Anywhere with you... |A Hayes Grier Fanfic|

|9|

I'm going back

Ava

I wake up and once again, I'm at Rachel's house. I haven't been home in over a week and I'm not feeling ready. The trial isn't for a little while but I'm afraid my mom will try to take me away or yell at me for being gone. They know where I am so if they need me they can come here.

Rachel wakes up shortly after me and she rubs her eyes as she sits up.

"Good morning Ava" she smiles and I start cracking up laughing.

"O-o-oh my god your hair!" I manage to get out before I completely fall over from laughter.

Her hair is a complete bed head mess with hair going in all different directions. She stomps up and heads into her bathroom. She brushes it out and then comes back and sits down.

"So... What do you want to do today?" I ask her.

"Listen, Ava. You know I love you staying here and all but I think you should try and go home today. You don't have to stay there, but at least go and talk to your parents." She says softly.

"They're not my parents. It's my mom and Andrew." I correct her.

"Whatever. Ava, you know that you're going to have to go home eventually." She says starting to raise her voice.

"You know that I don't want to so why are you pushing me!!" I yell.

"Because you need to go home." She says sternly.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'm done living here." I say as I storm up, grab my things and slam the door behind me.

Great, so I have to go home and I'm fighting with my best friend. My life just keeps getting better.

I head home and when I arrive I see an unusual car in the driveway. I walk inside and standing with my parents is Johnnie, my dad. There backs are to me so they don't know I'm there.

"No! You can not take our child!" Andrew, my fake dad, screams.

"She's not your child buddy, she's mine and it would just be one night. I just want to spend some time with her before the trial." Johnnie pleads.

"No! We both know you can't win the trial if you don't spend time with her so that's how it's gonna stay."

My mom is just standing there doing nothing as Andrew and my dad go at each other.

"I'm going with my dad." I say speaking up.

Their heads all turn and they stare at me. Andrews glare feels like it's digging through my body.

"And that's final" I say firmly.

I run upstairs to my room and pack a bag. I grab a couple outfits and stuff and then I get dressed. I decide on a pink and white tie dye crop top with a blue and white flannel over top. It shows a little bit of my stomach but not enough to be slutty. Then I put on my favorite shorts and fish tale my hair. I put on some concealer and mascara, grab my bag and phone and head downstairs.

My parents and Johnnie are uncomfortably sitting in the living room in silence. It only took me twenty minutes so I thought that was pretty good. When he sees me Johnnie stands up and makes his way over to me.

"I'll be in the car kiddo. I'll take your bag while you say goodbye to your mom." He says smiling and heading outside.

I walk over to my mom and give her a hug and kiss. Then I head out the door and hop in the car with Johnnie.

"So, what brought you to my house?" I ask curiously.

Well, my step children are with their dad and my wife and my daughter are out so I figured we could have an us day."

"Okay so what are we gonna do?"

"I was thinking we could go to a water park?" He asks.

"OMG YES!" I squeal. "I LOVE WATERPARKS!"

"Okay then it's settled, and I understand you have swim practice at 6?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Well I will take you and I'll watch you swim. Plus I hear you have a meet tomorrow?"

"Yeet"

"I'll be there" he says smiling.

"Yay! I won every race last time, so I hope I can do well tomorrow too."

"That's great!" He says smiling.

After that I plug in my phone to the radio and play Car Radio by Twenty One Pilots. We have small talk until we get to the water park.

Once there I change into my blue and white polka dot bikini and we get started.

We ride so many water slides and even got to go on a water roller coaster. It was 5pm by the time we got in the car. Then it was off to swim. Johnnie stayed and watched me swim practice. I was one of the fastest girls on the team and practice today was mostly just sprint off the block so it was easy. After practice we got back into the car.

"Wanna go get ice cream?" Johnnie asks me.

"Yes!"

We drive to a place right around the corner called Freezies. I get my favorite kind Play-Doh and Johnnie gets moose tracks. We pay and then head outside to sit on the step.

"Thank you Johnnie. You made my day a lot better."

"Anytime! Just know you can tell me anything okay?" He says smiling at me.

"Good because I really need to talk to someone." I say quietly.

"Come with me." He takes my hand and leads me to the car. He drives me to a really pretty lake. We get out and sit on the dock with our feet hanging over the edge into the water.

"It's so pretty here." I say breaking the silence.

"Yeah? This is my house away from home. I grew up here." He says.

"I love it"

"Me too, I figured it would be a good place to talk."

"Yeah it is."

"So what's up kiddo?"

"Well, this whole thing has been taking a big toll on me because I've been lied to my whole life. I don't know what I can trust and if there's any more lies. Then I've been staying at my friend Rachel's house because I didn't really want to stay there for now. This morning when we woke up she started screaming at me telling me I had to go home. I just have so much on my mind and then she fights with me and throws me out." I finish breaking into tears.

"Awh Ava, it will be okay, I promise." Johnnie says pulling me into his arms and letting me cry into his chest.

We sit there on the dock for a long time before I finally stop crying.

"Thank you Johnnie" I say wiping my eyes.

"Please, call me dad."

"Thank you so much Dad. Today really helped me."

"No problem. And hey, you can stay at my house until you feel like going home. I'm sure my daughter would love a play mate."

"Thank you so much!" I say hugging him.

"Anything to help make this easier. I know it's a lot but it will all work out, I promise."
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Heyyy guys! So I'm so excited about this story now because I figured out the complete story line!

We finally won another meet on Tuesday by like 60 so that's pretty good. I had really crappy times tho but it's okay. Tonight I get to verse the team that my best friend is on though so I'm scared. I really hope I can race her!

I'll update as soon as possible. Thank you all for reading!

Kisses, K💋