A Beautiful Fate (18 page)

“Well,” Andrew began, “we had hopes that they didn’t know who you were, or where you were, and we may still be correct, but it sounds to me as though they have begun planning some kind of action. What are the chances you will have this dream again?”

“Pretty good, actually. I have most of them over and over again. But I can’t really control my dreams.”

“That’s just it, Ava, you can control your dreams. What you are experiencing are not really dreams; they’re more like visions...sometimes of the past and sometimes of the future. The Kakos are attempting to choose your fate. You have the power to stop them only before the fate has definitely been chosen. And only you have the power to influence what the Kakos do – that’s why these visions come to you – so you can take control. If you dream of these men again, try to stay where you are for as long as possible and to get as much information as you can.”

“Ok,” I answered readily, “I will.” But inside I felt icy fear start to trickle down my body.

Ari and Andrew continued the conversation, and I excused myself to give them space. I found Aggie and Lauren in the kitchen making dinner.

“Need any help?” I asked, as I walked in and sat at the island.

“Ava Baby!” Aggie said with a smile. “I have missed you!” She pulled me to her for a strong hug and then kissed both of my cheeks energetically. As soon as she let me go, Lauren took her place for another hug and more kisses.

“So, Ava,” Aggie said, while chopping up vegetables, “I hear you and my Ari are finally a couple.”

“Um, yes, we are actually … who mentioned that to you?” I asked, since we had only been dating for a total of two hours.

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Get used to it, nothing is private around here, news travels fast, especially when Rory is involved.”

“Rory,” I said, “I should have known.”

“Speak of the devil, baby and the devil shall appear!” Rory said with a laugh as he walked in through the back door.

I gave him a sheepish smile and a small “hi.” I still wasn’t sure exactly where we stood friendship-wise. He grabbed me by the shoulder as Aggie and Lauren had done, pulled me to him for a huge hug, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then, for good measure, he put me in a headlock and messed up my hair. I felt much more at ease knowing that we could still goof around with each other.

Rory threw the refrigerator door open and all the bottles jiggled and clanked. He pulled out two pops, grabbed an apple off the counter, and headed back to the study.

“We’re eating in an hour and you’d better have an appetite!” Aggie called after him, shaking her head.

Once Rory was out of earshot, Aggie smiled up at me.

“Ari is very fond of you, Ava. I am so glad to see things are working out.”

“I like him, too, very much.” My cheeks felt hot.

I helped Aggie in the kitchen for a while then sat at the table and started to help Lauren with her French homework. We managed to get through the lesson but doing so was a chore; Lauren knew very little of the vocabulary, even less of the grammar and had almost no accent at all. She was a good listener, though, and made progress even in the short time we worked.

Soon after, Julia arrived from next door with Rory’s parents. She had been living with them for the last few weeks, and I kind of thought her move had something to do with me. I was happy to see her again. She sat and talked with us about a new band she was going to see up in L.A. the following weekend, and I thought, as I had the first time I met her, that she was really very nice. She didn’t mention Ari, and there was no way I was going mention him to her.

Growing restless, I eventually got up and found my way in to the living room. The room was empty and I needed an escape; my brain couldn’t choose which of the many topics rolling around in it to attend to. I could feel my stress and anxiety mounting. I felt myself to be in danger. Worse yet, I felt the people around me to be in danger as well.

Running was out of the question, so I sat at the piano and began softly playing the Chopin Nocturne op 20. I closed my eyes and let the music take all the thoughts away. I moved into
Ingrid St. Pierre’s
“T’sé” and sang it to myself softly in French. The song had been one of Mia’s personal favorites. I finished and took a deep breath to steady my emotions then closed the piano lid. When I turned around on the bench, I was stunned to see that the living room had filled up. Every person in the house was there, sitting quietly watching me. My cheeks flushed pink.

“Holy hell, I am so sorry,” I said quickly, putting my hands up to my cheeks while everyone stared at me.

Aggie spoke up. “That was your father’s piano, Ava. No one has played it since him.”

I just blinked at her, unable to formulate a sentence.

I stood up as Ari came over to my side. “So are you ready?” I asked, trying to ignore all the other faces in the room. I hated playing in front of crowds; it made me feel vulnerable and exposed.

“Well, actually,” he said, rubbing at his five o’clock shadow, “do you mind if we stay here tonight? My Dad thinks it would be best...you know, if you dream something new. We really want to stay ahead of them.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine but, um…” I said, turning to Andy, “I have never been able to control my dreams. If I could change a dream, I would have never let my mother die, or Mia.”

Aggie came up and squeezed my shoulder. “We know that; don’t worry. Now come on everyone, let’s eat.”

We sat down to dinner. Aggie had made eggplant parmesan and a large salad stacked with veggies, then added to the table a beautiful loaf of crusty rosemary bread. The dinner conversation took on a lighter tone and people began to ease up. Aggie turned to me.

“Ava, where did you learn to sing like that?”

“I can’t sing, Aggie.”

“Nonsense, we all just heard you. It was beautiful.”

I smiled at her, wishing she would just drop it. “That song sounds pretty only because it is in a different language. I really don’t sing well, and I certainly did not intend to subject any of you to my voice.”

“Well, I thought it was beautiful. And about tonight, I thought staying here would be easier for you. You can stay with Ari in his room. We have extra toothbrushes and things in the closet down the hall; I’m sure you’ll find everything you need in there.”

“Aggie, its fine,” I said, feeling even more uncomfortable.
Is she giving me permission to sleep with Ari?
“I can just stay on the couch; it’s no big deal.”

“Don’t worry, Ava. We are modern people; we recognize that the two of you are going to be together one way or another. Sneak around at school all you want, but there will be no sneaking around behind my back in this house. Oh, and please don’t make me a grandmother yet! I am still much too young,” she said with a wink.

I felt as though I might puke. I shot Ari a look and he gave me a little grimace. He had told his mother! Totally embarrassing... I chugged my entire glass of water, my mouth had turned so dry.

Ari came to my rescue. “Ma, leave Ava alone.”

He put his hand on my leg and softly trailed his fingers up my thigh. He was trying to help me calm down, but his touch had the opposite effect and my blood began to boil with desire. I thought about our crazy, sexy kiss in the elevator and felt faint. I sucked in a breath when his hand got a little too high up my leg and Ari gave me a crooked little smile.

I passed on dessert and helped Aggie clean up after dinner. As soon as the last dish was in the dishwasher, Ari took me by the hand and pulled me down the hall to his room, closing the door behind us. His room was just as I imagined it would be. He had a remarkable view of the ocean and his bookshelf was filled with some of my favorite books. He had a few pictures on the top shelf, all of him and his family. There were two glass jars, one filled with white seashells and the other filled with smooth black stones. His floor had the same dark hardwood that ran throughout the rest of the house but there was a large white rug in the middle of the room, thick and soft against my bare feet. His bed was king sized and topped with big white pillows and down comforters. His surfboard leaned into a corner and a brown leather armchair with a stack of books on the floor sat next to it. On another wall, there was a huge, panoramic, black and white canvas of a surfer walking the beach at sunset. On the far wall, he had a collage of several more black and white prints of the same surfer. I pointed to it.

“Are all these of you?”

“Uh, yeah, but please don’t think I am self-absorbed. My mom’s a photographer and she took all of them.”

He looked somewhat embarrassed, but they were beautiful prints, and they couldn’t have been of a lovelier subject: Ari. I had noticed black and white prints all throughout their home and each one was incredible. If Aggie had taken them all, she was a very talented photographer indeed.

Ari turned the music of
Dr. Dog
on in the background and pulled open the doors to a huge walk-in closet. He took out an unopened package of boxers, ripped it open, and threw me a pair. Then he grabbed a white tee-shirt, the same kind I had seen him slip on in the middle of the night on several occasions, and tossed it to me.

“Uh, do you mind if I take a quick shower?” I asked, holding my new pajamas in my hand.

“Not at all,” he smiled, “it’s right down the hall.”

I slipped out of his room, my stomach full of butterflies, and found the closet Aggie had mentioned. I grabbed a toothbrush from a multi-pack, there was also a supply of razors and moisturizer so I stocked up and headed to the shower.

There was nothing quick about it. I took my time washing my hair and scrubbing my face. When I got out, I covered myself in lotion and towel dried my hair and put on my boxers and tee-shirt. I did the best I could at walking calmly back to Ari’s room.

He was wearing his glasses and sitting on his bed reading something on his iPad.

“Hey,” he said with a very reassuring, perfectly beautiful smile, “feeling better?”

“Much,” I nodded.

“Good.”

Ari pulled off his glasses and tossed them aside with his iPad. He wrapped his arms around my waist and fell back onto the bed pulling me down with him. I let out a little giggle and he rolled himself on top of me and kissed me, sending sweet, tingling shivers down my spine. He softly trailed his lips all over my face, neck and collarbone. Then he pulled me up so I was sitting on his lap; Ari wrapped my legs around his body and we kissed deeply, my fingers ran through his hair and his hands ran up under the back of my shirt. Things between us were heating up
fast
.

“God, Ava, I can’t seem to take my mind off you, and now it seems I am having the same issue with my mouth.”

His voice was husky and his eyes were dark and lidded. I closed my eyes and felt my body melt in his hands. I pressed my lips back to his, our breathing got heavier and my mind began to get foggy. That’s when I heard a soft creaking sound, but I couldn’t place the noise because I was too caught up in our heavy breathing and the rapid beating of our hearts.

“Hey, you guys wanna watch
Caddy Sha…
holy shit, I deserved that... sorry.”

Rory had scared me half to death and I let out a little scream. Ari pulled me off his lap and sat me next to him on the bed.

“Shut the door, Rory,” Ari demanded calmly, but Rory just stood there, looking a bit like a deer staring at headlights.

“Shut the damn door, Rory,” Ari said again, with more force.

“Right, sorry. I’ll just leave the two of you to it then.”

With that, he finally left and shut the door.

“I am so sorry, Ava.” Ari said, looking at me sweetly while brushing the hair away from my face.

“No, it’s fine. It is probably for the best that that happened anyway, Ari – I don’t think I am ready to do
that
yet.”

Ari kissed my forehead, “I would wait forever for you.”

I blushed and he smiled.

“Well, do you wanna watch
Caddy Shaaa
?” Ari teased.

“No.”

“Good, me either.”

He scooped me up and tossed me on his giant pillows. I let out another giggle and Ari’s beautiful smile spread, once again, across his face as he crawled under the blankets next to me, wrapping his body around mine. We lay there like that while he stroked my hair and traced circles on my back; he asked me another round of questions and I fell in to a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

****

I woke early, still wrapped in Ari’s arms. I stretched and found my phone on the nightstand and saw that it was only four-thirty in the morning. There was no use in trying to fall back asleep. I was up. I snuck out of the room, went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Half way through
The Times
, Andy walked in.

“Morning, Ava! I am not used to having anyone up before me. Everyone in this house likes to sleep in.” He frowned. “Anything new?” He asked, pouring himself a cup.

“No, I had no dreams at all, actually.”

“Strange,” he said, scratching his head.

“Tell me about it. I can’t remember having a dreamless sleep in my whole life until just recently.”

“Hmmm. We will get this figured out.” Andy nodded more to himself than to me.