What if the seven dwarfs never really existed and were just branches of Snow White's personality? Happy for the good days, Grumpy for the bad, Sneezy when under the weather and Bashful around that special someone. What if every time you looked into...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Today felt like a day full of possibility. Since the past week I'd spent solely with Will, I thought I'd dedicate some time for Ava and Ted. It seemed like they were getting closer and closer as the days went by; it felt like only yesterday that Ava turned up at school having him at the top of her hate-list. It was clear things were escalating pretty fast around here.
"Ready for our special bonding time?" I nudged Ava with a grin. Ava bit down on her lower lip. "See, about that....."She started, and I cut her off. "No excuses, woman. I've been ditching you too much for Will and I need to make it up to you." She scrunched up her face in hesitation and I felt like I'd rarely ever seen her so uncomfortable in my presence. "Holly, listen I-"
"How are my two favorite girls in the world?" Ted asked smoothly, making his way in between us and sliding his arms around both our shoulders. I watched Ava go a tinge of pink. "What about Thea?" I asked, matching his smooth tone and raising my eyebrows. Ted chuckled. "I said girls, not aliens. Thea has a species of her own."
I rolled my eyes and Ava laughed. Maybe a little two hard for the low level of the joke. Ted seemed satisfied with himself and subtly edged a little closer to her. I pretended not to notice. We were almost halfway home from school. My house was only a fifteen minute walk away from school, so on the days when Ava was running late and couldn't pick me up, I walked.
"Hey, where's Will?" Ted asked suddenly, as if only then noticing that his partner in crime was missing from the scene. "He's stuck tutoring again. Why does he even want to do it? I mean, extra math? Why?!" Ava asked incredulously. "Right? I can't even stand doing the homework. I don't even understand how you manage to do your own AND Ted's," I shrugged, trying to keep my voice in an even tone, but then burst into fits of laughter after a few seconds. I was scared to see if Ava would be mad at me for giving away her secret, but I also couldn't help but find Ted's utterly shocked expression hilarious. He didn't know she did the homework for him. He always thought it'd been Will. He really had no idea how much she liked him. Even I didn't, honestly.
Ted's head swiveled in Ava's direction. "YOU were the one doing my homework? Oh my God, I should've noticed. Will's handwriting isn't that pretty!" He said, and Ava blushed even more than before. It was adorable. He kissed her cheek. "I like you even more now,"he said, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Ava giggled, but upon seeing me frozen to the spot, her eyes widened as well.
"Holly, I was going to tell you sooner or later, but I just didn't know how and I normally never tell people anything so it was quite a big deal to work up the courage to tell my best friend in the whole world something this important to me and I didn't want to ruin our friendship or something and I was scared things would get awkward and I'm really, really sorry I-"
"Ava, CALM DOWN. I'm not mad,"I interjected with a laugh. I couldn't stop smiling. My two best friends in the whole world finally decided to stop hiding behind their fears and admitted their feelings for each other. How could I not be the happiest girl in the world?
"You're not?"She asked in a small, surprised voice. I laughed some more. "No, of course not! Oh, but now that I know I'm going to need all the details!" She grinned. "We'll see about that."
"Does Will know?" I asked excitedly. He was my co-matchmaker. We needed to celebrate this victory together. "Not yet," Ted gave me a shy smile. I whooped and did a little dance with my hands. "I'm the first to know! YES!"
"Actually, I told Thea the moment after it happened,"Ted confessed. Gee, way to rain on my parade. We were nearing my house, and Ava started to look nervous again.
"Hey, Holly, I need to tell you something,"she said, and I smiled. "Just tell me inside, Av. We're almost there." We made our way onto the porch and I rang the doorbell. "Holly, it's important."
The door creaked open before Ava could finish her thought. She started to shuffle her feet restlessly. Ted tightened his grip on her waist. My breathing stopped for a few seconds. The person standing at the doorstep was none other than my wonderful sister Eve.
"You couldn't have told me earlier, could you?" I smiled sweetly at Ava. Ted face-palmed, and Ava turned to walk away, but Ted pulled her back. "It's too late to back out now. The war has already begun," Ted whispered into Ava's ear, loud enough for me to hear, but not loud enough for Eve who had taken a few steps back from the doorway and was standing with a sugary sweet smile stretched onto her face.
I sighed. This was going to be a long day. "Eve! You're home!" I managed a smile and awkwardly wrapped my arms around her in a hug. She chuckled nervously. "Here I am." "Where's Dad?" I asked, trying to keep it casual, when really I just needed someone who could help reduce the tension. "He's in the other room talking to Gran-" Ava shot her a look. "Grant. Grant. You know, the senior citizen who lives down the road." I mumbled an 'oh, that's nice," and made my way inside.
Ava and Ted followed suit and we all went into the living room to find Mr. Kessler-or, Grant, as Eve had called him- laughing and chatting with my Dad. When they saw us approaching, Mr. Kessler held out his hand. "Holly- nice to see you again! Now I see the resemblance,"he said, smiling at Eve. I noticed Ava motion towards the front door. She clearly wanted to escape the akwardness as much as I did.
"Holly, why don't you come with me? I was just going out to get some groceries. Ted and Ava- you're free to stay over here if you'd like," Dad said, and I almost sighed with relief. I needed to get out of here before the bomb ticking inside this house went off and Eve and I started raging at each other.
"Thanks, Mr. Mills, but we just wanted to come say hi to Eve. It's been a while." Ava spoke calmly with a fake smile etched onto her lips. Eve mirrored her expression. "It was nice seeing you, Ava. Oh, and you too, Ted."
Ted grinned, excited about the attention he was getting. Ava dragged him out of the house before anyone could say another word to them. Dad took the car keys from the kitchen counter and told Mr. Kessler that he should stay for dinner.
"We'll be back soon, Eve. If you want to catch up with any old friends in the neighborhood, be my guest," Dad called out after him, and I saw Eve wince. By old friends we both knew he meant James, and neither of us thought that was a very good idea. What happened between them was something Eve didn't like reflecting upon, but it was hard for her to forget while I was dating his brother.
Eve didn't say anything in response and Dad shut the door behind us. As soon as we got into the car, I sighed with relief. "You owe me one for getting you out of that," Dad said with a smile. I laughed. "Noted. You're the best dad in the world."
"You can't owe me with sweet talk, young lady." Dad chuckled, starting up the car. I frowned. "Okay, I'll let you embarrass me in public." He ruffled my hair and exclaimed,"Yes, that's my girl!"
