Wednesday: Afterparty Ups and Downs Who: Cian and Ava When: after the marina party Where: in the car, then Ava's house
The party at the marina had been pretty cool, Cian thought. He'd talked to a bunch of people, done the whole social thing, hung with Ava... although she'd disappeared for a while during the party. He and M had gone looking for her, even, but they hadn't found her. Finally he and his best friend had reconnected, and once the party was pretty much over, they'd ridden the ferry back to Eldritch. Now Cian was driving her home and wondering if he should ask why she was so quiet. She hadn't had much to say during the ferry ride either; they'd sat in his car listening to music instead of getting out to stand at one of the railings because it had gotten really chilly.
He sneaked another glance at her and ventured, "So, did you have a good time?"
Ava was still pissed. Fuming, actually, but she generally did a pretty good job at hiding her emotions. She knew she should have been more chatty with Cian once they met back up at the party, but all she could manage was to force a smile or laugh and hope the night would end soon so she could go home and bash her pillow against her bed for awhile. At Cian's question, she looked over at him curiously before blinking. "Oh! Yeah, sure. It was great. Good ice cream," she said lamely. "Did you?" The incident with Jessica aside, Ava did have fun, but unfortunately, that one incident was the only thing she could remember now.
Ava was usually chatty with him, and from her, he didn't mind it. He kind of got tired of people babbling at him because he had to deal with so much of it during the school year, but Ava wasn't a random classmate. In his opinion, she was acting like something was wrong even if she wasn't admitting it. He gave her one assessing glance and then turned his eyes back to the road. "Great," he replied. "Really good ice cream." His tone was dry, and it should be pretty clear that he knew something was up. He was just trying to decide if he should pry it out of her now or wait until they got to her house.
Twitching her lips to the side, she studied his profile before she turned to look out her window again. He didn't need to know the gory details of what had went on between Ava and Jessica, but she also knew that he knew she was pissy or upset about something. He just didn't push her, since he knew she would eventually blow up and tell him anyway. But god, what a fucking bitch! Just replaying the conversation in her head again had Ava's blood heating up and she fisted her hands in her lap before she turned to face Cian as a rush of angry words flooded from her lips. "Your ex-girlfriend? Is a massively huge psychopath, who needs to get spayed as to never ever breed and torment the world with little demons of her DNA!"
"That's where you disappeared to during the party," Cian said, almost as if to himself. He and M had been wondering how come they couldn't find her. Without realizing it, he drove a little faster, wanting to get to her house and stop the car so he could talk to her without having to continually look away so he could watch the road. He figured Jessica would be especially rage-y after their run-in at the drugstore, and he shuddered to think of what she might've said to Ava. "I think she's really a demon," he opined. "A psychotic, soul-sucking beast from the dark underworld." Well, it made as much sense to him as anything. "What happened?" he asked her.
Ava snorted, since she totally agreed with Cian in regards to Jessica being a demon. It made sense, right? How else could a girl her age be so evil? She fisted and unfisted her hands on her thighs without really realizing it, while she tried to go over the entire incident and pick out the parts she felt like she could tell Cian and which parts she ought to leave out - like the hair pulling. Though he might get a kick out of it, she wasn't particularly proud of her reaction to Jessica's taunting. "I was getting a hot dog," Ava began, "and she came up trying to pretend to be nervous and nice and everything. She said that you had hurt her bad, but she was sad that she and I hadn't become friends. Basically she said she was extending an olive branch to me and wanted to see if I wanted to hang out with her sometime. Seeing as how I can read minds, I saw right through that."
"How stupid does she think we are?" Cian asked rhetorically. She'd barely started her story and he was already feeling pissy. "Even if you couldn't read her mind, would she really think you'd believe she wanted to be friends with you? That doesn't even make sense!" Even if Ava hadn't picked Jessica's true intentions out of her mind right away, the second she'd told Cian that Jessica wanted to be friends, he would have instantly been disbelieving. As much shit as she'd talked about Ava while she and Cian had been dating, and she'd think--? Come on. Jess must really be getting desperate to try to get back at him. His jaw had tightened as he thought about it. "I hope you told her to get fucked... like she could be so lucky. What else?" He hadn't missed the fist-clenching, and that clued him in that Jessica had probably been especially heinous. Cian didn't hit girls, but damn was he tempted when it came to Jessica Delaney.
"Well, I called her out on her bullshit," Ava explained, feeling smugly proud about that through her fury. She folded her arms in a huff. "And then she went off on me... said I was a bitch and that you would get sick of me and drop me within a second, which was freaking stupid since I reminded her how long you and I had been friends. Basically, there was a lot of name calling." And Jessica calling Cian names, which had only fueled the fire boiling in Ava's blood. "She was pretty pissed off... she said she hoped you knocked me up, which made me realize that she was jealous. I realized that she thought you and I were... messing around," Ava's cheeks flushed, since saying it aloud to Cian felt weird when it should have been laughable, "and that's why you broke up with her. So I laughed and said she was pathetic for trying to find any reason you would break up with her that had nothing to do with her. I said you broke up with her for being a bitch, and uh, something about sucking at blow jobs... and then I told her to shove her olive branch up her ass." Ava smiled and looked at Cian. "That was fun."
"Fuck her sideways, man," Cian said, a tone of genuine incredulity in his voice. He shouldn't be surprised, really, but the level of venom that Jessica had directed toward Ava-- not just behind her back-- took him aback a little. "That's just--. Shit." He looked at the road as Ava conveyed Jessica's hopes that he'd knock her up. Well, okay, now that Ava'd said it, he didn't have to try not to mention it anymore, he guessed. "I broke up with her because she's a bitch," he said, then sneaked a sideways glance at her. "Also 'cause she's been jealous of you since me and her started dating. She'd never fucking shut up about how I spent too much time with you." He turned onto Ava's street, thankful that they were almost there. "And then she jumped all over me one day after school, saying she knew I was screwing you... ya know, cheating on her. And that was it." He snorted when she told him what she'd said to Jess. "Oh, man, I wish I could've seen that. That would've made it all worth it to see her face."
She had already figured out that Jessica had been jealous, but it took her by surprise to know that was why Cian had broken up with her. "Why didn't you tell me that?" she asked, looking ahead through the windshield toward her house. She could feel her cheeks burning from the thought of Jessica accusing Cian of cheating on her with Ava, and she wondered how Cian had responded to it - other than dumping the girl's skanky ass. And it made Jessica's animosity toward her make sense, sort of. Ava knew she should have been laughing about the whole thing, but it was difficult when the simple thought of sleeping with Cian made her blush and her throat dry up. "She got mad... I got mad. Er, more mad. It wasn't pretty. But I got away unscathed, more or less." Once their cat fight had been broken up. "You can do better," she said simply, leaning back against the seat and relaxing. "And at least now you know what to avoid when it comes to girls."
"I just, um--. I dunno," Cian said when Ava asked why he hadn't told her why he'd cut Jessica loose. "She made me so fuckin' mad, and you know how I get when I'm that mad." Why hadn't he? He told Ava almost everything. Maybe he'd thought it might be too weird for them to talk about how Jessica thought Cian and Ava were banging? Except he didn't think Jessica had actually believed that. She'd just wanted to drive a wedge between himself and Ava, and her plan had backfired, because he'd dumped her instead. "I know I can be a dick sometimes," he said after a few seconds of silence, "but I've never cheated on someone I was dating. Maybe it hurt my feelings that she thought I was that shitty." He pulled the car to a stop in front of Ava's house and parked it, then turned his head to look at her. "She didn't like, smack you or anything, right?" He tried to see if there were any red marks on her skin, but it was too dark even with a streetlight outside. If Jessica'd actually hit Ava or something, he'd have to find more ways to make her life a living hell. That was all there was to it.
"Right." Ava nodded, though she wasn't sure that was a valid reason for why he hadn't told her about it. But she wasn't going to push the issue and make things awkward. Jessica had believed, or accused Cian, of something most people would find laughable. But Jessica was totally psycho, so... Ava reached between her legs to grab her bag and lift it to set on her lap. "I know you wouldn't cheat on anyone, no matter how big a bitch they were. She could have at least chosen someone at school believable for you to cheat on, you know? But she's a moron, so I guess it makes sense that she would use me." She managed a faint smile before shaking her head. "Uh, no... no slapping. There was some hair pulling, and shoving... and I think we gave a couple of male gawkers some hard-ons before we were done." Okay, so why not tell him the truth? He would probably hear about it sooner or later. "I'm not hurt though, and neither is she."
Cian turned off the car and stuck his keys in his jeans pocket. "Dunno why you'd think you're not believable besides the fact that you're my best friend," he shrugged. She was talking like she was Elizabeth Canady, the chick in their class who was head of the Physics Club and had hair that was usually a helmet of grease. Nice girl and all, but not anyone Cian would have ever asked out. His eyebrows arched as she told him that there'd been hair pulling and shoving between herself and Jessica, and almost instantly he was out of the car and around to her side, pulling her door open. "C'mon," he insisted, a scowl having set in between his brows. "We're going inside, so I can see for myself you're not hurt." He almost never just dropped her off without coming into the house with her, even if only for a few minutes, but right now he felt particularly insistent on that. Any other chicks fighting like that, he might've thought it was funny, but right now he was completely unamused.
The fact that she was his best friend was the biggest reason. And the fact that Cian was popular, and hot, and could more or less run their school if he wanted to. And Ava... well, she wasn't popular, or a cheerleader, and she definitely didn't look like the Delaney twins. Ava began to respond, but blinked in surprise instead at the intensity of which he got out of his car. Even though she couldn't read his mind, she could tell by his body language that he wasn't happy. Sighing, Ava watched him round the car toward her door. She should have told him they wrestled half naked in the mud instead, since he would have probably enjoyed that more than hair pulling. Grabbing her bag, she got out of the car with a weary glance in his direction. Instead of protesting too vehemently, Ava dug into her bag for her house keys since her parents car wasn't in the drive. "I'm not hurt," Ava assured him. "I swear. She's a big pussy when it comes to fighting." Jessica had gotten a swing in, but it hadn't really connected. They hadn't been able to do much but try and yank each other's hair out before their fight was broken up.
Cian had completely forgotten the topic of why people from school might or might not believe he'd hook up with Ava. He could have a one-track mind as much as any guy, although right now that track seemed to consist of oh fuck no she didn't. If she has so much as a scratch or a bruise, I'm gonna--. He pushed the passenger door closed once Ava had gotten out and stalked toward her house, and the only words he spoke were, "Humor me." Jessica went too far. From the first time he'd started hanging out with her, he'd realized that, but some of the things she'd said or done had been funny, even when they'd been mean. Except when it came to Ava. They'd had their worst fights over Jessica snarking or complaining about his best friend, and somehow the thought that Jessica had laid her hands on her, even if just to pull hair, made him so pissed off that his stomach hurt. That? Was not allowed.
Ava rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything until she unlocked her front door and stepped inside. It wasn't as if she were totally innocent in the whole thing, and she knew that. She could have easily walked away when Jessica started bitching at her, but she had let herself get sucked in. "Come on," she told Cian, motioning for him to follow her up the stairs to her bedroom. Ava didn't really give him any time to protest, since she was already halfway up the stairs. Flipping on her bedroom light, she set her bag down and pushed off her shoes. She did a quick sweep of her room with her eyes and was thankful there weren't any bras or panties laying around. Her mom must have tidied up because her bed was made and her dressers shut without clothes hanging out of them. Turning toward Cian, she pushed her hair behind her ears with a small grin. "See? No bruises. And as far as I know, I still have most of my hair. Besides, I goaded her just as bad as she goaded me, you know? I could have just told her to fuck off and walked away, but I didn't."
Cian figured that Ava thought he was an overprotective jerk, but he couldn't help it. He'd always been insanely protective of her, and it only seemed to get worse as they got older. Once they reached her room and she turned toward him, he stepped closer, his expression mostly unreadable. He was still pissed-- not at her, of course-- and everything Liam had said to him was still forefront in his brain, and he felt completely strange right then. "If I know Jess, she probably gave you a lot of shit," he said, reaching for her chin and turning her face from one side to the other with an odd gentleness that seemed out of place with his long, stocky fingers. "Can't walk away every time." Okay, she wasn't scratched or bruised, he saw, and his jaw untensed a little. Next his fingers went to her head to gently prod, as if to see if she was telling him the truth about having most of her hair and not having tender spots where any had been yanked out.
Deep down, Ava didn't mind that he was overprotective. It was kind of nice actually, despite her eye rolling and huffing. She was protective of him too, which was why she had gotten into that stupid cat fight with Jessica in the first place. "She did," Ava said, allowing him to move her face from side to side to check for marks. She ignored the butterflies in her stomach that came with him touching her, since she'd grown quite used to them lately and fidgeting around and blushing was only going to put her in an awkward position. "But I gave her crap too. Not that I'm saying it was all my fault or anything, since she was trying to be nice while calling me a bitch in her head so... I don't know. I shouldn't have sunk to her level." Ava licked her lips and winced when he pressed against a particularly sore spot on her scalp. Jessica was a puny little blonde, but she knew how to yank hair. "It just... when she started bitching about you, it was hard to control myself."
The wince darkened Cian's intent expression a little more, but he didn't react to it beyond that. He just carefully pushed her hair back where he'd rumpled it checking her head and let go of her to sit down on the end of her bed. He was so not happy that Jessica'd done that, but he was glad Ava'd done her best to fight back. That was all you could do when dealing with someone like Jessica. "She's gonna bitch about me from now 'til the end of time," he said matter of factly. "Just try not to talk to her. She's gonna hate you just because you're friends with me." It felt stupid and petty, but Cian knew it to be the truth. Jessica would never forgive him, and she'd never forgive Ava for (as she saw it) coming between them. He tried to calm himself a little, but he couldn't help feeling disturbed. He didn't like seeing Ava get hurt, no matter how mildly, because Jessica hated him, and he knew that was exactly what it had been.
"I don't go out of my way to talk to her anyway," Ava said dryly. She walked over to flop down beside him on her bed and fling herself back until she was staring up at the ceiling, one arm above her head and the other resting against her stomach. "I don't care if she hates me, but she's an idiot if she thinks she's going to try and hurt you through me. Eff that. I think she needs to just get over it and move on already. All she has to do is snap her fingers and she'll have another pussy whipped boy drooling at her feet in no time." Ava shifted her eyes from the ceiling to Cian. "Don't be mad about it. I think I held my own, I fought back and it's over now. I doubt it's going to be the last time I try to beat one of your ex-girlfriend's face in for badmouthing you," she teased. "Can we talk about something else? If I hear that skank's name one more time, I may vomit."
Cian snorted when she said that Jessica needed to find another pussy whipped drooling boy. "That'd be West," he said dryly. See, in his opinion, Jessica should have handled him and Ava the way he'd handled her and West, by just being chill. He absolutely knew that West hadn't been any kind of threat to him while he'd been dating Jess, and he'd never mentioned the guy and the fact that he would have been writing love poems to the girl and feeding her grapes if they'd been back in Tudor England instead of Oregon in the 2000s. Not that he thought Ava was into him the way he was sure West was into Jessica, but anyway. Same principle applied. He sighed and lowered himself down onto his back on the bed next to her when she asked if they could talk about something else. "No vomiting, 'cause that'd be icky." He should know; Ava'd had the misfortune of being at his house the previous Christmas break when he'd had a little too much MD 20/20. It hadn't been pretty. "We can talk about how cool Vapor'll be even if we don't need those fake IDs." So he was bummed about that, so what?
"Pfft. West could do better too... he's hot." She grinned and looked over at Cian. It was too bad the guy was so far up Jessica's butt that he didn't notice other girls. He wasn't a dick either, just... totally misled and blind. At least from what she could read in his mind when they were in class together. She rolled onto her side and rested her head against her palm to look at him, using her free hand to tug teasingly at the material of his shirt. "You're disappointed that you won't be able to use your fake ID, aren't you?" Breaking the law was more exciting than just being able to walk in without facing any trouble, apparently. "We can always use them for something else, you know. Like trying to buy beer, or going to a real club that won't let in underage teenagers. You're having a party next weekend, so you could get your own booze instead of depending on your older friends."
Cian turned his head and smirked at Ava when she tugged on his shirt. She knew him so well. "Yeah, I kinda am. Takes all the suspense out of whether they'll let us in or not." He wondered how they were going to manage that at the bar, having to check everyone's IDs so carefully. Hey, not his problem. "We definitely have to use them somewhere else, 'cause they're kickass. You look 21 in that picture, and I totally look older than that." The dude had done a terrific job. "I'll start seeing what clubs I can find up the coast. We've got all summer to wreak havoc." That thought made him happy. No school, no reading, no seeing Jess and her minions every day in the halls, lots of time to hang out with Ava and plot mischief. Good times. He idly reached for her fingers on the pretense of stopping her from tugging on his shirt. "Liam said he'd get me some, but he, uh... might have other stuff to do. Who knows?" He'd offered and then reneged when the two of them had gotten pissy, so it was good to have a backup plan in place.
"I look 21 in a picture, but I don't think I look 21. I guess we'll have to see if people care more about what the ID says more than anything else." She grinned when he caught her fingers to keep from picking at his shirt, but she didn't pull her hand back either. Physical affection wasn't anything new to them, after all, but maybe she enjoyed it a little more now than she used to. She did, however, blush when he mentioned Liam's name. She hadn't thought about him going to Cian's party, but it made sense given they were friends. Would it be weird? She doubted it. It wasn't like she was dating the guy or anything. "So you talked to him recently?" Ava asked, hoping her voice sounded casual and even. She didn't need to be squeaking like a mouse or anything, but she figured if Liam had told Cian anything he shouldn't have, Cian probably would have been more twitchy and awkward with her than acting like everything was totally normal.
Cian rolled onto his side too, pillowing his free arm under his head, keeping his gaze on their linked fingers. He wanted to pretend he hadn't noticed she was blushing, because if he noticed, he'd have to ask her about it, and he knew she wouldn't want to answer. Liam? Had spilled so many things to Cian, although fortunately not the one tidbit that would have sent him through the roof. That was probably why he was able to be nonchalant about her question. "Yeah. Hung out with him the other day for a while." He really needed to talk to the guy, he knew. He was just afraid Liam would start ragging on him about things again and get him pissed off, and he really hated that. The two of them had always gotten along so well, but the thought of Liam hanging around Ava macking on her just burned him up. He was like eight years older, and Cian couldn't help it. That didn't sit well. He tried to keep his expression unruffled as he traced a line over the back of Ava's hand and around her wrist.
She waited to see if he had anymore to say, but apparently that was the extent of it. Maybe he and Liam had just hung out like guys, without talking about her at all. Which meant Liam had thankfully kept his promise and kept his mouth shut. Ava's gaze dropped to his fingers, which were moving over her hand. She chewed semi-nervously on the bottom of her lip. But then she realized that Cian wasn't her boyfriend, and they had never been anything more than friends, at any time. And he had dated a bunch of girls since they became friends anyway, hadn't he? What she had told Liam was the absolute truth. Cian was her best friend, and that was all. So why did she have to be so flaily about this stuff in front of him? She watched Cian's finger trace a pattern against her wrist, which sort of reminded her of when she wrote her name on his back with sunblock. She wondered if he had been sunbathing at all since then. "Did he tell you I asked him out?" Ava asked nonchalantly, not finding any real courage to actually look at Cian in the face. It might be weird for him, since Liam was his friend, rather than some random guy he didn't know.
Cian's fingers froze in place, resting lightly on the inside of her wrist, and he knew better than to look up. He was afraid of what Ava might see in his expression if he did. What Liam had told him was that he was taking Ava out, not that she'd asked him. Just the thought that she'd asked him instead of the other way around sent his insides plummeting. He'd been feeling mellow, coming down from his anger about Jessica pulling Ava's hair, and now this news made him feel almost cold, as if he'd had a shock. "No," he said. He could feel his jaw tightening and he made a conscious effort to relax it. He mentally scrambled for a few seconds for something else to say, because it seemed important not to let her know how upset he felt about this. "Why would you do that? He's ancient." He didn't think his voice sounded normal, but it was the best he could do. He expected Liam to hit on girls, because that was just him. But Ava asked him? He was having trouble getting his brain around that one.
Okay, so he wasn't happy about it, despite how he tried to sound casual. She knew that tone of voice, because she had done it herself with him plenty of times. Plus, he wasn't looking at her either. But Ava was figuring he was annoyed because Liam was his friend - and yes, he was older than she was. Rolling her eyes, Ava shook her head slightly. "He's not ancient, he's only twenty five. And if some hot, older girl was flirting with you and wanted to take you out, are you telling me you would say no because she was 'too old' for you?" Ava highly doubted it. She was betting he would be drooling all over said hot, older girl. "I just asked him to a movie, and he suggested going out to eat instead. It's not like I'm marrying the guy. It's just... you know, summer and everything. If a guy is going to show interest in me, why wouldn't I do something about it?" She realized that made no sense for someone who knew her better than she knew herself. Ava didn't ask boys out, and she rarely flirted with them either. She never really did the 'boyfriend' thing. But whatever, why did everyone else get to experience summer flings but her? Ava paused. "I don't want you to be pissy about it. It's really not a big deal at all." At least she didn't think it was. For all she knew, she'd go out with Liam on Saturday and that would be the first and last date.
Only twenty five, and you're seventeen. Cian couldn't say it. He wasn't, like, her dad. Liam had better have been telling him the truth when he'd said he didn't have any intentions toward Ava. If he knew what was good for him, he'd better. "Dunno," he said in answer to her question. "That depends. I might, I might not." His fingers started moving again, tracing random patterns on the inside of her forearm. He had to do something. If he snatched his hand away, she'd know for sure that he was annoyed instead of just suspecting he was. He chewed on the inside of his lip, struggling for words in a way he almost never did with Ava. He should just leave... except if he did, she'd know something was up too. "Okay," he said when she told him it wasn't a big deal. "I'm not pissy." He halfway expected for God to send lightning down to burn him to a crisp, because he was completely lying, but what else was he supposed to do? He couldn't tell Ava who she should go out with. This was kind of unprecedented anyway, since well... she didn't date.
"God, you're such a bad liar," Ava mumbled. She moved the arm currently holding up her head down onto the bed and rested her head on it the way he was. She knew he would be all for some hot, older chick coming onto him, if the situation ever presented himself. So the double standard sort of bothered her, but what could she do except snipe and potentially start an argument she didn't want to have? "I thought you'd be all ecstatic and everything, since this clearly means I'm not a lesbian." It was a lame joke, but she wanted to lighten the mood. "Or maybe that's why you're upset?" She smiled and pulled her arm back from his drifting fingers to snatch his hand in hers tightly. "Don't you think it's kind of pathetic that I've never been on a real date before?"
Cian didn't dispute her like he might've ordinarily, because right now he was a bad liar. Usually he could be smoother, cover up better, but she'd really thrown him for a loop by telling him she'd asked Liam out instead of vice versa. "I never thought you were a lez, Ava," he said dryly. Man, his reactions were all off, and he could already tell that he wasn't going to be good for shit until he'd slept it off, or something. He needed to figure out a way to deal with this, because he didn't want to get all weird. Ava had as much of a right to date as he did. Of course... that didn't mean he had to like it, right? He hoped not, because he didn't like it at all, for reasons he didn't want to examine too closely. "Pathetic? Nah. Might be pathetic if you were like Liz Canady." He shouldn't have to explain that remark. Nice girl, but yeah, she kind of looked like the ass end of a diesel truck when you got up close to her. He let her claim his hand and sneaked a glance at her, although he didn't look for too long before glancing back down. Yeah, she was pretty all right, and if she didn't date it was because she'd picked too many dumb things out of guys' minds to be able to see them as potential dates.
"Aw, Liz is really nice," Ava protested, though she could admit the girl wasn't, er, very hygienic. She knew something about Cian was off, but she wasn't sure what it was, and she knew trying to pry it out of him wouldn't help. He would either get quiet, or defensive, and she would rather he just tell her when he felt comfortable enough to do so. For a second, she wondered if he was jealous, but that thought was quickly overtaken by a loud snort of disbelief in her head that reminded her way too much of Jessica laughing at her earlier. "It's just hard," she explained, glancing down at their hands, where she laced their fingers together. "Because a lot of guys around my age are jerks... I mean, what I can hear in their minds. They'll be nice to my face, but they'll be thinking something else. Or they just want to bang me or something. So... I don't know, hearing really sweet things was just a nice change of pace, even if it came from someone who I know is too old for me. I know it's not going to go anywhere. I mean, the guy has tons of girls he's chatting up, you know? I'm not stupid." Liam had admitted he kissed some girl the night before he had kissed Ava after all. "I just want to go on a date for once, and have some guy pay attention to me." Ava's cheeks flushed before she smiled. "God, that sounds lame."
"She's nice," Cian agreed, "but it'd be social suicide to date her." Beyond the more obvious fact that the average person couldn't get past the grease helmet even if they'd wanted to. He listened to what she was saying, his eyes also down on their linked hands; her palm felt so warm against his, and their fingers fit perfectly. He started to chew at the inside of his lip again, holding back a sigh. She was breaking his heart, over here, and for a few seconds he flashed on what Liam had said about him being an idiot and completely agreed. Yeah, she deserved all that, the sweet words and someone paying special attention to her, because she was awesome. His eyes flickered up to her face, her downcast eyes, the blush, and he let them linger there since she wasn't looking at him. "It's not lame," he murmured, his voice very soft. "There's nothing wrong with wanting that."
That was the problem she had with their school. Social suicide. She thought people worried way too much about it. It couldn't just be about who you liked and who you didn't, it had to be about your social status. That little thought had her wrinkling her nose before she sighed and smiled at Cian. "Don't worry... I think once Saturday afternoon is over, I'll be all yours again. We'll go to Vapor, and I'll even dance with you more than once." She nudged his foot with her own. "And I'm gonna stay the night too, remember? We'll have fun." Ava hadn't meant to get so cheesy and lame on him, but she just wanted him to understand it rather than feeling weird about it.
Oops, she'd caught him staring at her. It seemed to be okay though, because she smiled at him and sounded as chipper as ever when she spoke. "No worries," he said, forcing his voice into a more mellow tone. "We're going to have a great time... until you get sick of me after going to Vapor and staying over." He wasn't horribly worried. So far as he knew, she'd never gotten sick of him before. He stuck his foot between her calves after she'd nudged him and pulled her top leg toward him, hoping that her mom and dad wouldn't come upstairs without them hearing. It had happened before, and although they generally left the door open, he could only imagine what this might look like to, well... a parent. The two of them lying on Ava's bed, holding hands and playing footsie? He hadn't really thought about it that way so much until the other day when Liam had opened his big mouth.
She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'd never get sick of you." According to Jessica, Cian would get sick of Ava first. But what did that puny little witch know? "I'd make you spend every second with me if I didn't think that would probably drive you completely nuts." Ava didn't worry too much about her parents coming home, since nothing inappropriate was going on. And if anything, if her mom passed by and saw, she would probably want to take a picture. Her dad, however... well, Ava knew her dad liked Cian, but according to her dad's brain, Cian still had a 'penis' which he apparently thought was bad news. Trying to handle all of Jenny's boyfriends had made him paranoid it seemed. "Promise me though, if we see Jessica at Vapor, you won't like, try to say anything to her?" She knew Cian was pissed about what happened, but she didn't want him trying to tell Jessica off for it. Ava was already on Jessica's shit list for life, so Ava saw no reason to make it any worse.
"Good, I'm gonna remind you you said that next time I get some really lame idea and insist you go along with me, or when I want us to go swimming in the pool at 2 in the morning," Cian said, smirking back at her. She was especially good at indulging him in his wild ideas, and he loved that about her. They didn't all turn out that well, but hey, that wasn't the point! When she mentioned Jessica again, his calf stilled between hers and his smile faded somewhat. "I can promise to try," he said, his tone doubtful. "If she gets up in my face with her bitchness and her skankness, I can't guarantee what I'll say to her." Cian had a truly evil temper, and Ava would know that better than just about anyone. There were times when something provoked him and he just lost it, and somebody like Jessica was highly likely to cause that to happen.
Her eyes widened with excitement. "Swimming in the middle of the night would be fun. As long as you're not stoned or drunk or anything." It would probably be even more fun with all the pool side lights off too. "Or we could sneak into the community pool after hours and jump off the high dive in the the dark." While Ava wasn't a fan of getting caught or in trouble, she did like pushing boundaries a bit, just to see if she could do it. Since he stopped moving his foot against hers, she moved hers against his instead. Ava grinned, not wanting him to get back into his black Jessica induced mood. "Just try not to get her to the point where she's going for your hair. I'm sure you'll have spent plenty of time making it look perfect beforehand... don't let her ruin it." Though if Jessica got in Cian's face, Ava might have to step up again too and start kicking instead of yanking hair.
"We'll do that, then," Cian said with a nod. "On a different night from when we get stoned." He thought it was going to be hilarious to see Ava high, and he couldn't wait. So it was fun to corrupt his more-innocent best friend, so what? He'd rather she get corrupted with him than someone else. "Community pool might be a good challenge if we can find a cloudy, really warm night." Or they could stay in town and slip up to Stonehenge and swim in the creek back there, but it was more fun to do that with a group. It was fucking creepy up there sometimes, even if Cian wouldn't have admitted it out loud. He could think it! He chuckled when she said not to let Jessica the hair-puller ruin his hair. "My hair's too short for it to take much time to fix," he pointed out. "Not like yours."
Yeah, the last thing they needed was to get high and go swimming. That was a mistake just waiting to happen. "We have all summer to do whatever we want," she said with a happy little sigh. She wasn't missing school at all. Glancing up at his hair, Ava laughed. "Just make sure you have some hair gel on you, right? Besides, all I have to do is put my hair in a ponytail if I get it all messed up. Unless she tries to light my hair on fire or something. With any luck we'll just be able to avoid her Saturday night. I'm not going to let her ruin my night again." Ava squeezed his hand.
"I can do the hair gel," Cian said, rolling his eyes a little. "I can borrow some from my dad." Gel wasn't something he'd ever keep in his bathroom, for damn sure. "What, you think if I gel it, her fingers'll slip out if she tries to pull it?" He'd gotten past his pique about Jessica for the moment and was willing to be amused. "We'll have to come up with some slick tricks to get away from them, 'cause you know all three of 'em will be there." He meant Jordan and Chrissy as well as Jess by all three. He slipped his leg out from between hers and hooked his ankle over the top of both of hers. How much time over the years had they spent lying on one or the other of their beds, play wrestling or just holding hands like this? There was no way to even count them up, he thought.
"I like your hair better without the gel," she said. She would have reached up to touch it but her hand was still in his. Ava twitched her lips and looked upward for a moment. "We'll just look for any blonde hair and steer clear. I wish they made Delaney repellent spray. I would totally invest in that." Ava didn't have any other friends she felt this comfortable with. None she would have allowed to lay in her bed like this with her. Sighing, she then smiled at him and relaxed again, pulling her ankle from between his to lay it back on top in a playful show of dominance. "I'm so glad you woke up and dumped her butt." As cheesy as it was to say, she couldn't help it. "Thanks for like.... not letting her talk you into ditching me. I know how much you liked her."
Cian snickered at her mention of Delaney repellent. "Like Black Flag, but it'd have to be a lot stronger and more poisonous. Those Delaney bitches're like cockroaches. Nothing gets rid of them." He was still pissed enough at Jessica to be fine with talking about her like that, and even about Jordan and Chrissy, who hadn't done anything to him personally. They would if they got the chance, he knew. Her teasing attempts at domination made him smirk, and he shifted his weight, rising up on one elbow and scooting closer to her, bending his knee and using it to pin down her legs at the knee. "Whatcha gonna do now?" he wanted to know. Of course, if she protested, he'd let her up in an instant.
"C'mon," he said when she made mention of him ditching her. "You're kidding, right? The day I ditch you for any reason'll be the day I take roses and a diamond ring over to Jessica's to get her to go out with me again." He mock-shuddered. "Ew, the thought makes me wanna puke." There was no amount of hotness that was worth putting up with Jessica's brand of bullshit.
"If you ever ever even think about asking Jessica Delaney out again, I'm going to... well, I'll have to take drastic measures, and do something to hinder you. Something that has to do with your private time area." Of course it sounded like she was kidding, but Ava really wasn't. If Cian ever wanted Jessica again, Ava knew it would be because of some magic, or curse. He was too smart to make the same mistake twice. Plus, she wasn't sure her closeted jealous streak could take it. It was bad enough watching them date the first go around. Torture, actually. But no one knew that but herself. Ava had always played the supportive best friend, even when she didn't necessarily like it. Glancing down at his knee resting over hers, Ava arched an eyebrow and smirked. "You really don't want to challenge me, Andersen. You should know I'm going to win every time." She knew what to do to get him to beg for mercy, after all. "All it takes is about... oh, I don't know, three swift movements and you'll be begging, no... crying like a little girl for me to stop."
Cian snorted. "If I ever ask Jessica out again, I'll chop off my dick myself." And that was incredibly not likely to happen, thus the unlikelihood of him wanting to get with Jess again. The reason why he hadn't gone out since he'd dumped Jessica certainly wasn't that he couldn't get a date. He just... didn't want to. Sometimes, dating could be a lot of fucking trouble, and he was in the mood to be chill and enjoy the summer, hang with Ava a lot... okay, yeah, get too friendly with his hand on occasion. He'd live. His own eyebrows arched when Ava told him he'd better not challenge her, that she'd win every time. "You wouldn't," he asserted, taking her hand that he was still holding and very gently moving it behind her back. He hoped she wouldn't, because when he glanced down to take in the positioning of their legs, he saw that he was in a vulnerable spot. He gave her his best puppy dog eyes, something that probably looked pretty silly with the way his broad-shouldered frame loomed over her so he could hold her hand in place.
She snickered and knew that Cian would probably rather be sexless for the summer than get back with Jessica. Which made Ava feel pretty awesome, actually. Even if Cian was her best friend, it still felt great to know he had chosen her over his girlfriend. She wanted to get in Jessica's face and say 'ha!'. It was a big victory... for Ava anyway. Which was probably sad, but whatever. Instead of resisting him, Ava let Cian move her hand back. She still had another free one, she was just laying on it. "I totally would. You might think you're mister big jock man, but I know your weak spots." Most of the time, all she had to do was poke him in the side and he was twisting away from her, seeing as he was more ticklish than Elmo. "And don't you dare look at me like that. That might work with your airhead fangirls, but it won't work with me." Ava glanced down between them, before looking at him expectantly. "So are you going to test me, or what?"
"Mister big jock man?" Cian repeated, and he couldn't help but laugh. Some of the things she came up with were hysterical. Laughing certainly ruined the puppy dog eyes effect, anyway. In his opinion, it was completely not fair that Ava wasn't ticklish, or at least not as much so as he was. He hadn't gotten the chance to figure it out all that much because yeah, if she barely poked one of his sides, he instantly went on the defense, because he was crazy ticklish. He leaned over her a little more. "No, no, the airhead fangirls don't go for that look so much. They like the sexy look a lot better." Of course, with the guys on the team Cian accepted the from-afar adoration of various dingbat girls as his due. Only Ava knew how dumb he really thought they were, and they joked about it frequently. Hell, you'd think he was RPatz himself sometimes the way they behaved. "If I test you, are you going to hurt me?" he asked, trying to get some clue if she planned to knee his nuts or just try to tickle him until he fell off the bed.
"So you pull the smoldering, broody look for the girls then? Is that what they call sexy these days?" Ava asked, amused at the thought of Cian doing any kind of look for dates. He was pretty damn good at them, although Ava tended to know better. Sometimes she found it pretty hilarious, if she was around to see him work his 'magic' on whichever girl he was into that week. Sometimes it annoyed her. Really, it all depended on her mood. Ava knew if she ever tried half the crap he did for a date, she would end up looking like an awkward idiot. She didn't even know how to bat her eyelashes properly. "I don't want to hurt you," she said slyly. "But I guess it all depends on how lucky you feel. Since all I have to do is jerk my knee a certain way, I could crush your balls... or if I'm feeling more generous, I could just pretend to knee your nuts so you shift to protect your goods, and while you do that, I could jump on you and tickle you until you pee yourself. Either way, I win." Ava rested comfortably on her bed with a smile. "As always, it's your choice."
This was way too much fun, Cian thought. Somehow, he never had quite as much fun with anyone else as he did with Ava, even when they were just hanging around and being foolish. "Broody's sexy to some girls," he said. "Makes 'em think they could be the ones to bring you out of it. I dunno." Who could truly figure out what was in the mind of a girl? It wasn't the easiest thing to do. He smirked at her as she laid out his options. "Let's think about this. We're on your bed," he pointed out. "Which means if you crush my balls and I puke, or if you tickle me and make me pee my pants, they're both... on your bed." He pouted, trying to make it look like a genuine shift of expression. "It's so not fair that there's nothing guys can do to girls that'll effect 'em like a guy getting his nuts kneed," he said. "You've got an extra ace in the hole right there, not having those extra bits. Bet it's easier getting dressed in the morning, too." He'd been trying to shift around a little as he talked, getting ready for whatever attack was going to ensue. "I don't like either of those choices," he told her finally.
"That's what the laundry is for," Ava pointed out. "I've seen you puke before. And while I would rather you not pee on my bed, it might be worth it just to see you suffer that particular humiliation." She wouldn't really go so far as to make him puke or pee, but it was pretty funny that he was moving about on the bed to try and shift himself out of position of getting hurt. Ava simply smiled innocently, deciding not to move too abruptly for fear he would fling himself off her bed or something. "See, guys have to deal with physical pain that girls bring on them because they don't react to emotional pain. And since guys can't physically hurt girls in the same way, unless they're total assholes, they emotionally hurt them instead. And I think sometimes that pain is just as bad as a knee in the nutsack." Ava arched her eyebrow. "Understand? But since you don't like either choice, I'll let you off the hook if you let me go without trying anything yourself."
"You're so mean," Cian said, but it was pretty clear that he didn't really mean it. His tone sounded affectionate, even, and his dark eyes were warm as he gazed at her. "'S one of the things I like about you, Connelly... you don't bend." She could give back as good as she gave, at least when it came to him. That was refreshing after so much time spent dealing with the hangers-on, the social climbers, the fangirls. Most people would tell him he was full of shit if he said being popular was kind of a burden, but it could be. There was always the front to put on for most people. "Guys do too react to emotional pain," he said, frowning a little. "We just don't show it nearly as much. I get what you're saying, though." Carefully, he moved his knee off of her legs. "Truce? I could go for a truce. On the count of three, we both let go, alright?" He wasn't sure if he trusted her or not, but as long as he could avoid a knee to the nuts, he figured he could tolerate whatever else she might do. "Uno, dos, tres." He let go of her hand that he'd been holding behind her back and leaned away from her.
"Can't bend when I have a friend like you," Ava countered. "And I think guys show emotional pain... sure, they just get jerky and take it out on other people to hide it." Which she was sure some girls did too, but guys moreso. After a moment, Ava nodded. 'Okay, truce... I promise I won't kick you in the nuts." She smiled as he counted in Spanish and when he released her, she took her hand back and pushed herself up to sit. She thought about diving for him, but that could lead to all kinds of badness, at least for him, so Ava resisted. "You know, with all the stuff I know about you, I'm surprised I don't blackmail you more. I wouldn't have enough fingers to count all the people who would love to know how ticklish you are." Sadly, that was one of the jobs of the best friend - to keep all secrets just that - secret. "Or what kind of sensitive, teddy bearish kind of guy hides underneath that jock facade." Just because she could, she reached over to poke him in the chest. "You can like, never ever make me mad, you know?"
Cian was still wary after she sat up, because Ava could be unpredictable. He looked cool and casual, though, his head propped on one hand and one ankle crossed over the other as he reclined on his side. "You'd blackmail your best friend?" he asked her. "Best friends are supposed to be exempt from blackmail." Well, it made sense to him. When she poked him, he poked back at her, although not in the chest; his soft jab hit her mid-abdomen. He rolled his eyes a little, because he didn't think he was all that sensitive and definitely not teddy-bearish. More of a moody asshole sometimes, but sensitive sounded better, he supposed. "Oh, believe me, I live in terror of making you mad. No telling what you might decide to do to me." Sure, they got a little pissy with each other sometimes, but nothing like the no-holds-barred kind of fights Cian had with other people.
She swatted his hand away, since what girl wanted to be poked in the tummy? Unless she had rock hard abs which Ava totally didn't have. "I wouldn't blackmail you, I'm just saying I could." Ava smiled innocently. "Best friends don't blackmail. And you already know what I could do to you if you make me mad... we discussed two potential consequences just a few minutes ago." She was feeling ten times better than she had been when they left the marina party. The incident with Jessica was gone from her memory already, though she was sure it would come back full force and piss her off again once Cian left. With a sigh, Ava flopped back down beside him on her stomach, resting her head on her folded arms. "Do you wanna stay for dinner or something? Mom said she was going to make lasagna." It was another one of Ava's attempts to keep Cian to herself for as long as she could. She wasn't a big fan of being alone, and when she wasn't, she was surrounded by people's thoughts and secrets. Plus, Cian was fun and she never liked spending time with anyone else as much as she did with him.
"You can never be my enemy," Cian joked, chuckling. "You know way too much about me." She seemed to be fine now, just like always, and Cian felt better, too. Nobody got to hurt Ava, particularly not his skank of an ex-girlfriend. "Your mom's making lasagna this late, really?" he asked, a little surprised. It had to be after nine. "I never turn down your mom's lasagna no matter what time it is." Ava would know that already, though; they both had their favorite dishes that each other's moms cooked. Cian's mom hadn't cooked at all this week, as busy as she was getting things wrapped up at work and getting ready for her trip. He could always find something to stuff into his bottomless pit, so it wasn't really a problem. He'd had a burger and ice cream at the marina party and he could definitely see eating again in the near future. He was fine with hanging out here until Ava's dad suggested, whether by word or by blatant hint, that he go home.
"Okay, so she's reheating the leftover lasagna," Ava said with a sheepish smile. "Okay, so she told me to reheat it when I got hungry. I thought if I made it sound like a freshly cooked meal, it would entice you to stay more and by the time you figured out otherwise, it'd be too late." Given her parents were still out, though she was sure they would be home any minute now. "Come on." She patted his hip and climbed off her bed. She had eaten too, but seeing Jessica had ruined her appetite back then. Now it was back in full force. "I think I have junk food snack cakes you can stuff your face with too, if you want." They always said a woman's way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Maybe that was why she constantly tried to shove food in his mouth.
"Dude!" Cian exclaimed, brightening. "That lasagna's one of the things that's even better reheated." He figured all the spices and whatever had the chance to settle in that way. He smiled at her. "If there's breadsticks too, that's even better." He hauled himself off the bed when Ava got up, fully prepared to be enticed with delicious Italian food. Not that anyone ever had to twist his arm to get him to hang out with his best friend, but he found it incredibly cute that Ava thought she had to sometimes. There were times when he wasn't sure she knew how much she meant to him even after six years. "Can I get the chocolate syrup out of the fridge and squirt some into my mouth if I don't touch it with my lips?" he asked mischievously when she mentioned dessert.
Ava rolled her eyes playfully before heading out into the hallway and crooking a finger at him to get him to join her. "I'll heat up some breadsticks, and yes, if you want chocolate syrup, go for it. I do that with the RediWhip all the time." Though she would never ever admit that to her mom, since Ava knew she'd get lectured for being unsanitary or something. "There's cherry pie she made yesterday too, so lots of crap to eat and get sick off of!" She knew he had eaten quite a bit at the marina, but boys could generally eat a hell of a lot more than Ava could.
Cian could eat a ton, really. It was lucky for him that he had a good metabolism and played sports for most of the year. "Perfect," he said, following Ava out of the room willingly. "You never have to worry about having too many leftovers when I'm around." Ava's parents would come home and find Ava and Cian-- well, okay, mostly Cian-- eating them out of house and home, but it wasn't anything they'd never seen before. It was an awesome way to end the evening in his opinion, eating a huge meal this late at night. Wasn't summer great?