Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Oh, no, no, no,” Ava said as she paced around the living room from her New York City apartment, looking down at her phone as she tripped with the corner of the carpet an almost fell, “No, no. Fuck, no.”

              She heard the muffled steps coming from her roommate’s room, Beatrice’s head showing up from the corner of the door, a frown on her face as she watched Ava pace around, her hair in a messy bun and still in her pajamas.

              “Everything okay, Ava?” Beatrice, her best friend of five years and roommate, asked her, “You look on the verge of having an emotional breakdown.”

              “It’s because,” Ava said, stopping for a moment and pointing at herself, “I am on the verge of having an emotional breakdown.”

              “You are?” Beatrice’s voice was filled with urgency now, wearing one of her plaid shirts and baggy pants, her hair down as she walked towards Ava, “What’s wrong?”

              “My mom,” she said, biting her lower lip, Beatrice’s eyes widening in horror, “Oh, don’t worry, she’s alive. Both of them are, actually.”

              “Then, what’s the problem?” Beatrice wondered, and Ava took a deep breath as she showed the message her mother had just sent to her, the older girl reading it with a frown, “Oh.”

              “Yeah,” Ava sat down on the small couch as Beatrice did the same, looking at her with a worried expression as Ava covered her face with her hands, groaning in frustration, “God, why did I lie about me having a boyfriend?”

              “I remember I asked you the same when you told me,” Beatrice chuckled, shaking her head as she reread the message, “Why do you still call her Mother Superion?”

              “To annoy her,” Ava sighed, wanting to curl up in a ball and cry, “This is karma biting me in the ass. Come on, read, laugh at me for being fucking dumb.”

              “I would never do that,” Beatrice said, though the twinkling of her eyes and the smile she was trying to hide told Ava otherwise.

              Mother Superion: Hello, my love. Christmas break will be soon, I expect you will come home with Beatrice as usual? I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving, and I miss her. I hope your friends will drop by, too, especially that boyfriend of yours. I cannot wait to meet him. We love you, and miss you.

              “It’s just,” Ava sighed, getting back up as she bit her lower lip, Beatrice giving her phone back, “I’m going to turn twenty-three in seven months, Bea, and… she’s kind of been on my ass about me not being in a stable relationship yet, so I… well…”

              “She saw that picture of you and JC on Instagram, right? The one Mary showed her?” Beatrice wondered, and Ava nodded as she let out a small hum, “Thought you two were a thing, and you just went with it?”

              “Yup,” Ava lowered her eyes, feeling her cheeks blush as Beatrice watched her with another frown, waiting for her to say what was on her mind, “JC might not know he’s my… boyfriend, actually.”

              “What?” Beatrice said, her eyes widening comically and her mouth gaping slightly, “Ava, how long ago did you tell your family JC was your, well, boyfriend?”

              “Uh, three months?” she said, biting her lower lip, wanting to disappear as Beatrice shook her head and clicked her tongue, looking disappointed and making Ava pout, because if there was one thing she hated more than anything else was to disappoint her best friend.

              Ava and Beatrice had met one another five years ago, when the both of them entered New York University and shared a dorm together. Their meet up in person was kind of comical, after spending a month or so texting back and forth on their social media, and Ava remembered she had been kind of nervous because she was a professional at embarrassing herself, and she wanted to cause her dorm mate a good impression.

              It went like this: Ava was in her dorm, upon her bed, trying to reach up to the shelf where she put her books. She lost her balance, and almost fell onto her ass but Beatrice appeared out of thin air and caught her, saving Ava’s life and, of course, witnessing Ava embarrassing herself.

              “Hey, there,” Beatrice had said, smiling a little, her British accent almost making Ava faint, “Are you okay?”

              “Hi,” Ava said, as Beatrice let go once she made sure Ava was okay, “You’re my hero.”

              “Well, no, I’m Beatrice,” the girl had chuckled, offering a hand for Ava to shake.

              “Ava Sofia Silva,” she said, shaking Beatrice’s hand firmly, the girl opening her mouth to say something but Ava put a hand up, “I know, my initials are A.S.S.”

              “I was going to say it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Beatrice said, letting go of Ava’s hand, “But those are cool initials, honestly.”

After the four years they spent sharing a dorm, Beatrice used her allowance to buy an apartment close to both her med school and Ava’s work place and ended up moving there after they graduated and decided to stay in the city with the rest of their friends, continuing with their careers.

Beatrice had started in the New York Medical College back in late August after graduating with honors from her biology and biochemistry degree, being her freshman year in the school but already being one of the best students to no one’s surprise, while Ava had gotten a half-time job in a sports magazine (she had no clue about sports but she needed money) while she was studying her own creative writing master’s degree after graduating from a journalism program with mediocre looking grades but enough to get the diploma, aspiring to one day become a best seller writer because if there was something she had plenty of that was stories worth to make a whole book series and several movies about her life.

And, mind you, Ava was only twenty-two years and five months old.

              And even though they had met five years ago, and not to be fucking cheesy or cliché, Ava felt as if Beatrice was her twin flame, her soul mate, someone she must’ve met in her past life and had reunited with in this one. They had connected immediately, even though breaking Beatrice’s shell had been something pretty hard to do, something Ava ended up achieving, her heart breaking when she learned why Beatrice was so reserved all the time, so distant and cold and guarded.

              Beatrice had been born in London, daughter of two extremely conservative aristocrats who worked as diplomats and had jumped from country to country, leaving Beatrice behind more times than not, Ava’s best friend getting raised by her nannies and the staff her parents had in their manor somewhere in the English countryside, in their townhouse in London and their beach home in the French Riviera, their cabin in the Alps, their apartment in Menorca… whatever, you get it.

Beatrice’s parents had owned many houses, but none had been Beatrice’s home until Ava came around, and they turned their little dorm and then their little apartment into their safe haven, where they could be whoever and whatever they wanted, away from conservative parents and way too gossipy mothers.

By the way, a small parenthesis, Ava adored her mothers and her siblings but sometimes she just… wanted to throw them down a cliff, especially when they started to ask way too many questions she didn’t feel like answering.

Okay, moving on.

              Ava had seen the evolution of Beatrice Campbell-Lee as something beautiful, going from a shy and quiet girl to the lesbian goddess she was nowadays, overcoming the traumas her parents had ingrained in her when they kicked her out of their home when she came out at age eighteen. Beatrice turning into a beautiful butterfly was a mission in which Ava had proudly participated on with the help of Lilith, Yasmine, Dora and Camila, their other three best friends, who had encouraged and supported Beatrice through it all.

              “We made that,” Lilith said at a party five years ago, nodding her head as they watched Beatrice flirt with a girl, “We fucking did it, Joe.”

              “Damn right we did,” Dora said, being close to tears, as Ava, Yasmine and Camila looked at their friend with pride in their eyes, because Beatrice was standing a little straighter (metaphorically speaking, of course), a little prouder and happier, a little free, and that was all Ava had wanted for her best friend.

              For the last five years it had always been the two of them, Ava and Bea, Bea and Ava, from their first day of University to the last, from their first day of their post-grad to, hopefully, the last and more.

Ava’s family had become Beatrice’s family, and Ava still remembered the way in which Beatrice got emotional when Ava invited her over for the Christmas holidays five years ago, how Ava had called her adoptive mother, Suzanne, and had asked if Beatrice could come and spend the holidays in their Malibu home, where Ava had lived for the last nine years. Suzanne, of course, didn’t even waste a second to say yes and Ava didn’t give Beatrice the option to say no, because staying alone wasn’t an option. Especially during Christmas time.

Now, Beatrice’s life hadn’t been a path filled with roses and Ava’s life hadn’t been any different, even though she didn’t have to deal with homophobic parents.

              Ava and her brother Diego had been adopted by Suzanne and her wife Jillian when she was fourteen years old and her brother was seven, after they had lost their biological mother and Suzanne’s University best friend in a car accident. It wasn’t the first time Suzanne had adopted someone, because Mary had been the first one who had joined the household and she was the best older sister Ava could ask for, even if the girl loved to make fun of her and, sometimes, she could be a little too hard.

              Ava felt kind of guilty, though, because Suzanne left her dancing career behind in order to take care of Ava and Diego, but specially Ava and the sequels the damn accident had left on her. But, on the other side, she felt extremely thankful because she was finally part of a big and happy family with Mary and Suzanne, with Diego, with Jillian, Suzanne’s wife and Ava’s mom, and Jillian’s son, Michael, who was Ava’s age.

              Ava had loved Suzanne and Jillian like a daughter would love her mothers, they had been there for her and Diego since they had pretty much been born, being Ava’s favorite “roommate aunties” until her mother explained to her Jillian and Suzanne weren’t roommates, they were wife and wife and Mary and Michael were their children. And Ava hadn’t understood anything at all, until she was a teenager and realized she was actually bisexual, but it had been whatever. She loved them, and they loved her, and everyone had been happy.

The women she now called mothers had been in Ava’s life since she could remember, from the day she had been born to the moment she set a foot in the Malibu seaside home up until now, the both of them still face timing Ava every single night using the excuse Diego, who was now sixteen and too young to remember their biological mother, missed both her, Mary and Michael like crazy.

              She knew it was a lie, because Diego was at a point of his life where he couldn’t care less about his eldest siblings. Mary, who was four years older than Ava and Michael, was living in San Francisco with her fiancé Shannon and she was too busy running a car and motorbike garage, and Michael had decided to travel around the world with his best friend Hans after they graduated Berkley University and Laney College of Culinary Arts, currently living somewhere in South America until they would decide their next stop after the Christmas holidays, not even having time to call the family because their adventurous spirits didn’t give them time to sit down and wonder how was Ava doing. It kind of sucked, because Michael was secretly Ava’s favorite sibling, but as long as he was happy living his Tarzan life she was happy for him as well.

              Her life in California had been a dream and she missed it dearly every single day, even if she had lived in New York for five years already. She missed the sun and waking up to the sound of the sea instead of waking up to the sounds of cars honking and people yelling, she missed the morning runs with Mary and Suzanne around the beach or doing yoga with Jillian on the porch as they watched the sun go down, she missed going on bike rides with Diego or to suffer as she watched him surfing way too close to the rocks, and she also missed going on hikes with Michael and talk about the deepest stuff their brains could come up with.

              But what she hadn’t missed was her mothers wondering when the hell would she settle down, stop sleeping around, and find someone to share her life with, acting as if she had been thirty-two years old instead of twenty-two. She didn’t really get it, because Michael never got asked that question (or maybe he was just too good at dodging it) and Mary, of course, hadn’t gotten asked it either because she had been dating Shannon for almost ten years, the both of them getting engaged during the summertime and already planning up their wedding for next summer.

But whenever Ava went back to visit her family, or whenever they came to the city, they always ended up having the same conversation. And, honestly, she was a little bit tired of it all.

              “That’s slut shaming,” Ava said the day her mothers had come to New York during summer, helping them set up the apartment after spending time in Malibu.

She crossed her arms upon her chest as Jillian was sipping from her wine, Suzanne arching an eyebrow at her, and Beatrice was laughing quietly next to her,

“You never ask Michael why he’s not bringing any boyfriends around, and you never asked Mary about girlfriends either before Shannon happened,” she added, scowling at her mothers as she sipper from her water.

              “They don’t ask Michael because he’s dating Hans, duh,” Diego said, rolling his eyes, as Ava frowned at her younger and actually biological brother, “Would you travel the world with your best friend, having to be next to them 24/7 if you guys weren’t in love?”

              “I would do it with Bea, and she’s my best friend,” Ava shrugged her shoulders, looking at the girl who almost choked on her salmon because it had way too much spice… or maybe because the idea of traveling with Ava horrified her, knowing how much of a mess the girl was and would probably forget her documentation everywhere they went, “Honestly, out of all of our friends you’re the only one I would travel the world with.”

              “Cute,” Beatrice said, smiling slightly at Ava and taking another piece of extra-spicy salmon to her mouth, as Ava cleared her throat and Beatrice’s eyes widened slightly, “I, of course, would do the same.”

              “Not the point,” Suzanne waved a dismissive hand, shaking her head, “You’re about to turn twenty-three, Ava, and you’ve never been in a relationship.”

              “Listen,” Ava sighed, interlacing her fingers upon the table, “Just because you two have been married since before the dinosaurs existed, Michael is apparently traveling the world with his sweetheart and Mary has decided to get married, it doesn’t mean I have to do the same.”

              “We know, darling,” Jillian said, always being the voice of reason in the family, “We just want to make sure someone takes care of you, in more ways than one.”

              “Talking as if I was unable to take care of myself, physically, emotionally, spiritually and, of course, sexually,” Ava muttered, scoffing, as Beatrice tilted her head slightly and opened her mouth to talk, as Diego choked on his juice and both of her mothers frowned at Ava for talking about sex on the table.

“Well, Ava-” Beatrice said, but Ava raised a finger.

“You stay quiet, or I’ll name Lilith my favorite Brit if you dare agreeing with the hags,” Ava threatened, as Beatrice slowly brought another piece of salmon into her mouth.

              “I was going to say,” Beatrice said, sounding slightly betrayed at the threat of being replaced as Ava’s favorite Brit, “That we take care of one another, and it’s fine. In all the departments except the, well… you know. Other people do that for, uh, us.”

              “Are you talking about sex?” Jillian muttered at Beatrice, who cleared her throat but nodded anyways, “Oh, okay, I was a little confused.”

              “Exactly, what Bea said!” Ava said, clapping her hands as her mothers rolled their eyes in unison, as Diego frowned and his brown eyes went from one girl to the other, “See? I need no one else, I’ve got my best friend next to me. There’s peace on Earth, and dating apps filled with horny people ready to bang exist. We’re good, we’re fine, and we need no one else. Except to fuck, of course.”

              “Ava!” Jillian said, shaking her head as her eyes landed on a very unimpressed Diego, “Cover your ears, Diego.”

              “And miss out? I think not,” Diego said, getting accommodated on his chair as he watched the conversation unfold.

              “And when your best friend will have to spend her second year of Med School abroad, then what?” Suzanne wondered, and whatever amusement Beatrice and Ava felt was completely gone, because that was a taboo topic of conversation in their recently inaugurated Brooklyn apartment.

              It was something Ava didn’t think about, not after she had pretty much spent every single waking moment next to Beatrice for the last five years. But she knew it was unavoidable, because it was in the med school program and if Beatrice decided not to follow it, she would get expelled and Ava knew how hard the girl had worked for it. Thinking about it, thinking about Beatrice having to go after summer and having to spend a whole school year away filled Ava’s chest with an unbearable pressure, but on the other side she thought they still had almost a year to spare before it happened so that kind of calmed her down a little.

              “I can take care of myself, mom,” Ava said, shrugging her shoulders, “And if it’s the back what worries you, then don’t be. I can always work from home when those damaged nerves of mine act up, right?”

              “A lot of future authors work from home,” Beatrice said, nodding her head in support, “It’ll be fine, Ava, you can turn my bedroom into your little office while I’m away, wherever I choose to go.”

              Ava had injured her spine after the accident, and she had broken both of her legs which, now, were fully healed. But her spine wasn’t fully healed, her nerves had been damaged but the doctors had managed to fix them up pretty well, avoiding for Ava to stop being able to move her body from the neck down. Even though, every once in a while, her body didn’t cooperate with her and she had unbearable back and cervical pains, causing her migraines and forcing her to lie down in bed for a couple of days.

              But it was fine, Ava could take the pain because those little episodes had accompanied her for the last nine years of her life, and the sadistic and dark part of her was kind of glad when that happened, because it was some sort of reminder for her to live life at its fullest because all she had could go away in the blink of an eye, how whoever was up there had given her a second chance and she had to take advantage of it.

              It sucked, though, because many times the migraines and pains came with dizziness and puking and she hated that, how the minimum light made it feel as if her head was close to exploding, how she couldn’t move from her bed and sometimes it felt as if she was on a ship, getting herself swung from side to side. But in a more positive note, when her pains came future doctor Beatrice was always there to take care of her, cooking her delicious meals and making hot chocolate for Ava, laying next to her in bed and napping, watching a movie, reading to her because Ava couldn’t do it in those moments as the letters danced on the pages.

              “Whoever it is, the person that will end up occupying that heart of yours,” Jillian sighed, smirking at Ava, “They better have an endless arsenal of patience.”

              Three months later, that person was supposedly JC, even though Ava’s family had no fucking clue that JC actually had no fucking clue he was supposedly dating Ava.

              Ava had met JC during her first day at the magazine, him being a couple of years older and mentoring her, sitting on the desk next to hers and letting her know the key information about the world of sports, but specially about soccer since it would be the section Ava would be partly taking care of, editing the photographs and writing the articles before her boss would read them over.

              Her and JC, though, weren’t dating and Ava was sure they never would after they hooked up one night, and she realized that whatever she felt for the boy (he was handsome and kind and, honestly, Ava would lie if she said she didn’t have a crush on him for the first two weeks after meeting him) was merely platonic and he, too, felt the same.

              Ava was attracted to JC, and she knew JC was attracted to her and if they wanted to, if they felt up to it, they would probably sleep together again a couple of times, just to have a little fun. But she knew JC’s heart belonged to Randall, another one of her co-workers and the guy who was in charge of the rugby section, while Ava liked JC but she also liked Zori and Chanel, the magazine’s stylists, and it was all kind of a mess.

              “Maybe you guys should do an orgy,” Beatrice suggested one night as Ava told her the whole drama, making Ava choke on her salad.

              “Beatrice Campbell-Lee, go clean that filthy mouth of yours!”

              Ava, honestly talking, felt as if she had some sort of problem. She hadn’t really been able to find that person for her or, at least, not in a romantic level. Before University, she didn’t really care much about the whole dating thing. Her very first boyfriend, Todd, had lasted two weeks with her and then he turned out to be gay and only date Ava in hopes to get closer to Michael. Of course, after Todd she had a few boyfriends here and there, realizing she was bisexual when she turned seventeen and she dated one of her classmates for a while, too, after they made out at summer camp and, well, one thing lead to another… and Ava had her sexual awakening at seventeen, which was kind of cool.

              And then, when she arrived at University, she thought she might have the same luck as her mothers and find the love of her life amongst the crowd, just like it had happened to Mary, but she never really did. It wasn’t like Ava hadn’t gone on dates, it wasn’t like tried to find the love of her life between orgasm and orgasm, or that she hadn’t tried to establish an actual romantic connection with the guys and girls she dated for no more than two weeks, because the Lord knows she did and that’s why her mothers were kind of looking worried at this point. Ava was unable to… fall in love, or something.

              “Do you think is a health problem?” Ava wondered one night, looking up at her best friend and future doctor as they watched, funnily enough, Love Actually, “Do you think the girl I pretty much slept with and then dumped in the morning during freshman year has cursed me and I’m bound to stay bitchless for the rest of my life?”

              “You’re the least bitchless person I know,” Beatrice said, eyes glued on the screen and a little frown between her eyebrows, “You’re not sick, either. You simply haven’t found the right person, Ava.”

              “Hmm, yeah,” Ava sighed, dramatically, cuddling up to her best friend, “That must be it.”

              But the cycle was always the same, over and over again: Ava met someone she liked, she went on a couple of dates with them, she might sleep with them if she felt like it and then, when a connection was built after that, when things were starting to get serious… she disliked all the things she had liked about that person at first, and dumped them.

And, honestly, Ava wouldn’t lie if she said that must’ve gained her a few enemies around campus, or that she had been known as Ava “Hit and Run” Silva because of that bad habit she couldn’t seem to get rid of. And it had been cute the way in which Lilith and Beatrice had threatened the people who had called Ava that, never knowing it had been born from Ava and Camila themselves and someone must’ve heard them talking after Ava’s twentieth breakup of the month.

              “But I thought you liked Leighton’s voice?” Camila frowned after Ava told them she had ended things with the girl.

              “Sometimes it’s just…” she shrugged her shoulders, sighing, “Too loud?”

              “Jesus, Ava,” Camila frowned, shaking her head, “Hit and Run attacks once again.”

              It was like she was always looking for the negative things in the other person, as if she was looking for a reason to get rid of them and find someone else, someone new. It was like they were always missing something, never making Ava feel full and warm inside like the books and movies said, and she was starting to think she might spend the rest of her life finding for “the right one”, going from lover to lover and never finding that person, doomed to spend her life alone as Beatrice found someone else, as her friends married and moved on with life.

              Beatrice and she were the only single ones in their friend group, Camila and Lilith had been dating for three years and Yasmine had started to date Dora almost a year ago or so, the two of them being friends at culinary school, the girl with the bright pink hair joining their group of friends on their sophomore year way before they started to go out together.

              It wasn’t like Ava was repulsed by the idea of love, on the contrary: she loved anything related to love. She loved to watch her mothers cook together and tease one another in the kitchen, the both of them still acting like the very first time they fell in love even if they had been together for thirty years.

She had loved to see Mary become a softie, unable to stop smiling and laugh whenever Shannon was around and, honestly, she was inclined to agree with Diego with the whole Michael and Hans thing, Michael becoming shyer than usual when Hans was around, his pale skin becoming as red as a tomato. She had suspected for a while, after Michael told Ava he had met Hans around two years ago, because her brother never really announced it to the world when he made new friends. So Ava had guessed Hans was different, special, but she never said a word and waited for Michael to confirm it.

THE SILVA-SALVIUSES

Jilly: Hello, my loves. Who will come for Christmas time?

Biological Brother: Me!

Suzzie: Diego, sweetheart, you live with us. We know.

Hail Mary Fullofgrace: Shannon and I are coming.

Ava: damn right

Jilly: Ava…

Shannon (best sister in law ever): Do you ever not think about sex?

Ava: hmm… actually no, never

Shannon (best sister in law ever): We’ll have to unpack that

*Mike The Bomb has added Hans*

Ava: ??

Hail Mary Fullofgrace: Oh?

Biological Brother: I fucking knew it

Suzzi: Diego!

Jilly: Michael, sweetheart?

Shannon (best sister in law ever): Oh, my God!

Mike The Bomb: Yeah, Hans and I will come too.

Ava: as friends??

Mike The Bomb: BOYfriends.

              Ava also loved to see Camila being the only one who was able to push Lilith’s defenses down, or the way Yasmine let herself be free whenever Dora was around, more confident and self-assured. And she loved to come home after work, and find Beatrice there buried within her medicine notes, her round glasses on and a mug of hot tea next to her.

              She loved to do small gestures for her family and friends, like booking a SPA day for Jillian and Suzanne, organizing an engagement party with her brothers for Mary and Shannon, joining Camila on her TikTok dances and going to kickboxing lessons with Lilith, listening to Yasmine and Dora rant about a new recipe they had created to bake their croissants, coming out fantastically well, as they helped the two of them decorate the new bakery they had rented.

              And, of course, Ava loved to cook dinner for Beatrice when the girl was too tired after a long day at Med School, whenever she was too busy studying for her exams she didn’t even have time to eat a proper meal, loving how Beatrice pretended Ava hadn’t burned something as simple as an omelet, eating it and always letting Ava know it had been the best omelet she had ever eaten in her life. Beatrice was an amazing cook, Ava’s mothers were amazing cooks, and she tried her very best to manage in the kitchen but it was kind of impossible, even though during her university days she had worked at a bar-restaurant and had to learn how to cook basic things, such as burgers and hot dogs and fried eggs.

              “Liar,” Ava said, crossing her arms upon her chest as Beatrice simply smiled at her, giving a small kiss on the top of Ava’s head before washing the dish.

              “The things we do for love, right?” Beatrice said, and then Ava would fake outrage and, in the end, they would simply end up washing the dishes together and talking about their day before Ava would start a water war and Beatrice would squeal and run away.

              The both of them couldn’t be more opposite from each other, but Ava loved it because they simply balanced one another. Beatrice was serious, clean, way too cool and responsible while Ava loved to laugh, got (affectionately) called a loser seven days a week, she was a mess and if it hadn’t been for the thousands of post-it stickers Beatrice left around the apartment, she wouldn’t even remember to put on her jeans in the morning.

              Beatrice was an amazing cook, while Ava burned even her own cereal. Beatrice loved dark colors, while Ava loved pastel colors. Beatrice was an early bird, going out for a run every single morning and visiting the gym as often as she could, while Ava loved to sleep in and stay awake until late at night, avoiding any sort of physical exercise, but her best friend dragged her out of her bed and Ava decided to join her during her morning runs, her body appreciating it even if Ava didn’t.

Beatrice loved everything related to science, while Ava loved anything related to words. Beatrice was a prodigy on the piano, and the cello, she was amazing at sketching, and Ava loved to listen to music, which was perfect whenever Beatrice was feeling melancholic and sat on the small keyboard piano she had brought all the way from London, while Ava took pictures of Beatrice with her old camera: Beatrice smiling, Beatrice drawing, Beatrice reading, Beatrice existing. And so on, and on, and on.

“Jesus, Ava, if she wasn’t your best friend I would think you’re obsessed with her to the point of no return,” Lilith said, frowning, as she helped Ava put up her Wall of Memories when she and Beatrice moved to their new apartment, where all the photographs she had taken of her friends ever since she landed in New York, of their little group of six but mostly of Beatrice and herself, were hanging around the wall while fairy lights illuminated the pictures.

              It just was funny, how Beatrice was the balance that had lacked in Ava’s life, and Ava was the wilderness that had lacked on Beatrice’s life how. They couldn’t be more different even if they tried, but they somehow clicked in a way neither Ava nor Beatrice had clicked with anyone before, not even with Camila or Yasmine, who were Ava’s confidante and second best friends, or with Lilith and Dora, who were all of that for Beatrice and, according to Camila and Yasmine, they were the other half of each other’s soul.

              “Have you ever thought about dating?” Camila wondered, frowning at Ava when the girl let out a snort and a loud laugh as if her friend had said the funniest thing ever, “What?”

              “Beatrice and I, dating?” Ava said, shaking her head as she took a sip from her coffee, “God, no, she deserves way better than this mess. Plus, we’re best friends. It’s perfect the way it is.”

              “Well,” Camila shrugged her shoulders, “So far, she’s the only person who’s managed to remain by your side this long.”

              “You have too, and the rest,” Ava pointed out, “And I’m not dating any of you.”

              “Yeah, but with Beatrice it’s just… different,” Camila said, her voice lowering a little as Ava looked at her in confusion, “You two have a special connection.”

              “And that’s why she’s my best friend,” Ava said, shrugging her shoulders, unable to hold back a smile as she thought about Beatrice, “And I’m hers.”

              It was true, though, what Camila said. Ava never had a connection with anyone like the one she had with Beatrice, how things felt better when the girl was around her, how Beatrice’s smile could fix all of Ava’s problems, how she must’ve the shittiest day ever and then everything would go away once Beatrice would come back home, Ava not even remembering why she was having a bad day to begin with.

              And that was why the thought of Beatrice going away the next year, the thought of Beatrice going to the other side of the ocean to study somewhere in Italy for a whole year, it terrified Ava. She was scared the distance would strain their friendship, even though they had been separated during some summers because Beatrice had been in a volunteering program for future doctors ever since they had met, and Ava had gone back to Malibu and took summer jobs at the local grocery store, or at a bar, even a pet store so their days were pretty busy and, sometimes, they were several states away from one another.

But they had been in the same country, and it had only been for a few weeks, seeing one another more often, having the same time zone, video calling every day, Beatrice going to visit Ava and her family every two weeks, staying with them for a whole weekend, even more if she managed to get a few days off from her volunteering.

              Now, though, Ava would be in New York and Beatrice would be in Italy and she didn’t know if she could take that, because the girl would be gone for months and video calling would be more difficult and not having her around would surely drive Ava insane and she was so close from quitting her own job and deciding to go with Beatrice, knowing that if she asked her master’s professors about any studying abroad program they would offer her options and, hopefully, she could go to Italy as well.

              But also… she needed her job, even if it was part-time, because it paid well and she had things to pay as well, and they wanted to move into a bigger apartment once they would have the chance so Ava could have her own little office, so Beatrice could have a space to study peacefully, but that also meant Ava would’ve to stay in New York and Beatrice would be somewhere in Italy for nine months, separated.

              “We’ll be fine, Ava,” Beatrice said one night when Ava confessed all of those fears, blaming her period for making her feel so sensitive, her arms around Beatrice as the girl caressed her hair gently, still wearing her coat and beani and her backpack hanging from one shoulder because Ava had pretty much jumped her after Beatrice crossed the threshold, “You won’t get rid of me so easily.”

              “But you might get rid of me, Bea,” Ava said, looking at her best friend, “Look at the mess I am.”

              “You’re a beautiful mess, Ava, and I wouldn’t have anyone else as my best friend,” Beatrice said, hugging her tightly as Ava held onto the girl for dear life, “We’ll figure it out, I’ll buy you as many plane tickets as you wish, and I’ll come visit at least once a month.”

              Ava trusted Beatrice, but she didn’t trust herself or her thoughts. She knew Beatrice wouldn’t abandon her, after all she had never done it once during the five years they had been best friends, not even when Ava had the crazy idea of telling her family she was dating her coworker, in an attempt to shut them up, or when they didn’t see one another for two weeks during summer time because of their own occupations. Beatrice had stayed there, through the good the bad and the crazy, and Ava knew an ocean wouldn’t break them.

              But, still, she was scared because she couldn’t remember anything about her life before meeting her best friend, and she couldn’t imagine her future without having her best friend in there. Beatrice had been there during the important moments of Ava’s life for the last five years, and Ava had been there for Beatrice and that was how their lives worked now, and Ava couldn’t imagine it working in a different way.

              Beatrice had been there when Ava had decided to learn how to ice skate to impress one of her classmates and failed miserably, Beatrice had been there when Ava had tried to work as a barista and had accidentally messed a coffee order, getting fired on the spot and rehired after Beatrice had gone to demand explanations to the bar’s owner, Beatrice had been there when Ava had decided to take in a stray cat even if their apartment didn’t allow pets, the cat deciding to leave by his own feet and breaking Ava’s heart only two weeks ago.

              Ava had been there when Beatrice managed to get into New York Medical College, Ava had been there when Beatrice had gotten offers from the best medical schools from all around the country but had decided to stay in New York, Ava had been there when Beatrice’s parents showed up once in a blue moon through a text message demanding Beatrice go visit them instead of abandoning a family who had abandoned her from the moment she arrived into this world, a family that kicked her out of her home for being who she was, and then regretted it the moment they realized it didn’t look well on their Catholic ultra-religious asses, and Ava had been there the first time Beatrice met up with her parents after leaving, when they had sat down in a bar, the four of them, and Beatrice bravely demanded they give her the part of her grandparents’ inheritance the pair had decided to keep for themselves, the couple having no other choice but doing it when Beatrice recited by memory the law and everything that could happen to them if they decided to keep a chunk of money that corresponded to her, using a part of the dizzying amount of money to buy their little apartment, Beatrice having enough to buy at least ten stadiums the size of MSG.

              Beatrice had been there to hold Ava the nights she was woken up by nightmares, Beatrice had been there to take care of Ava when those stupid pains attacked her and pretty much immobilized her. Beatrice had been there always for Ava during the last five years and Ava had been there always for Beatrice, and Ava had grown too used at it she didn’t know how she would do it without the girl.

              The apartment, which was pretty small, would look way too big without Beatrice in there. Her mornings would be boring, her nights lonely, and she would probably decide to spend as much time in the library or at work as she could if that meant she wouldn’t have to spend so much time in a lonely home, away from her best friend.

              And now, Beatrice was there to surely support Ava on this crazy idea even if the future doctor was looking at her as if Ava needed urgent professional help. And, honestly, she was inclined to agree because what the fuck was her problem.

              “What am I going to do, Bea?” Ava said, biting her lower lip and shaking her head slightly, “They want JC there.”

              “Well,” Beatrice sighed, looking at Ava as if she was about to tell her she didn’t have more than two months left of life, “You can always tell him?”

              “You want me to tell a guy I’ve only known for three months that I told my family he’s dating me because I posted a picture with him and they thought it was a signal of me soft launching our relationship?” Ava asked, her lungs almost collapsing and taking a deep breath as Beatrice opened her mouth, slightly, “No fucking way, Bea.”

              “I guess you could always go with the lie throughout the holidays,” Beatrice shrugged her shoulders as Ava looked at the text message her mother had sent her all over again, “Tell them JC couldn’t come because he had family over, if you don’t want to tell him the truth.”

              “I could tell them we broke up?” Ava said, pacing around their small living room, “But then they will look so disappointed, like they always do when I talk about one of my affairs.”

              “Affairs?” Beatrice snorted, as Ava looked at her in desperation and her best friend’s smile disappeared but her eyes shined with amusement anyways, “You don’t have to tell them anything, just go with the flow.”

              “Go with the flow?” Ava arched an eyebrow, as Beatrice shrugged her shoulders, looking as hopeless as Ava felt.

              Ava let out a groan of frustration, wondering why the hell her brain had stopped to work the moment Mary wondered if JC was Ava’s new victim and hostage, how she thought maybe saying yes he was and called it a day would make her mothers, even her siblings, lay off her and leave her alone with her matters of the heart. And, all of a sudden, the lie had extended for two months and a half without JC even being aware he was Ava’s fake boyfriend.

              Thank God his social media is private, and that people cannot text him there.

              “You know what, I’ll just…” Ava sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as Beatrice watched her from the couch, eyebrows arched, “He deserves to know, so I’ll tell him. And I’ll ask him if he wants to come, pretend a little, then call it a day.”

              “You mean, pretend he’s dating you?” Beatrice frowned, her eyes getting filled with a strange expression, an emotion Ava was annoyed at because she had never managed to read it, even if it disappeared as quickly as it showed up, “Like… fake date him throughout the holidays?”

              “Is it too much?” Ava said, the strange emotion in Beatrice’s eyes disappearing, the girl shrugging her shoulders.

              “I don’t know, maybe he’ll agree if he sees you’re kind of desperate,” Beatrice hummed, getting up and clearing her throat as she arranged a pillow that had been perfectly placed, “And maybe if you both feel comfortable with it, it develops into… a real thing?”

              “Oh, no,” Ava laughed, waving a dismissive hand, not knowing why the idea of her and JC actually dating was so funny for her, “Him and I had our fun and everything, but that’s it.”

              “So he doesn’t have feelings for you, or you for him?” Beatrice frowned, and Ava nodded her head.

              “He’s in love with Randall, our coworker. You remember him, right?” Ava said, and Beatrice nodded her head, “Yeah, so… JC has a crush on him, that’s why I know that if I had to fake it with him none of us would actually fall. I don’t see him in that way, and he doesn’t see me like that.”

              “But you’ll ask him regardless, right?” Beatrice wondered, and Ava nodded, “At least, you’ll tell him the truth.”

              “I should’ve done it a long while ago,” Ava bit her lower lip, and she saw Beatrice’s little tilt of the head, agreeing with her.

              “Now, go get dressed Ava. You’ll be late for work,” Beatrice said, and Ava walked towards her best friend and hugged her, kissing her cheek and missing the way in which Beatrice’s eyes widened slightly, a faint blush appearing on her freckled cheeks and disappearing as fast, “What was that for?”

              “Supporting my crazy ideas, and never sending me to go see a therapist,” Ava shrugged her shoulders, as Beatrice laughed a little at that, putting a strand of Ava’s hair behind her ear, “Though I’m sure Shannon has texted every single therapist in this country telling them to not deal with me.”

              “Depending on what your next crazy idea is, I might have to contact some of my psychiatry colleagues from Med School. I’m sure Shannon doesn’t know them,” Beatrice said, squeezing Ava’s shoulders as the shorter girl rolled her eyes, Beatrice letting a small huff of amusement as Ava made her way towards her room.

              God, what a day. And it’s not even nine in the morning.

*

              Ava was almost late after she had gotten distracted watching TikToks on her phone, Beatrice knocking on her bedroom door and offering her a car ride because her workplace was on the way to Beatrice’s Med School, Ava wanting to throw herself from the tallest building because she didn’t want to deal with today at all.

              First of all, it was a Monday. Second of all, she would have to tell to JC what was going on. And, third of all, after work she had lessons until eight in the evening and she didn’t want that, because it was way too much for a Monday and she honestly just wanted to go home and cuddle up with a blanket as she watched Hell’s Kitchen.

But, at least, she was only a couple of days away from packing her stuff up and making her way to Malibu, with Beatrice, carrying Christmas presents she had managed to keep hidden from her best friend, and then she would have almost two weeks of bliss ahead of her, with the California sun falling down on her and the smell of the ocean and, of course, her family next to her.

              “Call me when you get to class!” Ava told Beatrice as she got down of the girl’s car, feeling grateful she didn’t have to call a taxi and, therefore, arrive late at work.

              “Call me when you’re done?” Beatrice asked leaning over the car’s console, as Ava nodded and hugged her best friend quickly, making her way inside the building as Beatrice drove away.

              Ava got into the elevator and made her way up to the floor reserved for Score-It Magazine, where she could finally manage to put her name out there and, one day, she might have the chance to make it to The New York Times, become a big name in the world of journalism and, later on, manage to write several books and simply move somewhere in the middle of nowhere, living in a tiny home with her little office and her laptop and her stories.

              And, honestly, the situation she was living right now could make for a pretty good book, maybe even a movie to show the rest of the world what a mess she was, even unintentionally, and scientists all over the world could study what the hell was wrong with Ava Silva.

              She sat down on her desk, turned on her computer and went back to editing several of the pictures she had taken herself and needed to add in her article, how NY/NJ Gotham FC had lost against San Diego Wave FC and, therefore, the championship they were fighting for slipped from her hands in the last minute of the second half.

              “Ali Krieger, I love you,” Ava muttered as she edited the picture of the player, letting out a long sigh, “Ashlyn never deserved you, babe, I could treat you so much better.”

              “Agreed,” JC said, sitting down on his chair and letting out a long sigh, giving one of the two cups of coffee he was holding to Ava, who had jumped on her own chair, “Are you okay?”

              “You scared me,” Ava let out a nervous chuckle, suddenly her stomach knotting as she sipped from her coffee, as JC frowned at her but let out a small laugh nevertheless.

              “You’re so weird sometimes, Ava,” JC said, as he turned on his own computer and took his phone out, “Hey, do you wanna hear my latest remix?”

              From Monday to Friday, JC worked at the magazine and then, on the weekends, he became a DJ in the Black Flamingo club, where he played his own remixes of the most known songs nowadays, even playing his own music whenever he got permission, his name starting to be on the top of the posters at the clubs, starting from being someone who only played there once a month to being one of the regular DJs.

              Ava had gone to see him several times with Zori, Randall and Chanel, other times she had gone to see him with Lilith, Yasmine and Camila, dragging Beatrice and Dora with them even though the girls spent the whole night sitting on the couch, drinking soda and making sure the other three behaved and didn’t have to be dragged out of the club for getting way too drunk in the case of Yasmine, Camila and Lilith, or starting a fight like it had happened once in Ava’s case.

              “That dude was unashamedly flirting with me and Camila at once!” Ava complained as Beatrice applied ice to her black eye, the one she had gotten after the dude’s apparent girlfriend believed Ava had been the one flirting with the guy.

              “I know, Ava, but the moment she threatened you with beating you up, you should’ve called me so I could speak with her, maybe even Lilith so she could scare the girl off,” Beatrice said, clicking her tongue, the girl owning several black belts in various martial arts modalities while Lilith was just simply naturally scary, “She was very tall, you’re very tiny.”

              “My levels of rage are more concentrated,” Ava said, and Beatrice stopped her movements as she looked at Ava with an arched eyebrow, her lips slowly turning up into a smile that ended up with the both of them laughing, “Ouch, my lip, stop!”

              JC offered her one of his air pods, as he used the other one and played the song he had remixed. Ava knew JC’s dream was to become the type of guy playing a DJ set at Tomorrowland or one of those big festivals, and just like Ava his stay in this magazine was pretty temporary and a way to get enough money to start living their dreams. Ava knew he could do it, she knew one day JC would shine.

              She bit her lower lip, completely losing track of the song, as she watched JC move his head slightly, looking proud of what he had done, until the song finished and he looked back at her, waiting for a response.

              “Are you sick?” JC wondered, putting a hand on Ava’s forehead, “What’s up with you? Have you argued with Bea because you broke another mug?”

              “It was her favorite…” Ava sighed, feeling as if she had killed Beatrice’s family or something the day she had dropped Beatrice’s emotional support mug, as JC nodded in understanding as to why Ava was so upset over Beatrice’s favorite mug accidentally slipping from her hands, “But no, we didn’t argue and I’m not sick, I just… have to tell you something.”

              “Oh, fuck,” JC muttered, his eyes widening comically as he leaned closer to her, “Please, tell me I’m not… getting an early Christmas present from what happened two months ago.”

              “Huh? What?” Ava frowned, and JC’s eyes landed on her stomach and, after a few seconds, she connected the dots and almost gagged, “Oh, ew, no! Actually, I’m on my period.”

              “Oh, phew, okay,” JC said, putting a hand on his heart and sighing in relief as Ava shook her head, “So, what is it?”

              “Please, promise you won’t get mad at me because I cannot handle it,” Ava said, grabbing JC’s hands, “I would feel as if I had just kicked a puppy in the ass.”

              “I won’t get mad,” JC nodded firmly, squeezing Ava’s hands, waiting for her to tell what was going on.

              Let’s just rip the band aid off.

              “You remember when we met, I posted a picture of you and I grabbing lunch?” Ava asked him, her voice coming out higher than usual, JC nodding his head as he looked at her in confusion, “Well, my sister Mary texted me wondering if we are dating.”

              “Okay?” JC said, dragging the vowels, as an eyebrow arched on his forehead and Ava bit her lower lip.

              “And I panicked, because my mothers are obsessed with me getting a partner and, honestly, my siblings too and… I said yes?” Ava said, putting some space between her and JC as his eyes widened to the point Ava was scared they would fall off, his mouth gaping.

              “What?” JC whispered at her, shaking his head, “Ava, why would you do that?!”

              “It’s, just-” Ava sighed, groaning slightly, “They’re so annoying, Jay, I swear to God. And, honestly, I thought it would be a little lie but then the word spread like wildfire in the Silva-Salvius household and… well, they want you to come over for Christmas.”

              “Ava,” JC pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, as Ava bit her lower lip, “You should’ve told me earlier.”

              “I know, but…” Ava groaned slightly, “I barely knew you, it would’ve been weird.”

              “It is weird now,” JC shook his head, “I would love to be your fake boyfriend, really, but…”

              “What?” Ava said, tilting her head as JC fell silent, biting his lower lip as if he was trying to think what to say, or as if he was hiding something.

              “I just think we shouldn’t do it,” JC ended up saying, shaking his head, “I want the real thing, Ava.”

              “But… not with me,” Ava said, smiling slightly as she saw Randall entering the office, his eyes immediately finding JC, who blushed furiously before he tried to pretend nothing happened, “Us fake dating and him knowing would lower your chances, right?”

“Yeah… I think so, yeah,” JC chuckled, as he tried to look away from Randall.

“I’m sorry, Jay. I should’ve told you earlier,” Ava squeezed his hand, as JC let out a small sigh, shaking his head in slight amusement, “I should- I shouldn’t have done that.”

              “It’s fine, Ava,” JC shrugged his shoulders, nudging her arm, “Lotta people wishes to date me, I get it.”

              “Oh, shut up!” Ava laughed, as JC winked at her before both of them went back to their work.

*

              “Okay, I’m ready!” Ava said, entering the living room as Beatrice was quietly sipping from her coffee, looking at her phone as her eyes went up and she let out a sound of amusement.

              “Ava, we’re going to California, not Alaska,” the girl said as she took in Ava’s coat, the one she wore when it was extremely cold in New York, “I think we’ll be fine with our autumn clothes.”

              “Damn, I have to unpack my whole luggage then,” Ava said, as Beatrice’s eyes widened because they only had one hour left before their Uber would come pick them up, “I’m kidding, oh my God!”

              “I’m too old for this,” Beatrice sighed shaking her head as Ava took off her coat, leaving it on the table they used to eat their meals on, Beatrice scowling at her.

              “I’ll put it back in the closet before leaving, I promise, but I need coffee first,” Ava said, taking out her favorite mug with a cat drawn on it, Beatrice making it for her when they attended a pottery workshop once they had been done with finals.

              It had passed a week since the JC fiasco, Ava telling her family she would try to bring him with her but she couldn’t promise anything because JC, too, had a family to go visit. Even though she knew the best thing she could do was to simply go and tell her family the truth, but she didn’t think she could go through the whole questionnaire all over again.

              How’s the boyfriend? Or girlfriend, of course!

              Why are you still single?

              When I was your age… I was already doing engagement ring shopping.

              The Uber arrived one hour later, which Ava spent revising her minimal luggage in case she forgot something, knowing she still had clothes in Malibu and she would surely miss something, like it happened every time.

              “Excited?” Beatrice wondered as they sat inside the car, making their way towards the airport, as Ava clutched her best friend’s arm and let out a small squeal.

              “Very,” she said, making the girl smile, “You?”

              “Yes,” Beatrice nodded, firmly, “Your family is my family, Ava.”

              Thankfully, there were no delays on the flight and they soon were sitting down again on the seats they had reserved, ready to go on a six hours flight Ava would surely spend sleeping the whole time, spending the previous night finishing to pack her luggage after Beatrice wondered if she had everything ready, the girl not even looking surprised when Ava told her there were some things missing (that being the whole suitcase).

              Ava, honestly, couldn’t wait to see her family again even if they had seen one another for Thanksgiving. At this point, she should be used at not seeing them for a few weeks after living on the other side of the country for five years, but the truth was she wasn’t used at it at all and if it wasn’t for Beatrice, she would’ve gone completely insane on the first few months she had been in New York. Things were just simply better next to Beatrice, but she missed her mothers’ hugs and teasing her siblings. Sometimes, if she was honest, she even missed those dreadful interrogations about her private life.

She missed the family’s seaside home, the sun and the ocean being the very first thing she saw in the morning, especially during those days where she miraculously woke up at dawn, catching the sunrise and falling in love with life, a life she had almost lost once a long time ago.

And the best thing was that for the last five years, she had Beatrice next to her whenever that happened because the future doctor’s default mode was to wake up right before dawn, always waiting for Ava to open her eyes so they could go down to the beach and look the sun go up during the winter break, during spring break, during the days of summer when Beatrice came to Malibu from wherever she had chosen to go do volunteering work that time, and spent a week or two with Ava because they were attached to the hip, unable to stay away from one another for longer than a couple weeks.

Next year will be hell, Ava thought as the plane took off, as Beatrice grabbed her hand and clutched it tightly because the girl was terrified of planes, and Ava always offered her some sort of comfort, holding her hand until the plane was stabilized up in the sky, smiling at her and kissing her knuckles because Beatrice had done it again, she had managed to stay calm during the few minutes take off lasted. They had agreed that when Beatrice would have to go to Italy, Ava would fly with her there, spend a week or so with her best friend to help her out with everything, and then she would fly back to New York all on her own.

What worried Ava, though, was the fact that the times Beatrice would come visit and then would have to leave again she would be all on her own, without Ava being there to hold her hand until the plane would be up in the sky. They would have to figure something out, like they did the first time they took a plane together to fly to Malibu for Christmas.

“That was embarrassing,” Beatrice said during that first time, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what, Bea?” Ava said, letting out a small chuckle as Beatrice’s freckled cheeks were painted in bright red, her ears as well, something Ava found quite adorable because Beatrice was always serene and composed and so cool, but she also found it sad because Beatrice was so used at keeping her emotions guarded she thought looking afraid was embarrassing.

“I don’t really like planes, honestly,” Beatrice’s eyes looked down onto her lap, Ava not pointing out the girl had reached out for her hand and was holding it so tight Ava feared her circulation would be cut off, “I don’t know why, but I’ve never liked them. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of my parents, always leaving me behind, or when I took my first plane all on my own when I… well, came here.”

“Well, I hate cars,” Ava confessed, lowering her voice as she leaned closer to Beatrice, “You already know why, but no matter how much time it passes… I will always hate them.”

“Is that why you’ve embraced the passenger princess lifestyle?” Beatrice snorted, her embarrassment leaving as Ava mentally patted her back for managing to cheer Beatrice up.

“Yup, and I will never change!” Ava said, making Beatrice laugh, looking more relaxed but never ungluing her hand from Ava’s through the six hours the flight lasted.

Now it was the same, Beatrice holding her hand as Ava caressed her best friend’s knuckles in order to calm her down, knowing that maybe Beatrice didn’t blush in embarrassment anymore but she still could hear her heart beating at one thousand miles per hour, squeezing Ava’s hand in fear when the plane did a weird movement. Ava knew that Beatrice would let go if Ava told her to, but Ava also knew Beatrice would rather find small comfort knowing Ava was there and it would be fine, so she didn’t let go at all, just like Beatrice didn’t let go of Ava the nights she came to the rescue when Ava had a nightmare, when her best friend laid next to her and calmed her down, letting her know she was okay, she was alive.

“What a sweet couple you two are,” an elderly woman said, smiling at them both, Ava and Beatrice turning their heads to look at her and her husband watching them with eyes filled with love, both girls almost getting whiplash at how fast they turned around to look at them.

“Oh, we-” Beatrice said, as Ava shook her head quickly.

“No, no, we are just-” Ava said, her voice rising slightly and her cheeks blushing for no reason, even though it wasn’t the first time someone said that to them.

“Friends,” Beatrice said, nodding her head, putting up the hands the both of them still had interlaced, “Emotional support, I dislike planes.”

“Hmm,” the woman said, looking at her husband, who let out a small chuckle and went back to reading his book, “Well, don’t worry, it looks like you’re in good hands. No pun intended.”

“She is,” Ava nodded, smiling at Beatrice, who smiled back at her.

Beatrice decided to turn on the small television on her seat, putting on her headphones and watching The Walking Dead as Ava took out her iPad and started to read Mockingjay for the thousandth time ever, knowing that she should be reading some of the articles her professors had sent for them to revise during the holidays if they had a moment to do so, to get ready for their exams on February, and she knew she should be revising some of the articles she had to write even though she was on her Christmas vacation but, honestly, Katniss and Peeta were way more important right now than any of her responsibilities.

After six hours of flying, Ava’s eyes burning because she hadn’t stopped reading and Beatrice’s eyebrows almost joined in a frown because of whatever was going on in the show, the plane’s pilot announced they were about to descent and they should get ready to abandon their seats.

“Huh?” Beatrice said, blinking at Ava after she tapped the girl’s shoulder.

“Time to get ready, Bea,” she let her best friend know, who turned off the small television and put her headphones around her neck, letting out a long sigh and stretching up her arms, “You’re such a cat sometimes.”

“And what does that even mean, Ava?” Beatrice said, looking at her with a mix of amusement and confusion in her almond colored eyes.

“You’re like…” Ava looked up as the plane started to lower its height, Beatrice clutching the armrest and Ava taking her hand in hers, “Silent, and kinda cranky sometimes, and the way you just stretched yourself out? That’s such a cat thing to do.”

“Well then you’re a puppy,” Beatrice chuckled, her eyes looking at her with gratefulness at Ava’s comfort, “An overhyped one.”

“And you love me for that,” Ava winked at Beatrice, who shook her head but didn’t deny it.

They finally landed, and Ava’s legs and back screamed in pain when she got up from her seat, letting out a small wince that made Beatrice turn around and look at her with worry in her eyes, offering a hand to her as the taller girl took both of their backpacks and carried them as Ava’s legs warmed up, the circulation flowing again, stretching her back a few times as the dullness on it went away slowly the more she moved, thankfully not feeling the pang of pain or the dizziness and discomfort that always came with it.

It was something that always happened to her, when she had to sit down and not move for a long time whenever she was traveling back home, or whenever the two girls decided to do a small road trip up to the beach whenever University, internships or med school were stressing them out too much. Her legs got cranked up, but they were totally fine after moving them for a while. Her back, though, and her cervical… they would be sore for a little while.

“Sit here, I’ll take care of the luggage,” Beatrice said once they were in the waiting area, Ava not even arguing as she sat down and stretched her neck a little while Beatrice went for the suitcases, thankfully not taking long and coming back carrying both of them on each hand.

The both of them sat there, watching people as they waited for Mary and Shannon to come and pick them up like Ava’s adoptive sister had promised she would do, since her and Shannon had decided to go on a road trip from San Francisco to Malibu and, on their way, they would pick Ava and Beatrice.

“I’m bored,” Ava sighed the moment it marked one hour since they had landed, Jillian and Suzanne busy going to pick Michael and Hans at the train station and, of course, Diego was still doing driver’s lessons and couldn’t come pick them up.

“Let’s play our little game,” Beatrice suggested, and Ava’s eyes widened in delight, turning to look at her best friend.

They had invented this little game five years ago, the first time they had to wait for hours in the airport to go to Malibu because the plane had been delayed due to bad weather. They sat on the floor, looking at the people, and they made up their names, their life stories, letting time pass by. It was something they did every time they were in a crowded room, especially when both of their social anxiety was going off the roof and they needed to distract themselves to recharge.

Ava’s eyes roamed through the waiting area, and then she pointed at a woman sitting on a lonely table at the airport’s cafeteria, scrolling through her phone, looking angrier by the second.

“Her name’s Samantha,” Ava said, Beatrice looking at her curiously, waiting for her to continue, “She got engaged to Thomas, her high school sweetheart, but he had been cheating on her since forever. He dumped her on her wedding day, and she’s going on her honeymoon all by herself because her parents paid for it and she cannot cancel, now. She’s looking at his social media, how he’s enjoying life with his new girlfriend, and she wants to burn his new house down.”

“And that’s Lucas,” Beatrice said, looking at the barista who approached Samantha, putting a mug of coffee in front of her and smiling, “He’s asking her if she needs to talk, and as a good barista he’ll sit down and listen to her rant about Thomas. Little does Samantha know, Lucas has been looking at her the whole time.”

“He approached her because his coworker, Jane,” Ava said, looking at the girl who was pretending to be arranging croissants but was looking at Lucas and Samantha instead, “Has encouraged him to do so.”

“And it’s funny, because Lucas was sure Jane had a crush on him, but…” Beatrice leaned closer to Ava, her eyes filled with mischief, “Lucas doesn’t know Jane is actually a lesbian.”

“Oh, juicy,” Ava said, wiggling her eyebrows and making Beatrice snort as her eyes found someone else in the crowd, “Oh, look, it’s Jason!”

“He’s stressed out,” Beatrice nodded, looking at the man wearing a suit, his eyes glued on his watch, “He recently joined his father-in-law’s company, as a financial assessor, and he’s going on his first big job trip. He wants to cause a good impression, but his plane is getting delayed and therefore he might miss his meeting with some important investors.”

“Little does he know, though,” Ava clicked her tongue, crossing her arms upon her chest as she shook her head with pity, “The investors have just called Jason’s father-in-law, telling him they don’t want to seal the deal.”

“But, fear not,” Beatrice put a finger up, “Jason will still want to prove his point, he’ll take that plane and find the investors anyways. And he’ll convince them to actually invest in the company.”

“What’s the company about, though?” Ava frowned, watching as Jason actually got a call that made his skin go pale, “What does Jason’s father-in-law work on?”

“Rubber ducks,” Beatrice said without a second thought, sounding convinced by her choice, “They make rubber ducks and sell them worldwide, but the other investors are unsure to join the company because they don’t like how Jason’s in laws don’t use organic materials.”

“Quack Industries have a lot to learn from Jason, he’ll modernize it all and that’s how he’ll convince the investors to give them a chance,” Ava said, nodding her head as Beatrice’s eyebrows arched, “What?”

“Quack Industries? Are you serious?” Beatrice wondered, letting out a small laugh as Ava scoffed at her best friend.

“Rubber ducks, really?” she said, Beatrice letting out a bark of laughter and Ava following behind.

“What are you two idiots laughing about?” Mary said, as Ava looked up and her eyes widened when she saw her sister and her sister in law standing there.

“Mary!” she said, jumping on her sister’s arms who, thankfully, caught her easily.

“Hey there, baby girl,” her sister said, putting her back down and ruffling her hair as she hugged Beatrice, “’Sup, Bee?”

“Will you ever stop calling me that?” Beatrice frowned, but smiled at Mary regardless as Ava hugged Shannon tightly.

“My favorite sister,” Ava said, out loud, making Mary gasp in outrage.

“Why are you gasping?” Shannon wondered, looking at Mary, “You already knew that.”

“Whatever,” Mary rolled her eyes as she took Ava’s backpack and suitcase, Beatrice taking her own as Ava’s adoptive older sister already knew how Ava’s body reacted after a long flight, “Let’s get going, mom has already called me five times.”

“Again, mom’s Suzanne, right?” Shannon, who had pretty much been an honorary Silva-Salvius for almost ten years, whispered to Beatrice, who let out a small laugh.

“No, that’s mother,” Beatrice said, making Shannon nod, “Mom’s Jillian… right?”

“Yup!” Ava and Mary said in unison, the both of them walking ahead.

The four of them made their way out of the airport, Ava gasping at Mary’s bright orange Mustang, the one the older girl had gotten her hands on recently and had spent hours fixing it up, updating Ava with every new advancement through video calls and pictures on Mary’s social media, which was basically filled with cars and motorbikes she had fixed and, of course, Shannon.

“Holy fuck, Mary, it looks so much better than it did two weeks ago,” Ava said, letting out a whistle as Beatrice’s eyes widened, “I call shotgun!”

“Fuck no,” Mary said, opening the car’s trunk and putting Ava’s things inside as Beatrice put hers, quietly, “I gotta drive, Ava, I can’t hold your hand while I do so.”

“But you can hold Shannon’s?” Ava said, scoffing, as Shannon put her sunglasses back on and shrugged her shoulders.

“Sucks to suck,” Shannon said, blowing a kiss at Ava as she sat on the passenger’s seat.

“Come on, Aves,” Beatrice chuckled, opening the backseat door for her best friend, who muttered a curse in Portuguese and sat down.

Ava put on her seatbelt, sniffling the air and loving the scent of pines and forest that filled it, reminding her of the forest she always went to hike with Michael, hoping they would get to do it during the holidays since the weather was pretty nice. That was, of course, if Michael wasn’t too busy with Hans.

The moment the car got into motion, Beatrice immediately found Ava’s hand and held it gently like she had done in the short Uber drive, like Ava had done with Beatrice as they were flying. And she simply loved the way in which she didn’t have to say anything, she never had to say anything, for Beatrice to know she needed her comfort. How Beatrice didn’t have to voice it out loud when she, too, needed to feel Ava close in order to calm herself down.

“So…” Mary wiggled her eyebrows as they waved through the streets of Los Angeles, taking twists and turns to make it out and reach Malibu, “That boyfriend of yours…”

“Is everything okay?” Shannon asked, turning around, her therapist side coming out even if she was on vacation, “Between you two?”

“Oh, uh,” Ava cleared her throat as Beatrice put on her sunglasses, looking out the window as if she was fascinated by the Santa Monica Pier even though she had already seen it several times, “Yeah.”

“Sounds convincing,” Mary said, her eyes hidden by her aviator glasses but Ava knew they were looking at her through the rearview mirror, something that made her incredibly anxious because she needed her sister to look at the road instead, “Do I have to take an express flight to New York and talk with him?”

“Nope, you don’t,” Ava said, clearing her throat as she felt Beatrice’s hand squeezing hers slightly, Shannon not missing it but deciding to not say anything, “Please, eyes on the road.”

Ava had managed to forget about the whole JC situation for the six hours she had been up in the air, knowing she needed to be totally focused in case Beatrice felt anxious, and then for the hour they had waited for Mary and Shannon she had managed to distract herself with her and Beatrice’s game.

Now, though, her mind was back to it as she thought about why the hell she had decided to tell her family she was dating JC, why the hell she thought JC would be totally fine with canceling his own Christmas plans and come to Malibu to put up a little act for two weeks, and then go back to New York and pretend as if nothing had happened at all.

God, I’m a mess.

The ride from the airport to Malibu was only thirty-five minutes long, Mary pretty much knowing Los Angeles and its shortcuts by memory because she had taken them to sneak out of their home and visit Shannon unnoticed when Shannon was studying psychology at the UCLA and Mary was working at a car workshop, taking her love for building and dismantling stuff coming from Jillian, who was a biomedical engineer and worked in the field of medical technology.

Mary had decided she really didn’t want to go to university, she had never really liked studying and all of that even though she was one of the most intelligent people Ava had ever met in her life. Suzanne and Jillian had been slightly disappointed at the beginning, because they had wanted the best for their children and they thought as the eldest, Mary should’ve set up an example for Ava, Michael and Diego. But, in the end, Mary’s passion was in building and dismantling vehicles and giving other people tattoos, so they simply went with it. Plus, it was partly Jillian’s fault since she, too, loved to build and dismantle cars on her spare time, aside from other things.

Mary had pretty much been the only one who had fallen in love with that hobby of Jillian’s, Ava deciding to study journalism and Michael deciding to study art history and archaeology, for some reason wanting to spend the rest of his life working in a museum and looking at… old stuff, aside from beautiful art and photography.

Ava was surprised, though, because Beatrice had managed to connect with every single one of her family members through shared passions: she actually loved motorbikes like Mary and she was saving up to buy one, she connected with Jillian through the whole medicine thing, Beatrice wanting to be a doctor and Jillian being the one who owned a company focused on creating new medical technology and other supplies, and she loved art, especially drawing, just like Michael did while Ava was more of a photography girl.

With Suzanne, who had been a ballerina before she injured her leg and had decided to become a full-time mother before opening up a dancing school for children and teenagers she ran like the navy, Beatrice connected because she, too, had taken ballet lessons as a child and had loved it. And, with Diego, anything nerdy like video games and superhero movies as well as surfing were their shared interests and Ava felt like her youngest and only biological sibling was more excited for Beatrice to come visit than for Ava, who loved the ocean and everything but didn’t know how to swim because, for whatever reason, getting inside a deep body of water scared her and she never bothered to learn how to do it.

“What if you find yourself in a life or death situation and you have to swim to survive?” Diego asked during summertime, during one of the weeks Beatrice had taken a break from volunteering and had come to visit the Silva-Salvius family, as the three of them were sitting on the beach where Ava had watched Beatrice and Diego surf, while she had sat on the sand and divided her time between sunbathing and reading.

“Guess I’ll die,” Ava said, shrugging her shoulders, making Beatrice and Diego scoff at once, feeling as if he was Beatrice’s biological brother and not her own.

Now, though, Ava’s nerves mingled with her excitement because she received a notification from the family group chat where Michael announced him and their mothers with Diego and Hans were finally home and waiting for them, a smile appearing on her lips as she looked at Beatrice, who was already looking at her and smiling.

It was the afternoon, and the sun was painting the street Ava’s family lived at in a beautiful orange glow she adored, a glow that always reminded her of home, a home Jillian and Suzanne had designed and built with their own hands, a home with a wide driveway filled with flowers and a wide backyard filled with even more flowers, only one pathway away from the beach, with wide porches and beautiful rooms filled with the scent of salt, flowers and freshly baked goods, and photographs picturing all the memories they had made.

It was funny, because when the two women had moved here the neighborhood had been pretty deserted. And now, it was all filled with modern looking homes which barely had any walls, they all were made of glass and had weird cube shapes. And then, right in the middle, there was the Silva-Salvius home.

The house was made of dark bricks mixed with wooden structures, surrounded by a huge and wide porch that went from the entrance and circled the whole house to the back, where there was a backyard area with a pool and then a small door on a fence directed you to wooden stairs Jillian had decided to build in there a couple of years ago to mark the short path from the backyard to the beach below the small hill the home was located on, the ocean being a front view for Ava to wake up to every day of her life, sitting on her favorite spot of the porch to watch the sun go down the horizon, to look at the moon when sleep was hard to find.

Ava almost bolted out the car as Mary slowed down, as 999 Cornelia Street showed up and Ava’s heart filled with love, and the many good memories she had made in that home even if the reason she had arrived there had been the most traumatic event of her life, one that still lived in her mind whenever she closed her eyes, whenever the anniversary of her mother’s death was around the corner, or whenever her mother’s birthday was close.

“Home sweet home,” Ava said, as the car stopped and she got down.

“Ava, your bags!” Beatrice said as Ava was running through the driveway, turning around and taking her things out of the trunk before looking at the beautiful flowers Suzanne had planted, filled with whites and blues and pinks.

The four of them went up the three stairs that welcomed them to the front porch and they made their way up to the front door, made of black wood with a colorful mosaic in the glass that drew a beautiful rose, two white windows on each side of the door, the porch being wide with white columns, the floor made of soft and well polished wood, with two benches decorated with colorful pillows and two small aloe plants stood on each side of the door like sentinels.

Mary put the key into the keyhole, being the first one to walk into the lobby as the other three walked behind her, Beatrice closing the door gently and looking as happy and content to be back home as Ava felt. Because, after all, this had kind of turned into Beatrice’s second home whenever she wasn’t in New York, never going back to London after leaving her home when she was eighteen.

Ava closed her eyes and breathed deeply, her nostrils filling with the scent of freshly arranged flowers and the ocean and…

“Cookies?!” she squealed, dropping all of her bags and making a beeline for the kitchen, the scent of the cookies being stronger now.

She knew Suzanne would murder her in cold blood if she saw Ava hadn’t taken her shoes off like Mary, Shannon and Beatrice did. Her days would end if Jillian saw Ava’s bags scattered around, but those cookies were deserving of the sacrifice because Ava felt her mouth watering and her stomach growling.

The kitchen was probably her second favorite part of the house, aside from the back porch and, of course, her bedroom. Three of the walls were decorated in white wooden panels, wide windows on the back and the left wall as well as two smaller ones on the ceiling, while there were four windows next to one another at the front wall where the sinks and the ovens were located, a counter made of solid wood separating the cooking and baking zone with the eating area where a semi-large table was surrounded by a booth on three sides, and a bench on the free side.

“Where are they?!” Ava wondered, as her mothers were watching her with an unreadable expression, “Where are the cookies, mothers?”

“Hello to you too,” Michael said, as Ava’s eyes widened and she squealed, jumping into his arms like she had done with Mary, “Ouch, Ava!”

“My favorite brother!” Ava said, going back down, as she heard a scoff coming from behind her and saw Diego standing there, eyebrow arched, “And you too, bug.”

“Don’t call me that, Ava, I’m sixteen,” Diego rolled his eyes but he approached her anyways, hugging her as Michael now hugged her tighter too, recomposing himself from the literal jump scare.

“Someone’s forgotten about her mothers,” Jillian said, clicking her tongue but looking at the three siblings in amusement as Mary entered the kitchen now, going directly towards the two women and hugging them.

“Well, you know who’s going to come and visit you at the retirement home,” Mary said, and both Suzanne and Jillian’s eyes widened, “Me, by the way, I’m talking about me.”

“One  of them only wants us for the cookies, the other wants us away,” Suzanne shook her head as Ava, now, walked towards her adoptive mothers and embraced them tightly, “We can only rely on our sons, Jill.”

“Your son,” Diego said, as he looked up at Michael, “This one thinks he’s Phileas Fogg, guys, I’m your only choice. The whole inheritance has to be for me.”

“What the fuck?” Michael, Ava and Mary said at once, as Shannon, Beatrice and Hans were laughing silently at the back of the kitchen.

“Ah, our two favorite daughters are home!” Jillian said, walking towards Shannon and Beatrice, embracing them both, “I’ve missed you, girls.”

“Would you girls like some cookies?” Suzanne offered as she walked towards the two girls, her freshly baked cookies on a porcelain plate as Shannon and Beatrice took them, “Careful, loves, they burn.”

“Unbelievable,” Ava scoffed, crossing her arms upon her chest.

“She’s never called us love in her life,” Mary added, shaking her head.

“Maybe I’m actually taking back what I said,” Diego muttered, as Michael nudged his shoulder.

“Yeah, you should,” the blond guy said, looking at Diego with fake disappointment, “Phileas Fogg, really?”

After all of that, Ava decided to take off her sneakers and leave them where the rest had left theirs at, going back to the kitchen and finally getting her hands on the almond cookies Suzanne and Jillian had made their specialty after Yasmine and Dora shared the recipe with them, Ava unable to wait until her friends from New York would come and spend New Year’s Eve in here like they always did because that would mean there would be a lot of delicious food getting cooked, a lot of goods getting baked and, honestly, Ava would simply thrive.

“AVA SOFIA SILVA!” Suzanne’s voice cut the laughter in the kitchen, the woman coming back inside with her hands on her hips and an arched eyebrow.

“Oh, she went full A.S.S,” Shannon muttered, making a reference to Ava’s initials, “Good luck, sister.”

“Yes, mother dearest?” Ava said, knowing why Suzanne was fuming.

“There’s your luggage in the middle of the lobby,” her adoptive mother said, as Jillian gasped in horror.

“I’m going to pick it up right now, I promise, but first I need to say something,” Ava bit her lower lip and she found Beatrice’s eyes, who nodded at her quietly so no one else would see.

“Oh, something’s wrong,” Michael muttered, looking at her with concern, acting like the three and a half months older brother he was, “What is it, Ava?”

“About… JC,” she said, letting out a long sigh, the rest falling quiet, “We are not… together.”

“Oh,” Suzanne muttered, whatever anger she felt gone, “Honey, what happened? You said he couldn’t make it, but… what happened?”

“We…” Ava thought about the conversation in the office, “We had an argument, kind of.”

“So you’re single again?” Diego wondered, as Mary hummed unsurprised and Shannon nudged her fiancé’s shoulder. Ava looked at Beatrice, who nodded at her in encouragement.

“Well, uh…” but Ava was unable to continue speaking, because way too many mouths opened to ask questions.

Who broke up with who?

It didn’t even last three months!

What did he do?!

Are you okay?

So I won’t meet JC in person?

“Guys,” Beatrice said the moment Ava’s eyes closed in exasperation, as her family continued on asking things to her, “Guys, please!”

“What?!” everyone said, Beatrice putting up her hands in self defense, eyes wide at the Silva-Salvius clan.

Her best friend then looked at her with an unreadable expression, as if she was trying to apology to Ava for something she didn’t understand, and then Beatrice breathed deeply, looking back at Ava’s family, and cleared her throat.

“You don’t have to worry,” Beatrice said, as Ava’s eyebrow arched, “She’s dating someone else.”

What?!

“Bea,” Ava said, shaking her head slightly.

I’ve already lied enough, I don’t need more.

She’s doing it so they’ll leave you alone, idiot.

I know, but…

Argh, fuck!

Who am I dating, now?

“No, Ava, they have to know,” Beatrice said, looking determined at her, as Ava’s frown deepened because now she was completely lost. But if Beatrice had a plan, it would probably succeed. So she remained quiet, and waited for the girl to go on.

“Who?” Michael wondered when Beatrice suddenly went quiet, eyes wider than usual, as Ava was close to asking the same question as her brother, “Who is it?”

“Do we know them?” Shannon chirped in her new question.

“Can they fight?” Mary wondered, arching both eyebrows.

“Do they like Spider-Man?” Diego asked, looking excited.

“Can they cook?” Hans added.

“I…” Ava said, swallowing audibly, as her eyes tried to find Beatrice but her best friend wasn’t looking at her, “I, uh…”

“But do we actually know them, or not?” Shannon wondered once again, everyone’s eyes looking at Ava, who opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of the water.

“Yes,” Beatrice’s voice broke the expectant silence, now all eyes including Ava’s falling on the girl, “Yes, you do.”

“So, who the hell is it?” Mary said as Beatrice went silent again, as Ava was completely lost, as the rest of her family and friends were literally holding their breathing.

“Me,” Beatrice said, her voice coming high pitched as Ava felt like fainting.

What the fuck?!

“It’s me.”