My Mother and Ava Summerfield

Five

I lick the ice cream cone to keep it from dripping. Ava and I are sitting in the middle of the park. The green paint on the arms of the benches is pealing. The wood on the see-saw is broken and the swing set is missing a seat.

"My dad and I used to come here all the time when I was little." She says. I can see the weight of the memory pulling on her eyes. I wasn't suppose to see that.

"It looks sad." I say.

"Yeah," She takes a deep breath and composes herself, "The city has let it go. No one ever comes down here anymore." A silence draws out between us, the only relief is the sound of our mouths against the frozen treat. I chuckle to myself. "What is it?"

"You're crazy, do you know that?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"You only met me yesterday and you already saved me from embarrassing myself, stayed with me during one of the worst moments of my life, and now we are eating ice cream in a park. Ava, that's not something that normal people do."

She smiles a little, "I guess you're right. I'm sorry."

"You are forgiven and thank you."

She takes another lap of her ice cream. The cold chocolate covers the side of her mouth and looking at her I can't suppress the smile and small giggle that escapes my lips.

"Jayden! What is it?"

"You have chocolate-" that is all I need to say. She covers her mouth and tries to wipe the mess away.

"Is it gone?"

My stomach trembles so much that I can only shake my head. I take a napkin and hold it up asking her if I can. She moves her hands away from her face to let me rub away the stickiness.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. "Sorry," I say pulling it out. It's Fletcher. I answer the phone, "Hello."

"Jayden, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Fletch, I'm fine."

"What happened?" I don't say anything into the phone, debating whether or not to tell him. "Jayden?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, how do you know anyway?"

"When you didn't show up for your class the school called me and so I called your phone and Ava answered. She said you weren't feeling well."

"Ava?"

"Yes, now Jayden, what happened? Where are you?"

"It was nothing, really, I'm fine. I'm at the old park behind the courthouse."

"Do you need me to come get you?"

"No, Ava can drive me home," I say.

He doesn't say anything, I can hear him nod from the other end of the line. I pull the phone away from my ear and press the red, end call button.

"Is everything okay?" Ava asks me.'

"Yeah, that was my brother," I say. Ava's eyes look deeper into me, searching for more answers. I stare at the ground. Everything from the night before started to rush back up my throat. I push up off the bench and take two steps before I fall against a tree and vomit. I world is too loud to hear anything, but I feel Ava place her hand on my back and hand me a napkin. Way to go.

I wipe my mouth and collapse on the ground. I am still holding the ice cream cone in my hand. It's melting and covering my hand in stickiness.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"It's okay," she says.

"No, It's not. You have been there for me twice today alone and you don't even know why." I see her sit up straighter and the curiosity in her eyes stir.

"It's okay." Ava looks away. "Here," she stands up and extends her arm towards me, "maybe, I should get you home."

I nod and take her hand.