"What is the matter with you? We are here now, not within earshot" he pressed her body into his softly and she snuggled up to him on the couch which was about thrice their size. It was the largest in his lounge. Ava coughed and sneezed intermittently but it didn't occur to him in time to put away 'his' smoke for an hour.
"Mam and papa.. well, Mam wants me too close to them, like literally. She doesn't want me out of the house except I'm off to school, doesn't want me studying anywhere far away, I wanna get me a best friend here in Tuscaloosa at least, but they dont want that!
Mam doesn't even want me talking to anyone. Not even you" she sighed, her eyes watering. Ethan thought it was out of emotion and so he wiped her face with his thumb.
"She's only trying to protect you" he muttered, barely above a whisper.
"Protect my foot! Can't she see I'm being smothered?"
"It's okay, Ava. I wish I had a mother like that"
"I bet you wouldn't want to have one. You just don't know what you're saying right now, you must be high on whatever it is you're smoking" she pushed him away, barely gently and sat on the other sofa, directly facing the interior of the house.
"Ava"
"Don't come close. The moment I walked in this room, I feel like I'm with a different person. I didn't know you started smoking pot" she spat on the rug before her with an unapologetic rue on her face.
"I don't. Someone put it behind my window, lit some cigarettes and whatnots , just to infuriate me. I swear"
"You really want me to believe you right now?" She shot him a deathful glare and a snort immediately he uttered his words
"I am telling you the truth. Have I ever lied to you?" He stared right into her eyeballs and a fiery feeling arose in them. She took them away.
She finally changed her mind and came close to him, her breath deepening on his neck.
"How long has this been going on?" Her eyes begged for an urgent response
"A week or two now. I didn't tell you because you're gonna be anxious, and here we are now" he sighed, flopping on the couch again. This time, Ava joined him without taking her eyes off his. She was tempted to kiss his lips.
"Now I believe what you've been going on about some bad eggs wanting me to join them in this community.
One actually did walk up to me, with a knife a few days ago. He wanted my gadgets but I hit him hard. He had no idea I grew up on the streets"
Ava didn't say a word. She just hugged him and kissed his forehead continuously.
His lips was only a breath away but she controlled herself.
"We'll find a plan. We'll figure all these out. We'll both be all right, I promise you."
"I hope so. I miss Tyler a lot" she cried.
"I'm here" he rubbed her hair and pat the small of her back
"You won't be here for much longer" she sobbed. He had no idea how to convince her that theirs was not just a mere high school love story, but their relationship was definitely heading somewhere. He had so much in mind.
"I know. I'm just going to get my sister away from my stepmom. I'll come back to you"
"No, you're not coming back. You're not going to come back to me, ever again, and my dreams.. oh well, I don't know what will become of them. You give life to my hope in them" she sniffled on his chest and Ethan could feel that part getting soaked despite the thickness of his hoodie. It was warmer inside, so he soon took it off and let her cry her eyeballs out on his rocky hard chest.
"Why are you saying this? Why are you being pessimistic?" She made to respond to him but she started to choke instead.
He walked, more like ran into his kitchen and returned with a glass of water.
After she calmed down, Ethan took her into his living room, the one he shared with his introverted partner, an older guy with beautiful tattoos on his chest. All of them was his dead mother's face. Ethan wished he could do that to his body too.
It was warmer and better in the living room. He let her talk when she was ready.
"Haven't you realized that the more you hold on to something, the more it determines to slip away?" She questioned but he did not respond. She looked like she had so much in her head.
"I loved my granny so much. You'd think nothing could separate us. They called her my first angel on earth, even mam was not as close, but she died. Tyler too...he looked so immortal, and we were true siblings but", she swallowed. " he died too.
I don't know but I think me holding on to someone too much ruins everything" Ethan leaned in, all of a sudden and placed his lips on hers, munching slowly.
She shut her eyes savoring the moment. He had never kissed her that way.
"I am not going to die" he mumbled reassuringly, breaking the kiss.
"I didn't say so" she agreed, her voice small.
"So what?"
"One of us is going to ruin everything.
Look at everything happening to us. If you leave me for too long, I'm going to run away from home because I can't put up with my parents either. I'm tired"
"I'm not going to be gone for too long, I promise. You know what?" Ethan tried to get her to smile and her face lit up when he announced his plan.
Or maybe it was the kiss
"We could go together. We're gonna meet my dad and I tell you, you're going to like him very much. He's got the energy you need. A busy, very caring CEO who deals in medicine. You know he has a pharmaceutical company of his own, right? Isn't that what you always wanted?"
"Sheesh. You know I can't possibly marry your dad" Ava shook with laughter until her ribs hurt.
"Why not?" He arched his eyebrows. Ava gave him the up and down look, shaking with giggles.
"Well, I never said to marry him. You can admire" he finally admitted
"All right, but how can I go with you? What will I tell Mam and Papa? New York is a long flight away"
"I'll think of something before graduation. I'll try to make it happen" He said, crossing his heart. Ava stared intently at him and chose to trust him even though she knew the worst would happen soon.
She had no idea why, but she had a feeling something bad was about to happen.
Maybe a huge disappointment.
It was the same way she felt a few days before Tyler's death.
"Where's your bathroom?" She demanded from him. Her stomach rumbled impatiently and she badly needed to throw up everything in it.