Page 55 of Call You Mine
But Ava never calls me.
All week, we’ve only exchanged texts, and they're reminiscent of someone you’re trying to buy used furniture from—not professional enough to be considered business-like but not personal enough to be considered friendly.
She and Georgie are supposed to move into my place on Sunday, one of the three bombs we’re dropping on our friends tomorrow night.
She must be calling about one of them, considering that’s the only reason she contacts me now—I pretend not to be disappointed every night I don’t get a late-night text from her.
Logically, I know us having sex is off the table now, even though we didn’t ever have a formal conversation about it. I know Ava well enough by now to know that she won’t want to make things more complicated for us than they already are.
But I can’t lie and say I’m not disappointed she’s not reaching out anymore.
Not even because I miss the sex.
I miss seeing the version of her she was in those late hours, naked in my bed.
I truly think it’s the only time I get to see the real her—weightless and carefree.
“Hey,” I greet Ava. “I was just thinking about?—”
I don’t have time to say “you” because Ava starts speaking a mile a minute. “I’m so sorry to bother you at work, but I need to ask you a huge favor.”
“Anything,” I answer immediately, rubbing a hand over my mouth to hide the grin on my face.
She knew I was at work?
She wants to askmefor a favor?
I don’t make it a habit to leave work for anything less than an emergency, but for Ava, I think I can make an exception. I know Chief Sanders would understand—and not just because he’s my uncle. With the station emphasizing that all their firefighters must pass the same tests and have the same qualifications, nepotism really doesn’t apply.
“I’m on my way to my mom’s house right now,” she says, and my mood immediately changes.
Maybe this is an emergency.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, expecting her just to throw me a yes and tell me what she needs.
I’m surprised when she says, “No, not really.” She pauses for a few seconds, and it sounds like she’s mumbling something to herself. I don’t have time to register what it is before she says, “She called me earlier today, and it was the first time I’ve heard from her since the night I picked Georgie up. She was pissed about CPS coming to interview her and about me taking Georgie, and when I hung up on her after telling her she could only contact us through Patricia from now on, she apparently started throwing all of Georgie’s shit into garbage bags, and then she passed out. I guess she left the front door open with some of the bags thrown on the lawn, and the neighbor found her.”
“You’re joking,” I say, a protectiveness over Georgie lighting a fire in my chest. The intensity surprises me, but it isn’t uncomfortable. Something about it feels so natural that I don’t fight it. “Do you want me to go with you?” I don’t know much about Ava’s mom, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Ava can handle whatever she’s running headfirst into—but I can’t help the feeling of wanting her to know she doesn’t have to do it alone.
“No, it’s better if it’s just me. I’m honestly hoping she drank enough to be out the whole time I’m there. I called Patricia to meet me there, and I’m planning on just grabbing Georgie’s shit and being out of there as quickly as I can. She’s been asking to go get her stuff all week, but I didn’t want her going over there.”
“What do you need from me?” I ask her.
“Rumi isn’t answering her phone, and Emerson is working.” She’s quiet for a moment, like she’s deciding whether ornot she wants to say anything. “School’s over in twenty minutes. Can you pick Georgie up?”
“Done.”
I’m in line at the Northshore Middle School’s parking lot with less than a minute to spare. After I got off the phone with Ava, she called the school to add me as Georgie’s secondary contact. Since taking her mom off and making herself the primary, it makes sense for the situation at hand. It’s a detail we didn’t include in our plan when we were thinking about how we were going to intertwine our lives for the sake of CPS, but she can always remove me later.
I park my car in an empty space, so I can stand outside to look for Georgie just as a sea of middle schoolers start filing out the doors.
I’m still in my cargo pants and Northshore Fire Department crewneck, but I didn’t even consider wasting time to change before coming over here. When I hung up the phone, I ran to the chief’s office, Jack right behind me, when he noticed something was up. When I told my uncle that my girlfriend needed someone to pick up her sister from school—that it was an emergency—he told me to go and that he and Jack would take care of finding someone to cover the rest of my shift.
I’m sure they’ll both have questions when everything has settled down, but that’s the least of my worries right now.
Scanning the crowd of students, I spot Georgie walking out the front doors with her head down, looking at her phone. I’m assuming Ava texted her that I was picking her up, but I don’t know what else.
When she looks up, I watch her gaze move from left to right a few times, so I hold up my arm, waving to get her attention. When she finally spots me, she starts walking myway, the hood of her navy parka held over her head, her dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She’s in white sweatpants, and the collar of her matching white hoodie is pulled up over her mouth to help shield her from the cold.
