Fear of the Unkown

Seven

Ava's POV

I woke up feeling more excited than usual. It was probably because it was the best I'd felt in a long time and it was going to be a great day with Mila and the others. I rolled over to see Mila still asleep next to me. She'd come into my room earlier with a bad dream and hadn't left apparently. I gently shook her shoulder and she sat up. "Hi, honey. Ready to play with Lav?" 

Mila nodded enthusiastically and jumped out of bed. Belle woke up to the conversation and began wagging her tail. I went downstairs and made Mila a sandwich, knowing we could get other things on the boardwalk later. As she ate, I ran back upstairs to start getting ready. A random wave of nausea hit me and I hurried into the bathroom, barely making it. The doorbell rang and I frowned. Surely it hadn't been an hour already. My phone wasn't nearby. It was still on the bed. Belle wandered into the bathroom and licked my cheek. "Door," I told her and she ran downstairs. 

"Hey Belle," I heard Zach's voice as he entered the house. "Where's Ava?" 

Belle began barking. We'd trained her a few weeks ago to learn my name in case someone asked. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and felt a hand on my back. "Hey, girl. What happened?" 

I shook my head as I got to my feet. "It was just so random. I'm sorry." 

"Don't worry about it," Zach said as we went back into my room. 

"I'm going to get dressed now. Could you help Mila?" I asked as I looked through my drawers for a swimsuit. 

Zach nodded and started to leave the room when I took his arm. "General dress code with swimsuits?" 

He grinned. "Don't worry. All the girls are gonna be showing off if that's what you're asking." 

Nodding I sent him out and closed the door. I found my olive green bikini and put it on. I grabbed my bag and white beach coverup as I ran downstairs to find Mila wearing her favorite swimsuit. It was white with little strawberries on it. Zach led us to his car and we got in. "The others went to the beach already." 

We passed our usual place and I raised an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it back there?" 

He shrugged as we kept going. "They wanted to use the beach house. Jonah changed this trip to be about two days so we could thoroughly enjoy it." 

"You have a beach house?" I asked. 

Zach shook his head. "No. Our friend Eben does though. You'll meet him when we get there." 

When we pulled up in front of the house there were several cars parked in the driveway. I took Mila's hand as we walked through the house to the backyard which had a huge pool with a white fence between us and the ocean. Zach opened it for us and we were met with talking and laughter as we got closer to the beach. "There they are!" Jonah cheered as he ran to us. 

Corbyn came running up and took my bag as he hugged me. "Hey, beautiful." 

"Hi guys," I said shyly as I realized I didn't know most of them. 

Daniel ran over and put an arm around me. "For those who don't know, this is my girlfriend," he said with a smile. "Ava, meet Kay, who's Zach's best friend. Then there's Eben who owns this house. Franny, who's my best friend. Gabriella, who's Lavender's mom. Then we have Crawford and Corey." 

There was no way I was remembering everyone's names. I was then introduced to Zach's parents who were excited to meet me. I didn't realize was the staple of conversation. I took off the coverup revealing my favorite swimsuit. As I got to know Kay, I noticed Daniel staring at me, practically drooling as he looked me up and down. "Yeah, so Zach's my ex, but I believe you can be friends with your ex as long as they haven't done anything to hurt you and it was just not going to work out," Kay was saying, as I zoned back in.