Authors: Karen Pokras
“No, that’s okay,” Ava stated, smiling. “I’ve got a friend staying with me. As soon as I’m up for it, I’ll make the drive home. Do me a favor and don’t tell Mom and Dad, I’m pretty sure they don’t know, or they would have called by now. No need to worry them. I’m really fine, honest.”
“Okay, sis. As long as you’re okay. See you soon. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Chapter 28
“So, you haven’t said much,” Max noted. “Is it that bad?”
“What?” Ava asked. “Oh, no, the spaghetti is just fine, thanks. It’s been a crazy twenty-four hours, huh?”
“That’s for sure,” Max replied.
“It’s getting kind of late,” Ava said, looking out the window. “I … um … well…”
“What is it, Ava? Is something wrong? Do you want me to go?”
Ava put her fork down and looked at Max. “No. Unless … do you need to go? We never discussed how long you planned to stay or anything. I just … I guess this is kind of awkward, you know, for sleeping arrangements.” Ava glanced around her one room apartment. Her queen size bed was pushed up against the back wall. In front of that there was enough room for her small couch, a coffee table, and her TV stand. They were eating at the little table that also doubled as Ava’s desk. A small galley kitchen lined the left wall, while Ava’s dresser, a tiny closet, and the door to the even tinier bathroom lined the right wall. It wasn’t exactly lush accommodations, nor was it designed for overnight guests who wouldn’t be sharing the bed.
“I can take the couch. It’s no big deal,” Max offered.
“No, no. I’m already set up on the couch, and it’s not even a full size couch—it’s more like a loveseat. You’ll be all scrunched up. You take the bed, I insist.”
“Absolutely not,” Max stated. “I’ve slept on smaller than this couch and been just fine. And I can stay for as long as you need … until you go back home, or until someone else comes to stay with you. Isn’t that what we agreed to when Carly was here? It’s really not a problem.”
Ava nodded, feeling relieved. The thought of spending the night alone was beyond terrifying.
“Good,” Max continued. “I will need to go back to my place in the morning to get my toothbrush and some clean clothes, though.” He smiled. “Otherwise, you might just kick me out. I can get a little stinky. But you can come with me if you don’t want to be alone.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine for a half hour or so.” Ava laughed. “And I doubt you get very stinky. I appreciate all that you’re doing for me. Are you sure you don’t want the bed?”
“Positive,” Max stated, putting another forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.
~~~
The next morning, Ava woke to the smell of eggs and coffee.
“You do know how to cook something other than spaghetti,” she remarked as she walked over to the kitchen.
Max smiled. “Spaghetti and eggs. That’s pretty much it. You’ve now seen my entire repertoire. Oh, and I can brew a mean cup of coffee, too. Want some?”
“Thanks.” Ava grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet and began pouring. “How do you like yours? I don’t know if I have milk that’s any good, but I’ve got that nasty powder stuff. I swiped a bunch of packets from the student center last week.”
“Perfect,” Max responded. “Coffee with nasty powder stuff. That’s exactly how I take my coffee, anyway. I kid you not.”
Ava laughed. “Me too, actually. We’ll both be nuclear in about twenty years from the chemicals they put in that crap.”
“Ten if we’re lucky. Here you go. I wasn’t sure how you liked your eggs. Scrambled okay?”
“Scrambled is great,” Ava answered, feeling so comfortable having Max there with her.
They sat down at the table together and started eating.
“You seem like you slept well,” Max said. “I’m a pretty light sleeper. I guess I was keeping one ear open in case you had any more bad dreams.”
Ava sighed. “I knew you weren’t going to sleep well on that couch wanna-be. Tonight you take the bed.”
“No way,” Max said. “I told you, I’m a light sleeper. It had nothing to do with the couch.”
“Okay, but it will probably just be one more night. I should really start thinking about heading home. Don’t you need to go home?” Ava asked.
“I’m not in any rush,” Max said. “My family is better taken in small doses. A month at home is a long time.”
Ava giggled. “Ah, one of those types of families? An Uncle Eddie that everyone avoids and flying Christmas china in the middle of dinner?”
Max smiled broadly. “So you’ve met my family! Yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes. You left out the part about my mom getting on my case from the moment I walk through the door about how I really should be thinking about law school or medical school instead of pilot school. Oh, and of course then there’s Aunt Sheila who always asks: ‘Why don’t you have a serious girlfriend yet, Maxie, hmm? Are you gay? Because if you are, I have a lovely boy I can introduce you to’.”
“No!” Ava laughed so hard, her eyes began to water.
“Yup. So you can see why I’m not in a big hurry to rush home.”
“I guess not,” Ava said, wiping her eyes.
“Anyway, as soon as I help you clean up, I have to run out for a little bit. Are you sure you’ll be okay alone? You could come with me,” Max asked.
“No, I’ll be okay. I have to get used to being by myself eventually … you won’t be long, right?” she asked hesitantly.
“Maybe an hour,” he said. “I want to run by my apartment to grab a few things, then go up to campus to see if grades are posted yet. On the way back, I’ll swing by the market to re-stock some food for us. I promise to keep my phone right by me at all times.”
“I’ll be fine, really.” Ava stood up to help Max clear the dishes and followed him into the kitchen. “So, um, you’re not, are you?” she asked.
“Not what?” he asked, washing the plates.
She grinned at him. “Gay.”
“No!” He threw the sponge at her and laughed.
Chapter 29
Ava paced the floor. Max had only been gone ten minutes. Why did it feel like ten hours?
Ugh.
She should have gone with him. It was too soon for her to be alone.
Thomas is in custody. You’re fine, Ava.
Holly. Holly could help keep her mind busy. She just needed someone to distract her.
She picked up her phone and dialed her sister’s number.
Pick up, Hol. Pick up!
“Hi, you’ve reached Holly Haines. Sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message.
Beep.”
“Hey, Hol, it’s Ava. Everything’s fine. Just checking in. Call me. Love you.”
Carly or Tessa? Did she want twenty-year-old drama or teen drama? Carly would ask too many questions about Max. Tessa it was, although she doubted she’d be up this early on a Sunday morning. She dialed again. Tessa would forgive her for waking her up.
“Ava? Is that you? Are you on your way home? Please say you are. Mom and Dad are driving me nuts!”
“Hey, Tessa. No, sorry, I’m stuck here another few days. So what’s going on? Are you still upset about that boy from chemistry class?” Ava asked.
“Who? Oh, him? No. He can go suck it.”
“Nice language, Tessa.”
“What? I can say a lot worse you know.”
“Yes, I know,” Ava stated. Sometimes she felt like she and Tessa lived worlds apart. I guess having six years between them had that effect.
“Anyway, he’s not worth crying over,” Tessa added.
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. Are you studying for midterms yet?”
“Trying to. That’s the part where Mom and Dad are driving me crazy. It would be a lot easier to study if they didn’t keep trying to
help
.”
Ava laughed. “Yeah, I remember their
help.
Dad always wanted to explain stuff completely differently than the teacher taught it. Mom had this incessant need to test me on the material every ten minutes, and then get angry because I didn’t know it. When I would try to explain that I would know it if she’d give me enough time to study, she’d get all insulted. You’d think with kid number three, she’d have gotten the hint.”
“Well she didn’t. I was hoping you’d be here to give me a little back up,” Tessa added.
“What about Holly?” Ava asked. “Isn’t she coming home today?”
“Yeah, but you know, ever since she decided she wanted to become a teacher, she wants to get in and
help,
too. So now I’ve got three of them
helping.
Anyway, I gotta run. I’m at work. My boss already warned me once today about being on my phone.”
Ava looked at the clock. It was nine-fifteen. She forgot that Tessa worked the breakfast shift at the diner that was down the street from their local university on Sundays. Ava didn’t envy her one bit. She’d had the same job when she was sixteen. The customers were either coming in drunk from a night of partying, hungover, or both.
“Okay, sweets. I’ll see you in a few days. Hang in there! Love you,” Ava said.
“Love you back, bye.”
Ten more minutes gone … forty minutes to go. Ava sat on the couch and flipped on the television. Maybe some cheesy morning talk show would relax her, or she could take one of those pills. While she sat and contemplated her options, a noise coming from outside the front of her apartment diverted her attention. She watched as the doorknob to the front door to her apartment jiggled. Her phone sat only inches away, but she couldn’t reach for it; her entire body paralyzed but for the pounding in her heart. Louder, louder, louder—she couldn’t concentrate on anything except the pounding and the knob. She watched as it slowly started to turn. The door creaked as it began to open, steadily, deliberately. She heard the scream, but wasn’t conscious of the fact that it came from her body. She no longer had control of any of her own movements or reactions.
“Ava! It’s just me!” the familiar voice rang out. Running to the couch, he grabbed her shoulders, trying to get her eyes to focus on his face. “It’s Max. Can you hear me?”
Ava stopped screaming and stared blankly at Max. Bursting into tears, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I thought you were—” She stopped and gasped for air, as if trying to fill her lungs for the very first time.
“I’m so sorry, Ava. I went to campus first, and when I was on my way to my apartment, I felt bad about leaving you alone. So, I decided to come back to get you. I should have called. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He hugged her close again, not letting go until the last of her trembles subsided.
Chapter 30
“Are you feeling better?” Max put the cup of tea on the table and sat next to Ava on the couch.
“Yes,” she smiled, “I’m sorry. I feel so silly. I totally overreacted.”
Max took Ava’s hands in his own. “You had a very traumatic experience just over twenty-four hours ago. I think you’re entitled to be a little jumpy.”
“That was more than a little jumpy,” she commented. “That was like horror movie theatrics.”
“You have some good lungs on you, that’s for sure,” Max remarked.
“So you said you went up to campus earlier to see if your grades were posted. Were they?”
A huge smiled appeared on Max’s face. “Some of them.”
“I’m gathering by the look on your face, you did quite well,” Ava said, smiling also. She couldn’t help it; his good mood was contagious. It was just what she needed to help her feel better.
“I did okay,” he replied, still smiling.
Ava cocked her head and wondered what Max was up to. “Why the goofy grin then?”
“Promise not to get upset?”
“I don’t know yet,” Ava cautiously responded.
“Well, as I was walking down the hall of the business department getting ready to leave, Professor Eisen was coming out of his office holding a sheet of paper.”
“And,” Ava asked, worried.
“And it was his final exam grades. He was posting them on his door. Anyway, I honestly was only going to look for mine, but then my eyes just sort of slipped three columns over into the Statistics 101 class, and I may have wandered down until I found your name.”
“Uh-huh,” Ava said, smirking. “Well, let’s get the bad news over with. Am I looking at summer school?”
Max paused for a minute continuing to smile.
“Max!” she shouted, smacking him in the shoulder. “Tell me already!”
“You got an eighty-seven!”
“
What?”
she shrieked. “Are you sure? Haines. H-A-I-N-E-S. You were looking at the score for Haines?”
“Yes, Ava, I was looking at Haines! You. Got. An. Eighty. Seven!”
Ava jumped into Max’s lap, pushing him all the way back down into a laying position in the loveseat, holding him at bay with her hands on his shoulders. She stared down at him with wide eyes as he looked back in shock. “Oh my God! I can’t believe this! I never! I mean, I thought I might have gotten in the sixties, but an eighty-seven? You know this is all because of everything you taught me, don’t you?”
Without realizing what she was doing, she brought her head down into the crook of his neck and began to kiss him just below his ear. Softly at first, but then more passionately. Making her way across his cheeks, eventually she reached his already parted lips.
Those lips.
Those lips she had waited so long to taste once more. She knew at that very moment she wouldn’t let him get away again. She
couldn’t
let him get away again. Max put his arms around Ava’s back, drawing her in even closer with long drawn out kisses, exploring her delicate lips with his tongue. Their breathing synced into one melody as their bodies responded to each other’s movements.
“No,” Max said abruptly, thrusting Ava back while trying to catch his breath. He could barely look her in the eyes. “We can’t.”
Ava sat up, looking away. “I don’t understand,” she cried. “Why do you keep pushing me away?”
Max tried to take Ava’s hand, but she pulled it to the side and placed it in her lap, guarding it from any further intrusion. This wasn’t happening again.
“Ava,” he began, “I need to explain to you why I sent Barry into the library with that note the day after our date. I should have been honest with you right away. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to tell you this. Well, I do know. At first I didn’t want to distract you from your final exam. Then the attack with Thomas happened, and I started to tell you, but Carly showed up, and—”