Epilogue
As I sat in my truck, staring at the townhouse in front of me, I reflected on the past few months. The first time pulling up to this building, my anxiety roiled inside me, for so many reasons. Throughout the semester, I had my ups and downs. I now found myself in a much better place.
One of the reasons was the cute, green-eyed brunette who bounded down the front steps coming right for my side of the truck. I knew it was never good for your happiness to be dependent on another. Yet I didn’t think that’s what this was.
I think I just happened upon her once I was ready to be happy.
“I didn’t expect you back this early,” Ava said as I got out. “How did it go?”
Before answering her, I reached down, took her face in my hands, and planted a huge kiss on her luscious lips.
“Well, a girl could get used to a greeting like that.” Her eyes sparkled as she stared up at me.
“You should get used to it,” I told her.
“And the meeting went well. Of course, it was full of locals, and no one really my age. But I think that’s better, to be honest.” We strolled toward the house together.
“And I found a sponsor. I figured since we’re staying here for the summer, it made sense for me to have one here instead of at home. ”
In AA, you typically have a sponsor who helped you maintain your sobriety. Even though I was over the year mark with mine, the challenging environment I lived in led me to decide getting one was a good idea.
“That’s great, babe.” Ava’s smile was genuine.
Once inside, I realized how quiet it was.
“Are the others home?” It was rare for us to be alone, but it would be happening more and more as the semester came to an end. Both Macie and Becca would be going home for the summer, leaving us here in the townhouse together until the lease ended in August.
“They’re both upstairs studying.”
We wound up in Ava’s room, most likely because it was cleaner than mine, cuddling on her bed. We’d finally gotten used to showing affection toward each other with Becca and Macie home. Even with our bedroom door open when doing something as simple as lying in bed together.
It was nice.
“How was your afternoon? Did you finish studying for your last final?” I asked. Her head was on my chest, her arm draped across my body, one of my favorite positions for her to be in.
“I did…”
But her answer left me with more questions. She was keeping something from me, it was obvious. When I tried to sit us up, she pushed me down, keeping us as we were. She remained quiet for a few more minutes, her fingers finding my skin under my shirt, rubbing some random design.
Then she cleared her throat.
“I went to legal services on campus today.”
I stopped breathing. Every muscle in my body froze. My fear was if I moved or breathed, she wouldn’t continue talking. Eventually, she balanced her chin on her hand, looking up at me. The sadness in her eyes combined with a fortitude I hadn’t seen before.
“It was time.”
Nodding in agreement, I remained quiet, hoping that was what she needed.
“They told me about the process, and that it would be a long one. But they assured me they would help me with everything, even contacting the police.”
That was when the first tear fell from her eye. My hand instinctively wiped it away. My heart broke for her all over again. It was going to be hard to go through this.
“Baby, I’ll be here for you, through it all, I promise. Every step of the way.”
She dropped her head against my chest again, nodding once as she did. I only hoped she understood she wasn’t alone and wouldn’t be. My arms wrapped her tight as we nestled against each other, the breeze from the open window flowing against our skin.
“Do you have anything you have to do right now?” I asked her.
The slight shake of her head against my body encouraged me to pull her closer. I pulled a light blanket over us, hoping she got my point. And she did. I felt her relax even more against me, and sleep took us over within minutes.
The voice was muddled, as if underwater. It felt as though I was having another dream, but it felt real at the same time.
“Hey guys…”
Then I felt the nudge against my shoulder, and my eyes slowly opened. It was Macie’e light eyes staring down at me.
“Hey,” she said again. “I didn’t want you both to sleep through dinner. We’re ordering food in and wanted to see if you guys wanted anything.”
She whispered since Ava was still asleep against my side.
“Sure, thanks, Macie.” I rubbed at my face to wipe the sleepiness away. “Give me a sec, OK?”
She nodded and left us, closing the door.
I looked down at the serene beauty still sound asleep against my shoulder, and my heart swelled.
Each day I’d spent with her these past couple months, whether it was in secret or finally out in the open, had been a gift.
My thumb rubbed against her parted lips, gently pulling on her full bottom one.
She stirred against me, a sleepy moan seeping from those lips.
“Hey baby,” I said quietly near her ear. “You getting hungry?”
The mention of food got her waking up. Her eyes popped open, those bright green orbs now staring at me. Her lips curved up as she became more aware of where she was.
“What are you smiling at?”
“I could get used to this,” she said. “Sleeping with you is like sleeping with a built-in electric blanket. Plus a true, life-sized body pillow. But you’re harder than a pillow.”
She poked my pecs and biceps as she sat up. Then, those pokes changed to her rubbing along my chest.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like the hardness.” The playful tone in her voice started getting something else hard.
“You’re distracting me,” I told her. “Food. We’re supposed to be figuring out what we want to eat. Text Macie and ask her where they’re ordering from.”
She reached for her phone and got to work on that while I peeled myself from her to use the bathroom. As I did, it made me wonder if we would share a room once it was just the two of us this summer.
“I assume you want the double cheeseburger, no onion, and fries?” she asked as I returned to the bed.
“Sounds good.”
As I got back in bed, pulling her close, she put her phone on the side table.
“Thirty minutes for the food.” As soon as she said that, she slid herself to sitting on my lap. “That’s enough time.”
I gripped her by the hips as I slid her off me, back to my side. “Oh yeah? Enough time for what?” I chided, knowing full well what she meant. But with the kind of day she had, I had something else in mind.
“What are you doing?” she complained.
“Don’t worry.”
My hand slid down her side, pushing at her shorts and panties.
She lifted her bottom, allowing me to push them all the way off.
My palm lingered on her backside, the feel of her warm, tender skin against my hand intoxicating.
My fingers dug into her ass as I tilted her body more toward me, opening her thighs in the process.
The other hand trailed down her belly, finding the warm spot between her legs wet for me already.
One finger, then two, made their way inside the tight walls of her pussy, pushing deep inside.
“Oh, Logan,” she moaned against me. “Oh my god.”
My fingers plunged deeper as my thumb pushed against her hardening clit. Her moans became even louder.
“Ava, baby, you sure you’re good doing this with them downstairs?”
“They hookup with their guys while we’re home,” she said breathlessly. “You better not stop now.” Her look was stern as she stared at me.
Our chests were flush against one another as my hand continued working inside her, pushing to the depths of her pussy.
Her body pushed into mine, her hands gripping my shoulders with a strength I didn’t know she had.
It was as if our bodies melded into one as we became entwined, the emotions so strong.
Our mouths devoured each other, searching for more than we could give.
Her one hand wrapped around my neck, to my head, pulling me even closer, as I felt her muscles clench around my fingers inside her. The climax she headed toward was intense.
“Logan,” she said, our mouths open, lips still touching. “Oh my god.”
Her tongue lashed at mine as she took a deep breath. Her head fell back and my mouth went to that tender skin along her neck as her body trembled with her orgasm. My fingers never stopped working, making sure she reached her pinnacle, that I brought her to the top.
When her thighs clenched around my arm and her body stilled in ecstasy, I continued rubbing her clit, pushing her over the edge. The scream coming from her mouth got swallowed by my kiss, our mouths colliding again.
Her body settled in my arms as our kiss continued. As her eyes slowly opened, her hands moved from my head to my face. She caressed my cheeks as her mouth pulled away from mine.
“I will never get tired of how talented those fingers of yours are.”
As soon as she said that, her hand slid to the band of my sweats, moving to pull them down. But I stopped her, pushing her hand aside. Her raised brows and wide eyes turned up at me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. I’m not looking for anything in return right now, that was for you. The food’ll be here soon, we have to study for finals, we have a lot going on. And you had a stressful day. I thought I’d help you relax, that’s all.”
“My tender Tank,” she said as she stroked my cheek. “What did I do to deserve you?”
Sitting up, she followed and got out of bed to find her pants. I admired the view as she put them on.
“Food’s here!” Becca screamed from downstairs.
Ava came to the side of the bed and grabbed both of my hands, making all kinds of exaggerated noises as she tried to pull me up.
“Christ, man, what does your mother feed you?” Her laughter filled the room as I let her pull me from the bed, and I fell into her arms, both of us almost falling to the floor.
“Logan!” she screeched as I caught us before we did.
Scooping her up and over my shoulder, I started for the stairs. My hand smacked her ass playfully a couple times as I carried her down the steps.
“What the hell are you doing?” she yelled.
“I’m showing you the benefits of my well put together diet, Tink. My mother and I feed me a well-designed meal plan that gives me these muscles I don’t think you complain about too much when my clothes are off.”
As I rounded the stairs to the hall leading to the kitchen area, I could hear the groans of disapproval from our roommates. They’d obviously heard me.
“TMI!” Becca yelled.
Macie giggled as I plopped Ava on an island stool.
“Listen, as happy as we are for the two of you,” Becca said. “We don’t need a play-by-play of what’s going on up there.”
Ava laughed out loud.
“There is no way Logan and I are anywhere near as loud as you and Ty.”
That stopped Becca in her tracks. Macie and Ava froze as well.
I stood on the fringe waiting to see how this played out.
As the three girls all turned to look at one another, I watched as each of them started with a small smile at first. They then started howling with laughter within seconds, the tears streaming down their faces as they huddled together.
Seeing them interacting this way, effortlessly, as friends again, made my heart expand. So much of this past semester had been spent hiding emotions, which had affected the relationships in this house. Finally, being beyond that felt freeing.
Felt normal.
I knew I had a life that would never be completely normal. My challenges would be lifelong. But I was up for the challenge, and I was meeting them.
I loved it when Ava told me she chose me. Over all the other shit that had been going on in our lives.
Yeah, she chose me and I chose her.
But more importantly, we chose us.