Secrets in Rosewood {2}

Chapter 24: If These Dolls Could Talk

Avery's at Holli's with two coffees and she knocks on Ezra's door and she walks in with a smile and Ezra says, "Hey." Avery says, "Hi." Ezra stands up and says, "What are you, uh..." Avery says, "My dad's at a conference in Vermont. Just thought we'd celebrate." Ezra grabs his coffee and says, "You know, most people celebrate getting a job offer not turning it down." Avery says, "Well, you're definitely not most people. And plus, that wasn't a real job offer. That was my dad trying to control our lives. And you showed him that he can't." Avery sips her coffee and Ezra says, "Did I? You know 'cause ever since I got back it's been a bit chilly. The dean is not pleased with me and--" Avery cuts him off and says, "Alright, look, we know that there'd be fallout." Ezra says, "But that's just the dean. Your dad's not even back yet. Probably gonna get worse." Avery says, "My dad is not that powerful. It'll pass. Come here." Avery brings Ezra in for a kiss and she pulls away and says, "He's three states away. You can at least lean into it." Ezra brings Avery back in for the kiss. Later, Avery's in the courtyard with Hanna and Emily when Spencer walks over to them with a bunch of newspapers that were in Alison's bag and she says, "Guys, I figured it out. Alison took out a classified ad asking A to meet her in Brookhaven and A responded. This was going on for like a month. Look. 'Dear A, what's it gonna take to end this? You need to stop. A.D.' 'Hey, desperately seeking silence who says I wanna end this? A.'" Avery holds her hand out and says, "Let me see that." Emily grabs one of the papers and says, "What's this one?" Spencer says, "It's the last paper before Labor Day weekend. Alison was set to meet A at 235 Spruce Street." Avery says, "That sounds familiar, why does that sound familiar?" Hanna says, "Because we walked on it. The creepy doll hospital?" Emily says, "Guys." The girls look over to what Emily sees and they see Toby helping Jenna walk. Spencer whispers, "She took off the bandage." Avery whispers, "She's not using the stick." Hanna whispers, "Why is she still wearing the shades?" Emily looks at Hanna and says, "Hanna, stop staring." The girls put away the newspapers and Toby and Jenna walk up to them. Jenna says, "Thanks, Toby. I'll meet you inside." Toby walks away and Jenna sits down, and Avery moves over. Jenna says, "Sorry to interrupt." Hanna says, "Can you see or not?" Spencer says, "Hanna." Jenna shakes her head and Avery says, "Wait, the surgery didn't..." Jenna says, "No, it didn't. I went in knowing the odds, so I can't be shocked. The funny thing is, I woke up this morning and, uh... I could see clearly. Just not with my eyes. You couldn't left me in that smoky room, Hanna, but you... you didn't. Instead, you, you saved my life. And it made me realize that... that people can grow. So, now it's my turn and that's why I'm here. I'm here to, to apologize and to let go of the, the anger that's been holding me back. So, can we just please... move on?" Jenna wipes away a tear and Emily says, "What exactly are you apologizing for, Jenna?" Jenna says, "For holding a grudge and, uh... for hating you. We've all done things that we're not proud of. I know what you think of me. But you're wrong. I've never been the person you really need to fear." Jenna stands up and brings out her stick and she walks away. Emily says, "Please don't tell me you bought that." Avery says, "I kind of did." Emily says, "Guys, if that surgery didn't work there's no way she hates us less. I still believe she had something to do with that fire at Jason's." Hanna says, "So, you think that she set the fire and then just walked into it?" Avery says, "Yeah, I've heard of cutting off your nose to spite your face, but that's--" Spencer cuts off Avery and says, "Cutting of your whole face." Emily says, "Well, if Jenna isn't A then who is she talking about? Garrett?" Hanna says, "Melissa." Avery says, "Hanna, Melissa openly admitted to sending Ali angry text messages. If she was A, why would she do that?" Hanna says, "I don't know. I don't have the answer." Spencer says, "I think Vivian did. I think she found out. That's why she's not sitting with us." Avery says, "So what? What do we do now?" Spencer says, "We retrace Ali's steps. Go back to Brookhaven. We're too close now to back off." Later, Avery walks into her mom's classroom and she walks over to her mom's desk and as she's leaving a note for her, she sees something about her dad wanting her transcript for an all-girls boarding school. Later, the girls are in Brookhaven and Avery says, "He couldn't run Ezra out of town so now he's shipping me off." Spencer says, "What did Ezra say?" Avery says, "Well, he's not really surprised. My dad's turning this into a war." Emily says, "So, what are you gonna do?" Hanna says, "Look, can you just hurry up and figure it out? Because Vermont is like Iceland the sequel." Spencer says, "Wait, there's no 235." Hanna says, "You guys, look." They look over to see an old woman walk into the doll hospital. Spencer walks over with the rest of the girls and says, "Um, hi. Hi. Um, sorry. Excuse me." The old woman says, "We're not open." Spencer says, "Oh, well, we've tried to call you your shop a couple of times. We just wanted to ask a few questions." The woman says, "You can ask, but it don't mean I'll have the answers." Spencer chuckles and says, "Um, we just wanted to know if you keep a record of all of the customers who purchased your dolls." The womans says, "We don't sell much. It's mostly repairs." Spencer says, "Oh, um, well you do sell some dolls because of friend of ours might have received that one as a gift." Spencer points out to one of the dolls that has a weird stitch on it with a red heart. The woman says, "We never sold those. That was left here and never picked up." Spencer says, "Could you tell us who might have left it?" The woman says, "I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch." Avery's startled by seeing a doll blink, but she realizes it's a real person and she accidentally bumps into Hanna. The woman chuckles and says, "Y'all better come inside." They walk inside the store and the woman says, "Seth, baby, turn on the light, would ya? We got guests." They walk inside and go down the stairs and the woman says, "My late sister did the books. I've been trying to sell the shop. No takers. Kids these days only like things they can google. Which doll was it again? So, many faces in here they start to blur." Avery looks around the room at all the creepy different dolls. Spencer says, "Uh, it was a small one kind of folksy and burlap-y." Hanna says, "Terrifying." Seth says, "They mean the voodoo doll. There was another girl that came in asking about the same one." Avery looks at Seth and she says, "When was that?" Seth says, "The summer before last." The woman says, "I can't make heads or tails out of this. Let me check that stack over there." The woman walks away and Hanna looks at Seth and says, "This girl who came in, what was she asking?" Seth says, "She wanted to know who bought it." Emily shows Seth a picture of Alison and says, "Was this her?" Seth says, "That's her face but she had dark hair. Lots of it, like that." Seth points over to a doll with long dark hair. Hanna says, "Um, did you ever figure it out? The person she was looking for?" Seth says, "No, but I told her to stop looking." Avery says, "Why?" Seth says, "There are people who wanted to hurt her. A man and a woman." The woman says, "Seth, hold your tongue." Spencer looks over at the woman and says, "What is he talking about? When did these people come into the shop?" The woman says, "They didn't. That's something that he saw in his mind. He sees things, things that haven't happened yet. He's gifted." Spencer looks at Seth and says, "This couple who was after her... what did they look like?" Seth says, "Dark hair, like yours." Emily says, "Um, was she wearing sunglasses? Did she have a cane?" Hanna says, "Is she blind?" Seth says, "Oh, no, she can see." The womans says, "Seth, baby, why don't you take the groceries up to the kitchen, here?" Seth grabs the grocery bags and as he goes to walk away, he looks at the four girls and says, "Sorry about what happened to her. Must have been awful, breathing dirt into your lungs. I don't even like sand in my mouth." The woman says, "Seth, baby, go. You said enough." Seth walks away and the girls are totally freaked out. Later, the girls are out Hanna's in the kitchen as Avery grabs a frozen pizza and she holds it up and says, "You think this will be enough to split? Guys, I really need to think about something else other than what just happened." Emily says, "I can't think about anything else. He remembers Alison. He warned her that something bad was gonna happen." Avery says, "Well, if it wasn't Jenna and Garrett who was the couple that he saw in his head?" Hanna says, "Melissa and Ian." Emily looks at Hanna and says, "Okay, can you let it go?" Hanna says, "No, he said the girl wasn't blind." Avery says, "Yeah, well, that doesn't mean that we have to go back there." Spencer says, "Yeah, we do. My parents thought that Melissa could've killed Alison." Avery says, "What?" Avery sits down and Spencer says, "They hired a detective after Ali disappeared." Emily says, "What did the detective find?" Spencer says, "I don't know, but Melissa tried to convince me that my father wanted to see Ali dead." Avery says, "Wait. Melissa accused your father of wanting Alison dead. Why? Why would he want that?" Spencer says, "Because Alison knew that my dad... My dad is Jason's father too. She would drop hints and make weird jokes about how close our families were and... And then Jason figured it out and he told me recently." Hanna says, "So, you're father and..." Avery says, "Did Ali rub this in Melissa's face too?" Spencer says, "All I know is that Melissa hated Alison's guts. She worked in the next town over and she probably drove past that creepy doll sop every day." Later, Avery walks into her room to see her mom putting her laundry on her bed. Her mom looks at her and says, "Hey, I'm gonna leave these for you to put away." Avery walks over to her desk, and she doesn't face her mom and she says, "Fine." Her mom says, "Was everything okay at school today?" Avery says, "Yep. Have you spoken to dad?" Her mom says, "Yeah, he's, uh, enjoying his conference." Avery looks at her mom and says, "Really? He didn't miss too much of it? You know, taking tours of boarding schools." Avery takes out the boarding school application from her purse and her mom sighs and Avery continues to say, "What was the plan, mom? Were you gonna haul me off kicking and screaming in the middle of the night?" Her mom says, "We were just exploring options." Avery sarcastically says, "Oh, what a relief. Wow, you're only exploring the idea of ruining my life." Her mom says, "Avery, calm down." Avery scoffs and says, "Calm down? How am I supposed to feel? One minute, you're processing the idea of me and Ezra and then the next, I'm being exiled to Vermont?" Her mom says, "That is not why I'm considering this. There is something going on in your life. I know you're being bullied." Avery says, "The only people bullying me right now in my life are you and dad." Her mom says, "I am just trying to keep you safe." Avery says, "Okay, you might be. Dad's trying to punish me, okay? And that's really unfair because I forgave him for what he did. If you guys want me to run away so bad, I will. On my own terms." Avery turns around and folds her laundry with a frustrated sigh. 

The next day, Avery walks into the courtyard with her lunch bag with her friends and Spencer tells them about what Melissa said that if Spencer turns the videos in of her, then someone will turn the videos of Spencer and her friends and the bad things they did. Hanna says, "Look, she's bluffing." Avery says, "That's a pretty big hand to play with no cards." Hanna says, "That's what happens when you have nothing. You play big and you psyche everybody out." The girls sit down, and Spencer says, "Okay, but what if Melissa is telling the truth? What if there was a camera on us the night of the Jenna thing?" Hanna says, "You know what? Enough is enough. If we have to trick Melissa into sending a text message to prove that she's A, then that's what we'll do." Later, Avery goes to Ezra's apartment, and she walks in and says, "Hey. I thought you were working late tonight." Ezra says, "Turns out I didn't have to." Avery says, "Oh. Well, um, I got some good news. My mom texted that her and my dad are not sending me to boarding school." Ezra says, "Do you know what changed their minds?" Avery says, "Yeah, me saying that if they wanted me to leave so bad, I'd runway." Ezra says, "Wow. Well, I have some bad news." Avery softly says, "What happened?" Ezra says, "I got fired today. Next Monday will be my last class." Avery sighs knowing Ezra losing his job may be her fault. Avery sits on the couch and Ezra pours himself a drink and he says, "Basically, they said they no longer offer my class. But they'll probably just rename the course and hire somebody who your father likes to teach it." Avery softly says, "Ezra, I'm so sorry." Ezra looks at Avery and says, "You have nothing to be sorry for." Avery says, "I feel like I do. It's my fault." Ezra says, "No, it's not." Avery says, "What are you gonna do?" Ezra says, "I'll... probably head up to my folks' place for a while, regroup. Send out resumes, make cold calls." Avery says, "When will you be back?" Ezra turns his body to face Avery and he softly says, "Avery. If I can't teach high school in this town or college, what's left? It's what I do. And I need to find a place where I can do it." A tear drops down Avery's face and she nods and wipes the tear away. Avery says, "Look, wherever that is, they're really lucky to have you." Ezra smiles and says, "Do you have any idea how much I love you?" Avery kisses Ezra. Avery straddles Ezra's lap as she wraps her arms around Ezra's neck tugging on his hair eliciting a moan out of Ezra. Avery gently pulls on Ezra's bottom lip before letting it go as she pulls away. Avery unbuttons her jacket as she tosses it on the ground before grabbing the bottom of her top and lifting up and over her head as Ezra connects their lips once more before lifting Avery in his arms and carrying her over to the bed and gently lays her down on the bed before Avery reaches up and takes off his shirt as she runs her hands down his chest. Ezra leans down and presses his lips onto Avery's ass Avery brings Ezra down on top of her as the two passionately kiss. The two help each other out with the rest of their clothes before Ezra looks down at Avery admiring her body as he says, "Are you sure?" Avery nods with a smile and she says, "I've never been more sure of anything." Ezra smiles as he connects his lips with Avery as he inserts himself into Avery. They both moan as Ezra thrusts into Avery. Avery wraps her arms around Ezra's neck as she passionately kisses Ezra. The two continue to make love and after a while, Ezra cums and pulls out of Avery before laying on his side and bringing Avery to his chest. Ezra smiles down lovingly at Avery as he says, "I love you, Avery." Avery smiles up at Ezra as she says, "I love you, too, Ezra." The two smile at each other as they kiss, relishing the moment with each other.