I had known Ava since middle school. She had always been unconventionally pretty, smart and quick-witted. She gave great advice and was always there for everyone.
Ava and I chatted pretty regularly after high school ended- she was practically a psychiatrist to me. I, in turn, did pretty much anything for her that she needed. About a year after graduation from college, she moved to Chicago, where I was living. We met up for lunch, and I saw her for the first time since high school graduation. She had changed. Her blonde curly hair was long and shiny, and she developed a shapely figure. She was a coordinating manager for concert halls, but was also a bartender at a local bar.
"I can't find a good apartment, though. There aren't many good places available."
"Hey, I have a nice apartment. You could live with me."
She finally agreed. A few weeks later, she showed up at my building. We spent most of the morning moving her stuff into the spare bedroom, and she rearranged everything until she was satisfied. I was a contractor and didn't have to go into an office very often, and she managed most of her work from her laptop, save the bartending job. We both went and did some work, and I was getting something to drink when she came out of her room, dressed for the bar.
"Wow. You're counting on tips, aren't you?" I said, smiling, appreciating her tight black tank top with the bar's logo across her breasts and the jean shorts she was wearing. Her hair was up but tendrils escaped and curled around her face. She smiled.
"You should come visit me! Bagman's serves some really great dinners." She grabbed her keys and purse, kissed me on the cheek, and slammed the door shut as she went to get a taxi.
I went down to the bar and found a few of my friends there. Sports were on TV, but we were watching women. By and by, a friend pointed out Ava at the bar. I rolled my eyes, and they told me to go get her phone number. I got up and walked over to the bar.
"Hey sailor, you showed up!" she said, smiling. "What can I get you?"
"Whatever's on tap, thanks. How's business?"
"Pretty good!"
"How's tips?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"You tell me," she said. She leaned over the bar, the cut in her shirt showing ample cleavage, and handed me my drink. "Eyes up here, darling." She turned away and laughed, cleaning a couple of glasses left on the counter. I grinned and took my drink back to the table.
"Did you get it? It looked like she was coming onto you hard, man!" I recited her number to them as I sat down, and they all congratulated me. I laughed and changed the subject.
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I waited until the guys had left, then sat down again at the bar. It was just past two on a Friday night, and the bar still had a few people before it closed at three. Ava and I pretty much just sat there, talking about various things until she closed up. We walked back home together and stayed up another hour watching a movie on TV. Neither of us were paying much attention to it. Ava had her head on my shoulder and kept drifting off then waking up again. I had my arm around her and was mainly focused on discretely looking down her shirt. After the movie ended, I gently shook her. She woke up and said she should be getting to bed.
"Night, roomie," she said, hugging me before she got up. She went to her room and I watched her walk away. As soon as the door closed, I realized I had a hard-on. I sighed, and wondered if becoming roommates was going to be a bad idea.
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The days passed, and they turned into months, until Ava had been living with me for almost a year. Most weekends were the same- we went to the bar, I hung around and stayed with her until her shift was over, and then we went home and sat on the couch for another hour. I was constantly tired, but it seemed worth it that I could sit with her and look at her for a while without her raising an eyebrow and ask what I was doing.
Ava being with me actually was good for my work life. Anytime I had work to do, I focused and plowed through it efficiently, in order to go to the bar with her, or to eat dinner and watch a movie. Besides my own reasons, she actually was huge motivator and gave me tips on efficiency, something she was very good at. I did bring girls home on occasion, but they never were relationship material. Ava didn't date much, though I knew she got asked out almost every time she worked at the bar. She was cute and extremely flirty, making her irresistible to many of the customers. On the few times she did bring a guy home, I was irritable and didn't talk to her until he left. I couldn't count how many times I thought of doing unspeakable things to her, instead of whatever guy was in her room. I started fantasizing about how I could actually sleep with Ava. These were always rough, heated fantasies and I was guiltily turned on by the thought.
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At the beginning of December, Ava announced she wanted to have a holiday party.
"Think of how much fun it'll be! We can decorate, and make cookies, and do a Secret Santa..." Ava had always adored the gift-giving season, and she wasn't going home for Christmas this year, so I told her I was fine with whatever plans she could come up with.
I helped her decorate the apartment, and invited a few of the guys from my law firm, along with some friends I had from college. Ava invited many of the people she worked with, at the concert hall and at the bar. On Christmas Eve, there were around 30 people in our apartment, filled with holiday music and twinkle lights. Ava loved hosting parties, and was smiling and laughing and giving everyone a good time. She was wearing a short red fitted dress with green zigzag around the edges and green shoes with bells on them. Her hair was in a long braid down her back, and she looked sparkly and ethereal. Ava found me out on the balcony that we had and stood there with me, looking at the city. It had been lightly snowing for the past couple of days, and everything was all stop lights and snowflakes. Ava shivered and I hugged her.
"Thank you, for everything," she said. I let go of her and smiled. She smiled back, and there was a second when we were looking at each other and weren't sure what to do or say, which didn't happen often. She broke it, looking down, blushing. I kept looking at her, and she glanced at me again, really turning red. "I.... um, I'm going back inside." I stood out there for another minute, thinking.
"Tonight. I'm doing it... I'm doing her. Tonight."
It was late when everyone left, around two. I helped Ava clean up, not saying much. We finished, and sat on the couch. Everything was quiet. The music had long been turned down, and the lights were still twinkling. The snow kept falling, and Ava and I sat, with my arm around her. She slowly relaxed, leaning into me, sighing.
"Are you happy?" she asked me casually. I looked at her.
"Yes." She didn't seem very sure with that answer, and looked away again. I wrapped my other arm around her and looked out the window, at the decorations, and at her. We sat in silence for what seemed like a year, but were only a few minutes. She finally broke the stillness with a sigh, and got up, stretching. She went and unplugged all the lights, except for the ones on the tree. She looked at it for a second, and then turned to me.
"I'm going to bed." She walked over and kissed me on top of my head. "Merry Christmas." I grabbed her arm as she straightened up, and stood myself. I put my arms around her and crushed her to me. I released her some, looking her in the face.
"The party was great. Everything looked perfect. You did a great job." She smiled.
"Thanks." She looked at me again, and then looked away. It frustrated me.
"What?" I said, half laughing, half angry. She didn't say anything, just bit her lip. "What?" I said again, more angrily.
"Nothing," she said hurriedly. "I just... I'm tired. I'm... I'm just going to bed. Night." She tried to break away from me, but I held onto her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" She said. Now she was angry. "I'm just tired. I'm going to bed."
"You said that already."
"Well what else should I say?" She asked. I stared at her, and she looked away. Again. This was getting old, I decided. I picked her up, suddenly, and she squeaked with surprise. "What are you doing?"
"You said you wanted to go to bed, I'm putting you to bed." She laughed, anger ebbing away. I opened her door and deposited her on her bed, softly.
"Thanks," she said, laughing. I laid down her bed next to her, and grabbed her pillow. "Hey! What are you doing now?" she said, rolling onto her stomach, grinning.
"I'm sleeping in here tonight."
"What? Why?" I glanced at her. She looked confused and a little apprehensive.
"So that Santa doesn't wake me up in the night." She smiled, cocking her head.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" I looked down at myself in mock surprise.
"Gee, you're right! These aren't my PJs." I got up and stripped off my shirt and jeans. Ava's giggled died off as I turned around to face her.