Ford Escort

22 - Inquisitive

I was hopeful that Ava had plans and wouldn't be sitting inside waiting for me, my day off was almost over and the last thing I wanted was a tense evening of the silent treatment from her. As I unlocked the door and stepped inside I tried not to look disappointed when she looked up at me from the book she was pretending to read.

"Are you avoiding me?" The silent treatment suddenly sounded appealing.

I kicked off my sandals and plopped down on my bed, letting out a heavy sigh to release some of my built up tension before responding.

"Of course I'm not avoiding you. Why would you even think that?"

"You don't work today, and you snuck out while I was sleeping and have been gone all day." She listed, tossing her book aside and meeting my eyes, "I thought you were mad at me for getting all butthurt last night."

"No of course not." I smiled, it was kind of adorable that she was worried I'd be mad at her, "I understand why you were 'butthurt'."

"I'm just going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too."

She got up off of her bed and came over to sit next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder. I leaned my head down on top of hers.

"I'm so mad that we didn't talk a lot when you first moved in here, we could've been friends for so much longer." She mused.

"Just because I'm moving back to California doesn't mean we can't be friends, we can still be friends."

"You'll literally be on the other side of the country. We can't really hang out anymore."

"We can be pen pals." I shrugged.

"What are we, seven?" She laughed, "This is the 21st century, we'll Skype."

"Fine, we'll be Skype pals."

"Stop saying pals. No one says 'pals' anymore."

"Skype... buddies?" I tried, holding back a laugh myself.

"That sounds oddly sexual."

"We'll be friends who Skype each other." I reasoned, shaking my head.

"Okay." She grinned as she sat back up and faced me, "Wait so, if you weren't avoiding me where were you all day?"

"I went in to work." I panicked, the best lies were ones rooted in truth.

"I thought Sundays were your day off?"

Why oh why did she have to care so much about my whereabouts. It was becoming unbearable to try to keep up with all the lies I was forced to tell.

"They are... usually," I rolled with the first thing that came to mind, "But I'm asking for next Saturday off, so I can hang out with my mom. She's coming to visit."

"Oh, that's great! I'm excited to meet her. Have you told her you're moving home yet?"

"No, she'd try to talk me into moving back with her and my dad." The tension left my shoulders, I was grateful for the change in subject, "That or she'd want me to stay, since they really want me to get a good education."

"They sound sweet." She smiled, "You're lucky to have parents that care so much."

"I know. Do you not get along well with your parents?" I'd never talked to her about her home life before.

"It's just my mom, and no, not really." She shrugged, acting like it wasn't a big deal even though her expression said it was, "She wanted me to live with her and provide for her making minimum wage instead of leaving and making something of myself."