Liar, Liar | Ginny & Georgia

Chapter Nine

"SOPHIE SANCHEZ. . ." MAX BEGAN as she leaned up against a shelving unit. Avery was standing next to her. "Table four needs coffee," called Joe, briefly interrupting the Baker, but she didn't care, "is so hot," she finished. Ginny began to walk away with Max following. "Like, her ass belongs in the Louvre. It's art. She wore leggings yesterday and I died. I'm dead! I'm deceased." Max came back to Avery, as Ginny began to serve coffee. "Just cremate me and put me on the mantle."

Max began to follow Ginny around again. "We've been texting. She actually cares about things, like the planet and other people. She's been teaching her sister how to bake. Isn't that so cute?" Avery nodded. "Adorable."

"Max, you know you're not supposed to be back there," called Joe, as Max followed Ginny behind the counter. Avery looked on in amusement as she stood by the shelving unit beside the counter. "How are you and Hunter?" asked Avery. Ginny sighed in annoyance. "Ugh! He still hasn't said anything about the picture. It's weird." Avery raised a brow. "You sent him a nude? Partially or fully?" Ginny looked at her, still frowning. "Partially." Avery nodded slowly. "Okay, we can work with that."

"I don't know. I don't think I'm good at the sexy thing. That's Georgia's expertise, not mine." Max chuckled. "Yeah, Georgia is insanely hot." Ginny gave her a look. Avery sighed and then came up to them in front of the counter. "Sorry. Not sorry," giggled Max. "Okay, I wanna talk more about Sophie now." Ginny gave a sound that was a mix between a scoff and a sigh.

Avery got a text. "Maxi, my dear, I'm so sorry, but I have to go." Max gasped in betrayal. "I'm sorry! But my dad needs me to pick something up for the Poker night." She squished the brunettes cheeks and then kissed the tip of her nose, before gathering her things and then dashing out the door.

The things that needed to be picked up, were the uniforms that they would be wearing, the hosts of the event and some glasses and stuff. Avery had been permitted to borrow the car, if she promised to drive it back to the office where her Vespa currently was. The Audi A8 in a silver color was currently parked in front of the building where they had rented venue room for the Poker night. Avery opened the door to the room and was then followed by Georgia and Nick who had also shown up. Ginny made an appearance not long after.

Avery and Nick were responsible for putting up tables, which the blonde did effortlessly. She had managed to do five tables, while Nick struggled with the two he had done. "How in the hell did you do that?" asked Nick, somewhat baffled. Avery shrugged. "I work out," she replied nonchalantly. "Can say the same for you, Nicky."

Ginny snorted from where she stood. Avery smiled as she picked up a microphone, before frowning. "Crap, the batteries are dead," she mumbled. "Got a vibrator in your purse?" asked Ginny, smiling tauntingly at her mother. Avery sighed and then walked over to her purse. She dug around for a bit and then found the spare batteries she always had. "I found some," she stated.

It didn't take them long to finish and then Avery sighed, pouting. "I wanna go tonight. I'm mean at poker," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Georgia chuckled. "Shame it's adults only," she replied.

"Yeah," mumbled Avery, before checking her watch. "I better return the Audi to dad," she added on and then grabbed her things. "Good luck, Georgia," she called over her shoulder, before leaving.

THE BATTLE OF THE Bands wasn't as exciting as Avery had hoped. After helping out at the casino venue, Avery had briefly gone home to shower and then gone to the school dressed in a knitted, fuzzy, crop top in a white color and some dark blue jeans. She wore a pair of white platform converse and her purse was crossed over her body.

Currently, she was standing with Marcus, whose one arm was around her waist, fingers dancing over her skin softly. He was whispering crude jokes into her ear, making her giggle.

Across the gym, Ginny's eyes lingered on the couple, before hastily looking away.

It was Hunter's band who was up now and Avery wasn't impressed. Not that she didn't like Hunter, she just thought the song was. . . underwhelming. It didn't bring her to tears like 'Roslyn' from Bon Iver or 'Softcore' from The Neighbourhood, or hell, even 'All I Want' from Kodaline.

Avery and Marcus shared a look. It took everything in the Randolph girl not to snort, because Hunter was a good friend. Avery was vaguely aware of the majority of MAANG being very excited on Ginny's behalf, but she just didn't what was so riveting about Hunter's song. "If you ever try to romance me like this, I'm locking you in a mental institution," threatened Avery, causing Marcus to snort. "Yeah, don't count on me doing that for you. I'm content with how we are now," replied Marcus, tugging her closer and slotting their lips together.

···

IF AVERY HAD TO pick a moment of complete peace, it would be this. She was sitting at her vanity, watching through the mirror as Marcus was asleep in her bed behind her. He was snoring away, unaware of her watching him.

Avery didn't believe in perfection, but this came pretty damn close. Marcus, was pretty close to perfection.

She couldn't say the same about herself. Sure, she might have perfect skin, the perfect dad, the perfect friends, but was she really perfect, or was it not enough. it wasn't enough for Sofia. Avery pushed the cat eye frames further up her nose and then looked into the notebook in her hands. It was a recommendation from her therapist that she put her thoughts into it, no matter how dark and sad they were. At least in that way, she could keep track of them.

Avery bit her lower lip and then turned on the light in her mirror, keeping it on a dim setting as to not disturb Marcus, but still enough light for Avery to be able to see what she was doing.

October 20th, 2020

I have no idea what I'm doing.
It's becoming blatantly obvious that I'm losing my grip on myself and my mental capacity, but I don't know what I can do to stop it.
It's the anniversary soon, and I don't know what
to do. When it passes, it means that I've been without Sofia for eleven years. And surprisingly, I'm okay with that, because it means that she doesn't mean as much to me as she
once did.
I have no qualms about missing her, but I'm still angry. The fact that she could just leave me, as if I was nothing, is astonishing to me. What kind of mother leaves their child like she's just a
smudge underneath her shoe? If she had died, I might not be so angry, but that isn't the case.
But maybe she should just be dead to me.
Dead to me. It doesn't sound bad.
It's official.
That bitch is dead to me.

Avery put the ball point pen down and then put the diary back into her vanity drawer, before taking her glasses off, placing them down carefully and then turning the light off. She crawled back into bed and sighed as she felt the warmth of her covers. Marcus grumbled something in his sleep and then curled up behind her, wrapping an arm around her stomach.