“We spent years enjoying ourselves while excluding you, so now she makes her satisfaction dependent on yours.” Ava shrugged. “Honestly ... I kinda understand her. I’m doing the same thing after all.”
“I mean...” I sighed. “I don’t understand it, honestly. I really meant it when I told you that you’re free to join them. What’s wrong with this family will not be fixed as long as we continue excluding people just to please someone else, so I will never ask you to do that. That’s what caused this whole mess in the first place. I know all that. But, the thought of them fucking Logan, after everything he did ... it just pisses me off!”
“Of course it does! You’re not asking Mom and me to exclude him, and we’re not doing it to please you.” she reassured me, but quickly backpaddled, just like I did in my conversation with John. “Okay, we are partially doing it to please you, since we are feeling guilty for what we did to you. But I want to be only with you because ... well, because I feel like you’re the only guy who’s worth it. And Mom wants to be only with you because she wants to make up for the past. But even without that, what Logan did proves that he only sees us all as readily available pussy, not as family, and letting him have us will only encourage that.”
We sat quietly for a while, with her hugging my arm and resting her head on my shoulder. I have to admit, Ava telling me all that made me feel even closer to her than I felt after her affectionate greeting.
“Why did you forgive me?” I heard her whispered question.
“You made up for it.” I said, and she raised her head to look at me questioningly. “You stood up to your friends to make them stop calling me by that stupid nickname. Then you took my side instead of covering for Aaron, when he emptied my bank account. And ... Mia told me that you spent the past few months working to improve my reputation and undo the damage you caused. A lot of the things happening in school make a lot more sense now.”
Now she looked a little embarrassed.
“She told you?”
“Yeah. I’m glad she did. It convinced me that I have a sister that cares about me.” I said, turned my head, and kissed her forehead.
“I really love you, Tim. I don’t think I can ever make up for the years of hurt I caused you, but I’m damn well gonna try. You did so much for me ... Even after I was a bonafide Bitch to you and didn’t deserve your help, you still came through.” I felt her grip on my arm to tighten. “I never thought that what I did to you would have consequences. I just wanted to make Logan and Dad happy. Until I saw you lying in that pool of blood after you got stabbed.” She shook her head. “I thought you’d die protecting us, while Logan just ran away! And the more I thought about everything I did, the more ashamed I became of myself. You deserve so much better than what you got from me. Last year, you asked us all what changed for us to suddenly care about you. That’s what changed for me. I will do everything I can to be the sister you deserve, and make sure you know how much we love you. Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.”
That made me smile. I believed her.
“I love you too, Sis.” I patted her hand that was almost cramping from holding onto me.
“Can I come with you?” she suddenly asked.
“With me?” I had completely forgotten that I was getting ready to start working on the condo. “Oh, uh ... that’s gonna be a lot of dirty work. So, the direct opposite of what you wanted to do. You sure you want to come?”
“Yeah!” she nodded eagerly, and I realized that I could really use her help, even if she didn’t get to hold a hammer.
“Alright.” I shrugged, and she jumped off the bed to rush out of the room.
I found her already waiting for me by the door when I came out of my bedroom after stuffing my pockets with some cash. I decided to drive her to the condo first, so she could get a look at it.
“Wow. Looks like you got your work cut out for you, huh?” she commented after walking through every room.
“Looks worse than it really is. But I think I could actually use your help. As you have seen in my apartment, I lack taste.” That made her chuckle. “If I do this alone, I’ll paint everything gray and call it mission accomplished. So ... imagine you’d live here, how would you decorate?”
That made her whip her head around to look at me suspiciously through narrowed eyes.
“Really? You’re asking your sister how she would decorate? Your friend gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to decorating his place, don’t you think?”
“Why? Maybe he’s even more autistic than me when it comes to this?” I grinned.
She accepted that with a smirk and got to work by familiarizing herself with the condo.
“So, if I’m to imagine myself living in this room...” she asked me with a raised eyebrow after checking out all three bedrooms, the smile never leaving her face. “ ... who should I imagine living in the other rooms?”
