgotten all about the job since he had never really taken it in the first place. He wasn't in the position to be committing to anything, but he didn't need Aria knowing that.

"Ezra..." Aria began as she poured their coffee.

He rolled his eyes as he made his way to the fridge, "What?" he asked, taking out the half and half and setting it on the counter.

Aria put her mug down and stepped towards him, "Ezra, Hardy was right. What are you going to do here? You need a job."

"I'm fine," Ezra insisted, "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, but I'm allowed to be worried about you," Aria said.

"There's nothing to worry about. I'll start work in January."

"What are you going to do for five months? I'll be starting school which means I can't work as much and what will you be doing? Sitting around waiting for me to get home?"

I probably won't be doing anything, Ezra thought morbidly to himself before shaking it out of his mind, "Aria, what is this really about? Are you worried about money?"

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head, "I just don't want you to be hanging here by yourself all the time, okay?"

"Okay, I-"