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Avalyne
Iam upset. I am angry! I feel trapped and out of control. “Dad, did you have to be so rude?”
My dad runs his hand over this bald head and blurts, “You promised me you wouldn’t hang out with this boy, Ava. You gave me your word!” He paces around the living room in a rage. “What do you expect from me?! I told you, Ava. There is a serious case against this guy, and from the legal side, it’s a conflict of interest for you to be seen with him! Do you want to get me in trouble? Hell, you could get me disbarred!” He continues his rant as my mind starts fading into the moments I shared with Damien, until, “you’re just a kid.”
“I am not a kid, Dad.” I am twenty-oneyears old. I can vote, drink, and buy a house. I am not a child, and I’m done letting him treat me this way.
But then he replies combatively, “If you see him again, I will stop paying for college. I will cut you off completely.”
“That’s a little dramatic, don’t ya think?”
“Do you want to see how dramatic I can be?” He retorts.
Like the child he claims I am, I stomp up the steps to my room, and before slamming the door, I hear him say to himself, “I wish your mother was still here.”
Sometime later
My nose is buried in a book. It’s my way of escaping the world. I dive into the protagonist’s life, imagining it’s mine. And it helps… sometimes. But not today. Today, I can’t stop thinking about the quarrel with my father. He’s always been overprotective when it comes to my dates, but never like this. From the very first moment he met Damien, he’s been acting weird. It makes me wonder, though… What does he know about Damien that I don’t? Clearly, it’s not only the ‘conflict of interest’ he keeps mentioning. I toss the book away, reaching out for my laptop. I typeDamien Alariein the search bar, but nothing comes up. It’s like he doesn’t exist.
The ping of my phone snaps me out of my thoughts. I instinctively grab my phone, certain it’s Lilac dying to know how my date went, but to my surprise, it’s not her.
“Oliver?” I whisper to the phone screen, unfolding the rest of his text.
Oliver:
Hey there.
We got rudely interrupted earlier today ;P
How does a date tomorrow evening sound?
Well, that’s not something I’d expect.
Me:
Sounds great!
Oliver:
Wow. I’m so happy u agreed, princess ;)
I’ll pick u up tomorrow at 8, deal?
Me:
Perfect! Then it’s settled :*
The second I send the text, I instantly question myself.What are you doing, Ava?I’ve just agreed to go on a date with a guy even though I’m into his cousin. Am I that desperate for a rush that I’m eager to play around with two best friends? Or maybe, I just want to live my life for once? Explore my options. I feel like I’ve been playing the good girl for so long in my life that I forgot how to be myself—myrealself. So yeah, call me selfish, but I’m not going to step back. Life allows me to live an adventure I so obsessively was dreaming about, and I will seize it.
My phone screen lights up again as Oliver’s name pops up. We start texting about things we like. It turns out we both prefer karaoke, hiking, and even the same kind of music. We’re more alike than I thought. And he’s even sweeter than I thought. Soon enough, our casual conversation turns into innocent flirting. But despite Oliver occupying me with his cute texts, I can’t get Damien out of my mind.
Damien…
I know for a fact that my dad would approve of Oliver. Like mine, his father is an attorney, which in my dad’s eyes would make Ollie a good match. I guess, in a perfect world, we’d make a cute couple together. Except… the perfect world doesn’t exist, and there’s Damien who, for some inexplicable reason, keeps pulling me in like a magnet.
“Ava!” Lilac’s irritated tone breaks me mid-sentence while I report to her the events from yesterday. “What have I told you about your dad and your life?” She raises her on-fleek eyebrow, strongly emphasizing the last two words.
“If you let me finish, you’d know that I’m not going to give up,” I state, and Lilac raises her brow even higher. “I just want to explore my options,” I finish.
