Ava giggled as she cradled her phone against her shoulder and her ear. She pulled at the tape dispenser, making sure to hold the wrapping paper down before taping it. Christmas was a week and a half away but since Bri was at cheerleading practice, Kita made Ava wrap her gifts. She always did them that way; the other having to wrap the others gifts. Usually, they would tell each other, but Ava didn’t have a desire to do so. She hadn’t even been hanging around Bri that much lately.

Since early October when she lost her virginity to Amaru, that’s all she did. If Ava wasn’t at school, she was with Amaru. They didn’t have sex all the time, but it definitely made them closer. Ava thought Kita would have a problem with it, but she seemed to be encouraging the girls to stay away from home more and more.

“What time she leave for work?” Amaru asked. Ava smacked her lips.

“You know she don’t work, but she’ll probably be gone around five. Why?”

“I miss you,” Amaru said. Ava laughed.

“Quit lying, you just seen me three hours ago.”

“Yeah, that was at school.”

Ava smiled, but didn’t say anything. School had let out for winter break earlier that day and Ava was happy about it. She wasn’t even that pressed about Christmas, she was just excited about being out of school for two weeks.

“I heard Davion has been coming over there.”

“Yeah, for Bri,” Ava said quickly. “I hardly even talk to him when he comes.”

“You know he likes you, too,” he said.

“No, I didn’t know that and I don’t care.”

“But I heard he tried to get at you today?” Amaru asked. Ava sucked her teeth while pushing the wrapped gift to the side and pulling another box in front of her.

“He came at me after gym,” Ava admitted. “But I shut him down.”

“What he say?”

“Babe, leave it alone,” Ava said.

“Nah. What he say?”

“You are so freaking jealous it’s ridiculous,” Ava said, laughing. She sighed when Amaru didn’t find it as amusing as she did. “He said he heard how we get down and wanted to try.”

“He said what?” Amaru yelled. “And you didn’t come find me?”

“You were already in class when I walked by,” Ava said.

“I’m getting real tired of people trying you like they don’t know you wit’ me,” he said. Ava smirked at how thick his accent had gotten at that moment.

“Don’t be tight because I’m fly.”

“Shut up,” he said. Ava laughed. “You always got something slick to say.”

“You love me though,” she said, blushing when he agreed.

“What you wrap for me?”

“You know how much that hat for your birthday cost me?” Ava asked. “I do not have a job.”

“Kita ballin’,” he said. Ava rolled her eyes. “I got you something.”

“What?” Ava asked smiling. Before Amaru could answer, Kita walked into Ava’s open door.

“Get off the phone real quick,” she demanded. Ava glared at her.

“Amaru, let me call you back.”

“Alright, love.”

Ava smiled before hanging up.

“You were on the phone with a boy?” Kita asked.

“I know you heard me,” Ava replied. Kita moved the few strands of her silky, black hair from in front of her face before placing her hand on her hip.

“I need you to go to the store for me.”

“How?”

“Walk.”

“Kita, its December.”

“It’s like 55 out,” Kita said, holding out a few bills folded up. Ava stood up and snatched the money.

“What do you want?” Ava asked, looking around for her coat. Kita looked at Ava as footsteps were heard behind them. Ava looked up in enough time to see a Puerto Rican man walking past her room. She eyed him with a frown on her face. Kita turned and pointed her finger to the left.

“The door at the end,” she said. Ava sucked her teeth before closing her eyes.

“You need help.”

“Get to the store and shut up!”

Ava shook her head before snatching her jacket off the bed and grabbing her shoes. She jogged downstairs and stopped at the front door, dropping her shoes in front of her before sliding them on. Once she was out the house and walking down the sidewalk, she called Amaru back.

“I’m going to have my cousin come pick you up,” he said. Ava nodded, as if he could see her.

“When y’all coming?”

“He should be there around seven.”

“Amaru, you know I don’t like riding with him without you,” Ava whined. Amaru sucked his teeth.

“Why? He try you?” he asked. Ava’s face felt flush as she looked around.

“No!” she said. “He just’s hella rude.”

“You only gon be in the car for like ten minutes,” Amaru said. “Stop tripping love.”

“I can’t wait until you get your car.”

“I’ll make sure I have a big back seat,” he said. Ava sucked her teeth but Amaru laughed.

“Is that all you think about?”

“I can’t help it,” he admitted. “You shouldn’t give it to me so much,” he joked. Ava raised her eyebrow.

“That can stop.”

“No, it can’t!” he said a little too quickly. Ava laughed hard. “Don’t even play like that. I’m a good boy.”

“Most of the time.”

“Oh, just wait until you get over here. I’m body slamming you,” he said. Ava laughed, tears almost coming out of her eyes. She loved how he always kept her laughing. He even joked that she laughed too much during sex and wasn’t taking him seriously. She just couldn’t help it. Ava always had fun with him. It was what made their relationship so great.

“You won’t be able to catch me,” she teased. “Slow poke.”

“Girl,” he said. Ava laughed at his tone. “I’m hitting you so hard with this pillow.”

“Okay, I can’t breathe,” Ava confessed. “You gotta stop.” Amaru laughed.

“I love making you laugh baby,” he said. “How I keep you mine.”

Ava sighed, hating when Amaru made reference to them not being together. She figured all his insecurities would stop once she’d given him her virginity, but every now and then he would make comments like that.

She got to the store and walked around slowly, hoping by the time she got back home that man and hopefully Kita would be gone. Kita was taking less and less pride in hiding her indiscretions now and it made Ava’s stomach turn. The energy in her home had changed so quickly and Ava didn’t see if ever shifting back to its original bliss, not with Rico away from it anyway.

Amaru went on about football season not turning out how he expected. Hamilton got put out of the playoffs so he had been sulking around but Ava was usually able to cheer him up. While he talked, she went down the candy isle and got different flavors of Air Heads to take to him when his cousin came to get her. She smiled at herself, prideful that she was such a good girlfriend.

“You ain’t home yet?” Amaru asked about ten minutes later.

“Just turned on the street,” she said. Ava narrowed her eyes to see Kita’s car gone. “She’s gone already.”

“Um, I might have cuz come get you now then,” he said. Ava giggled, not even able to reprimand him for his mannish comments at the moment. Dealing with Kita and Bri definitely made Ava want to escape into Amaru’s arms. If having sex kept him satisfied and wanting to be around her, then Ava knew she’d do what she had to do.

Once she unlocked the door, she sighed seeing Bri’s cheerleading bag in the middle of the living room floor.

“He coming?” Ava asked, now ready to leave.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, let me get ready.”

After Ava hung up with Amaru, she jogged upstairs to her room. She looked around for the tight jeans that Amaru loved before remembering she had hung them up earlier.

Ava looked up in time to see Bri walking past the door. She sighed as Bri looked in and rolled her eyes. They had been arguing for the last two days. Ava didn’t really care what they were arguing about, but it was Bri’s fault so Ava was waiting on an apology. Bri’s popularity seemed to rise on a daily basis and it was going to her head. Ava didn’t have time for that.

“Momma said not to go anywhere when you got back.”

“Mind your business.”

“You are being way too fast,” Bri said. “Ma said stay here.” she repeated.

“I don’t care what Kita said! Amaru wants to see me.”

Ava could feel Bri watching her closely as she moved around her room and got dressed. It was Bri’s death stare and it almost made Ava itch. When Ava finally looked back up at her, Bri wasn’t even blinking.

“I can’t believe its true,” Bri whispered. Ava’s head snapped in her direction.

“What?”

“That you’ve been having sex.”

“Just with him though,” Ava said, defending her honor.

“That’s not the story,” she said. Ava stood up straight and walked closer to Bri.

“The story? I’m your twin, the only story you need to believe about me is the ones I tell you!” Ava snapped. “I don’t lie and I don’t have a reason to start.”

“You will,” Bri said, walking off. Ava sat confused. She didn’t know what was going on but she didn’t even have time to think about it. Amaru was calling her phone to let her know that his cousin was outside.

“Tell cuz I’ll be back.”

Ava nodded before getting out of the car. That was the only thing he’d said to her the whole time she was in his car, but it didn’t matter now. She jogged up to the door, but before she could knock, it swung up. Ava giggled as Amaru swooped her up into his arms and pulled her into the apartment.

“Took you forever!” he said, kissing her nose. She laughed before pulling back and unzipping her jacket.

“Why you look mad?”

“No reason,” Ava whispered, pulling Andreas to her by his shirt. He had a room at his cousin’s house so they were lying in his bed. His mom was bent on him not moving in, but he was slowly but surely. Andreas tapped her thigh and she sucked her teeth. “Something’s going on with me and Bri.”

“What you mean?”

“Nothing been right in that house since Daddy left,” she mumbled.

“I heard your pops was a boss!” Amaru said. Ava smirked.

“Yeah, he’d boss you in the ground if he knew what you were doing with me,” Ava said, laughing at her own joke. Amaru rolled over on top of her and used his knee to spread her legs. Ava smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You gon tell on me, shawty?” he asked. Ava shook her head before kissing him. “You better not.” Ava just smiled as she pulled the ponytail holder out of his hair and gripped the ends. Amaru groaned and she laughed. “You know better.”

“You don’t run nothing, homie,” she said. Amaru smirked before reaching between them to get to the zipper of her jeans.

“Yeah?” he said. “Let’s see.”

Ava wasn’t an average beginner. From the start of their sexual relationship, Ava was determined. She had been scared the first time around, but making Amaru happy was her goal so she did just that. Now, she was enjoying it almost more than he was. She knew he liked control, but she often made him give it up quickly. Today she allowed him to be the leader, and she was rewarded.

Ava woke up to an empty room. It was slightly dim outside so she knew she’d been sleep for a while. Amaru had turned off the light and the television so the room was dark. Ava sat up and looked around for her clothes, knowing Kita had probably blown her phone up while she was sleep.

“Babe!” she yelled towards the open bathroom door. “Where’s my phone?”

“Somewhere in the bed!” he yelled from the bathroom. Ava groaned while feeling around in the sheets and moving the pillows. Her nails hit something hard and she wrapped her hand around it. Ava groaned when she saw it was Amaru’s phone instead of hers. She was about to throw it back down, but the screen came alive when a message from Amaru’s friend Jarvis came through. Ava didn’t hesitate to open it.

“She seems to be behaving?” Ava whispered, reading the text to herself. She frowned in confusion before scrolling up to go to the previous messages. After a few minutes, Ava face fell just as her heart dropped.

The messages were dated back weeks ago. Amaru and was bragging about him and Ava, which wasn’t anything new, but a few messages caught Ava’s eye. Jarvis said that he couldn’t believe that Amaru’s plan to start the rumor actually worked. Amaru sent him a message back that it was all he could think of to get her to open up, and that’s when Jarvis made the comment about Ava behaving.

Ava heard the shower turn off and she immediately jumped up and got dressed. Amaru came out of the bathroom and frowned.

“What’s up? You gotta go?” he asked. Ava just nodded. “What’s wrong?”

Ava stood up straight and threw his phone at him. It bounced off his chest and landed on the carpet.

“Girl, are you crazy?”

“No! Just stupid,” she mumbled, fumbling to put her shoes on. “Stupid as hell!”

“Ava, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“It was you!” she yelled, not being able to hold the tears back. “You are the reason all these people at school look at me like I’m some type of tramp with no morals.”

“It wasn’t like that,” he said, throwing his hands up. Ava shook her head.

“I trusted you with everything in me,” Ava said, shaking her head. “It was you the whole time.”

Ava didn’t even give Amaru a chance to explain himself. She grabbed her things, stormed out of his cousin’s house and took off walking. It took her thirty minutes to get home. She was sweating, crying and she felt dirty.

At least Kita isn’t home, she thought, pushing the front door open after unlocking it. She sighed when she saw Bri spread out on the couch on the phone. She looked up at Ava and laughed.

“She just walked in,” she said. “Have fun?”

“No.”

“Guess your little relationship isn’t as perfect as you thought,” she commented. Ava was at the steps before she realized what Bri had just said. She dropped her things on the floor and looked up. Putting two and two together, Ava realized that Bri knew that Amaru started the rumors. Ava’s vision turned red as she darted off towards the couch. Bri didn’t even have time to react before Ava’s fist flew towards her head and knocked the phone on the ground.