Seafoam //Completed//

Chapter 37

"You don't have to apologize for inviting Matty. Michael did that." Lulu reassured Ava. "It's fine. They're friends." The two girls sat on the porch of Ava's house the next morning. Lulu had stayed over, still pretty upset about the kind-of-fight she'd had with Zac the night before.

"Who was that girl he was with?" Ava bit into her breakfast apple halfheartedly.

"I think she's from drama or something. I don't know."

"Oh, Lulu. I'm so sorry." Ava wrapped her arms around her and held her tight. It was a small comfort against the thoughts raging on in her mind. When Zac had left her alone in his room, she'd called Ava and through a watery explanation, asked her if she could stay with her that night.

"I'm sorry I forced you to miss the fair," Lulu said.

"It's fine. It'll still be there tonight and the bracelet is good for two days. Which means you and I are going back tonight and riding everything and eating all our feelings without those stupid boys."

Lulu tried laughing, but then noticed what her friend had said.

"Wait. Boys?"

Ava sighed. "Yeah. When you called, Michael and I had had a thing."

Lulu raised a brow.

"I was mad about him inviting Matty," she shrugged.

"No, Ava! I don't want you guys to fight because of me."

"Don't worry. It's not just that. I don't think it's going to work out with us. It doesn't feel right. I like him, but there's no...spark."

"Spark?"

"Yeah! You know. Spark!" Ava splayed her fingers out in front of her, mimicking fireworks.

Lulu laughed and looked out into the gray morning. The trees had already lost their leaves, becoming only the skeletons of what they could be. In the spring they would be reborn, becoming new but familiar beings. A better version of themselves.

When she was little, before her mom got sick, her dad had hung a tire off one of the skeletal trees of winter that hung in her yard. After the diagnosis, in a fit of rage or despair, he'd torn it down with his bare hands. Hands that build, hands that destroy. Lulu had cried so much that day and he'd yelled at her for crying over something as trivial as a swing on a tree.

There are far worse things that could happen. Do not waste your tears, Lulu. Save them. You'll need them.

But she had used them up that day, it seemed. Her mother's death had done little to sway her eyes to water and mourn.

"My dad called," Lulu told Ava. "He's checking into rehab. He's talking about sending me to my aunt's house across the state while he's there."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Lulu shrugged. "I can't stay with Zac for six months."

"My aunts are leaving soon. You can come back here when they're gone." Ava smiled at her, hopeful.

Lulu thought about that. She didn't know if she'd even be around in six months for her to need a home. Day by day she heard the ocean's song calling her again. Stronger than ever. When she moved in with Zac, everything seemed to quiet down, just a little. But this morning, she heard the call again. Her name on the waves, carried by the wind.

"Can I ask you for a favor?" she asked sheepishly.

"Anything at all." Ava was too good. Her voice was eager, ready to help and Lulu's throat tightened a little at the sudden burst of affection she felt for her friend.