chapter thirty one; the beginning of the end
Ava listened to the voicemail on her phone over and over, taking every word in each time and then replaying everything once more, the minute it ended. She held her phone up to her ear, intently focusing on the voices, biting her lip as she nervously rocked back and forth on the chair by her outdoor balcony. It was more than "too cold" to be outside in the chilly weather, especially since there would be a predicted snowfall this Christmas, but with just her big, oversized Harry Potter sweatshirt and some sweatpants, she stayed alone—staring at the skyline with voicemails playing as her company.
She had been sitting outside for God knows how long, contemplating what to do or how to respond, the cold air that nipped at her tan skin no longer bothering or fazing her. She was left alone in the quiet, Becca had already left to Christmas vacation to see her family, bringing Calum along with her, and Ava was waiting for something to spark the holiday spirit inside of her. If she had it, that is. She sighed and put her phone down, locking it, hearing enough of the voicemail now that she was sick of it. It was from her family—who else, really? Everyone else she knew would've called to say a Happy Holiday greeting—who she was now slowly making amends with.
It was a start, but the only thing she could think about was the last time she visited her family.
It was horrible, really. Her and her dad had yet to actually have a real conversation and the insults that were whispered as she walked away were incredibly offensive. She was grateful, honestly, that her siblings and mom were so willing to bond once more, but one could only feel so much happiness while also being so painfully aware of everything else going on in their life. She sighed and held her knees up to her chest, frowning at the thought that she had woken up on Christmas alone with nothing other than a missed call from her sister and short voicemail from the family she was estranged with.
She also hadn't talked to Luke in about twenty hours, but hey, who's counting? She knew that it was entirely her fault anyway, being too afraid and prideful to admit that she could've handled the situation better. It was right about now where she could really use a smoke, and her mind travelled to an unopened box of cigarettes hidden away in her supply drawer, wondering if it was worth giving in.
She had to admit: going these many stressful months without smoking have been incredibly hard and the first weeks of withdrawal symptoms made her feel terrible. Maybe smoking one cig could be her Christmas present to herself, she thought. Then, she shook her head and convinced herself to forget that the idea even passed through her brain. Maybe she could go eat her feelings, or something. She pouted and thought of flinging herself off the balcony, but knew that the whole circumstance would be pointless; plus, thinking about dying only made her overthink more.
Ava Morrison—queen of overthinking and accidentally making things worse while trying to make them better—had felt more defeated than ever, and she knew that this was not the mood to be in for the holidays. She closed her eyes for a moment as a freezing breeze blew by and then opened them up, trying to not do the thing she does best: stress out. And so, with that thought, she got up from her chair and went back into her apartment, determined to spend the whole day watching Christmas movies and Criminal Minds episodes on Netflix while chomping on chocolate bars and junk food.
"I am a strong woman of colour, with badass hair and style and music taste, and if I gain weight from eating all this junk food, it is worth it," Ava chanted to herself repeatedly as she made her way to her bedroom, arms full of chocolate, potato chips, twinkies, and water bottles. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that I, worst friend of the year, am capable of crying off two pounds."
"Actually, that's impossible, Squirt."
Ava let out a scream and dropped all her food at once, making it all thud on the ground softly. She whisked around and immediately started hammering whoever the intruder was, wishing she had her lighter so she could light them on fire instead of using her hands. She had never been a fighter, and now, as her life flashed before her eyes, she regret not practicing her martial arts skills in so long. Her black belt would've been so ashamed of her and her Master Steven would've been so disappointed.
By the time she had already accepted the fact that she might die on Christmas, at age twenty-one, she was whisked in the air, her fists rendered useless since she wasn't hitting anything.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in the arms of none other than her idiot best friend and boyfriend Luke Hemmings. He held her tightly in his arms, her feet quite high off the ground since he was so much taller than her. He had an amused look on his face and she just glared at him.
"How dare you," Ava scolded, unable to move her arms (that were wrapped around Luke's shoulders, his hands supporting her legs) due to the fear of falling, "You...you six foot tall tree boy, come into my house, and almost kill me! On Christmas, at that, you hooligan. You sir, are no friend of mine, and I demand that you get out of my face this instant. Also, never call me Squirt again."
Luke rolled his eyes and only held her closer, steadying her so that he wouldn't drop her. He scoffed at her use of exquisite vocabulary and stuck his tongue out. "I forgot that you told me what happens when you get surprised. Geez, I didn't think that you ridiculously flailing your arms around would hurt so much."
"Black belt in martial arts, bitch. Come at me."
"I thought you were a pacifist," Luke teased, a smug smirk on his face as he bent down and picked up all the artificially flavoured sweets from the ground, placing them back in her hands. "By the way, I saw you got my flowers. You like them right? They smell really good, kinda like you. Wait, what? Was that weird? I just meant that you smell really good and stuff. Like that strawberry shampoo that you use is incredible. Where'd you get it? Walmart?"
Luke continued to ramble, listing as many names of various bath and body brands as he could, until he realized that it would just be best if he stopped talking altogether. He gave Ava a sheepish grin before shrugging and fixing the leather jacket he wore.
"Yes, Emo," Ava reassured, giving him a weird look as she lead him to her bedroom, "I loved your flowers. Especially the meaning behind them. You're really adorable, it's literally unfair. Like, what the fuck?"
Luke blushed deeply and made himself at home on her bed, kicking his shoes off and sitting down. "I know right. I can't help that I'm so irresistible. You're so in love with me that you can't help it."
Ava rolled her eyes, closing the door, "Haha. Funny, jackass."
Luke had been busy all day, and he had FaceTimed his mother and father since they decided to spend Christmas in Australia rather than in their house in New York. Though he didn't speak of them much, Ava knew that he had a very close relationship with his parents, one that made her yearn for the same.
He spent most of the morning with them since they had an early flight, and he insisted on driving them to the airport—so all Ava had was a couple texts from him here and there. He had, however, sprung a FaceTime call on her while he was with his parents and introduced them as Ava had just woken up.
His mother, Liz, if Ava remembered correctly, had been more than kind, and that in itself was already the best Christmas gift she could've ever received.
"Wow, is that any way you should be talking to your best friend in the whole world? AKA, the person who may or may not be giving you a gift momentarily, depending on your attitude," Luke retorted, raising his eyebrows, pulling a small box out of his jacket pocket, messily wrapped with duct tape and stickers.
Ava gave him another look, with a hint of a smile etched onto her lips.
Luke blushed and had an incredulous expression plastered over his face, like she shouldn't have been surprised with how badly wrapped his present was, "What?! I didn't have any wrapping paper."
She rolled her eyes and took the gift out of his hands, peeling the sticky duct tape off of the miniature cardboard box, unwrapping it as it peeled away the dogs stickers Luke had also placed on there. When she had finally "unwrapped" her gift (unwrapped being in quotations because, well, was something covered in duct tape really wrapped in the first place?), she crumpled all the duct tape into a ball and tossed it Luke's nose, causing him to pout. At first, she shook the box just to tease him and she contorted a thinking face.
"Hmmm," she hummed coyly, pretending to concentrate real hard, "I wonder what it is. A vibrator perhaps?"
Luke groaned, "UGH! Just open it up, Aves. I'm so nervous I'm going to blow chunks."
She giggled and opened the box slowly, a gleam of silver and gold catching her eye before she realized what it was. It was beautiful, really. A ring sat in the box, a gold band with one silver jewel placed on the top. Apart from her occasional thumb ring, she didn't wear much jewelry, but this was a whole other different story. It was gorgeous! With this on her finger, she wouldn't do anything but wave with the back of her hand—that's how beautiful it was. She took it out of the box, staring at it in awe, her cheeks sore from how big she was smiling. She glanced what was engraved on the inside and her heart swelled.
"EMO," she read off the band, a laugh escaping her mouth as she did this. The term had always made her cringe seeing as she was a twenty year old, and in middle school she had the worst scene phase ever, but now it was the best (and frankly, the cutest) inside joke she had come to know.
Luke fiddled with his fingers, taking in her reaction, his love for the girl practically spilling out of him at this point. He couldn't think of anyone better to have by his side. "It's a promise ring," he told her, biting his lip while picking at the fabric of Ava's bed, "And it says that so you never forget what happened the night we first met."
Ava took a seat next to him and hesitated before hugging him tightly, his arms immediately snaking around her, reciprocating the gesture. She smiled into his shoulder, "Thank you so much, Luke. This is one of the best things I have ever gotten. I love you."
He let go of her and blushed for what seemed the hundredth time this hour, and he showed her his left hand. "Mine says AVES," he started, sounding like a little kid who was about to talk about his absolute favorite dinosaur or superhero, "Because I'm the only one who calls you that and you're the only one I could possibly ever love. And I hate to damper the mood or rain on your parade—or whatever people say these days, I honestly really don't know—but I know you saw me with Delilah."
"Luke—"
"And I was acting like an unintelligent noob? Yes! It was not a good day but that is also no excuse, because my actions affect my consequences and also I am very sorry that I haven't talked to you about the letter clearly because you obviously want to know and it is very unhealthy if I keep secrets from you," he continued rambling, knowing that all of this would have sounded better on a card. "And you can read it, any time you want. Except now, because now it's at my house because I didn't think this through, but any other time—yes, you can read it. Basically, I just love you a lot okay? And you're my best friend and you always will be. And I, well—Merry Christmas."
He sat there when he finished, out of breath from talking so fast and he glanced at Ava with a Luke of pure regret and it just about made her heart melt.
"God, you're such a goofball. I forgive you," Ava replied, wrapping her arm around him to give him a noogie, straining since she was so short. "I have to give you your gift. Hold on."
Was Ava nervous? Yes—very nervous. She was absolute shit at buying people gifts because she always thought that they deserved the universe and all the galaxies, and the Universe and All the Galaxies is not exactly something that you could buy on Amazon or at the nearby store. She got up and went to her closet, opening the door and beginning to rummage through her clothes, knowing she hid the gift somewhere in there. She fished out a box, heaving it out and giving it to him.
"It's a bit of a care package, I guess you could say," she explained, her heart's pace quickening in her chest.
"Oh my god. You're a fucking legend!" Luke cried out when he opened the box, seeing all she had placed in there for him. He pulled out everything: KitKat bars, a homemade book labeled Reasons You're My Best Friend, a Green Day shirt, and a best friend bracelet. He immediately put on the bracelet, which was blue and had square beads spell out PUKE.
"I especially liked making the Best Friend booklet," she said happily, liking the reaction she got from him as she took it out. She flipped open the first page and smiled.
"That," she pointed out, using her finger to show him, unaware that he was already looking at her, "That is my favorite part."
Luke smiled, but he couldn't tear his eyes off of the girl sitting next to him. Everything about her made him feel like a puddle of testosterone and emotion and he swore that he had never met anyone like her. Before her, Luke was so afraid to everything and he never knew what he wanted.
Now, he knew what he wanted. He just hoped that the universe wouldn't take it away from him.
•••
hmmm foreshadowing bitches
im genuinely upset because i feel like my writing is so bad and that the story isn't going in the right direction. like i feel like this story is weird and that luke and ava act like completely different people??? idk but it's stressing me out.
anyways shit is going to hit the fan so i hope you're ready
THIS IS SUCH A LATE XMAS CHAPTER UFJDKSKSKSJ IM SKIPPING NEW YEARS FUCK THAT
anyways though, i hope you enjoyed and i hope my writings calms the fuck down so i won't stress out about this story.
BUT ALSO: THANK YOU FOR 12.7K READS?? WHAT?? THATS SO COOL. LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH.