Twenty One Days

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[ chapter one • collided ]

IT did not occur to me how hot it is outside until I stepped out of my villa. And there she sits, Ava White, her feet dipped in the cold water, drinking in the radiant heat of summer. The flowers lie on the table, their once beautiful petals curling at the edges from the summer heat, already their stalks are limp and when I pick them up their heads fall with gravity towards the table. I inwardly curse, I should have put them in the vase the minute I saw the sun beaming up in the sky. Ava looks beautiful even when sweating; her skin becomes more like polished stone.

Ava's sunglasses were on, a book lying on her stomach while she sips her orange juice. The traces of sweat beads evident on her body as they seem to crawl down to the bottom of her slender legs. Even though she is two years younger than me, it sometimes felt as if she was the older sister. As her blonde hair was curled up against her fingers, she took hold of her phone that vibrates on the table beside her.

"It is burning out here, let's go inside"

"Tell me sister, have you ever got tanned? well, this is your time to shine" Ava lowers her sunglasses at me, her blue eyes peeking from behind the glasses. Shaking my head at her, my eyes travel up just to seize them shut.

Seeing my reflection in the swimming pool ahead of me, I take in my appearance. My hair was tied in a tight bun, the yellow summer dress I wore was hugging my body. Seeing Ava who did not give a care in this world, it shows how much of a complete opposite people we were. Nothing else, I was blessed to have ava as my sister.

"Kane hadn't changed a bit yet, look at him." My eyes divert towards the picture she was showing me.

Kane Melton really hadn't had any major changes in him. His curly black hair was messed up as it was on that rainy day I had met him, with an umbrella in his hand. The comments under his Instagram posts were filled with horny teenagers as his wide chest was on display. Maybe for a time being, I would have admitted I had a crush on him but I was way too out of his league.

"You still like him, don't you?"

"What makes you think I ever liked him?" Ava narrows her eyes at me, searching for something but when a sigh escapes her lips, I know she failed to find any wrong expression. "Can we get inside and come outside when it's cool in here?" I request, waving my hand up and down near my face in order to cool my sweaty face.

"Mum and Dad hadn't returned?" Ava asks me, picking up her book off the ground and taking the empty glass of juice up from the table. "Nope. I bet they both like the art gallery way too much. It's been two hours already." taking in the view of the villa in front of me, I say.

Miami has always been on my travel list and this summer my luck had worked. My dad was easy to convince whilst my mom, it took a whole week for her to say yes. It hasn't been twenty-four hours since we arrived here, in Miami. "Let's go Aurora, what are you thinking?" Ava grabs me by my arm and leads me inside.