Finding April (gxg)

Part 6

After dinner was over Ava sat in my room with me as I called Amira.
"I am doing the right thing I hope? By calling Amira? I don't want to be a snitch." I said, looking down at my phone.
"You are. This is a new piece of information that could be helpful." Ava encouraged. We were sitting next to each other on my bed.
"Okay. I'll call her." I knew Amira would be up and willing to answer her phone even past 10. She was a night owl. 
She answered quickly. "Josephine, are you okay?"
"I'm good. Sorry to call you this late."
"It's fine. I'm working an overnight shift guarding a Walmart parking lot. I'm bored as fuck."
"I have some information that I wasn't sure if I should share, but I think I should." I looked over at Ava, who nodded as I said that.
"I would suggest you do not withhold anything from me."
"Tonight we hosted a big dinner at my house. Candace and Kenny were there. And I saw them kissing. And when I confronted them, Kenny was awful rude about it."
"Not surprised you confronted them." Amira chuckled, "Can you tell me more in detail how he was rude?"
I explained the conversation to Amira. She said she would definitely take note of it. After we hung up, Ava turned to me. "Do you talk to Amira a lot?" she asked.
"Not really. Just about the case sometimes." I said.
"Oh...okay." Ava nodded.
"Why, are you jealous?" I said playfully to her.
"Kind of." she said in a more serious tone, looking at me.
I moved closer to her. I needed to be closer to Ava. "Well, you have nothing to be jealous over." I said, leaning closer to her.
"Amira is really pretty." she said, her eyes darting toward my lips.
"She is. But I've got the prettiest girl right in front of me." I said, feeling butterflies to the anticipation of us kissing.
And then our lips collided again. And again. And again. And we were deep in each other's kiss. Things were starting to heat up, I could tell. And then...I heard a knock at my door.
"Fuck." I mumbled, taking my hands out of Ava's hair. "Come in!"
It was Scott. He paused for a moment before speaking, looking at us. "Sorry if I interrupted...anything. We are having drinks downstairs. Come join us."
"Sure, we will be down in a second." I said.
After Scott left Ava turned to me, "Do you think he knew?"
"Considering how your hair looks and how I'm sure mine looks too...yes." I laughed.
Ava sat next to me as I had wine and hard seltzer's with my siblings. It felt right to have her there. But the fact that the life of the party, April, wasn't there felt entirely wrong.
I laid in bed that night and couldn't sleep. I looked at my phone. 3:17 am. I just kept thinking about April. Wondering if she somehow telepathically knew I was thinking about her. I just wanted to fucking know what happened. Where she was. How she would beat both Kenny and Candace's asses for kissing.
April was the first person that I told I was gay. I knew I was since I was young- like 10 years old. I just knew I was different. I felt the way about girls how my friends did about boys. But it took me a while to accept it within myself. And I was beyond nervous to tell anyone. I knew my parents thankfully were not homophobic. My moms sister, my Aunt Marissa is married to a woman- my Aunt Jolene. And my dad, I knew he was accepting. He used to always laugh and say he knew one of his 5 kids would turn out to be gay.
I was 14 and April was 18. I had just started high school and she was a senior. One night after school we were watching Degrassi together how we used to. And I just had this urge to tell her. To spit it out. But the words just weren't leaving my damn mouth.
Finally, April looked at me. "Spit it out, Josie."
"W-what?" I asked, flustered.
"You want to say something. I can tell. Spit it out."
"I like girls." I blurted out.
April chuckled, "Yeah...I know, kiddo."
"You knew? How?" I was dumbfounded.
"You don't think I see how you look at girls? When we watch TV together...go places. You look at them like I look at men."
"And you're...good with it?" I asked her.
Then she threw her arms around me. "Of course I am, you fucking idiot." she laughed, "And I'll kill anyone who isn't."
And the funny thing is, I knew that was basically true. Maybe not the actual killing part- but that she would rock anyone's shit that would be rude about it.
The next year is when I actually came out and the school knew. That was when I hooked up with a girl for the first time, Francesca Vitrolo, and everyone found out. And one girl- Vanessa Morland, made snide comments to me. And when I told April she wanted to drive to the girls house and kick her ass. She was literally about to get into her car and leave when I told her I had it taken care of- and by that, I meant I punched the girl in the face and got suspended. And April said she had never been more proud of me.
April was a fiery spirit. She had a quick temper and was confrontational. Wonder where I got that from. But she has an absolute heart of gold and would do anything for anyone. She was very into Astrology- her sign was a Sagittarius. She would always say she was a true Sagittarius. Then she would always tell me I was very true to my sign- Aquarius. Whatever that meant exactly. All I knew was that when I had kids one day- which I hoped to- I didn't want to be telling them about their Aunt April. I wanted her to be there herself to tell them about her. And judge them by their Zodiac Sign. And be the best Aunt ever.
I finally wound up falling asleep in my deep thought about April. But I woke up at 6 am to my phone ringing. My heart skipped a beat. Could it be April?
I looked down at my phone, and felt slightly disappointed when I saw it was Amira. But once I spoke to her I wasn't.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Amira said, "But I have a possible break in the case."
I immediately woke the fuck up. "What is it?"
"We got a tip that someone spotted April out in New Jersey. Or at least someone that looks a hell of a lot like her."
"Where in Jersey?" I asked, my heart pounding. That was only one state over from Pennsylvania.
"Cherry Hill. It's about an hour and a half from here."
"I'll go there today. Now." I said, getting out of my bed.
"We are going to have cars patrolling the area. Someone said they thought they saw her in a Wawa." Amira said.
"I am going to head down there." I said.
"Bring someone with you." Amira said, "Don't go patrolling any area by yourself."
"Good point." I said, "I know just who to bring. Thank you, Amira."
"Of course. I am going to call your mom too."
"Alright. I'll keep you updated."
After I hung up with Amira I called Ava right away, forgetting how early on a Sunday morning it was.
"Hello? Are you okay?" she asked groggily.
"How do you feel about going to New Jersey with me today? April might be there. Someone thinks they spotted her."
"I'm on my way." Ava said, a lot more awake.
Could this be it?