Ava knocked on the hotel room door, three steady knocks. She had debated for hours the night before over seeing her mom or not. On the one hand, it was easy to just let her mom go home and get on with her life. She already had the reputation of not giving a shit and being a trouble maker. Sure her dad would try and talk to her about it and it would ultimately end in another argument between them. Especially after the stuff she had said at the performance centre went her mom had first shown up the previous day. But on the other hand, Ava did miss her mom, even if she was angry with her. All the arguments in the world, the misunderstandings, and the miscommunication would never make Ava stop loving her mom. Plus, Ava thought about how nice it would be to actually see her mom without Andrew being there.

Stood there in white denim short overalls with a grey crop top underneath and white low top converse, Ava hoped her mom answered. She hadn't told her mom was coming, deciding to surprise her instead as she knew her mom wouldn't be expecting her to show up.

Luckily for Ava, it didn't take long for Diane to open the door. A surprised look on her face when she saw her daughter standing there. "Hi mom."

"Y-you came. I didn't think you would. Come in, come in." Diane was so happy to see her daughter. She knew things had not been good between them for a long time now, but she honestly thought Ava living with her dad for a while would do her a lot of good. She didn't see any other options; Ava had been kicked out of college. If anything, Diane was scared that jail was the next step for Ava. That one day she would go way too far with her antics.

"I thought we could go for breakfast before you go home. Surely even we can manage to be in the same room for an hour."

Ava and Diane ended up getting breakfast in the hotel restaurant, things starting off a little awkward.

"So your dad was telling me about your job at the performance centre. He said you had really impressed Dusty."

"Yeah, I guess he saw something in me other than rebellion."

"Ava, that's not how I see you. Or how anyone sees you."

"Sure. Anyway, Dusty saw something in me and you know, he takes like half an hour just getting the right document open. He would rather spend his time actually teaching, sharing his knowledge than dealing with paperwork."

"It sound like you're fond of him."

"He reminds me of granddad a little."

Diane smiled. "I'm just glad you're happy working there and you've made friends."

Ava couldn't help the next lot of words out of her mouth. "I'm sure Andrew's happy his wish came true and he finally got rid of me."

"Ava, please don't. I don't want to argue with you."

"How is Andrew these days? Now he's got the wife without the kid. It must be like Christmas every day for him." Ava couldn't stop it; she was on a roll now.

"Actually things haven't been great between us," Diane admitted. It was the reason she had come home early.

Ava wasn't expecting that. Looking at her mom, she noticed a tired, stressed look on her mom's face that wasn't just jet lag. She was surprised she hadn't noticed it earlier. "Are you like having couple's therapy or are you considering divorce?"

"I honestly don't know. Things have been bad for a while."

"Would it honestly be that bad if you left him? You had so many dreams before you met him, you could still make them a reality."

As much as Diane didn't want to talk any more about her marriage struggles, it was nice to know that despite everything Ava still believed in her. "I don't know. Anyway, enough about me. Tell me what's happening with you."

"Not a lot really," Ava shrugged.

"So no plans of wrestling? I thought Regal might have talked you into it by now, or some of the friends of yours at the performance centre."

"Not a chance. Like Dusty keeps trying to get me on the mic, but it's not happening."

"I think you would be good on a mic, cutting a promo. I mean didn't you sometimes used to help out with the drama club at school when you'd share rehearsal space, and then your acting friends at Julliard? Plus, you've definitely got the attitude for it."

"Yeah it's not going to happen." Ava said a little too briskly. She knew what it would be like with her dad if she showed of any acting skills, he'd start pushing to see what she was like actually wrestling. She knew how much her dad would love one of his children to follow in his footsteps and have a career in wrestling."

"As long as you're happy here. That's what's important."

Ava wasn't even going to bother with a retort. They both knew she hadn't been sent to Florida for her happiness.

The two managed to finish breakfast without any arguments, just a few retorts from Ava.

"Hey precious, someone's excited. You going to be lazy with me today?" Ava was kneeling down in the hallway after getting back from breakfast with her mom, scratching Lola's ears while the excited puppy bounced around Ava. "Oh you're so cute," Ava cooed. It was everyone's two days off from the performance centre and Ava had no plans except hanging out with the Lola.

Getting up and walking into the kitchen to sort out a Kong for Lola. Even after a few weeks, Ava was still amused as hell watching Lola trying to get the food out of a Kong. Lola followed Ava excitedly to the kitchen. Ava smiled when she saw Christina sitting at the island drinking coffee. "How was breakfast?"

"Yeah, okay."

Christina knew not to push it with Ava when it came to her mom, she knew what the relationship was like between the two of them these days. "You got any plans for the day?"

"Nothing really. I didn't really have the best night's sleep so I might go back to bed for a bit."

When her phone started ringing and she saw who was calling, Ava was tempted to ignoring the call. She loved Carmella, the Staten Island princess had become one of her closest friends there but she also knew that Carmella would want to do something. She always did on their days off and normally Ava was up for it, but this week she just wanted to be lazy before she had to be back at work. But she also knew Carmella would keep on ringing her until she answered and then convince her into whatever it was she had planned. "Hey," Ava said finally answering.

"Hey girl, you doing anything today?"

"Not really, why?"

"Good. We'll be there in a few minutes. We're going on a road trip."

"Wait, back it up a little. Who are you with and why are we going on a road trip?"

"We're going on a road trip to Miami with Enzo, Cass and Sami. It's Enzo's grandparent's anniversary on Friday and they're having this big old cook out this evening and we're all invited. Don't even try and talk your way out of this, you're coming."

"But I've never even met any of Enzo's family, I can't just show up. And Miami, really?"

"Chicca, you missed the part where you're invited. I will come in and chuck you over my shoulder to get you into the car if I have too." Enzo threatened, Carmella having put the phone on speaker.

"That's called kidnap, Amore.

"It's a friendly kidnapping though. There'll be cake at the party."

"What kind of cake?" Avery asked to Christina's amusement who had been listening to her stepdaughter's side of the conversation. She knew from experience food was a good bait for Ava. For a small person, she could eat a lot.

"Chocolate cake, coconut cake, cupcakes-" Carmella started, knowing how much Ava liked cake.

"Remember that apple pie you demolished at mine the other week when we were all watching films together? My mum made that and I know she's going to be making one for tonight." Enzo cut in.

"Fuck you, Amore. Those are cruel tactics. You win, dickhead."

Ending the call, Ava turned her attention back to Lola. "Sorry pup, looks like our day together will have to wait as my friends are assholes. I'm sure if you give Christina those puppy eyes she'll take you for a walk on the beach. Yeah go on!" Ava kissed the dogs head before grabbing her phone and bag. "Looks like I'm going on a road trip with the gang." Ava said to Christina. "Enzo's grandparent's anniversary party or something. I've basically been kidnapped, but there's cake."

Christiana chuckled, Lola now over my her. "Sounds like it should be fun. I'm guessing you won't be back until tomorrow."

"From the sounds of it, yeah. Tell dad not to send out a search party. See ya."

Ava opened the door at the same time her friends pulled into the drive. She saw Cass, who was driving, and Carmella, sitting in the passenger side, first. Then Enzo was jumping out of the back of Cass's car. "Good, you're here, thought I'd actually have to kidnap you," he said by way of greeting giving Ava a hug. "So, you're in the back with me and Sami. We already called it, you're the smallest so you're in the middle."

"Is there anything you haven't planned? You can tick my kidnap and seat placement of your list," Ava said getting into the car and smiling at Sami.

"You make it sound like a bad thing, you get lots of cake and our company. This is the best, friendliest kidnapping ever. Real talk."

Ava laughed at Enzo as he got in the car after her, he was constantly hyper coming out with stuff like that. "I'll remember to tell the police that. So where's Bales? She not coming?"

"No, her beau surprised her with a little getaway. There wouldn't be enough room for us all in the car anyway. I mean you're shorter and mouthier but you make a good replacement for her," Enzo grinned.

Ava put on her best fake sad face, her bottom lip sticking out. "Y-you mean I'm not even first choice?"

"You make a beautiful second best," Carmella replied jokingly, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

"Assholes. In that case, I'm napping. Like I was planning to do today."

"You're napping already? That's even got to be a record for you. It's only just gone 10."

"Hey, now I'm not studying and dancing and working all the time, I like to nap when I can. And I didn't get much sleep last night and I was up early this morning to go to breakfast with my mom. So yes, I'm napping."

"Breakfast with your mom. How did that go?" Carmella asked, all jokes aside; everyone's attention was on Ava.

"Not too bad. It was kind of nice actually seeing her without Andrew being there."

"So what's the deal with you and the stepdad? Why so much animosity?" Enzo asked her seriously. They had all heard her complain about her stepdad, but only Sami knew the full story.

"Great business man, shit family man. Kids were never on his agenda. He wanted my mom but not me and if he had gotten his way, I would have been shipped off to boarding school when I was eleven."

"Wow, that sucks."

"It's life," Ava shrugged. "He wasn't my biggest fan, I wasn't his. We argued all the time and my mom started taking his side more and more."

"That's not fair on you though. You were just a kid."

"I knew how to look after myself. We all know I'm pretty good when it comes to arguing."

"The world knows that, Aves. But we love you just the way you are, chica." Enzo said as he pulled Ava into his side, his arm around her shoulders.

It was a few minutes later that Ava rested her head against Sami. "Right, now I'm napping. Sami, we've already established that you're comfy so I'm going to use you as my cushion. Wake me up when we get there or if we make a stop on the way." Ava smiled up at the Canadian, not noticing the look on Enzo's face as he watched the two. How relaxed they were in each other's company, how Sami wrapped his arm around Ava so she could curl up against him better and get more comfortable. A little plan starting to form in his mind.

Part two of their road trip coming next