The Second Life of Ava Rivers by Faith Gardner

Author:Faith Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2018-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

51

OUR LOCAL GROCERY story is Berkeley Bowl, an overcrowded cornucopia of health food and organic produce. I’m not talking your ordinary apples and pears, I’m talking sunchokes, Mexican star fruits, and pineapple guavas. Ava and I walk over there sometimes and hit Max up, who lives on the way, and the three of us pick up lunch and eat it in a lawn-filled stretch in the middle of Adeline Street or a nearby park. Ava and I grabbed packaged sushi today, and Max is inside at the burrito bar. The sun shines like it has no idea it’s fall, and Ava and I sit on a cement bench out front next to bins of pumpkins and wait for Max.

Ava pets a dog tied to a nearby pole. He’s wearing a scarf. “You are adorable, dude. And so fashionable. No, you can’t have my sushi.” She sits next to me. We ignore a couple who stop to make out in front of us like they can’t help themselves before continuing on with their groceries. “Is it wrong that I find public displays of affection disgusting?”

“No. Agreed. You love each other, great, keep it to yourselves.”

“Right. Like, I don’t need to see your tongue. Ever.”

“I’m not even down with holding hands,” I say. “Like, why? Just so the whole world knows?”

Ava’s quiet, looking away, and I wonder what she’s wondering.

“Did you ever date someone?” she asks.

I think of Madeline for the first time in a while.

“Yeah. It didn’t work out,” I say. I don’t want to elaborate and she doesn’t press me to.

“It’s weird to think of you with someone,” she says.

“It’s been so long it’s weird for me to think of me with someone.”

“Is it wrong, I mean, I want you to find someone you like but . . . but then . . .”

“Then they’d be my everything,” I tell her.

“Exactly.”

“Is it weird I feel the same way about you? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be so happy when you’re at the point when you’re ready to date. But . . .”

“Always with the buts,” Ava says in a creepy old man voice.

I laugh.

“But seriously, I wouldn’t—I mean, I wouldn’t just blindsight you,” she says.

I never correct her Ava-isms. They’re too adorable.

“I’d never just, like, meet someone and be all ‘toodles,’” she goes on.

“I certainly hope you’d never say ‘toodles.’”

“Seriously. And I hope you wouldn’t ditch me either.”

“I wouldn’t. But, Ava—I mean, when you find someone, when you’re at that stage, I will be happy for you. You don’t have to worry about how that would make me feel. I’ll be okay.”

“Look, Veer,” Ava says, shoving a spicy tuna chunk in her mouth. She used to say raw fish sounded nasty, but after I made her try mine a few weeks back, it’s all she ever wants for lunch. “I’ma spell it out. You know where I came from and what happened.”

Barely, not really, I don’t say.

“I hate talking about it, even with Shelly,” she goes on. “But I’m all .

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