Tradition Comes Third

Westwood

 Ava was drifting off to sleep during the movie. She had moved my arm so that it was around her, and her head was resting on my shoulder. Her feet were stretched out across the couch. I glanced down at her throughout the movie to see if her eyes were still closed.

When the credits rolled up on the screen, I rubbed her arm and gave it a slight squeeze. Her eyes fluttered open. She sat up, yawned, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay," I said.

I turned off the movie and turned on the lights. Ava got up off of the couch and dragged her feet over to me. She grabbed my hand and rested her head against my arm. She stayed clinged to me as I walked up the stairs to my room. All of the lights in the house were off, and the rain was still pelting against the window.

"What do you want to wear?" I asked her after I closed my bedroom door.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Just give me a T-shirt."

I dug through my drawer and passed her one of my shirts. I handed it to her, and she turned her back to me. I grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms, turned around, and quickly slipped them on. Ava pulled the covers back and crawled into bed. I joined her, and set the alarm on my phone an hour earlier than usual.

Ava nuzzled herself onto my chest. Her breathing became rhythmic, and I knew she had already fallen asleep.

--

I groaned when I heard the blaring sound of the alarm. I rolled over and turned it off. Ava was curled up on the other side of the bed. I propped myself up on my elbow, and ran my fingers through her hair.

"Good morning," I said.

Ava moaned and pulled the blankets up over her head. I tried to pull them back and she whined even louder. With one hard tug, I pulled the blankets off of her.

"You're being mean," she told me.

"We have to go to school," I said.

"Let's skip."

I rolled my eyes and got out of bed. I picked her dress up off of the back of my chair and tossed it to her. I pulled a pair of jeans and a sweater out of my closet. I dragged my feet over to the bathroom, and got changed and brushed my teeth. I came back into my room to see Ava had put her dress back on. I packed my bag, and threw it over my shoulder.

"We can have breakfast at my house," Ava said before yawning again.

She followed me down the stairs. My parents weren't up, which was odd. Mom always seemed to be awake at the crack of dawn. The only time I wake up before her is when she works night shifts. I grabbed Mom's keys off of the rack, and we left the house.

It was still dark outside, and the smell of dew filled my nose. We both got into the car, and did the short drive over to her house.

"My Aunt isn't home," Ava said as I pulled up to her house. "Her car isn't here."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Hell if I know."

I followed Ava into her house. She turned on the lights, and I hadn't realized how cluttered her house was. The other night it was dark, and all I could see was the beer bottles that littered the ground. Now, I could see that almost every surface was covered in something. Mom would have a heart attack before she ever let our house look like this. Ava dropped her keys on the kitchen counter, and I waited down there as she went up to her room to get ready.