Love surprises you - on hold

eight

Ava

   "Hey Tim?" Ava asks quietly, picking through the veggies on her lunch tray. Ava was hopeful Grace would show up for some miraculous reason, but understandably she didn't then Chloe decided to eat with her boyfriend, so it's just her and Tim today. Because of that, they decided to eat outside, sitting at one of the picnic benches.

"Yeah?" He replies, drinking from his metal water bottle, still holding her eye contact as he waits for her patiently.

"What do you think about gay people?" She asks, her voice a fraction of what it first was.

Tim's response is to choke on his water, making him grab his chest and swallow hard, "Excuse me?"

"LGBTQ+ people. What do you think about them?" She clarifies, struggling to hold his gaze, instead looking down to her salad.

He chuckles a bit, "Well for starters Av, the official acronym is LGBTQ2S+." Ava looks back to him, confused, "2S stands for two spirit, it's to describe someone who has both a femine and masculine spirit, it's used by some indigenous people."

Ava nods, finding him-most likely-dumbed down explanation understandable.

"And to answer your question, I mean they're people Ava, I don't feel any certain way about them. It would depend on their personality, you know whether they're good people or not." He says making Ava nod slowly as he turns back to his food.

So far so good, she thinks, "Do you think I'm a good person?"

"Of course-" Tim cuts himself off, slowly turning his head to meet Ava's gaze, "Are you saying-"

This time Ava interprets him, "I think I like girls."

His expression shows a bit of surprise before he gives her a soft smile, "Thank you for telling me." She shares his smile, "You think?"

"I'm a lesbian, I know that." She says, glancing once more back to her food, "I- nevermind."

"What?" Tim urges, placing his hand on her shoulder as he swings one of his legs over the bench, fully facing her. "You tell me."

She licks her lips before starting, and for some reason she feels nervous as she tells him about her discovery. "I did a lot of research last night...um...do you know what demisexual means?"

He nods, "Yeah, it falls under the category of asexual sexualities."

Ava nods back, "I've never had any crushes Tim, I think the reason is I'm demi."

The boy drops his hand, instead grabbing his burger and taking a bite. "But you've been friends with girls before, you've never felt attracted to them?"

"One." She says slowly. "And I kissed her, and now she's shunning me." Assuming he hasn't quite connected the dots Ava continues, "And this morning I told Grace I was gay, and she said 'good for you' then left."

"Shit." Tim mutters, his words muffled by the food in his mouth, but he doesn't seem to care, putting a hand over his mouth and speaking, "While first off you should try to talk to the girl you like. I'm guessing she isn't sure of her sexuality, so she's probably just as confused as you are and needs you to reach out, maybe more as a friend than anything else. And for Grace, just tell her how it made you feel. She's an asshole to me, but she really cares about you, she's probably just shocked." He concludes finally swallowing.

She smiles to herself that somehow Tim hasn't put two and two together. "Yeah, yeah I will. Thank you Tim." She leans forward, enveloping the boy into a hug, as his arms stretch around her, trying to not get any burger on her.

"No problem, I'm really happy you told me." He says when she leans back, finally starting eating her meal. "Wanna tell me about this girl you like?" Ava shakes her head quickly, trying to hide the small smile that fights its way onto her lips. "Is she cute?" Her cheeks heat up making Tim snicker, "Oh she totally is!"

"Shush." She mutters weakly, stuffing more lettuce into her mouth.

---

"How was your day sweetheart?" Ava's dad yells from the kitchen when he hears the door open and shut. She slides off her shoes, walking into the kitchen where her dad stands. He's rolling dough on their marble, flour all over his hands, spreading onto his nose when he pushes up his glasses.

"Good." She answers, knowing her dad will find the answer bland. "How was work?" She slides into one of the chairs, opposite him.

"The same, I had a kid today in for xrays and we found six wisdom teeth instead of four." He tells her, a grin on his face. "I also heard a joke today wanna hear it?" Ava simply nods, while jokingly groaning. In her mind her dad's notorious for the worst dad jokes. "To be frank...I'd have to change my name."

Ava laughs lightly, shaking her head at him, "That was kinda good."

"I know." He agrees, still kneading the dough, "I haven't told it to Sam yet."

"He'll love it."

"Oh also! There's this amazing sci-fi movie I thought we could watch, it's called Gravity, Sandra Bullock's in it." He tells her, excitement on her face, "We can have a movie party after Sammy's in bed, thought it might be fun. You can invite Grace if you really want to."

The thought saddens Ava a bit, she really needs to figure this thing out. "I'd love to, we can have popcorn and all that candy you bought last week." She teases.

"Only if you brush for an extra three minutes." He tells her, and his expression tells Ava he's only half joking so she nods with a grin. "Calzones will be ready in twenty."

"Okay, I'll be in my room." She tells him, standing up.

After the amazing dinner Ava does her homework, then does some more, until she's finished. Then she studies, and studies, and studies. All just to keep Grace out of her mind, to stop herself from obsessing over her. So Ava decides after she finishes the movie with her dad, she'll sneak out-for the first time-and go talk to Grace. Make her see Ava's side of things.