Chapter 1: A New Life
“Are you sure about this, Ava?”
The voice at the other end of the phone, balanced carefully between her shoulder and her head lowered to the side, asked. There was something about it that felt rather distant, allowing her to picture the down turned eyes and twisted lips of its owner.
She managed to get a small laugh though.
“I'm fine, Dani. There's nothing to worry about,” she said. “I think this is the best thing to do now - to get away from Texas, or don't you value my health anymore?”
There was silence from the other end for a brief moment.
“I do…but, just not like this,” a response finally came.
“Oh Dani,” Ava laughed again.
Dani sighed. “Promise me that you'll be fine, and that you'll call at least three times a week.”
Ava nodded. “I will.”
“Let me know when you get to LA, ok?”
“Yes, yes. I won't forget. Besides, it's not like I'm not going to come see you again.”
“Alright bye.”
“Bye.”
After the call disconnected, Ava placed the phone into the pocket of her denim trousers. Her eyes wandered around the room - It had brought so many memories along with it, memories that she didn't want to reminisce ever again.
It was this same place that had created room for a relationship with Mark. Even though she had decided to take a break from dating to recover from her previous relationship with Sam which had literally ended on a short note he had sent over the phone, she couldn't help but want to give Mark a chance. Well, he was a nice guy, handsome, a lady’s man, and everything she had failed to find in Sam.
He was the one who had led her to this apartment when she had been in search of a place to stay. He had been really nice and had a pretty good ear for listening. She could remember vividly that he was the one who had made the first move by asking her out on a date to go see a fashion show together.
“A fashion show?!!!” She could remember screaming her head off.
“Yes, I knew you'd like it. I've been seeing your i********:,” He had answered, with that small smile of his enough to light up a whole room.
“That's so sweet of you to notice,” She squealed from excitement.
In that moment, his small gesture that done so much to tug at her resisting heart, and with time, they started dating. Two months passed. A year passed and they were still going strong. Her Mr. Right had found her at long last, she had thought to herself.
Everything came crashing down after two years of being together, of constant calls, of night outs, of dinners, of staring into each other's eyes and whispering those three words that now made her wonder if he had ever meant any of it or she had just been a ploy in his “casanova” games. It was the day his wife had shown up, belly bulging to self-diagnose a six months pregnancy.
“Where is Mark?” The woman had sounded quite impatient the moment she had set her eyes on the slender fair girl with ocean blue eyes whose auburn hair flowed down to her waist like an ornament made precious from flames, which the woman had later revealed Mark had always said he wished she had.
“He's taking a shower right now, and you are?” Ava had asked, refusing her brain to process why a pregnant woman was at the door asking for Mark's whereabouts.
“His wife! I should be the one asking you that question,” The woman had suddenly grown irritated, her pitch rising with each passing second.
Wife?
Wife.
It was as though someone had tied a couple of knives together and drove them right through her chest. He had never made mention of any wife or was this woman one of those women who just enjoyed picking on successful men? She just didn't look like that kind of woman, but the look on Mark's face when he had laid eyes on her was what gave him away…
A sharp knock on the door pierced through her thoughts, disrupting the images from the past few days that had flooded her vision.
“I'm coming!” She quickly said and moved to pick up both of her both luggage before heading for the door. It was a smallish elderly, wrinkles on her face and neck as thick as vines, yet there was still so much life in her face. She was the landlady whom Ava had grown to see like a grandma.
“You're ready to leave dear?” She asked in her usual shaky voice.
“I need to be early to catch my train,” Ava pursed her lips into a thin smile.
“Oh darling, please take good care of yourself. I will miss you so much,” She moved to rub the young lady's arm with a mixed expression of longing and acceptance on her face.
“I’ll miss you too,” Ava quickly wiped the drop of tear that had fallen on her right cheek. The two women hugged for a short while before Ava set out with her luggage to wait for a taxi she had booked online as the Mao reading on her phone told it was closeby.
Choosing to leave Texas for Los Angeles was the right choice. Texas had only brought so much hurt since she had become an independent young lady of 24. It had come with meeting some of the worst men on Earth, battling with health conditions, working in a very toxic environment where she would usually get unwanted advances from elderly coworkers.
Right now, all the bad memories had to go away and for them to do so, she needed to go away from their birth place.
As Ava settled into the taxi, she pulled out her phone to check the time. A new message lit up her screen.
Mark: Hey, let’s grab lunch. We should talk about some things.
Her lips curled in disgust. No apology. No remorse. He didn’t even know she was leaving.
She locked her phone and shoved it into her pocket. There was no need to respond. Whatever Mark had to say no longer mattered.
Instead, she turned her gaze ahead, watching the city she had called home shrink in the distance. LA was waiting. And for the first time in a long time, she was ready.
