A Beautiful Fate (6 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I don’t understand.”

She took my hand and put a red thread in it. The same type of red thread my grandfather had showed me right before he died. The thread was pretty, delicate and weirdly strange. Hues of red colors swirled throughout it. I looked up at Maya confused. Certainly, she did not want me to cut it.

“Pull,” she said, nodding her head in an attempt to encourage me to pull the thread. I held the thread in my hand and after a moment’s hesitation, I pulled and I watched as the thread began to stretch. I continued to stretch the thin thread and as I did, her face became less tired and she was no longer struggling for breath. The dials on the clock turned rapidly as I pulled and she smiled at me and touched my face softly.

“You are not like the rest, Ava Moirai; you are capable of good.” She kissed both of my cheeks and I awoke with the blink of an eye.

Getting out of bed, I was confused and decided to head towards the kitchen for some coffee. Just as I closed my door, Ari’s opened...but it was not Ari coming out from his room. It was the girl that I had seen him with the night before.

“Oh, hi, you startled me,” she said politely, in a British accent.

I gave her a smile as I peered into Ari’s room. I couldn’t help myself. I saw that his room was a mirror image of mine. His bed and mine shared the same paper-thin wall. His bed was messy and full of big, puffy white blankets and pillows. I felt a pang of jealously when I imagined this gorgeous girl tangled up in the blankets with him all night long. Then I spied Ari, sound asleep in his chair, his feet propped up on the ottoman and his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was wearing the same clothes he had had on the night before. I let out a sigh of relief, then immediately felt stupid and presumptuous for even caring.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” I said to the girl. “I was just on my way to get some coffee.”

“Coffee sounds great,” she replied as if I were inviting her to come with me.

We padded down the hall to the kitchen and she took a seat at one of the little tables while I made a pot of coffee. I placed a steaming mug in front of her, put another down across from the first for myself and then sat.

“I’m Julia,” she said sweetly.

“Ava,” I said introducing myself.

“Yeah, I know,” she smiled, “Rory has told me about you.”

“All good, I hope,” I said in a lame attempt of keeping up small talk.

“Yes, of course, all good,” Julia laughed, even though my comment truly had not been at all funny. I felt grouchy, but then realized Julia had had nothing to do with my present mood. I tried harder to join her in conversation.

“Do you live here in the dorms?”

She shook her head, “I used to. I actually used to live in your room. I moved out last spring.”

Oh, that Julia
, I thought. I remembered that Emily had mentioned her.

“I just came up here last night for the party.”

“Oh, I didn’t see you,” I lied. I shouldn’t have lied. Why did I lie? What difference did it make if I had seen her or not?

“Well, that’s because I was holed up in Ari’s room.”

Ugh, please don’t give me any details.

“He’s my ex-boyfriend. I was trying to win him back last night I guess.”

“Did it work?” I asked in a friendly tone, but deep down inside I was really hoping she had not succeeded.

“No,” she answered sadly. “He kept trying to drive me home last night and I kept talking about us. Finally he told me point blank that there is no “us” anymore. He said there’s nothing I can do bring us back together.” Julia’s voice broke a little as she repeated Ari’s words. I felt sorry for her. I’m sure the conversation must have hurt.

“I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better, my boyfriend broke up with me the day before I moved here.”

Julia smiled up at me. “Guys are such bastards.”

“Yes, they can be.” I agreed, thinking back to Michael. The day before I moved to California he called me outside of my apartment and told me that he didn’t have the energy to “do a long distance thing with me.” Michael and I dated for three years. He broke up with me three days after my mom died. He had no regard for my feelings or my emotions. Michael was indeed a complete bastard.

Julia and I finished our coffee and I got up to go back to my room.

“It was nice meeting you, Julia.” I meant it. But I hated the fact that she was so nice.

“It was nice meeting you, too, Ava. I am sure I’ll see you around campus.”

I walked back to my room just as Ari’s door opened again. He stepped out and looked groggy. He was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses that somehow only made him look even hotter. His hair was sticking out in tufts in an adorable sort of way that made me want to run my fingers through it. He gave me a smile as if he were happy to see me. I smiled back and then quickly walked into my room and shut the door before he could speak.

Emily, Vi, Sophie and I all piled in to my new car. I had driven it only one other time so it was still spotless and had that new car smell. Even though I didn’t have a car back home, my mom still had made me get a driver’s license. She made me practice with her Porsche and I was white knuckled and terrified the whole time. But in my car I felt really, really comfortable.

We made the drive to L.A. and I listened as the others discussed Julia and Ari in detail. Everybody made guesses about what might have happened between the two of them the night before. The speculation went on for a good half an hour. I knew, of course, what had happened, but I didn’t join in. Gossip has never been my thing.

We arrived at
baio
, Margaux’s store, about an hour later. She had been waiting for us and I could tell her staff was on edge. She rarely made an appearance at any of the retail shops and I am sure all of the people working that day were cursing my name. Someone was bound to get fired. Margaux loves to make scenes.

Margaux had her staff show off all of the newest clothes and we tried on whatever we wanted. Margaux had box after box filled and carried out to the car. She made her own choices about what we should have...but nobody other than myself seemed to notice. Then she insisted on taking us all to lunch. Emily, Vi and Sophie had an awesome time and adored Margaux just as Mia always has. I did not see the draw in an evil woman who floated around on stilettos all day.

After the shopping and the lunch, we headed back to Dana Point, hitting campus in late afternoon. Loaded down with boxes and bags, we waited in the lobby for the elevator, when the doors slid open, out stepped Ari. He said hello to us all with his bright, beautiful smile and I attempted to look pre-occupied with our items. Emily, Viola, Sophie and I hopped on the elevator. They called out their own friendly hellos. I kept my eyes on the ground and didn’t look up until I knew the doors were closed together tightly.

I opened the door to my dorm and shoved all the boxes in the bottom of my closet, then flopped down on my bed. After spending the day with my grandmother in high gear and a car full of gossiping girls, the quiet was abnormally welcoming. Twelfth floor was silent. Most of the people had gone home for the weekend, and I suspected Ari was heading home too. I was officially alone.

Chapter 5

I dedicated my Friday night to personal research. I began by looking up dream patterns that matched my own and quickly came up empty handed. I found absolutely nothing that fit the descriptions I entered. I even Googled Maya Xenos; she was nowhere to be found. I then moved on to researching my father, something that I had been putting off since the moment I heard his name mentioned at Providence. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to know, I wanted desperately to know anything I could about him. But there was also part of me that was terrified. Why had my mom kept his life a secret from me? And why had she gone to such great lengths to hide his name in all the legal documents? There had to be something about him that someone did not want me to know. I opened my Google search engine and typed in Adrian Moirai. The first entry was an
L.A. Times
story from seventeen years ago.

Business mogul, Adrian Moirai, 31, of Dana Point, California, was found shot to death Tuesday outside of the White Memorial Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles. His assailant is believed to have been a member of the Kakos family. Little is known about the small, European mob-style family, our sources indicate that Moirai had been caught up in the group for some time. There were no comments from his friends or family.

According to Detective Jason Scott of the L.A Police Department, the assailant remains at large. The L.A.P.D assures the residents of Los Angeles that this was an isolated event and they will do their best at finding the attacker and putting the matter to rest.

A horrible feeling of sickness overcame me. I could not believe that my mother could ever have been involved with someone who was a member of a gang. I concluded that the
L.A.Times
had gotten the story all wrong. I slammed shut my MacBook with more force than necessary and went down the hall towards the kitchen for a bottle of water. I spent the rest of the weekend in solitude until Sunday night when I joined the girls on my floor for another horrible romance.

The next week seemed to drag by. I got used to my schedule and practiced the art of sleeping with a pillow over my face to drown out my nightly screams. I relived my mother’s death night after night. Each time I tried to save her, and each time I failed.

I saw Ari less and less. But whenever I did catch a fleeing glance at him, the weird tummy thing would happen. It was as though a million butterflies had just decided to take flight in my stomach. We did once end up in the elevator together. I froze as soon as he climbed on with me. My palms got sticky and my breath caught in my lungs. I attempted to be busily looking at my chem notes, but I am sure he knew better. Neither of us spoke a word and I could feel the beating of my heart behind my ears. When the doors finally opened up to the twelfth floor, I heard him let out a breath of relief, then watched as he got off and walked straight to his room.

I had been at school for three weeks now and homecoming weekend was just a couple of weeks away. Emily had told me the weekend would consist of non-stop partying. Mia had decided that a “non-stop partying” kind of weekend would be the best kind for her visit. I was eager to see her, but uneasy too about my feelings for Ari. I could see Mia believing her intervention to be a necessity.

My nightmares continued and I woke up most nights crying out or screaming breathlessly. Often Ari would tap on the door and wait for me to answer and tell him that everything was okay. One night in particular the dream was so vivid and so terrifying that when I opened my eyes I didn’t immediately recognize where I was. I was sobbing and confused; moments later, there was a tap at my door and this time it slowly opened.

“Are you okay in here?”

It was Ari.

“Mm hmm. I’m sorry I woke you.”

He shook his head softly. “You didn’t; I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh.” I watched as he walked into my room and sat next to me on my bed. My mind went from confused and scared to racing … and my heart began to pound. I don’t think my new reaction had anything to do with my nightmare. Ari gently brushed a strand of my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. His touch was electrifying and my heart beat in triple time.

“You moved here from Chicago.”

“Mm hmm.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He frowned and the frown looked all wrong on his face.

“What do you miss about it?”

I sat there for a minute in the quiet darkness before speaking. I let out a breath.

“I miss everything. The noises and the way the city smells after a rain. I miss the gray sky, the gray streets and the gray buildings. I miss how I can look any way I want to look and be anyone I want to be without anyone giving me a second glance. I miss my home.”

“Don’t you like it here?”

I shook my head, dislodging the strand of hair from behind my ear. “Not really.”

His frown deepened.

“Are you having nightmares?” His voice was almost a whisper. He moved my hair once again away from my face. His touch was soft. His fingers lingered for a tiny moment on my cheek. He gave me goose bumps.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I don’t.”

Ari nodded, blew a breath out between his cheeks and rubbed his hands up his face and through his hair. He stood up and gave me a tiny smile.

“Good night, Ava.”

This same scenario went on for a couple more days. Ari came in my room each night to check on me. He sat on the bed and asked me a question, I answered it and he got up to leave. I began to dread the moment that he would leave. But what I hated the absolute most was the fact that Ari wouldn’t even look at me, let alone speak to me, when we crossed paths during the days. He acted as though I didn’t exist. I would watch him joke around with people in class or walk with a group of his friends in the hallway and think why can’t he just talk to me when someone else is around? What’s wrong with me?