Tradition Comes Third

Ava

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy! You're all the greatest. 

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 She was sitting on the grass with her legs crossed underneath her. She was sitting alone and watching as people stumbled around her. She had on a black dress and her blonde hair was messily tied up on the top of her head. She was rubbing her bare arms when there was a gust of wind.

I hadn't realized that I was walking toward her. I was going to turn around and keep looking for Adrian, but she looked up at me. Her light blue eyes connected with mine, and my lips lifted into a smile and hers followed. I sat down on the grass next to her and slipped my plaid shirt off of my shoulders.

"Are you cold?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I am," she said. "But it's okay."

"Here, take this." I handed her my shirt.

Her smile grew and she reached out for it. I noticed she had painted her nails red. She slid on the shirt and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ava," she said. "How about you?"

"Hunter."

She giggled. "Like Hunter Wilcox?"

My stomach felt like it twisted itself into a knot. I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded my head.

"Yeah," I said. "I actually am."

She stopped laughing and her eyes grew wide.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "My aunt told me the Wilcox family lived here, but I thought that was just a myth."

"Trust me, I wish my family was a myth."

I looked to the side to see she was chewing on her bottom lip. She made eye contact with me, but then dropped her gaze.

"Don't worry about it," I said, and she looked back up at me. "A lot of people say something, especially after my mom released her book."

"I love it," she said.

"You read her book."

"Yeah, I loved it. It's one of my favourite books. I've read it like five times. This is weird to me, you're like a character to me."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. Her lips were painted pink and she lifted them into a smile. I had never kissed a girl before, but I had a strong urge to press my lips against hers. The heat rushed up to my cheeks and I let out a nervous chuckle.

"I'm just a bit older than when my mom wrote about me," I said.

She laughed, and it made me smile more.

I felt a sharp jab at the back of my head, and something wet started trickle down my back. I looked behind me to see one guy was lying on the grass. His plastic cup was lying on the ground in front of him, and his friend was trying to haul him back onto his feet. The smell of beer filled my nose.

Ava jumped up from her spot, and stood in front of me. She extended her hand down to me. The sleeve of my shirt was too long for her and ran past her fingertips.

"Come on," she said. "Let's leave this teenage ruckus of alcohol and hormones."

I reached up and grab her hand and got up onto my feet. I didn't notice until I was standing next to her that I towered over her small frame. She laced her fingers through mine and guided me over to a gate in the fence. She opened it up and pulled me onto the sidewalk.