AVA
Two weeks.
Two not-so-smooth weeks. No awkward or lingering stares. No awkward dinners. No wide smiles and hot gazes. She had even learnt to make him a good cup of coffee.
He'd seemed to be busy, because he would get back late and leave quite early. She hadn't really seen him except for the short encounters. There was a time she didn't see for two days and Taylor told her that he had gone for an out of town survey.
Just like she hadn't anticipated, Taylor had been very warm and friendly to her. Since she was always home, she helped Ava around the house and tried to learn kitchen skills from her too.
She said Ava being young as she was, was a good thing.
Ava must acknowledge the kindness and warmth. Aside her grandmother and Nicole, no one had ever paid her any attention.
But she was hesitant.
She needed to be. After all, she wouldn't always be there so it was important she knew her place. It was wise to know that they were in different leagues.
Although Richard's absence was what Ava thought she needed to clear her head and focus on her work. The absence didn't help at all. She found herself yearning to see him.
It was wrong. WRONG in capital letters, but she couldn't help feeling empty and sad from the sudden void that engulfed her.
Since she had started working there, she had cleaned every nook and cranny of the mansion but still had to dust every day. It was ceremonial that way.
Ava had made dinner, set the dining and loitered. She was stalling to wait for Richard. Taylor had obviously misread everything because she had given her the permission to go home instead of waiting. It seemed he would be home late.
She was surprised to find Nicole lying down when she'd returned. They barely saw each other, since she would leave early in the morning before Nicole returned, and would get home after she had left.
Nicole gave a big smile, reading Ava's surprise.
"Look who's here? When was the last time I saw you..." She wrinkled her forehead to feign that she was thinking deeply about it. "four days ago?" Nicole cajoled.
Ava toed off her flats at the door and crossed the short distance to the bed. Dropping her bag on the dresser while taking a seat, she frowned at her friend.
"What are you doing at home? Shouldn't you be at work?" She asked and reached up to get the bands from her hair.
Nicole raised herself on her right palm, hooking the elbow deep into the bed. She shrugged offhandedly. "I got fired yesterday."
Okay. That's a wrong information. Somebody should replay that please.
Ava ran her tongue over her lips and stared across at Nicole.
She couldn't mean that, right?
"Yesterday? Why? Why did you get fired? You're good at your job." She added because it was true. Everyone at that club knew who Nicole was. She had that popularity.
"A fight broke out between two clubbers..." Looking away from Ava, she paused. "It was at the box cabin. I ended up taking the blame for it because I was attending to them at the time."
"Still, that's not enough reason to get you fired." Ava's frown deepened because she knew she had something before with the Manager.
Flopping back on the bed, her face towards the ceiling, she sighed. "I wasn't totally fired because he just suspended me without pay. But I'm not returning there."
Okay. Someone should replay that. Again.
"You're joking right? You almost bit my head off when I got fired and now you're getting yourself fired? Nicole really?" It was as if she was the only one that thought it was a serious stuff, but Nicole's body language didn't seem to depict that.
She seemed okay with things.
Exhaling heavily, "I could do other jobs. Besides, if I was being honest with myself, I was already tired of working there."
"What other jobs?" Ava enquired.
"Jasmine said I could go with her to a waitressing and ushering job at the fundraising of something rich-y somewhere in town."
Nicole pushed herself up to sit, facing Ava with a smile. "You could come too. It wouldn't hurt to earn extra cash."
Ava thought about it. She just couldn't decide. Her eyes filled with doubts. "I don't know if I could get away from work to go with you."
"It's a late night stuff. We'd be there by 6pm and we'd be uniformed. Come on, I'm sure you can take permission."
Ava shook her head. It was tempting, yes...
She really needed the extra cash. She still had bills to pay, back in Salta. Victoria had it for her, so she wasn't sure it'll be smart to take permission and leave before he got home.
"You said he's nice to you." Nicole pressed.
Ava shot her a careful glance. "His daughter too, but I don't know..."
"See? That's all you need. It's not like you're going to be leaving any work undone."
Running her ten fingers through her head, she shot to her feet and advanced away from Nicole."I don't know. I don't know." She cried.
"I haven't really talked to him for days now..."
"Why would you need to talk to him, Ava?"
Looking askance at Nicole, Ava's brows deepened as if she couldn't believe her own words too. Her heart was starting to skip the beat and jamming against her ribs.
She shouldn't be feeling that way. She shouldn't be thinking about him. She shouldn't even be talking about him.
"Ava?" Nicole's voice was calm and collected. It was drawing her out. It was asking for an answer. It was asking for the confirmation of her own doubts.
"It's not like that, Nicole. Really!" She tried to shove it aside and think straight.
But Nicole wasn't letting it go like that. She needed answers. She needed to hear it too.
Nicole smirked and her eyes shadowed as realization filtrated in them. "Ava!" This time it was appealing and curt. "You've gone and done it, Ava. You've gone and fallen in love."
Ava's eyes widened and she shook her head frantically in denial. Nicole had got it all wrong. It wasn't anything like love.
It wasn't love. She was sure.
"Your eyes says the opposite." She paused as she got off the bed to face Ava. "You're so naive for your own good. You actually think a man like that would look at you and want a relationship? I'm sure he was only being nice to his twenty three year old hired help."
Nicole's words stung. They stung deep that she even winced.
Hired help. The replacement. The housekeeper. The cook too. They all meant one thing, but she wasn't in love with him. She was just being...
Being what Ava?
Shaking her head again. It wasn't to dispute the facts. She needed the physical effect to clear her head.
"Why?" That was all she could ask. It was the wrong question but she needed the answer.
Nicole frowned. "Why what?"
"Why won't he look at me that way? He said he likes my hair. His daughter said she does too." Her heart was sinking.
Nicole chuckled. A sardonic one. "They were just being nice to you. It doesn't mean anything. Anyone can say that they like your hair."
Ava tried to say something but obviously, her head shaking effect wasn't working.
"There are things we can't have because the universe has structured it to be so. He's wealthy and made. His girlfriend is a two time Oscar winner. How would you fit in?" Nicole was frustrated.
She felt the tears in her eyelids. She didn't want to shed them. She tried to hold them back.
Nicole wasn't having it. She wanted it to sink in deep in Ava's head.
Stepping closer to Ava, she clamped her hands on her shoulders and whirled her around to face the mirror, while she stood behind her.
Without a word from Nicole, Ava got the picture she painted.
Her red hair looked so frizzy, and now it wasn't tied it massed around her face, hanging on her shoulders while the rest hung free at the back. Her skin looked so pale and her tear filled eyes were now finding ways of escape.
She let them trickle down and she looked a mess. Her faded yellow brown shirt looked off and the black jeans wasn't saved too.
Clashing her eyes with Nicole, she took in their appearances. Her dyed black hair was hanging free too, and although Nicole was the same age as Ava, she had lines on her face.
It was probably from the too much makeup she always wore, even though she wasn't wearing any at the moment.
It was there around them that life was never fair. They didn't look anywhere near like the women on magazines.
"See? Men like Richard are just dreams and Hollywood movies to make us feel better and give us false hopes." Her voice was hushed and barely audible. She spoke into Ava's ear that she felt her hairs on their ends.
"They can have a good time but people like us should stick to our own class. Women like us are not for keeps for men like them. It never ends well, Ava."
Women like us are not for keeps...
It never ends well...
And so, the tears never stopped running.
"You can try, Ava, but don't get hurt. It'll crush you so hard. You can only try."
Her heart sank and sank deeper than the abyss. Her was already crushed. A moan escaped her lips and she turned away from the mirror.
Nicole was right.
An empire.
A girlfriend like that.
A mansion like that.
Two beautiful daughters.
He obviously wouldn't have need for a girl like me, she concluded.
Something within her walls, the part that was still conscious, refuted it.
Nicole could be wrong. Ava needed to think clearly to confirm whatever she had for her employer.
She moved away from Nicole and sat on the bed. She knew she only meant well for her.
Perhaps, she had daddy issues which she needed to deal with, but it didn't seem that way.
Whatever it was was still there.
"What if you're wrong? What if he would get to see me in that light?" Her voice was broken and wavering. She didn't need an answer.
"Oh, Ava! I really hope I am wrong."
Nicole's stare held hers and she took Ava's vacant seat. She gave her a really big smile as though Ava wasn't sobbing.
"You deserve it too. Just don't get hurt before you realize that we don't have a lot of options."
"When my grandma died I thought my mother would come. I was five the first time I saw her and fifteen the last time I did." She smirked and blinked hard against the tears, running a palm over her eyes to stop them.
"I knew she wouldn't come, but I hoped and prayed that she would. She was her daughter you know, and my mother too, so it was only right that she showed up."
Smiling sadly at Nicole who kept a calm face. "That was my second heartbreak because she never came. Again. There were no promises or any assurance that she would but I felt heartbroken and lonely..." She had tried to forget those times. It was hard to put it behind her but right now, it just resurfaced and it felt like she was reliving it.
"I felt so lonely that night grandma Sherri died that I tried calling her but she never answered. When she did, she just gave an excuse that she was busy that she might call back later. I had to carry out the funeral rites on my own."
This time, she sobbed harder than she had done earlier.
"You made me feel that way right now, Nicole."
Ava saw her eyes widen and the emotions that flashed in them. She knew Nicole was just looking out for her, but she just crushed her hopes in a way.
She shook her head at Nicole to stop her from speaking. "I know you're just looking out for me. I just... I just feel how I felt when I knew that my mother was never going to come for me. Even when I knew the truth, I just needed the hope. The hope was all I had to make me feel better."
"I'm sorry, Ava."
"It's fine. You were right about everything. Hope is useless and we should stick to our class."
With that she marched from the room and disappeared to the bathroom.
As they lay beside each other, wide awake with only the sounds of their breaths communicating, there were no hard feelings, but they knew one thing.
It was going to be a very very long night!