When I came back from work at around Eight PM, Ava and her friends were apparently taking a break from enjoying the hot tub, because they were all wearing swimsuits. While Ava was in the kitchen, her three friends were spending time on the sofa with Logan. I knew two of the three girls. One of them was Mia, Ava’s oldest friend since they were little. She was also Jack’s little sister. Since I publicly knocked her big brother out, she usually regarded me with disdain. I only knew the second girl from looks, since I had seen her often at school hanging around Ava and Mia, where she was pretty much indifferent to me. The third girl was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t really place her.
So, when I stepped into the living room, all eyes were on me, and the contrast was hilarious.
At that moment, the slim fit suit was working its magic by perfectly showing off the fruits of my daily training, and those three girls ogled me without even trying to hide it. The unknown girl wasn’t just ogling me, she was watching me with borderline hunger. Logan, on the other hand, seemed pleasantly unhappy about the attention I was receiving from these girls, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten about him even being there.
I turned to the kitchen and walked towards Ava, who, for some reason, seemed uncomfortable upon seeing me. She came out of the kitchen and met me halfway.
“Happy Birthday.” I said in a casual tone, handing her the bag, as she had just opened her mouth to say something.
“You got me a gift!?” she asked, incredulously. Somehow, she looked even more uncomfortable now.
“And he brought some sparkly wine as well!” commented one of the unknown girls in a happy shout. That made me remember the bottle, so I walked past Ava and placed it in the freezer. When I came back out, Ava was still standing there holding the gift bag in both hands, looking like a lost puppy.
“Go on, look inside. If I got the wrong thing just tell me. I still got the slip, so you can return it.”
She looked at me with some uncertainty for a second, before slowly pulling the piles of useless wax paper out of the bag. When she finally saw what was underneath, she paused. Then, she tentatively pulled out the purse, showed it to her friends, and they started this high-pitched screaming exercise I only knew from teenage girls in movies until then. It looked like Tess got it right again.
“How did you know I wanted one of these?” Ava asked, still breathing heavily from running around.
“You kept mentioning that brand the other day, and I figured the others would have your presents probably already set.” I answered, matter of fact.
After saying that, Ava’s three guests looked at me in silent approval. I noticed Logan eyeing the whole scene, but especially the purse, with disbelief from the sofa. Then he looked at the coffee table with embarrassment. When I followed his eyes, I saw a cheap no-name Bluetooth speaker Ava hadn’t even taken out of the box to check it out. Whether it was being attentive or being able to fulfill a wish, I had just proven myself more reliable than Logan. That alone was worth spending two-hundred bucks on an utterly useless bag.
Then Ava did something that shocked me. She stepped into me, wrapped her arms around my torso and gave me a tight squeeze.
“I’m sorry we forgot your Birthday!” she whispered into my ear.
The shock from the hug faded. At least enough for parts of my brain to start working again, and I remembered that, even though she was too occupied at the time to participate, Ava was there when Granny had that talk with Claire at Thanksgiving. And the way she now reacted confirmed my fear of having to buy her affection. After they all had that talk with Granny, none of them mentioned anything about it to me, or tried anything in the days since then to introduce me to their fun. They didn’t even attempt to close the gap that had formed between us. There was still no consideration for me whatsoever.
But the moment Ava got expensive shit from me, she was suddenly sorry for forgetting my birthday. I had hoped for this present to serve as some kind of reminder of my existence, that would cause her to slowly come around and rethink her opinion of me. This reaction, however, seemed too sudden and extreme to have a lasting effect.
“Why did you even get me something like this after what we did?” she asked, just as quietly as before.
“Maybe I’m just a better person than you four.” I reproachfully whispered back, unwilling to forget, and immediately disproving my own statement without even noticing. “Or, maybe, I just wasn’t eager for your parents to shit on me again, like last year when I didn’t have something for you.”
Ava immediately let go of me and took a step back, looking almost sad. I mentally scolded myself as I saw Logan’s relieved look, but I just couldn’t resist pointing out the double standard. Maybe I should have embraced Ava, just to piss him off further. Coincidentally, one of Ava’s friends helped me out with that.
