Down Under

01 alone

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Dani's voice came from the bathroom where she stood wrapped in a towel, her auburn hair piled on top of her head in a tangled mess, a mascara wand in one hand and her mouth slightly open.

"You know I can't. I've got class tomorrow" Ava mumbled, rolling onto her back, and letting her head hang off of one side of the bed. She could feel the blood rushing to her brain, it felt nice and numbing, so she let her eyes flutter close.

"I'll get you home on time, I swear! Your parents won't even know and like -"

"Oh, they'll know" was Ava's matter of fact reply, she didn't want to delve deeper into thinking about Dani's other friends, wondering if they were all just as nice, if they'd like her as much as she liked Dani. It was a little crazy, she'd known Dani for more than a year yet she had never met any of her friends.

It was always one thing or another that held her back from tagging along with her, the guilt sometimes gnawed at her but she couldn't get herself to try to reach out, defy her parents, see where things go.

"I can talk to them? Maybe they'll-"

"They won't. Plus, Nadia has strict instructions to keep an eye on me so even if I wanted to...I just can't"  Nadia was the housekeeper the Malone's, Ava's parents, had employed, a woman just as fearsome and strict as Ava's mother. Just thinking about her sharp eyes, and narrow mouth caused a shiver to run down Ava's spine, the woman was a nightmare.

"We should've just gone to my house, at least my parents don't chain the doors down to keep me from sneaking to a party"

"They haven't chained the door. Yet. Don't bring that idea up in front of my mother, she might just take you up on it" Dani's abrupt laugh bounced off the walls, a loud shriek causing Ava to open her eyes.

"I feel bad though"

"Don't. I'm used to it. Plus, how many people can say they have a housekeeper at their beck and call" Ava tried to lighten the mood, this party was all Dani had been talking about, she didn't want to dim her friends happiness by talking about the what ifs and maybes.

"Ugh. That's true. I mean how many people can say they live in the Upper East Side in a fancy ass house, with fancy ass clothes. I'm so jealous" Dani walked toward the closet, rummaging through something that would fit. Dani was on the petite side, merely coming up to five-two and a little broad in the shoulders and slim near the waist. Whereas, Ava fell more on the tall side, almost five-seven, with arms that were too long and thighs a little too thick but everyone had something they didn't like so she didn't let it bother her too much.

"I've got some crop tops hidden behind the dresses"

"What the heck? Why are they stuffed all the way back here?" Dani's voice came out all muffled, the clothes completely engulfing her small frame. When she finally emerged with a red top in her hands, she turned to face Ava. One of her eyebrow raised, waiting for an answer.

"Mother dear thinks they're a little too..."

"Common?"

"Vulgar is how she put it, but yeah I suppose"

"I know she's your mom and all but -"

"I know, you don't have to say it" Ava shrugged, it wasn't a surprise to either of them when comments like that came out of her mother's mouth. What was surprising was that she was even allowed to hang out with Dani considering her mother disapproved of anything and everything that didn't scream wealth and social status. But then again, her mother was never really home and her father always had to work, so maybe they just hadn't noticed Dani or they felt embarrassed that Ava hardly had any friends.