Twenty Four Hours ✿ Hayes Grier

iv // 4:03 pm

"let's play truth or dare." nash suggested to hayes and ava after the two complained of boredom. "i dare ava to give hayes a blowjob."

"no fucking way." ava strongly disagreed, looking over at hayes. "no."

"why?" the brothers asked in unison.

"because! just, no!" she said.

"fine, fine. then you have to... give him a lap dance." nash threw his head back with laughter after suggesting the dare.

"no."

"hey, i'm giving you a ride to la! you're taking up space in my car!" nash joked.

ava threw a crumpled up piece of paper at him and smiled. "okay. fine. just for like, thirty seconds."

"nobody asked me if i was okay with this." hayes let ava onto his lap willingly. it was pretty obvious he was fine with it.

"you don't want the pretty girl to dance on your lap?" nash turned to his younger brother.

"well, i mean, it's fine-"

nash turned on the music. ava sighed. "do i have to do this?" she was laughing, as was hayes.

"yup!"

"no, i'm not. i really don't want to." ava started to look uncomfortable. hayes didn't want her to feel like that; like they were making her do something she didn't want.

"you don't have to, ava." hayes shot a glare nash's way when ava wasn't looking. "it's okay."

"yeah, i was kidding. sorta." nash turned the volume knob down.

ava slid off hayes' lap and sat in the seat farthest from him. great. now she was mad. but he had other problems. ava's almost lap dance had caused a tent to pitch in his pants. shit, he thought, taking a spare neck pillow and placing it on his lap. he could see nash looking at him in the rearview mirror.

hayes shook his head at his brother, who was hiding his laughter. nash mouthed 'whipped', and hayes flipped him off. he looked over at ava, who was looking out the window. hopefully she hasn't seen any of that.

"av, i'm sorry." hayes tried to touch the girls shoulder, to turn her around to face him, but she wouldn't budge. "it's okay." she whispered.

"no, it's not, we shouldn't have made you do something you weren't comfortable with."

"hayes, really it's okay." she gave him a weak smile. "i'm just not in the best place."

"do you want to talk?"

"maybe later."

"you guys wanna go in here?" nash pointed to an older looking record store that's lights were on.

"yes!" ava suddenly perked up. "i love record stores. lets go."

hayes smiled, she was obviously in a better mood.

the store was quaint, with old band's hayes had never heard over posters on the walls and hundreds upon hundreds of records and cds. the walls were painted a soft mint green and a slow rock song was playing.

hayes saw ava's eyes light up at the sight. "i've never been in a record store." he said to her.

"why not?"

he shrugged. "i honestly don't know."

"my older sister works in one. when i was younger i used to hang out in there all the time. i would pick random old records and play them over and over until my sister would get mad. then i'd go behind the desk and look at the records that wouldn't sell, you know, the ones that were used and old and ripped up, and i'd bring them home." ava's eyes filled with nostalgia. hayes loved listening to her talk, listening to her voice.

"do you still go there?"

she shook her head.

"why?"

ava lowered her eyes. she grabbed hayes' hand and pulled him into an empty corner. "i'll tell you why i'm going to la."

hayes held both her hands in his and smiled.

"last year my sister passed away. it was the summer before her freshman year of college. she had gone to an after-prom party with her friends, at someone's house. she got drunk, and i mean drunk, hayes. like the drunkest a person can be. she somehow got herself onto the railing on a two-story balcony, and..."

ava's eyes filled with tears. hayes held her hands tighter, making sure she knew he was listening and he cared.

"...she fell." ava shut her eyes, trying to make the years disappear.

"ava, baby, i'm so sorry. i'm sorry." he ran his hand over the girls hair and pulled her in for a hug. he couldn't imagine losing nash, even if he was a pain in the ass.

"my parents loved her to death, hayes. she was the perfect daughter. straight a's, beautiful, cheerleader. but she wasn't mean. she was so nice. and i miss her. my parents, they couldn't handle it, her death. my dad left, and i have no idea in hell where he could be. my mom is drunk every other day, trying to forget how sad she is."

"she hates me hayes. she blames it all on me. she..."

"...did this." ava lifted her shirt, revealing small, circular burns on her lower back. "they're from cigarettes. she did little things before, she hit me, stuff like that. but then she did this, and i was scared. and i couldn't stay there. so i'm trying to get to la so i can live with my aunt." she wiped her eyes and let hayes hold her.

"ava. i'm so sorry, okay? i'm so sorry i wasn't more sensitive. i'm sorry that all that happened. you don't deserve any of it, okay? you're incredible. i'm so sorry." he pulled her closer to him and let her lean her head on his chest. he kissed the top of her head and focused on her short breaths, which soon became longer when she stopped crying.

"stop saying sorry, you didn't do anything." she whispered. "can we look for records now? i don't want to talk about this anymore." she stood and took hayes' hand. "i'm gonna show you what real music is."

+

"this is the strokes. god, i love them. their songs are so real and- oh! this is the black keys, and these are twent-"

"how do you know so many bands?" hayes interrupted ava.

"i don't know. i have lots of time to sit in my room and discover bands." she fingered thorough the selection of cds, pulling out a few to read the back.

"i mean, why do you care so much about music? why do you put so much effort in learning about music?" he asked.

"because music is one of the only things i have, hayes. music makes things real, music helps me let out feelings, it helps me sort out things." she explained.

"that's amazing. maybe i do have terrible music taste." he laughed.

"maybe. or maybe you just haven't cared enough to discover that there's other music than the shit on the radio."

"ava, has anyone ever told you that you are something else?"

"once or twice."

+

okok i think i actually like this chapter

ava :(( but this brought them closer together and she feels like she can sort of trust hayes kindamaybe buT she's still unsure and she has a reason to be .......