Let Me In

Chp. 16- Vodka Breath

Ava's POV.

After grabbing some burgers from the closest Carl's Jr we could find, I was pretty full. My birthday a turned out to be quite the success.

Sure in the past, I had huge parties and expensive gifts. But I never had a birthday quite like thisvone. The sun had already set and the stars were scattered across the deep blue sky. It was beautiful when you really took the time to look at it. I glanced at Taylor who was walking beside me. His head was faced up, watching the sky as well. It was completely dark, but I could still make out his chizzled features.

He's so beautiful..

Taylor stole a glance towards me, catching me staring at him absentmindedly. He simply smiled back, even giving out a small light chuckle. I darted my eyes down to the ground, my cheeks heating up in embarassment.

"You're beautiful." He murmured in a soft, hazy voice. I could feel a sudden spark rush up my body, creating goosebumps on my arms.

"Thank you." I replied, sure that I looked like a tomato even in the dark.

Dylan had decided to stay at Mitch's until his mom came to pick him up there. Taylor offered to walk me home but I told him to only walk me a few houses down from mine. He refused and said he wanted to make sure I got straight home, obviously knowing that I would have probably left somewhere else.

Taylor walked me to my front door, though I didn't find the purpose in that. I was only going to walk inside and not see him for the rest of the weekend.

"Thank you." I muttered, keeping my gaze glued to my feet.

I could feel his hand snake under my chin, picking up my face to meet his gaze. His dark eyes were soft, giving me a sense of a feeling that I had absolutely craved this whole week. But I knew what he was going to do next.

Please don't do this..

He slowly leaned close to me, ready to press his full lips onto mine. I sucked in my breath, not sure if I was completely ready for his next move.

Suddenly the front door swung open, leaving my dad with a half empty vodka bottle in his hand.

"Ava.." his words were slurring from the alcohol in his system. "Who's this.." his vodka breath could be obvious even from a mile away.

"Dad, this my friend." The smile on his face suddenly turned flat as I introduced him. "Taylor Andrews." I said as Taylor stretched out a hand to shake my dad's.

"Nice to meet you, Taylor. Thank you for walking my daughter home, but I think it's time for you to leave." He said, trying to put on a normal dad's concerned facade. I instantly darted him a glare.

Taylor began to shift, deciding wether to say any more words to me before he finally gave me a quick nod and scampering away.

Feeling repeated waves of anger and embarassment, I shoved past my dad, storming into the house and straight towards my room.

"Ava!" He shouted after me, making me jump just the slightest. "Why did you come home late?"

"You said I could." I retorted back to him.

"It's almost midnight. Normal teenagers realize 'late' is at least eleven." He slurred out, trying to maintain his stern expression.

I wasn't going to argue with my father while he was drunk. It was a total wase of time, he wasn't even going to remember this tomorrow morning.

I turned around again and slammed the door behind me. I sat on my bed, exhausted and wary as I pulled out my phone from my back pocket. I pulled up Taylor's contact name. He purposely put a bunch of heart emoji's next to his name, but I didn't bother to erase them.

A: I'm sorry about my dad.

T: It's cool, don't worry about it. I hope you had a great birthday though.

A: I did, thanks again for walking me home.

T: no problem, see you at school Ava

I started down at my phone, feeling tears rise up to my eyes. I roughly wiped them away, not wanting to cry tonight. There were too many tears that had been shed in these past couple of months. I took a deep breath as I picked myself up from my bed and dragged myself to my bathroom. I grabbed the blade I had hidden from underneath the sink from where I first found it.

Taylor had made me promise him to not harm myself anymore, after the last time. For a while, I did stop.

But tonight, I felt as if I needed it. I felt an aching for all of my negative emotions to release from my body as soon as the blade hit my skin.

This isn't the first time I broke a promise, I thought to myself as I brought the sharp blade to my forearm, taking in a sharp breath.