by Unknown
I saw Ari sigh and tilt his head back in annoyance. The woman had a grin on her face that stretched from ear to ear.
“Ava,” Ari said, and once again, I felt as if I might melt, “these are my parents Aggie and Andrew.” Aggie came over and hugged me just as Rory’s mother had.
“Ari has told me all about you.”
Shocked by her comment, I peeked over at Ari to see him grimace at his mom.
“What are you two doing?” She asked sweetly before letting me go. Ari repeated what he had told his sister, explaining that we were on our way out and that he was taking me to campus since Rory had screwed the pooch, in other words messed up big time and he would be back tomorrow afternoon. “Ok, honey,” she said. “Ava, will you be joining us tomorrow as well?”
I repeated the answer I had given Lauren, but, unlike Lauren, Aggie did not plan to take “no” for an answer.
“But, Ava, we would absolutely love to have you join us,” she said in an honest, welcoming way, as if my coming to crash their Sunday afternoon of family time was exactly, precisely, what she had been hoping for.
Thankfully, Ari stepped in and told them that we had to leave. They said goodbye, each family member hugging him in turn, and he pulled me out of the house and into the garage. He opened the passenger side door to a white Range Rover and I climbed in his car. The whole car smelled like him and I felt as though I could wrap myself up in the delicious scent. The slamming of his car door brought me back to reality.
“Sorry about that. They can be a little overly enthusiastic.”
“Oh no, don’t apologize – they are really sweet.”
“Yeah, they are,” he said fondly as he pulled out of the driveway onto the street. About a thousand questions milled about in my mind. There was just so much I wanted to ask him, but I kept my mouth shut. The possibility of saying something stupid was too likely.
Ari had Ra Ra Riot playing through the speakers and turned up “Can You Tell,” a truly awesome song, and started to sing along with the tune. I couldn’t help but laugh while he hit his hands on the wheel along with the beat. I found myself liking him even more than I already secretly did.
“What’s so funny? This is a great song.”
“I agree,” I said with a grin. “I just didn’t know you were the Ra Ra Riot type.”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Ava Baio,” he said in a semi-playful tone.
We drove the rest of the way in silence. He held the entrance door to the building open for me and called for the elevator. We stepped on the lift together and this time, I was on one wall of the elevator and he stayed on the opposite side.
“Um...” I said trying to fill the empty silence, “...thanks a lot for the ride. I appreciate it, and you know- you didn’t have to.”
“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to, and you are most welcome, Ava.”
When we got to the twelfth floor, I found that I didn’t at all feel like sleeping. Ari and I were the only two on the floor. Everybody else was either still at Rory’s or had gone home for the weekend. I took advantage of the quiet hall and sat at the piano. Ari sat on the couch, turned CNN on and then muted it, preferring to read the running tape of news at the bottom of the screen. The very same thing my mom used to do. Suddenly I felt nostalgic and sad. I turned and faced the piano keys and began to play.
Whenever I sing along with the piano, I sing in French, giving in to a habit I could not shake. For me, songs rendered in English lack the emotion and beauty the French language can elicit. This time I played my favorite, Coeur De Pirate song “Place de la Republique,” and when I was done I stood up and turned back to go to my room. Ari had been watching me, staring at me really. Right away, I was self-conscious.
“That was incredible. How long have you been able to do that?”
“Thanks, but it wasn’t incredible. It was just ok ...and I started playing the piano when I was three.” I took another step towards my room and he spoke again.
“How did you learn to sing in French like that?”
“Uh,” I said, “French is actually my first language. I lived in Montréal until I was thirteen.”
Because my mother’s native language was English, both French and English had been used in my home on a daily basis. When I am around English-speaking people, I speak English without an accent. My French usually threw people off when they first heard me using it, and then I would get peppered with a hundred different questions.
Ari just gave me a smile and said, “Oh. Well, that song was really pretty.”
“Thank you,” I said in a small voice. “Goodnight.”
“Good night, Ava,” Ari said, sending a delightful heat all through my body.
I made my way to my room and put on a camisole and a pair of silky pajama bottoms. I pulled down the blanket and right before I shoved my pillow over my head I heard Ari’s door shut. It was comforting to me for some reason to know that there was only a small wall in between us. It made me feel safe. I tried to suppress this insubstantial feeling of security, based as it was on a flimsy drywall barrier, and push Ari out of my thoughts.
****
“Ava.” My grandpa called to me from behind the closed door. I read his name on the nameplate. “Perry Baio.” I suppressed the chills that ran down my back.
“Ava, come.”
I opened, for the first time one of the doors in the hospital. My cold scissors in my hand.
“Perry?” My grandpa was there, in his bed at home. I could smell Margaux’s perfume, baio, For Women; the lavender and vanilla scent hung lightly in the air.
“It’s me, Ava. Don’t be scared; come.”
I walked into the room and my grandpa reached his hand out to me. It trembled and shook. I put his hand in mine and rubbed his bumpy knuckles with my thumb.
“It is my time. I need you to allow this.” His voice was scratchy and rough.
“What? What are you talking about, Perry?”
He nodded to my scissors. “Cut the thread, Ava, please.”
I held my scissors up and he smiled.
“Remember, Ava that I love you. Tell your mother I love her, too, very much.”
“Grandpa… I don’t understand.”
“Please.”
Taking the red, beautiful thread in my hands, I watched the colors swirl. In one swift motion, I took the thread across the blade and sliced it in two. Monitors beeped all around me. Bile rose up in my chest. Panic set in.
****
Beeping turned to knocking and my head pounded with the noise. I blinked my eyes open, disentangled myself from the blankets and climbed out of bed. I grabbed my cell off the little table by my bed: holy cow, ten o’clock! I had slept that late only one other time in my life. I quickly shoved that memory out of my mind, I walked by the mirror, gave myself a quick once over, and shrugged. Not too much that I could do about my sleepy looking state.
I assumed Viola or Sophie or Emily, or maybe even all three, had knocked at the door to demand details of the night before, but instead I found Ari, holding two cups of coffee. My breath caught in my throat. He was so handsome. His hair was still damp from a shower. He had on jeans with a pair of loafers and a button down white oxford with the sleeves casually rolled half way up his arms. A modern day Adonis was standing before me in my dorm room.
“Hi?” I said with uncertainty.
“Morning” He handed me a cup of coffee and confidently walked into my dorm room making himself at home in my fluffy chair. “Sleep well?” he asked.
“Uh, I’ve slept better.” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
The corners of Ari’s lips pulled up in to a smile. “Me, too.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke. “So what are you doing today?” he asked.
I shook my head. I hated the weekends; they were so dull and boring.
“Nothing,” I admitted pathetically.
“Good, because Lauren has not stopped texting me to see if you are coming over to our house today,�
� he said, holding up his iPhone to show me a multitude of texts from his sister.
I gaped at him incredulously. “You cannot be serious. Why on Earth would you want me to intrude on your family thing?”
“But of course I am serious, and you won’t be intruding on anything. A lot of people come over on Sundays. We actually have fun. You’ll know other people – Rory and Nick will be there, and, um, Julia, and besides, Lauren will not leave me alone if I don’t bring you with me. I’ll never hear the end of it. And I don’t like telling her no.”
“Why would Rory and Julia be there?” was my only response. If he thought I wanted to come along just to see Rory, he was wrong. Rory and I definitely needed to talk, but I was okay with pushing that conversation aside for another day.
Ari smiled at me as if I should have known the answer to my question already.
“Rory and I are cousins, Ava. Our dads are brothers and you know how Greeks are. Or… maybe you don’t. And, umm, well, Julia lives there.”
What the hell, his ex-girlfriend lives with him? Not good.
“Are you going to explain that any further?”
“Not… right now.”
Ok, later, I could deal with that. At least there was the promise of explanation in the future. We were getting somewhere.
He smiled a huge hopeful smile. “You already said you didn’t have anything else to do and if you say no,” he added, putting his hand over his heart, “I will be hurt.”
I knew he was teasing but it still made my heart skip a beat.
“Ok, fine,” I agreed and I shooed him out of my room. I tried to wash my nerves away in the hot shower. I dressed quickly, deciding on a new pair of jeans I got from Margaux’s store and one of her tops and paired it with my favorite black and white stripped shoes. I met Ari in the commons and we made our way down to his Range Rover.
We arrived at Ari’s house and Lauren let out a squeal of delight. The house was packed full of people. I sucked in a deep breath and braced myself for the onslaught of personal space invasion. The kitchen was full of women all gossiping and laughing and the men sat at the dining room table, passed a bottle of ouzo around and played cards. People gathered on the back deck and on the sun porch; the house was literally packed with Ari’s family and their friends.
When we walked in, everyone greeted Ari. Each one of them kissed his cheeks and hugged him as he introduced them to me. Once, he even put his arm around my waist. I let out a quick gasp and he quickly removed it and gave me a shy, apologetic smile. His touch was unexpected but surprisingly welcome. I could have kicked myself for reacting. I had been longing to have his arm wrapped around me again for weeks.
There were familiar faces, just as Ari had promised; I spied Julia in the kitchen talking with Rory’s mom, Gianna. I had not yet seen Rory, but I heard his booming laugh coming from the other room. The bouncer and bartender from Hellenes’ Hideout were there along with Sarah and some of the other kids from school and their families. Mrs. Cali and Dean P. from DPI were even there. Aggie, Ari’s mom, came up and gave me a big welcoming hug.
“Ava, I am so happy you decided to come.”
She really is beautiful. She is tall and slender. Her eyes are a bold brown, just like Ari’s, and her hair is straight, silky, and rests ever so lightly on her delicate shoulders. Her smile is huge and genuine and her lips are full and soft pink.
“Me too,” I said. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“You’ll always be welcome here, Ava.” Before I could start pondering the significance of her phrasing, Lauren stole me away from the crowd. I happily went with her. Something about Lauren made me fall in love with her. She is so sweet and funny, not to mention the fact that she is drop-dead gorgeous. Stressing out over her Halloween costume, she demanded my assistance. She made sure I knew that she was all of fifteen years old and wasn’t even thinking of going trick or treating. Rather, she would be attending her very first Halloween party.
I am actually something of an ace when it comes to Halloween costumes. For myself, I strongly dislike the holiday. The idea of going door-to-door, begging for candy, is absurd. But my mother always helped me with my costume, and the yearly ritual of creating something together was always important to me, so I was glad to help. Lauren wanted to go as a butterfly, which was simple enough. I sat with her in her room with some sheer fabric, wire and a hot glue gun and we went to work on some sparkly wings.
I was about an hour into the costume, just putting on the finishing touches, when Ari walked through the door.
“I have been looking all over for you,” he said, sounding relieved.
“Well, I’ve been in here the whole time,” Lauren said with a cute, playful grin on her face.
Ari smiled back at her and rolled his eyes. He put out his hand and wiggled his fingers, waiting for me to grab on so he could pull me off the floor. I hesitated for a moment and then put my hand in his, feeling the warm delightful tingle all through my body. He pulled me up with ease, standing me up right next to him. We were so close to each other that I could hear his heartbeat. Then the disturbing thought came to me that if I could hear his heart, he could probably hear mine, and at the moment mine was racing. Lauren cleared her throat and I stepped away a bit, feeling embarrassed, as his sister started showing off her new costume.
I had to admit the butterfly wings were pretty awesome. Ari gave his approval and then led me out of the room.
We headed into the living room, which was huge and full of people. I was struck again by the size of the space and by the fact that one entire wall was of glass. Windows that reached up into the vaulted ceiling allowed an unblocked view of the ocean. A baby grand was tucked into one corner of the room and I pointed to it.
“Do you play?” I asked Ari curiously.
“Ha, no way! None of us can play.” He answered with a laugh. “It’s just for looks, sort of pathetic actually.”
“I heard that, Ari,” Aggie said from behind us, holding her hands on her hips. “That piano belonged to a dear friend of ours – he left it to us when he passed.” Aggie frowned at the thought. “Ava, why don’t you play something for us? Ari told me you were very talented.”
Looking around the packed room full of new faces, I shook my head. “Uh, maybe another time; playing is kind of a personal thing for me. I don’t really play for other people too much.”
My statement brought a small smile to Ari’s face. Admitting my shyness aloud made me feel incredibly foolish and I wished I had not mentioned the piano at all.
Rory walked into the room and saw me for the first time. He walked across the sea of people and put his hand on my elbow.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.
Excusing myself from the group, I followed him out of the living room, through the kitchen and out onto the deck. We took a seat on one of the wraparound outside couches by the fireplace.
“Ava,” he started then stopped again, taking a deep breath. “I am so sorry about last night. Seriously, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
I let out a small laugh; clearly, Rory was distraught about his behavior of the previous evening. I had never seen him look so down.
“Forget about it, Rory,” I said with a smile as I bumped his shoulder with mine. “You don’t have anything to apologize for; it’s totally fine.”
He ran his fingers through his short hair.
“No, Ava, it’s not. I really like you a lot and I don’t know what happened. I’m such an idiot.”
The conversation was making me feel super uncomfortable; I squirmed in my seat, took a deep breath, and then turned back to him.
“Rory, listen, I like you, but… I don’t think I share the same kind of feelings that you do. You have been my friend since I’ve been here. No one has been as welcoming and as nice to me as you have. You make me laugh, and you do such a good job at being yourself that it makes it easier for me to be myself. If that even makes sense. Anyway, you’re my friend and I don’t e
ver want to jeopardize that.”
“Yeah, ok, I understand,” Rory said, as a flash of relief came over me. “Are we cool?”
“Definitely,” I answered nodding my head. We stood up and started to walk back inside, Rory paused and turned back towards me.
“So what are you doing here anyway?”
“Err... umm...” I paused, unsure of what direction my answer should take.
“Lauren wanted me to help her with her costume.” Okay, I gave him a partial truth and felt a little guilty leaving some stuff out, but Rory just nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, that sounds like Lauren.”
We got back inside just in time for everyone to gather in the eat-in kitchen for dinner. Most of the family’s friends had gone, leaving just Ari and Rory’s immediate family, Julia, and myself. Julia and I smiled at each other.
Ari came up next to me, causing my stomach to flip.
“What was that all about?” he whispered almost intimately into my ear, causing lovely shivers to dance up and down my back.
“Nothing really – we were just getting a few things straightened out.”
Ari pulled out a chair for me at the table. Normally, I would have felt really out of place sitting at a dinner table with a huge family I had just met. Oddly, I felt right at home. I sat between Lauren and Ari and across from Rory. I laughed at conversations and answered most of the questions people threw at me. I did get uncomfortable when I caught Ari’s father, Andrew, staring at me on a few different occasions. I had gotten the same feeling from him the night before. He was just looking at me, not in a creepy way but more in a curious way.
“Ava,” he finally spoke, “do I know you from somewhere?”
“No, I don’t think so. Well… actually, yeah.” I looked down and played with the hem on my napkin. “I kind of ran you over a few months ago at Perry Baio’s memorial service causing you to spill your coffee.” I could feel my cheeks turning pinker by the second.
Andrew laughed aloud and shook his finger playfully at me. “I remember that, and I thought I recognized you then, but you walked off before I could actually talk to you. Are you sure we have never met before that? You look so familiar to me...are you from the area?”
