The Promise

by S. L. Jayne

  I started again. “Jump, Ava!” I jumped when Lillie-Mai said to and it actually worked that time!

  My face broke into a huge smile and I did a victory dance “Yesss! I did it. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy.”

  Lillie-Mai laughed at me. “I love your dance, you have a pretty twirl,” she smiled, “Ava, you did it!”

  We were playing out front on our street. Hanna came out to play with us.

  “Hi, can I join in?” She asked with a smile.

  I waved at her. “Hi, Hanna. Let’s go on the road and we can play long rope.”

  We lived in a quiet cul-de-sac so playing on the road wasn’t too dangerous and we knew to watch and listen out for cars. We took turns holding the rope and I only messed up about 5 times, I was doing well today.

  “We need to move, there is a van coming,” We moved onto my front yard and watched the van come down the street and turn the corner which took you behind my house.

  Lillie-Mai looked at me. “I wonder who that could be, I haven’t seen any vans down here before.”

  We all jumped up and ran around the corner to see who was in the van. We stood watching for a few minutes and saw a man and a lady get out, the man went straight to the back of the van but the lady looked over at us, she looked nice; she had long blonde hair and a pretty smile. She waved to us, we all giggled and waved back. We waited to see who else was with them. A little girl climbed out of the other side. She had the same blonde hair as the lady, and she was wearing a pretty pink summer dress, she didn’t wave to us like the lady did but she smiled at us.

  I looked round at Hanna and Lillie-Mai. “Should we go over and say hello? They look like nice people, I think they are moving in to Joey’s old house.”

  Joey and his brother Matthew used to live there with their mom and dad, but they had to move to a bigger house when their mom got pregnant.

  “Yeah, let’s go! The little girl can play with us,” Hanna smiled.

  We made our way over to her. Hanna and Lillie-Mai looked at me to talk first, I gave her a big smile. “Hello. My name is Ava, what’s your name?”

  The little girl gave me a shy smile back. “My name is Rylee.”

  “I like your name, Rylee,” I pointed to each girl in turn. “That’s Hanna, and that is Lillie-Mai.” They smiled and said hello to her.

  Lillie-Mai spoke next. “Is that your mom and dad?”

  Rylee looked at her. “It is my mom but the man isn’t my dad, he is my uncle. I only live with my mom.”

  Lillie Mai smiled at her. “That’s okay, Hanna only lives with her mom too, oh and her big sister Mya but she’s always out with her boyfriend,” Rylee giggled at her.

  “Yeah, she’s always out. I can’t wait until I’m allowed to go to the mall on my own with friends. Do you want to play long rope with us? You can hold the rope if you don’t like jumping.” Hanna said.

  Rylee nodded and went to ask her mom if she could play with us. Laughing together, we all played long rope until our legs couldn’t jump anymore. Hanna and Lillie-Mai got called in so Rylee and I lay on my front yard and looked up and the clouds. I liked to look at them and see what shapes could be made.

  “That one looks like a bear!” Rylee pointed at a misshaped cloud.

  I giggled trying to picture what she was seeing.” That’s just weird, Rylee. I can see an elephant though!”

  She laughed at me. “And you thought my bear was weird!”

  We continued looking at the clouds and pointing out some more shapes. We heard Rylee’s mom call her.

  She stood up and turned to me. “I guess I have to go in now. Thank you for letting me play, I’ve had fun.”

  I gave her a big smile. “That’s okay, I had fun too, I like you.”

  “I like you too, Ava. I will come around tomorrow and we can play again, okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay, promise?”

  She shouted back at me as she ran around the corner. “I promise.”

  Chapter Three

  The past two weeks had flown by, we had to stay in for a few days as the apartment had guys in and out installing the TV/cable and internet, now we don’t have to watch DVD’s we can order movies on demand. We also had to wait for some deliveries of furniture. I hadn’t even gotten to drive my car around here yet, because on the few times we had ventured out we only went as far as the café down the street and then back to the clothing store, and they were all within walking distance. Last week Adam sent me a text telling me they had all sorted it out and could come and visit next Thursday.

  Today is Monday so that gives me a few days to get stuff done. I’m happy I get to drive my car today, because we have to stop in at our workplace to finalize a few things before we start next week. We applied for the jobs when we were back in Boston, and we came over here for the interviews, tests, exams, etc. I thought it would be best that we had a job lined up, I don’t need to work, but I believe in working for a living and not living off of someone’s death.

  That is what I would be doing, my grandmother passed away when my mom was pregnant with me and being the only child, I had been left a large sum of money that had grown substantially by the time I was allowed access to it at twenty one. We only looked at two apartments before we fell in love with this one and decided this is the one we would have, Rylee had tried to insist that she would pay rent for living in the house I bought but I told her I didn’t want her money. My mom had told me that my grandmother was a kind hearted woman that would give her last dime to make somebody smile, so in a roundabout way that’s what I was doing, making Rylee smile in our new start here, with the help of my grandmothers money.

  I have just finished tying my hair up in a messy bun, I was ready to go. Walking through the apartment, I grabbed my purse and keys as I shouted out to Rylee. “Are you ready to go?”

  She came out of her room and nodded. “Yep, do I look okay?” she asked as she twirled, wearing a mid-thigh length pencil skirt and a sexy but sophisticated shirt and not too high heels.

  “You look great, Ry. I love the skirt,” I said as I opened the door to get out of here before she found something else to fuss over.

  We left the apartment and got into my car. I love my car, I have a VW Beetle convertible, it was the first thing I used some of my grandmothers money for- the second thing being the move. Rylee turned up the music and we made our way to Ashby Publishing House.

  We headed to grab some lunch after meeting with Max Ashby, our boss and owner of the business. He is a nice guy, stern, head strong, determined and arrogant when needed but he shows his soft and charming side too on occasion, I don’t think I’d like to argue with him though. He is roughly 6’4”, blonde and built, he towers over me and I bet his deep blue eyes can look mean when he is angry. Turning the music down a bit I glanced at Rylee.

  “Is it bad of me to say that Mr Ashby isn’t bad looking for an older guy, do you agree?”

  She turned to me with a look of disgust on her face. “Ew, Ava. NO! How can you even ask that? He is old enough to be your dad!” She laughed. “I always knew there was something wrong with you.”

  I looked over to her with a fake hurt look and laughed. “Are you hungry?”

  “We can just get a sandwich and take it home, there’s a shop on the corner,” she said as she pointed over to the small shop.

  “Sounds good, you can run in and grab them, I’ll have a chicken salad sub,” I said as I pulled up outside the shop.

  I hear my phone beep in my purse alerting me that I have a text message, I pull it out and see that it is from Adam.

  Adam: Hey! Four days. Are you ready to party with us, Adam style?! ;)

  I roll my eyes and replied.

  Me: Yep, we’re ready! We have a bar to go to, we haven’t been out to any clubs yet so I’m not sure what else is around here but we’ll have fun no matter what with you there! Lol :)

  It was true, Adam is crazy when he is in the mood to party and have fun, he will do dares and tell anyone anything they
want to know in a game of twenty one questions.

  Adam: You know it babe! Lol we’ll have so much fun that California will be lost without us when we leave! Can’t wait. Catch you soon, gorgeous! ;)

  Shaking my head and laughing, I put my phone away as Rylee comes back to the car. She gets back in and looks at me like I have lost my mind. “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing, Adam just texted to ask if we are ready to party Adam style and said he can’t wait. I think he is a tad bit excited, bless him.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, it’s bound to be crazy, I don’t know if they’ll expect me to be different now that we’re miles away though.”

  I shook my head. “No. It’ll be okay, Ry. I thought you were looking forward to seeing them again?”

  “I am looking forward to it.”

  “They are your friends too, I know you didn’t come to many parties but they all still like you. Don’t worry about it, okay?” I gave her a smile to let her know everything will be okay.

  She nodded. “Okay, it will be good to see Kelsie and Sophie again too.”

  I could tell she was sucking it up for all our sakes, when it is just the two of us she lets her hair down and has fun. Having friends from Boston here in California will remind her of home, a place she doesn’t want to remember. She won’t get close to guys, she has fun in the moment but only lets it go so far and she cuts them off. I have told her before that she has to give them a chance else she won’t know if they are genuine or not, but she just tells me I am delusional with my belief in true love and happy ever afters.

  On Tuesday we went shopping for shoes to go with my skinny jeans, Rylee wanted to get a new top to go with her skirt. After four hours of shopping we had our nails done and were ready to drop so we went home and chilled out for the evening. The following night we had another movie night. Deciding we needed some eye candy to drool over this time rather than a sweet guy to make us swoon, a movie about male strippers will do the trick every time. I laughed so hard when Rylee sat up straight on the couch and started shouting at the TV off! Off! Off! As she laughed. I remember her face when I said, “They can’t hear you, you know that right?” It made her laugh and come back with “I don’t care. All I know is that they can work their magic on me any day!” She wiggled her eyebrows causing me to laugh harder at her practically drooling at the TV when she turned and laughed at me saying, “Sweet Jesus, Ava. Wouldn’t you just die for the chance to lick his V-lines?”

  ***

  I woke up at eight thirty the following morning to a text message sent earlier from Adam letting me know they were boarding. They arrive at SAN around 12pm and they will get the bus from there as he knows I only have two seats in my car so I can’t fetch them. There isn’t much to sort out with sleeping arrangements, they said they will crash in the living room or wherever they drop.

  I decided it was best to get up and showered now instead of waiting and fighting Rylee for it like we did yesterday. After my shower I made my way to the kitchen to make coffee.

  “Coffee is in the pot,” I jumped at the sound of Rylee’s voice.

  “RY!! You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were still in bed,” I held my hand on my chest trying to steady my pounding heart.

  She turned towards me as she burst out laughing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you jump, but it was worth the laugh.”

  I shot her a sarcastic look. “Not funny, bitch.” I couldn’t hold in my amusement.

  I poured my coffee and sat on the stool next to her. “The guys have boarded, they’ll be here around one o’clock.”

  She nodded. “Cool. I promise I’ll be relaxed around them, as long as we don’t have to talk about Boston.”

  I smiled at her, but I picked up on the fact she still refers to it as Boston, she won’t call it home.

  “We won’t have to, I can’t promise that they won’t mention college but I can promise that if they bring up anything else other than that I will tell them to shut up and change the subject.”

  She gave me a big smile, lifting her hand to her neck to fiddle with her half of the best friend pendant I had given her on my ninth birthday. It wasn’t only my birthday that day, it was also the day that our friendship turned to solid gold, the day we made our pinky promise. From that day onwards we have never broken a promise to each other.

  “Thanks, Ava. You always know what to say and how to look after me.”

  Smiling I nodded “Anytime, sweetie. You’re my best friend, I promised you once that I’ll always be here and I meant it.”

  She stood up and wrapped her arms around me, lifting my arms too I wrapped them around her and pulled her into me giving her a tight squeeze. “Let’s go get blueberry pancakes for breakfast to kill time.”

  I heard Adam’s voice before I could see him, he was that loud in his excitement. I walked to the door to open it before they could hammer it down. I stood in the open doorway and Adam came running towards me, before I could say a word his arms were around my waist and he lifted me squeezing me in a tight bear hug making me squeal and laugh.

  “Great to see you, gorgeous! Where is Rylee? She needs a classic Adam hug too.”

  “It’s good to see you too. Ry is inside, I’m sure she can’t wait to be squeezed to death!” He put me down and I turned to the others.

  “Hey guys! I love your dress, Sophie,” I said smiling at her, “come on, let’s get inside before the neighbours think I have just helped Adam escape the mental ward,” They all laughed.

  I shouted down the hall to Rylee. “RY! The craziness has arrived.”

  Josh laughed and shook his head. “Don’t put me on the same level as that crazy fucker!”

  I threw my head back laughing. “Sorry, Josh, I know you’re not as bad as him but you’re still crazy in your own way.”

  Lewis and Kelsie were sitting on the couch watching us. “How have you not been led astray by these two, Lewis? Maybe they could do with you taming them a bit,” I said making him laugh.

  “I have lost count how many times I have tried to tame their asses, now I just come along for the laughs and watch them make complete tits of themselves,” he said through his laughter.

  Our laughing echoed around the living room. Rylee came in and watched us with a confused look on her face.

  “What did I miss?” I opened my mouth to answer her but Adam cut me off.

  “RYLEE!!” He shouted as he ran over to her and scooped her up, he even spun around to finish off the move.

  “Oh my god, Put me down, Adam! NOW!” Rylee squealed.

  “No can do, I haven’t seen you in ages and Ava doesn’t let me touch her ass when I hug her like you do,” he said as held her tighter so she couldn’t wiggle free.

  She slapped him on his back. “I don’t let you, you just do it.”

  “Same thing to me, pretty girl. It’s a nice ass to grab,” he laughed

  I laughed at them both. “Okay, Adam, you can put her down now. Jeez, you haven’t even had a drink yet!”

  Chapter Four

  “Yeaaah!! Bring on the drinks and the smoking hot chicks wearing next to nothing!” Adam shouted as we walked down the street to Morgan’s Temple.

  We spent the afternoon having a few drinks and catching up. We also listened to a few stories that Josh couldn’t wait to tell us. They were all laughing about a party that one of Lewis’ quieter friends had and they had let Adam in! Big mistake. Lewis mentioned the party which led to Adam and Josh having a discussion on whether or not Adam went too far.

  “Adam, you filled him up with beer and tequila shots and then dared the poor kid to strip naked and go ask his neighbour if they have any spare cat food!”

  Adam frowned. “Yeah, what’s wrong with that? It isn’t the worse dare I have given someone. I was easy on him.”

  Josh laughed. “I know it isn’t, but his neighbour is sixty five years old and knows that he doesn’t even own a cat! He was ten shades of red when he came back in.”

  We all burst o
ut laughing, and told Adam he really does come up with the most random things.

  “Then there was the hair dye incident last week, Adam decided it would be hilarious to wait until Drew crashed and then use his sisters pink dye on him instead. I think Drew would of seen the funny side if he didn’t have a job interview the next day!”

  Holding his hands up, Adam threw his head back laughing. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, before you all think I’m a total dick, I didn’t know about the interview. I wouldn’t have done that, I’d have shaved his eye brows instead!”

  Josh laughed and shook his head. “It’s still a dick move, but I have to agree it was funny as hell seeing his face when you passed him the mirror.”

  Hearing the music coming out from the bar as the doors opened pulled me from my thoughts. We all walked in and headed to the bar, I sat on a stool while the rest of them stood. Lewis had his arm draped over Kelsie’s shoulder and Sophie was in front of Josh with both of his arms around her waist. Rylee stood next to me and nudged me, I followed her eyes to see Mr-winks-a-lot from the last time we were in here making his way over. He was wearing a different shirt tonight, this one showed more of the tattoos on his arms. On one arm starting at his wrist, he had a tribal snaking up and around, ending who knows where. On the other arm he had what looked like the feathers of an angels wings on his forearm, with entwining vines leading up under the sleeve of his shirt. He looks around 6’4” and has close cropped dark hair matching the color of his eyes.

  Rylee sighed. “I think I just had an eyegasm!”

  I burst out laughing. “You saw him last time, Ry.”

  “Yeah but he looks different this time, you can see his ink more and I swear he’s had his hair cut too.” She said as she studied him.

  I smiled knowing she had taken that much notice of him the last time we were here.

  “Nice to see you again girls, I see you brought people with you this time,” he said, giving us his best full on smile.

  Smiling back at him I pointed at each of them in turn. “This is Adam, Josh, Lewis, Sophie and Kelsie, and I think from the way they are holding onto their girls you can tell who is with who,” I laughed.