Another Love | C.C

•Ch.15•

A/N- JUST BEFORE I START THIS CHAPTER, I want to say THANK YOU! I literally started this book 3 DAYS AGO and am already near 300 reads!!!! That's insane! I love hearing your feed back and replying to comments as well so those of you who are active, THANK YOU! This chapter is a special one, it's a flashback chapter so that you can understand the characters better :) I'm also thinking of once I've completed this book to do a prequel so that you can know all about what happened (properly) before the events in this story. Lmk what u think? Anyways, enjoy the chapter guys :) xx

**
Two and a half years ago

Ava walked along the beach with her best friend, Jessica, allowing the sunshine to beam on her tanned skin. They had been in LA for two weeks now and still had 6 to go and felt like they were living the dream. Jessica's parents were currently out for lunch so the girls took the opportunity to spend the day at the beach and relax.

They chose a spot to sit down and spent about 20 minutes relaxing in the sun in attempt to catch a tan. Ava was using her forearms to semi sit up and scanned the beach until she noticed an ice cream truck.

"Hey, you want some ice cream?" She asked her best friend.

Jessica hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

"Nah I think I'll pass this time" she said. Ava nodded and stood up anyways.

"I'll be back, imma go get myself one" she told her, before wandering off towards the ice cream truck.

There were two people in front of her so she joined the queue and awaited for her turn. A guy had joined the queue behind her and had his eyes glued to his phone but Ava's attention was drawn away when she was next to get served but a little girl with her mom appeared.

"Mommy, I want ice cream!" The girl pointed as she clasped her moms hand. She was no older than five and Ava smiled at the sight of her.

"Let's join the queue then" her mother told her, but the little girl didn't budge, instead she just stared at the truck sadly.

"But I don't wanna wait, please mommy" she begged her mother, clearly not understanding why queues were a thing.

"You can go next if you like, I don't mind" Ava spoke up, smiling at the mother and daughter.

"Oh really? Are you sure, we don't mind waiting" the mother spoke, even though her daughter was stood beside her nodding eagerly at Ava.

Ava chuckled softly and turned to the guy behind her.

"Hey, do you mind if they cut in front of me?" She asked. As soon as he heard her speak he looked up from his phone and stared at her before glancing at the mother and daughter and then back to Ava. He smiled and shook his head.

"Nah it's cool, go for it" he told them. The mother thanked them before going in front of Ava and telling the man what ice cream they wanted.

"That was pretty sweet of you" the guy told Ava, causing her to turn around and smile at him again.

"Oh, thank you" she chuckled softly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"It's no problem, I've never seen you around before and noticing the accent I presume you're not from around here?" He asked her curiously. She shook her head.

"No, I'm here on vacation with my best friend and her family for two months. I'm originally from London" she told him.

"Can I help?" The ice cream man asked, catching their attention before anything else could be said.

"Uh hi, could I have a vanilla ice cream cone please?" She asked him politely.

"Of course, anything else?" He asked her, glancing at the boy behind her wondering whether they were together or not.

Ava went to say no, but the boy stood beside her.

"Make that two" he said and then turned to Ava after the man nodded.

"I got this" he told her, waving his wallet in front of her.

"You're gonna pay for my ice cream?" She asked him, feeling a little surprised by the kind gesture.

"You did a good deed and now it's my turn to recognise you for that" he told her, smiling down at her and earning a smile back.

"7 bucks please" the guy said as he handed them their ice creams.

The brunette boy passed him the cash and told him to keep the change before thanking him and wandering away with Ava.

"So you're here for two months you said?" He asked her curiously.

"Yeah, only been here for two weeks so far so still got six to go" she answered, starting to eat her ice cream.

"That's pretty dope. You here with your friend right now?" He asked her as they stopped walking to talk.

"Yeah, she's just over there" Ava told him, pointing in the direction that Jessica was in.

He nodded.

"My friends are the other way...hey, is there a chance I can get your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime before you head home" he told her, feeling hopeful that she will say yes. Ava smiled and felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as the cute guy asked her the question.

"Yeah sure, that'd be great" she grinned, taking his phone from him and putting in her number.

"What's your name?" She asked him as she handed him his phone back.

"Crawford" he told her.

"Well Crawford, thank you for the ice cream. I'll see you around" she smirked starting to walk away, but he stopped her by calling out to her.

"Wait, I never got your name!?" He shouted, making her turn around from where she had walked to.

"Check your phone!" She called back before continuing to head back to Jessica.

Crawford did as she said and checked his phone.

Ava.

"Ava" he smiled to himself before looking back up and seeing she was quite far away now.

***

Present time

Ava smiled at the memory as she lied in bed, lost in her thoughts. She'd recently discovered thinking of the good times between her and Crawford in the past were a good escape for her and she didn't mind.

She liked thinking about him.

She liked knowing how she felt about him.

She liked knowing that in time, things will just get better and better.