Every Rose Has It's Thorn

9

( 15 votes I'll update )
"Hi, Luke!" Ava burst into his room without warning, stopping short when she found Nathan lying on the floor. "Did he sleep over?"

"Yeah, he and Haley had a little argument." Lucas explained, throwing a shirt on. "Why don't you go and jump on him?"

Ava didn't need to be told twice as she sailed across the floor and landed right on top of Nathan, making him flinch in surprise and then groan in pain.

"Good morning." The child smiled innocently as if she hadn't just thrown all her body weight on him.

"Ava, do you ever just sit down and relax?" Nathan growled. "Man, you're like a tornado that never stops."

Of all the ways to be woken up out of a deep sleep, this wasn't a very favored one.

"Sorry." Lucas chuckled. "I thought that you should experience it at least once."

Ava always made it a habit to jump on him to wake him up, and now that all three of them were getting along, he figured that Nathan should experience the morning joy that is Ava.

"Thanks a lot." Nathan rolled his eyes and looked at his sister. "Well? Get off me, you little rugrat."

"Fine." Ava huffed and stood up. "But you're no fun."

"I try not to be." Nathan shot back as Lucas' phone rang.

"Hey." Lucas answered the phone.

"Hey." It was Haley of course. "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you so early, um, Nathan and I had a fight last night and he didn't come home and—"

"—I talked to him. He's okay."

"Oh, well, do you know where he is?"

"No." Lucas lied.

And it felt really strange to him. He didn't like lying to her, she was his best friend. Besides the whole HCM thing, Lucas didn't make lying a habit with her.

"Okay, well, the next time you talk to him, can you...ask him to come home, please?"

"Okay, I will." Lucas smiled. "Alright, well look, don't worry yourself okay, Hales? I'm sure he's fine. Alright?"

"Okay, bye." Haley sighed and ended the call.

"Thanks for covering for me, man."

"You're welcome, but it sucked. I don't wanna lie to Haley."

"You just did."

"You're not supposed to lie." Ava spoke as a matter of factly. "Cause then when you tell the truth, nobody's gonna believe you."

"Ava, shut up." Nathan rolled his eyes.

He didn't need a life lesson from a nine year old right now. What did she know anyway? She still had to ride in a booster seat.

"It's true!" Ava insisted. "She won't believe you soon. Lying is really bad, Nathan. And Haley's your wife. That makes it even worse."

"You know what, Havana? I'll start taking advice from you as soon as your shoes start to match."

"I like the way my shoes are." The girl looked down at her feet. Today's combination included pink converse on the left foot, and red on the right.

They matched the sweater she was wearing under her overalls.

"There's nothing wrong with your shoes." Lucas rolled his eyes. "He's and idiot and he's deflecting."

"Oh." Ava shrugged. "You shouldn't make fun of me like that."