As with every night, the ride home was uneventful. She hopped off of her bike and punched in the garage code. While the garage was still opening, she ducked inside and dragged her bike along with her. Then light in the kitchen was on and a note was left on the fridge. Gone for the night, it read. Ava rolled her eyes and began searching for something to eat.
When she was an infant, Wrathia Bellarmina had adopted Ava as her own child for reasons unknown. Wrathia never showed much interest in Ava as she got older. Once Ava was old enough to take care of herself and know right from wrong, Wrathia practically vanished. Despite not being around much, Ava was always able to get in touch with her adoptive mother when she really needed her. At the moment though, Ava was perfectly content to be without her.
Managing to find some spaghetti left over from a few nights ago. Ava closed the fridge and popped the lid off of the container. She set it in the microwave to make it edible once again and hopped up on the countertop. Once she slipped the backpack from her shoulders, she moved onto removing her shoes. Just as Ava began to relax, the microwave went off with a loud, monotonous beep. She sighed and retrieved the spaghetti from the microwave, careful not to burn herself. Turning on the TV, she sat down and dug into her dinner.
Ava fell into the nightly routine. Come home, make dinner, maybe watch some television, shower, and eventually fall into bed at the end of the night. She had just stepped out of the shower when she caught the blur of her reflection in the fogged mirror. At first, she drew a happy face. Maybe she added a nose, whiskers, and bunny ears. She smiled, then proceeded to wipe away the rest of the condensation to reveal herself. She tugged at her mousy brown hair which was still sopping wet. Her fair skin stood out against the water-darkened hair. Was she cute? She was attractive, right? Not the Maggie kind of attractive. Maggie radiated sex appeal where Ava was tiny and fragile looking. She puffed out her chest, straightened her shoulders, and gave the mirror what she thought might be a seductive glance. Ruffling her hair, she sighed. Defeated, she wrapped a towel around herself and trudged to her room.
Her room was painted a pale yellow color. Dotting the various dressers and shelves were plants and flowers. Ava flipped the light on and flopped face first onto her rosy bedding. She reached out and felt around until she found one of her multiple stuffed bunnies. The bunny was clutched to her side as she groaned into the mattress. When she had gotten that out of her system, she flipped over and grabbed the phone sitting on her nightstand. Ava stared at the screen debating whether or not she should call someone. Calling won out and she dialed a number.
"Yo."
"Hey, Maggs. Do you think you could come over for a bit? Mama Wrath is gone for the night again and I don't wanna be alone right now."
"On it."
Ava was met with a dial tone. She set the phone back on the charger and hugged the stuffed bunny to her chest tightly. Now she waited.
Maggie had let herself into house and went straight to Ava's room. Her friend was still huddled into a ball around the rabbit. She sat on the edge of the bed.
"Come on, get off your sorry ass, come here, and tell me what's wrong while I do your hair. Did you shower and not brush it? It looks like a rats nest."
"Geez, you sure know how to cheer a girl up." Ava's face was still tucked into her knees. Maggie reached into the ball that was Ava and yanked the bunny from her grasp.
"Hey! Give it back!"
"Works every time. Now. Spill. What's troublin' ya?" Maggie grabbed a hairbrush from Ava's dresser and crawled to the center of the bed where Ava sat. Ava complied and turned away from Maggie.
"I don't know. What you said about the guy at the flower shop got me thinking. I mean, even if I did ask him out I doubt he'd even say yes," she ranted as Maggie ran the brush through her hair, making sure every tangle was gone. "He was probably just being nice to me because he thought he'd get a discount or something. Which maybe he did. I'm not gonna confirm that. But the point is I'm not even pretty or flirty like you are and-" Maggie grabbed Ava's chin and turned her friend's head to look her in the eye.
"Ava Ire, don't you dare start that, you hear me? You're beautiful and that guy was blind if he didn't notice, which I'm sure he did. Don't ever let me catch you comparing yourself to someone else or I'll kick your butt. Got it? Good. Now let me finish your hair."
Ava sat and waited for Maggie to finish up.
"Maggs, could you hand me a bunny?"
"Which one?"
"The one with the pink ears, please."
Maggie reached behind her and felt around the the velveteen rabbit. It was Ava's favorite one, supposedly given to her by her birth mother. That thing had seen better days but Ava still loved it and cared for it as if it were brand new. Maggie passed it up to Ava.
"Thanks," she mumbled, "for everything." Maggie couldn't help but smile at the smaller girl. She set the hairbrush down on the bed and hugged Ava's shoulders.
"Okay. Now, I'm gonna leave and you're gonna go to sleep and wake up in the morning. You're gonna put on a nice dress, the one with the sunflowers on it. Then you're going to fix your hair and maybe put on a little makeup, not too much though, you wanna keep it natural. You're going to go to work and you're gonna flirt that boy up. That's an order."
"Yes ma'am." Ava sat up straight and Maggie stood up to leave. No further words were exchanged between the two and Maggie closed the door behind her.
Ava walked to her vanity and sat down on the stool. She ran her hands through her hair, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She repeated Maggie's orders back to herself. She could do this.