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The words are clearing, but there is still some thickness between them that Avryl can’t quite cross yet.
“Yaz and the girls think it’s obvious you’re telling the truth,” Nayomi continues. She put her elbows on the desk and leans forward, looking straight ahead at Avryl.
“I’m sorry.”
“How sorry?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“How sorry are you?”
“Av—”
“You can help me, Nayomi.”
“Help you?”
“Help me get Ax out of prison.”
“I still can’t believe you’re actually writing him…”
“That’s only because you think he’s a murderer. You don’t know him like I do. And think about it, you know how many times he’s been photographed and talked about and—”
“I know.”
“It just doesn’t make sense that the owner of this multi-million-dollar company would randomly murder someone.”
Nayomi puts her hands up. “Yes, fine. Okay? I get it. I was totally wrong. I was hurt. That’s not an excuse, but it’s all I can give you right now. I'm sorry.”
“So help me get him out of prison.”
“Avryl, please.”
“Nayomi, if you write to the lawyers, or the judge, someone to say that you know he’s innocent, then they’ll have no choice but to seriously consider letting him out early.”
“This is too much.”
“No, it’s not,” Avryl throws back, making Nayomi jump. “That man will spend the rest of his life in prison because he saved me from getting raped. You don’t think he deserves to be free? He’s spent two years—”
“Avryl.”
“In prison for saving me. Your sister. From being raped. How many years do you think he should spend in prison for that?”
Nayomi sighs, but Avryl knows that sigh is the first step. Her sister is going to say yes. She has to be careful. Right now a ‘yes’ can still turn into a ‘no’.
Avryl gets quiet. The best thing to do is to give Nayomi a chance to think. Meanwhile, downstairs, Cocoa comes back from an intermission. She’s changed from the mini-dress she was wearing into a leotard with a tulle tail that’s bigger than she is. She sits in an enourmous swing attached to the ceiling. The sisters watch, both doing different calculations in their head on how much it would cost if she were to fall.
“She signed the release?” Nayomi asks.
“Yep. The whole team did.”
“I love having you work here, Av. However, I do not love when we’re not speaking to each other.”
This is the most Avryl's going to get. For now. She'll have to work her way from here.
“We never fight.”
“I know. This last week I felt like shit.”
Avryl waits again. Cocoa finishes one song and then another begins, this one with an extended guitar solo intro.
“He’s felt like shit for two years, Mi.” She pauses for a moment. If this pushes Nayomi over to a ‘no’, then these last words will make it worth the risk. Avryl wants what she will say next to stay in Nayomi’s mind for the rest of her life, for as long as Axton is in prison. If her sister says no…
“He will spend his 44th birthday behind bars if we do nothing. He will never have kids. He will never see his sister again. Imagine if you were—”
“Enough, Av. Fine. I’ll help you.”
