"Shit."
Avery jams the brake to the floor, more or less being slung out of her seat as the Mini Cooper jumps to a stop. With a rather ungraceful exaggerated turn of the wheel, she rounds the car she was just mere seconds away from nearly rear-ending. "Sorry. I'm sorry."
A quick glance through the passenger seat window confirms her suspicions, the family in the vehicle most likely tourists having slowed down to watch the ocean view â the sun glimmering in it's reflection on the deep blue calm surface. Foot to the gas pedal, she watches them disappear further and further away until they're merely a speck in her rearview mirror, lips pulling back in a smile.
Only having returned from the airport a while ago, she did not waste any time to make it home from the bus stop â ready to wash off, change her clothes and be on her way again. Considering she's been up since an ungodly hour, forced to have a real breakfast meal by her grandmother before being on her way, one would think the tiredness would come over her any second but yet she hasn't experienced anything close to exhaustion. The day has barely begun to transcend into the afternoon and she's planning on making the most of it.
It's been an eventful few hours so far. Once through security check at JFK, she'd prioritized an iced chai over waiting at the gate, resulting in having to sprint across the terminal to make boarding only to spill said iced chai all over herself. Following touch-down, she spent the two hours and thirty minutes on the airport coach in a seat a few rows away from a baby wanting to show off his impressive vocal chords but not even the wails echoing through the bus did much to phase her. From having had to risen with the sun to the patting down at security check to staining her cream cardigan with the chai to having her post-flight sensitive eardrums burst by the wailing child â nothing seems to put a dent in her mood. She'd been too thrilled to go home. Home to the beach, and to the ocean, to her last week at her internship.
The past few days with her grandparents in the city have been nice, but she's missed home.
As for her mother, Sarah seemed a bit more overwhelmed by their trip, having sank into their couch as soon as they stepped inside their home â declaring she wouldn't move an inch for the rest of the day unless she absolutely had to.
Avery on the other hand was in and out of the house in less than thirty minutes â having squeezed in a shower to wash off the lingering plane ride, and the iced chai, before changing into her yellow sundress. And now, here she is â pedal to the metal, her always ready beach bag stood on the passenger seat beside her, leaving the highroad at an intersection for a smaller road.
Her mother spent both Thursday and Friday working in the New York offices, leaving Avery to spend time with her grandparents. They mostly stayed home, playing boardgames, reading in an armchair each, having lunch and long conversations. The most adventurous thing they got up to was venturing out to Central Park for a walk alongside the tourists like Avery herself, not to speak of the journey to Dean & DeLuca where her grandfather ran into an old friend. She spent a good twenty minutes stood shifting awkwardly on her feet next to the two men as they caught up on life, offering up smiles and responses to questions as the attention shone on her.
Her father did call with his birthday wish eventually. On the Friday, the night of her grandfather's 72nd birthday and only two mere days following her own while they had been out for dinner. It had been a short conversation considering they were mid-dessert. Not short enough for him to apologize for not having called on the 3rd, continuing on by asking if she'd seen her gift â a sum of money put into her bank account. She'd seen it alright.
She puts her foot to the brake, slowing down ever so slightly as she lets the car roll down the street. The houses towers behind their driveways and tiny patches of front lawn, waist high hedges running along the sidewalk. She's probably driving too fast a speed for weaving through a neighborhood but she doesn't bother slowing down into a crawl as she turns onto the next street, soon reaching the house in the end of the row where she parks behind the familiar Volvo SUV in the driveway. She grabs her bag, popping a bubble of her gum as she kills the engine and swings the door open, immediately hit with a breeze of salt air.
â¡â¡â¡
"Will you come play soccer with me?"
Avery props herself up on her elbows, lifting her hand to shade her eyes despite wearing sunglasses, finding Ella stood peering down at her with an expectant smile on her lips. Next to her Ethan props himself up on his elbows too, shooting his sister a look over the rim of his sunglasses.
"Ella," He sighs before turning his eyes to Avery. "You don't have to."
Avery's lips twist into a small smile as she spots the frown beginning to creep onto Ella's features, the girl positively glaring her brother's way.
"No, no," She says softly. "I want to."
Ella's frown turns upside down, lips cracking into a grin. She's turned on her heel before they know it, already running ahead across the sand dunes to where she's left her soccer ball down by the shoreline. Ethan sits up, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You really don't have to."
Avery pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head. "It'll be fun," She glances over towards Ella who seems to be in the process of drawing up a provisional field by dragging her feet through the sand. "I think. I'm not exactly the greatest player."
"Well, she'll be thrilled then," Ethan's lips twitches up into a smile. "She likes to win."
Avery swings herself up to her feet, smoothing out the fabric of her sundress. "Wish me luck."
Ethan falls back to the ground, rays of the sun dancing over his face and reflecting themselves in the shades of his sunglasses. "Good luck."
Ella's lips have fallen into a serious line as Avery reaches her, the ball propped up under her arm as she drags her heel through the sand to intensify the line she's drawn there. Avery's guess is that it's supposed to represent one of the goals.
Ella looks up, pushing her short dark brown hair â the same shade as her mother's and brother's â out of her eyes. "Do you know the rules?"
She has played the game before. Many more times than she would have liked during dreaded PE classes through the years but Avery purses her lips now, making an attempt to not let her lips twitch into too big a smile at the sight of the seriousness etched into Ella's features.
"I think so," She says. "But maybe we should run through them just to make sure."
Ella nods thoughtfully, throwing the ball into the air once. "Yes, that might be for the best."
â¡â¡â¡
Avery brushes Ethan's curls away from his face, letting her finger trace his hairline as she peers down at him through the shades of her sunglasses. It's just the two of them now, sat together on one of the lounge chairs on his porch, his head propped up in her lap.
It's drawing closer to evening but the warmth of the day still lingers in the air. Ella grew tired of the outside a long while ago, having escaped into the house with an old battered Nintendo DS console clutched in her hand but Avery doesn't mind staying here a while longer to make the most of the remaining warm hours.
Ethan opens his eyes, lips curling into a small smile as he looks up at her. "I'm really glad you're here."
Pressing her lips together, Avery's cheeks tightenâ a faint warmth that has nothing to do with the time she's spent out in the sun lingering on her skin. She doesn't manage to hold her smile back for long, lips soon cracking into what is sure to be a stupid looking teeth showing grin.
She lets her finger run down the slope of his nose, the pad of her finger tip light in it's touch as it traces his skin and she's just about to bend her head to press a kiss to his lips as she's jolted out of their blissful bubble. Next to the lounge chair her phone's ringtone chimes loudly.
Leaning over, she grabs the device where it lies on one of the boards of the wooden porch flooring, swallowing as she spots the name of the contact lightening up the screen. Her tongue presses up to the roof of her mouth as she regards it, the ringtone still angrily making itself heard.
She forces a breath down her lungs, motioning vaguely with her free hand towards the device as she mumbles, "I have to...,"
Gently lifting Ethan's head off of her lap, she swings her legs over the chair and gets to her feet as she slides her finger across the screen.
"Hi."
"Hi sweetheart," Her father's voice booms into her ear as she crosses the porch on her bare feet, walking down the two-step stairs and sinking down into a seat in the sand. "Am I catching you at a bad time?"
She makes an attempt to unclench her jaw â an attempt to let her tongue fall from the roof of her mouth but finds it harder than she'd imagined. She doesn't miss the underlying tone to his question, there's no point in wondering if she's imagining it. No, it's a clear challenge. He's not asking if he's catching her at a bad time, he's asking if she's going to cut their call short again. She bites down at her lip, wishing she could tell him she'd take any chance she gets to speak to him but the words catch in her throat.
Pulling her knees to her chest, she loops her arm around them as she glances over her shoulder at Ethan who's now sat cross legged on the lounge chair with his head bowed over a book.
"No. Not at all."
â¡â¡â¡
Ethan's still reading as she walks back across the porch. It was one long call, still far from the longest they've had through the years. This one lasted a long 42 minutes and three seconds, she noticed as they hung up. She sat in the sand, staring out at the calm waves of the ocean rolling onto the shore, for another few minutes before pushing herself up to her feet. Dusting the sand off of her dress as she forced another breath into her lungs. They'd had a lot to say, or well â Robert was the one with the most to say, leaving Avery to her usual routine of offering up words and hums of affirmation.
Phone still clutched in her hand, she stops in front of the lounge chair now. She rolls her shoulders back, tilting her head to both her sides to stretch out her neck.
"One of your friends?"
She stretches her hands out in front of her, pads of her fingers tapping against the device clutched between them. "My dad actually."
Folding the book close, his finger resting between the pages, Ethan angles his head back to look up at her. "Your dad?"
"Yeah," She shifts on her feet. "He called because... Well, because that's what he does. What we do."
He closes the book properly and sets it down next to the chair as he regards her, brows knitting together ever so slightly. "That's nice."
She blows air out through her nose, as if remembering that to breathe she needs to both inhale and exhale. "Yeah."
Untangling his legs, he places them on each side of the chair and straightens up in his seat. She tries to muster up a smile as his eyes flicker over her face but she's not sure it comes across as well as she hoped, pretty certain she just grimaced alongside her spoken "Yeah,". He doesn't say anything â doesn't offer up any comment, simply letting a beat of silence pass as he reaches his hand out for hers.
She lets him intertwine their fingers, the corners of her mouth lifting in the faintest smile as he gives her palm a squeeze and sways their hands a bit between them. Scooting back, he pulls her with him in a gentle tug and she drops her knees to the edge of the lounge chair as she lets him pull her into his embrace.
Tapping the fingers of the hand still holding her phone against the cold metal, she gazes out over the ocean beginning to melt together with the sky â the sun preparing to set. She shifts in her seat, scooting down to lean the back of her head in the dip between his chest and collarbone. Her breath deepens as she's enveloped by the mixed scent of apple and sunblock, enveloped by his warmth.
Eyes still set on the shades of color â blue, pink and gold shimmering in the horizon, she asks, "Do you want to go for a run?"
He sprawls his finger once before letting them close around her hand again. "Now?"
She notices her tongue having pressed into to the roof of her mouth again, making an attempt to relax her jaw as she moves her head in a sort-of-nod. "Now."
Another beat of silence passes between them, leaving room for their surroundings â the waves breaking against the sand in the shoreline, the seagulls loudly searching for food in the distance, the neighbors a few houses down playing a game out on their porch â to make themselves heard.
"Yeah, okay."
â¡â¡â¡
Avery smiles as she brushes the gold blush over Ella's cheeks, tilting her head to the side as she regards the girl before setting the palette back down to the floor.
"Voila."
"I'm not done yet," Ella urges, running a powder brush over Avery's cheek in that instant. Setting the brush down she searches the selection of make up spread around them on the living room floor before picking up an eyeshadow palette, lips cracking into a grin. "Close your eyes."
Avery does as she's told, feeling the tip of the eyeshadow brush gently sweep over her eyelids. That's the fourth time since they sat down and she's beginning to wonder if the girl is aiming to include all of the rainbow's colors. The more the better â at this point she simply enjoys being pampered.
She hears Ethan shuffle around the room, setting up for their movie night. He's been moving between the living room and the kitchen for the past five minutes, bringing out snacks and preparing the DVD player.
Batting her eyes back open as Ella returns to rummaging through the selection of make up, she turns her head over her shoulder to glance his way. He's setting three glasses and a large bottle of soda down on the table, lifting his gaze towards them where they're sat across from one another on the floor just as Ella's cold fingers cup her chin, determinedly calling upon her attention.
"Are you two done soon?"
Ella narrows her green eyes at her brother, flipping her short hair back over her shoulder. "Hush and make us our snacks."
"Yes Taylor," Avery drawls, lips twitching up in a smile as she obeys Ella's request and closes her eyes again. "Hush and go make us our snacks."
She hears him sigh before leaving and the corners of her lips pull up even further, a soft snort escaping her. The original plan had been for the two of them to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine but when Ella made it clear she wanted to spend the night with them too Avery hadn't been able to resist, just as eager to hang out. Anna and Paul escaped to the upstairs living room after dinner, seeming glad to sit out on movie night â which is what their plan to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine turned into when Ella declared the show "boring,".
Avery had let the comment slide, and she'd nudged the scowl off Ethan's face too which is why the movie 'Air Buddies' is now awaiting them on the screen of the TV.
â¡â¡â¡
Ella's in the midst of laying out her longterm plan of becoming a professional soccer player as Ethan returns to the living room. They declared themselves done with their make up session a few seconds ago, having added a dash of blush there and a tint of lipgloss here before deciding to continue on to the next part of their night.
"And Ethan's going to be a football player," She says, not yet aware of her brother's presence in the room as she drops palettes of eyeshadow into the cosmetics bag. "He already is. But he's going to be a real one."
"We don't know that," Ethan says and Ella's head snaps in his direction, eyeing him where he's stood leant against the wall. "I might not be. Let's not... We don't know that."
Ella rolls her eyes, exchanging a look with Avery as Ethan turns on his heel to go grab something else from the kitchen. "Well, IÂ think he's going to be."
Avery's lips pull into a smile, a twinkle of secrecy to her eyes as she lowers her voice. "I think so too."
"He's a good player," Ella says rather matter of factly, gathering all tubes of lipgloss into her hands and dumps them into the cosmetic bag. Out of the corner of her eye, Avery sees Ethan walk back into the room. He drops into a seat on the couch, scrolling through his phone. "He even got to be on the good team right away."
"Varsity, Ella," Ethan corrects. "There's no good and bad team."
The girl shrugs, ignoring her brother's correction. "He's really good."
"Yeah I know," Avery twists in her seat, rolling her lips together as Ethan lifts his head and catches her gaze. "I think he's great."
Letting his phone drop to the cushion, he dips his head away with a rosy tint to his cheeks as he reaches over to grab the pack of Twizzlers from the table. "Are you two done yet?"
She nods, collecting the last of the scattered around make up supples before handing them over to Ella who puts the cosmetics bag to the side. Getting to her feet, Avery crosses the fuzzy rug and drops into a cross legged seat next to Ethan.
"Callie has always wanted one of those." She muses, pointing to the puppies shown on the screen â the main menu of the DVD disc playing on a loop as Ella settles into the other corner of the couch, already hogging the bowl of M&Ms. Avery pulls one of her knees to her chest and loops her arm around it as she leans forward to grab a grape, popping it into her mouth. Ethan presses play, nudging her in the shoulder.
"You should consider making this," He flickers his eyes over her face. "Your everyday look."
Her lips crack into a grin, having caught sight of herself in one of the palette mirrors â knowing there's a lot of glitter and colorful shades painted on her face. She lowers her voice into a whisper. "I know right?"
His lips pull back in a smile mirroring hers and a joint silent laugh escapes them as Ella puts her finger to her lips with a loud shushing sound. They exchange another smile and he lifts his arm, allowing her to scoot closer and lean her head against his shoulder, turning her eyes back to the TV.
. . .
hi friends!
I just wanted to take the opportunity to, first of all thank you for the incredible support so far. I write for my own fun but it truly does mean a lot to see you appreciate it too.
second, I just wanted to make sure you know you can always come to me. I hope to continue to write for a long while and if I were to ever write something that makes you uncomfortable, or doesn't sit right with you, I need you to know that you can come to me and that I will listen to you and hear you out. this isn't only applied to my writing, if anyone needs to talk, I'm here.
i think we all know the drill on this one by now but if you don't mind my habit to over-talk, consider to follow me here on wattpad and (maybe) on socials (link in bio).
much love, yours â L.