I Do It For Avory

Chapter Two: What Are The Odds?!

Like me, you’re probably wondering, how in the world did this happen? And so quickly too! I mean, the girl had just moved there, hadn’t even finished unpacking yet and finds that her ex-boyfriend is amongst a group of men she decided to ask for directions. How the hell did this work out? Was fate playing tricks on my head or was it something else because please explain this to me. Really though, EXPLAIN! Explain to me why a guy that I hated with a passion ends up in L.A. Explain to me why he decided hang with a basketball playing friendly giant. Explain to me! How could you find the one thing you ran away from in another state? What were the odds?!

It was like getting punched in the get ten times over. Because I couldn’t explain it, I was beating myself up. I was blaming myself. I blamed myself for choosing L.A. and a community college where he was probably going to school. And, do you know what else this means? If I find a job at a local Starbucks or something, who’s to say that he won’t show up? I mean, we probably live in the same area and there is only one Starbucks within driving distance of the college. Also, if a person wanted to go to the one on the other side of town, you would have to pass one Starbucks. Who is going to pass a Starbucks just to go to another one? Yeah, we’ll see each other. “Damn it,” I pounded the steering wheel, contemplating ways out of this town.

First off, dad couldn’t help. He helped me get here and if I called up saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to move back,’ that’s the equivalent of a living person saying they wanted to go to hell. Yeah, not gonna happen. Second, my apartment was so nice! You’d never find an apartment like that in Phoenix. Not to mention the heat. Yeah, it’s hot in L.A. but they have a beach. In Arizona, there’s no beach, just air condition.

Face the facts, I told myself. You had to share something with him.

Just for clarification, we are not sharing Avory. He will never be able to touch a hair on my baby’s head, got it? I don’t even call Ethan Avory’s dad. I think of him as ‘The Contributor to the Best Human Being in My Life.’ That’s it, that’s all. No more, no less. Call me unfair but the kid ditched me okay? He left a sixteen year old pregnant girl to fend for herself. But, hey, I had my parents so I wasn’t desperate.

Anyway, it wasn’t even my first week and I saw him!

That’s when it hit me… no, slapped me. Ethan was a basketball player. Well, duh, but what I mean to say is that the community college I am going to attend is known for their basketball scholarships. That’s what he’s doing here and I knew that they were basketball freaks. I just didn’t make the connection. So this is my fault, I thought. I looked in the rearview mirror to take a look at Avory. Get this; he had a complete blank stare on his face. His head would wobble whenever we turned or hit a bump yet his stare never changed. And, no, he doesn’t sleep with his eyes open. “Avory,” I called, thinking it would grab his attention but it didn’t. “Avory.” Again, no attention. “Avory!” He snapped his head up and looked at me, confused. Like, ‘what the hell did you call me for’ look. “Still wanna go to the store?”

“Tor,” he bounced in his seat, excited. And that was all I needed to change my whole perspective on the outlook. What was I worried about Ethan for? Obviously he wouldn’t want to come into the picture because he saw his way out of it two years ago. So how would he make a difference now? All I had to do was ignore him, right? Can’t be that hard, I thought.

So I followed the directions the friendly giant gave me and, turns out, I did see a Wal-Mart. When I was moving in, we passed this place going to and from my house. How I couldn’t find it, no clue here, but now I made sure I’d never forget it. I don’t want to have to stop for directions and make an unwanted encounter again. “TOR,” Avory screamed, trying to make his way out of his car seat. This boy was an excitable one for sure.