holding more emotion than her words. “I hated every second you were gone, you creep. Don’t do that again.”
“Me too.”
“Never again.”
I sigh, lean against her porch railing and put her back on her feet. “How are we going to do that?”
She slaps my chest. “I don’t know, Connor! Shrink me and put me in your pocket. Duh!”
I bite back a smile. “What about your mom?”
“Shrink her, too.”
Before I can respond, her front door opens, just a tad, and Miss D whispers, “MVP! MVP! MVP!”
Ava laughs. “She’s been waiting for you.”
Taking Ava’s hand, I lead her into her own house and stand in front of Miss D, my smile matching hers. I hadn’t realized I’d missed her, too, while I was gone, but here I am… glad to be back in the presence of two of the most important girls in my life. “Are you sick of people telling you how proud they are of you?” she asks.
I shrug. “I could always do with one more.”
“Oh, Connor, six-six, I’m so proud of you!” She steps forward, taking me in her embrace, and my arms go around her. One second. Two. And I don’t let go when she starts to pull away. I think of the hug my own mother gave me. How it was physically painful to even think about holding her like this. How I couldn’t even lift my arms when it was offered…
I look over Miss D’s head to see Trevor watching us, a frown tugging on his lips. When he notices me watching, he stands taller, plasters on a fake smile. “You did good, man.”
I finally release Miss D, but speak to him, “Thanks.” If he’s genuinely salty about Miss D’s affection toward me, then I’ll have to talk to him about it. I turn to Ava; she’s looking at her mom the same way Trevor was.
“I’m going to go to bed now,” Miss D announces.
“I’ll get all your stuff ready,” Ava says, her voice barely a whisper. She pats my arm as she passes. “I’ll meet you in my room?”
I glance at Trevor, but he’s looking down at his feet. I say, “Yeah, sure.”
Something’s different, off; I can feel it in my bones, or maybe it’s all in my head because nothing’s been clear for days now.
I get in Ava’s room, leave the door ajar, and sit on the edge of the bed, my phone burning a hole in my pocket. I take it out, put it on her nightstand. I’d sent my mother a text. Just one. Telling her I needed time. I haven’t heard from her since.
On the other side of the door, I can hear Ava and Trevor whispering loudly, a heated exchange, and my eyes narrow when I try to listen harder. “You’re not calling him!” Ava whispers.
“We need to do something if we want—”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Ava cuts in. “Just let me have tonight, okay?”
“Fine.”
When Ava steps foot in her room, she’s smiling, but it’s not the smile she greeted me with. It’s not real. It’s not Ava. “Are you ready to get your nudes now?” she asks, sitting next to me.
“I heard you and Trevor arguing just now. What’s going on?”
“We weren’t arguing,” she murmurs, watching her legs kick back and forth.
“It sounded like an argument.”
She looks up at me now. “Did it?”
I lick my lips, try to find a response, but I’m tired, and the last thing I want is to fight her on this. She shifts her hair to the side, revealing her neck, and I know what she wants. I press my lips there, moaning when her hand finds my hair. Her head shifts so our mouths meet, and she pushes on my shoulder, lowering me to my back, and everything else fades when I get lost in her touch, in her taste, in the way she feels naked, her body sliding against mine. The world is silent, so are the raging thoughts that had been plaguing my mind. It’s just her and me, and her whispered, “I love you so much, Connor. Forever.”
When it’s over, she lies in my arms, her head on my chest. “So that’s what people mean when they say making love,” she muses, a single finger running up the length of my torso.
“I guess so,” I agree, keeping my voice low, so we don’t wake the rest of the house.
She leans up on her elbow and looks down at me. “Connor?”
“Yeah?” I reply, holding her hair away from her face so