If you're going to have a solid relationship, you absolutely have to have trust and communication as two of your foundation pieces. Somehow, Trish and I lost that. I'm not sure if it happened over time, or we just had people subtly poisoning us against one another to the point where we just broke, but our foundation had become cracked. Could we repair it? I don't know. Did I want to try? Or would it be better to just repair a friendship with Trish, and see if Ava was still waiting for me to start a relationship with her? I guess I'd made my choice.
Ava and I hadn't fully built our foundation, and yet we had been honest to the point of being painful when communicating, and we both trusted one another. That was a good start. Could that grow? If we took that chance, could it become the bedrock of an amazing relationship? As I lay in bed snuggling with my little queen, that is all I could think about. Ava had made me better. She pulled me back from my despair and all the while she made her emotions towards me clear had never demanded a thing. She had proven that her only concern was my wellbeing, and I had to admire that about her.
Perhaps it was also telling that I wasn't ready to fight for the relationship once both Trish and I knew the truth. Was it the months of silence and hurt that had soured me on it? Was it the perceived betrayal? I don't know if I could answer that. But it did make me question the strength of that love if I wasn't willing to try and fight for it. Yet Trisha hadn't fought for it from the beginning either, so maybe it went both ways. For about an hour, I was truly incensed. Not just at Juliette for all her machinations, but also at Trish for not having said a single thing about all the crap they had been saying to her. In some ways this was worse than if she had just fallen for someone else. At least then I could have understood that her heart someone else. But this loss of faith was harder to accept.
Either way, it was over. She had eight more months of that stupid contract that she signed, and then maybe we could try being friends again, but I couldn't hang out with her while she was with those snakes. In the meantime, I needed to live my life. I needed to go see Ava and tell her the outcome.
But that meant doing something stupid!
Nah, not really. But it would hopefully be a nice gesture. Pulling up Madison's contact number, I sent her a quick message asking for some help. This was a simple one, I just needed seven photos, and they should be easy to get.
After that, I pulled up the group chat that I had with Liv and Miki. I needed their help, and hopefully their schedule would be free in a few days. Until then, I had my Titty and her constant companionship. The unconditional love she had for me is what I hoped to give to someone else. Love free of worry and knowing they would love me back. Could Ava be that person? Or had I already lost her?
I guess I'd have to start finding that out tomorrow. But tonight, I just needed sleep. I turned onto my non-injured side and made a little nest in my pillows for Nefertiti so she could sleep next to me. With her calming purring in my ears, I fell into the first restful sleep I'd had in weeks.
I woke up feeling great. I had a purpose, to prove to Ava that I had been worth waiting for. I checked my email and found the seven images that Madison sent me, and then forwarded them to Liv with a description of what I wanted. I knew she'd give me a quick turnaround, and while I felt guilty abusing her friendship with me for expedited help, I really wanted this done fast so I could go see Ava.
While all that was churning and out of my control, I got back to something that was. I had told Miki in the interview that people would see just how I got my ribs bruised up, so I set to editing that flying suit video. It made me think that I should reach back out to Madison to see if she could recommend an editor for me. It had been four months since Nat left with everyone else, and editing my own stuff was tiring! I didn't miss Sonny as much, as making my own films wasn't too hard, and I'd already been butting heads with him.
Just watching the flying suit descent, I had a feeling it was going to be popular. If people liked watching first person roller coaster videos, this would be even better. I particularly liked the screams of the people as I flew past the trailhead! I also got a lot closer to the rocks at Ooh Ahh Point and Cedar Ridge than I realized, and it made for a great film. I decided to leave my scream of pain in from when I hit my rock without an edit. It had hurt, and I had no problem letting people know that. As for the trip back up the canyon, that was a lot of cuts and time lapses, because it just wasn't exciting. I had to blur some faces as well, since I'd never asked the hiker's permission to be in the video, but I added thanks to the unknown helpers just in case they saw it. The entire way I had tried to pan around so that people could see the majesty of the canyon as well. I only added maybe a minute of the medical clinic and a shot of the ribs that night too. Just enough to show the bruising and abrasions. I thought it turned out exceptionally well, and I was happy with the finished result when I uploaded it later in the afternoon.
I checked my email, and Liv had already given me a first design idea. It was pretty close to what I wanted, but with no detail, and I sent it back with a few more ideas. If this kept up, I'd possibly be able to get it done tomorrow!
I felt really good about the day. Progress had been made, and I could see a road map of sorts in my mind for how to get back to Ava in the proper way.
But that flew right out the window when she called me after dinner.
When my phone rang, I assumed it was either Madison or Liv, so I picked it up and started my index finger on its journey to the little green button. Then I froze when I saw Ava's name on the call screen. She unblocked me! I couldn't even move for a few seconds as I realized that I was about to talk to Ava again!
"Hello?" I answered, sitting back against the headboard of my bed. I was trying to sound light and friendly, but I was nervous as hell.
"What the fuck did you do to yourself?" she yelled over the phone. She'd seen the video. Fuck. She didn't seem happy at all.
Uh oh. "I just hurt my ribs a little. But I'm fine."
"You could have been killed!" Her voice broke a little, and I realized that she was almost crying. "You could have been killed and I would have never seen you again!"
"I'm okay, I promise! It wasn't that bad!" I tried to be soothing, but that wasn't the easiest thing over the phone. "You're going to see me soon. I'm already working on coming to see you!"
"Wait, you are?" her breath hitched, and her voice suddenly got quieter.
"Yes. I am. I talked to Trish, and it was pretty much a mess. But I realized I needed to see you. Do you think I could make an appearance this weekend?" I wondered. "There is too much to explain over the phone, but I'd very much like to take you to dinner, and maybe have a kiss that is on the ground this time."
"Yes! Absolutely! Call me or text me any time! I missed you so much Lylah!" She was full on sobbing now and I wished I was there to give her a hug. "I'm so glad you're coming here. You have no idea!"
"I missed you too Ava, and so did Titty. She's coming with me, so she can get her fix," I assured her.
I finally heard Ava's tears turn to giggles. "You have to bring her to the movie set then, just so I can tell everyone I kissed your hairless pussy in front of everyone!" The phone dissolved into a fit of laughter on the other end, and I let her have her moment.
"When do I get to kiss yours?" I finally asked when she had calmed down.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and then a pause. "What?"
"I mean, if you're kissing my hairless pussy, it's only fair that I return the favor," I reasoned. I know, I had always tried not to flirt and tease because I knew it would hurt her because of the Trish situation. But we had just agreed to try being together, right? So, I think a little flirting was acceptable.
"We're not even dating yet Lylah, do you really expect to get into my pants that quickly?" she giggled at me. "You're going to have to work a lot harder than that!"
"I have every expectation of wooing you and I'm not going to rush this, Ava. You have done so much for me already, that I want to cherish every day I can with you," I told her. Yes, I wanted to make love to Ava Santos, but not until we were both ready. She had waited for me, and now it would be my turn to wait for her.
"I really like the sound of that. You have been a breath of fresh air in my life Lylah. You're so different from the people I'm stuck on the film shoot with. I already know you're probably going to kill Sean Lawrence, my co-star. So, don't. I can't do a jailhouse romance!"
"If you tell me he had a kissing scene with you and now won't stop harassing you for more off the movie set then I'll be on the first flight in the morning!" I promised. Did cliches like that really happen? Damn it! I should have been her stunt double to prevent this!
She was quiet for a moment before finally speaking up. "So how is Miki? I saw that interview she did at the show, she looks so grown up!"
"You're changing the subject!"
"She's going to own TMZ within a decade. That is my prediction," she continued.
"Fine, consider it switched. But can I be your stunt woman again? I need to be on set to keep that fucker away from you."
"You were always my stunt woman. I told the director to wait to shoot the stunt scenes until you were available. I will tell him we can start them after this weekend." Her voice sounded like she was laughing at me, and I supposed she was.
"You are in such trouble!" I couldn't be mad. I had deserved to be pulled from the entire movie, but instead she kept me there. She was amazing!
"Yeah, yeah. You can punish me when you get here. Now tell me about Miki."
"She's dating Liv, and she's in discussions on her first tattoo. They look so adorable together. Liv was here doing our makeup before the show, and I thought they were the cutest thing on the planet. And holy shit is Miki a flirt! Or she is with Liv anyway. She's so small and looks so innocent but she kept leaning in and whispering things to Liv and I thought I was going to have to let the poor girl borrow some underwear so she could change out of her wet ones!"
"Damnit! Now I need to hang out with them too!"
"Maybe we'll fly them out some time then. Give Miki a chance to do her show in a different city, and we can set Liv up as a guest artist at a local shop. Give everyone some publicity," I suggested.
"You shouldn't be doing stunts; you should be a publicist. You're really good at all this!"
"Well, you're doing exactly what you should be, you're an amazing actress and I can't wait to see you knock this role out of the park!"
"I'm more than a pretty face huh?" she joked.
"Oh yeah, you have a great ass and some gorgeous breasts too!" I shot right back.
"Please. Lylah, you know your ass is better than mine, that is why you're my stunt double!"
Evidently, we could talk about our asses all night. Technically we did switch subjects a few times, but we were up till 3am her time talking before we finally hung up. But my heart had felt so much better, just in talking to her. I was starting to feel whole again. I had made the right decision.