Me: How do you feel about it?
Ava: Honestly, it made me initially want to throw up. I might’ve totally given them to the temp up front.
A weight lifts off my chest, and I tilt my head back, laughing heartily. There’s that fire I love.
Me: LOL, why does that not surprise me one bit? Damn, kind of makes me miss our sparring matches.
Ava: (giggle emoji) Me too, a little. BUT… I like what we have now much better.
Me: Me too, babe.
I run my thumb across my bottom lip absentmindedly and lean back in my chair, looking at the picture of Ava’s smiling face staring back at me from her picture on the screen of our conversation.What is Eric up to? Why now? Did seeing someone else wanting her strike a nerve? Has he been mulling over my words in the grocery store all this time? Is he going to contact her again?My stomach flips in a sour way when I think about how he spoke to her that night. I can still see the fire in her eyes, the indignation all over her face, but I could also feel the sorrow and hurt rolling off of her. There was absolutely no way that I could let him finish knocking her down the peg or two he was intent on. He’s bad news.
I pick my phone back up, unable to just let it go. I find Colin’s name in my conversations.
Me: So, what do we know about this Eric guy? Sydney ever give you any details into his personality? How he thinks?`
Colin: No, I don’t have much to go on from what I’ve shared with you. Why?
Me: He sent Ava flowers saying that he’s “sorry”.
Colin: After all this time?
Me: Yup…
Colin: That’s weird.
Me: Agreed.
Colin: What do you think made him pop up after all this time?
Me: Me
Colin: All from the confrontation in the grocery store months ago? You really think he’s been replaying that in his head for this long? If so… that’s kind of strange. You’d think he would’ve popped up sooner.
Me: I can’t think of anything else, and Ava hasn’t mentioned seeing him again since that night. I made it clear to him though that now that I’d had a taste of her, I’d never let her go, and that he’d never taste her again.
Colin: Damn…those were some fighting words. You really said that? Fuck, what did his face look like?
Me: It was satisfying. He couldn’t even think he was so mad. I didn’t give him the chance to say anything else before grabbing her hand, paying for all our shit, and getting her ass away from him.
Colin: I would’ve paid money to see that. I’m sure Ava was just as shocked.
Me: Enough that I had to warn her that if she didn’t get moving, I’d kiss her to make a point. Now that I look back, I wish she would’ve given me a little more lip so that I could’ve had the excuse.
Colin: You miss the bantering don’t you?
Me: So bad.
Me: Looks like I’ll have to come up with new ways to set my Firecracker off.
Colin: Solid word choices. LOL
Me: (grinning emoji)
I can always count on Colin to help reign in my crazy. That is, if he’s not raising the crazy with me. We had our share of it in our college days. I miss that too.
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