“We do. Gray weighed his portion first.”
Quinn nodded, and we relaxed into a comfortable silence. As I listened to the sports news, she came over and settled beside me on her small couch. Her head rested on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her.
“What is it?” I asked her quietly.
“It would have been his birthday soon,” she told me, and I felt the tear hit my arm.
“I’m sorry, Queeny.” I kissed her head. “I got you. You can cry, no one else is here.”
And she did, as I watched the news and held her loosely, she cried into my shoulder. When she got up to dry her eyes and wash her face, I texted my brother.
Ten minutes later, I opened the door to him, and he pushed past me into the apartment, enfolding her into his arms, and I shut the door behind me as I left.
Feeling helpless, I headed back home. Some sorrow wasn’t for me to fix, no matter how much I wanted to.
Chapter 30: Ava
Turning the TV off, I watched Twitter as the shit-talking started about who was going to win between the Lions and the Saints next week. I had watched the Saints today and felt guilty for it, but I needed to see if he won.
Ifhewon. Not iftheywon.
Mia was shopping in Cardinal. We had a party tonight at Jett’s house, and she needed new clothes. She didn’t, but her mom had sent her an allowance, and Mia had already blown through half of it.
I’d been to Cardinal earlier to help with the art class, and although I’d helped, the actual art teacher blew my mind with her skill. The kids loved it, though. Ranging from ages seven to eleven, they spent three hours on a Saturday morning in the community hall to give their parents time to do what they needed or to have a break from their parents.
I was home with some groceries and had made myself lunch when Mia declared she needed new clothes. There was no way in hell she was getting me away from the game, and she knew it. Having blown me a kiss, she assured me she would eat in Cardinal.
Jett had been precision-perfect today. Seriously, I hadn’t even seen top NFL quarterbacks play like he did today. The Lions were in for a fight next week. The hype and speculation were already rampant, and the rest of the league didn’t really exist at this point. They being archenemies didn’t help either.
The party tonight was at the football team’s house, and as I stared at my small wardrobe, I wondered if I should have gone to the store with Mia and gotten some new clothes as well. I thought about what Quinn wore and considered my options. With the best will in the world, I couldn’t hope to achieve the same level as Quinn. She was model-like and had obviouslyalways been that way. The ship had sailed for me to suddenly become glamorous overnight.
I pulled out a black dress. Every wardrobe should have an LBD, as my mom called them. Was tonight the night to wear my little black dress? It was pretty, as plain black went. A sleeveless fit and flare dress with a square neckline, and the skirt came mid-thigh. Remembering what happened last time I wore a skirt with Jett around, I blushed.
Chewing my bottom lip, I put the dress back. I was not putting in a special effort for Jett Santo on the off chance he would want to talk to me as much as I wanted him to talk to me.
The dress came back out. I was wearing this dress forme, not him. He did not dictate my wardrobe.
The dress went back. I was wearing jeans, and I was more comfortable in jeans. Dressy shorts? I rifled through my shorts, and then I went to Mia’s closet. She had a nice pair of black dress shorts and they were classy. I could wear dress shorts. They showed more leg, but they wereshorts.
I took them back to my room and then spent the next hour trying to find anything to match them.
“Holy gumdrops.” Mia stood in my doorway and looked at the clothes on my bed and on my floor. “I thought I was the one who went shopping,” she teased.
Looking around my room, I groaned. “I have nothing to wear!”
“Are those my shorts?” Mia said as she leaned over my bed and picked up her discarded clothing. “And my top?” She looked at me with an amused glint in her eye. “Ava, are you freaking out over the football player?”
I was so close to denying it, but she was my best friend, and I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. “I’m freaking out over the football player.”
“The Devil or the Lion?” she asked me with a curious look.
“The Devil.” I sighed long and hard. “The Lion doesn’t even know my name. And the Devil . . . well he knows too much.” My face flushed red as I met Mia’s amused look.
Mia snort-laughed, and then grinned at me. “My black shorts will look good with your lovely legs and . . .” She pulled something out of her shopping bag. “I may have bought you this to wear.”
“Mia!” My eyes widened in excitement. “Ooh, it’s so pretty.” It was, it was a long black top, and across the front was a large heart made up of words with a silver matte splash across it, like paint. Mia held her finger up and turned the top. It was backless. The neck was three buttons and then dropped to a wide band at the bottom, but from my shoulders to my ass, my back would be bare.
“Shit,” I whispered. “I can’t . . . can I?”
