Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy! You're all the greatest. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 She was sitting on the grass with her legs crossed underneath her. She was sitting alone and watching as people stumbled around her. She had on a black dress and her blonde hair was messily tied up on the top of her head. She was rubbing her bare arms when there was a gust of wind.

I hadn't realized that I was walking toward her. I was going to turn around and keep looking for Adrian, but she looked up at me. Her light blue eyes connected with mine, and my lips lifted into a smile and hers followed. I sat down on the grass next to her and slipped my plaid shirt off of my shoulders.

"Are you cold?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I am," she said. "But it's okay."

"Here, take this." I handed her my shirt.

Her smile grew and she reached out for it. I noticed she had painted her nails red. She slid on the shirt and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ava," she said. "How about you?"

"Hunter."

She giggled. "Like Hunter Wilcox?"

My stomach felt like it twisted itself into a knot. I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded my head.

"Yeah," I said. "I actually am."

She stopped laughing and her eyes grew wide.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "My aunt told me the Wilcox family lived here, but I thought that was just a myth."

"Trust me, I wish my family was a myth."

I looked to the side to see she was chewing on her bottom lip. She made eye contact with me, but then dropped her gaze.

"Don't worry about it," I said, and she looked back up at me. "A lot of people say something, especially after my mom released her book."

"I love it," she said.

"You read her book."

"Yeah, I loved it. It's one of my favourite books. I've read it like five times. This is weird to me, you're like a character to me."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. Her lips were painted pink and she lifted them into a smile. I had never kissed a girl before, but I had a strong urge to press my lips against hers. The heat rushed up to my cheeks and I let out a nervous chuckle.

"I'm just a bit older than when my mom wrote about me," I said.

She laughed, and it made me smile more.

I felt a sharp jab at the back of my head, and something wet started trickle down my back. I looked behind me to see one guy was lying on the grass. His plastic cup was lying on the ground in front of him, and his friend was trying to haul him back onto his feet. The smell of beer filled my nose.

Ava jumped up from her spot, and stood in front of me. She extended her hand down to me. The sleeve of my shirt was too long for her and ran past her fingertips.

"Come on," she said. "Let's leave this teenage ruckus of alcohol and hormones."

I reached up and grab her hand and got up onto my feet. I didn't notice until I was standing next to her that I towered over her small frame. She laced her fingers through mine and guided me over to a gate in the fence. She opened it up and pulled me onto the sidewalk.

"Won't your friends wonder where you are?" I asked her.

"I don't really know the people who invited me," she told me. "I just moved in with my aunt and I don't know many people here. Some girls in one of my class invited me. They kind of abandoned me when we got here."

"My best friend basically did the same thing to me," I said. "What school do you go to?"

"Westwood."

"Me too. I haven't seen you around?"

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "What classes do you take?"

"Bio, chemistry, calculus, advanced -"

"That's why I haven't seen you." She cut me off and laughed. "I don't take any of those kinds of classes. I have art, English, Home Ec., things like that. I'm just waiting for my diploma."

"No plans for after Westwood?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going to college. How about you?"

"I applied to a lot of universities for Environmental Science. I want to be an entomologist."

"I'm going to pretend like I know what that is."

"It's really lame, but I want to study insects."

The sweat was building up in my palm, and she had a tight grip on my hand. I wanted her to let go, but at the same time I loved the feeling of her skin against mine.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out. Mom's name flashed across the screen. I looked over at Ava to see her looking up at me.

"Just wait a sec," I told her. I answered the phone and held it up to my face. "Hey, Mom."

"Hi, sweetie," her voice filled my ear. "I just got home from work and wanted to see how you are."

"I'm good, thanks. Adrian and I are just walking home from Rick's right now.

"Okay, just be safe."

"Will do. Love you."

We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. I could feel my cheeks blush I looked down on the pavement under our feet.

"Are you and your mom pretty close?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "She just worries. If I came home smelling like beer, she would kill me."

"So you have to sneak in tonight?" she asked.

"I was supposed to be staying at my friend's house, but I don't know where he is and I don't really want to break into his house. So I guess I'm sneaking home tonight."

"Come to my house."

"Wait, what?"

Ava laughed and gave my hand a tug.

"My house is right here," she said. "My aunt is probably passed out in her room. Let's just watch a movie."

Before I could answer, Ava was pulling me up the stone path to a small house. I could see that the paint on the door and panels was flaking off, and the front yard had weeds scattered around it. She lifted a finger to her lips before pulling her key out of her pocket.

In the dark house, there were shadows casted across the furniture. A woman was lying across the couch with a remote in her hand. Beer bottles were scattered along the floor. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was rising up and down with every breath she took. Ava pulled me up the flight of stairs and down the hall to her room.

Her room had beige walls and her closet was wide open and clothes were spilling out. Her bed was a mess of blankets and she had a bookcase overflowing with books. She turned on a lamp, and dimly lit the room. She went to her closet and pulled out a black shirt.

"If you don't want to smell like beer you can put this on," she said holding out a shirt.

"I'm personally not into wearing women's clothes," I told her.

"I wear it when I paint," she said. "It's a guy's shirt."

She turned around and fiddled with her TV until it turned on. I pulled off my shirt and quickly changed into the shirt she gave me. There was splatters of white and blue paint on it. She turned around with two DVDs in her hands.

"Are you more into action or horror?" she asked.

"Horror."

"Perfect." She turned around and put in the movie. When she turned back around she shook her head. "Have a seat."

I sat on the end of her bed. Ava sat next to me and started the film. I watched in silence, not wanting to wake up her aunt, even though I didn't think much would wake her up. I noticed that Ava inched her way over closer to me little by little. My throat started to feel tighter and I struggled to swallow past the lump forming. I could feel the sweat build up on my palms again. She soon had her shoulder pressed up against mine. We were about halfway through the movie when she let out a deep sigh.

"You know you're kind of frustrating, right?" she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I've never had a guy take so long to make a move."

"A move?"

"You haven't even kissed me yet."

"Oh...I...um...I haven't really...you know-"

"You've never kissed a girl before?" Her eyes were wide. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen," I said.

Ava turned her body so that she was facing me. Her lips were spread in a wild smile.She reached out and put her hand on my side. I jumped at her touch and she giggled.

"This is really cute," she said. "Are you nervous?"

"Wait, you're going to kiss me?" I asked, the lump growing bigger in my throat.

She nodded her head. She reached up and cupped my face with her hands. She pulled my face down and leaned in toward me. She pressed her soft lips against mine and I kissed her back. I could feel my glasses get pushed against the bridge of my nose. I wasn't sure to put my hands, so I placed them on top of her thighs. The scent of her perfume filled my nose. I squeezed my eyes shut and enjoyed the feeling of her against me.

She leaned out of the kiss and her face light up with a smile. I knew my face mirrored hers.

"How was that?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Amazing."

She giggled and leaned in to kiss me again.