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he music was slow and calm, moving through the air like a warm summer's breeze. He didn't care for the song, but he couldn't change it either. It was some cheesy 'Lofi' music he'd gotten from Ava.
"It helps me think," she'd said to him on the ride home when she played it for him, and to her credit, the soft beats and lack of words did make it easy on the mind.
The room was quiet, the lights off. He frowned and tried to think; he wanted to—needed to—and yet he had no idea what the words floating through his head meant.
The ice clinked against the glass as he raised it to his lips, gulping his drink and pouring himself another.I shouldn't have gone there.
Rising slowly, he moved over to get the light switch, his steps light. His path changed as soon as he got the light on. "Jeez, look at me," he sighed in disbelief and stared at his reflection. The dark blue 'GIVE THEM A CHANCE’ shirt fit snugly on his body; the sleeves were a bit tight on his muscular arms.
"It fits just perfectly," the nice woman had said when she picked it out. They were all so friendly.
The music died down for a second, rising slowly with that slow squeak of guitar strings and smooth piano beats. The song made him somber and think of Ava’s smile. He wanted to stop, and yet...
"And yet," he muttered, "I can't."
He rubbed the shirt across his chest, grinning. That was what she'd done, Ava, when she came over and saw him struggling with a jar of mayo and piles of sliced bread.
"You're supposed to make sandwiches, rich boy, not cover yourself in mayo," she'd teased and flicked a thumb over a stain right across his chest. He felt that hot shiver again and the smile remained.
"She's all right," he said, as if he tried to convince someone else. He left the mirror and paced around the room, stopping sometimes to sip from his drink.
You had fun and you know it. Not only today, but every day she spends with you…
How many minutes had passed? How long had these thoughts been swimming around in his head? He started to feel tired, perhaps from the drink and the really fun but taxing day.
He jumped at the knock on his door, and the first thing he did was move quickly to answer it.Probably the alcohol’s influence,he thought; he would have never rushed to the door, not when he wanted to be alone.
"Benjamin, I've been looking..." His mother started as soon as he opened the door and stopped short, her eyes bulging as she saw his shirt.
"What is that?"
“Hmm? This?" He asked, trying to act dumbfounded.
"Yes, that. And stop acting like someone has slipped it on you without your permission."
His mind went to the nice lady and Ava and how they'd picked out the shirt and almost forced it down on his head. A chuckle rose up his throat and he tried to stifle it, albeit poorly.
His mother frowned. "What's so funny, Benjamin?"
"Nothing. I'm just tired."
She shook her head slowly, her eyes narrowed. "I don't know what's going on with you lately. Has she gotten to you too? Barney certainly seems to think she walks on water.”
His words sharper than he'd intended, he cut her short. "I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
He could hear her out there for a few more seconds after he had closed the door. Finally, after a loud mumble from the other side of the door, he heard her footsteps stomp off.
Benjamin let out a loud sigh.Now what?
Two weeks after the police incident, Ava got a surprise visit. She was down at the church, helping out in their kitchen—they were always short staffed in pretty much every department there was.
A woman named Emily came into the kitchen and announced a truckload of donated food had just come in. “We’ll need some help clearing that and my hands are pretty tied up at the moment,” Emily said.
“I’ll go,” Ava volunteered. “I’m about finished here anyway.”
“Thank you,” Emily said gratefully.
