7 Days

Five

There was this nagging in Ava's head (and heart) that she did not like. She had felt it before when she started to like her colleague, Erik, more than just a friend. It was bothering her to no end. Little things Bucky would do for her would make her poor heart flutter. But she knew he wasn't doing them with any romantic meaning behind them. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

About an hour or so later, after realizing that she didn't put any sunscreen on and was now turning more red than tan, she headed back into the hotel and raced back up to the room. Knocking on the door before opening it to not repeat Bucky's earlier mistake. She stepped in and first noticed that silence fell throughout the room. Second, the glass sliding door that led out to the balcony was still open giving the room a cool feel.

Ava slowly crept over to find Bucky fast asleep on the bed. She looked at the time on the digital clock that sat on the bedside table, wondering how and when time had gone by so quickly. She kicked off her shoes before getting into the bed carefully trying not to wake Bucky up. He looked so relaxed and peaceful; the last thing she wanted to do was interrupt his slumber.

She quickly made herself comfortable, sighing as she found the right position to fall asleep in. A 20-minute nap would be good. The sun and all of the walking had drained her of the energy she had. Her eyes began to flutter shut and her mind slipped away slowly. She was almost fully asleep when she felt a hand on her head and then fingertips begin to massage her scalp.

Ava opened her eyes in surprise, slowly turning to look at Bucky who was still out like a light. Yet he was massaging her head very softly. The slow movements caused her eyes to close and open every other second. She tried to fight the slumber, maybe even wake Bucky up and let him know, but she couldn't. It felt too good.

So she let it consume her. She stopped fighting against it. She relaxed into the bed, the tenseness in her body slipping away as her eyes finally closed and her mind sent her off to dreamland.

Unfortunately, Ava did not go to sleep for 20 minutes but instead knocked out for a good 2 hours. The only reason she even woke up was from the heavy knocking on the door.

Shooting up from the bed, she looked over at Bucky who was still out like a light. Her heart was pounding as she ran over to the door and looked through the peephole. Ava inwardly groaned at the sight of Peggy decked out in her beach attire. 

Slowly unlocking the door, she stuck her head out and grinned. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Peggy raised a brow trying to get a peek inside the room.

"I was asleep."

"Where's Bucky?"

"Sleeping."

"Ah, so you were sleeping together." She hummed.

"Are you forgetting that you set us up in a room with one bed? We have no choice."

"I'm teasing," Peggy rolled her eyes. She knew Ava was always a bit snappy if someone woke her up from her sleep. "Anyway, we're all headed to the beach. Wake Bucky up and meet us in the lobby in 20."

Ava let out a huff, frowning at her friend. Peggy just smiled and told her she'd see her in a bit before walking away.

She closed the door again and trudged over to the bed and began to shake Bucky by his calf. Repeating 'wake up' about 15 times, he finally groaned and flipped onto his stomach.

"Bucky, please! Everyone's headed to the beach and Peggy wants us to go."

Bucky didn't say anything for a minute and Ava stood at the end of the bed with her hands on her hips, boring a hole into the back of his head from staring too long.

Finally, he pushed himself up and yawned annoyingly. Throwing his legs over the bed he looked over at Ava and grinned. "Your hair's a mess, doll."

Her eyes widened and cheeks ablaze. Her hands frantically smoothed down whatever was sticking up while Bucky chuckled softly. Why it started a frenzy of butterflies in her stomach, she wasn't sure.

Or at least she kept pretending to not know why she was starting to feel that way towards him.

As always, they couldn't resist showing up 5 minutes late. Peggy looked annoyed but happy that they finally made it. They began their trek down to the beach where they set up their towels and belongings on the warm sand. 

Clint and Sam both ran off to the water while Natasha set herself up underneath an umbrella to not burn her porcelain skin. Peggy, on the other hand, rubbed on tanning lotion wanting to get some color on her before the wedding while Wanda helped her with getting some on her back.

Ava laid on her towel, sunglasses perched on her nose and hair in a messy bun. She looked over at Peggy who was fixing herself just right so the powerful sun rays hit her entire body just right.

"Can someone put a timer on that will let me know when to flip over?"

"Got it," Pepper replied from underneath her umbrella as she set up an alarm on her phone while Tony placed a sweet kiss on her freckled shoulder.

Out in the ocean were Sam, Clint, Bucky, and Steve. They had all dived into the cool water, the sun reflecting the droplets of seawater that trickled down their skin as they waded in the ocean.

"So what's up with you and Ava?" Sam asked causing Bucky to stop himself from taking a dive in the blue water.

Bucky's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"He's asking if you two have uh," Clint wiggled his brows, "ya know..."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Fucked? No, we haven't. And if we did I wouldn't tell you. So drop that already."

"Okay... but.. do you like her?" Sam pondered aloud.

"Yeah." Bucky shrugged nonchalantly, not thinking much of Sam's question.

"No... I mean do you like her?"

Bucky felt his breath catch in his throat as the question finally settled into his brain. He looked back to where the rest of the group was, Ava, catching his eye before anyone else around her. He was torn. He did like her, but he felt like she was too good for him. She deserved someone better.

"No," Bucky flatly retorted. "I don't."