AN: Fair Warning: The phobia of riding an elevator is briefly mentioned, nothing bad happens to the characters so don't worry about it. I just wanted to let you know in case any of you doesn't feel comfortable with the theme.

With that said, thanks for all the support this work has been receiving, it means a lot.

This chapter is bigger than the last one therefore it has more fluffy Avalance interaction, so I hope you enjoy it! :)

Bands that inspired this: Snow Patrol and Coldplay.

CHAPTER 4

It was a warm afternoon and students could be seen all around the campus gardens. Some were busy with their noses deep in books, while others were chatting happily and simply lazing around the big oak trees planted through the university. Sara inhaled the fresh air and smiled to herself, even though she now had new responsibilities in her life, she felt free. She has always been a free spirit, but sometimes with all the trouble and drama that was going on with her family, she wasn't able to let go as much while at home. But now? Now she was glad that she had the possibility to go around without having to give satisfactions to someone else. Of course despite all that, she still misses the fact that the nights spent eating pizza and watch some funny silly show on TV with her dad and sister won't happen as often, but they can always do that over the weekends when they feel like it. Besides, now she can spend even more time with Zari and Amaya which is cool, so she's not totally alone.

She's pulled out of her thoughts when she hears someone call her name. She moves her right hand to cover her eyes from the sun so she can see better and smiles when she sees a familiar face waving at her from below a tree. She makes her way there and stops when she reaches the tree, standing in front of it.

"Hey there Nate," she greets him, "Mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all!" He says, smiling and blushing a little. He stares at her for a few seconds until someone next to him clears his throat.

"Who's your friend?" Sara asks, looking at the boy next to Nate.

"Oh, right!" He says a bit embarrassed, "This is my friend Ray!"

The boy with black hair extends his hand, "Hello Sara, it's a pleasure to meet you," he says with a polite smile.

She holds his hand and smiles back, "Nice to meet you too Ray," she says, sitting down in front of them.

"So, are you a fan of Medicine as well?" Sara asks him.

"I am actually, but it's not my favourite subject. I'm more of a Sciences guy."

"Yeah Ray is a fricking genius! I'm telling you Sara, we've been friends since we were little kids and I've never met someone as smart as him."

"Oh cool," she says, "I bet he's not smarter than my best friend though," she's now sporting a proud smile on her lips.

Both boys looks at each other with raised eyebrows and similar smirks when they turn to Sara again, "Well we should put that to a test then," Nate suggests.

"A friendly one of course," Ray adds.

Sara eyes them curiously for a while, before her face breaks into a smirk matching theirs, "Alright that can be arranged. I'm sure Zari will enjoy beating your ass."

Ray's face turns into one of surprise, "Wait Zari?! As in Zari Tomaz? She is your best friend?"

"Yeah... Do you know her?" Sara asks a bit suspicious.

"Well I don't know her that well, but we do share a programming class together and she's amazing at it. For what I've seen so far I believe she could do it even with her eyes closed."

"Yeah she's been coding ever since she was around 14 years old, give or take."

"That's impressive!"

"It really is," Sara says smiling, and then grabs her phone glancing at it, "Well boys, I'm afraid I have to get going. Still wanna hit the Library before I go to my next class."

"Okay Sara, see you around," Nate tells her and Ray waves her goodbye.

She gets up and after a few minutes of walking around, she finally finds the room she was looking for. She smiles at seeing various rows with several shelves filled with a countless number of books of all genres. Now this is a place where she won't mind get lost in from time to time.

She makes her way through a corridor that contains the novels section. To most people she puts on this façade of a girl who doesn't care about mushy feelings and happy endings, but the ones who truly know her have the knowledge that deep down she is a softy who loves romance and everything that comes with it. One time Zari even caught her shedding a few tears while watching the ending of a rom-com, not that she would ever admit it to be true. Her friend still teases her about it from time to time, but Sara knows that she's just messing with her. Besides, Zari is as soft as her, especially when she's around Amaya. They really do make a cute couple, sometimes Sara finds herself being jealous of them, wishing to have what they have. Most importantly, and even if the feeling is very rare, she believes that she deserves someone, like both her friends deserve each other.

She stops reflecting on it when she sees a book that catches her eyes, grabbing it carefully to remove it from its place on the shelf. She admires the beautiful cover made of leather with golden letters displaying the title and the author's name. She then turns it over so she can read the summary and reviews from different literally critiques.

It sounds like a great reading so she decides to go to the counter so she can borrow it for a few days. After the Librarian writes down her personal information and the information about the book, Sara thanks the lady and packs it carefully in her backpack, making her way to her class before she's late.

The class, unfortunately, goes by in a flash. On one hand it's a good thing because it means she's closer to the time when she's supposed to hang out at Zari's house with her friends, on the other hand, she was really enjoying the lecture about Cardiology. It was a lot more interesting that the lecture she had in the morning, oh and on top of that, the teacher is way hotter. After she's done writing down a few last notes on the subject, she's out of the door in a couple of minutes.

When she arrives back at her dorm, she notices that the door is unlocked which means Ava is already there. Which makes sense seeing that her roommate ended her class earlier. She opens the door without saying a word and closes it behind her.

"Hey Ava," she was about to say something more when suddenly her eyes land on a very naked girl leaving the bathroom. As soon as Ava sees her she lets out a yelp and goes running back to the bathroom, closing the door with a tiny bang behind her. The taller blonde feels her cheeks flush instantly.

"Sara! What the hell?!" She yells from the other side of the door, her voice coming out a bit muffled, "Don't you know how to knock? God!" To her ears, she sounds more embarrassed than angry which makes Sara chuckle.

"I'm sorry Ava, but how was I supposed to guess you were gonna be naked? I mean, you could at least be wearing a towel."

"I was about to grab it when you decided to suddenly appear. I didn't know you were gonna come home so soon, I must have lost track of time," the blonde says, her voice now a bit apologetic.

Sara moves more into the room, leaving her backpack on the floor and sitting on Ava's bed, having full front view to the bathroom door, "It's okay Ava, I mean, we're gonna live together here from now on. This was bound to happen sooner or later."

Ava can be heard cursing and after what seems like a couple of minutes she speaks again, "Could you hand me my towel? It's the white one inside the dresser."

"Sure!" The shorter blonde gets up and does as she's told. When she has it, she moves to the door and knocks gently. Ava slightly opens the door, leaving room for only her head to peek out.

"Here you go," Sara says with a soft smile, extending the towel to her. She revels in the way Ava looks; her cheeks are slightly red, probably due to having been under the shower for too much. There's still remnants of tiny droplets of water running from her forehead to her perfect brows and Sara has to stop herself from reaching out and wipe it away with her thumb. Instead she decides to stay focused on how breath-taking Ava is.

She doesn't know what kind of water the campus suffices, but it must have some kind of magical ingredient seeing as the blonde in front of her looks even more beautiful than she usually does, which by itself is already a sight to behold.

Ava grabs the towel and mouths her a quick thank you, closing the door right after.

Sara stands there for a while, trying to stop her mind from going into inappropriate thoughts about her roommate. Her probably, most definitely, straight roommate.

She sighs and lets her body drop on her bed, stretching both her arms and legs. After a few minutes of Ava not being ready from the bathroom, she decides to get up and go through the closet, choosing an outfit to wear to their ladies' night at Zari's house.

When she's done with that, she knocks on the bathroom door, "Ava? Are you going to take much longer?"

After that, the girl opens the door and almost bumps into Sara, "Oops sorry! Didn't know you were right there," the tall blonde says smiling sheepishly.

"No problem Aves," Sara says, smiling up at her. She's suddenly aware that they are indeed very close and feels her own cheeks flush a bit, which is rather unusual of her. Sara Lance almost never blushes.

"Sara?" Ava asks; inviting, plump lips mere inches away from hers. Sara swallows down hard and tries to focus on her eyes instead, "Yeah?" She rasps out. She's not sure which is worse, getting transfixed in her roommate's full lips or lost in her eyes that seem to change colour as they please, now looking a dark shade of blue mixed with grey while they stare at her, almost boring into her soul.

"Could you maybe step away? From the door?" Ava finally asks, breaking Sara from her trance.

The freckled girl clears her throat and finally walks away, "Sorry!" She stands there awkwardly, looking at Ava while she goes around the room, sitting down at the desk and grabbing her phone. She then glances up at Sara, "Aren't you going to get ready? I remember you saying Zari doesn't like people being late," she states a bit awkwardly.

"Right," Sara nods and grabs her clothes, entering the bathroom. Once inside she hops in the tub for a quick shower, a bit on the cold side so she can rid herself of some thoughts. There's already enough steam going on in her mind.

Once she's done getting dressed, she pulls her slightly damp hair in a loose ponytail and walks out of the room.

"Here I am!" Sara says with a beaming smile, sitting down next to Ava who's currently laying stomach down on her bed going through something on her phone. Sara leans over a bit over the girl's shoulder to take a peek, but Ava moves quicker and in a matter of seconds is up with her phone locked and inside her pants' pocket.

"Did no one ever told that it's rude to look at other people's phones?" She asks with a frown that soon fades away once she sees the way Sara's pouting at her with big puppy eyes like a little child. She ends up chuckling and shaking her head with a smile gracing her lips.

"I saw you were on Instagram, I just wanted to look at your photographs."

Ava narrows her eyes at that, "Why?" She asks confused.

"Because you have a gift and I would very much like to appreciate it!"

"You only saw me photographing once Sara."

"Yeah and that was enough to know you're amazing at it, Ava," she says, mimicking the way the taller blonde had said her name.

The girl laughs at that, "Fine, I will show you my profile," she eventually agrees and Sara is already making her way to her when she holds up a finger to stop her, "But let's leave it to another time. Right now we have to get to Zari's."

"Yeah you're right, let's get moving."

They both grab their jackets and make their way out the door.

The blonde's reach Zari's house after a twenty minute walk. They could have gotten there quicker if they had wanted to, but they took the time to talk about their afternoon classes, enjoying each other's company.

Ava looks up at the tall building and feels a little taken aback by its height. The sound of Sara going up the building stairs and ringing a bell distract her a bit from that. They wait a couple of seconds for the door to open.

When it does, Sara pulls on it and holds it for Ava, "After you milady," she says with a failed British accent, taking a small bow.

Ava laughs at her and makes her way into the building, "Thank you very much," she says, returning the bow with one of her own.

"You didn't need to do that Aves," Sara speaks and Ava looks at her confused.

"I mean you're so freakishly tall, I don't want you to hurt your back out of politeness towards me," the shorter blonde says with a shit-eating grin and a glim in her eyes.

Ava looks at her with an offended look on her face, her green eyes wide and torn between surprise and disbelief, "How dare you?!" She asks in mocked anger, "Here I am being nice to you and that's what I get to hear?"

They approach the elevators and Sara presses the down button, waiting for the lift to arrive.

"Hey it's not my fault your parents made you so tall," she says, smirking while she waits for Ava's reaction to that.

"Eww! Sara! I really don't want to imagine that right now, thank you very much!" She says closing her eyes and making a gagging noise.

Her roommate starts laughing loudly, "It's also not my fault you just imagined them having sex," she lets out between giggles.

"Will you please stop Sara? God you're killing me!"

Their conversation gets interrupted by the sound of the lift arriving and the doors opening in front of them. Sara jumps inside playfully, waiting for Ava to follow in. When she doesn't, she looks at her with a puzzled look, "Ahm Ava? Aren't you coming?"

The taller blonde closes her eyes and takes a step back, "I'm kinda –" She's about to say something, but the movement of the doors starting to close interrupts her. Sara puts her left hand between the doors to keep them from closing.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I'm... God this is so stupid..." She says sighing, shaking her head and muttering to herself.

Sara frowns at her behaviour a bit worried, "Hey," she says, trying to get her attention, "Whatever it is, you can tell me," she says, hoping to be encouraging enough.

Ava looks up at her and slowly says, "I have an irrational fear of elevators. And tall buildings, like this one," she adds, pointing to the ceiling, "But mostly elevators, you know. Because there's a high chance they'll stop and then I'll get stuck for hours waiting for help to come, if it does, it might not... And then I will starve to death or, or, the cables supporting it will break and I will suffer a painful death and –"

"Ava..." Sara says gently, but the blonde doesn't seem to be listening to her anymore and keeps on rambling. She tries again with a firmer voice, "Ava!" She calls, and the girl finally stops, suddenly very aware of her behaviour.

"Sorry..." she says, her eyes stuck to the tiled ground beneath her feet.

Sara stays in silence for a few seconds, pondering on what to say, "You know, we could always take the stairs, it would be a great fitness workout," she says, and smirks to herself when she sees a hint of a smile on the corner of Ava's lips. She takes that as a good sign and continues, "But I'm not particularly inclined to go up seven flights of stairs right now. Besides, I believe that sometimes facing our fears can be a good thing."

Ava lifts her head at that and Sara can clearly see panic in her eyes, "Is there any way that I could make this slightly easier for you?"

"You could hold my hand and count with me... If that's okay?" Ava says in a rush, quickly regretting the words that left her mouth. She feels like a helpless little child and starts to prepare herself for Sara to make fun of her when she's instead surprisingly met with one simple word.

"Okay," Sara expresses it with such a genuine and soft smile that Ava can't have any other option but to trust her. So when her roommate extends her right hand, she takes it, even though she's shaking a little.

Sara immediately wraps it in hers and then says, "Right foot first, an old sign of good luck," she winks at her and smiles softly.

Ava eyes her strangely, but does as she's told. Once they are both inside, Sara turns to Ava and asks if she's ready. When she nods, the freckled girl presses the button that marks the 7th floor and waits for the doors to close. After the elevator starts to move, she feels Ava's grip on her hand tighten but she doesn't say anything. She decides it is best to let the blonde move at her own pace.

"Where did you learn it? The thing about the right foot," she asks, breaking the silence.

"Zari told me about it, it's an old tradition."

"Does it actually work?"

Sara shrugs her shoulders, pensive for a moment, "I don't know, maybe."

"Hm," Ava nods, closing her eyes. She loosens her tight grip on Sara's hand and when she does she feels the girl moving her thumb gently over her knuckles. The rhythmic movement settles down her frantic heart-beat and she starts to feel herself relax once more. She almost forgets the place she's in.

"Seven," she hears Sara state next to her. She looks at her confused, "What?" She asks, and when the elevator doors open her confusion only grows.

"We've reached Zari's floor Ava," Sara says, smiling up at her, "Are you gonna come or what?" She asks, tilting her head towards the hallway, and then tugging on her roommate's hand gently.

Ava nods and lets Sara lead her out the elevator, sighing when she finds herself out of the squared box.

"I didn't even hear you count... I myself wasn't counting."

"Really?" The smaller girl asked, a playful smirk on her lips, "Well I told you I would so I did. I guess you were just too distracted by other things to notice."

"No Sara, you don't realize..." She says, a full smile occupying her face, "This was the first time in years that I wasn't in panic through the whole ride!" Ava adds, grabbing Sara's shoulders excitedly, "I can't believe I just did that," she adds, letting go of her.

The smaller blonde stares at her for a while, not sure of what to say. All she knows is that it feels incredibly great to see her roommate so happy when she actually had a part to play in it.

"Well you definitely did Aves," she says, smiling proudly at her.

"Thank you Sara," the taller blonde thanks her, stepping a bit closer, "If it weren't for you, I would still be climbing up the stairs."

"Pfft, please! It was all you, I just encouraged you in the right way that's all," Sara states, gesturing at her.

Ava smiles shyly at what the smaller girl said, dropping her gaze down. A bit of her honey blonde hair falls and covers the left side of her face.

Sara tries to stop herself but ends up reaching out and tucking the loose strands of hair behind Ava's ear. The girl blushes even harder looking up at her and her tongue comes out of her slightly parted mouth to lick her bottom lip, which gets quickly stuck between a perfect set of teeth.

Sara can't help but wonder how is it possible to look so cute and sexy at the same time, and all she wants to do is move her thumb gently against her rosy lips or be the one to bite them. All it took was that single, innocent action from Ava and she is once again invaded by similar thoughts like the ones she had earlier when they were in their room. But bbefore she can do anything rash that she will certainly regret later, she steps back and clears her throat.

"We should probably go and knock on Zari's door," she says, turning and walking down the hallway, "I for one am in serious need of some popcorn and pizza. Aren't you?" She asks, looking back at Ava with a smile.

"Yeah, of course," the taller blonde nods, following her. Sara knocks on her friend's door and after a full minute Zari answers it, "Finally!" She says, opening it all the way, "What took you so long?!"

Ava was going to answer to that but Sara spoke first, "Chill out! We're not even late."

The shorter blonde says, entering the house and leaving her shoes and jacket by the entrance. Ava follows suit and does the same.

"Hey Zari, thanks for inviting me to your home," she says, looking around the brunette's apartment, "It's quite cosy," she adds with a smile.

"Thank you very much Ava, make yourself at home," Zari tells her, walking to the kitchen island.

Sara plops down on the couch in front of the television, the remote already in her hand ready to look for which movie to watch.

Ava stands there awkwardly for a bit until Zara says, "Do you want to help me put the popcorn on those bowls over there?" She asks, pointing to a shelf to her right.

"Sure," the blonde says with a smile.

"Hey what kind of movie do you wanna watch?"

"I don't know," Zari shrugs, "Maybe some horror?"

Sara perks up and turns around on the couch to look at her friend, "Oh! Have you already watched "Us" by Jordan Peele?"

Both girls say no at that and Sara gets even more excited, "Oh my gosh! We have to watch it! You're gonna love it, I promise!" She says, turning her attention to the TV once again.

Ava chuckles at her roommate's reaction and Zari eyes her with amusement, "So Ava, did you get a good night of sleep?"

"Hm?" The blonde looks at her confused, "I did... Why do you ask?"

The brunette has a smirk on her lips when she says, "You didn't wake up with the snoring monster over there?" She asks, pointing with her head in Sara's direction.

Before Ava can answer, Sara gets up from the couch and moves to stand next to Ava, "Hey!" She says to her friend, "I am not that bad."

Ava laughs at her and answers, "I slept pretty well actually. I did have weird dreams about the characters from the cartoon show we watched," she admits turning to Sara.

"What show?"

"Rick and Morty," Sara tells her with a smile, and then turns to Ava, "And I'm glad you slept well. I'm sorry you had to sleep in my bed though," she adds, apologizing.

The taller blonde looks at her confused, "What? I didn't."

Now Sara is the one looking confused," You didn't? But I thought... I mean, I ended up falling asleep on your bed so I thought you had moved to mine."

Ava blushes at her words, realizing what she had just confessed to the girl, "No... I..."

All the while Zari is trying very hard not to comment, limiting herself to smirking and watching their conversation, waiting for her friend's reaction when she realizes what Ava just implied.

And after a couple of seconds there it is, Sara's eyes are suddenly open wide, "Oh!" She lets out a nervous laugh, one that Zari is sure she has never heard coming out of her mouth. The brunette eyes her strangely.

"Are you okay Sara?" She asks, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Yep," she tells her, dropping her attention to the bowl in front of her, taking a handful of popcorn and shoving it into her mouth. She grabs the bowl and moves to the couch, sitting down and placing the popcorn on her lap.

"Are we watching the movie or what?" She asks after swallowing the snack.

Zari rolls her eyes half-heartedly, grabbing the bowl of chips in front of her and making her way to sit on the couch as well, "Let's go Ava, we better hurry up or miss grumpy over there might throw a tantrum," she says with a smirk, earning a laugh from the taller blonde.

"I heard that," Sara huffs, glaring at Zari when she sits down next to her, while Ava sits on her right, leaving her in the middle. Thankfully the couch is big enough so that the three girls can be comfortable without being squished into each other.

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait for Amaya?" Ava asks before Sara presses play.

"No need to, she warned me she would be a bit late today," Zari tells her, rechecking the time on her phone.

Sara nods at the information and starts the movie. They are fifteen minutes into it when the bell suddenly rings and Ava jumps at hearing it, letting out a tiny gasp while pressing a hand to her chest.

"That must be the pizza!" Zari says excited, getting up to the door to get it.

Sara takes the chance that she's alone with Ava and grabs her hand carefully, "You okay?" She asks concerned, after leaning closer to her. She brushes her thumb lightly on the blonde's knuckles like she did just minutes ago to offer her comfort.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just got scared that's all," she whispers, not wanting to draw attention to her. She squeezes Sara's hand as a thank you and let's go.

"If you don't wanna watch the movie that's fine, we can watch something else."

"No, no," Ava says, shaking her head, "The movie is fine, I got caught by surprise by the bell that's all."

"Ladies!" Zari calls in a singing voice, entering the living room once again. Sara leans back from Ava and returns to her previous position on the couch as soon as she hears her friend.

"Look what I got here!" The brunette says, her right hand holding two pizza boxes, "Hm... I love this smell," she adds, almost salivating.

"Zari, you say that about every food," Sara says, rolling her eyes with a smirk on her lips.

"Lance, just because of that you shouldn't have any pizza."

"For what?" She asks with mischief, "Telling the truth?"

The brunette glares at her, "Food is very important okay? It's the love of my life."

"I bet Amaya would be glad to hear that."

"For your information, she doesn't mind to be part of a trouple."

"Oh my God..." Sara says pinching the bridge of her nose in feigned annoyance while Ava giggles at their interaction.

Zari turns to the kitchen island and places the pizzas on top of it and then moves to grab the pizza cutter and some napkins.

"Sara can you give me a hand instead of being a pain in my ass please?"

"Well since you asked so nicely," she mutters, getting up, "What do you need?"

"The plates that are on the cabinet next to the fridge."

Her friend glares at her once again. Of course the plates had to be on a high place, one that Zari knows very well she can't reach. Regardless of that, she still tries to get them, stepping on her tippy-toes. When she realizes she can't, she starts to get frustrated, muttering to herself.

Then she feels someone standing next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Do you want me to get it?" Ava asks with a soft smile, "Don't want you to hurt your back," she adds with a lifted eyebrow and a smirk.

Sara hears Zari snort in response, clearly paying attention to their chat but she decides to ignore it. She is busy gaping at her own previous words now thrown against her, "Cheeky."

Her face breaks into a knowing smile after that and she steps away, "Go right ahead," she says, gesturing at the cabinet with her hand.

After the plates are settled down on the kitchen island, Zari starts to split the slices of pizza between them, "There you go! If you want more after you're done don't be shy and help yourself Ava," she says with a smile aimed at the blonde.

"Hey what about me?" Sara asks with a pout making her roommate smile fondly at her cute expression.

"I already told you Lance, you make fun of my dedication to food, you don't deserve to be part of it," she says nonchalantly.

Sara's pout only grows and she is now sporting her big blue puppy eyes that remind Zari of a whiny husky. She rolls her eyes and eventually concedes, "Fine... Let's make a deal, behave and I'll let you have dessert," she says, sitting back down on the couch, taking a bite of her pepperoni slice.

The blonde's eyes lit up and she smiles, motioning for Ava to sit down on the cushion next to her.

Once they have all sat down, they press play again and keep watching the movie while eating their dinner.

AN: Hope you enjoyed it! Comments are always appreciated so I can know if I'm doing a good enough of a job ;)