Undying Love

Chapter Six - Christian

"Ava? What are you doing here?" I questioned with my right eyebrow raised.

She was crying so hard I could barely understand her, and by now my whole family was in the room.

"Great, Chris, what'd you do? Tell her you didn't like her like that?" Ariana blurted out, without thinking, even after seeing the bags that Ava had. Sure enough, Ava was balling even more, because the pissed off Ariana didn't think about actually looking to see why she was upset. She just wanted my parents to question me later, on why I wanted my phone. She wanted them to know about Haddie. Even though we're not even friends, not yet at least.

I glared at her and she walked away, and my parents stepped closer to me now, because they heard what Ari said and were gonna question me.

"I just- I can't." Is all Ava could say, and my parents decided for us to leave her alone for today. And told me to follow them to the kitchen for a talk.

"What was your sister talking about?"

"Nothing dad, she's just mad at me because I told her I don't like Ava like that, and she wants me to date her."

"Because he likes someone else, dad!" yelled Ariana from up the stairs, obviously listening to my conversation with my parents.

"So, who do you like then?"

"A girl." I replied looking down at my feet, I don't want them knowing all of my business, I don't understand why it's such a big deal.

"Well, then why don't you invite the girl over for dinner tomorrow night, Chris?"

Great, now I have to invite a girl, who barely knows me, to my house to meet my parents. Wonder how I'm going to bring this up in a conversation. Not only do I have to invite her over, but I have to explain the Ava situation.

"I can see if she's free, she's a busy person, Lala." I said trying to hide that I was unsure, and then walked back up to my room and continued on the conversation.

Sorry about the delay, someone was at the door and I had to get it. My parents wanted me as well.

Its okay, I understand Chris. You're a busy person.

Not really, lol. But this "busy person" has a free night tomorrow night, and my mom said I can invite someone over for dinner, wanna come?

Um, I can ask my mom. Meeting the parents so soon? Wow this relationship is moving very fast.

Uh, yeah, sure. Just let me know what your mom says so I can tell my dad.

I was kidding, you know that right?

I read the message, but swiped it out of my notifications. I'm not really in the mood to talk to anyone right now, and I feel like I blew Haddie off and I feel terrible about that too. This whole Ava and Ari situation is stressing me out, and I really like Haddie. But how am I suppose to explain to her that Ariana will be staying here for a while, and nothing is happening between us.

I'm sorry if I joke too much, Chris. But if the offer still stands, I'll definitely ask my mom about it. Thanks for the invite.

She's so nice, and I feel like such a dick for ignoring her. But, I've got a lot on my plate right now, and the last thing I want to do is piss someone off I really like.

Yeah, Haddie, I know. I just got a lot going on right now, okay? I don't mean to be a dick, I'll just see you tomorrow, alright? I'll explain it all later, I swear.

I replied to her and turned off my phone screen. I start down the steps, and hear more of Ava's sobbing.

"Ava? You okay?" I ask, concerned.

She sniffles and tries to play it off like she wasn't crying.

"I'm fine, Chris. Can I get a drink?"

"You sure? It doesn't sound like you're fine to me. Sure, what could I get for ya? Water?"

She sniffled and whiped her nose on her sleeve, "Do ya got anything stronger?"

I laugh, "I sure don't, but my stepmom does, I'll get you some of her classic red wine, and I can get you some strawberry ice cream, just like you like."

She smiled, and I know for her that smiling when shits going on with her mom is something rare. I winked at her, turned around and started for the kitchen. I went to the cabinet where my parents keep all their drinking glasses, and grabbed a wine glass. I poured the wine, grabbed out the strawberry ice cream and scooped Ava some into a bowl. I carried it back to her, and smiled. She smiled back at me, and gave me that 'what are you looking at' look she always gives. I walked out to the cushion that her feet were on, and lifted them up after setting the ice cream on the table.

"Hey! My feet were there!" She laughed and playfully whined.

"Cool, now my ass is here," I winked at her and handed her the drink. "So, are you going to tell your best friend what's going on?"

She sipped the wine, and looked up at me, peering over the glass. "Well, are you going to hand me my ice cream?"

"Depends, are you going to tell me what's going on."

"Yes! If you hand me the damn ice cream before it melts! Okay, so, you know how my moms new boyfriend has been bossing me around?"

"Mhm," I said sticking my finger in her ice cream and licking it, "of how he kicked your brother out, and now your brothers living in like halfway houses and shit, right?"

"Yeah, well he insulted my brother, and called him a faggot and stuff, and you know I don't play when it comes to family. Then, he hit me, and my mom tried to stop him, and he beat her ass. I could t get him off of her, so I called the cops. Then my mom kicked me out for kicking out her "husband" and told me to not come back until I've learned to respect my "dad"."

"Listen, Ava, you've known me for what, four years now? You know I'm not great at advice, but I'm always listening. I really care about you, and I feel like shit that I don't know what to say, or any advice to give."

"I know Chris, thank you for always being here for me. You're really a real friend, and I thank you for that." By the end of that sentence, her face right right in front of mine, and as fast as that happened, her lips were on mine. As she pulled away, I couldn't help but start the conversation that needed to be started.

"Hey, uh- listen Ava, we're friends. We have been for a very long time, and I know it might seem like I want more than a friendship with you, I don't and I'm sorry. There's this girl, I met her and I really like her, and I really wanna be with her. Anyways, she's coming over for dinner tomorrow night, and I don't really know how to explain to her that you're living here for now. So if you could just say you were here watching movies with Ariana, that'd be really great, okay? I'm also planning on taking her out on a date on Thursday. I know this isn't the best time to bring this up, but you just kissed me, and I didn't want to lead you on." I felt like shit, because as I said this, her face fell. That smile I love to see faded into a frown, and for the first time ever, it was because of me.

"Oh, okay Chris, yeah, I can do that. But um, I think I'm gonna go to bed now, if that's okay." She said looking at her twiddling thumbs.

"Okay, yeah, alright Ava, I'm gonna take this to the kitchen," I explained picking up the bowl and glass, "Goodnight!" I said walking towards the kitchen to wash the glass and bowl. As I finished, I started up the stairs, and heard her sniffling, but continued to my room.

God, I'm a dick.