Ava was leaving, he aunt who lives in Las Angles was instructed by her parents who were on their way to pick Ava up. But that's not what upset the girls most. The tears were real and there was no chance on them stopping for a while.
"They can't do that," Nicole said wiping her eyes with the tissue she had in her hands.
"They think you are a bad influence and think that we would benefit from time apart," Ava said staring at the wall. Nicole was her only friend, she didn't talk to anyone else.
"That's bullshit. I have been your friends since forever. Why is it when I really need you they wanna take you away from me." Nicole said. "It isn't fair. it won't benefit anyone but them." She said tears in her eyes.
"Nic, what are we gonna do?" She asked. Nicole didn't know. Her parents would surely keep her away from Ava for a while as well. In fact, her parents drove in tomorrow. They had taken a longer trip because Brett, Nicole's father, thought that Jasmine needed to calm down before seeing Nicole.
"I don't know," Nicole muttered. Ava stood up and walked over to her friend wrapping her arms around her. "Don't leave me," Nicole said. And at that point, Scarlett knocked on the guest room's door with a sad frown on her face.
"Ava your aunt is here." She said. Ava looked at Nicole broken and said.
"Don't forget about me?" She asked sadly.
"Never." She said. The two girls took a moment to embrace before Scarlett coughed. Ava's aunt didn't seem like the most patient person in the world. "Goodbye, Nic.....aren't you gonna say goodbye?" She asked sadly. Nicole shook her head no.
"If I say goodbye I am admitting defeat. And I won't do that." She said. "I won't say goodbye to my best friend." Ava gave her a small sad smile before picking up her backpack and heading out. The girls couldn't look at each other for the fear of breaking down once more.
Scarlett walked with Ava downstairs. They were silent and before reaching the door Ava turned to Scarlett. "Thank you for letting us stay here." She said politely. "It means so much more to me that you took Nicole in. I just wanna ask that you don't hurt her. She was so excited to meet you."
"I will try. I am trying." Scarlett said to the young girl.
"Thank you for introducing her to your family. Even if the only person who actually spoke to her was Vanessa. It meant a lot to her." Ava said. "I know it did."
"Well, it was the right thing to do. And maybe we can get the other to say something before she......before she leaves." She said sadly. She didn't want Nicole to leave. But she didn't have custody.
"that's great. But a word of advice. Focus on Chris. He needs to talk to her." She said before turning away and walking to the door to leave with her aunt. Scarlett stood there confused. Was Chris really still acting like that? She thought they had a conversation.
Jasmine was staring off at the water. They had to take another pit stop, to which she was not happy about at all. They had taken at least twenty wrong turns and almost ten pit stops every 30 minutes. They were getting nowhere fast.
"Are you guys stalling?" Jasmine asked turning to her family, who were pretending to be looking at a mad. But really Brett was telling his kids to ask for more pitstops.
"No mother we are not," Eric said offended. "Why would we do that?"
"I don't know. But I want to know why you are making us take way longer then we should be to get there. We have been driving way too long. We should have been there two hours ago!" Complained Jasmine.
"Mom," Emma said trying to calm her mother down.
"No. Don't Mom me!" She said. "Why are we stalling?" She asked again. The kids looked at their father who looked down and sighed. He looked at the kids telling them to go to the car for a while.
"Jas, you have to understand you are a bit hostile," Brett said.
"Oh really? Well, what do you want me to be? Because our daughter is in freaking LA with people we don't even know! and just so happen to be her birth parents." Jasmine yelled in frustration. Brett looked at her, and immediately knew what she was really upset about.
"You are afraid she will choose them aren't you?" Brett asked looking at Jasmine. Jasmine looked almost offended, but then it faded into a sad nod.
"I am afraid the longer she is with them the more she would like them," she said. "I don't wanna have to share my daughter. She is my daughter. Not theirs. I raised her! I gave her the wonderful life she has and I don't want to lose her." She said. Brett walked up to his wife embracing her in a hug.
"Hey look at me, no one is gonna take her do you hear me?" He said. "She is our daughter. We have custody of her not them. And they can't just take her. Besides Nik loves you. She loves her siblings she loves her life. And she loves Ava, Ava comes with being at home. She isn't gonna leave. She loves you Jas." He said with a smile on her face.
"How do you know she won't leave us?" Jasmine asked, her face was in his shirt. Brett looked down at her gently playing with her hair.
"Because she can't. Even if she tried our crazy weird nosy family will be right behind her. She is apart of the Jones family and nothing can change that." He said.
"I sure hope that you are right." She said and looked up at him. "Thank you. I am ready. No more stops this time." She asked. Brett laughed and nodded his head.
"Yeah, let's go get her."
Scarlett walked the hall heading to her room, she had a sudden stop when she heard a sniffling. She frowned and turned around and backed up. She looked at the door that was opened a slight bit.
Nicole was sitting on the bed against the wall. She had her legs pulled up to her face and her head rested on them. She was clearly upset. Scarlett stood there watching trying to come up with a way to approach her. There was no right or wrong way. So she tapped gently on the door.
"Hey, Nicole. Are you okay?" Scarlett asked letting herself into the room. Nicole looked up quickly rubbing the tears away from her face.
"Huh? Oh um yeah I am fine" She lied. Scarlett frowned, she didn't like that she was pretending to be okay in front of her.
"No your not, I can see it on your face. What's wrong?" She asked again. She noticed that Chris and Nicole both made the same motion of their ears when it came to lying.
"You don't wanna hear it." She said, "You can go." She said. But Scarlett didn't move, Nicole kept her eyes glues to the floor at Scarlett's slippers.
"No, I wanna know what's going on." She said gently. Scarlett slowly sad beside Nicole on the bed giving her an encouraging smile. "I wanna know what's wrong." She said. Nicole looked shocked that she wanted to know about all this stuff.
Nicole was silent. Almost as if telling Scarlett about her problems would cause more problems. Scarlett however just sat and waited. She knew it must be tough but she was willing to wait. Wait for her to come to her. And finally, after a long silence, she spoke.
"Do you think things will ever be normal again?" She asked quietly. Scarlett was surprised by the question but understood. This girl has been through so much it's all so strange and new for her. So she thought about, trying to come up with the best answer she could.
"I think that normality is different for everyone. And maybe your reality has changed a bit but deep down you will always know your normal, and maybe if it is gonna change just a little bit it may become your new 'normal' " Scarlett said. And to her surprise, she wasn't greeted with a response. She was greeted by arms wrapping around her.
"Thank you," Nicole said softly.
"No, you don't have to thank me," she said wrapping her arms around Nicole, this was their first hug and Scarlett was enjoying every second. "don't ever forget who you are. Because you are amazing and even your normal changes it doesn't mean you have to as well." She said. Scarlett could feel her smiling and that made Scarlett happier.
"You are good at giving advice," Nicole whispered. Scarlett laughed gently.
"Well I would hope so or I have been giving the worst advice ever." She laughed. A small laughed came from Nicole. And at that moment she knew, she wanted to be in Nicole life. In any way shape or form. She didn't want to be away from her daughter ever again.
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Oh no! trouble seems to be coming between Scarlett and Jasmine.
And not to mention, Ava has been taken from Nicole.
Chris needs to over come his problems with being a new father, and speaking of family, next chapter will deal with how both families are doing after finding out the news. And get ready for a very ethusiastic Vanessa!
I'll update very soon yall! Love you all!