Between the Lines.

Title: Two Girls in the City
Chapter: Six
A/N: This story is mine. The characters are mine. The plot is mine. Bueno.

Chapter Six


Lucy smelled food when she woke up in the morning, which surprised her. Who was cooking in her kitchen? But the scent wasn’t enough to inspire movement, so she turned over and dozed until the need for food became greater than her need to stay under the covers.

When Lucy stumbled into the kitchen in her rumpled pajamas and mussed hair, she was surprised to find Ava fully dressed and in command of a skillet. She had never seen Ava cook before, and hadn’t even known that she could, so this was a new development.

“What’re you doing?” asked Lucy, sliding onto a bar stool and resting her head on her arms. She squinted at Ava with one eye, debating falling asleep again right there.

“Making brunch. One piece of bacon or two?”

“Two,” replied Lucy, pushing herself upright in order to accept the plate that Ava handed her. She was just about to get up to get orange juice from the fridge when Ava beat her to it.

Ava leaned against the counter and picked at the food on her own plate, looking regal and tired in the morning sunlight.

“How was church?” asked Lucy conversationally.

“Good. Short.”

Lucy nodded and looked at the scrambled eggs on her plate. How had Ava known that she loved shredded cheese and ham on her eggs?

“You made scrambled eggs. See, we do like some of the same food!”

Ava shook her head. “Actually, I prefer omelets.”

“You’re kidding,” frowned Lucy.

“No.”

When Ava didn’t offer any other explanation, Lucy was at a loss for what to say. It was still too early for deep conversation, and her thoughts kept straying to last night. Would Isaak really call her today, or would he wake up and realize that he had just been lonely and flirtatious at the club? Her cell phone was on the counter where she had left it, and she itched to check her messages. What were the chances that he would call before noon?

“How was your night last night?” asked Lucy.

When she was met with stony silence, Lucy looked up at Ava. That was when she realized that what she had mistaken for tiredness was actually something more like sadness.

“It was fine,” said Ava quietly, turning around to scrape her remaining food into the trash. Lucy noticed that she hadn’t touched her eggs at all.


“Did you get home all right?”

“Clearly,” said Ava, running the warm water in the sink and adding dish soap.

“Ava, what’s wrong?” asked Lucy, leaning over the counter.

At first Ava didn’t say anything, she just scrubbed her plate vigorously. When she did finally speak, her voice was low and edged with an emotion that Lucy had only heard from her on stage.

“How was your time with Isaak? Did you two enjoy yourselves?”

“Yeah, we did.” Lucy finished her eggs and played with her orange juice. “Are you angry?” she finally asked.

Ava put her plate on the drying rack and moved on to washing out her glass.

“Why would I be angry?”

“Ava, please,” pleaded Lucy.

Ava put down the glass and wiped her hands on the dishtowel before turning back to Lucy and folding her arms protectively across her chest.

“Do you remember in the bathroom last night?”

“After Kyle’s saliva got on your hand?”

Ava nodded. “You said that you’d remember that I was your date. You said you’d come home with me.”

Lucy was floored for a moment, wondering if the glimmer that she saw in Ava’s eyes were tears.

“Ava, darling,” she began, leaning on her elbows and reaching her hands towards Ava, “I didn’t know that it would upset you if I went out with Isaak. We just got ice cream, and you looked so tired. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to come. Besides, I really like Isaak. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Ava bit her lip and examined her pink painted toenails. “You didn’t even tell me you were leaving,” she said quietly, obviously struggling to keep her voice from wobbling.

“You were with Josh. I thought you were sleeping. Isaak said that you would be fine.”

Ava looked up sharply, her eyes narrowing. “So you just take his word for it now?”

“Ava-” began Lucy, but Ava interrupted her with a raised hand.

“No, Lucy. It’s fine. I’m glad for you, really, I just . . . ever since we fought, I thought we were going to try to communicate. When Josh told me that you had left with Isaak, I thought he was kidding. But he wasn’t.”

Lucy was silent for a moment, processing what Ava had said. Finally she gathered the courage to ask another question. “But you got home all right?”

Ava pushed away from the counter and chewed the edge of her lip vigorously. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“When?”

“Didn’t you see me waiting up for you?”

Ava was halfway out of the room before her words registered in Lucy’s mind, and when Lucy finally moved to hug Ava and tell her how sorry she was, all she heard was the click of Ava’s door as it closed behind her.

“Ava,” called Lucy, following Ava down the hall. She paused outside the door and debated knocking, then just opened it and walked in. After all, the apartment was still in her father’s name, making it more hers than Ava’s. 

Ava’s room was clean, and everything in sight seemed to be pink save for the white walls and white carpet. Posters from Ava’s shows were framed and hung on the wall with the Phantom of the Opera poster hanging over Ava’s bed. Pictures of her friends and pretty notes were stuck onto memo boards next to the door, and a white board covered in Ava’s neat cursive handwriting was tacked onto the closet door.

Ava stood in between the closet doors, her dress pooled at her feet. She turned to face Lucy in only her bra and underwear. When Lucy noticed the way that Ava’s hair tumbled into her face and how her jaw was set firmly, she just wanted to give Ava a hug. She looked like a child who was trying not to cry.

“Yes?” asked Ava tightly.

Lucy wrapped her right foot around her left ankle and leaned against the edge of the desk.

“Let’s talk,” said Lucy conversationally.

“All right,” agreed Ava, making no move to put on clothes or sit down. She crossed her arm behind her body and grabbed her opposite elbow as if to prove to Lucy that she was perfectly comfortable in her own skin.

Lucy sat down backward in Ava’s desk chair and rested her chin on her arms.

“About last night,” began Lucy. Then she stopped. She didn’t want to start with a point of contention. Ava shuffled her legs slightly, her eyes trained intently on Lucy, and Lucy swallowed. At least Ava was letting her speak her mind.

“I really like Isaak,” Lucy said, changing gears. “The more time that I spend with him, the more time that I want to spend with him. I think he might like me too.”

Lucy paused to give Ava the chance to pipe up, but Ava remained silent, her gaze never wavering.

“I’m trying to say that I’m sorry,” said Lucy softly. “I got caught up with talking to Isaak. I haven’t had a boyfriend for a couple of months now, and I kind of miss it. It’s nice to have a guy act like you’re the person he wants to be around.”

Ava’s eyes softened, and she dropped her arms to her sides.

“I guess-” began Ava, but she fell silent when music began to play from the other room. Lucy cringed. It was her ring tone.

Ava looked to the door pointedly, but Lucy was careful to look away. She wanted Ava to continue. She wanted Ava to forgive her and for their friendship to be back where it had been the night before when they had left for the party with their arms linked. She wanted . . . she wanted to answer her phone.

“I’ll be right back,” promised Lucy, holding up one finger. “I promise. Just hold that thought, okay? It’ll just be a second.”

Ava nodded once, and Lucy left the room and managed to reach her phone on the last ring.

“Hello?” she asked, pretending not to know that it was Isaak. She had gotten his number from Ava’s phone, so that she would know when he called, but she would never admit to anything that lame.

“Hey, Lucy, it’s Isaak.”

Lucy leaned against the counter and idly played with the dishes that Ava had left on the drying rack.

“Isaak, hi,” she said, glancing at the clock. 11:48. Score.

“So, I know that you have today off, and there’s a photography exhibition down at this park near my place. I was wondering if you wanted to go. Nobody famous is going to be there, but I thought it might be a cool thing to check out.”

Lucy rubbed her lips together to keep from blurting out her acceptance. “That sounds cool. I, um, I should be available. I mean, I am. I have nothing planned.”

“Great,” said Isaak, sounding immensely pleased. “I’ll pick you up at one?”

Lucy almost dropped the phone. One. That didn’t give her a very long time to get ready. She would have to do something with her hair, and find something to wear, and –

“Sure, that sounds great.”

“Awesome,” said Isaak, “I’ll see you at one.”

“See you at one,” repeated Lucy, closing her phone and staring at it for a moment. Then she remembered her hurry, and she dropped the phone and rushed to the laundry closet. The pants that she wanted to wear were in the dirty clothes, so she would have to Febreze and iron them before she could put them on.

Ava appeared in Lucy’s bedroom door a few minutes later dressed in sweatpants and an old sweatshirt from her elementary drama class days.

“Isaak?” she asked as she watched Lucy lean closer to the mirror and spread concealer across her skin.

“Yeah,” confirmed Lucy as she straightened. Then she caught sight of Ava’s expression and frowned. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry. Isaak is picking me up at one to go to some photography exhibition. We’ll talk later, I promise, okay? This won’t take long.”

Ava nodded and chewed the corner of her lip. “Sure, no problem. I’m not going anywhere today.”

Lucy smiled widely at Ava, and Ava smiled back hesitantly.

“We’ll have a girl’s night tonight,” Lucy promised. “I’ll let you pick the movie.”

“All right,” said Ava quietly as she backed out of the room. “I hope you like Spice World.”

Lucy listened as Ava’s door closed and her music came on. When Isaak buzzed up at 12:55 and she called goodbye at Ava’s door, there was no response.

Everything will be all right after we talk, Lucy told herself. And then she swung open the door and found Isaak waiting for her, and she forgot to feel guilty for putting Ava on hold. Besides, Ava understood that their schedules conflicted. She would want Lucy to be happy.

*/*/*

The sun was sinking in the sky, and it was starting to get cool outside. Lucy had thought that they would be back before the sun went down, and she shivered, inwardly lamenting not bringing a coat.

“Cold, ba-Lucy?” asked Isaak.

Lucy froze for a moment, surprised at Isaak’s slip. When he smiled widely at her and took off his jacket, she remembered how to move again. He put it on her and straightened the lapels, his hands brushing against her throat and chest. Her heart thumped wildly, and she stood perfectly still, wondering what was happening.

“Thank you,” she said softly, pulling the coat tighter around her body and inhaling Isaak’s scent. It was a scent that was vaguely familiar – men’s cologne, the city, and something that reminded Lucy of Ava. That must be the scent of the theatre.

“Look at the sky,” murmured Isaak, tilting back his head to gaze at the expanse of sky that spread out before them over Central Park. The skyscrapers framed the picture perfectly, and Lucy wished she had time to set up the shot.

“It’s perfect,” answered Lucy. Isaak had taken her hand without her realizing it, and now he squeezed her fingers and turned from the sky to smile at her.

“I’m glad that you came with me today, Lucy.” Isaak fell silent and looked at their hands, unconsciously stroking his thumb over Lucy’s knuckles. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while, but I guess . . . I mean, I get nervous.”

“You?” asked Lucy jokingly. “You play the Phantom on Broadway in front of thousands, but you’re scared to ask me out?”

“I only play the Phantom when Benji can’t do it, which comes out to like, two times a month. Not all of us are as lucky as Ava, who has built in days to go on every week. Besides, I don’t have to speak to all of those people face-to-face.”

Lucy looked down at her shoes quickly to hide her grin, but Isaak caught her and lifted her chin with his finger.

“What, are you laughing at me?” he asked, pretending to be outraged. “You’ve never heard of a shy actor? It’s hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. I can perform on stage all you want, but get me one-on-one and I come unglued.”

“You’re doing pretty well right now,” conceded Lucy, unconsciously biting her lip as she studied his eyes.

“That’s because I like talking to you,” replied Isaak.

“I like talking to you, too,” admitted Lucy.

Isaak hesitated for a moment, then stroked Lucy’s cheek with his knuckles. “Would you mind if I-”

He didn’t finish his question; he simply threaded his fingers through Lucy’s hair and lowered his head, pressing his lips to hers gently. When Lucy pressed back, he dropped one hand and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Isaak sucked Lucy’s lower lip between his, then prodded her lips with his tongue, and she opened her mouth, accepting his tongue and clinging to him.

The cars rushed by on the street and pedestrians brushed past them, but Isaak and Lucy merely held onto each other more tightly. It was like a fantasy – being kissed like this in the middle of Manhattan, surrounded by the tranquility of the park and twilight and the chaos of 5th Avenue. It was the perfect New York fantasy that Lucy harbored in the back of her mind to take out on rainy days or when she felt like she couldn’t stand being in the city for another second. Maybe the fulfillment of her dream was what made her breathless, or maybe it was the way Isaak stroked her cheeks with his thumbs as he pulled away to look at her.

“It’s getting late,” said Isaak finally, stepping back and reaching for Lucy’s hand. “You have work early tomorrow. I’d better get you home.”

Lucy hummed in agreement, taking a moment to enjoy the feeling of their fingers tangled together. Isaak talked easily as they walked to the subway and rode it to Lucy’s block, and she talked more freely, too, finding that he drew stories and thoughts from her that were funnier and more vibrant than she remembered them to be.

When they reached her apartment door, Isaak kissed her as he had before, but this time his kiss left her breathless and wanting more, and they didn’t part for several minutes.

“I have to let you go,” said Isaak finally, pulling away and tracing Lucy’s swollen lips with his thumb. “You’ll be tired tomorrow, and you’ll blame it on me.”

“Doubtful,” said Lucy quietly, willing herself not to quiver at Isaak’s gentle touch.

“Tomorrow night, come to the show? Ava’s scheduled to go on, but you could hang out with Kyle and me.”

“Sure,” agreed Lucy readily, “I’d love to.”

“Great,” said Isaak. “I’ll see you there.” He bent down to kiss her one more time, then backed down the hall as she slipped into her door and shut it, leaning on it to catch her breath and stop her spinning mind. Isaak had forgotten his coat, and Lucy shrugged it off and held it to her nose before hanging it on the coat hooks. She could give it back to him tomorrow. She was seeing him again tomorrow.  The thought made her grin in the half-light and laugh for no reason at all.

The living room was illuminated by the glow of the television, and as Lucy pushed off of the door, she noticed that Ava was curled up asleep in the Snuggle Chair, her knees tucked under her chin. The Spice World menu remained stationary on the screen, the theme music playing on loop.

“Oh, no,” whispered Lucy, her hand flying to her mouth. The clock on the DVD player said 11:30 – she was five hours later than she’d expected to be. Ava had obviously had their girls’ night alone.

Lucy moved quickly to the TV and turned it off, and the silence woke Ava up.

“Lucy?” she asked groggily.

“It’s me,” said Lucy, moving through the darkness and sitting on the ottoman. Ava laid her head back against her knees, and Lucy grabbed her feet. “Come on, you’ve got to go to bed.”

“I’ll just sleep here,” mumbled Ava sleepily, shifting her body and curling into herself more.

“No, baby, come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“I’m good,” protested Ava, but Lucy wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist and stood, pulling Ava with her.  Together they stumbled to Ava’s bedroom, and Lucy pulled back the covers and helped Ava into bed.

“A, I’m so sorry,” began Lucy, perching on the edge of Ava’s bed.

“Doesn’t matter,” whispered Ava.

“It does,” objected Lucy.

“I’m not angry,” said Ava. “Goodnight.”

With that she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow.

“All right,” said Lucy, knowing that Ava had lied to her. She had felt the tears on Ava’s cheeks as she pulled her out of the chair. But she decided not to press the issue now, when Ava clearly just wanted to sleep. “Goodnight. I love you.”

The only answer was Ava’s even breathing.