Teasing and meddling
When Ava left the treatment room of the physical therapy practice she was working for to talk over some appointments with her medical assistant and then head for her lunch break, she quickly checked her phone to see if someone had texted or called her, as she usually did. She was pleasantly surprised to find Beatrice had sent her a message. She ignored all the other messages she had gotten while she had been busy treating her patients and directly tapped on Beatrice’s, curious and excited to learn why the other woman had texted her.
Bea (10.32am): “I still owe you.”
The message just confused her more, so she quickly texted back.
Ava (12.34am): “For what?”
She didn’t even make it to her assistant’s desk, before Beatrice’s answer came in.
Bea (12.35am): “For helping me the other day.” She didn’t clarify which day or which help she meant, but the answer was the same for either option:
Ava (12.39am): “What? I told you already that it wasn’t a problem, you don’t owe me anything. Really. Don’t worry. I was happy to help.”
Bea (12.41am): “Are you on a break?”
Ava furrowed her eyebrows.
Ava (12.42am): “Yes..?”
Next thing she knew Beatrice’s caller ID appeared on her screen and she nearly dropped her phone.
“Hey.”, she answered the call carefully, once she had a safe grip on her phone again.
“Hey.” Beatrice sounded adorably nervous, but Ava could literally hear the soft smile in her voice, which made her heart skip a beat. But the unexpected call also had her worried a bit. Beatrice never called her unless there was a specific reason for it. And she certainly did not call her at work. “Is everything okay?”, Ava asked.
“Yes, I am fine.”, Beatrice immediately assured her. “It’s just…” She hesitated very briefly and Ava could hear her draw in a deep breath. “When do you finish work?”
Ava blinked in surprise. “In four hours?”
Another deep breath. “Do you want to meet for dinner?”, Beatrice then asked.
And if Ava’s heart hadn’t already been close to combusting, it certainly was now. Because Beatrice had never before asked her to meet on her own account. All of their interactions had been initiated by Ava and her heart did not know how to handle this turn of events.
“Dinner?”, she spluttered and her voice sounded so unnaturally squeaky, that Stephanie, her medical assistant, who had been busy entering data into their office’s PC, looked up and shot her a curious look. Ava was sure that she was blushing and quickly turned around, just in time to hear Beatrice nervously reply: “Or coffee, if you prefer that.”
It was cute and sweet and Ava just wanted to assure her that she would even go to a fish restaurant with her and she hated fish, but instead her half short-circuited brain only managed a breathy: “You mean like, today?”
A soft chuckle could be heard and Ava literally felt like she could die right here, right now. “Yeah. Today. After you finish working.”, Beatrice replied and quickly added: “My treat.”
That got Ava a bit out of her stupor. “Bea, really, I just told you that I…”, but Beatrice interrupted her with a sincere voice: “It’s okay if you don’t want to meet up today, I can also…”
Now it was Ava’s time to cut Beatrice off before she got the wrong idea: “That is not…”, she started, but then just decide to try to stop this awkward dance of insecurities they were doing right now. Because this conversation did not have to be as complicated as they were making it, right? Beatrice wanted to meet up with her. Even if it was just to pay her dept, which Ava was doubting, she clearly wanted to meet up. And Ava couldn’t imagine anything she wanted more than seeing Beatrice. For whatever reason.
So she just took a deep breath and directly asked: “Where do you want to meet?”
The way Ava could hear Beatrice exhaling sounded like she had been holding her breath. “So I did some research and there is a really nice place close to your work.”, Beatrice replied.
That made Ava freeze and blink perplexedly. “How do you know where I work?”
“I looked it up.”, Beatrice answered without hesitating.
A small grin grew onto Ava’s face. “Beatrice Young, have you have been stalking me?”, she joked and the huff she could hear on the other end of the line made her giggle. Teasing had only very recently become a thing between them again and Ava loved every second of it. She knew Beatrice was rolling her eyes with that affectionate and amused look on her face that she was showing more and more often. It put a wide smile on Ava’s face.
“There is literally only one physical therapy practice with a DPT Ava Silva in the city.”, Beatrice dryly answered. “That is hardly stalking, it is called casual research.”
“So you researched me.”, Ava couldn’t help but counter with a grin.
“Do you or do you not want to have dinner with me?”, Beatrice asked with a half-hearted grumble. Ava laughed and was considering teasing her a bit more, but once again her mouth spoke out what she was thinking: “I would love to have dinner with you.”
“Okay.” It was adorable how relieved Beatrice sounded. Like she still wasn’t sure if Ava actually wanted to be around her and spend time with her. “I will send you the name and address of the place.”
“Great!”, Ava said.
“Okay. So, I will see you soon.”, Beatrice softly said.
“Yeah.”, Ava breathed out. “See you soon.” Then she took all of her courage and added: “I can’t wait.”, before quickly hanging up the phone. Five minutes later she found another message by Beatrice. It read: “I am looking forward to seeing you, too.” and it made the butterflies in Ava’s stomach flutter happily.
Ava thought the grin on her face could not get any bigger and her heart couldn’t pound any louder than it did when she finally put her phone away after Beatrice’s sweet message. She was wrong though. Because when she left the treatment room after her last patient nearly four hours later, ready to check which location Bea had sent her, she found the woman of her affection standing in the waiting area of her practice, looking gorgeous in a shirt and blazer, two cups of coffee in her hands.
Ava had never felt her heart skip a beat so violently before. The pleased, but soft smile Bea gave Ava when she stopped dead in her track to stare, too surprised to react more subtly, didn’t help the matter. Nor did the knowing smirk her assistant sent her way. She was sure she was blushing from head to toe, but the hug Bea gave her as a greeting was totally worth all the teasing she would surely get at work the next day.
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About 2 weeks later Ava was on campus for a week-long advanced medical training she had signed up for a while ago and as she knew Beatrice was here on Mondays, too, she decided to pay the woman a visit and bring her a coffee and some lunch. Beatrice tended to forget to have a lunch break when she was concentrated on her research and Ava had recently taken it onto herself to remind her on her university days. Today Beatrice hadn’t answered her texts though, which made it even more likely that Beatrice was completely engrossed in her work and had skipped lunch once again.
So Ava, not one to be easily deterred when she had her mind set to something, had asked in the students’ office where she would be able to find Dr. Young and they had told her the room number without even asking who she was.
Had she been able to think clearly that probably would have struck her as weird. Had she been able to think of anything but Beatrice she probably would have realized that the room she was sent to and was now entering was definitely not an office. Nor was it one of the laboratories or art rooms Beatrice would sometimes need to use for her research and conservation work. The location of the door should really have given her enough clues as to which part of the university she was in. But as things were, she knocked and when she didn’t hear an answer she inhaled deeply and just entered as confidently and positively as she could into what turned out to not be an office or preparation room, but a completely filled lecture hall. She stopped in her tracks when at least fifty pairs of eyes turned around to where she was standing on top of the stairs leading down the tiered seating area to the lecturer, who was equally frozen in place and looked at Ava like she was seeing a ghost.
Everything had turned quiet in the lecture hall and the students were clearly anticipating some kind of interaction, but Ava was so caught off guard she couldn’t move, let alone think.
Beatrice looked at her wide-eyed and expectantly, but when Ava didn’t say anything, she visibly tried to compose herself and cleared her throat. The sound was amplified and spread through the whole room by the microphone she was wearing. “Are you lost?”, Beatrice asked with a pointed look at Ava. “Have you maybe mixed up the rooms?”
That was her way out. That was Beatrice offering her an elegant way out of this on a silver plate. But damn, did Beatrice in a blazer and blouse, an open book in her hand and a name-tag saying “Dr. Young” pinned to her chest make her mind go blank.
“No.”, she answered dumbly. “No, I am… I was actually looking for you…” Beatrice’s disbelieving, stern look and the continued stares of the students made her quickly correct: “For your lecture. This lecture. This room. I was told you were in this room.” She pressed her lips together to shut herself up before she could cause more damage. Beatrice looked at her like she didn’t know whether to kick her out or start laughing. She did neither. In fact, she remained surprisingly calm given the unexpected situation and just said: “Well. Then welcome to ‘architectural history 1’, Ms…?”. Ava inhaled sharply when she recognized the hint of soft amusement she had become so familiar with in Beatrice’s eyes.
“Silva.”, she croaked out, blushing deeply.
“Ms. Silva.”, Beatrice repeated. There it was again, the slight teasing tone that made Ava lose all the ability to think straight. Her heart was pounding so loudly she could barely hear Beatrice’s next words. “Take a seat, then, so we can continue.”
Ava wasn’t sure why this caught her so much off guard when she had literally not given Beatrice any other choice. She was sweating from nerves. “Yeah, okay. Yeah.”, she stuttered and quickly slid into the closest free seat.
The young woman she had sat down next to was eyeing her with an amused and slightly pitying sparkle in her eyes and then wordlessly handed her a paper and pencil. Ava gave her a short, grateful smile. The young woman grinned. “What an entrance.”, she whispered, and then added with a wink: ”At least you made sure she won’t be able to forget you.”
Ava felt herself blush again, her mind drifting to entirely different reasons she hoped Beatrice wouldn’t be able to forget her. She looked to the front again, where Beatrice had seemingly effortlessly slipped back into her role as lecturer and went on talking about different architectural styles throughout the centuries. Ava had never been the kind of student to fancy teachers. She had always rather had problems with authority and been the “teachers are the natural enemy” kind of student. She had never understood how other students would pine after their supposedly hot teachers. But looking at Beatrice now, she suddenly understood.
She instantly recognized than calm and humble confidence that had positively surprised and drawn her to Beatrice at the wedding. Being a lecturer fit Beatrice. She was clearly in her element. She was smart, cultural and well-spoken, she was both scientific and passionate, she was patient and clear. And at the same time she was cute. And stunning. And attractive. So incredibly attractive that Ava had trouble to…
“You should note that down.”, a whisper from her side interrupted her thoughts. “They say it’s relevant for the placement exam in the beginning of the semester.”
Ava swallowed hard. “Oh. Oh, yeah.” She quickly pulled the paper closer and tried to think of something other than “Beatrice is even hot when explaining old stones being put on top of each other, how the fuck am I supposed to survive this?!?” to write down.
“I get it though.”, the girl once again interrupted her.
“Hm?”, Ava mumbled.
The girl giggled. “You being distracted.”, she explained. “She is hot.”
Ava’s eyes instantly widened. “What? No, that’s not…”
“Don’t worry. You are not the only one.”, the girl waved her off with a grin. “Half of the student body has a crush on her.” Ava just sat and blinked at her for a moment, before looking around. There were indeed several students looking positively enamoured with Beatrice and though Ava could not blame them at all, she was surprised by the short pang of jealousy she felt. It only lasted a couple of seconds though – until, when checking for raised hands for possible questions, Beatrice’s wandering eyes briefly lingered on hers, the hint of a coy smile on her face. It happened a couple of more times afterwards that Beatrice’s otherwise focussed eyes would search hers for a split second, that somehow was enough to convey both the softness and playfulness Ava had come to love. It really wasn’t helping her concentration – not that she really understood much of what Beatrice was explaining - but she was still grateful for having been able to see this side of Beatrice.
At the end of the lesson Ava somehow managed to convince her seating neighbour not to wait for her in order to apologize to the teacher about her tardiness. She could see Beatrice busying herself with some papers, pretending to not be watching them from the corner of her eyes during their brief conversation.
Once the other girl – Josie, Ava had found out – had left, Beatrice openly watched Ava come down the stairs with a raised eyebrow.
“That was… interesting.”, Ava greeted her with a wide grin.
Beatrice rolled her eyes at that. “What are you doing here, Ava?”, she asked, not really sounding annoyed, but definitely a bit exasperated.
Ava stopped in front of her, both hands pushed into the pockets of her trousers to stop them from fidgeting too much. “I actually just wanted to ask you if you want to grab lunch.”, she admitted. “With me.”
Beatrice still seemed sceptical. “And for that you had to burst into my class in the middle of the lecture?”
Ava ducked her head sheepishly. “In my defense: I didn’t know you had a lecture. I mean, the semester still hasn’t started. So I literally had no idea what I was walking into. But can’t say I regret it. You are a great teacher.” And a fine teacher, she added in her head and congratulated herself for the pun, but she didn’t dare say it out loud. Not yet. But she also did not miss the faint blush appearing on Bea’s face, though she still tried to look annoyed. It made Ava grin softly. “So lunch?”, she asked again.
Beatrice rolled her eyes again, but sighed. “Okay. Fine.”
“Does the canteen have decent food?”
It had been an earnest question, but Bea looked positively scandalized at the suggestion. “We are not going to the canteen!”
Ava blinked in surprise. “So bad, huh?”
Bea looked like she was supressing a groan. “No, it’s not…”, she started, sounding slightly frustrated. “My students now think you are one of my students. And I really don’t want any rumours to start that I am sleeping with my students.” At the end of her ramble she quickly shut both her mouth and her eyes close and grimaced. “I didn’t mean…”, she started, but just stopped herself and took a deep breath.
Ava, who had just been staring at Beatrice in shocked surprise at the unexpected mention of something so decidedly not platonic in reference to her – as indirect as it may be. It was definitely a first.
For a second she didn’t know how to react, but seeing Beatrice so flustered seemed to trigger her mischievous side, because suddenly a teasing grin appeared on her face. “Wow. And here I thought we were just going to have lunch.”
Now Beatrice was definitely blushing. “Oh my God, stop it!”, she groaned, averting her gaze and even giving Ava a little push. “Just… just wait for me outside campus.”
Ava spent the waiting time pacing back and forth outside campus, nervously wondering whether she overstepped Beatrice’s boundaries. She was seriously worried Beatrice might actually be mad or hurt or disappointed.
But when Beatrice arrived fifteen minutes later, a shy smile on her face, Ava’s body instantly relaxed. “I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”, she blurted out anyways. “I just… I tend to joke when I get nervous and I just… I am just going to stop now.” Okay, so maybe she was not as relaxed as she had thought. Luckily for her, Beatrice took pity on her.
“It’s okay, Ava.”, she assured her with a soft, coy smile. “I kind of walked right into that one.” Then she tucked a strand of her behind her ear in such an adorable way that Ava’s brain short-circuited for a second. All the way to a restaurant Ava couldn't think of anything else.
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It didn’t take long for their friends to pick up on the new playfulness between them. And apparently they took that as a universal permission to meddle in whatever was going on between them.
Camila, of course, was the master-meddler. It started subtly – or as subtle as it got with Camila.
At first, she would sometimes invite Ava to meet up with her and Beatrice. Just for Camila to make up some stupid excuse half an hour later for why she had to leave early.
Then the unplanned meetings started. One Sunday morning, for example, Camila asked Ava to bring her back some things she had borrowed from her. She suggested to meet in a café that was easily reachable for both of them and maybe have a coffee and breakfast together.
When Ava entered the café 5 minutes late, she already heard Cam shouting for her. But when she turned towards the sound, the first person she saw was not Camila, but Beatrice, who was sitting opposite of Camila, her hair up in a messy bun, dressed in a goddamn oversized hoodie, looking as perplexed as Ava felt.
“Hey, Ava! Come, have breakfast with us. I will go and order you something. Hot chocolate and a croissant?”, Camila greeted her with a wide, mischievous grin. Ava had just been able to nod dumbly. She was glad she had at least brushed her hair and teeth and put on a decent pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt this morning. She awkwardly sat down opposite Beatrice, who greeted her with a shy smile. Ava smiled back. They sat there in silence for a few seconds, just looking at each other. Beatrice looked so cute and soft in that green hoodie she was wearing.
“I have never seen you wear a hoodie.”, Ava broke the quiet.
A slight blush appeared on Bea’s face. “Yeah, I mean, this was just supposed to be a very casual hang-out with Cam and…”, she started rambling. It was adorable.
“I like it.", Ava cut her off softly. "It looks cute.” That shut Beatrice up quickly and she looked at Ava carefully, like she was expecting her to take it back. When Ava didn’t, she smiled shyly again and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Thanks.”, she muttered.
They didn’t talk about the hoodie again, but the next time they met for coffee outside of their working week, Beatrice was wearing a hoodie again. It was a red one this time, but it made her look equally soft and cute. For some reason it made Ava feel like some invisible barrier between them had vanished the moment she had seen Beatrice Young in comfort clothes.
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The next step in Camila’s meddling plan was her suddenly claiming to be super busy whenever Ava asked her to do something together and in the same breath suggesting to ask Beatrice instead. Ava had the creeping feeling that she was doing the same to Beatrice, especially after Beatrice had called her one evening to ask if she maybe wanted to go to the gym with her, because Camila apparently had told her that Ava had been wanting to do some weight-lifting and cardio exercises for ages. Which was the most shameless lie Ava had ever heard and left her too stunned for words at first. When her brain and vocal cords started working again, an image of Beatrice dressed in short sports’ clothes and covered in sweat while flexing her already defined muscles intruded her mind and left her lost for words again. Nope. Nope. That was… nope, terrible idea. Really terrible.
Beatrice caught up with Ava’s internal struggle and lack of instant enthusiasm before Ava’s ability to speak recovered. “Okay, I guess Camila must haven gotten that wrong.”, she quickly said with a short, awkward laughter. “So I guess you wanting to go swimming regularly was also not exactly true…”
Ava wanting to go swimming regularly was indeed a bit of a stretch, but: “I love swimming! And I could use some practice.” Of course Ava had blurted it out before thinking of the fact that Beatrice in a bathing suit or bikini was in no way better than the gym scenario that had made her loose her mind just minutes ago.
And so Ava found herself at the swimming pool with Beatrice every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7.30 am, where both Beatrice’s stunning body and her incredible strength, stamina and ambition regularly left her breathless. Keeping up with Beatrice was a losing battle, even trying to match her rhythm for one lap was challenge she had not been prepared for. But it was a challenge she took up with a formerly unknown vigor and eagerness. She celebrated every little victory, every progress, loudly and gleefully. But her most treasured reward was always the wide, affectionate smile Beatrice would give her. It would even momentarily distract her from the fact that Beatrice looked incredibly hot in her sports bikini. The distraction only worked until Beatrice climbed out of the pool though, her muscles flexing with the strong movement of pulling herself up, her wet skin glistering in the morning sun, her curves fully at display for a moment before she would wrap herself into her towel.
Ava always had to take the coldest showers imaginable after these swimming sessions.
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Camila was also the captain of the “let’s tease the shit out of these two idiots”-ship – her words, obviously. It started with her teasing them separately, increasingly more often asking each of them about how their last meeting or swimming session went, always combined with a cheeky grin. Then she just started calling their meetings dates and Ava, at one point, gave up correcting her.
She should have known what would come next, but the first time Camila teased Ava with Beatrice (and Lilith) present, Ava was still criminally unprepared.
“So, I hear you are taking ‘architectural history’ at uni now.”, had been Camila’s less than subtle opener to their girls’ brunch. Ava froze in the middle of her movement, even forgetting to swallow down the orange juice she had just been about to drink. Ava shot Bea a quick, surprised look, because Ava had definitely not told Cam about that and Cam had no connection to Mary outside of casual small talk when she visited Ava. Bea gave her a cute, sheepish smile and Ava was about to gulp down the juice in her mouth and smile back, when Cam continued in her most teasing tone: “A pity that Bea didn’t teach your ‘laws and regulations in physical therapy’-class. I’m sure your attendance would have been much better.” Ava literally choked on her drink and blushed so furiously Camila left her alone for the rest of the evening, though she didn’t stop laughing for a whole 5 minutes after the incident. It was not all bad though, because when Ava dared to look in Beatrice’s direction again, the other woman, though her eyes were determinedly fixed on her own hands in her lap, was biting her lip and smiling in a way that made Ava’s heart soar hopefully.
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The second semi-public teasing happened in a group chat Camila, Lilith, Dora, Yasmine and her had founded to organize a gift for Bea’s housewarming get-together later that week. Ava had been surprised when she had been invited to the chat, because she didn’t know Beatrice nearly as well or long as the others. She felt a bit out of her depth when it was quickly agreed upon that they would gift Beatrice a beautiful wooden photo montage frame with photos of her and her friends to decorate her still very plain and functional flat – something Ava had mentioned to Camila, when she had asked if Bea still needed anything for her new flat after Ava had helped her build up that infamous bookshelf. Ava found that a great idea and offered to buy the frame as her contribution to the present. It seemed like a reasonable task for her, because she didn’t really have any photos of Beatrice – let alone photos of the two of them together. And even if she did she wasn’t sure if Bea would even want photos of her on her wall.
Besides, she already had a gift for Beatrice – a star projector with sound function, combined with a connectable USB stick full of different nature sounds and Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”. Though she did not tell her friends that, because she could only imagine the endless teasing she would get from all of them.
When she checked her messages 20 minutes after her suggestion, she found 32 new messages in the group chat and more coming in. She blinked and opened the chat to find several messages from all of her friends.
Cam (7.54pm): “I have pictures of you two😉Lots of them, actually.”
Dora (7.57pm): “I also have some, I think. I have a really cute one of you two playing Mario Kart at Cam’s bd. I will see if I find it.”
Yasmine (8.00pm): “I also have some. From Cam’s and Lilith’s wedding.”
Cam (8.00pm): “…”
Lilith: (8.01pm): “Wth?!? Why?!? Don’t send them, I don’t want to see that!”
Yasmine (8.04pm): “Not that kind of photos! Christ, you and your dirty minds…”
Cam (8.05pm): “Here. You’re welcome, Ava 😉”
Cam’s last message was followed by 18 photos, sent all at the same time, and another short conversation.
Dora (8.08pm): “How did you find so many photos of them so quickly..?”
Lilith (8.10pm): “She has a folder called ‘Avatrice’. And updates it regularly. She says it’s for their wedding.”
Cam (8.12pm): “Wtf, babe? You are not supposed to tell anyone that!”
And then another 5 photos, two by Dora, both of them of Ava and Beatrice laughing together at Cam’s birthday party and three by Yasmine of Ava and Beatrice dancing and chatting at Cam’s wedding, which Cam commented on with a variety of excited emojis raging from happy grin to wide-eyed blush to heart-eyes and several exclamation marks, the offended question of how no one had sent her these photos, yet, and then an appalled: “Why are you wearing different clothes in the last picture than in the first two?!?!?”
Ava, totally overwhelmed by the unexpected turn of events, and with her ears burning from embarrassment, decided not to even answer the messages. Instead she clicked onto the photos sent by Cam to look through them. Most of the pictures were her and Bea among their friends in casual conversations. But the 6th photo made Ava stop. It was a picture of her and Bea lying on a blanket in Cam’s and Lilith’s garden, fast asleep, their peaceful faces only a hand-wide apart, their hands touching in the small space between them. Someone must have taken it the morning after Cam’s birthday without them realizing.
Ava hadn’t known how close they had been sleeping next to each other, even though she did remember shifting from her initial place to lying by Bea's side after the other woman had sleepily told her to please just lay down on the blanket next to her so that she wouldn’t catch a cold. Bea had even caressed Ava's cheek briefly, before falling back asleep with her hand slipping from Ava’s face and lightly touching her collarbone instead.
Ava went through the rest of the photos with a soft smile on her face until she got to the last one, which Cam had just sent less than a minute ago. And her breath hitched. It was a photo of Beatrice coming out of the sea with a surfboard under her arm, a wide smile on her face, dressed in a sports bikini that showed off her curves, muscles and sun-kissed skin. She looked radiant and glowing and so fucking hot and the photo had instantly made Ava’s mouth water, heart race and body temperature skyrocket. It took her several minutes to recover from that image. She even put her phone away for a moment and tried some breathing exercises to calm her pulse down.
When she felt composed enough to go back the group chat and write a casual thank you message to all of them like her brain hadn’t just short-circuited, another round of teasing comments awaited her.
Cam (8.15pm): “How do you like the pics, Ava?”
Cam (8.20pm): “Ava?”
Cam (8.23pm): “I think her brain short-circuited.”
Lilith (8.24pm): “Or her phone broke from all the drooling…”
Cam (8.25pm): “😶😮😂”
Dora (8.26pm): “Can’t blame her, tbh…”
Cam (8.27pm): “… Dora...?”
Dora (8.29pm): “I’m not into Beatrice!!! Just saying that she looks great in that pic. I am gay and not blind.”
Yasmine (8.31pm): “I’m not even gay and I agree with Dora.”
Dora (8.31pm): “I’m not into your girl, Ava, I swear!”
Ava just sat and stared at the messages, feeling her face heat up. Then she groaned in frustration and threw her phone onto her bed. So much for playing it cool.
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Later the same day she was sitting on Mary’s and Shannon’s sofa, looking at the photo of her and Beatrice sleeping on the blanket again. For some reason it had her mesmerized, the two insomniacs looking so peaceful, so uncharacteristically at ease with the world, while lying next to each other. It just made her heart swell with warmth.
“Cute.” The comment from behind her caught her so off guard, that she literally flinched.
“Mary, what the hell?”, she hissed, quickly putting the phone down. “Give me a warning next time.”
Mary laughed.
“She did.”, Shannon piped in with an amused smile on her lips. “But you were clearly to distracted to hear her.”
Ava sank deeper into the sofa with a half-hearted grumble. Mary just shook her head with an amused smile and sat down next to her. Shannon follow her suit.
“So…”, Shannon started with a pleased smile. “…does that mean you finally made a move and got your girl?”
Ava really should get used to people calling Beatrice her girl, because otherwise she might die of a heart attack one of these days. “What? No!”, she half shouted. “She’s not… We are friends.”
Two pairs of eyes looked at her with raised eyebrows. These two really had been married for two long, because their facial expressions were creepily similar.
“I am still in my self-discovery phase.”, Ava said defensively. “You know. Finding out who I am...”
“And why can’t you do that with someone by your side?”, Shannon softly asked.
Ava sighed. “Because I have to learn to be my own person...”, she weakly muttered.
“Which you also need to learn within a relationship.”, Mary reminded her. “Which has been your problem in your other relationships.” And yes, that was a very good point.
“But, right now I am enjoying single life!”
“Are you?” Mary again.
“Hu?”
“Enjoying single life.”, Mary clarified. And then, when Ava just opened her mouth without any words coming out, she added: “Because all I ever see you do is talk to her, talk about her, swoon over her, daydream with her, go furniture shopping with her at the weekend, go swimming at the crack ass of dawn with her and go to her university lecture on your free day…”
“Hey, that was…”
“You get my point…”, Mary cut her off. “You are literally in a relationship without calling it a relationship.” And then she added in a deadpan voice: “And without certain benefits of relationships.” Both Shannon and Ava shoved her for that comment, but Mary just gave both of them an unimpressed look. “Am I lying?”, she asked Shannon with a pointed look. Shannon just rolled her eyes with an affectionate grin and kissed Mary’s cheek, which made Ava huff in annoyance.
“Stop encouraging her, she is smug enough already.", she muttered, but Shannon just shrugged. "She has a point though.", she admitted. Ava opened her mouth to counter something, but Mary was faster: “What I am saying, babygirl, is: If you are not ready, that is fine. Noone can force you to be ready. But if you are just scared, don't let that keep you from getting what we all know you want." She paused and gently patted Ava's knee, before continuing: "Do something. Take the leap. Make a move already. It is time."
Ava inhaled deeply. She would not admit to it right now, but maybe Mary was right. She knew what she wanted. She had known for weeks now. Maybe it was time to do something about it.