Ava

Eli's mother hugged me tighter than my own mother did. She squeezed the life out of me, her smile so wide I felt a smile of my own form. From the corner of my eye I saw Elias enveloping my mother in a hug as she slapped his arm, saying something to him. They had been pretty close ever since he started coming to our house when we were younger.

My father was next. He asked me if I was okay with work, and I told him I was. Patrick hugged me as well, and smiled, patting my back. I hugged my mother at the last, and even though she never said it out loud, hugs were her weakness.

"First things first, kid." She murmured in my ear. "Didn't we have a deal you'll send me a picture of all your boyfriends so that I could judge them?"

"You wouldn't have judged him." I pointed at Elias. "You love him more than you do me."

"That's not true!" She exclaimed. "And it doesn't matter, you should have sent me a picture nonetheless."

"Well," Isabella said loudly, and looked at Jett. "I guess the shock of our relationship has been blown off." Elias stuck his tongue out to her, to which she gasped. 

"What're you doing here?" I asked Mom.

"Your father missed you too much." She said.

"You didn't?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, I mean, the house feels a little lonely."

I bit back a smile. She was the strongest person I knew. Strong because of the things she had gone through her life. But with those hardships came the need to protect herself all the time. She rarely expressed, always using Dad as an excuse to hide her own feelings. It annoyed me sometimes, but that was who she was, and I loved her nonetheless.

"We need to leave in an hour." Dad announced.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"We're flying to Hawaii." Sophia exclaimed. My mother gave her a high five, as if they were best friends looking for an adventure.

"I didn't know about this?" I looked at them. "All four of you are going?

"You don't need to know everything that happens in our lives, Ava." Mom rolled her eyes. "And you know now. We had a stop here so we thought of surprising you."

"But we were the ones who were surprised." Patrick said.

"This is like a dream come true." Sophia said. "Both of my children are dating my best friend's children. Soon we'll be planning weddings and-"

"Suficiente, mamá." Elias said, grinning. 

The next hour came and went a hell lot faster than I'd expected. Soon enough we were bidding goodbyes to them. Then it was just the four of us. Jett and Elias had went down to fill some paperwork, and Isabella was looking at me with an expression I could only describe as smugness and tease.

"Stop." I said.

"Stop what?" She asked innocently. 

"Staring at me."

"I told you the both of you will date one day, bonita." She said. "And what did you say to me that time?"

"In his dreams." I quoted, chucking. "I was stupid back then."

"He's had the hugest crush on you since forever." She told me, and my ears piqued with interest. I'd always known Elias had developed feelings for me before I had, but this was news. "This is probably the one thing he's wanted for a long, long time."

"I wanted it too." I said. "I just didn't know that."

Jett poked his head in. "We're good to go."

Isabella jumped up from the bed as we left the room at the same time. Elias was nowhere to be seen. When I asked Jett he told me he'd be back in a couple of minutes. I felt my bladder about to burst, so I excused myself to go to the washroom.

I saw him when I came out after doing my business. He was standing just outside the men's room, on the phone. His face was morphed into an expression of simmering fury, ready to burst. His voice as he spoke into the phone was calm. "Find him. I don't care what you have to do."

I knew what that was about. I knew who he was talking to, and what he was talking about. I hadn't meant to eavesdrop on his conversation, that was not my style. I trusted him. But I didn't want him to get into trouble because of me.

"He touched her." Elias muttered into the phone, his voice low. "I want his address tonight, Alex."

I didn't protest like I should have. I didn't go to him and tell him to drop it. Because I wouldn't have dropped it if I were in his position. I would have done the very same. We looked out for each other, him and I. Even though we were both capable to take care of ourselves and handle our problems, we still looked out for each other. And Elias was doing this for my protection, as well as his assurance. He wanted to make sure I was safe. So I didn't stop him.

"Hey you."

If he suspected I'd heard him, he didn't say anything. "Hello, amor."

"Everything okay?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck as he lifted me up from the ground. 

"Of course. I'm taking you out tomorrow."

"You have a match tomorrow."

"After that. You and I, and a couple of friends." He said. "And then just you and I."

"Who are these friends exactly? And what's the occasion?" I grasped his jaw and pressed a kiss to his cheek when he dropped me down. Then we made our way outside.

"Alexander, Aiden, and Paige. Just hanging out. Haven't seen them for a while. And they miss you." He shrugged. "Aiden's got a girlfriend, did I tell you that? Her name is Emily, and she's not from Paris." 

I stopped in my tracks, looking at him with wide eyes, then burst out laughing. He chuckled. "There, that's what I wanted to see."

My laughter died down slowly. "You should smile more often, Ava. You require a minimum of ten muscles to smile, so that's exercise. Two, you're too young to be straight faced all the time. Three," He smiled. "It makes me happy."

"Look who's being all romantic now." I breathed out, feeling my heart beat wildly in my chest.

"When did I claim not to be romantic, amor?" He murmured.

Jett and Isabella were standing by the car when we reached them. They weren't on each other surprisingly, maintaining a healthy distance. Elias whispered something in Jett's ear, to which he nodded. Him and Isa jumped into the car just as Eli walked to me.

"I need to borrow your car." He said. "I have some errands to run. He'll take you home."

"Errands?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and practice. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded, lifting my toes up just as bent down to kiss me. It was short and simple, sweet. It could have turned into something deeper had my annoying brother not honked the car twice, making us jump up. Elias glared at him through the windshield, pressing a kiss to my forehead as he took out the keys from my back pocket, lingering his hand there a little too long. I slapped his arm away, biting back a chuckle when he grinned. 

I wasn't worried the ride home, but I did have some doubts. If he was actually going to beat Fred, there could be a lot of things that could go wrong. He could press charges, for one. He did have contacts. Fred was a scumbag, and I wanted nothing more than to punch him myself, but I didn't want Elias in trouble. 

So I had no regrets when I rung up Keith. I had all the information I needed in ten minutes, and his word that he wouldn't tell anyone. I didn't fully trust him yet, but he'd won my support when he helped Brenda file the case. So I knew he respected me.

I was sitting on my bed when I pressed my phone to my ear for the second time that night. The voice that flooded from the other side was of someone I hadn't talked to for a month. "Ava! What a surprise. Wear a blue dress tomorrow, okay? We're all-"

"There's a secret camera in his room behind a painting. It has a different connection so you won't see it with the other cameras." I interrupted him. "Tell me he's not there yet, Alex."

"Shit. Wait, I'll take him on the line-" 

"No! Don't tell him I told you. He doesn't need to know, okay?" I said. "Just- just do your thing. Don't let him know it was me."

"He told me he didn't tell you."

"He didn't."

"You both do some weird ass couple goals." He muttered under his breath. I heard him type on a laptop, then ten seconds later, he said, "Done."

"Done? Really? That fast?"

"I'm a hacker, genius. Fast is my middle name." He said. "Anyway, onto more important things. Did Eli tell you the dress code for tomorrow?"

"There's a dress code?"

"He's hopeless." I knew he was shaking his head in disappointment. "Yes, it's blue. Any shade, but blue. Did he also tell you Aiden has a girlfriend now?"

"Yeah, he told me that. What's she like?"

"Judging. No one likes her. But who am I to judge?" He said. Alex was the first person I'd met from all of them. He was also the one I got along with the best. "You tell me, how was NY?"

"Decent. Not as good as LA."

"You change cities like people change clothes, Ava." He chuckled. "How long do you plan on staying here?"

I blinked. "I-I don't know, honestly. I'm not leaving anytime soon, that's for sure."

"Good, homeboy's gonna be pretty upset otherwise. I heard you both made it official. Paige is gonna kill him for not telling her. Actually, everyone's gonna kill the both of you for not telling us. We had been your number one supporters since day one, Ava. You betrayed us." 

"It happened too fast and-"

"Yeah yeah whatever." I imagined him waving his hand away. "Don't want your excuses. You also didn't tell us you were here. Oh shit, my pizza's burning. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Okay bye."

I chuckled as he hung up. If Alex thought someone was talkative, I could only imagine what they were like. Because Alex had a mouth which never got tired. He could speak for hours, and continue still. The best part, he always kept you entertained. There wasn't a single moment I could remember when I'd felt bored around him. 

It was around 1 am when I felt the door to my room open. I was in bed, my eyes closed, but I wasn't asleep. The person was pretty quiet as they entered my room, closing the door behind them. The bed dipped down next to me, a hand brushing a strand of my hair back, tucking it behind my ear softly. It lingered there for a few seconds, after which there was a kiss to my forehead. When I opened my eyes, Elias was gone.

-⍣-

I LOVE Emily in Paris. I'm so desperately waiting for season 2. How many of you have seen it? 

This chapter was literally nothing planned. It came to me so spontaneously, and turned out pretty decent so I decided to keep it. Opinions? Thoughts?