LEIGH
In the next five minutes, I parked Susan's vehicle in a parked car line up street, staring at some Bangalow that could possibly explode from the number of people stepping in and out of the building.
That's Remington's as Lilith's address had navigated us.
If Lilith is correct, Ava is here, which I hope she is, then it must suck.
"I will go with you." Claire offered, and I accepted, letting Julian take the driver's seat for the rest of the ride.
The two of us head for the packed house, full of undaunted teenage kids, empty beer bottles and plastic cups lying around, waiting for someone to stumble on.
Upon entering the living room that had turn into some community fraternity house, I noticed familiar faces, those who chimed at my appearance, drawing in attention to me.
"You didn't tell me you're also famous here." Claire giggled, but I was apprehensive about something else that I didn't pay too much attention to her question, just as I could only nod or slap hands with some of the high school students here.
Through walking by, I've heard gasps, and compliments, and some absurd remarks about appearing with my so said girlfriend (Claire). I don't understand why they keep getting this idea, because Claire and I are only friends.
Chattering noise had swallowed the gentle music playing on moderate volume in the background when I headed for the patio after over ten, 'hey, have you seen Ava?' yet no valid answer.
Claire and I led to the backyard, where some group of people fed woods to the campfire and even some unnecessary items that got it making cracking noises and flame-orange fire with smoke around the surrounding.
I don't understand the need for the campfire since it doesn't seem to be for cooking purposes, which leaves us with the warming up option. And according to this time of the year, a campfire is not more than adding temperature to the heated natural surrounding, which left noticeable evidence of sweats generated from everyone's body.
Around the expanse, there are tents everywhere, some occupied, some not yet set up.
"You think we should check each one of those?" Claire asked, cringing to her idea.
"Maybe?" I shrugged before dealing with two girls who halted before me, batting their eyelashes as if they wore it wrongly.
With a slight smile on my lip, I ask them about Ava's whereabouts, for it appears they know me enough to know my entire family.
After some deliberate delay that almost brought my patience to the edge, one among the girls answered, licking her lip: "No, but I saw you. All of you!"
Had to muster up everything in me to not roll my eyes as Claire chortle at the irresponsible expression of the girl.
Having no time to waste on moments like this, I amble for the tents where I received more of those praises I've always obtained around small crowds in this town.
While Claire began taking a look at each tent, I kept asking a bunch of campers for my stepsister's whereabouts until I came over to some boy quietly sitting all by himself, against a tree.
He startled at my presence, and then, his eyes went round with surprise just as his jaw slackened. He shot upright, his lips twitching, but I didn't allow him to start with the compliments; I cut to the chase. "Have you seen Ava Lancelot?"
"Yes... She's in Lucas's tent." He croaked and motioned towards a large red tent. "Over there."
Son of a bitch. He had her in a tent.
"Can I have a picture?" The boy asked, and if I weren't on the verge of punching someone's face, I would have posed for one picture to leave a smile on the boy's face. However, I am preoccupied with the safety of Ava that I had to hurt the sad boy's feelings by ignoring him and advancing towards my target.
I stoop to reach the entrance of the tent, mentally praying to God to find Ava in healthy and proper shape, even though praying hadn't been my thing lately.
The second I was in, the four things I notice in the confined space were one, the boy's severe intent on the girl, that is my responsibility.
Two, Ava is lying on her side in only a bra and the shorts she had been wearing since morning.
Three, her condition; she seems to have passed out, having no idea this psycho is creeping on her.
And four, the black thermo flask that he must had to feed her something improper.
I swear if he had even try...
Alarmed. "What the hell?" I panicked, shoving the guy to cover her body.
I scooted over and knelt next to her, lifting her head to my lap. "Ava? Ava?" I whispered, eagerly tapping her cheeks to wake her up.
When she didn't respond, my heart threw itself to the wall of my chest. I turned over to the guy, seething as fear overpowered me. "What have you done, you creep?"
His hand automatically surrender, his eyes expanding with horror. They better because I am about to kill him.
"What? No! Nothing... I was just watching her."
"Watching her? Nonsense. Why the fuck does she have her shirt off?" I barked, not caring I was hyperventilating from the tension that plummeted upon me.
"I swear I didn't touch her." The boy panicked, fumbling on his words as he rushed to explain himself. "The temperature was hot; she took it off herself." His eyes left my blazing glare and fell to Ava when he added. "She fell asleep crying; I just wanted to be there for her."
For a second, I was speechless, so I went as low as asking about the thermoflask sitting beside her.
"I made her tea. She said to." He explained just as Claire's head popped into the tent, and she heaved a relief sigh, thanking God when she found Ava sleeping.
I snatch the flask, twirl the lid and open it to smell the content in it.
"Did you drugged her?" I hissed, aiming to strangle him while Claire fit Ava into her shirt.
The boy lost balance and fell on his back, his chest rising and falling when I sat astride his torso, ready to do as my entire body was suggesting. But the truth is, I am not a violent person, I might play football and get too physical, but on that field, there are rules. Outside it, there aren't. So as dad had said, I have to behave with the maximum propriety, and I always remember to keep that in mind, except for when I started swallowing drugs, which I wish I could just stop.
Although having the boy who Ava lied about dating, I wanted to screw his face, to the extent he wouldn't want to see her again, but that isn't me. I wasn't raised that way.
"What? Of course not. I will never do that to her. I love her." He sounded terrified, but that was the wrong thing I needed to hear.
Hearing someone say that about her told a different definition that was full of honesty. Maybe this was right because nothing was restricting their relationship. Unlike her and me, we are forbidden from each other.
But the discomfort of his declaration had caused irrepressible rage inside of me that got my jaw clenching and my veins bulging. I couldn't control my emotion. I lifted my fist but ended up hitting the ground immediately to his hearing, having not felt any pain in my knuckle and incline closer so he could hear a clear warning for his own good.
"Listen attentively because I wouldn't repeat myself. You don't love her. She doesn't love you. Don't even live that dream." My breathing was hard and fast and still not enough for my flared nostrils.
"Leigh, we should go." Claire grab my arm, sounding anxious.
When I look over at her, she has a wary expression on her face with her brows drew together while staring back at me.
"Let's go." She repeated, shifting her gaze to the boy underneath me whose breathing is the second audible sound in the space.
Still riled up, I had picked Ava over my shoulder and repeated the earlier process, having to pass by the crowd of campers who idolized me even after a year of been absent around here.
On the outside, where the air is non-toxic and harmless, Claire kept a cautious eye on me until I snapped and asked her to spill whatever she wanted to say. She shook her head, claiming nothing, and held out Ava's phone before opening the car back door for me to settle myself and Ava.
Julian pulls out of the zone and heads for the mountain house with Claire by the passenger side while I have Ava curled up against my chest at the rear of the vehicle.
Her skin was cold from the air conditioning; I had to hold her tight so she wouldn't catch a cold. She has a crisp scent that is so tasty and rich in comparison to all the women I've met as if combined with rose and vanilla. So sweet, warm, and soothing. Highly pleasing to the senses as it had lived in me even when we were apart.
Her breath making the comforting little sound better than the cool music playing through the speakers had my eyes close, my chin resting on her head while tenderly stroking her hair with my hand.
I don't think she would like it this way if she was awake. She'd be uncomfortable, reacting to every detail of our skin touching. It is nice knowing only I could make her feel that way, but sometimes irritating, not able to caress her enough because she's too affected that she denies us both. So right now, I took benefit from what was wrong and found that safety and solitude in our closeness, forgetting about the other two passengers in the vehicle even when I could feel Claire's gaze pleading me not to.
Ava stirred, but I didn't open my eyes until her voice came up from my chest, and she began to pull out of my embrace.
"Are we moving? Why are we moving?" She sounded sad and confused, peering forward through the windshield.
Okay, she's still inebriated.
I drew her back to sit properly; it was then she noticed my existence because her brows snapped together, and a pouting frown came across her face when our eyes met.
Julian intimated that: "She's still intoxicated if only we have coffee or something." as he drives.
Claire turns and offers bottled water. "Give her some until we find some cafe."
"Stop looking at me." Drunk Ava whined at Claire and scooched against the door, establishing a distance between us.
I swallowed down the sudden emptiness and collected the bottle from Claire, who hadn't responded to Ava's delicacy. That's when the door Ava was leaning against swing open, interrupting my breath, not because of the raw wind that blew into the vehicle but because of the danger Ava was actually in.
"The fuck." Julian exclaimed simultaneously as Claire and almost lost control of the wheels. The car steered in the opposite direction, jerking our bodies backward.
Instinctively with a cease heartbeat, I skip the space to the angle where drunk Ava was having joy on the verge of pouring out of a moving car and wrap a hand over her waist to steady her tipsy physique. At the same time, horns from other vehicles blare so harshly it was almost deafening. Not to mention the tons of middle fingers we got from different drivers before I shut the door and obliged Julian to lock all the doors.
"Mr. Hercules, just save my life." Ava giggled with her eyes close, dropping her head on my lap as if she didn't almost get herself killed.
What happened to her? Yes, I know she's drunk, but this wasn't how she'd react when she was drunk before.
"She's drunk, yet she managed almost to kill us." Claire huffed in annoyance while Julian found it funny, laughing hard at the horrifying incident.
Me? I just didn't know what emotion to settled on. My heart is still racing in my chest from experiencing the terrifying event since after my mother's death.
What was she thinking? She could've fallen off the car, and then what?
"Hercules? Hercules?" Ava repeatedly called until Claire couldn't hold on to the irritation anymore and join Julian, breaking into uncontrolled laughter.
Great! How funny!
Suppressing my annoyance, I open the bottled water and support Ava's head with my hand, bringing it to her mouth. "Here, have some water."
I swear I was extra gentle, but it wasn't enough; she got angry. Her hand came around mine, pulling it away. The motion got the water spilling over her face, her nose; she gasped and almost choked; I had to help her up and dug out a napkin from my pants pocket to wipe the water off her face while she whined. "I don't want to."
After her adorable heart-shaped face was dry, gratitude to my deliberate hesitancy, tracing every inch of her face with the napkin until Claire cleared her throat, reminding me of Julian's presence.
I swallowed with my head down and pulled my hand from Ava's face.
"Just a sip, It will help," I offer again, but she shoves my hand holding the bottled water and nuzzles next to me, bringing her hand around my torso and her head to my chest, just like I had held her earlier when she was asleep, only this time she was holding me back.
It brought a smile on my face and fireworks inside of me. It was a victory better than a thousand touchdowns.
From the rare mirror, I could sense Claire's intense gaze, but I didn't look. At the moment, I didn't even care anymore, I just wanted to feel what I had lost, so I reciprocated, circling my arms around Ava's petite body; she immediately succumbed and let out a noise that resembled a moan. It stirred my stomach and got my heart rate increasing.
"Leigh?" She whispered.
"Mmm," I replied with my eyes closing.
"You came back for me." I felt her inhale, so I clutched her even more.
"Of course I would." Not because dad will kill me for leaving her behind, but because I can't convince the feeling that leaving her with some bunch of teenage boys, as Lilith had said earlier, will be the death of me before the sunrise.
"Why." She mumbled in my chest. "Tell me why you came back." Her head pulled back upward to my shoulder until her eyes found me.
I contemplated admitting the truth; she was drunk anyway, and there's no one better to share your problems with than someone who wouldn't remember a part of it by the following morning, but we weren't alone.
Claire made sure to remind me of that when I peek up and found her eyes pouring at me through the rare mirror, warning me not to encourage Ava's situation in this vehicle.
So I went with the most logical response: "Because you're my sister, I wouldn't let anyone take advantage of you."
Ava frowned and wriggled but didn't give up on the embrace.
"I don't want to be your sister. I am sorry I had to be, but I shouldn't have." She opposes and apologizes, prompting Claire's pupils to dilate when I look up to the mirror.
"Hey, that's a cafe. They should have some coffee." She beckons at some angle.
"Yes, I think so," Julian replies and begins to pull over in a parking lot.
"Julian and I would go grab some coffee for Ava; you want one?" Claire turned to us and asked me.
I know what she was doing, and I really appreciate it. So I smile and nod before those two of my friends exit the car, leaving Ava and me in the quiet and calm of the space.
For some seconds, I just relish the feeling of her wanting me even though she was drunk and probably won't remember this tomorrow until her following words drowned that emotion and brought up a drastic sense of incertitude.
"You like her, don't you?" She despairingly started, pausing to sniff. Her voice was feeble; it pierced my heart. "I saw the way you two are close. You are so happy you forget we used to skip classes and hide in the library, serenade each other with quotes." She started to cry, bringing my heart to an abrupt stop; I couldn't swallow the lump in my throat. "I don't know what to do, I can't take any more, I don't have her hair or her voice or a slight of her achievements, she's so good, and I am so fake." She cried, her tears finally drenching my shirt.
She thought I was dating Claire? She thought I had forgotten us?
I could forget everything but not what we had. Hadn't she realized she had left a tint in me, nothing could wipe us away?
I unwrap my arms around her body and pull her back to look at her.
Her gorgeous face was flush, wet with tears. Her hazel eyes are glistening and compressed with sadness; it broke my heart. I was the one doing this hurting. Emotions flooded through me. I cup her face with my hand, stroking her cheekbone fondly while I grab her tiny hand with my free one, lacing our fingers.
"Hey, I didn't forget anything."
She tilts her head a little, looking at me through the corner of her eyes, with the pain I so badly want to erase.
"You didn't call. You didn't want me." She trails off, finally looking away. "It hurt so bad. I wanted to call. I will always stare at your contact mustering the courage every night." More tears fall from her eyes, wetting my thumb. "But it was her who you had spend every day with, and I am just a stupid girl who burns for her stepbrother who doesn't want her." Her bottom lip trembles before she folds it between her teeth, causing more tears to stream down her cheeks.
I didn't want to hurt her but look what I've done.
"Since I left, nothing had been easy. I want to call, but I assumed you didn't want me to."
"You should've tried anyway." She retorted. Her eyes swam with tears when she brought them back to me, breathing through her parted lips.
"You think I don't burn for you too? Do you think Princeton is fun when it doesn't have you in it? It's unfair to think about that because I am also a stupid boy who burns for his stepsister and thought she doesn't want him."
Her eyes shut, she shook her head and swallowed as if she didn't want to believe me.
She pressed her lips into a thin line before she shakily said. "You are saying that to make me feel better."
"No, Ava, I am saying that because it is true." I let out and leaned in, pulling her into a deep kiss. Her eyes instantly opened at my unexpected intention. It took her a second to respond, and she eagerly reciprocated. Releasing her fingers from mine, she brought them to the back of my hair, pulling me closer like our proximity wasn't enough. It wasn't for me either. I grasped her hips and pulled her closer, kissing her back breathlessly.
Air can wait, but this? Having tasting my addiction, that can't wait.
Until a knock from outside cautioned us of Claire and Julian's return. I am sure it was Claire's idea to make sure we're composed before Julian notices something.
Eventually, the two came back with four coffees and some bags of chips.
And hand us each of it.
"I got Ava a pure black coffee..." Claire began but didn't get to finish when Ava abruptly shampooed her hair with vomit. And what I mean is, she ejected everything we had for dinner at Paris Las Vegas from her stomach and shampooed Claire, who's automatically immobilized and shrieking from the passenger seat.
No one said a thing, not even Julian, who stayed seriously focus on the road, knowing Claire wouldn't appreciate any kind of apology and if not because she was frozen, afraid to change positions, she could be strangling Ava.
I know that because I know Claire enough to know her edge, and believe me, Ava had crossed over it.
"I am so sorry. I am so sorry." Ava begins to apologize, practically crying, but Claire wouldn't respond.
Ava shifted away from me, her eyes also avoiding me; like seconds ago, she wasn't pulling me closer, shoving her fingers into my hair just as her tongue into my throat.
"Now she has to wash out the hair dye, and you wouldn't love her the same." She mumbled. I doubted Claire heard her, but I did.
I watch her rest her head against the door and close her eyes. She is unbelievably beautiful and stubborn to the highest degree. It left me pondering whether she did that purposely or she was really drunk and had no idea of all of this, including our conversation and kiss.
By the time we arrived home, Claire raced inside to take a shower. It was then Julian exploded into laughter; I had to give him a not-cool glare and carry Ava in my arms to her room. She had slept off some minutes after she had decorated Claire with barf.
The house was too big for Susan and dad to notice our arrival. So just like the other day, I sneak a drunk Ava to her room without them finding out about her state.
Lilith helped, and luckily Evie was here, just as some odd girl who kept biting her lips and batting her eyelashes until I left the room for them to clean Ava up.