Distance

Chapter 2

   The bachelor handed the roses to the lucky winner , Ava. He bent down to give a peck on the cheek. Slowly his lips curved to the shape of her skin.
   Ava.
   Ava?
   AVA?
    AVERY!?
   WAKE UP!
   Avery woke up from her dream to see her brother leaning over her.
   "You're late for school. Let's go. I'll drive." Sam said. He picked her up and slung her over his left shoulder, carrying her to her room so she could get ready for school.
   "PUT ME DOWN YOU HEATHEN!" Ava screamed at Sam.
   "I'm older. I can do what I want. Now shut up before you wake mom and dad up!" Sam said, he was in his first year of college but still lived with their parent sand he still acted like a kid at heart.
   Avery plopped onto her soft bed once Sam dropped her. Sam left the room and closed the door. Ava stuffed her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out her phone. Two new texts messages. Both were from Ryan.
Ryan: I miss you.
Ryan: Are you asleep? Were you kidnapped? Why aren't you responding!?
   Ava smiled at his fictitious responses.
Ava: Don't worry I'm fine. I passed out on my couch last night. It was a long day.
Ryan: Oh. I gotta go to school. Sorry. I'll totally text you later!
Ava: My brother wants me to hurry up and leave the house to get to school anyways.
Ryan: K bye <3
Ava: Bye <3
   "Avery! If you do not hurry up I swear to god I am going to beat the living cra-" Sam was saying but their mom quickly interrupted from her room.
   "Don't say god's name in vain. Sammy." Their mom said as she silently fell back asleep.
   "I'm hurrying calm down. Give me three minutes." Ava said while she changed her clothes.
   Four minutes later she came out of her room and headed outside towards the car. She pulled open the door and plopped herself into the passengers seat. She stared out of the window at the passing buildings as they drove.
   Once they pulled up at her school she slung her backpack overher shoulder and hopped out of the car. Sam drove away once he saw Ava enter the building safe and sound.
   Ava smiled to herself she remembered when her brother used to go to the same school and would make sure she never talked to any boy what so ever. And when she did talk to a guy her brother would end up having a talk with him. Mostly just telling the kid to back off of his sister.
   Ava walked down the hall and to her locker when she spotted Sarah across the hall. She waved towards Sarahs' direction. "Hey." She said as she waved. Sarah picked up her pace and walked towards Ava.
   "What's up." Sarah asked Avery as she watched her put away her belongings into her locker.
   "Nothing much. Do you have your second shift today. My brother can drive us if you want." Ava said to Sarah with a welcoming smile on her face.
   "That sounds awesome!" Sarah said, she was excited to finally have a good friend to hang out with.
   The first bell rang while Ava was just arriving to first period math. They usually started the day socialising with each other. Everyone mostly just gossiped in that time.
   Ava whipped out her phone and started to text Ryan.
Ava: Hey I'm in class but Mr.Stinks-a-lot is day dreaming again.
Ryan: Wow. That Mr.Stinks-a-lot sounds like a fun guy. ;P
   Ava stifled a giggle at his small joke.
Ava: Yeah he hits it off with the students. Auto-matic great year.
Ryan: lol. I love your sarcasm it makes me smile.
Ava: You a weird human being.
Ryan: Thanks. =/
Ava: I think Mr.S is about to wake up. Gtg.
   Ava's phone buzzed but she had already put it in her pocket. Mr.Sal woke up from his day-dreaming and started to lecture the class on the importance of dental hygiene for no reason.
   Ava raised her hand and then when she saw the scowl on his face she decided it was smart to put her hand back down.
   She was tired for most of the day. Once she got to lunch most of her energy was drained. Lunch was usually the only time of the day at school which she enjoyed. Mostly because of food and that she could actually talk to her friends. Her best friend, Daisy, already knew about Ava and that Ryan Carter guy that she was talking to. Whenever they hung out Ava would constantly be giggling over texts that Ryan sent her.
   "So Aves, how's you and Ryans' relationship." Daisy said , giving her a sweet smile. She approved of the relationship but she didn't like the whole long distance and over the internet thing.
  "Pretty great. I really like him." Ava replied with a smile.
   "Like that's not obvious. You text him constantly you know that?" Daisy said, she wiggled an accusing finger at Avery.
   "It's not my fault! He's just a sweetheart and I hate to be without him." Avery said to her, a far away look in her eyes.
   Daisy sighed as she said, "Oh no. Don't go all love struck on me now Avery Emma Johnson!" Daisy took Ava by the shoulder and shook her like she was a madman. "Listen to me. If he ends up breaking your heart. Don't expect me to stay out of jail. That's all I'm sayin'."
   "You are a helluva bestfriend." Ava said, she started to laugh when Daisys' face converted to a weird confused look.
   "You know what! Whenever you come over to my house I'm banning you from even touching the Pringles!" Daisy said. The next period bell rung, not giving Ava a chance to retort.
   Ava went through the rest of the day quickly, after her talk with Daisy she was fueled with energy. She was actually excited for work.
   After school her brother Sam picked her and Sarah up. They had to wait for five minutes after school because he was in traffic.
   While Ava waited for his car to pull up she whipped out her phone. She turned it on and opened the unread text message from earlier.
Ryan: Love you. Have fun at school.
   "So what's your brother like?" Sarah asked. She was cautious around new people.
   "He's nice but when he's in a rush he can be a jerk." Ava said.
   "Oh. Well I guess when he get's here he'll probably be rushed." Sarah assumed.
   "I have a question, do you have any siblings?" Ava asked with curiosity.
   "Yeah. One brother and a sister." Sarah answered.
   "What are they like?" Ava asked.
   "Well my brothers on his phone constantly and my sister is up in her room reading most of the day." Sarah answered.
   "Sounds pretty chill. How old are they? It would be difficult if you were the youngest." Ava said to Sarah.
   "Well me and my brother are twins, which means 17. And my sister is 19." Sarah answered.
   "Twins? That's pretty cool." Ava said with disbelief.
   "Not really." Sarah said with a shrug.
   Just as Avery was about to reply Sams' car pulled up and honked, getting the girls's attention.
   "Get in back kiddos. Nice to meet you I'm Samuel but call me Sam or Sammy, it's cool." Sam said as he introduced himself.
   "Oh. Alright. I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you." Sarah said and quickly took a handshake with Sam.
   "So Sarah where do you have to be dropped off?" Samuel asked.
   "Oh actually. Me and Ava are going straight to work today." Sarah said matter-of-factly.
   "Yeah. We have everything we need with us for work Sammy so just drop us off there." Avery said with a smile. She knew coming prepared was a smart idea.
   Sam drove them there and once they got there they started to work immediately. They were on time, early even! It was halfway through their shift when Ava got a call.
   "You have to handle the register and what not. I have a call I'm so sorry Sarah be right back!" Ava said to Sarah.
   Ava walked to the backroom and answered the call.
   "Hello?" Ava answered without looking at the caller id.
   "Hey." Ryan greeted.
   "Hey, I'm kind of at work. And busy." Ava said.
    "Oh. I was wondering if you would able to text tonight. I'm kind of sad." Ryan said with a hint of sadness to his voice.
   "Fine. As long as you'll let me go back to work. The new girl can't handle it all by herself." Ava said, she put the phone away from her ear and hung up without waiting for an answer.
   Ava walked back to the front of the shop. A group of guys were crowding around the cashier. She looked nervous, they were all trying to flirt with her so they could get free stuff if she got flattered. People did this everyday.
   Ava walked up to where everyone was crowding. " 'Scuse me. But I don't think you should be this close to an employee. People need their space you know?" Ava said to the group. All of the guys backed up a couple of feet, except for one.
   "I'm sorry but I thought she was finer than the candy so I went up to talk to her." He said.
   "Well she doesn't look that comfortable talking to you. Does she." Ava said she patted Sarahs' shoulder and told Sarah to wait by the ice cream machine while she talked to these idiots.
   "Name's Tucker. Tuck for short. Football player with a mighty fine appetite for a girl like her." He, Tucker, stated.
   "Well too bad. She's an employee and is here for business only. You look like a slum anyways." Ava said with a smirk on her face.
   "Hey baby doll. Maybe you can substitute." Tuck said grinning slyly. His goonie group behind him started to sneer and snicker at his argument with her.
   "Get out. All of you. Security's right there you know?" Ava said, she pointed to the store next to them, it was a security booth and security was pretty tight at the mall.
   "You know what. I just might. Don't expect this to be the last time you see me pretty lady." Tuck blew her a kiss and walked off , his group behind him.
   "Thanks Ava I'm really greatful. They wouldn't stop bothering me." Sarah said with a happy expression on her face.
   "No problem. It's about the time our shift ended. You want a ride home?" Avery said with a quick side smile as she went to grab her stuff.
   "Sure. I'd really appreciate it!" Sarah said, she grabbed her stuff and followed Ava out of the mall and into the parking lot where the met Sam.
   A couple of minutes later Sarah was getting out of the car and heading into her house.
   "Bye! See you tomorrow!" Sarah said, she gave Sam and Avery a quick wave goodbye and then headed into her home.
   Ava and Samuel had a exceptionally quiet ride home. When they got to the house Ava automatically went to her room and plopped onto her bed. She sent a quick text to Ryan before getting into pajamas
Ava: Hey
   Ryan responded surpringly fast.
Ryan: Hey. How was work?
Ava: Crappy. This group of guys came in and started giving her a hard time. I had to step in and help. It sucked.
Ryan: Hmm. Wait..
Ava: Huh?
Ryan: Nothing. Nevermind. I was just thinking out loud.
Ava: K. Whatever. How was football?
Ryan: It was alright.
   Ava and Ryan talked for most of the night until they signed off with eachother saying a simple goodnight.
   Avery fell asleep, the words Tucker said repeating in her head over and over.
   'Don't expect this to be the last time you see me pretty lady.'
   Would it be the last time? Or was he serious about that. Ava couldn't get her mind off of that. She didn't want Sarah to get into a heap of trouble just because she worked in a candy store and a guy tried to mooch off of her.
   Once Ava could forget about it even in the slightest she fell asleep more peacefully.