In Another Life

13 - "And I'll do it a thousand times again, for you"

13 - "And I'll do it a thousand times again, for you"

They'd been singing to songs from Adam's phone for fifteen minutes before Adam grinned and switched it off, the two of them breathless with laughter.

"You sing terribly," he said, laughing and grimacing as he put his indicator on.

She stuck her tongue out at him then shrugged. "I know, I know. But lucky I have your lovely voice and this blasting music to cover up my faults."

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I barely heard any off-key notes."

She laughed and threatened to throw a doughnut ball at him and he grabbed the brown paper bag from her.

"You bought these for me, you evil child. Don't waste them."

She sighed and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes when he pressed play again, lowering the volume so they could converse without going deaf for the remainder of the ride.

"So what's up with Felicity being so touchy?"

Adam grimaced. "So you know how I told you I was applying for Engineers Without Borders?" he asked, glancing at her for a second to confirm that she was listening.

She nodded, tapping her foot to the beat of the music. "How could I forget? It's all you've been able to talk about."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I told Mum and Dad about it and, well, Mum kind of flipped. She said that she was just getting used to me graduating and Mak starting college soon and now I wanted to leave to go to some remote country that had no reception and where she would only hear from me once a year." She stared at him in shock and he was silent for a second before chuckling. "Yeah, her exact words. She's been complaining this whole week."

Ava was shocked, to be honest. Felicity was very chilled. In fact, between her and Uncle Frank, she was a puppy. She was always the one advocating for the kids to do what they wanted, never able to say no and basically the best friend a kid could have. To hear that this was how she was reacting was honestly so out of character.

"Is there a reason for this?"

Adam looked at her guiltily before sighing. "Okay, so you know Aunty Mary?"

She nodded. Their families were close enough that she'd met Felicity's family a bunch of times too.

"Well, her brother-in-law's daughter joined Doctors Without Borders two years ago and there was an attack on the village they happened to be at. She, uh, she was caught in the crossfire. She didn't make it."

Ava gaped and looked away. That was tough.

Adam huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, so, uh, Mum has not been too happy about this."

"I see," she said, running a hand through her hair before it fell back around her face. "Have you heard anything back? Is anything confirmed?"

They drove in silence for two minutes before he spoke again. "I wanted to tell you first. I'm being sent for training in two weeks. We're going to Honduras for four months after that."

Her heart stopped beating. Four months. That was a long time but also, it wasn't. Then she realised that this was something that he had wanted for a while. And her happiness for him overrode any feelings she had on the subject.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Why are you saying this so calmly? I know how excited you are about this, you fool! I'm so freaking happy for you," she exclaimed, slapping his thigh in her own joy.

She saw the moment he let himself be happy and his face split into a bright grin, his leg jiggling in excitement. "Yeah, it's awesome right? I thought I'd have to wait at least a year before I'd be called up." Then his face dropped. "I still have to tell Mum and Zoey," he said, grimacing.